skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The light was bad, but I just had to get some photos of the Cabled Beaded Sock as it is right now, alongside the lavender and lilacs in my Mum's garden, cause that's just where I feel the colours are from!
It's a lovely pattern to knit, and very well written (Thanks, Lynette!) by LeTissier designs in British Columbia, Canada. It's my first attempt at knitting anything other than plain socks, and I LOVE how these are turning out!
Sadly, I've put them aside in the last Wednesday in a big hurry... My little sister, Lucy, was turning 24 on the Saturday, and we'd arranged to take her out for dinner on Sunday night. I figured, as I bought the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, that if I got stuck into the pattern right away (Humanity, by Denise Lotter - Rav. link), I should be able to get a couple of fingerless mitts done quite easily by Sunday. Especially during a trip to and from Sydney on Saturday, which gave me an additional two knitting hours.
So, it was decided. I cast on Wednesday afternoon and got all the way up to the start of the thumb gusset by Thursday afternoon (couldn't work on it Wednesday night - we were with Lucy for dinner!), and I resolved to have the gusset done during KnitNight Thursday evening. Maybe even right up to the cast-off point.
The bottom fell out of the plan right around now. I may have not been reading the instructions correctly, maybe I was distracted by chatting with everyone at KnitNight... but I cocked up the gusset, big time. The increases were messy and disorganised, and after I'd ploughed through the gusset (delusional, I know), I found I had way too many stitches. I tried ripping it back, but couldn't get the needles back in where they should be.
And, fighting back the urge to cut the whole damned thing up into tiny, tiny pieces and feed it to the cat, I frogged the whole bloody thing. Dianne noticed I was muttering to myself a lot that night! I fished around in my bag and pulled out an old faithful standby: Fetchings. I cast on (again) and set to work. *sigh*
Here's Lola-Frog, all dressed up and ready to go visiting friends in Sydney on Saturday. Recognise the top?
Yeah, it's her 'Rainbow Dress', shortened to be a top since she's not walking yet. The yarn is that cotton that I dyed months ago for her - it didn't quite knit up into the big stripes I'd envisioned, but I like it nonetheless, and it suits her little yellow daks. If I could change anything, I'd alter the shoulders a bit for her, this is knit in the two year-old size since she's such a Gigantor, so the shoulders are pretty wide for her.
I think she's laughing at me and those damned fingerless mittens.
More on those next post.
Done, and done.
We have July squares! Ends woven, blocked and dry. Looking lovely.
Here's Square One, knit at Lola-Frog's hospital bedside. I like to think it represents the high temperatures she was experiencing at the time of her pneumonia. Let's call it 'Fever', shall we?
This is Square Two, possibly the result of some hallucinations on my part after looking through a lovely book of children's knits given to me by our friends Sam and Stevie. I saw several beautiful Fair Isle jumper patterns and thought 'hey, I could incorporate that into a square for the blanket'. Mistake? Possibly, but how many mistakes could it be said turn out this well? Not too many. I'm pretty pleased with it, I have to say.
And now, Square Three. I've now knit L, O and R, and still have four more letters to go. Kinda getting a little tired of knitting the same thing over and over, but I think it'll look pretty good when all done - I hope!
I still have to knit the thumbs onto the pair of Fetchings I've knit for a good friend's birthday (which was waaaay back in July - bad me!), but I've still cast on the DK cotton I dyed awhile back to knit a wee summer dress for Lola-Frog. After that? There are plans afoot for a thick, chunky cabled scarf for another friend who will be living a New York winter - I think she'll need it!
And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Okay, I have been knitting (and completing!) objects with almost alarming speed this week. Being told to rest helps a lot, since I rest by knitting!
Only problem? I haven't blocked anything. Not a single item. And I'd rather have all the items in question beautifully finished and blocked before presenting proud photos... hopefully I'll get it done in the next 48 hours. Fingers crossed!
Roll up, roll up! We got finished objects here!
And some news... but I'll leave that to the end...
First up, we have my little yarn monster, inspired by Henry Watts, Esq. His adventures with the humans he lives with with may be followed here, at "A Little Bit Of Happy". I can recommend tripping over there to catch up on Henry's exploits, and urge all and sundry to put a vote in for the fabulous "Henry" t-shirt being modelled as of June 30. I'm certainly not pretending that young Ruby-Lou here is even in Henry's league, but I certainly did try with this striped hussy! The original post where I documented starting her can be seen here.
Next on the chopping block (literally, I think), we have the hat I knit for WonderBoy. As I mentioned, I'm a little unhappy with the way it turned out, or more specifically, unhappy with the somewhat gargantuan size of my son's beautiful head. I still haven't washed and blocked it, so you'll have to see it as it stands right now, so to speak. I am happy with the yarn I used (a good, basic, cheap, 100% wool from my local craft chain shop), and I do like the way the colours worked out...
And then... the hat I was working on for WWKIP. It's a little larger than I'd have planned, but let's face it, I'd rather a hat be a bit big rather than a bit small! I used a lovely pattern on Ravelry, called "Robin's Egg Blue Hat", by Rachel Iufer. The only thing left to add is a big button on the brims where they overlap, but since I haven't yet got around to finding a suitable button, I'm just wearing the bugger anyway. Meh.
We also have a new sock, started so I'd have something to knit on a Preschool excursion to Sydney a couple of weeks ago. I'm using Regia Galaxy, and knitting the Yarn Harlot's "Plain Vanilla Sock Recipe". No issues with the sock and the pattern, but I'm a little disheartened with the fact that it just doesn't seem to be knitting up in the beautiful Saturn's Rings type pattern that I was anticipating. Ah, well... we'll see how we go.
Since the Drape Cardigan and I are having a trial separation, I've taken up with the beautiful, gorgeous, almost edible Handmaiden Casbah 'Paris', and started the "Branching Out" lace scarf by Susan Lawrence. This is how far I'd got as of June 28.
Then WonderBoy decided to bring it to me. "Look, Mummy... big ball!" My heart sank as my eyes followed the thread of yarn as it left the kitchen, wrapped around his little table and chair set as it wound its way into the family room. Bless him, it wasn't his fault; he was just bringing it to me... but the needle had slipped about half the stitches and I just couldn't salvage it and get them back on... so we took a trip to frogsville, just me and the scarf. sigh. When I cast on again, it will be the third time I've attempted this scarf. Someone up there doesn't want me to get this done!
Some stash shots:
This delightful raspberry concoction (modelled by a cranky-looking Luna) is merino/cashmere sock yarn, handpainted by 'The Knittery' in Victoria, and purchased through the lovely people at the Wool Shack. With this yarn, I shall be joining the Clapotis club - I was feeling a little left out!
And this is be a ginormous ball of my own handspun! I *think* I've worked the weight out to mean that I'll need 5mm needles (yes, I swatched!!), and I have a cabled scarf planned for this stuff. I figure now is a good enough time to try learning to cable!
And the big news?
Pete and I are expecting another wee knitter in the family! I'm twelve weeks gone, with a due date for our little friend set on or around January 13 2009. Should be fun! I'll add a ticker to the blog in the next couple of days... should I actually drag my lazy butt back here to get it done!
The light was bad, but I just had to get some photos of the Cabled Beaded Sock as it is right now, alongside the lavender and lilacs in my Mum's garden, cause that's just where I feel the colours are from!
It's a lovely pattern to knit, and very well written (Thanks, Lynette!) by LeTissier designs in British Columbia, Canada. It's my first attempt at knitting anything other than plain socks, and I LOVE how these are turning out!
Yeah, it's her 'Rainbow Dress', shortened to be a top since she's not walking yet. The yarn is that cotton that I dyed months ago for her - it didn't quite knit up into the big stripes I'd envisioned, but I like it nonetheless, and it suits her little yellow daks. If I could change anything, I'd alter the shoulders a bit for her, this is knit in the two year-old size since she's such a Gigantor, so the shoulders are pretty wide for her.
I think she's laughing at me and those damned fingerless mittens.
