WIPs

My goodness today has been productive so far! By 9am I had made a batch of sun dried tomato and ricotta cheese ravioli (I had defrosted a previously frozen batch of fresh pasta for so it's not all been made today) ready for tonight's dinner and done a 30min yoga workout! Then my day went marginally down hill as I took some of the skin off my right index finger but I am back on track and have just baked some oat cookies!

Anyway....knitting!

As I said yesterday I have been knitting on my goal projects for this month and wanted to share the progress here.

I dusted off the cardigan a night or so ago and decided that I just needed to knit it. Having ummed and ahhed over whether to use a stitch pattern on the front of the cardigan or not, I felt that, as that was the reason it'd been sat for a while, I'd better just do it in stockinette stitch so as not to let it sit any longer! A plain cardigan is perfectly acceptable and a fancier one can be knit when I'm more confident that I can do it!

After posting about my goals last night I picked up the socks and knit a few rows. Sometimes it surprises me how fluid it can be to knit on DPNs and that was the case last night. The stitch pattern breaks up the monotony of stockinette stitch and also breaks up the striping a bit.

Each night I've tried to spin a little bit and am making (slow) progress on both lots of fiber. The Inglenook is still in the mostly black part and I'm looking forward to a bit more colour coming through!

What have you been working on recently? Have you got a project that's just sitting there waiting for you to decide what to do with it?

 

November Goals

It's the beginning of a new month and I always feel like it's a clean slate for my knitting and spinning projects. Each month I feel that I'm going to knit/spin that little bit faster and get more accomplished than I did last month. Yet, the time flies by and before you know it I've knit a few rows here and there on various projects but haven't really got anywhere!  

Last month I got distracted by the beautiful Curious Collective Shawl and cast on a new sock. This month our shipping has just been unpacked and I'm wondering what other new shiny thing(s) I can cast on! It's funny though because I'm really only knitting things for me at the moment so it doesn't matter how long those things take, but I feel bad for letting things sit without being worked on. Anybody else feel the same?

So here are a couple of goals for this month:

1. Pick up my cardigan and do something with it! Anything! Perhaps even knit on it! 
2. Spin some of a WIP. 
3. Knit a bit more of a sock. 
4. Try not to distracted by all of the things!
5. Blog as much as possible during November. 

Do you have some goals for this month? Feel free to share them here!

 

Perfect Weather for Knitting

The time has arrived in Suzhou where snuggling up with a hot chocolate and some knitting is the perfect evening activity - although in my book that's OK in summer too! Today has been cold, grey and damp so you'll have to make do with indoor photos taken in rubbish light. Sorry about that! 

Remember that little lacy something I was working on from this blog post? Well that didn't last long! It was going to be a Sacha shawl but my brain wasn't coping with the lace. It's something I have knit before but I'm just too busy/tired to set aside the time needed for it. So I frogged this gorgeous yarn for what seemed like the umpteenth time and started accepting that I might never find a perfect pattern for it. Until I stumbled upon Gravitate by KallioKnits. It's easy, simple and I think quite elegant. This is destined for a very good friend of mine and I hope she likes it as much as I think I'm going to! 

Gravitate Shawl, Fyberspates Rural Charm 

My socks have seen a little daylight although not much since I last posted. It's enough to see how the stripes will knit up and I like them very much. 

Fish Lips Kiss Heel sock, Fishknits Yarn

Over the last month I've been challenging myself to spin a 4oz batt before the 30th November. I've completed the first 50g. While I've started the second 50g, I doubt I will have time to complete it. It's looking lovely so far though. The batt is Hummingbird by Nunoco. Don't you love the sparkles in it?!  

Hummingbird Batt, Nunoco

My Vertex cardigan is coming along. I have joined the fronts to the back and have knit about an inch and a half more. Thankfully, the rolling of the stockinette stitch hides my glaring error. Despite having stitch markers to mark the edges, I'm still going through periods where I'm knitting stockinette stitch and not garter stitch. Quite frankly, I can't be bothered to rip back the 5 or 6 rows to fix it, and while I realise I could also try and drop down the stitches to fix them, I'm reluctant to, as the yarn isn't the easiest to work with. So I'm living with it as a design feature. I think this will be a cute cardigan when it's done but I'm not massively enjoying the knitting of it. 

Vertex Cardigan, King Cole Merino Blend 4 ply

I hope you've had a productive fiber filled week. Until soon! 

 

What's in the bag?

Just in time, I discovered that Nicsknots is running a blogging competition to see what's in everyone's project bags! A little late to the game, I thought I'd write a quick post about my project bag. 

The project bag was custom made for me by Grace of Grace's Cases. She makes fabulous things to a high standard and is a delight to work with. I have one of her needle cases too and it's brilliant! The fabric (which is more muted in real life) was from Spoonflower, which is an absolute time suck so be warned!! What you can't see, is that the bag is reversible and has some lovely owls embroidered on to a coordinating orange fabric. 

In my bag was this:

As you can see I have a pair of socks that I am working on. The gorgeous yarn is from Fishknits Yarn. It's a spilled milk colourway so there were only a few skeins of it. The stripes are so much fun and I'm really enjoying my first self striping yarn. 

The other project is my Vertex Cardigan that I started a little while back. I have completed the back and started the right front but ran into a problem. My row gauge is off, so the right front was knitting up longer than the back. I ripped out a few rows of the back and extended the length of it. I hope this will solve the problem now. 

As you may be able to tell I haven't done the best job of picking up stitches on the shoulder seam. The yarn (King Cole Merino Blend 4ply) made it difficult and I think I would have preferred to knit the fronts separately and then seam them afterwards. Hopefully the left front will be neater though. 

I would love for you to leave me a comment telling me what you can fit in your project bag. Also, if you have a few minutes, check out the blogs that have taken part in the competition. You can find the links in the blog post on Nicsknots. 

 

The Socks of Happiness

I finished my Fish Lips Kiss Heel socks tonight and I am thrilled  with them! They are just so much fun that I actually squealed with delight when I put them on and saw how they looked as a complete pair. The heel looks so neat and was very easy to knit. I highly recommend the pattern to anyone wanting to try a new heel. 

I used the magic knot technique to join my yarn to create the stripes and although it has worked out fine I probably wouldn't choose to do this again as it really was a hassle. I will also think about knitting a longer cuff for my following socks, so far they seem to stay up fine though. I used twisted 1x1 rib and really like the way it looks on the colour change. 

Self striping socks are definitely next on my list to knit but do I go plain vanilla or patterned? If patterned, what patterns work well with self striping? I would love to hear your suggestions. 

In other news I have cast on another attempt at the Vertex Cardigan by Carol Feller as I received a 500g cone of yarn earlier this week. My swatch came out at the exact stitch gauge so fingers crossed it will work up OK! I am knitting it out of King Cole Merino Blend 4 Ply in the kingfisher colourway. The colour is beautiful and I've been wanting to add more colour to my wardrobe for a while. Wish my luck! It will be my first adult sized garment. 

As I said last week I cheated on my socks with a lacy shawl. I've not knit much more than 2 repeats of the first chart though. There are only 8 rows in each repeat and I have less than 60 stitches on my needle so very little progress has been made on it!! It's the pattern Sacha by Vanessa Smith which I've knit before. The lace is quite a challenge in that there isn't really an obvious pattern so you need to concentrate on it and that doesn't happen for me during the school week. I'm using Fyberspates Rural Charm in the plum colourway. This will eventually be a gift for a very good friend. As I've mentioned on the blog before, the yarn is amazing to knit with and definitely worth checking out.  

That's it for this week. Remember to check out the giveaway if you haven't already! 

Finished Object!

I finished my Belgian Waffle Boomerang earlier this week and got around to photographing it earlier this week. The pattern was very clear and easy to knit but it did get a little repetitive after a while. I like the finished object and as it's knit from Fyberspates Faery Wings it will be very cozy to wear. 

In other crafting news I have completed the heel of my socks and thought the Fish Lips Kiss Heel pattern was excellent. The heels fit perfectly, look so neat and were very easy to knit. I highly recommend buying the pattern if you haven't got it already. Don't these socks make you so happy?!

Wanting some (almost) instant gratification I cast on the Barley hat by Tin Can Knits. I knit twisted rib instead of regular though and moss stitch instead of garter. It was quick and I finished it in a few days, photos to come when it stops raining! I really like the way it fits and the pattern is very simple. It's great for some mindless knitting or if you are a beginner knitter! 

I received an incredibly generous gift from a friend. It's approximately 1kg of gorgeous, soft 60%/40% alpaca/wool blend lace weight yarn. I have no idea what the yardage is but I expect it's a lot! Half is an oaty colour and the other half is a soft grey colour. I am going to swatch for Bonny but with the yarn held doubled. Perhaps I'll experiment again (with my swatch first) with dyeing when I have finished the knitting! What are your favourite lace weight patterns? 

Change is coming

The weather has been rather changeable recently - going from lovely sunny days to grey, overcast rainy days. It's definitely cooling down here now and it's making me want to cast on a hat. My problem is which one? I love lacy hats but when I'm zipping along on my e-bike they are just not that warm! So something textured and slouchy is what I'm after. I was thinking of casting on Barley by Tin Can Knits as despite being really simple I love the look of it. My other option is Mont Royal by tshep as the detail of the twisted stitches is gorgeous. Perhaps I'll knit both! What are you planning on knitting for the weather where you are?

I am still knitting away on my Belgian Waffle shawl but I am now on the final third!! Hopefully this week I will finish it (as I have a week off work!!) but really need to try to knit monogamously on it to do that...the thought makes me cringe but I want it off the needles and I'm sure you're bored of seeing it on the right there! 

Finally I can show you the pair of socks I have recently cast on, Rhubarb and Custard. Originally my plan was to knit them with a diamond up the front but I didn't like it so I ripped that part out. Now I am going for my first pair of stripy socks instead. The first join was fine but then I got fancy and decided to use the magic knot join...that had to be ripped out. Then the third join was funky so that had to be ripped out. At the moment they seem to be going OK but I'm not holding my breath!  

Finally I got some Nunoco off my Twindle so that I could free it up to finish off the first of my Iridescent Puddle batts. This is so wonderful to look at and the colours are prefect in my opinion! 

On my Glindle is the remaining fiber of the first batt of my Ingelenook Fibers Parrot Tulip. Those little green nups make me so very happy. 

That's about it from me today. I will be back later this week giving you my review of The Field Guide to Fleece. So far I think it's brilliant! 

Blog Hop Part 2

The Blog Hub Blog Hop has come to an end. The idea behind it was to finish as many WIPs as possible.

I set out to finish my shawl, a pair of socks and some spinning. I finished the socks but the shawl and spinning remain WIPs to be complete. 

I was clearly being a bit ambitious with my WIPs but I'm pleased with how the socks came out and the others will get finished soon enough.

Check out how the others did:

Knits by Erin

Spin A Yarn Knit

Davin Made

Progress is Being Made

The Blog Hub Blog Hop is on Wednesday has now been extended to Friday and I have been working mainly on those projects. 

Good news - I finished the socks!! I have washed them and am waiting to give them to the recipient so I can take a photo of her wearing them...if she'll let me! 

Unfortunately I am still only about half way through my Belgian Waffle Shawl. I thought it'd be much quicker than it is turning out to be. Although I will continue to work on it I doubt I'll get it done by Wednesday. 

I am still spinning the nunoco batt and have got about an ounce on my spindle. That will come off soon and I will start the next ounce. 

Today though, I decided to ply the 2 ounces of Inglenook Fibers that I spun up over summer. I couldn't get the peacock feathers to ply into it so will knit those in when I knit with the yarn. It's currently drying in the sunshine so I have no idea of the yardage yet. Overall I think it came out OK. The second ounce is much more consistently spun and finer than the first ounce. 

I'm not that fond of the dark blue skein which is just as well as I have it earmarked for a project for someone who does like blue. The bottom skein is more my colours but I'm not in love with it so I'll probably destash the remaining fiber to someone who will give it the love and attention it deserves. It is really very soft though and I'm sure I'll enjoy knitting with it. 

Now I can start the next pair of socks using the Fish Lips Kiss Heel. The socks are going to be pink and yellow, have contrasting heel and toes in opposite colours and will most likely have a diamond pattern on the front of the foot and up the leg. I can't wait!! 

I will definitely use the 2 at a time, toe up method again as it was such a relief to have them both finished at the same time!

What projects have you been working on?  

Goodies

It's been a busy couple of weeks here as you can probably tell by my absence last week! I have a few goodies to show you though. 

I received some stunning fiber and a spindle in the post recently, as a prize for some spinning done during (not for) the Tour de Fleece over on ravelry. 

The fiber, from Corgi Hill Farm, is the most luxurious I have in my stash and a new blend for me. It's camel/silk in a stunning gold colour and the spindle is a Spanish Peacock russian spindle measuring just 8 inches! It's a speedy spin and so lovely to use. 

Over the summer I ordered some Cygnet Wool Rich sock yarn. It arrived a while ago but I put it away as I was knitting other things. I have decided that after I finish my Parrot Socks I am going to knit some contrasting heel and toe socks using these two colours. What do you think? I intend to use the Fish Lips Kiss Heel pattern. Has anyone used it? I would love to hear recommendations or tips.  

I was considering knitting some stripy socks initially but I'm not sure I want all those ends to weave in! Does the magic knot technique work for stripes? 

At the beginning of the week I received some rather colourful fiber. It's Hobbledehoy dizzed roving in Shire and is made of up merino, bamboo and tencel with a sprinkling of silver angelina. The pink (of which there is more on the other side of the braid) is really not me but it's a fun braid and will spin up into some fun yarn. 

As for my WIPs, my socks are coming along quite well. The heel is done now and I'm on to the leg. However, I became quite impatient to start the heel so am now gifting these to a friend with smaller feet than I! The gusset was a pain to knit though and I shall be avoiding these like the plague! 

My Belgian Waffle shawl is approximately 40% done. I'm not sure if I'll finish it before the WIP blog hop comes round but I shall try! 

The Nunoco batt has taken a bit of a back seat though while I've been spinning that beautiful camel/silk. I need to give it a bit more love and attention! 

What have you been knitting or spinning this week? 

All The Things

This week has been exceptionally busy due to the start of school coming so knitting and spinning time has been sparse. The kids are in on Wednesday and my body is not cooperating as I am coming down with a cold. Perhaps I will use this as an excuse to knit and spin as much as I can!? 

First up, pictures of the Low Tide Cardigan by Tin Can Knits. I gifted this to the recipient yesterday and although it is a bit big at the moment by the time it cools down it should be a great fit. I am really looking forward to seeing it being worn.  

Next up socks! I am trying to stash bust a bit at the moment as, for some reason, I want to buy all the things!! I started knitting Spice Man socks using some now discontinued 100% merino sock yarn in the Parrot colourway. The pattern is easy to follow and I have just started the gusset and hope to finish it soon. As you can see I'm knitting them two at a time, toe up, on one circular needle. This is my first time using this technique and although it was fiddly to start with I really like it now. The needles are Dyakcraft Heavy Metals which I am in love with and as a sock needle I think they are ideal. 

New on the needles is a Belgian Waffle Boomerang by Susan Ashcroft. It's a really well written pattern and very easy to follow. I am using one of the recommended yarns, which rarely happens, Fyberspates Faery Wings on my 5mm Darn Pretty Interchangeable Needles. The yarn is simply gorgeous to knit with and feels very luxurious. I am sure this will be a pleasure to wear through the winter months here. This is my favourite shape of shawls so any recommendations of patterns are appreciated. 

                                  

As I said last week I was keen to try spinning with rolags. I picked out a lovely sample from my Secret Garden Phat Fiber box and away I went. I believe the fiber is from Woodland Hills Alpacas and it spun up into a beautiful little skein. A blending board is definitely in my future but perhaps I will have to suffice with buying rolags for the time being. Where do you like to buy yours from?  

On my spindle at the moment is a Nunoco batt. The colourway is Iridescent Puddle which is a gradient that goes from  purple, to green and then jade. I started at the jade end and am almost at the end of the purple of the first 50g. I want this to match up as much as possible so will two ply it. I have 200g in total so hopefully I can knit something gorgeous at the end. 

   

On a more technical note, I have recently purchased Knit Companion as it is currently on sale. Has anyone used it? Do you have any hints or tips? Do you like it? I will hopefully start using it soon but am keen to hear your thoughts on it in the meantime.  

Have a great weekend!