Sssshhhhhhh......

..... this is posted in a whisper, because Owen is asleep!

Anyway, I am here to announce that about 3 weeks ago I rediscovered the will to knit. More to the point, I joined up two thoughts in a logical and coherent way and that sort of enabled me to see the root of my loss of knitting mojo.

For a while now, I have been feeling the urge to knit something, but somehow I never manage to actually make a decision about what I want to make or what part of my extensive yarn collection would be best for it.

The dilemmas involved are enourmous - do I knit for the baby, only to have to make it in acrylic and have him grow out of it in 10 days? Do I knit something for me only to have him puke on in after 10 minutes, and then not get round to washing it for 6 weeks because it is handwash? Do I knit another scarf/shawl knowing full well that I'll not wear it for months because the summer is finally here? Which of the thousands of ideas for jumper designs I have floating round in my head is the best one? Why don't I do something useful and finish one of the many things I am half way through?

It was all too much thinking about knitting, feeling oppressed by the stash and my lack of time and will to knit it, and not enough sponteneity and fun.

And then I was struck by the aforementioned coherent thoughts. The first one said - you are having trouble stringing thoughts together, so stop thinking about designing something and just knit from a pattern with no modifications. The second thought was - stop bleating about not having enough time (while spending a good chunk of every morning on the internet) and use the time you do have to cast something on.

Then I saw the perfect project - simple, quick, useful, a couple of yarn options in the stash. It was the Whisper Cardigan from Interweave Spring. I saw the pictures and liked it. I swatched in laceweight and didn't like it (far too open) so went to sockweight and liked it a whole lot more, but then what is there not to like about Posh Yarn Laura!

Anyway, that little bit of inspiration was all I needed to start the knitting, it went surprisingly fast and now Whisper is blocking upstairs and I am praying that it is going to be dry by tomorrow so that I can wear it. Photos will follow soon, just as soon as I can commandeer Francis and the camera and a spare 5 minutes, but I am dead chuffed to have finished something, and am casting round for ideas for my next project.....

Finally........

.... this has taken a lot of effort and perseverence, but I have finally finished casting off!

This is my Laminaria, which I started 7 weeks ago when I was trying desperatly to fill the time waiting for Owen to appear. To begin with it all went really quickly, and by the time I was out of hospital I had done all the first chart, and was on with the blossom chart. I decided to chuck in a couple of extra repeats of that. In retrospect I might not have done that, seeing how long it has taken me to do the border. By the end it was at least 30 minutes a row, and I could only really do it when someone else was here incase Owen woke up in the middle of something complicated. And the cast off was looooooong.

But it's a lovely pattern, the yarn (Posh Yarn Eva Laceweight) is fantastic and I really really want to wear it. Plus I feel pleased that having a baby hasn't totally interrupted my ability to knit complicated lacy things. That said, my next project is going to be in thicker yarn and considerably smaller and easier to see progress.

It'll be blocked this evening, and ready for wearing next week.

Latest Finished Object....

This one has been a long time in the WIP pile ........ he arrived on Tuesday 20th January, at 21.10 in the evening, was hard work but worth it.


That'll be my new boy - Owen. One two three, Ahhhhh (and yes, he has a lot of hair).

He's got his Francis charmed, and I knit him a jumper.......


Pattern - my own, basic raglan cardigan, one row stripes, moss stitch button bands and collar, random assortment of buttons from my collection.

Size - 0 - 3 months (from a Debbie Bliss pattern), a bit big for now - he'll grow into it! 7" to underarm, 5.5" sleeve length, 9.5" total length, 19" round the chest.

Yarn - oops, didn't keep the ball bands, but acrylic/wool blend machine washable sportweight/dk. 1 ball in green and one in off white.

Gauge - 6.5 stitches and 8 rows per inch.

Comments - it's a good thing it's washable. Not the nicest softest wool ever, but practical and cheap and available in the shop in Inverness. There seems to be a lack of nice wool that is washable on the market, but I did go shopping in some of the internet sales and have bought some of various blends which I am going to be trying out. When I am a bit better organised, I'll get a cone or two of machine washable wool and try dyeing my own I think - it is so much more fun working with really nice coloured stuff.

He will have matching green booties as well as soon as they are done........

Currently blocking.....

First off, being 41 weeks pregnant is not conducive to having lots of knitting mojo, or staying power. I keep starting things, frogging them after about 3 rows and then having another nap (and/or some more chocolate icecream). I am no longer enjoying pregnancy, I am sore bored and very very grumpy, but nothing seems to be happening.

I have managed to finish one project off though - my Winter Cottage Mittens (apologies for the photos, but the weather here has not been conducive to taking photos outside).

This lovely pattern was designed by the Lovely Dee at Poshyarn, and the colourway is Bonfire, but being me I made a few changes.

The most important of these was the addition of a gusset on the side of the mitten so that they would go round my large hands. The fit is great above the thumb, but there was no way that I was going to get them on if they had an afterthought thumb.

Then in order to make the gusset fit above the bottom pattern, I needed to add a few rows to the bottom of the main pattern - luckily it repeats twice so I just had to copy about 10 rows over. Then in order not to end up with very long mittens, I left out 10 rows of the ribbing.

The mittens are quite snug in these photos, but I have just got round to making a template (cardboard wrapped in clingfilm, sized to fit round my hand) and they are now soaking and waiting to be dried.

They are going to be lovely and warm though - just perfect for pushing a pram round town this winter. All I need now is a baby, so if you could all think labour inducing thoughts for me that would be much appreciated.