WIP Wednesday

Today as promised I have a bottom up jumper to show you. I've never actually knitted a jumper this way before so it all feels a little strange. Knitting the sleeves first was rather odd!

Please excuse the phone picture. I was taking it in a hurry before a certain little girl started playing with the knitting!



It's a Ziggy jumper and will probably (yarn permitting) have a hood on. The yarn is a kind of forest green colour, much richer in real life. The zig zags are formed by alternating columns of knit or purl stitches and then traveling cables up the sides divide them off. It's also the first time I've done cables without a cable needle (or rather without a DPN as I don't actually have a cable needle yet) and because it's only two stitches it's very easy.

I'd like to say I'll have this finished by Friday but I think that is probably unlikely as I'm a bit busy this week. However on Saturday my DP is taking the children out for the morning so I will take full advantage of my 90 minutes of quiet and crack on with finishing this :-) How indulgent!

Fluffy post

I've been enjoying a bit of yarn/pattern/needle shopping lately! I've got some lovely patterns to knit up at some point, a lot of them from Elena Nodel after joining in a co-op on the Yarn Lovers Unite forum. There is one pattern in particular I'm super excited about but I'll post about that on Thursday ;-)

Today I would like to show you a couple of yarns I've bought recently and the patterns I'm planning on knitting with them. Firstly is this gorgeous blue cotton which is a slightly warmer blue than the my phone picture shows (DP has taken my camera to work with him in his coat pocket...)



This beautiful yarn is destined to become a beautifully cabled cardigan called Gramps cardigan and it will be for one of my boys. I've got enough yarn for the 4T size but it will depend how true to size it is.

The second yarn I want to show off today is some beautiful Malabrigo sock yarn *swoon*



No, you're not imagining that sheen, it's simply gorgeous! The colourway is Caribeno and it's destined to become not a pair of socks (can you believe I've never actually knitted some!) but another cabled jumper. Are you sensing a theme here? This time it will be using the Little Momo pattern and will be for Eli.


I'm on such a pattern knitting kick at the moment. Yes the yarns are beautiful and I'm looking forward to knitting them but it's the patterns I'm getting really excited about. The problem is not having enough time in the day to knit everything I want to (isn't it always?). My children are lovely but they do seem to want a lot of attention, clean clothes, food, stories, walks round the park... ;-)

However, I have found some time to work on my current WIP. It's my first bottom up jumper and I'll post a photo tomorrow :-)

FO Friday Ridinghood Sweater

Well, it's another Friday and here is Ava's Ridinghood Sweater in all it's glory :-)



I'll be honest, I didn't like this sweater very much. The skirt part took forever and the lace... Well actually the lace wasn't too bad, it was knitting it whilst tired and finding it hard to concentrate that was tricky! I ended up having to frog back 4 rows because I'd made a mistake and couldn't fix it. I did make another mistake later on but that was fixable and now I can't even remember where it was.



The sleeves were a pain. I tried magic loop, it didn't click in my head. I didn't have DPN's in the right size and I'm not a fan of knitting with them anyway, too easy for children to pull out or to poke myself with! I ended up doing them using two circulars.



I used a stretchy cast off called a "decrease cast off" (instructions here for the cuffs and the rolled collar. I didn't fancy knitting another hood and she never keeps them up anyway.

I looked at the unblocked sweater and was a bit "meh". It looked odd and the lace was all messy but when I gently held it out a piece at a time I could see something there. I washed it, blocked it and held it up to the light. What a difference!

And then I put it on her, and it looked so right. The full skirt made perfect sense, the lace was a delicate edging. The cuffs snuggle up against her chubby wrists. And she looked at me, and pulled this face:



And I fell in love with it again. I'm surprised quite how pleased I am with this sweater given how much I loathed it during construction, how tempted I was to frog it and make something else. I can't wait to knit another one :-)

Some special longies

I've finished them :-)



There are cables down both the legs



The cables start from the ribbing at the waistband




I've also got some sad news. I've decided, after a lot of thought, to close down my shop. I've spent 3.5 years knitting for other people and I think the time is right now to move on. I'm so very grateful for all the people who have supported me over this time. Thank you so much to everyone who has bought from me. I think I might go have a little cry now :-)

WIP Wednesday

Would you believe I don't actually have a WIP? I've finished the Ridinghood sweater and the cabled longies (photos of both coming up on Friday) and have yet to cast on my next project!

However, I know exactly what it is going to be, I've got the yarn and downloaded the pattern and everything. Only problem at the moment is this:



There is a poem that sticks in my head at times like these so I'd like to share it with you :-)

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Ridinghood WIP

I've finished the lace section at the bottom of the Ridinghood sweater now so just got the arms and collar to do. I wasn't sure if I was going to do a collar or a hood so I thought I'd try it on the Squishy to see :-)



The blue yarn is holding some live stitches. I think I prefer it on her without a hood. Plus she never lets me put hoods up anyway so why spend the time knitting them lol.

From the back



And the side :-) obviously not blocked yet hence the lace bit rolling around all over the place!



I think she likes it?



Where's the baby gone?



Time to take it off before she starts unraveling it!



So here's a cute shot of her in her romper :-)



Yes there is some knitting by the side of the bed. Ahem!



Baby wants her jumper back on!



Oh no, she's disappeared again...



Rargh!

Silent Sunday

:-D

FO Friday Rainbow wrist warmers

How friggen gorgeous is this yarn! Photo taken with flash but the colours are pretty accurate. And it's soooo soft! Yummy yummy yummy!!




And here's a couple of shots of them in action. I love how the cables are mirror images, just a nice attention to detail.



Yeah I know the rainbow doesn't match exactly but it's not too far off. I wasn't sure about the green thumbs at first because it disrupted the rainbow but as I did them both with the same section of the colourway I think they look quite nice and they make me smile. Plus it shows they are handmade rather than something from a shop so that's always good IMO



Pattern is Trenza Mitts and nicely written. I knitted mine in the round using two circular needles but there are instructions for knitting them flat and then seaming up at the end. The yarn is Knit Picks Chroma and is simply divine. It's single ply and a bit thick and thin in places but it's so pretty I'll forgive it ;-)

A very enjoyable knit and I feel very indulgent having such pretty mitts on my fingers :-)

WIP Wednesday

I have two WIP's at the moment, I'm a bit fickle like that!

Firstly (and please excuse the phone pic, Ava was practicing standing by holding on to my arm so it was a bit tricky to take the pic!) here is a Ridinghood Sweater for Ava



I had to order a pair of 3.75mm interchangeable tips from Get Knitted this week because I didn't have any. I ordered Monday afternoon and they arrived early Tuesday morning, how's that for service! Plus it was free postage, bargain :-D

My other WIP is a pair of instock woollies for my shop. I've not decided yet if they're going to be longies, shorties or maybe even crops. They are a medium size although not 100% certain what the hips will be after blocking as depends how much the cables pull them in. I think they look rather cute though :-)



The yarn is called Emerald Isle (I think!) and it's from the lovely Kirsty at Wharfedale Woolworks

(If anyone wants the shorties/longies then feel free to drop me a comment for measurements or message me on facebook or through my shop)

FO Lavanda

I couldn't wait until Friday to show this FO off, and there will be something else for you to look at then ;-) so here we go:



(It's missing two buttons at the top because I didn't buy enough! I need 8 for the 6T size)

Here it is from the side, with the beautiful cables continuing up each arm and joining in the middle of the hood



I love how the ribbing travels down and then twists together to make the cables



Posing now :-)



After-thought pockets, just what a 6 year old needs for storing all the things she picks up lol



Here with the hood down



From the side



And finally the back



And here are some of it laying flat (ok, flatish!)








So pretty *sigh* :-)


If I ever decide to cast on a bigger one or even a Romantika please give me a nudge and remind me how long this one took! Not a project I want to attempt any time soon given how little time I get to knit during the day. It would probably take me years lol

FO Friday Fail

I have been trying sooo hard this week to get my Lavanda finished and it's ALMOST there but I've not done the pockets, blocked it or sewn the buttons on so it's still not properly "finished". It's looking lovely though, I'm so proud of it lol. I'm really looking forward to showing it off!

I've got lots of projects lined up that I want to make. I bought some Knit Picks Chroma last week which is going to become some cabled wrist warmers for me. I've picked out this pattern and will cast them on at the weekend I expect.


However, this morning I had itchy fingers, I wanted something quickish to knit so I've cast on some longies. They are bright green longies, with a twist ;-)


Unfortunately Ava has chosen not to have a nap this afternoon so I'm not going to get much knitting done :-( And then it's half term next week which could either mean all of the children play beautifully together while I knit or more likely I'll spend my time coming up with games, activities and sorting out disagreements :-p

Silent Sunday

IMAG0339
Originally uploaded by evel_lin

FO Friday

Just a quick post today to show off some woollies I finished last week. Firstly a pair of Scrappy shorties. I do love knitting shorties, can't wait for the warmer weather to return!



And for the same customer, a pair of longies using a colourway from To Knit To Woo which is really scrummy :-)



And finally, my 6 year old's first knitted FO. She spent a lot of time at the weekend knitting her first i-cord on a french knitting dolly. While she was at school I sewed it up into this flower, she's very proud of it :-)