New Project

Don't you just love starting something new?

Now I'm on holiday in Hong and can relax a bit - so I've started on this cardigan.

A girl can never have too many cardigans.

The pattern is called Crinkle and it's by Martin Storey. It was in Rowan Magazine #39.

A friend had given me some black Knitpicks cotton - and so I decided to order more and make this. So far - so good...

Christmas presents

I made lots of these trays for Christmas presents - a variety of colours/papers - even ones that were all black. But i forgot to photograph them all! Oh well this is plenty.

I'm even keeping one of the pink and green ones for myself as a memento of my time in Korea

One last Christmas present

I am making this scarf for my co-teacher here in Korea.

The pattern, called Gathered Scarf for your Mother-in-Law was a free Ravelry download.

I am using a Knitpicks yarn called Alpaca Cloud in a colour called Iris. It is 100% Alpaca - Heathered laceweight - so I am using 2 strands together.

The yarn has a lovely rainbow of colours within the main Iris/purple colour - maybe that is what they mean by Heathered?

Knitpicks don't ship internationally so I had the yarn sent to a friend in the US who then forwarded it to me (thanks Leah) and when it arrived I suddenly realised I needed to knit fast....another 6 days before I will give it to her - whatever length it is then is whatever the final length will be.

One more

This worked so well I just had to make another

Exterminate

Well suddenly Christmas is almost here and all my plans to make presents are gone awry as time has raced ahead of me and I'll never get them made to post in time.

Every year I say it will be different and I will start sooner - maybe next year....

I am in the midst of making my Christmas cards and they will get posted this week.

And I have just finished this Dalek cloth which I'm giving to an English friend here.

I like it - and the cloth can be a face flannel. wash cloth or dish cloth.

The pattern was free on Ravelry - EXFOLIATE Dalek Cloth

and I used a Rowan Handknit Cotton.

Hmmm - might have to make some more...

So near and yet...

Ta daaaa - well not quite.

I have made the epaulettes (in red) but they need to have a crochet edge, using the natural colour, but there was only 6 inches left of that colour after completing the front I-cords.

So - I've ordered more.....as Rachael Hunter says "it won't happen overnight, but it will happen"

More mitts

Somewhere in the process of the never-ending finishing on the Sgt Pepper jacket I got waylaid and started these. I made a few pairs of these mitts last year in an Opal wool and they were popular gifts.

For these I used a merino wool from Schachenmayr that Leah (MagicKnitter on Ravelry) left me. I think they look very smart.

The pattern is free on Ravelry - called 'A Mittful of Jellybeans'

The Home Straight

Someone on Ravelry commented that this jacket had a lot of finishing - and they weren't wrong - but almost there...

Next I make lots of I-cord (something new) and then finish the epaulettes and sew on all the buttons and bingo - I'll post again.

Getting there...

Now just the epaulettes and the front 'bits'

Hopefully this time next week will see a finished product

making progress

Here it is - the Rebel jacket. The front and back are made up from 7 panels, now joined and the hem knitted down from my provisional cast ons.

Next is the collar and then all the finishing touches...

...and finished

This is the second 'attic24' bag. I made it from Rowan Cotton Rope that I bought in Seoul.

And I lined it - no sewing machine here - so all hand sewn.
And now back to the Rebel Jacket - and just as well as it is cooling down quickly now and I will be needing to wear it soon.

Finishing, finishing

I'm trying to finish a few smaller projects before launching back into my Rebel jacket.

Plus the bit I'm up to in the Rebel jacket requires Provisional casting on - something new to me. I saw a complicated version on Youtube that has probably contributed to me putting it off. But last night I found a much easier version - so I am keen to get back to it.

So anyway - here are the two scarves I've been making for a while. The colours are not quite true - they are actually richer. The top one has a lot of 'roll' at the edges so for the seecond one I added 3 knit sts at the end of each row. I used a Knitpicks Sport cotton that my knit buddy left me when she returned to the US (thanks Leah)

Just one more project to finish now...

My new top - Liesl

I should have mentioned - it is made from Euroflax linen - I'd not made anything with linen yarn before. It had a stringy feel when knitting with it - but has worked out well

properly finished now - I think

OK - now it's looking better. I did some research and asked a friend - and then I got brave and chucked it in the washing machine - on a gentle cycle. I don't have a dryer so just laid it out flat to dry and pushed/stretched it into its approximate shape - and the result is below - which looks a lot neater/crisper than before.

Now to wear it...while I can

Liesl - finished - pretty much

Well I finished Liesl last night. One good thing about knitting 'in the round' is that there isn't so much sewing to do - just the pocket edges and yarn ends.

The pattern recommends 'wet blocking' and I'm going to do a little research first as I've never blocked anything before - however I think it needs something as the bottom has curled and apparently the linen is softer after a wash.

Anyway - it is still warm here (up to 29C today) so I think I'll have a bit of time to wear it yet.

holidays and many wips

Gee time flies and it has been a month since my last post.

Mainly it was holidays - I went to New York. I love that place - there is also plenty to do.

I have lots of 'wip's at the moment (works in progress).

I try not to do this too much as I'm bad at finishing anyway but it's just turned out this way.

My main project for summer was to be a long vest/top called Liesl by Cocoknits.

I ordered this lovely rusty orange linen yarn but instead of the 4 that I ordered I only received 2 - and then the shop didn;t have any more - so I waited for their next order to come and then it turned out there was no more - so I had to choose a different colour - this time it is Soft Coral. This was waiting for me when I returned from my holiday last week so I have made that my first priority. I would like to get it finished i time to wear it a little before it gets cold.

The next wip is the Sake and Soba which came to a halt with problems in the pattern. Interweave did get back with a revised chart when I was away - so that's good. It's also nice to know it wasn't me - that there really was a problem with the chart.

And so when Sake and Soba stopped I started on the Rebel jacket - and have completed 2 sleeves so far. I did manage to find some nice buttons for it in NY - at Mood - where they go for their fabrics on Project Runway.

It was fun to go there but fortunately I don't have a sewing machine here or I may have stayed there all day.

While away I took a simple project - a scarf - in fact I am making 2. I'm doing them together to make sure I have enough yarn for both. Today was quiet at school so I did a little sewing in of ends. I am making it out of a Knitpicks Cotton that a friend gave me when she was leaving Korea. The colours are gorgeous and work really well together.

The first one was straight stocking stitch and the edges roll a lot so I have introduced a K3 on the edges of the second and that works a lot better

Update

The Sake and Soba sweater is hibernating until I get some response from the designer or publisher....

Meanwhile I'm working on the attic24 crochet bag ...and then my next lot of yarn turned up - it's Plymouth Mulberry - a wool/silk mix and I'm making a Sgt Pepper style jacket using a pattern called Rebel. One sleeve completed so far...

WIP

My current Work In Progress:

1) the 'sake and soba' sweater/jersey from the book "Japanese Inspired Knits'

It is a gorgeous pattern and I am using the same wool/yarn in the same colour (natural).

The pattern is a challenge - it takes some deciphering - I have to rewrite each row in my size.

I made a big mistake with the ribbing - on the slip stitch I was yarn forward instead of back but I only realised this after I had completed the ribbing and it had taken me so long I didn't frog it! Then I started on the pattern and realised the slip stitch part extended right up the entire jersey - but still I decided I could live with it - and would just correct it on the pattern part.

When I got to Row 5 of the pattern I hit a glitch - it did not seem right. I adjusted a few other stitches and continued. But by Row 7 the problem had reared its ugly head again.

I met up with my knit friend yesterday - she is very experienced and so I knew she would be able to work it out - but in the end even she admitted defeat! - which made me feel less stupid. The pattern is on Ravelry but no one else has made it there - and the publisher has not shown any errata for it.

So now I have emailed the publisher and Marianne Isager (the designer) for clarification.

The 'good' news is that after the mistakes and frustration on Rows 5 and 7 I needed to frog it back so in the end I just frogged it all and started again - this time correcting my first slip st error. So I guess every cloud has a silver lining.

2) This is a Rowan Cotton Rope that I found on sale in Seoul (any imported yarns here can be pretty expensive). I am making another 'attic24' bag.
3) I am test knitting a small project for my friend. We have decided that I am such a literal pattern follower that I will make a good test knitter! As she will publish this later I can't show it to you yet - sorry.

3 months later

You may remember this contraption from March - it was my attempts to keep 3 small pinhole 'cameras' (in the black film cannisters) still for 3 months - recording the sun for Tarja Trygg's solargraph project. You can read more on www.solargraphy.com

So come June 21st I finally removed them and sent them to her.

And here are the results! I was really pleased that they all came out -as I had accidentally exposed one on opening. I had aimed each cannister in different directions. Wacky huh?

slow to finish and diversions

The Little Squares Baby Cardigan Mark 2 is finally finished. There was a lot of sewing-in of ends and it seemed to go on forever.

And I got waylaid by starting the next project - a big mistake as that was more interesting as I watched the colours develop/change. In the end I finished the bag first.

The colours are a little garish - but I like the pattern and so will just trial different colour combinations on future ones

one down and one to go

At last - I have finished one of the two jackets. It is very cute.

I used a tutorial from http://doyoumindifiknit.typepad.com for sewing up the squares. She had made a scarf from little squares. It makes for a neat finish. Thank you Vanessa.

Slow finishing

Oh dear - the Little Squares are taking forever to assemble themselves - not helped by me starting on the next project and finding that more interesting. I am making 2 of the Little Squares cardigans/jackets - so far I have sewn up the first one's pieces and now to sew together.

The fact that the babies will be born soon is enough to keep me at it! Nothing like a deadline.

I completed the Tropical Garden Vest Mark 2 a few weeks back but didn't want to post about it until my sister had received it. It is very similar except the Main Colour is a charcoal/black.

Patchwork and indigo blue

The Little Squares Cardi is taking forever to sew up - not helped by me moving onto another project ...

And here is an exhibition I went to the other weekend - it goes into my brain as inspiration for colour and pattern - and one day may return in another form. The exhibition was about dyeing textiles (mostly indigo) - I just love that blue. And also the way they use patchwork - I'm not sure if it was born out of necessity but they have certainly taken it to a higher art form.

Sorry about the layout - I switched back to an older form of blogger and I need to switch back again.

But if you click on the photos you can see them individually and big!

and now...

I have this messy pile. Next I need to arrange the colours and sew up. Why is is so much harder to finish than it is to start? 

I will post all the details (about the tutorials and pattern) with the finished items.