The karmic sock

Lo and behold - we have a leg of a sock with a heel flap!! What is even more exciting as far as I'm concerned is that having got to this point I finally understand the pattern, I know what I'm trying to achieve and I understand how it will happen!!








I have reached a karmic understanding of the sockness of sock and I can now see how I can alter the pattern to make a sock that will fit me - so now I have to finish this sock (and it's mate) before I can start making tiger striped socks for myself. So, as I rush off to start picking up stitches and knitting gussets I leave you with a heel flap from the right side and a heel flap from the wrong side and send grateful thanks to my beloved who is kind enough to act as if he cares about 'My First Sock' whenever I go on about it!

Not yet a sock - more like a tube

I'm having great fun with this sock - the yarn pattern makes it interesting - I've always been a sucker for variegated yarn, knitting furiosly to see how the colour pattern evolves - this Opal yarn has teh same effect - I can't stop knitting for wanting to see the next colour. I spent an hour or so on the sock yesterday and here, I present 'my first tube' I don't feel ready to attempt a heel flap tonight , so that is it for today!. I handed over the blue cardigan today - for my colleague's grandson, much to her surprise and I have a feeling of great achievement and a desire never to knit that pattern ever again.

Sleepless in Manchester

Last night I totally failed to get to sleep until well after 3am, this has an up side to it - I inserted the pocket into the bright pink jacket and knitted the pocket top as well - for some reason I get a real buzz out of pockets - I tend to knit the linings well before I need them then go hell for leather until I can place them.







Today has also been a day of progress - the blue cardigan is done - washed and with buttons - that can be handed over to my colleague tomorrow - a WIP finished and removed from my flat - I've really not enjoyed knitting it - I chose to make a big size of a pattern I'd made once already and found it very boring.







The instructions for the handles of this bag are to work 6 stitches on 8mm needles for a long time - I hate the thought of that and am thinking reverse stocking stitch rolled into a tube. It is nearly sewn together now so all I have to do is decide if i want to line it.








The green/blue shawl grows apace, since I took the picture I've fringed it as far as I've got rather than leave it until after I finish - that's given me a real lift although it has made it much warmer to knit on!









The body of the Noro jumper is also growing but too warm for knitting on on warm days - although I don't anticpate many more of them this year.










Finally - please allow me to present the start of 'My first sock' I have no idea how I'll get on when it comes to the heel and stuff but so far, so good. Sadly I don't expect this one to fit me - I have wide feet and ankles that swell at the slightest provocation, when I come to socks for me I expect to have to alter the pattern but didn't think that would be wise on the first attempt. This is an Opal yarn and I'm enjoying the experience so far!!







As an afterthought allow me to present a matched pair of Ebay wins, given around 100g of variegated DK yarn - 80% wool and 20% acrylic I can't decide what to make with it so have taken a picture to gaze at while I day dream.

The infernal pale blue cardigan

Is almost finished - I'm sure to have a picture of it tomorrow. I finished the second sleeve and today in a rush of enthusiasm sewed enough of the seams so that I could pick up and knit all the bands. It just needs the sleeve seams finishing and all the ends weaving in, then the buttons and it is finished. The slight snag was that it had travelled around in my back packfor so long it was filthy, luckily it's in machine washable man made fibre so it's just gone through the washing machine and is currently drying ready for finishing off.

In further progress I finished the second half of the lurid pink bag and have started sewing it together, it needs handles as well then I will have 2 FO's in one week!

As a reward I intend experimenting with my first sock tomorrow - I did cast on today but found that the test match took far too much attention and have put it off until Monday. I reverted to knitting the front of the bright pink jacket - for some reason that has taken my fancy the last few days and it has grown massively - another few cms and I can insert the pocket. The green and blue shawl is also growing rapidly, I plan on starting fringing it soon to make sure I don't run out of yarn - the silver grey one ended up with me thinning out the fringe to fill in gaps where I had no more yarn left.

Most of the WIP's have moved on this week and I even started going through my books and getting rid of a few - seriously traumatic - I don't do 'disposing of books' in my life too many books is like 'too much chocolate' an alien concept that I don't grasp. I sometimes rehome books but these actually went with my partner to be donated for resale with a promise of more to follow. A girl has to make room for her stash of wool somehow doesn't she?

Progress

I normally do a progress check on Sunday's but last week although I did lots of knitting nothing really major occurred - if we discount the steadily increasing stash! Today, I have at least a milestone achieved - I finished a sleeve of a large baby cardigan. I've been sat at work knitting in my lunch break for months and realised that I had made something for everyone's baby except a manager's grandchild, this seems dreadfully rude so I'm plodding through a large size cardigan - I finsished the back and 2 fronts then lost interest totally - I'm pleased to be able to announce today that I have achieved a sleeve! A minor snag is I forget which box the back and 2 fronts are in although I do know where the buttons are. I won't let this put me off, I have a day off work on Friday and Monday is a Bank Holiday so I intend casting on sleeve number 2 and hopefully finding the rest of the cardi.

Most of my other projects continued to grow, albeit more slowly than I would like and tomorrow I plan on treating myself to a day focussed on the Noro sweater, it must be at least half way done as I've knitted up nearly 10 balls of the 16 I bought, fairly soon it will come off the circular needle and that will mean no more knitting it on the bus, then I have to find another project that works on buses, I think the front of my bright pink jacket which is safe to do on short needles.

I'm still resisting starting the potential clapotis and debating sock knitting as an accomplichment I don't yet have but have promised myself that I will finish the pale blue cardi, the green/blue shawl and the bright pink shopping bag before I cast on anything else!

Hipknits are cool

I ordered some silk from Hipknits in July, just before Trudi passed the business on with a vague idea of trying the clapotis pattern. Sadly the silk went AWOL in the postal system, I didn't realise at first with the change of owner I thought that was the explanation for the delay. When I finally realised the delay was rather too long I emailed Kerrie, bless her , she has immediately sent out replacement silk and added some sari silk as well - I'm very impressed. I love the feel of the silk, now all I have to do is decide what needles I need and see if I'm brave enough to start!


Also today arrived some New Zealand Touch yarn, 4 skeins of the mixed fibre lollipops at the front of the picture and 2 skeins of merino at the back right as well as some Boa and some Cosmic - to play with.

I have promised to knit something for my neighbours grand daughter - which has to be pink! Plus I offered to knit something for my colleague's little girl you can bet that wil be girlie too, just as well I'm still plodding on with my Noro which is definitely not girlie!


My Mum came over and dutifully admired my stash of yarn and helped me to decide that the second ball of blue wool really does match the baby cardigan so I can carry on and finish it. I took the camera outside while we waited for her taxi and took a few pictures - I have a small shared garden which is mostly tubs and has had some gorgeous flowers this year.

Alarms and excursions

OK - so I don't like my job a lot of the time but the number of thinsg that conspire to stop me doing it are growing.
Monday - arrive late due to sadistic physio only to have a fire drill happen 30 minutes spent outside then at leat an hour discussing fire drill and complaining about how much time it wasted
Tuesday - straightforward alarm test taht we all ignored
Today - some stupid malfunctioning sensor sets off teh alarm, I fail to grab my backpack with purse and knitting in it and thus spend what seems like many hours but in reality is probably much less bored out of my brains being bought coffee by colleagues and whining about how I wish I'd got my knitting with me!

Went for lunch to say goodbye to a colleague who has been promoted and is moving to a new job - with a navy kidsilk haze scarf to wrap around her neck - then caught the bus from hell back home - hot, crowded and it broke down half way.

This morning my bus was diverted following a fatal hit and run on the normal route - it turns out the fatality was the teenage boy who'd attacked me the other week, I'm feeling weirded out about this, not glad it happened but in an obscure way relieved that I'll never have to confront him again as he lived locally and I could easily have encountered him. I think I'll have to sleep on this - see if my subconscious can sort it out. I suspect this is the instinct for self preservation overwhelming the veneer of civilisation that most of us wear.

I have at least managed to get a few more rows of my Noro second sleeve done, but am now convinced that I will have enough yarn and should in fact frog the top of sleeve number 1 and make both 1 and 2 a little bit longer - being teh decisive sort I am going to knit sleeve 2 until it is as long as sleeve 1 minus shaping then carry on with the body - then I can see if I have spare yarn before frogging sleeve 1. I'm soo good at procrastinating.

Next I want to read the clapotis pattern and decide if I can face knitting that much just for me - if I go with it I have to face facts - I knit yet have no stitch markers I use hair ties, or bits of contrasting yarn tied around my needle - how shocking is that?? Do I really need to invest in stitch markers as well as many needles and far too much yarn to be a 'real' knitter?

Gymn'n'things

Anyone who has met me will know that I badly need to lose weight as my back has been playing me up for some time, also that I'm in that glorious chicken and egg thing, I'm overweight, I need to exercise but I have asthma and a bad back so find it hard to exercise etc etc!! My doctor finally referred me for physiotherapy in the hopes that the physio could put my back back together enough to enable me to exercise more.
So far we've not made much progress - being jumped on from behind the other day didn't actually help much. I had my latest appointment this morning and my physio decided the thing to do was to take me to their gymn and see what I was capable of!
Well, I can just about manage 5 minutes on an exercise bike, less than 4 minutes on a slow treadmil but can raise and lower weights with my arms quite well, so tonight I have legs made of cotton wool and shoulders that are seizing up and am in the process of joining the gym where I work - I really really must be crazy.

I have finished one of my many WIP's, albeit a minor one, I've finished the skinny short scarf in brown cream and beige, I just need to sew in the ends. I've also done a few rows of my Noro jumper and sleeve and the green/blue shawl. Several people have commented on the number of WIP's I have - I have the attention span of a fruit fly, and a VERY low boredom threshold, I like having a number of thinsg on the go so that when boredom sets in or I make a mistake I can't immediately figure out how to fix I can put the item on one side and carry on with something else. Especially with mistakes I always used to try and try, make an unmendable mess and throw things - I find this way more constructive. Also, short rows or circular needles work best on the bus and at bus stops and straightforward paytterns work best while I watch TV!

WIP update

1) pale blue DK baby cardi now just needs 2 sleeves, I've bought cute teddy bear buttons for it as well
2) peach/lemon DK hooded baby jacket, no progress
3) turquoise DK baby cardi, back done but I can't get the shaping right on the front, had another try and still can't get it right, but I did buy it some buttons to see if that motivates me
4) 3 ply white shawl - about half the centre square done - no progress

5)aqua DK patterned sweater for me - just half the front to do as I've finished the second sleeve- possibly less than half - I've taken a picture of the pattern in it.
6) bright lemon/orange DK sweater for me - the back and front started as I'm trying to make them to match I've done a little bit but nothing worth bragging about

7) bright pink DK jacket for me, one front and the back started, made a pocket lining and done a few rows of this
8) chunky sweater in reduced price Cossack - back done and front started - no progress
9) chunky hooded coat in reduced price Cossack back and one front started and some progress on both
10) kidsilk haze scarf out of Simply Knitting finished.
new 10) a scarf in one ball of brown/cream fancy yarn - in the photograph - I fell in love with the yarn on Ebay but it sheds something shocking.
11) triangular fringed shawl in greens and blue to match the shawl I am giving away to my friend - soem progress on this
12) I have 4 teddies for tragedies in various stages of unfinishedness that I must get on with - no progress
13) a lacy cardi for a TV friend - I did a load and found too many mistakes so I've frogged it ready to start again - I've found the pattern again - whgich is a start!
14) a barely started baby DK cable patterned jacket in pale lemon - no progress here either

15)Noro Kureyon sweater (again from Simply Knitting) finsihed one sleeve almoist half the body doen on a circular needle and the second sleeve started.
16) The pink nylon tape is making a bag - luckily it grows very quickly!


I've photographed some more of the yarn stash, I haven't yet decided what to make with most of it, but the big ball of blue/green/purple comes with a pattern for hat and scarf which I want to try.

The docking station for my digital camera arrived this week - so now I can actually afford to take pictures - it was eating ordinary batteries.

Had an unexpected visit from my partner yesterday so I had to tidy away as much yarn as possible, today will be spent sorting out what I intend working on this week - I have several meetinsg to go to where I may be able to sneak knitting time - if I don't manage that I'm unlikely to get much done this week.

Update including Melody

Firstly a picture of some more of my stash, the big cone came from Texere, I rarely buy greens but fell in love with this and haven't yet decided what to make with it. At the back on the right is Colinette Isis in Velvet Plum - I have 4 hanks of that. At the front from left to right is Bamboo in Purrplexed, Funky Fur magic in violet and Adrafils Stars, as you can see - I really really like purple!

Next one of my WIP's - the green/blue shawl for one of my nieces, it's a terribly easy pattern, if I do nothing but this I can make a shawl in a weekend, I work on these when I'm brain dead and incapable of following a pattern!

Lastly we have Melody - draped over the head of a cuddly toy to spread it out. I'm not convinced by this yarn - its dreadfully hard to knit with - the ball disintegrates if you touch it, then it tangles, being a laddder yarn it's easy to knit through the yarn instead if behind it, they say to knit the shawl on a circular needle but it tightens round the narrow bit then won't move onto the pins. If you knit on ordinary needles they slip out unless you hold them both at ALL times. I'm persisting with it, but it really is no pleasure and I have it in purple too.

So much for my 'no more yarn for a while - I've bought some Aran weight in oatmeal, I don't like cream much and have plans to make a pair of Aran sweaters this autumn - expect much counting and swearing!!

I did get quite a lot of knitting done this weekend - moving along almost all of my WIP's, I'm keen to clear some of them - the ones that are better than half done so that I can concentrate on gifts for Christmas, once the bulk of them are done I'l be able to make myself things again and treat myself by working on lace and Aran that I'm not very good at.

I ordered the charging docking station for my digital camera yesterday - then I'll be able to afford to photograph all my WIP's and keep a proper record of them - life has been expensive lately but very productive.

Enough navy

I've had enough kidsilk haxe - it's 51" long so I cast it off as I need a gift for a friend. I now have 2 25g balls left to use up so may make another for my neighbour who admired the one I had on my needles this week.










Mum came over and admired the silver grey shawl - a joint gift by us for Christmas - I'm starting gift knitting early this year.

I have done a little bit of housework, and finished the next ball of Noro packed up some more wool to go in the tall cupbaord on th elanding and found my 10mm needles - I need them for kniting the bright pink tape and I feel a pink bag coming on!

Stash that grows

Well, despite the fact that I shouldn't I've been exploring online yarn stores as well as Ebay, through the post today arrived both the sublime and the slightly ridiculous!
One skein of irresistable Kaalund Nimbus in Forest Floor colourway - this is for me - yes really for me I am determined to keep it for myself. One hank of Margaret Stove Artisian Lace yarn in Wedgewood - it'll be put away for long winter evenings when I plan on teaching myself to make fancier lace than the kidsilk pattern I'm doing. The slightly ridiculous? 10 balls of summer funtape colour 'Love'.

After some panicky maths and a phone call to discuss it with my mother I'm pretty certain I have enough Noro to make my brown/cream sweater and I've knitted up another 50g ball in the last two days - housework is calling but I'm mentally sticking my fingers in my ears and ignoring it!

I'm fairly certain that I have some yarn at the Post Office being redelivered Saturday - then I just have some Ebay wins to arrive and I'm really really going to stop for a while - I belive these sorts of vows never happen so I won't set a time limit!

I've done a bit of the green/blue shawl today but couldn't bring myself to do any navy kidsilk, I'm promising myself to finish the aqua sleeve by the end of the weekend and make some serious porgress on tidying up - I've some storage boxes to fill with stash and tidy away then I can settle down for a few evenings serious knitting again. If I'm really good and get a lot of housework done I'll let myself start planning what to make with my Nimbus - though I really musyn't start it yet!

Progress

I finished the right front of the baby cardigan - it's the same pattern as the lilac one and that is definitely a mistake, repeating a simple pattern like this drives me crazy - tomorrow I cast on the first sleeve - I really want to get this one done and out of the way.

Mobius strip
I really really hate it when I cast on a sweater to knit in the round on a circular needle and get the dratted thing twisted when I join it up - I didn't realise at first and had to recast on the Noro sweater - I've done all the welt though which is a good start, a few rows of the green/blue shawl and a tiny bit of the kidsilk.

I'm just trying to decide if I really want a couple of lots on ebay then I'm going to bed - I'm soo tired and sleeping really badly - partner suggested coming down this Friday and us going out and at the moment I really only want to sleep - I woke up at 2.30 this morning having nightmares and never got back to sleep.

Found!

Two missing balls of navy kidsilk haze that I lost at the weekend, now the question is, can I bear to knit another 50g of navy wool into the worlds dullest lacy pattern? If I stop now the scarf is pretty much too short but to use the other 2 balls will make it humungous - I suspect I'll just keep going until I've reached screaming point then cast off.

I've managed to get a good chunk of the aqua jumper sleeve done, some of the green/blue shawl, started the decrease on the raglan of the blue baby cardigan front and finished the increase of the sleeve of the Noro jumper - that should be done soon as I have short arms. Next to work out how to do the body of the sweater in the round, that'll be too bulky to take on the bus but means I can keep track of the yarn, I'm planning this being baggy and for slopping around in so I bought some extra yarn for it. I'm guessing 2 balls for each sleeve, one for all the finishings and the rest will make the body. I've even done a couple of rows of the bright pink jacket backI have a short attention span so I tend to go from one item to another each knitting evening, being anally retentive I keep a spreadsheet with all my WIPs on and check off each week which have been worked on so I can keep all the projects joggiing along.

I just added to my stash yet again (shame on me) I ordered 4 more balls of Pooch, a skein of something bulky that should make a scarf and hat and some red and some gold glittery DK - my friend's new baby is called India - that cries out for something in red and gold.

I've wrapped the lilac cardigan for my neighbour - it's her birthday Thursday but all her family will be visiting so I'm planning on handing it over tomorrow - she has loads of children/grandchildren and Thursday will be bedlam - I may stay late at work for quiet! She's a smashing neighbour takes in my parcels of yarn and keeps an eye on my flat so I made her the cardigan as a thank you.

Bother

First here's the yarn that Alex wanted to see - top right is Pooch purple sunset, the other 2 are Melody 'purples' and 'arizona sunset'.
Now, how can I have lost 2 balls of navy kidsilk since Friday evening when I showed them to my partner? I think I may be going mad!

I did get to work and back in one piece although the journey home was nervewracking - luckily I bumped into a friendly acquaintance on my way home from the bus and we walked part way together, no sign of the little %^&^$ that attacked me last week at least.

Now, I have an excuse to start yet something else - my best friend had a little girl today - she hadn't told anyone what sex she was having so I'd done gender neutral cardis for her, now I can raid my stash for pinks and lilacs and peaches for some pretty stuff I have some lovely lacey pretty patterns, I fancy making something a bit in your face too though not so much 'Little Princess' as Queen Bee!

Theres a pic of the latest wip too, the Noro in browns and creams - I do like the odd thing in aran weight or chunky - I cast that on Saturday evening - knitted nearly 50g then undid it and redid it on Sunday - 29 cms of sleeve in a day!

Variegated wool

I do like knitting with variegated wool - it's so much less boring when you're doing a plain pattern, safely sat inmy stash is a load of variegated wool, some for baby clothes for assorted friends and two batches one in shades of lilac and one in primary colours waiting for me to turn into something sort of fairisle for me!

So far this year I've done 5 baby and toddler cardigans and jumpers - all my friends seem to be having babies this year - must be the latest fashion I guess. I've found the pictures my partner took of them so I'm going to add them to the blog (he's not a knitter so didn't get close ups of the stitch patterns on two of them but it can't be helped). The fluffy jumper is in 3 shades of Funky Fur - very silky and slippery to knit with but feels lovely when it's done. Gipsy is worse to knit with - I've currently abandoned a jacket in that as I dropped a stitch and will never be able to pick it up in this life time.

First post

I'm finally getting things finished - and given away - some of the things from earlier in the year are photographed but on my old PC so I can't get at them at present but I'm about to post a shawl to my mate and give a cardigan to my neighbour so I photographed them today and feel free to brag just a little! Once I get my hands on the other pictures I'll put them on here too - I'm determined to keep a record of what I make this time.

Currently I have far to many WIP's
1) pale blue DK baby cardi one front and the back done
2) peach/lemon DK hooded baby jacket, back and one front done
3) turqoiuse DK baby cardi, back done but I can't get the shaping right on the front
4) 3 ply white shawl - about half the centre square done
5)aqua DK patterned sweater for me - the back and one sleeve done and the front and one sleeve about half done
6) bright lemon/orange DK sweater for me - the back and front started as I'm trying to make them to match
7) bright pink DKjacket for me, one front and the back started
8) chunky sweater in reduced price Cossack - back done and front started
9) chunky hooded coat in reduced price Cossack back and one front started
10) kidsilk haze scarf out of Simply Knitting - nearly half done - navy blue gets a bit boring I'm afraid
11) triangular fringed shawl in greens and blue to match the shawl I am giving away to my friend - I'm making 4 in total, 3 as gifts and one for me - 2 finished so far this one is hardly started though
12) I have 4 teddies for tragedies in various stages of unfinishedness that I must get on with
13) a lacy cardi for a TV friend - I did a load and found too many mistakes so I've frogged it ready to start again
14) a barely started baby DK cable patterned jacket in pale lemon
15)lastly and very wickedly I began a Noro Kureyon sweater (again from Simply Knitting) I'm
making it in browns/cream and have done 3/4 of one sleeve. I'm making the sleeves first then going to try and do the body in the round to the armholes - I need to make it a wee bit larger for me so I don't want to run out of yarn

The stash catalogueing has begun, but it's making me feel guilty so I may leave it until I've knitted some more but as I have some yarn I won on Ebay and some silk from Hipknits on order it's not exactly going down.

The next puzzle is whether or not to buy more Pooch - I bought a ball to play with and really fancy doing something with it - one ball isn't really enough, but then I want more SWTC's Melody now I've got a little bit - trouble is I'm really running out of space.

I must stop and get off to bed - tomorrow is my first day back in work since some nasty young lad tried to attack me in broad daylight on my way home from work, I'm NOT looking forward to it, but it has to be done.