Monday 30 April 2012

Mittens on Monday

I've got something else in mind for FO Friday so I thought I would show off this pair of mittens I made for Mr Soaring Sheep. They are knitted in Ellie Belly bulky BFL yarn and are very snuggly
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I think I might have done the cast off wrong as the pattern wasn't very clear. If I make them again I will knit them in the round and then graft the fingers together using Kitchener stitch. However, they are warm, cosy to wear, fit nicely and were a straight forward and quick knit. I am pleased with them :-)
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Pattern was Gifted by Kate Gilbert and was well written in a variety of sizes

Saturday 28 April 2012

Show Off Saturday - Little Momo

Here is my Little Momo jumper knitted with Malabrigo sock yarn in Caribeno.

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It is such a nice pattern to knit, you start off knitting flat but then join it in the round and knit down. The sleeves and button hole section are added later. The bigger needles (3.25) give a lovely loose fabric that hangs well.

The cable pattern is simple to knit. I was a little worried it wouldn't show up clearly with the yarn I'd chosen but I think it's simple enough that you can make it out clearly

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This is a photo pre-blocking, it fits a bit neater round the neck now. It fits Eli best so he gets to keep it and I'll either make an age 4 one for my bigger boy or distract him with the rainbow hoody I'm making for his birthday :-)

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Is it me or does he look like he's come up with an evil plan to take over the world? :-p

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Friday 27 April 2012

FINALLY!

Well here it is, the post you have all been waiting for. The grand unveiling of my Paprika!


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She decided to get a bit more creative with her posing after this and wouldn't keep still!

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Playing a bit of air guitar...

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No idea what this pose was about lol

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She's a bit bonkers really!

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Here are few of it laying flat :-) I've not blocked the edging yet but despite appearances it is perfectly symmetrical. I've learned my lesson...

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Fastenings sewn on beautifully by my OH, isn't he wonderful :-)

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Close up of the Triple Gull cables

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This is my favourite part of the cabling, I think it's so pretty and it was very simple to knit, if a bit time consuming!

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I'm really pleased with it and I think she is too :-)

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Tuesday 24 April 2012

Finally!

I've cast off my Paprika with the neater edging. Oh I'm so glad! It looks much better now so I'm pleased I did it but each row of however many hundreds of stitches in k2p2 ribbing was making me slightly cuckoo! I've managed to persuade Mr Soaring Sheep to sew the buttons on for me so I'll get him to do that tonight and then on Friday I'll have some show off photos to share :-) Cross your fingers for some sunshine...

 So, what else have I been up to. Well, I've finished the Little Momo jumper, just need to sew buttons on and block it. Maybe I should ask Mr Soaring Sheep to do those as well? It fits my littlest boy best so he'll be the one that gets to wear it. I'm hoping it will get a bit looser fitting once blocked as it's not as loose fitting over his belly as I would have liked. He likes it though and I'm sure we'll get lots of use out of it when the weather warms up a bit.

I've knitted some bulky mittens for Mr Soaring Sheep. I had a rummage through my stash and found some Ellie Belly yarn I bought ages ago and wasn't quite sure what to do with. It was one of the first yarns I bought from the US and truth be told I didn't like it very much when it arrived. I was having a look in the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry and saw a pattern recommended for bulky yarns so I decided I'd cast on. The pattern is called Gifted and is a free pattern with sizes ranging from child to adult. I made the man size and they turned out rather well, photos to follow once they've been washed and blocked. They only used one of my two skeins so I'm thinking I'll either make another pair to gift to one of my brothers or Dad or I'll make some sort of scarf/cowl/hat so Mr S.S. can co-ordinate ;-)

Currently I'm doing a semi MKAL with Crafty Clare, we're making the Isis shawl which comes in 4 sections, I'm just about to start the third. It's knitting up beautifully, I'm using up the spare second skein from my Little Momo jumper, woo for Stash Busting lol. So this isn't just a text only post, here's a sneaky peek of my WIP ;-)
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Friday 20 April 2012

*sigh*

So today is Friday and I promised you photos of my Paprika. I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint.

When I picked up the stitches for the front I was tired and a bit fed up of it so I cut corners and didn't make sure I'd picked up stitches evenly on both sides. When I cast off I realised that I was a good 4 stitches short on one side and I hadn't picked up neatly on the bottom either so it looked a bit of a mess.

I tried blocking it, I sewed the buttons on (I loathe button sewing buttons!) and I got my daughter to model it. But the mistakes were too obvious and they irritated me. I knew they would irritate me every time I saw them, so I had to do something I hate:

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Lesson learned, don't cut corners. *sigh*


On the upside, I knitted a pair of mittens yesterday from stash yarn so I'll be able to show off photos of them later. Just need to block them first :-)

Has anyone else made a silly mistake while knitting? Do you frog back and fix it or do you just ignore it?

Wednesday 18 April 2012

WIP Wednesday


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Originally uploaded by evel_lin
Still plodding along with this jumper. Only another 2 inches and the sleeves left to go. Really enjoying the simple cable pattern, it looks more intricate than it is. I'd knit this pattern again I think, it's pretty mindless, perhaps one to take on holiday in the summer. Yes the Summer is months away but with this horrible wet weather we've been having I'd rather imagine sitting on a sandy beach with my knitting

Sunday 15 April 2012

Friday 13 April 2012

Not quite a FO friday

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this post. I finished the Paprika last night but at the moment it's still blocking and lacks buttons so I'm not going to show off any photos until it's fully finished. It does look rather good though even if I do say so myself!

My daughter has tried it on and twirled around in it and declared that she likes it so that's always good!

The one regret I have is not spending enough time making sure I had the same number of stitches on each side whilst picking them up at the front. I'm hoping blocking will stop this being noticeable but if not then I may undo the edging and do it properly. It's too nice a cardigan for me to want to leave a mistake in it. My own fault for picking up stitches late at night when I was tired. One day I am going to stop doing this to myself and go to bed early instead!


So currently I'm knitting the sock yarn jumper. I was a little worried that the colours in the yarn would fight too much with the cable design down the front but I think it's turning out rather nicely actually. I'm using 3.5mm needles and sock yarn so it's quite a light and airy fabric but I think it will be great for those Summer days when it's not quite warm enough for just a t.shirt but you don't want something too heavy.


Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I'm going to have a cup of tea now and do some knitting while my boys sleep and my girls play. Ava has decided this week that she'd rather skip her nap time and then fall asleep in her high chair at tea time... *sigh*

Wednesday 11 April 2012

WIP Wednesday

Well I'm making good progress with my Paprika, I've finished the main part of the cardigan and done the sleeves, now I'm just left with finishing the hood and then I need to pick up stitches round the front and the hood for the ribbing.

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However, yesterday I was getting a bit bored with knitting pink so decided to cast on something else! It's a Little Momo jumper using some sock yarn I bought back in February.

It seems to be quite a simple pattern, it's a top down jumper with the cable worked over the front stitches. The safety pin is marking which row of the cable pattern I'm on, I count in 10's so if I forget where I am it's easy to pick up again

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Not much to see at this point as that was only a day's work and it's sock yarn so it's never going to grow quickly! I'm not sure which of my boys it's going to be for, it depends who it fits!

Friday 6 April 2012

FO Friday

Well it's Friday again so that means it's time for me to show you my latest finished object :-) Incidentally I don't think I'll have one to show you next week as I'm only working on my Paprika cardigan at the moment and as it's a 6T size and we're in the middle of the Easter holidays I'm not getting a lot of knitting time at the moment.

Anyways, this friday I'm showing off my Mystery KAL cardigan!

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The pattern is called My Honey and will be part of the Spice Girl's 2 collection by Elena Nodel.

Obviously as it was a mystery KAL we didn't know what the finished design would look like. It was fun seeing the teasing hints and photos on the ravelry forum. I especially enjoyed knitting the lace section as lace work is something I'm wanting to explore a little more. Whilst I wouldn't say I've mastered cables, I'm pretty confident at taking them on now so lace knitting is a new way of stretching myself as a knitter.

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The original design had instructions for long sleeves but to be honest I wasn't too sure about the style of them. Plus with the lace yoke and the warm weather we were having at the time I was knitting I thought a short sleeve cardigan would get more use this Spring and Summer. Perhaps if I'd knitted a larger size I would have gone for the long sleeves but I really like how this one has turned out.

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All in all it was a well written pattern and as the lace section isn't too big it's a good introduction to lace knitting if you're a bit unsure about trying it. The stockinette body was a little boring to knit up but it is quick to do and contrasts nicely with the complexity of the yoke. I mostly enjoyed knitting it (apart from when I was feeling ill at the start!) and would possibly knit it again. I say possibly because I'm a bit of a fickle knitter and I like trying out new patterns!

The baby seems pretty pleased with it!

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Thursday 5 April 2012

I haz TWO socks!!


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Originally uploaded by evel_lin
Literally just cast off my second sock. Made a small error somewhere so had to bodge it slightly. A knitter would notice the difference, a sock knitter would know what went wrong but the rest of the world doesn't know or care so I'm going to wear both socks with pride :-)

My feet are so cosy!

Wednesday 4 April 2012

WIPs Wednesday

So Wednesday is here again and this time I actually have two WIP's to show you. Firstly I'd like to show off my Paprika cardigan, I'm on to the skirt bit now which is simple straight forward knitting. The cable section was a little fiddly especially the bits where I had to use a cable needle but it turned out fine. My only problem was when I thought I had made a mistake, un-knitted an entire row and then re-read the pattern and realised I'd been right all along! Ooo I felt stupid!

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The yarn is looking lovely and it's so nice to knit with. I'm really enjoying both the pattern and the yarn. Good job as I've got about 8 inches of skirt left to do then picking up stitches along the front and neck. I was planning on doing a hood but my daughter isn't sure if she wants one now, fickle child. I will see how we both feel about it closer to the time.


My other WIP is of course my second sock. It's knitting up very much the same as the first one did, funny that! I'm currently doing the decreases after the heel, the pattern refers to it as being the instep.

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I can't wait to finish it and being able to wear them both. I can see why people get addicted to socks! At this point in time I don't especially want to knit patterned ones as I like the quickness of knitting stockinette and watching the colours in the yarn swirling round. I am rather tempted by the Jaywalker pattern though, possibly the Toe Up version by way of a change. Especially as I've got some sock yarn coming for my birthday in two weeks time :-D

(I was very sneaky, I took advantage of Flamboyance Yarns' 20% off sale and then emailed Mr Soaringsheep informing him I'd just bought some yarn but he could give it to me for my birthday and by the way could he pay for it! He's so sweet sometimes lol)

Monday 2 April 2012

Paprika WIP


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Originally uploaded by evel_lin
Excuse the poor quality photo, I took it on my phone and the battery was almost flat!

This is where I currently am with the Paprika cardigan. You can see the Triple Gull cables on the top left of the photo which I'm enjoying doing. The pattern uses the contiguous set-in sleeves method for making the sleeves which I've not used before. I've done the left front and I'm now working on the back section.

The yarn is far more beautiful in real life, gorgeous rich colours with a subtle variation as you knit which adds to rather than subtracts from the complex design. I've missed working on this, mindless knitting has it's place but there is something very satisfying about using your brain!

Unfortunately from a knitting point of view it's the first day of the Easter holidays so I've got all four of the children at home. I'm hoping to take them to the park later today to tire them out a little and burn off some of their energy! The weather forecast isn't very promising for this week so we'll be doing some indoor activities. We're having a fairy theme for this holiday so will be making fairy cakes, fairy wings, face painting, fairy gardens, decorating flower pots.... Should be a lot of fun :-)

Anyway, my cup of tea is ready so I'd better go :-)

Sunday 1 April 2012

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