With added holes

After a long pause, my knitting of the Swiss Cheese Scarf resumed earlier last week, and with the end in sight I have been extra motivated this last couple of days. The dedication to the cause has paid off - the swiss cheese scarf is now off my needles and looking LOVELY!


Yarn - 4 balls of Rowan 4-ply Soft in Military, that I bought in the sale a couple of years ago for very very cheap and have had sitting in a drawer for too long.

Needles - 4mm knitpicks interchangeables (I am in love with these needles)

Modifications - I read the pattern, took the gist of it and then went ahead and knit. I 4 sets of holes in the first row, meaning I cast on 76 stitches.

Dimensions - HUGE after blocking (13" wide by 104" long) It was hard to work out how long this was going to be, but I wanted it to go a couple of times round the neck and used the tried and tested method of knitting until I ran out of wool. I didn't block that hard, but it still stretched until it no longer fit on my biggest rug!


Cast on - 8th December, cast off 12 February 2008

New things - I used the backwards loop cast on for all except the initial cast on (thumb method). I like the elasticity that this gives, but knitting the first row above the cast on stitches is a bit of
pain. Thank heavens for my nice sharp and pointy knitpicks! Cast-off's were just the regular, and inbetween I just did a lot of knitting.

Comments - I love how this looks. It is simple and smart and modern (and surprisingly warm considering how much of it is hole). I am in love with the yarn, and have it on my list of yarns that I would like to knit a jumper or something out of. The pattern is almost totally mindless
knitting. Every 6 rows or so you do have to pay a bit of attention to casting off the right number of stitches, and making sure that all the holes are lining up right, but for 80% of the knitting it is just totally straight forward, mindless, relaxing, perfect for watching films or chatting!


Now I'm off to swan around looking glamourous and lovely in my new scarf (and get some proper photos of it in the light!)

It's quite hard to take photos of your own head

A better knitting week for me this week. I seem to have rediscovered some of my mojo anyway! Mostly I decided to raid the stash and see what there was in it that I could make presents from, or at least small items that would give some sense of instant gratification rather than the rather daunting task of starting a sweater.

So I present the Koolhaas hat copy that is destined for my brother for his birthday. This is the only photo out of about 50 that actually came anywhere near having my whole head in!


Pattern - it's a rip off of Brooklyn tweed's Koolhaas hat, which is included in Interweave holiday gifts. I didn't buy the pattern I just saw the pictures on his blog and copied it. I totally love the way it is so architectural (being an engineer I relate to clean lines and symmetry) and interesting though suitable for a man. I cast on 132 stitches, worked in P4,k2 rib for a bit and then started twisting stitches every other row. Decreases were worked by doing a K2tog instead of a twisted stitch once every set of diamonds. I had to play around with the crown a bit to get it to lie flat, but once this has been through the machine it will be pretty good.

Yarn - some random 100% machine washable DK weight wool/acrylic mix that came from the old lady next door when she moved out. But it's machine washable, which is important for my brother, and one of the only things that I have in the stash that is man coloured.

Needles - Addi turbo lace 3.75mm - 100cm long, meaning that I worked on the magic loop for the whole hat.

Cast on - last thursday - 18th october
Cast off - Monday - 22nd october

So for this week's challenge I am experimenting with entrelac. I have never done it before, though it's rather fun. I am utilising some of the balls of kureyon that I have left over from making my lizard ridge blanket. It is a total of suck it and see really...... but fun! I am going to felt it in the end to make something nice and sturdy, that will either be so fantastic I keep it or will be a christmas gift for someone. We have a tradition of only ever giving home made presents so I really do need to start thinking about christmas now.

The other great thing that happened is that I finally managed to get my KTS4 package from the post office......... I am drinking a cup of tea from it as I type, and have just finished a chocolate from the world's most northern chocolate company!


It's been such fun swapping with Else - a fantastic match if ever there was one! Check out her blog to see the great mug I found for her!

I got all sorts of things.... drops alpaca in a fanstastic burnt orange, the most delicious cloudberry sweets, lots of cute chocolates, a great mini tea filter so that I can brew the (very lovely) loose leaf tea! A tea tin with a massive variety of different tea bags in, some norwegian snacks and more chocolate. Mmmmmmm. Thank's Else!

And then there were two.....

Finished object alert.......


Well, my first finished sock has a sister now!

Some statistics:

Yarn - Colinette Skye in shade Neptune, two skeins
Needles - 3.75 addi turbo lace (these have featured a lot in my life recently)
Pattern - Made it up with advice from several google searches.
Cast on - last week!
Cast off - just now (again)


So that I have it written down somewhere.....

Cast on 20 stitches using judy's magic cast on. This was the first time that I have ever used it (my last abortive sock had a short row toe which had gaping holes down the side and was the reason that I never got beyond mid sole) and it is an invention of shear genius. Quick, simple, easy to remember and oh sooooo effective.

Then increased 4 stitches every other row 5 times, until there were a total of 40 stitches.

Gusset - increase 2 stitches every other row 9 times. This is more than average as a proportion of the total stitches but I seem to have fat ankles. Next time I might try more.

Heel..... guess! They are both subtly different, but worked in slip stitch. Next time I will take more of a note as I am going along because I have no idea now.

Then work 2 inches, and start increasing every 5th row.


See - pretty increases to fit round my bulging calf's! I would say fat calves, but they are the one bit of me that is actually mostly muscle, we do quite a bit of cycling and walking. After 10 lots of increases, start rib until the wool has nearly run out.

I cast off the second sock so many times. The first one I just did a standard cast off loosely and while it looked fine on, was very saggy when the sock was taken off. Resorting to my Knitters Handbook and deciding against a sewn bind off I tried one that involved decreasing stitches. Not quite stretchy enough. So armed with a needle I started off on my first attempt at a tubular bind off in double rib. It said I should be good at grafting (I am not) and able to do it with single rib (have never attempted) but I thought that after a glass of wine it would all be fine. And I am quite proud of myself - it's not 100% even but for a first attempt it's ok. And the actual method is again pure genius, neat, stretchy and so much less obvious than any other method.


I still might sew soles on these, but at the moment I am enjoying wearing them too much to bother (and I need to try and figure out where I can get some suitable leather, or decide to sacrifice some jeans or something).

I have nothing on my needles and I'm not sure what is coming next. Unusual for me, but the intense concerntration at the end of this project meant that I had no time to daydream about what was coming next.

Either a malabrigo jumper for me, or something out of rowanspun 4-ply or the black man jumper. Who know's which way the wind will blow!

Beautiful Harebell Lace.......

Another finished object has risen from the blocking bed....


Modelled on my apple tree....


And on my garden bench.

Finished Object Stats

Yarn - Laceweight Merino from Yarnsnob (100g skein - I had 11 yards left)

Needles - 3.75mm addi lace turbos, 80cm long

Pattern - Harebell lace Fichu from Victorian Lace Today - heavily modified (some explanation later on)

Cast on - 11 August

Finished - 27 September

Finished Dimensions - 13" by 64" after blocking


This is a picture of the origional pattern.



I took the harebell part of this chart, and knit 25 repeats of 4 sets of it across the scarf. These were offset so that the difference in stitch numbers was evened out.

I then knit on the picoty pointy border using the same attachment method as the myrtle leaf shawl.



And the combination makes a lovely squishy warm scarf that is just perfect to be a birthday present for my mum. Her birthday has already been (and she has no idea I have a blog) but I will deliver it in person in about a month!


The next project has been conceived - I have 2 skeins of Colinette Skye in neptune colourway, and I am going to make bedsocks!

Secret Hat for my little sister

I have finally finished something - a hat for my little sister for her birthday. In fact this is a minor miracle, because there are still 3 weeks to go until her birthday, so this time there is a vague chance that she will get it in time!

Finished object statistics......
Wool - some random 4-ply shetland wool bought very cheaply from ebay, in Bright Pink and Bright red. Also the end of a skein of sock yarn that I dyed myself ages ago.
Needles - addi turbo circulars, 3mm in various lengths.
Pattern - made up as I went along (more about that later)
Cast on - earlier this summer
Cast off - yesterday!
Tension - 8 stitches and 8 rows per inch

The pattern was remarkably simple and went like this:

Cast on 160 stitches using a provisional cast on in pink wool and join in the round. Purl one round, and then knit one round. Then make up some patterns using a piece of graph paper (making sure you can fit the repeats into 160 stitches). I went for naughts and croses, and then some lettering (can you guess what my sister is called) to add a personal touch, and then another repeat of the naughts and crosses.


The top section of the hat is knit from a very simple pattern with a 4 row repeat, diagonal crossing lines in pink. This is nice and easy to remember! When the desired length is reached (I did just a smidgen less than 5") place 8 markers evenly round the circumference of the hat (every 20 stitches).

Decrease round - knit to 2 stitches before the marker maintaining the pattern, k2tog in red. Repeat 8 times.

Knit one round in pattern (making the stitch before each marker red). When there are too few stitches for the 40cm needle move to knitting either on 2 circulars, or dpn's or a magic loop.

Repeat these two round 9 more times.

Work 10 decrease rounds. Break yarn, pass through the 8 remaining stitches and pull tight.

Place the stitches from the provisional cast on on the 40cm needle (picking up one extra stitch at the join) - you should have 160 stitches, and join the sock yarn. Mine was 100% cashmere and very soft, but choose something that will prevent any itchy forehead (cotton or silk would have preferred but I didnt have any in the stash) and preferably unsuitably bright!

For the first round, knit 8 k2tog. Repeat 15 more times. (144 stitches)

Knit in the round for some depth - I chose to end when I reached a stripe of plain knitting in the hat, just above the lettering. Whip stitch the live stitches to the purl bumps on the inside of the hat, remembering to miss out 1 purl bump in every 10 to make up for the decreased stitches.

Block and wear (or give to someone as a present)!

Lizard Ridge Returns

Now here is a finished object from a while ago (well, earlier this year)........

Introducing Lizard Ridge Afghan.......

Needles - 5.5mm addi turbo circulars
Yarn - Kureyon in lots of colours (I don't have the ball bands so I don't know)
I made 25 squares and each one used an entire ball, so there would have been 25 balls.
Cast on - some time in March
Finished - last week.......

......because even though the knitting was done a good few months ago, I discovered that though I do a lot of crafty things and consider that I am relatively dextrous, I can't crochet for toffee. So I made a swatch and had a few goes of doing the edging, but the tension was all over the place and it looked dreadful. But then a fantastic friend (who I met on the Archers discussion board, yes I am old before my time) offered to do it for me. So all I had to do was pack it in the box, and last week it arrived back home fully and neatly and perfectly finished.

I am never doing crochet again!

I love this afghan. I am amazed that I ever started to make it. I have always thought that the colours in kureyon were amazing, but I really wouldnt ever wear anything made out of it. And I have always thought that the miles and miles of stitches (mostly stocking stitch) made afghans a really silly knitting idea. But there was something about the combination of two things that I didnt really like which produced a pattern that was sublime, charming, seductive and utterly compelling.

Knitting in squares meant that each individual piece was portable, and at the end of each one you got the feeling of finishing a whole object! The sewing wasn't too bad..... I like mattress stitching, and actually enjoyed it (I spent one whole weekend sewing miles and miles).

And the best thing about it is that this was the knitting that convinced Dr Sweetpea that it was all a good idea. He thought I was dotty when I started, and continued to tease throughout, but the first monday I came home after it was finished I found him curled up in an arm chair snuggled under it and he was converted. It is now really hard to pursuade him out from under the dreaded blanket monster!

Myrtle Leaf Finished and Blocking

Well........


We have a Myrtle Leaf Shawl!
















Round the corner....















Centre Panel......
















So we have a finished item, and it's huge. I really dont mind admiting that this was the catalyst for starting a blog - the knitting I think I am the most proud of.

Some Statistics:

needles - 4mm Addi Turbo Lace
yarn - Hipknits laceweight silk. Custom dyed to match my friends wedding dress. 2 skeins, with maybe only about 10m left.
pattern - Myrtle Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today
alterations - I found the errata on the internet and they are very very important - there is a mistake in the chart that means the leaves dont join up! And I joined on fewer repeats of the edging along the top and bottom (doing every other attachment to 2 stitches rather than one)
cast on - 27th June
cast off - 18th July

I am super super exited about this shawl. It looks fantastic, the yarn is shiny and silky and a lovely lovely colour. The alteration to the pattern meant that a: I had enough yarn and b: the edging sits much more evenly along the top. I am going to make a lovely box at the weekend and parcel it up with nice tissue paper and then I will truely be done.

I just hope that J likes it - it is a surprise and will be presented to her next weekend at her hen do, hence the big rush. We live quite a way apart and so that is the only time I am going to see her before the big moment.

And the exitement, I got my first comment. Now that means someone is actually interested in my rambling.

The next plan......
I have 12 balls of white Jaeger Merino DK, which I am about to start swatching in the hope of making me a cardigan of some description!