Nearly New Year

We are enjoying another relaxing week at home, after hubby decided to take this week off work too!

‘Santa’ brought me lots of fab knitting books last week that I’ve been browsing through each night. . . . (I’ll take pics of the other ones later), here’s me on Christmas day with one of them.

I’ve been knitting lots,  I’m half way through the Juliet Scarf  and I knit one of these mittens this week (shown on the front of this book I got last year)

but it’s TOO BIG!!!!  I’m surprised too because I went down a needle size. I know I should check gauge but I didn’t on the Bella Mittens and they turned out perfect. I shall probably pull this one out and start the smaller size on yet a smaller needle? I thought perhaps it would shrink if I hand washed it in hot water? but then I thought better not, just frog and reuse the yarn to start again.

So what is everyone up to for New Years Eve? Do you set any resolutions? My resolution is to knit as many Christmas gifts as I can for next year and to use a lot of yarn I have in stash for the projects :-)

Finished Bellas

These were a great knit. The pattern was really well written, no errors, and such a fast knit. I’m really happy with them. You can see my Rav details HERE.

(it’s not really snowing here, I’ve just been playing around with Picnik.com!)

As usual I found it hard to get good pictures! These used less than one ball of Malabrigo Merino Worsted. I would definitely make them again.  So that’s another gift ready for 2011! I’m on a roll. I cast on tonight for the Juliet Scarf ;-)

All In A Day’s Knitting!

I knit this yesterday . . . .

I told you I wanted to make a start on my 2011 Christmas knitting, and I wasn’t kidding ;-) You probably recognize the pattern, it’s the ever popular Bella’s Mittens (found here on Ravelry). What a great pattern, and it knits up so quickly too. Not sure if I’ll get the second mitten knit as quickly mind you, but by this week I should be finished. I have already cast on for it and knit 6 rounds.

  Yarn I’m using is Malabrigo Merino Worsted from my stash. Not sure what the color is called. I’d say grey but it also has a little fleck of mauve/pink/purple running through it. The picture above that I took with the flash on shows that a little more (if you click to enlarge).

Now, I’m not going to say who these will be gifted to (the recipient might wander in here and read?) and as I get to knitting more things I may not even mention that it’s a Christmas gift at all?  I’m super happy that I’ve made a start though. I think the best time to knit for Christmas is right now, no doubt by the time March or April rolls around I’ll be wanting to knit spring and summer stuff and won’t be in the mood for Christmas/winter knitting! So hopefully I can get a lot done before then.

Christmas Knitting

Well I did say I wasn’t knitting gifts this year but this is a little hat I just made for a friend’s daughter :-)  It’s just a simple beanie pattern and I stitched on buttons and knit the eyes and nose.

Kristen is modeling it for me, isn’t it cute (and she is too of course)

  I still have that feeling that I wish I’d knit a lot of Christmas gifts this year. Oh well, there’s always next year, and I hope I can stay true to my goals and knit a lot of gifts for Christmas 2011.

Tis The Season

Wow, December already! I’ve been knitting but just not organized enough to blog about it. I’m not knitting gifts this year, but usually around this time I always wish I had :-(  And I always start getting the urge to plan for next years knitted gifts – do any of you feel like that?  I had great intentions of starting Christmas knitting last January too I think, but I didn’t get very far. I am going to try harder this year.  I think the best plan of action is to get the ‘winter knits’ made in the first 3 months of the year (those will be the gifts I send home where the weather gets really cold), and the other ‘not so wintery gifts (for those of my friends who live in warmer climates) could be knit throughout the spring and summer.

Well, that’s my plan at least.  I’m already searching Ravelry for ideas and making a list of who I’d knit for and what I think they would like . . . or more to the point what I think I would LIKE to knit them ;-)

This is already in my ‘gift box’  . . . .

Another ‘Just Enough Ruffles’ scarf.  The yarn was just Hobby Lobby’s ‘I love this Yarn’ which I find super soft. The black edging happened by accident because I ran out of grey yarn (having started with not quite a full skein) but I like how it turned out. I think I might gift this to my nephew’s wife for next Christmas. . . . so, that’s one down, about 20 more to go!!

I need to sort my yarn out and see what I have in stash. Mittens and cowls are always good gifts and I’m sure I already have plenty of yarn to get started on a few.  Hopefully I can post and keep track of what I knit here. I feel pretty motivated, but who knows how long that will last.  I hope to be back soon. In the mean time I’m off to catch up with some knitting blogs ;-)

Too Busy to blog!

I’m knitting like crazy but can’t find the time to get on here and update! I didn’t want you to think I’d dropped off the face of the earth again. I finished the green top, it’s blocked too and I just need to model it and take pics. It’s not cold enough yet to wear it but I think it will be perfect this winter once I start wearing my long sleeved T’s. 

The color looks completely different in these pictures compared to my last post! This is a dark ‘hunter green’ but above it looks more like sage!

Citron has taken a back seat I’m afraid, been too busy knitting fingerless mittens for a friend (3 pairs to be exact) AND I cast on for the TTL Mystery Sock KAL, which funnily enough is a sage green in color! I haven’t taken pictures of the yarn yet, or the cuff – can’t wait to get the second clue tomorrow. Just in time to take away with me this weekend.  I’m headed here . . . .

Rockport, TX - spending the weekend away with our next door neighbors – no kids allowed!  I’ll be back soon.

WIP Wednesday

Ok, I know it’s Friday but I wanted to start doing a post each week (to fill in between FO’s) and show you what I have on the needles. I’m trying to be really good right now and not start/work on too many projects at once.

After my last post I finally decided on a pattern I found on Ravelry that was very similar to Boheme but it had cables on it. It’s the Cables and Garter Cardi found here on Ravelry. I love the cables on this but I didn’t feel like knitting cables, so I’m changing things up a little and making the bottom part a lace pattern. The pattern is from a free leaflet I got in Hobby Lobby. I’ll have to scan or take a picture of it to show you later.  Here’s how the top is looking so far.  And I’m just using ‘I Love This Wool’ from Hobby Lobby for it.

Also on the needles is ‘Citron’.  I cast on for this at the end of August using the lovely lace yarn I ‘won’ from Amanda many months ago. 

I’m trying to concentrate on the green top now, so Citron has been put aside. As soon as I finish the top I’ll pick this up and finish it before I cast on for anything else! Well, that’s not exactly true, I am thinking of joining in with the Kristen’s Mystery Sock KAL this year, and that starts on Oct 1st. No matter where I am with these two knits I WILL be casting on for those . . . . but first I gotta find some sock yarn! That means searching on Ravelry or online because my LYS has closed and I don’t want any ‘sock’ yarn from Hobby Lobby or Michaels. I want some ‘real nice, fancy’ sock yarn ;-)

If any of you have any in your stash that you’d be willing to sell, by all means let me know! Is anyone else joining in with the KAL?

Can I ask you something?

I have to say I’m rather ‘obsessed’ with Ravelry at the minute. I seem to go through phases where I just love to surf the patterns, check out my ‘friends activity’ page and blog posts just about urmm . . . . every hour or so!

Today I saw a friend had added the  ‘Boheme’ pattern knit by Retroversa to her favs. I haven’t really seen this pattern before but I loved the two little tops shown in the picture paired with a long white sleeve top and jeans. The size was only for 12mths!

A long sleeve white top and jeans is my staple wardrobe for the Fall and Winter months so I was wondering if there is a pattern out there that is very much like this one but in an adult size.

DO YOU KNOW OF ANY SUCH PATTERN? Can you recommend anything like this. Having just finished the Leaf T-shirt and loving how it was knit seamlessly I know a pattern similar to Boheme would be great knitting. I’d love any suggestions you might have, so please leave a comment, I’d so appreciate it.

In the meant time, I have to decide whether to knit the other sock to match this one?!! The pattern is THIS ONE – Lace Cuff Anklets from the book ‘Favorite Socks’. The yarn is Patons Kroy Sock. The problem is . . . . it’s too big :-(  I only have myself to blame, I NEVER check gauge when I’m knitting socks, although most times I often think (after they’re knit) that I could probably have gone down a needle size as they are often ‘loose’ on my feet. After I’d started knitting with the yarn I realized the pattern actually suggested sport weight, so I thought for sure it wouldn’t turn out too big if I was actually using thinner yarn – wrong!  Is it possible to ‘shrink’ a sock? I thought I might be able to if the yarn was hand wash and I perhaps threw it in the washer or dryer, or both. But the yarn says it’s machine washable? What do I do now? What would you do?  Please don’t tell me to frog the sock and start over!

Added:+++++ I just saw Sue’s comment about the sizes of Boheme so I went back to search Ravelry for more info. I saw a forum post about Boheme AND Boheme Mama, so I clicked on that then found the link to the adult version :-)  You can find it HERE

“Come play with me”. . . .

. . . said Penelope, just as I finished sewing on her arm and announced she was complete :-)  So I did! We went in to the garden and frolicked about – well she frolicked, I took pictures ;-)

 

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She was a super quick knit, yarn held double (acrylic stuff I had in stash). I wanted to knit her in pink but I didn’t have any yarn in that color so I just used what I had. Cream probably isn’t the best color to show off her mouth but overall I think she turned out pretty cute.

She was rather tired after her photo shoot so she went to rest on my bed, and as the morning sunlight fell in to the room, Penelope took a nap.

Monsters!

Have you seen them? They are the cutest ‘monsters’ ever and they’re popping up all over blogland :-)  You can see them HERE, and HERE and even HERE and of course HERE! And every time I see one I want to knit one for me!

Penelope is my favorite. . .  that’s her sitting above (picture linked to Rebecca’s Blog), I finally got around to ordering the pattern this week and I’ve made a start on her.

In the mean time while surfing Rebecca’s blog I noticed she had two free patterns – Monster Chunks and Bunny Nuggets! Both just as cute as (but smaller than) the monster clan.  I asked Kristen if she’d like a Monster (but really, the first one I knit is for me) but she said she would rather  have a Bunny Chunk! I informed her that it was either a Monster Chunk or a Bunny Nugget, but she insisted she liked a Bunny Nugget “you can put ears and a bunny tail on the Monster Chunk and he’d be a Bunny Chunk!

Hmmm, yes well, for now I’d like to just try the pattern as it is written . . .  so she settled on a Bunny Nugget,

and here he is :-) 

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Her favorite color is orange but I didn’t have enough to double the yarn so I used a burnt orange with it too.  He’s one of a kind, that’s for sure! I went out today to buy the eyes and stuffing, so now he’s just waiting to greet Kristen when she gets home from school.

And I am off to finish work on Penelope ;-)

I love me a fast knit!

Leaf T-shirt came off the needles last Saturday, it only took 10 days to knit :-)  It’s been a while since I knit a top down ‘seamless’ pattern but boy are they easy. I can’t imagine wanting to knit anything with seams in it now.

I played around with the camera this morning and got some modeled shots!

Knit with 6 skeins of Classic Elite Four Seasons Cotton, you can see full details at my Ravelry page.  I like how this turned out but I do wish it had some shaping to it.

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I like the ‘off the shoulder’ look but it can be worn on the shoulder too.  I wanted this top to be a bit longer than the ones I’ve previous made. I often find I’m pulling them down if they just sit below my waist, so this one is as long as most t-shirts I wear.

During the winter I’ll probably layer this with a t-shirt and then later maybe along sleeve T when it gets really cold. . .  which I wish was right now instead of the 100 degrees we have forecast!

It’s been a while . . .

Wow, nearly half a year to be exact. . .  it’ s been over 5 months since I blogged in here!  I’ve been knitting, but just not blogging about it, and not knitting anything for me either.  A few months ago I decided to open up a little Etsy shop. Mainly for my friends who have often mentioned that I should sell the things I knit.  I started out just knitting dishcloth and facecloth sets which my friends loved and bought straight away, then a few hats, and then some cowls and mittens for Fall which I haven’t even listed yet because . . . well, it’s over 100 degrees every day here in TX, it just doesn’t seem the right time of year to list Fall stuff!

When the weather cools down I’ll list the few things I’ve made and who knows it might bring in a little spending money for Christmas!

In the mean time I decided I WOULD knit a little something for me. I’ve had this Classic Elite Four Seasons cotton in my stash for about a year, so I decided to knit the Leaf T-Shirt.  I started this just last Thursday, and I should be finished this weekend. I have to say I love the ease of knitting this in the round and from the top down. Just thinking about casting off and NOT having to sew up seams is exciting to me :-)  I’m already looking for something else to find to knit that is similar.

I fell in love with the adult version of Spring Garden Tee as soon as I saw it. It might have to be that next. . . . or (in the hopes that Fall will be here soon) I love THIS too!

One thing for sure, I MUST get my knitting organized. I have all kinds of smaller things still on the needles, things I cast on for that haven’t even made it to my Ravelry page!  School is back on Monday, it’s usually the time I want to start having a good clear out of everything, inc. my knitting basket. Wish me luck!

Denise

 

I've been knitting. . .

. . . just haven't been taking photos! But first, great news about Mam, she came home from the rehab center yesterday and is doing really well. Hmm, some of you may not know she was even in the rehab center, well she left hospital a couple of weeks ago and agreed to go to an assisted living place for rehabilitation before going home. She is healing well and gaining strength daily, but still has to take things very slowly. I'm just glad she's home.

I had Ishbel II on the needles when I went home, didn't get much of it knit there because, well, you know, it's lace and you have to concentrate right! But I'm happy to say she's all done now... I went outside today to try and get some photos and wouldn't you know the wind picked up as soon as I did!

I also tried to get more shots of my first Ishbel, I tried the first one before the second one actually, which is why I only have one shot of the grey one!




That's one of our fruit trees it's hanging on, already blooming :-) I think it's an apricot, I really hope we get some fruit this year. We've only had the trees 3 years and so far not much yield!

Also off the needles (but I haven't taken pics yet) is a cupcake hat from Susan's Itty Bitty Book, and a sock just like these

which will be going away in my 'Christmas Gift' box as soon as I do the other one. I think I'm in the mood to knit myself a tank, now that Spring is upon us, I just don't know yet which one?

headed home....

I'm flying home to England tomorrow for 2 weeks - my Mam is very sick :-( I am leaving hubby and dd here. I only hope I can get on the plane with my knitpicks.... the journey will take me 17 hours!

Be back soon.

Just a quickie

After seeing this cowl HERE on Ravelry recently using Lion Brand Homespun, I decided to knit up a quick one for myself with a ball of yarn I had left in stash....

As usual I found it hard to get any good photos! I really like this, and again because it's acrylic I find it perfect for me... not itchy at all ;-) I could probably get another one out of the yarn I have left.

Specs:
Snug Cowl (Ravelry link HERE)
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun
Needle size: US# 8
Cast on 70 sts, followed pattern to row 48 then did the 5 rows at the end, so it wouldn't be too long.

NOOOooooooooo!

What a sad day when you find out your local LYS is closing at the end of the month :-( She's the only one for miles around. High rents and the likes of Hobby Lobby and Michael's have made times hard for her from what I can gather. It's so very sad.

I must admit I haven't been in there for a few months but it was always nice knowing I had a good Local Yarn Store where I could get good quality yarn when I needed it.

Haven't had a chance to get any modeled shots of Ishbel, but I love it so much I've cast on another one in the KnitPicks Lace I just bought. And I'm on a quest to find some nice yarn to knit a friend a hat and scarf.

Sweet Ishbel

I knit my very first lace shawl last week and I LOVE it. Seriously, in all the years I've been knitting I've never knit a real lace shawl using lace yarn! I've knit lacy patterns before on edges but nothing like this.

Ishbel
Yarn: Plucky Classics 'Ms. Marianne Dashwood
Needles: size US 6
Started: Jan 15th
Finished: Jan 24th

I thought when I cast on for this that it would take me forever to do. The yarn was so thin, but after knitting a few rows of the stocking stitch I realized it would go much faster than I thought. I was thrilled when I started the lace pattern but oh my, the amount of times I had to knit back a row because I had forgotten a yarn-over! I soon learned that I needed to count after every lace row to make sure I had increased the right amount of stitches, then I would purl the next row and knit the next lace row, then count again. It was much better this way because I still did forget a YO now and then but I could go back along that row and correct it instead of having to undo the purl row too.

I was thinking of gifting this but I like it so much I might have to keep it. And can I tell you I just about had a heart attack at the end while casting off. I don't know what I did but as I purled two stitches together it was like I'd dropped a stitch and the edge started unraveling before my eyes! I quickly tried to pick up what I thought was the dropped stitch and carried on MUCH slower, and it happened again. I don't know what I was doing wrong, I can only think I wasn't 'scooping' up the first purl stitch? And then it happened a third time and this time there looked to be about 10 stitches unraveled? I don't know how, I just sat there looking at it hardly daring to move, and not knowing what to do. Finally I carefully tried to pick up what I could so that more didn't unravel, and finally I did it, although a tiny bit of the edge looked a little off by now. I tried to take a close up picture of the 'error' when I had it blocking but when I look at it you can hardly notice because it's all so lacy, so I think no harm done.

It's raining today so I will try to get some modeled shots at the weekend.

Also last week my goodies arrived from Knitpicks....

I finally got some sock blockers, and some holders for my dpn's while knitting socks (haven't used these yet, but I still have my mystery socks on the needles, so I need to try them out. I was surprised though that they are only made of cardboard?)
I also got 3 skeins of Gloss lace in 'Sterling' (grey) 2 skeins of Alpaca Cloud lace in 'Autumn' and 4 skeins of merino wool, 2 in Hollyberry and 2 in Vanilla. I think I'll be doing more Ishbels in the lace for gifts.

A good photographer I'm not!

Seriously, my pictures seem to be 'sucking' of late. It doesn't help that I don't go outside to take photos I'm sure, but I always feel kinda weird going out there with my tripod trying to take pictures of myself!

Anyway, I tried to take some modeled shots of my latest knits and this is the best I could do....

The 'Just Enough Ruffles' scarf. A few of you wanted to see this modeled and wondered how you actually wore it? The Ravelry Link seems to show it at it's best... you can see it HERE

Can I just say again how nice this is to wear seeing as it's not itchy wool ;-) Still don't know who the lucky recipient will be, but I'm sure they'll like it. It feels so warm wrapped around my neck.

I knit another cowl this past week... the Ridged Lace Cowl (you can see my Ravelry page here). This is for a friend who just moved to a colder state and is experiencing her first winter there.

Specs:
Yarn: Sublime Angora Merino
1 skein and a few yards of the second skein (I will try to make another one with the second skein and just make it one pattern repeat shorter).
Needles : US 8

I tried taking more pictures of the Fresco Basket Whip Cowl, but I won't even show those... disaster!

Right now I'm working on my very first lace shawl - I cast on for Ishbel over the weekend. I picked this pattern because it didn't seem so intimidating, having a lot of stocking stitch in it. Oh my gosh, I started the lace pattern yesterday and I am making a mistake in EVERY row! Without fail I will either forget a yarn over or forget to pass the slipped stitch over. I have resorted to counting my stitches after every lace row. Is that what I should have been doing all along? Do you do that when you're knitting lace?

It was knitting up pretty quick until I started the lace. Now it's slow going having to count every other row, but it will be worth it because I simply hate unpicking the rows. I hope I can get better pictures of this when it's finished.

Yay for Knitpicks :-)

I heard from Knitpicks last week and they kindly sent me replacement 32" cables :-) So, I got my ruffled scarf finished as you can see.....

but it needs blocking and the ends sewn in. Then I will try to get some 'modeled' shots of it. I don't know who I'll gift it to yet, but I think I will definitely make another one(if not more). I used the Caron Simply Soft I had in stash and I love that it feels so soft. I'm not very good at wearing wool, especially around my neck, I find it very 'scratchy' so this is perfect for me.... oh, hang on, this isn't for me is it, ha ha. Oh, well hopefully the recipient will feel the same - nice and soft, not scratchy ;-)

I got a $50 gift card from Knitpicks for Christmas, oh my gosh it must have taken me about 5 hours yesterday to spend it on line. I'm not kidding, I just didn't know what to buy with it - too much choice! I knew I wanted some sock blockers and I bought the little set that you put your dpn's in while you're knitting socks... but then I was so undecided about yarn. I wanted yarn (I have a ton of books, so I thought yarn stash would be better) but I didn't know what I wanted to make. I prefer to buy yarn with at least something in mind for it later. Finally after many hours of surfing Ravelry and the Knitpicks site I decided on some dk wool and some alpaca lace. I'll show you my goodies when they arrive.