First finished project for 2010

Well a new year has begun and my first finished project is...wait for it...another shawl!! I started working on Gudrun Johnston's Wast Side Shawl just before Christmas and finished it last week after having left it alone for a week or so. The construction of this shawl is different from anything else that I've tried in that you start with the border (which becomes a huge long chain of points) that you then pick up so that you can work inwards until you get to the top where you usually start a triangular shawl.

The border seemed to take forever, but the pattern works to a really good rhythm that is very easy to memorise, so it's not too painful. Then you work on the Fern lace, which again is pretty intuitive and easy to remember and on to the stockinette portion which just flies off the needles. Before you know it you've finished - smiles all around. Especially when your almost three year old son says "That's brilliant Mummy!".

As for the yarn I used, well yes, it's Malabrigo Sock again. I love this stuff, the colours are great, the yarn is lovely and soft and the yardage is really good for making shawls. Luckily I have a bit more left over in the stash so I'm off to see what else I can make - yippee!!

Oh yes, and I do believe that I've managed to produce something for the Summer of Lace that I told Bells I would join in on. I was starting to worry for awhile there as everything I tried just wasn't working. I've even got a couple of other things in the works that should hopefully count too. So stay tuned!

Yes, I've been AWOL

My, how the time has flown! Now that I look back I've been missing in action from here for quite awhile. Nothing serious, just not much to talk about I guess, and I was sick for about three weeks with the dreaded cold that has been going around so I wasn't really feeling up to anything much.

As you can see by my pictures, I've got knitting, or lack of it, to talk about! I'm sad to say I seem to be struggling with my knitting a bit at the moment. Lots of frogging has been taking place which is annoying, but also liberating. Back in March I think it was, I began work on a beautiful Kim Hargreaves cardigan, but as you can see by the first photo here it's now gone. I'd managed to complete the back and almost finished the left front piece, and then I'd made a mistake. To me, mistakes seem to be the signal to stop a project (until recently that is but I'll get to that later). Needless to say this project languished in it's bag for many months until last month when I decided to take another look at it. I looked, then looked again and it just didn't seem to be right, so I measured it, then I measured it again, and I was right, the whole thing was completely the wrong shape and size. Not sure what happened but I think that my tension is totally different when I'm just doing straight garter stitch and not stocking stitch. So the yarn has been bagged up again until I can find the perfect project for it. There's a few ideas floating around so I'll see what happens with those when the need arises.


I did, however, manage to finish my Eyelet Cardigan and it came out quite nicely.....BUT.....it just does not suit me. I'm not sure if it's the colour or the shape or a combination of the two but whenever I tried to put it on I felt like a complete frump, it did not look good at all. So, it's been packaged up, and we'll see if Mum likes it at Christmas time. If not, I guess it will be frogged and the yarn used for something else. You see, my fear of frogging has finally gone!

Other attempts at shawls this past couple of weeks have also fallen by the wayside. Firstly I tried Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante (Rav link). It's a really nice, simple shawl pattern that I thought would be good for a friends birthday present. It went along swimmingly until I got to the last row, I made a tiny mistake which I just left thinking nothing of it. Then, I was silly and did an extra row that wasn't necessary, again I left it thinking it would be ok. After that I did the bind off, hmmmm, this didn't look so good. Tried blocking it, still not good. The bind off was obviously way too tight, the shawl just looked misshapen and wanted to fold itself in half when I tried to stretch it out. It sat, forlorn for a couple of weeks until today when I thought I would try to rescue it. Then I thought, why bother, just start again. So it's been......frogged!!


Next, I tried Miriam L. Felton's Seraphim. I thought I would use the beautiful Malabrigo Sock yarn that I have here in the Turner colourway and it was going very well. I spent a week slogging away on the very large, and boring, stockinette section of the shawl and early this week got to the first chart. Something wasn't right, the second half of the pattern isn't matching up with the first half. I counted my stitches, then I counted again. WEIRD!!! I ended up with seven extra stitches on one half of the shawl. Really don't know how that happened, so I paused and thought, and realised that the colour just wasn't working for me in that shawl. Needless to say, it's now gone and another project has been started with the yarn. I'm not going to mention it yet in the fear that I may jinx myself to another failure!!!

One project that has been successful this past month has been gifted, so I can't even pull it out to remind myself that I have managed to finish something lately! It was Gudrun Johnston's Aestlight Shawl (Rav link). Quite a few of these have been popping up on Ravelry and I can add that it's a fun and interesting knit. The construction is quite different from any other shawls I have made. I'm fairly certain that it is mistake free and it blocked out rather nicely. The fact that my friend put it on straight away and left it on for our entire dinner out made me feel good about the fact that I'd passed it on to her. After all, I can always make another one!!

CastOnItis Strikes Again!

I've gone and done it again, cast on another new project! After yesterdays unhappy attempt at knitting lace I thought I'd try something else with some yarn I'm more comfortable with, a nice lovely 4ply!! When I say lovely 4ply I mean it, Malabrigo Sock yarn is lovely to work with and is fast becoming a favourite along with the Handmaiden Casbah Sock I've used a couple of times.
This time I'm trying Gudrun Johnston's Aestlight Shawl, which has rather a different construction. You start with just one stitch and add to it at the beginning of each row by looping the yarn over the right needle, it produces the open stitches on the edges so that they can be easily picked up for the border to be worked. So far I'm about 60 or so stitches in to a cast on of 154, not too bad for an hour or two's work for me.
This is the easy part, the proof of how successful I'll be in sticking with this project will be when I get to the trickier border and edging sections. But then again there are over 500 projects on Ravelry so it can't be too hard, I hope!

Calling all lace knitters.

Ok, well I couldn't wait to start my Summer of Lace so I cast on the Hidcote Garden Shawl today and I'm not too sure about it. Even though I'm using smaller needles than specified in the pattern it's still looking a little too lacy for me. This is what I have after completing the first chart of twenty eight rows.

So my question is, does this look right to you? I get the feeling it needs to be a bit tighter but I'm also wondering if the yarn will bloom a bit after it's been soaked for blocking. I'm using Knitter's Addiction Lace Weight Cashmere, which I haven't tried before. It seems nice so far, but I'm just not used to using such fine yarn, the Malabrigo laceweight is nice and fuzzy so it doesn't seem so thin for some reason.

Seeing as I'm still very new to this I'm not sure if I should keep going with this needle size or try it again on much smaller needles. I must say that this attempt on 3mm needles does look better than the few rows I tried on the 3.25mm needles. Anyway, all tips and hints will be much appreciated. Thank You!

Laceweight.

Since I started knitting lace earlier this year with Ishbel and the Adamas Shawl I've been getting closer and closer to trying knitting lace in actual laceweight yarn. It hasn't happened yet, but I am using the laceweight for the Featherweight cardigan at the moment and really, it's not that scary.

Seeing as Bells is talking of doing the Summer of Lace again this year I thought I would join in and have been trying to decide which pattern I'm going to do. I think I've worked it out and am considering using some beautiful cashmere that's waiting in the stash to make Miriam L Felton's Hidcote Garden Shawl (Ravelry link).

Then again, I could end up making something completely different, we'll have to wait and see what I come up with, sometimes I surprise myself!

No words Sunday.

Some knitting.

My knitting project at the moment is a little on the tame side, loads and loads of stocking stitch, but at the same time it's quite soothing, and the yarn is just beautiful. I'm making Featherweight Cargidan by Hannah Fettig and am using the yarn called for, Malabrigo Yarn Lace. This yarn is the softest, lightest and finest yarn I have ever worked with and so far I'm loving it. I just keep laying the piece down on my lap so I can touch it, and have been known to rub it against my cheek from time to time too!

I'm starting to reach that point though where my mind starts to wander off to other project ideas, what else can I do, what yarn can I use........yes, castonitis is trying its influence yet again. So far I've been strong, mostly I think because I can't yet decide which new project I want to cast on, there are so many calling to me. Luckily there isn't just one with the loudest "Pick Me" call yet, so Featherweight is safe with my affections, for now!

Clothilde

Yay, another shawl is done, that makes seven finished since June! There's also a looooong list of more to do yet, at the moment I'm trying to decide which one to try, there are so many beautiful patterns to choose from.

This pattern, Clothilde, took me a week to do (again I was very good with my monogamous knitting) and I thoroughly enjoyed it, there's enough happening in the pattern to keep your interest going without it being too taxing. I think this is a first for me in not having any mistakes in it either, none that I know of any way!
I think I mentioned before that the yarn is Fifty Fifty by Knitabulous and it was really lovely to work with, beautifully soft with great stitch definition and drape. The only pity is that the colours don't show up well in the photography. I know I had my reservations about it when I first started, and although it's not usually a colour I would go for, I found myself seeing something different in it every time I picked it up.

In hindsight I think I could have made it a little larger, again I have ended up with at least 15 grams of yarn left over, and my bind off mustn't have been stretchy enough as I didn't get the points with the spearhead lace, I didn't try it too hard but it did seem a bit resistant.
All in all I'm happy with the outcome (it helps that the designer Kristen Hanley Cardozo and Ailsa Daily from Knitabulous have both faved my project on Ravelry!!) and I would definitely recommend it as a lovely shawl to make. Go on, you know you want to!

Like a woman possessed.

This time last week I was telling you that I had cast on Clothilde, and by the end of tonight I should hopefully have it finished! I'm not sure if it's just a quick knit or the fact that I've been obsessively working on it all week, but I've almost finished the large size. I've thoroughly enjoyed making this one and I've really warmed up to the colour but unfortunately my photos are not doing it any justice at the moment. Maybe if I get my act together, and the weather isn't too bad over the weekend, I can do a nice little photo shoot to try and improve that.

The Stash!

Most knitters know that an important aspect of the craft is building "The Stash". Some people don't store much yarn in theirs, but I must say that I am rather guilty of accumulating more than a few skeins, although I am not as bad as some. Yet again Ravelry has helped me to see that there is always going to be more people out there that have way more than me so I don't feel so bad, there are even threads in the forums where people show off photos of their stash and how they store it, believe me it's worth checking out!


Another aspect of "The Stash" that Ravelry has developed for me is the photography of yarn. I would never have imagined that I would put time and thought into taking photos of balls of yarn, but I have, and I think I'm improving! There's another group on the site which is devoted to photographing their knitting projects and yarn which I have been stalking and considering joining, some of the photography is amazing and has really inspired me to try a few different things.


When I think about "The Stash" I know that in my case the majority of it has been bought with a purpose, with a particular project in mind. It doesn't always end up as what was originally intended but there is some thought put into it, much research on my knitting bible (Ravelry of course) and then it comes down to what I feel like casting on at the time. There's a lot more I could probably say here to try and explain myself a little better but I think I'll leave it for now. Maybe I'll get another post out of it if I'm struggling again for something to talk about here! It all goes to show though how much knitting has become a big part of my life, as something that I enjoy and benefit from. Got to love that!

Saturday Night

It's cold and raining outside and Rob is off watching the Australia vs. Netherlands soccer match so I'm going to put my feet up with my knitting, a movie and some popcorn....and probably some chocolate, before heading off to my warm bed for some zzzzzs.

Gone are the days of staying out all night with friends dancing and drinking! Do I miss it? Not really.

Have a good night, whatever you're doing.

There's nothing like a new project!

Ahh, that feels better! A new project on the needles is so satisfying for some reason, the thrill of the new, the challenge.
The call of the shawl has been very strong to me again so I've cast on Clothilde by Kristen Hanley Cardozo. I've been looking at starting this one for awhile now and was originally going to use some Malabrigo Sock for it but I've gone with some Fifty Fifty by Knitabulous.
So far the yarn is really nice to work with but I'm not completely sold on the colour. I really liked it in the skein but now it's being knit up I think it's a bit bland or something . I'm going to give it more of a try and see how it goes, I'm sure it will be fine.

Project monogamy.

There is something to be said for working on one project at a time. Seventeen days ago my cardigan looked like this

Now, it's almost finished! I have about half a sleeve and the button bands and neck to do. Usually I would have gotten totally bored with all of the stocking stitch and let it sit for ages like I did with my first cardigan. After the Tour de France efforts though on my Garter Yoke Cardigan I've learned that spending time on one project goes a long way to getting it finished and being used much faster - who would have thought such a thing was possible!

This last couple of days though I have been furiously trying to resist the dreaded CastOnItis! I have a list of shawls as long as my arm that I want to get started on and having a skein wound ready to go isn't helping. BUT, I am determined to finish this cardigan first, in fact I should go and finish that sleeve now.

Must.Resist.Casting.On.New.Project.

Nice Lazy Day

We had a Public Holiday here today so we spent it at home not doing much at all, just being together, which was a really nice change for us. The morning was spent playing and a bit of time spent on various computers (don' ask!). Then after lunch we were treated to a pretty good thunder storm. Just before it hit the lake turned a really beautiful green colour, so I had to take some pics.

The rest of the afternoon saw me get some knitting done on my cardigan. The first sleeve is almost finished, so hopefully I'll have a completed cardigan by the end of the week.

I had a good chat with my Mum on the phone then headed off to the supermarket for the weekly grocery shop. I also tried a new recipe, a Gnocchi Pasta Bake which we ended up calling Pizza Pasta because that's what it kind of tasted like! It still didn't impress the Lukester though seeing as we're going through the "terrible toddler not wanting to eat dinner phase", he kept saying that it smelled!
He's now nicely tucked up in his bed, so I'm here on the computer for a little while, then I'm off to finish that sleeve. Have a good night everyone, see you tomorrow!

Herbivore

About a week ago I finished Stephen West's Herbivore pattern, which I really enjoyed. I've made two of his patterns now and have a couple more in mind to try in the future. It's so refreshing to find such young, male designers of knitwear. I think the clean lines and simple design is what appeals the most, a lot of people on Ravelry are saying how they like the architectural nature of his work and I'm inclined to agree. This pattern in particular is made up of some interesting angles which add to the shawls great versatility when it comes to how you wear it (I'm even wearing it now seeing as it's been such a cold, wet day here).

This was my first time using Malabrigo Sock yarn too and I must say it is VERY nice, luckily there are a few more skeins of it sitting in my stash and I dare say I'll be using them sooner rather than later. I wasn't sure how I'd go with the yardage, but in the end I could have made it an inch or two wider as I've ended up with a spare 15 grams.

I'm on a bit of a roll with some knitting monogamy at the moment so hopefully I'll have a finished cardigan to show you before the end of next week too. Yay!

And so it begins...

We're off and running on the 31 day event of Blogtoberfest! I have a few ideas of what I'll be posting about here, needless to say you'll be finding out a lot about my knitting escapades as well as probably my photography, likes and dislikes. Hopefully my calendar will be filled and we'll have a fun ride together.

Here goes.....

Today...

Instead of using these

and dealing with this


I played with this


and this
because they make me happy!

First Knittaversary!!

On this day, one year ago, I finished my first knitted object. It was a stripy scarf from a Patons Learning to Knit book and I was quite pleased with myself when it was finished. The Handsome Husband, otherwise known as Rob, liked it and he's been using it quite a bit since for his commute to work on the train. Since that day, my knitting (or should I say my new obsession) has come along in leaps and bounds. I'm still climbing the learning curve though, and am enjoying every minute of it. Who would have thought I would immerse myself in something so thoroughly that within a year, if I don't do at least a tiny bit of knitting every day, I don't feel right!!! I never thought I would that's for sure.

I've been trying lots of different things, as we all know that scarves can get a little boring. I do like to make them though and there has been more than six completed in the last twelve months. Of course there has also been some bandwagon knitting attempted, the first being the infamous Clapotis which I tried in Noro Silk Garden. It's a nice big woolly thing (that I for some reason made over the summer) which has come in quite handy as a bit of a lap blanket on chilly evenings sitting on the couch.

Gift knitting has become huge with me as well, most people have been taking it well, so I think my gifts have been appreciated. No one has told me other wise yet, so they'll keep getting hand made items from me for awhile yet I think.

Sometimes though, my gift knitting gets a little behind, like the cute little baby cardigan pictured here. I started making this for a friend's baby that was born last September, I just finished it this month! Mainly because of my fear of seaming and finishing off items but I'm starting to overcome that. I'm learning that without giving it a try it's never going to get done, and if it's no good, it can always be done again!

For my second year as a knitter, I'm hoping to keep adding to my skills, to try and finish more objects (without them having to sit in a bag for four months waiting to be sewn together) and to build on the wonderful friendships I've been making. I really didn't expect, when I started out last year, that I would meet such a kind and generous group of people. Through taking a class, reading people's blogs and Ravelry, I'm finding like minded people that are inspiring me to find something fulfilling in myself........you can't get much better than that from a hobby/obsession now can you??

More finished knits.

Well, another month has passed and I've managed to do a fair amount of knitting. When I sat down today though to make the list to see what I've done I discovered that out of the five things finished only one of them was for me, and that's something that I'm not very satisfied with, but I'll get onto that later. First the details;


Number one is the Alhambra scarf (Ravelry link) by Anne Hanson. Quite a few of these have been made by people on Ravelry and there were a couple in particular that really caught my eye, and as luck would have it I had some of the very same yarn in my stash. Jo Sharp's Alpaca Silk Georgette was the choice in a shade of green called Sprig which is a bit out of the ordinary for me and as soon as I started knitting with it I decided I probably wouldn't make much use of it so a gift it has become for my Mum.


The second item was slated to be Mum's mother's day present from the beginning. It was finished a little late and although it was finished on 17 May I've only just managed to get it ready to be put in the post tomorrow. Luckily I have a very patient and understanding Mum! The Stolen Moments Wrap is a fairly simple pattern, very easy to memorise, and yet still possible to make mistakes, many of which I am afraid to say I have made and left in the finished piece. I got lazy and didn't try and fix what I think are plainly visible but I think that to anyone who looks at it in passing, they're not going to notice anything (at least I hope not). I've given Mum instructions to return it to me if she thinks that the mistakes are noticable and I'll frog it and start again. I used Rowan Cocoon, which is a very nice lush yarn I'm looking forward to using again in the near future.

Number three and four projects were much more successful. The Blackberry Cowl is a cute pattern, very quick to complete, and Kim Hargreave's Robin hat is also very cute. I talked about them in my previous post so I won't say any more about them here.


Finally, the other project I finished in May was Ysolda Teague's Grown-up booties (Ravelry link again). Again, these were very quick and easy to make but I'm not all that satisfied with the outcome. Due to my lack of experience in seaming (I'm still a fairly new knitter I have to keep reminding myself) I couldn't get the nice rounded look to the toes like Ysolda does, hence a very boxy, square looking pair of slippers. On top of that the light grey colour ended up being a bit boring so I headed off to the shops to try and find some interesting buttons (no easy task let me tell you!). I managed to find something big and chunky to fit the bill and so I have myself some cosy slippers.

So there it is, five more finished pieces for the year. Needless to say there has been other knitting in the works during May and hopefully they will feature in the June round up, with much happier and satisfying outcomes!! Until then, happy knitting to all!!

Gift knitting

You've got to love it when your gift knitting is appreciated!
This past week I've been busily knitting a neck warmer and beret for a family member's 30th birthday. Seeing as she lives in Melbourne I thought a couple of hand knitted items would come in handy, and was pleased when she said how lovely they were and that all of her friends would be jealous as they all try to be cutting edge when it comes to fashion!! I'll take that as a massive compliment thank you very much ;)



The Blackberry Cowl is a nice easy knit which works up pretty quickly and the finished product looks quite impressive. I chose to use some Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in Parisian, a great looking purple. Once blocked this yarn softened up considerably and felt beautiful to the touch, it won't be a problem against a bare neck that's for sure.

I also made Kim Hargreave's Robin, a cute beret that was rather time consuming due to using a 4ply yarn and tiny needles, as well as the fact that there is a tonne of purl stitches in there. This pattern would be much more suited to being knit in the round and if I ever feel the need to make it again I will be attempting to convert the pattern to knit that way. That being said it still came up looking lovely and I did manage to complete it in record time for me. I left off the pom pom as I thought that would be a bit of over kill and I like it better without, a much simpler and cleaner finished product.


So overall I've had a satisfying knitting week. I just need to go and finish a few of the other projects that have been languishing in project bags, and also try and finish something for myself!

(Of course there are more details on my Ravelry page if you care to look there.)