2010

Wishing everyone a very happy and peaceful 2010. I have my first FO of the year, the Maximus cowl by ChicKnits. Inspired partly by the very cold and snowy weather we are currently experiencing in the UK, and partly because I got some lovely Rowan Big Wool in the now legendary Kemps Rowan bargain packs, just before Christmas.



Last year I took part in the 24 in 2009 challenge i.e. knit 24 items/projects in one year. I'm pleased to say my final total was 27, the last two being a Sock Yarn Slouch hat in Yarn Yard Hug organic merino, and the Charlotte capelet from Rowan 38 in Big Wool (bargain packs again):





I also started using the Knitmeter last year to keep track of how much yarn I knitted up. In total I knitted 6.92 miles of yarn (12180 yards). It will be interesting to compare this year's output with that total. I'm not aiming at 24 in 2010, just aiming to knit up some of my stash! My current garment-size project is the Elfin cardigan from Rowan 34. It's the first time I've knit with Felted Tweed and I love the fabric it creates. I was also lucky enough to score 500g-worth of mixed shades in KSH in the Kemps £5-a-bag Rowan bonanza, and happily there is some dark brown that I can use for the ruffled edgings and cuffs on this cardigan. It should tone nicely with the light-ish brown "Cocoa" in the Felted Tweed. I also plan to knit another Felicity hat, for myself this time, in some brown Lamb's Pride. Hopefully it should tone in nicely with the cowl.

Overall I don't have too many specific "objectives" for knitting in 2010. I'm looking forward to working on whatever takes my fancy, in the main. I'd like to buy less yarn, but am not enforcing any kind of "diet" - rather am continuing with my policy of thinking about things for a while before purchase. It has worked quite well so far, compared to past yarn-buying habits. I think I will try to keep count of yardage "in" as well as yardage knit, which will be enlightening if nothing else!

I also intend to learn crochet this year, and have already made quite a reasonable start. I bought the introductory copy of The Art of Crochet, and worked through the getting started instructions with some success. Given that in the past I have struggled to manipulate hook and yarn, I can now hold hook and yarn and "pick" the yarn with the hook to make stitches. I won't be continuing with the partwork but it has certainly helped me over some hurdles.

Purple

One of my favourite colours! First up is the completed Robin beret in RYC Cashsoft 4ply, shade Loganberry:





This only used 1.3 out of 2 full skeins, and I didn't add the contrast pompom. I knit this flat on straights as per the pattern, but it could easily be converted to a seamless pattern in the round. The RYC Cashsoft is beautifully soft, as per its name. A lovely beret for the winter and a great fit.

More purple, this time some yarn I hand-dyed for my swap partner in the current CT'n'Y Summer Secret Santa. It's a 100% merino laceweight, which I snagged as a bargainous cone.



I used Procion MX dyes bought as a kit. The first dye run gave some lovely shades, but there were paler patches that I wasn't happy with. The yarn was then overdyed with one shade of purple which gave a rich semi-solid. I'm very happy with the end result, as this was my first "proper" acid dye project and I wasn't expecting anything quite so good!

Not purple - this is my latest WIP, the Heather Hoodie Vest from the current Knitscene:



The yarn is Sirdar Denim Chunky in a cream/beige marl shade. It's the first time I've knit with it and I'm very pleased with how it knits up and handles.

My Basil sweater in Summer Tweed is complete, and waiting for me to finish seaming the sides! It's too hard to see under electric light, but I'm hoping to finish the sewing up tomorrow in daylight.

Finally, I had a lovely surprise last week, as Simply Knitting had reviewed my blog on theirs! This was most unexpected, my thanks to SK for their kind review!

Tempest

Pattern: Tempest by Ann Weaver (published on Knitty)
Yarn: Violet Green Socrates Merino 4ply in Seascape
Yardage: 1101 yards for size E
Needles: 4mm straights and 3.25mm straights for edgings

This cardigan is all about the finishing. It takes some time but is worth it for the end result. This has turned out beautifully and is an excellent fit.

The first obvious mod is the lack of stripes, of course. I'd knit this again but am still in two minds about whether to do a striped version - I'm not sure they'd be as flattering! The sleeves have a few rows of garter stitch as an edging. The pattern doesn't specify any edging for them and I didn't want the ends curling. I guess you could also add the hem to them afterwards as per the lower edge but the GS does match the button bands. The latter turned out well, especially with the sewn bind-off.

My only slight gripe is that the buttonholes would have been better as YO, K2tog rather than binding off 2 stitches and adding them again on the next row. This seemed to cause a bit of gaping around a few of the buttonholes. It also meant I couldn't use the sweet little purple buttons I bought (too small). This cardi needs 14 buttons and in the end I used a mix of green and purple buttons of the same type. They are a little larger than called for, I think, but I like the effect.

In other knitting news, I've finished the first large section of Shawl That Jazz. I'll be tackling the rest of it as soon as I get the Noro bug out of my system for a while. I started a Noro Striped Scarf the other night and as usual, it's addictive watching the stripe colour combos evolve. I can see this being finished fairly quickly, it will be a great addition to my winter woolies.

Tender is coming along nicely, I have the back and one front piece completed so far. My sock project is on hiatus but I will come back to it, probably with one of the short Addi circs I bought. I'm also waiting on tenterhooks for the new Rowan 46 to arrive, having seen the preview pictures there are a lot of things I like in this issue.

Woolfest or bust

This year will be my first visit to Woolfest (along with the Mr), I'm looking forward to it very much! I've wanted to go for the past couple of years but it has tended to coincide with holidays elsewhere.

We'll be visiting on the Friday, thankfully this is one fibre festival that is within reasonable driving distance for us (still 2 hours though!). I will be wearing my Ravelry badge with my Rav/blog name knittyinpink. Please feel free to say hello if you so wish (or indeed skedaddle in the opposite direction). If I spot any of my blog/Rav/forum pals I will do likewise, I am mostly depending upon name badges though!

My Tempest cardigan is currently pinned out and blocking, and may be finished in time for Friday. I may even wear it if the weather is on the cool side. I ended up frogging Ishbel though, as I had made some mistakes and after starting the wrong section and not realising until the centre of the row, it seemed the best thing to do. I really must try to knit lace in (a)daylight, and (b) peace and quiet. No TV! It's a pity to have to frog it this time, I don't have a problem with lace per se (and the charts for this are excellent), but do need to concentrate :-)

In lieu of knitting photos, here's a picture of one of my moth orchids, I love the pale yellow.

Of WIPs and knitting

I've been casting on for more projects as the mood takes me, most recently Tempest in this lovely Violet Green Socrates 4ply I originally bought for Shoalwater:



I'll have a WIP photo soon, as I only started this last night and am about 20 rows in to the back. It's a cardigan I've been wanting to make ever since I saw it, but I'm doing a non-striped version instead. There is plenty of the Seascape, and I love the colours without adding any toning stripes. Thanks are due to pictish for suggesting this as I hadn't considered this option before.

Shawl That Jazz is on a mini-hiatus, about half way through the first section. I generally like the colours in the yarn but have a small bee in my bonnet about the dark bottle-ish green elements. This is one of the very very few colours/shades I don't really like. That said I like it overall, and thankfully the rows are getting shorter!



I've also been working on Ishbel this week, heading towards starting the lace section. The WIP photo isn't terribly exciting but it's on Ravelry should you wish to see it. The red Eva is showing its semi-solid nature, when observed in daylight you can see quite a variation in depth of shade. More interesting than a true solid shade, I think.

There is also my first ever sock! I had to learn the long tail cast-on for this, having never bothered with it in the past. Once I watched the video on Knitting Help I "got" it, I do seem to learn much more readily from demos rather than pictures in books. It doesn't help that I can't often make out what goes where in the diagrams in books, despite how clearly they are drawn. Photos are easier, and I learned how to knit in the round with 2 circs from a very helpful tutorial I'd printed out (which now seems to have disappeared online). My "join" stitches are a little loose so far (not helped by plumping for plain stockinette for the main sock body!), but I'm getting there!



This is the yarn I dyed with Kool Aid a couple of weeks ago, I rather like how it is knitting up!

Petersburg

Pattern: Petersburg from Rowan 42
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon, shade Scree
Yardage: 5.74 skeins for size M
Needles: 7mm & 6mm bamboo straights, & 6mm circ for front borders

I decided to finish off Petersburg this past week, as I'd started it back in January when the weather was truly cold! Given the damp day we're having today, it was nice and snug to try on. I'm pleased with how this turned out, the Cocoon is a lovely yarn, very soft and squishy. It does tend to shed some fibres (mohair content) though.

Tea Time cardigan

Pattern: Tea Time by Martin Storey, from Rowan Classic Summer
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton shade Citron
Yardage: 7.56 balls
Needles: 3.25mm and 4mm straights

I finally found a great pattern to use the 8 balls of Wool Cotton that have been lurking in my stash. I made size M after checking the schematic, as these designs tend to run large, and it's a good fit. There were a couple of mods, the first intentional (adding one inch to the overall body length), the second accidental (missing the last 4 stitch decreases on the neckline). Both seem to have worked out well.

I'm around half way through knitting a top-down seamless garment, Ms Marigold by Zephyrstyle, in Calmer. At the moment it is round-and-round stocking stitch!

Alhambra

Pattern: Alhambra by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Posh Yarn Eva 2ply shade Rhyme
Yardage: just under 40g of a 55g skein
Size: 39" x 12.5" after blocking - 15 pattern repeats
Needles: 3.25mm bamboo straights

Very pleased with the finished result! The scrolls are such a striking design, and well worth the lace pattern on both sides (no purl "rest" rows!).

The KSH knitting is going well (thanks for asking CA!), and I've also started a more summery cardi in Rowan Wool Cotton. This is yarn that I've had in stash for a couple of years so again, nice to use it. The pattern is Tea Time from the RYC Classic Summer book.

Melinda cardigan

Pattern: Melinda from Colinette "Wayfarer"
Size made: 36
Yarn: Colinette Prism shade "Monet"
Yardage: a little under 6 skeins
Needles: 6mm + 5mm for edgings

I'm very pleased with this cardigan, it fits a treat. I went down a size after checking the schematic and am glad I did so. I added 3/4" to the overall length though. Skeins were alternated every 2 rows, which seems to have given a pretty even distribution of colour. Three of the skeins were from the mill shop sale room and were mis-dyes as far as I could tell, but they seem to have blended in very well with the others.

I've now taken the plunge and cast on for Tender in Kidsilk Haze. Previous encounters with this yarn have not ended happily. This time, I'm using metal needles as recommended by various people on Ravelry. Top notch advice, as the yarn moves freely on them. The cardigan is basically plain stockinette too, which seems a sensible approach given previous problems with lace. I'm now a few rows in to the back piece and am finding the actual knitting surprisingly speedy. This after the rather tortuous cast-on of 316 stitches (I used stitch markers every 20 to keep count) then the next row decreasing by half.

This week I also joined Twitter, which seems fun, especially the tweetings of Sir Stephen of Fry. ETA - I've changed my account to "protected" updates, which means you have to request to "follow" them. I've left it public until now to see how it went, but decided I'd rather have a little more control over it. I'm happy to approve folks I "know" from knitblogging, Ravelry and elsewhere :-)

Flutter Sleeve Cardigan

Pattern: Flutter Sleeve Cardigan by Pam Allen, Interweave Knits Spring 2008
Yarn: Rowan Calmer shade Kiwi
Yardage: 4.72 skeins
Size made: 40

Finally completed and I'm very happy with the result! The shaping and detail on this design is excellent, and the stretch in the Calmer is quite helpful in keeping the rib section snug. In hindsight I would rethink the button placing as the top button is probably a little too high, and with the Calmer's elasticity there is some "pull". I added a couple of press-studs/poppers between the buttons.

The sleeve edgings are a single thickness of seed/moss stitch rather than turned back and doubled, and I knit 8 rows before binding off. I also omitted the small sleeve tabs. Definitely a pattern I would consider making again.

I've started Petersburg from Rowan 42 this week, and finished the back piece last night (photo was taken the previous day):



My first time knitting with Cocoon, it's incredibly soft yarn although does tend to shed some fibres. Not surprising as it's 20% angora!

Spring, while not exactly in the air, is also beckoning, and having completed Flutter Sleeve I'm keen to make something else in Calmer. I've had my eye on Hearten from the Calmer Collection for a long time so that may be my next project.

It would be great to have another dedicated collection of patterns written for Calmer too. There are a few designs in the new Rowan 45 but none of them appeal to me. Capri from R43 is a must-knit. Kim Hargreaves has several lovely patterns from her recent books though, including Still.

Speaking of Rowan 45, overall I think it is a good collection, especially the Bloom section. My crochet skills are going to need some serious improvement to tackle some of those edgings though!

Pink tweed cardigan

Pattern: Design G from Sirdar Relaxed Weekend Living (345) - v-neck version
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed in shade 20001
Yardage: 10 x 50g skeins for 36/38 size

A fabulous warm and cosy cardigan, it's perfect for the current freezing conditions! The only minor mod I made was adding around an inch to the sleeves, just personal preference. All the seaming was done with a toning plain wool DK yarn, partly to reduce seam bulk but mainly because I've found the tweeds tend to break when you're sewing up with them.

I usually go for a slightly more fitted look but this was intended for being a comfy cardi to wear around the house. It's a relaxed fit without being baggy. I used some pinky-purple shell buttons which pick up the lilac and bright purple flecks in the tweed. I'd defnitely use this yarn again, it does bloom quite significantly on washing and softens up well (for reference this is the original, discontinued DB aran tweed).

This is my first FO of 2009! Now this one is done, I will make an effort to complete the Flutter Sleeve which has languished for a while. However as I'd finished one thing I decided to start another new project, the Melinda cardigan/jacket from the Colinette Wayfarer pattern book. This yarn (Prism) has been in stash for an age and I love how it is knitting up so far. For once, I'm following Colinette's advice and using two skeins at once, two rows per skein carrying the other up the side. As there is quite some difference in the depth and distribution of the colours in the skeins I have, I thought it was worth doing, and I'm very pleased with how it looks so far:



This is the back, I'm almost up to the armholes now since last night's knitting stint.

Sirdar cardigan in Calico

Finished last Bank Holiday Monday and added to Ravelry a week or so later. I'm adding it here as it has been a WIP on the sidebar for a while!





Details are on Ravelry. I'm very pleased with the finished item, and particularly pleased with the seaming, which I tend to take my time over and it does pay dividends. Sirdar Calico is a lovely yarn to use and knits up into a soft fabric.

I'm not sure what the future of this blog will be, as I tend to post and update my projects on Ravelry these days, and don't have time to duplicate information over here. If it's a choice between knitting time, and sitting updating the blog, I'd rather knit! In any event the blog will stay around, I may or may not update it, but I'm not going to delete it. I'm also way behind on other blogs, even with whip-up posts removed there are well over 400 new posts showing on Bloglines. It's probably a time to admit that I can't keep up with everything I might like to, and with the best will in the world I won't be able to read every post properly. I'll drop by when I can though!

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If you're not on Ravelry the post title may be a little mysterious, but I thought I'd mention some things that I think are rather fabulous, and chuck some positive vibes around the place.

Ravelry is, of course, made of awesome. I love the things you can use this site for. Whenever I need to check my stash, perhaps to see if I already have suitable yarn for a project, it's a click away. I can download it into a spreadsheet too, for offline viewing, and their sheet looks a lot tidier than my original pre-Rav version! The queue is another great tool for me, as although I have patterns all over the place, I never really had a proper "view" of things I may want to make. Every time I want to look up a yarn or a pattern now, I go to Rav. What an incredible resource, and free to boot. Thank you Casey, Jess and Mary-Heather, I think it needs saying! I don't know what I used to do before Rav!

Must also mention the Rav Store, I have some lovely Rav swag now in the form of t-shirts and lapel pins :-) I love my beta tee so much that I had to order some of the new ones.

Much kudos to Stash and Yarnbox for recent orders most speedily filled. It's well worth signing up to the Stash newsletter as they recently had a 20% off sale on everything, including sale items. Even better, it was repeated the following week! I snagged some Rowan Denim in Ecru to make Joy from "Nectar", and later some RYC Cashcotton 4ply for the Apres Surf Hoodie from the summer IK. I just wish the actual magazine would arrive - it seems all subscription copies via UK shops are delayed!

I also signed up to the Yarnbox Club recently which gives a permanent 10% discount on all purchases (again including sale items). I rather liked the cardi on the cover of the latest Simply Knitting, and received very promptly a pack of Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton from the sale.

Speaking of Kim Hargreaves' "Nectar" collection, I've ended up with yarn to make Ripple and also Jasmine (the latter being a kit from Kim ordered with the book). It's a lovely collection and a few of the designs are existing patterns that were only available as kits before.

My Flutter Sleeve Cardi is progressing, slowly but surely, with the back now complete and up to the rib short rows on the first front piece:



The Rowan Calmer is lovely to knit with too. I'm hoping to make some good progress this holiday weekend especially as I have tomorrow off as well.

Big thanks also to the lovely Lynne, who met The Harlot recently at an event and got me a signed copy of her latest book! And she sent me a skein of yarn too!

Central Park Hoodie

At long last, I had the time to sew up CPH this bank holiday weekend! I took my time with the sewing, using mattress stitch on all seams, so it took quite a while. I like the idea of sewing in the sleeve heads before seaming the side and sleeve seams all in one go, I think the sleeves are the neatest I've done so far.

The Rowanspun Aran (shade Hardy) was lovely to knit with and blocked very nicely, softening somewhat in the process. The only slight down side is that it tends to break when you are sewing up with it. I'd heard this beforehand and even though I took care to try not to leave very much stitching to tighten up at a time, I still had a number of breaks. I'm struggling to remember how much yarn I used in total, I think around 6.5 skeins (time for a stock take in the Rowan department!).

I'm so pleased with how this garment turned out, it's a great fit with some ease so you can easily wear things underneath. I made the 40" size as I'd heard this could run a little small, but after blocking it's just right. The sleeves are quite long but I like them that way, nothing worse than sleeves at "half mast" particularly when it's cold!

I didn't make many mods, I used a three needle bind-off on the hood rather than casting off and seaming (could have grafted it too), and I knit the front bands all in one go rather than each side individually. I made 6 buttonholes and used olive wood buttons.

It's official ...

... I have startitis at the moment. I've kept it reasonably under control so far but I can't guarantee that will continue. It must be Spring and the extra daylight adding a little more va-va-voom in the knitting department :-)

My first WIP is Alhambra mentioned in my last post. I had a 55g skein of Eva 2-ply in stash that I decided to use for this, as it only really asks for 350-ish yards. I think a solid colour would be better for this pattern but I like the way the Eva is knitting up into curvy diagonal stripes of colour.



I'm quite pleased with my progress on this, as previously I'd been a little put off knitting with finer yarns. This was down to using KSH, which is of course incredibly fine AND fluffy. The Eva is lovely to knit with and I think I've now grasped the various directions of yarnovers. Not to mention doing the p2togtbl correctly. It seems I was not doing it correctly at first, and I struggled away, and ended up messing up the stitch counts by one on a few rows in the first repeats. It doesn't look disastrous though andI decided to leave it as something that showed a learning curve. Strangely I had looked up p2togtbl some time ago, and found some directions, but when I checked the video on Knitting Help I found it was being done differently - and more importantly in an easier way!

I finished off the second sleeve on Alexandra on Friday night, and that is now blocking. I did short slightly puffed sleeves in the end, as I thought I'd get more use from it to wear over a long sleeved top in the colder months. Besides the fact I don't have 6.5mm DPNs, or even 2 circs, and using one Denise set wasn't exactly fun!

Having done the above I happily cast on for the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from Spring 08 IK. I'd originally wondered about using DB Cathay but I should have remembered this really is a thinner DK yarn and doesn't make a suitable fabric on 4.5mm needles. The swatch confirmed this, so I had another think and finally hit upon Rowan Calmer, from stash. The swatch performed perfectly and I'm now up to the ribbing at the waist on the back piece:



I'm still trying to find time to sew up CPH, and am keeping my fingers crossed for this coming Bank Holiday weekend.

I could really have done with blogging last weekend too, after our week off, but it turned out fairly busy and I reluctantly deferred it a week. We did get plenty done around the house though, and managed a couple of days out too.

The first trip was to Coldspring Mill and Haworth:



You can see some cones of yarn through the windows in the picture. As usual there was plenty of temptation to hand inside. I came away with 2 packs around the 500g mark of Twilleys Freedom Spirit, and a cone of DB Cathay in pink. The latter was intended for Flutter Sleeve but as noted above, wasn't suitable. I've got plenty of alternatives to use it for though.

It was a lovely day weather-wise, quite breezy but not overly cold. You can see how bright and Spring-like it was in these photos of Haworth:



The Parsonage, taken from the churchyard



The main street

There was a lovely exhibition of historic photographs of Haworth and its environs, in the old school rooms near the parsonage. This was the original school built by the Rev. Bronte. One photo showed the day the Parsonage opened as a museum, in 1928 I think. The narrow street leading to it was literally jam packed with people, and everyone was wearing a hat. Well, I did spot one man in the middle of the picture who wasn't!

A couple of days later we went to Farfield Mill near Sedbergh, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This was originally recommended by Donna, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The mill was rescued some yeas ago and some of the original looms were also saved. They now weave on those very same looms as a commercial venture, and you can watch them in action.



The building is divided into four floors, and we started on the top floor, which is a lovely exhibition of hand looms and spinning wheels. On all of the floors there are studios for craftspeople, there was no-one working or demonstrating there that day though. I didn't get any photos of the looms up there, too busy looking at them!

On level 2 there is a big display of the history of the mill, and some of the older looms that were used to weave cloth:



Level 1 houses a lovely cafe, and also the commercial weaving rooms. We sat next to the window through to the weaving room and watched the weaver winding yarns from large cones onto smaller ones. I managed to snag a photo through the glass doors as were were leaving:



Apologies for the slightly blurry photo as I was using the camera on "museum" setting, this is in the room next to the looms, but I'm not 100% sure what was being wound onto what!



They use yarn made from the fleece of the local Rough Fell sheep. I believe this next picture, taken of the field just outside the mill, is of those same breed of sheep. They were not at all impressed at someone getting out of a car to take their photo, and set up quite a noise!



We've not long since finished watching the Spanish Grand Prix, quite an interesting race and another one with a high level of attrition. I'm somewhat gutted for Nick Heidfeld having to serve a 10 second stop/start penalty, as he had no choice but to pit during a safety car phase. I guess that is a risk they run if they leave pitting until the last possible moment, but all the same he did manage to regain a reasonable placing. Well done to the winners, and all the best to Heikki Kovalainen who had an awful crash due to what sounded like a foreign object that caused a tyre to blow out.