Knit or blog? Definitely knit

The trouble with having a job is that time away from work is limited.  With only a few hours in the evenings and at weekends I have to prioritise, and knitting comes first as one of life’s essentials.  After all, if I don’t knit I’ll do damage to someone or something.  It’s the only way to stay sane enough to turn up at work every day.

So this blog has suffered from lack of care since November, but here’s a little update on what I’ve been knitting.

I can’t say I enjoyed my lopapeysa, except perhaps the yoke.  I had to work a few shawls at the same time as a distraction, but I finally finished it a few weeks ago.  So here is Védís Jónsdóttir‘s Afmæli, my Once Upon a Lopi:

Inevitable, Evelyn A Clark’s Heartland Lace Shawl, turned out to be an absolute favourite and I wear it at least once a week.  I added some gold size 6 beads which look OK, but I reckon I’ll stick to silver-lined clear beads for the future.

However, I didn’t enjoy the early stages and was distracted into a KAL of The Birthday Shawl by the delightful Kate’s Twirl.  I used my (in)famous hand-dyed yarn which was featured in Knit Now, and it turned out rather nice.  So nice, in fact, that Kate voted it the best of the KAL and sent me a set of her beautiful stitch markers.  A lovely Christmas present!

And you can also go over to Ravelry to take a look at some in progress shots.

Then, as yet another distraction from my Lopi sweater, I used up some Airedale Aran in a winter-time version of Kate Gagnon Osborn‘s Springtime Bandit, Airedale Outlaw:

And to complete another year of feverishly knitting innumerable shawls, Boo Knits‘ Quite Continental:

I love the placement of the beads in Twinkle Twinkle, but not the shape nor the slipped stitch edge which I thought too inelastic.  I started the picot cast-off and didn’t like that either, so finished with the usual Russian.  Such a shame, because I was really looking forward to this one, but most likely the victim of shawl-knitting fatigue!

The Lopi sweater still wasn’t finished so next up was Froth, which was a bit of a marathon:

This is Jatta Saukko‘s Zetor which I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.  Knitted in DROPS Lace on one of my new ChiaoGoo circulars, it turned out beautifully soft and happily goes really well with a recent addition to my wardrobe.  Colour co-ordination is easy if you stick to your favourite colours!

I needed some further distraction before finishing this one, but I think that’s enough for today.  Time for some knitting ….

And 5 makes 20

It’s been a while since my last post and a lot of things have happened.  The main trauma was my mother falling and breaking her hip.  She spent two and a half weeks in hospital where she was looked after by some amazing people.  She’s been back home for a while now and is slowly gaining strength and mobility:  she’s pretty resilient for her age.

So it’s true knitting keeps you sane.  Although I’ve cut right down on projects (times are hard) and have only one on the go at a time, I’ve still managed to churn out another four more shawlettes.  I’m afraid my Amelia in pink cotton just didn’t work in the circumstances and is now a hibernating frog.

Third time lucky with my hand-painted BFL laceweight produced a black and fuchsia Old Man of Storr Shawlette, my Last Chance Old Boy:

I can’t say I’m hugely fond of it but I guess it might come in useful.  The colours are stunning, though.

Then some more hand-painted BFL, this time in 4-ply.  A very easy Undine on 4.5mm needles:

This is Liquid Lunch, and I’ve already worn it a few times on the cooler days we’ve had just recently.

And then, a version of Anniken Allis’ Winding Path in two skeins of my hand-dyed baby alpaca 4-ply.  I absolutely love this shawl! It was so nice to knit (even though it’s green) and it’s a real knitted hug to wrap around myself when I feel the need.

My nineteenth shawl of 2012 is Evelyn A Clark’s Shetland Triangle Lace Shawl in more hand-painted BFL laceweight which I blogged about last year.  I still love the colours of the yarn and I’m quite happy with the knitted result:

There’s a lovely dusky rose shade produced by a mixture of pink and chestnut, and I’ve reproduced it in a skein of kettle-dyed 4-ply BFL.

 

I dyed up the last of my yarn stock this week and put away my crockpot and steamer.  There’ll be no more dyeing for a while, I’m afraid.  But you can expect to see some of the yarns knitted up in the coming months on this blog, no doubt.

I’m using my last skein of baby alpaca for an Augustine Shawlette by Valdis Vrang.  I’ve just reached the half-way point so let the unravelling begin! This will make my 20 for the year, so perhaps it’s time I started on some socks.

Mind you, after putting together this blog today I feel pretty unravelled myself.  Hopefully I’ll post again before the end of the month.

Enjoy your knitting!

 

And the Bead goes on ….

I managed to squeeze another two shawls out of my 200g of hand-dyed BFL laceweight. So that’s five from 1600m – so thrifty!

Here’s my Beaded Swallowtail:

Needless to say, I used beads instead of nupps and added three per scallop to make sure the swallowtails stay nice and pointy.

As a small diversion from Evelyn A Clark’s designs and light blue laceweight, I turned out The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief in baby alpaca:

It was so cold the other week my hands were hurting from arthritis and I thought some new mitts would help. I had enough baby alpaca left and got started on Jennifer Hagan’s Princess Mitts …

… and of course the sun came out! I think it may be a while before the second mitt is done.

Back to the blue laceweight now, I’m afraid. I have this thing about lace leaves at the moment and I’ve wanted to do Evelyn’s Leaf Shawl for quite some time. I thought I’d make the leaves a little smaller (8 stitches instead of 10):

Where to put the beads? Oh yes, the border! I added one to the knit stitch between the yarn overs and then three per point.

The finished object:

So that’s the end of it!

And for the last item in my stash (some fuchsia Filigran) I chose Sue Berg’s Enzian and I’m adding beads to every flower:

It’s taking quite a few so just as well I replenished my stock at Craft Basics last week with 50g of size 8 and 50g of size 6.

And that means, no doubt, that there’ll be more beaded knitting in the future, and it may be 4-ply ….

First shawl of 2012

Having decided that 12 socks and 12 shawls were a bit too much for 2012 I got a move on with my first shawl last weekend. I’m not too strong on common sense this month, that’s for sure.

It’s in Perplex, my hand-dyed 4-ply baby alpaca. I’m a bit strange about this yarn: it’s so gorgeous I can’t part with it. I’ve just dyed another 400g, and I really should put them up for sale, but I don’t think I can.

Here’s my shawl:

It’s Alice by Marie-Adeline Boyer and it has a sister, Cassandra. I have a skein of Perplex in lilac which will won’t get sold and will get knitted up fairly soon, I think.

As for socks, I chose Cookie A’s Monkey for my second of 2012. I can understand why there are over 15,000 Monkey projects on Ravelry – it’s a nice easy design. The first sock is finished:

and I’m turning the heel of the second.

One bright note in the last two dreadful weeks is that my yarns may appear for sale in another shop (the one in the street that’s been voted the best in England).

2011 – A year of knitting feverishly

I reckon I’ve knitted more this last year than ever before, and I’ve learned a lot too. According to my Ravelry projects page for 2011, I’ve completed 51 projects. I haven’t been idle then.

I joined the 11 Shawls in 2011 group on Ravelry and completed the requisite number by mid-July. But I just kept on going. I’d made 19 shawls by early December and so, in knitty logic, I had to knit another to reach 20 in 2011. Here it is:

It’s Birgit Freyer’s Lazy Katy – a nice, quick and easy knit. It seems the 11 shawls group has morphed into 12 Shawls in 2012. I’m not sure I have the motivation this year but maybe I’ll concentrate on laceweight.

One of my Christmas presents was Clara Parkes’ The Knitter’s Book of Socks. There’s not much on sock construction, but quite a bit on sock yarn. And the designs are rather nice: I’m planning to start with Hummingbird using the same yarn as my Lazy Katy. It’s my own hand-dyed which I kept back for myself since I wasn’t too sure about its colourfastness. I shouldn’t have worried since the shawl washed fine before blocking. But matching shawl and socks. Cool? I’m not sure.

I got some sock blockers too, and here they are with my last project of 2011:

The design is Jocelyn Sertich’s Dragonfly Socks with a minor change to the cuff. Another nice and easy design – do I try anything else these days? I’ve joined 12 socks in 2012 on Ravelry – I need to use up all my hand-dyed yarn!

So what was my favourite project of year? There are three contenders:

• a sweater in red baby alpaca, 
• Pimpelliese in hand-dyed burgundy BFL, 
• and Anniken Allis’ mystery shawl KAL (which became Cornish Rhapsody) in hand-dyed grey BFL. 

Surprisingly, since I hated the third clue, it’s got to be the shawl. I just love wearing it!

And finally, I think 2012 will be a year of socks and lace.

Red Red Red

Isn’t Autumn wonderful?

Looking out my window (as I do a lot) I’m intrigued by this combination of red and green. I’ve no idea what the shrub is, although I should, but it looks dreamy, like it’s getting ready for hibernation:

I know this is Copper Beech:

There’s a skein of sock yarn just waiting to be turned into a burgundy/green mix ….

Seven day Sweater

Well, not quite. I started a sweater in gorgeous baby alpaca last Saturday afternoon.

I wanted to get it done as quickly as possible so I knitted flat out all week. Seven days later four pieces are finished and blocking.

So it’s ready for the fiddly bits.

In the meantime I rushed into using my Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, picking another one skein wonder.

Most of the designs on Ravelry call for US size 1 needles, ie 2.25 mm. I’ve two sets of 2.5 mm and, although I’m sure the difference would be minimal, I’d rather use the suggested needle. Looks like I need to go shopping …

I’ve dyed some more sock yarn this week using blues and pink, so here’s my stash so far.

I’m cooking up a nice violet/fuchsia mix right now and I’ll post pictures soon.

And did I go for a run this morning? Er, felt a bit tired really, thought I’d do some dyeing instead … I am so BAD!

Yellowday

Yesterday was yellowday. I dyed some sunshine sock yarn:

I’m fascinated by Maggie Magali’s Gingko Shoulderette Shawl and I’ve been thinking about bright yellow yarn for a week or so. Now it’s done.

In the evening, I made some custard and saved some to eat cold today. I took it out of the fridge to photograph but it didn’t last long enough to get a decent picture.

Not everything was yellow. I swatched my cranberry baby alpaca. It’s (UK) double knitting weight and I’ve gone down to 3.75mm just so I can use my Pony Pearls. A plain, V-neck, three-quarter sleeve sweater, I think.