No knitting here

Today's post is brought to you by the letter M.

You scored as Luna Lovegood. You're an extreme introvert and because of this, are also a deep thinker. You ponder things others would never dream of pondering and stand with your beliefs without backing down. You find it more valuable to daydream than to socialize, because there's so much more going on in your head than others'. Most people don't understand it, but you seem to prefer it that way. Luna Lovegood 72% Ron Weasley 59% Neville Longbottom 56% Sirius Black 53% Hermione Granger 53% Bellatrix Lestrange 53% Harry Potter 47% Albus Dumbledore 47% Severus Snape 47% Oliver Wood 41% Remus Lupin 38% Percy Weasley 34% Lord Voldemort 28% Draco Malfoy 22% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

Or possibly the letter L! Thanks to acrylik and Daisy for the link.

I'm not ordering yarn but this arrived today which made me happy:



A MCR fitted t-shirt WITH SKULLS! Yay!

Speaking of skulls, I started the Second Sleeve last night, after a diversion in Diagonals scarf land. Temporary Second Sleeve Syndrome has been averted.

Skully sweater update

It's been a productive week on the Skully front, with the first sleeve completed today. I took the photos before I finished the plain section on the sleeve this afternoon, not something that took too long thanks to working with chunky weight yarn.



This shows that the sleeve is picked up and knitted on to the armhole of the sweater. The neckline is completed and both shoulders seamed using a three needle bind-off. I can't speak too highly of that particular technique, it's the first time I've used it and it produces a beautifully neat seam.



A closer look at the intarsia section. It is years and years since I last used this technique, and it's still like herding cats! Thankfully not too many bobbins hanging off the back of the piece this time. No ends have yet been woven in and I think that will serve to even up a few of the slightly skew-looking stitches. I wouldn't do intarsia for fun, it has to be something I really want to have and wear like this design.

Hopefully I can make good progress on the second sleeve, now that I've had the practice on the first. I'm aiming for March 1st to complete the knitting if at all possible, as this is when an informal KAL begins for the Glampyre Simple Bodice. Mine will be the long-sleeved version knit in Jaeger Shetland Aran.

Here's the February yarn from the Fyberspates sock club:



Lovely colours, just what we need this time of year!

Now I'd said that I was trying not to buy yarn for some time, having come to the realisation that the stash is quite large and I have projects enough to keep me going for a long long time. This is still the plan, it does allow purchases if something sufficiently bargainous turns up. However last weekend I read Kendra's posting about the Juno cardigan from Rowan 40. Thus I was led astray and bought some Rowanspun Aran in "Gables". I really liked Juno but the Wool Cotton used doubled was a very expensive option, so I didn't think much more about it. Now it is apparent that using a heavy-ish aran like Rowanspun wll do perfectly well, so given this yarn is fast disappearing, it was time to make a purchase and secure the materials! I already have some in the "Hardy" shade for the Central Park Hoodie so this time I picked the red. It's a lovely shade and my camera refused to play nicely with it at all. The photo has been adjusted but the actual shade is darker than this:



Finally, here is a skein of Eva cashmere silk 2ply laceweight in "Rhyme", from the last Posh Yarn sale before the move:



Thank you for all your messages on the 200th post, much appreciated! Hope those of you watching "Life on Mars" are enjoying it so far too!

And the winner is ....

... Mandy! Congratulations, the yarn will be on its way to you soon!

Another reason to celebrate, this is the 200th post on this blog :-)

Thanks for all of your comments on last week's post, especially those of you who offered advice about Fair Isle knitting. As you can tell my reasoning about knitting flat was fairly poor! It just hadn't occurred to me what a nuisance purling would be. I happened to be reading the intarsia section in Stich n' Bitch last night and it is followed directly by Fair Isle. In there she mentions that traditonally it is knit in the round anyway. I'll definitely be knitting the beret in the round, the pattern simply needs the two edge stitches removing to make an even pattern repeat in the round.

Gilraen asked about the Sophia 6-ply for hats. I used about one plus one third of a second 55g skein to make the plain hat in Cover, for the cabled 3am hat I'm guessing about the same amount extra would have sufficed to make the hat long enough to cover my ears :-)

Hopefully I will have some picture updates tomorrow, I just started the skull illusion scarf last night and am almost done with the back piece of Skully (which is why I was brushing up on my intarsia - it's years since I last did it!).

This week's projects

I have two more hats to show you, then I am taking a little break from hats, promise :-)

First is DH's hat in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky, shade Damp.



This took one plus a small amount of a second ball. The photo is pre-blocking, I have just washed it and it is now blocking over the glass head (Holly's bigger cousin). I'll be interested in how it looks when dry, as I was able to smooth the crown out quite flat. Good news that DH likes the hat!

Here's another 3am cable hat made in Posh Yarn Sophia 6-ply (cashmere) DK, shade Moth. I had a small amount of yarn left over from the 55g skein, which I'm not sure would have stretched to another full pattern repeat. The hat is a little bit short for me, so will be gifted to our niece.



I adapted the pattern to DK by adding another 12-stitch repeat (108 stitches) on 4mm needles. I'd say this needs at least two more full pattern repeats after those mandated by the pattern, I did one extra. However one skein of this yarn would be fine for a non-cabled hat I think.

Next up is the lovely wooden swift I received this week from Sublime Spindles:



Modelling a skein of Posh Yarn Helena DK "Jitterbug", this is a superb piece of work. The arms fold up vertically for storage, and the pegs are simply put into the relevant holes for the size of skein. I found it a lot easier to load the yarn onto this than onto the umbrella swift. To contact Sublime Spindles directly regarding swifts, drop spindles etc., you can email Moorec648 AT aol.com.

I've acquired a pile of pattern books in the last week or two. I now have Rowan 30 to 41, barring book 33 (I already had 37 onwards). Rowan themselves have a great offer at the moment, books 31, 32, 34 and 35 for ten pounds for all four. They also have three other books for 7.50 total - Cotton Rope, Beach Cool and All Seasons Cotton.

I've also bought A Season's Tale and A Yorkshire Fable from The Book Depository, highly recommended for their prices and service. I decided my first foray into Fair Isle / stranded knitting would be the beret featured on the cover of AYF. It is knit flat, which I felt might be easier for a first project that knitting in the round. I want to make the Endpaper Mitts so this should be good practice. To this end I've got a selection of Yorkshire Tweed 4ply colours from Jannette.



I also bought Debbie Bliss' new book, Summer Essentials. It contains the perfect pattern for the black Cathay originally bought for Sgt. Pepper, a sleeveless polo-style top:



There's also a pretty short-sleeved cardigan that would be a good project for the bargain lilac Cathay I got last year. I'm now going to make an effort to knit from my stash as I have a lot of PIWs! I'm not banning myself from buying yarn as sometimes offers are simply too good to pass up but I'll try to rationalise what I buy for a while. Minneimoll's latest posting about her stash really did make me think about mine!

ETA - Life On Mars is back for series 2 next Tuesday. Much cheering here! Inspired by Seahorse I have made a Gene button to celebrate, if you'd like to use it on your own blog feel free!

Valentine giveaway

This is the kind of gift I'd like to receive on Valentine's Day. Yarn does indeed last a lot longer than flowers.

Up for grabs is a 100g skein of Hipknits aran silk. The shade is one I have named "Love Hearts", and is the last skein from the custom-dyed batch that I used for my recent Clapotis.



To enter for the draw, please leave a comment on this post. Closing date and time is midnight UK time on Friday 16th February.

I will endeavour to announce the winner on Saturday 17th. If you don't have an email contact on your Blogger profile, I will leave a comment on your blog as well as posting here. If you have neither, please do check back here next weekend and contact me! If for any reason the winner can't be contacted within 7 days of the draw I'll pick another name.

Good luck!

Mad Hatter

You may have noticed a theme running through recent knits, this post is no different! The hat in Sophia was finished earlier this week:



Pattern: my own
Yarn: Posh Yarn Sophia 6-ply pure cashmere (DK)
Shade: Cover
Yardage: approximately one + one-third skeins
Needles: Addi 4mm 12" circular

I wanted a hat with a deep turn-up cuff to keep my ears warm, this is just a simple design that shows off the fabulous colours in Cover.

I'm currently part way through knitting a hat for DH - by request! It's in the same Yorkshire Tweed chunky that I'm using for Skully, and is essentially a very similar design to the hat above. He wanted a hat that would keep his ears warm too! I've also worked on Skully this week and the cream Brown Sheep yarn has arrived with which to knit the skulls.

Inevitably more yarn has made its way here :-) I looked at Woolly Wormhead's hand-dyed yarn page again and found more items had been added. I snagged the following chunkies:





Gorgeous yarns, the colours are glowing a little under the camera flash though. I think it's time to break out some of Ruth's hat patterns that I bought when she first published them. I fancy an earflap hat in the first yarn.

Last Sunday's Posh Yarn sale page was once again a mine of temptation. This is a skein of Helena 100% merino 4-ply in Flourish (which I am almost sure I will use to make the Forest Canopy shawl, I change my mind every time I see another colourway!); and a skein of Sophia 6-ply cashmere in the delightful Moth. This is all muted pinks and browns and there is this gorgeous bit of subtle blue in it too, it's fantastic. This will most likely become a 3am cable hat for me.



Next weekend I will be running a Valentine's giveaway so please check back then!