10 down - only 98 to go

Well here are the first squares of my Rainbow Blanket
Some of my dyeing is a bit different from what I am aiming for but I have decided to go with the flow on that or I'll never get there. They look good framed in the cream.

Cowl completed

 Well it's finished and it's lovely - even if we are having an Indian summer here.
I'm still not sure that the colours are really me....but it's a good pattern and warm yarn.
I think I may be making more cowls this year - as the answer to my cold neck.

Something old and something new

I had knitted one of these for my design project and decided to finish the pair - and send them off to the person who has a matching shawl

 I really had the urge to start something new, despite having 2 other projects on the go, and so I launched into another of the designs from the Unwind competition.  This is Doe Arnot's Crochet Alpaca Cowl. She has posted the pattern on Ravelry. I am using a Flagstaff Alpaca/merino/nylon bland that she has hand dyed with this cowl in mind - long dye runs. It is quite clever as you join as you go - saving a lot of work at the end. I am about halfway around and then there is an edge to add. As we head into autumn it will be handy soon

My first designs

Without the deadline of the Unwind Design Competition these mitts would definitely still be a work in progress - probably forever. Knitting them up was the easiest part - writing up the pattern 'properly' was not so easy. And getting Word and Excel pages into a pdf and then posting them on Ravelry (the Mecca of Knitting websites) was an even bigger. But all done and dusted by 2am Friday morning!

Anyway - the details. They had to be knitted in 4ply/fingering weight NZ yarn so I used Vintage Purls Sock yarn because I seem to have quite a lot of it and it is hard wearing but soft and comes in great colours.

The mitt you see below I called Birdie's Mitts after Birdie Bowers - one of those who perished with Scott on his ill-fated journey to the South Pole. Birdie was the man in charge of stores amongst other things and was the backbone of the expedition. Unmarried, I imagined these to be the sort of mitts his mother might have knit for him to keep his hands warm while he worked.

 And I decided to show them in another softer colour way also.

The next mitts came from a prototype I made last year. I gave them to my sister and she wore them all winter so I figured they must have some redeeming features. They are warmer because of the 2 yarns used that create a double layer. I called these Bonnie Jean Mitts - in memory of my mother who was called Jean and Bonnie.
Once again I made 2 pair to show the effects of different colour ways. They use various Sanquhar patterns - from Scotland.

So at the weekend we had Unwind. 70 mad keen knitters all in one place - including my 2 sisters.
There were classes: I went to ones on crochet, design and reversible cables. There were also Trade stalls and a lot of yarn and goodies found new homes.
Oh - I didn't win the design competition - a beautiful lace-pattern shawl did. All the entries were lovely and I have my eye on 2 in particular that I plan to make soon. Watch this space.

Endings and beginnings

Ha! That was a corny title. But anyway...

Above is the completed Spotty Cardy - it's a pretty tight fit around the arms - next time I would make a larger size. It just means I won't be able to wear too much underneath it - however it is so warm I probably won't need to.

And I finally tackled some dyeing - not perfect but a good start.

With Unwind only 2 weeks away I am working furiously on my 2 designs. Funny - it's way easier to knit them than it is to write up the pattern. Still - a good challenge and all will be revealed soon.

Not much to show

Well - there's Spotty Cardy being blocked. I guess that's progress although it seems slow.

I've also been working on a 'Secret Squirrel' project so can't show that just yet.

I haven't started dyeing for the Rainbow Blanket - I guess I'm a bit scared and also worried that I may not get the colours I want. Still there's only one way to work that out!

Next on the list is a design (and make) for Unwind. It looks good in my head but the reality is always something else

A Plan

Well I try not to have too many 'wip's' [works in progress]on the go at once and then I see something that completely captures me and there goes that plan.

I saw rainbow blanket on the Purl Soho website. You can buy the kit from them for a mere US$780.

That seemed a little excessive for my budget and then I remembered the plain skeins I'd been stockpiling from our nearby Milton Mill Shop - at NZ$12 for 200g they were a bargain. They are a fingering weight sock yarn - 80% merino 20% nylon. I think I have enough to make the blanket and if not then my sister has a few spare - so it should work out.

Of course with over 40 colours there is a little dyeing required- and my skills will have to improve to actually get the colour I'm aiming for. Given what is involved I decided it should be a year long project.

The first task was to make a practice square to check gauge. The website has a tutorial for the crochet part which was just as well as I had to do every row at least twice until I got it right.
Next I ripped it back and measured how much yarn each part took so I will know how much to dye.
That seemed like enough for the first week. Next I'll start to think about the dye colours.

This time...

 OK - Tempest is now finished - again. But this time it's better because I have sewed the shoulder seams.

 And I'm just chugging away on the spotty carry - I'm doing the second front piece and then the sleeves...

End of year tidy up

It's funny how you get the urge to tidy up before the New Year.
In my case there is so much to tidy up everywhere that just some things will get the necessary attention.
One of the lucky recipients was the #5 Pullover - cast aside until I cooled off about the pattern's instructions. When I picked it up again yesterday I finally worked out that I didn't need to frog it back. So now it is sewn up, neckband done and buttons on for finishing.
I think I may have have made it too big but at least a child can grow into it....

Other things ...

I've had these fabric prints from when I was at Art School. They are the 'seconds' and are salt prints, an old method of printing photos, which I made on fabric. One of my sisters thought they would make a good cushion and she was right - so both sisters got them for presents.

That's my father in 1912 when he was about 3.

The other project I made for a gift was a mosaic tray -

I rather enjoy these projects as it was a really crappy tray until I painted it and mosaic'ed it.

Knitted gifts

 
The knitted items were mitts and shawls - above and below.

Except I forgot to photograph the matching mitts for the second shawl.

I also made a couple of Dalek cloths 

Now I'll have to think up something new for next year.

Three little words

Well Tempest is finished. Nice isn't it?

Then I noticed that the neck wasn't really quite right. So I looked at other ones in Ravelry and finally it dawned on me that I had overlooked 3 little words in the pattern - "sew shoulder seams"!!!!!!

What was I thinking? Obviously not much at all.

The only solution is to frog the bands, unpick the sleeve seams and work again.

I hate going backwards but I am going to hate it more if I don't fix it - so maybe it will be done by New Year, along with my other fix-it project - the child's pullover.

Meantime I am going forwards with the Spotty Cardy. 

It's a little uneven but I aim to improve as I go.

And after Christmas I will post images of some of the things I've been making for presents.

Have a good one.

Colourful knits

 

Well I finished making the Christmas presents - the knitted ones anyway.

Also made these balls above to adorn some Christmas trees.

Next I started on the pullover below. It is a Lang yarn pattern - adorable - the child and the pullover. The pattern itself is another matter however - incomprehensible and unworkable in places. I've resorted to just making it up. Now I have  a problem with the raglan sleeves being too short so will have to rip it back and adjust the pattern to make it work. But it has annoyed me so it is having a wee rest for now.

So next up is Tempest and I am making it using some yarn from the Mill Shop in Milton. It was a total bargain and I loved the colours - I bought 4 different colours. It has a 'high twist' so I have been extra good and swatched, washed my swatch and now I've even washed the pieces before assembling.
For now they are drying.

So I've started something else - Spotty Cardi. Officially it is Design R0040, Ladies' Jacket from the Regia Journal 001 - Colour Effects by Kaffe Fassett. There are some great patterns in there - all in a similar 'Persian Poppies' style using the Regia Kaffe Fassett yarns. I don't think it is too easy to buy the Journal though - the only way I could find it was to buy it as a kit. The main colour of the kit was a light blue/green - not really my colour. However my sister loved it so she then ordered the gray and we swapped.

I'm working on 2.5mm needles - and have done about 4 rows of rib. It might take a wee while.....

That makes 4 wip's - hopefully I'll get some finished before starting anything more.

Fast knit

There you go - Shellseeker is finished. I have to say things go faster with a thicker yarn - this was an aran/worsted weight. It seems a good comfortable fit. I'm figuring that the half wool/half cotton will be perfect for Dunedin summers.

My next projects are mostly gifts - so I may not have too much to show for awhile.....

At long last

Hazelhurst is finished. It only took 3 months. And we have the cold weather this long weekend to wear it. Win, win. My knitting had been somewhat 'bumpy' but I followed the instructions to steam it, inside and out, and that seemed to do the trick.

And so now I have been able to move on - to Shellseeker which I am making using the suggested Spud & Chloe Sweater wool/cotton yarn. I wanted knitting that required a bit less concentration so that I could watch The Killing/Forbrydelsen, the second series, that was lent to me. Perfect for our long weekend. 10 hours of gripping viewing AND hand-knitted jerseys.