FO Friday

As I mentioned on Monday, I cast on a quick knit after finishing my Romantika, well here it is :-)




(photos were taken in the morning and the grass was a bit wet, hence me squeezing it onto the patio instead!)




For those of you who didn't instantly recognise it, the shawl is made using the Faraway So Close pattern by Carina Spencer. I knitted it using some stashed yarn dyed by Alison at Pixieknits in her Violet Rainbow colourway. This is probably my most favourite of her colourways, anything which combines purples and rainbows has got to be good in my book!




As you can see the shawl has a series of simple stitch patterns. I knitted the larger size over about a week with not knitting every day. It's a very relaxing knit and with just enough detail to keep me interested. The rows did feel rather long by the end when I was doing the ruffle!

I'd definitely knit this pattern again, it would make a great Christmas gift for someone. I'm planning on taking mine on holiday with me to wrap around my shoulders when we go for evening walks on the beach or sit outside the tent reading while the children sleep :-)

WIP Wednesday

I briefly mentioned on Monday that I've cast on another pair of socks. Well they've progressed a bit since that first pic so here's a more current one:







As you can see they are knitted toe up with a quilted lattice design. The pattern is Leyburn Socks and is a free one on Ravelry. I used the short row technique for starting the toes as detailed here.

The beautiful yarn is by Flamboyance Yarns in their Box of Crayons colourway. Isn't it pretty?

I'm almost ready to start doing the heel. The pattern suggests a short row heel like the toe so I'll give that a go and see how it looks. I think I'll put a lifeline in first as the pattern is a little vague!

FO Romantika

Sorry I've been a bit quiet lately, my head is in a funny place right now! I've been busy though so prepare yourselves for a pic heavy post now and then a few more in the future ;-)

Firstly, as the title shows, I've finished my Romantika. Well actually I finished it a while ago but I put off doing the pockets and sewing the buttons on. In the end I persuaded Mr Soaring Sheep to do the buttons, he's great like that!

So here's some awkwardly posed photos of it in action. I'm trying not to be too critical of my appearance as if I start thinking like that I'd probably never post any photos of myself again :-(




(would have appreciated it if DP had told me that my necklace fastening was showing! He's not good on details like that lol)

I'm really pleased with it. It's so warm and comfy to wear. I love the pockets, I'm glad I put them in. I'm going to be so cosy this Winter




(oh and excuse the hair, it was a windy day!)




And here are the beautifully sewn on buttons ;-)




It's a great pattern and I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of this cardigan. I'm looking forward to knitting more adult sized patterns by this designer in the near future :-)


After I finished the cardigan I decided to cast on something bright coloured in a very simple and straight forward pattern. I've already finished it so I'll be posting those photos on Friday.

My latest project is my second pair of socks, this time toe up:




More on those on Wednesday ;-)

Cross

I had a look through my button stash to decide what I wanted to use for my Romantika and found some nice simple wooden buttons that would work just fine. I only had 5 of them though so at the weekend we made a special trip into town to go to John Lewis so I could get some more. I found the buttons I wanted, took the tube over to the counter and paid.

This evening I opened up the bag and was very irritated to find that out of the 7 buttons I'd bought, 6 were smaller than the size I had in my stash already and one was the same size. Clearly whichever monkey had been in charge of refilling the button tubes hadn't been paying enough attention >:-S

So now I have 6 big buttons and 6 small ones and I'm not entirely sure what I want to do about it! I don't want to have to go back to Milton Keynes any time soon as it's a bit of a way for us, but I really want to finish off this project! I might have a browse on the internet and see if I can buy the buttons else where or I'm just going to have to do 4 buttons in a different size to the rest (I need 10) and then change them later.

Poor show John Lewis, poor show! >:-S

WIP Wednesday

I'm so close to finishing my Romantika now, I'm really pleased with it. I've got the two pockets and the rest of the collar to do and then it's done. Well it will need buttons but I've not got enough in my box so will get some more the next time I go into town. I've done about 4.5 inches of the 5-6 inch collar so if I can get some time to work on it tomorrow I should get it cast off.

Blurry photo taken on my phone in poor light and without flash because I need to charge it. Gives you an idea of where I am though:




I also have a photo of the cardigan in full, it's really been an epic project for me. 8 skeins of yarn used I believe, but it's such a lovely snuggly cardigan. It's been quite cold here in the evenings so I've been knitting with it spread over my lap.




I've decided that for my next project I'm going to knit a Far Away So Close shawl in a beautiful yarn by Pixieknits called "Violet Rainbow". Isn't it beautiful? Perfect colours for me to knit after this endlessly grey cardigan lol. Plus the pattern is one I've had in my queue for a while but is fairly mindless and will hopefully grow quite quickly. Nice and snuggly for our camping holiday in August too, I'll be able to sit outside knitting wrapped up nice and warm in my cardigan and my shawl :-)




Back to the knitting... :-)

Sunshine Award

I started this knitting blog four years ago as a way of showing off my knitting too customers when I had an online shop. Now I'm no longer knitting for money I have far more time to explore the craft and develop my skills and confidence and I think this has shown positively in my blog. I love how warm and friendly the knitting community is, and how inspiring and encouraging. There are so many beautiful patterns out there that I can't wait to knit, so many new techniques that I've been introduced to by other people who encourage others like myself to give it a go. I mean, I even knitted a lace shawl earlier this year having been daunted by lace ever since I first found out people knitted it!

I was very touched when Sarah of Sezza Knits nominated me for this award. I'm going to nominate some people who have been inspiring to me along my knitting journey :-)

First up the Sunshine Award Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer the 10 questions on your favourite things.
3. Nominate 10 blogs to receive the Sunshine Award and let them know they've been nominated. 

1. Favourite animal: Cats I think, I love their personalities
   
   
2. Favourite number: 3
   
3. Favourite non-alcoholic drink: Water or a pot of Typhoo tea lol
   
   
4. Facebook or Twitter:Tricky, probably facebook as I was on there the longest
   
   
5. My passion: Feminism, in the sense of everyone being given equal opportunities and respect
   
   
6. Getting or giving: Giving, I'm tricky to buy for apparently!
   
   
7. Favourite Pattern: Usually which ever one I'm knitting, I do love Romantika/Lavanda very much though
   
8. Favourite day of the week:Saturday
   
9. Favourite flower: Daffodils
   
10. Favourite country: I quite like the UK but I have a soft spot for Wales, North Wales in particular
    

So, onto the blogs:

1.  Firstly is the lady who inspired me to teach myself to knit in the first place, Lisa or Everyday Randomness is a self taught knitter and crocheter and has made some beautiful FO's. Her blog is relatively new but she's such a lovely person
2. Sam at Pretty Mades All in a Row makes some beautifully colourful things. She knits, crochets, sews, bakes AND takes gorgeous photographs as well
3. Sarah at Babylonglegs is mainly responsible for mine, and probably quite a few other people's yarn addictions
4. I find Vonnie at Adventures of a Lady in Training very inspiring, she not only crafts but until recently she was running her own yarn shop whilst still being a busy mum for four children. She's one of my heroes.
5. Elena at Anadiomena Designs is a very talented designer, I wish I had enough time to knit all her patterns!
6. Crafty Clare held my hand across the internet while I knitted my first shawl and again when I ventured into lace work for the first time.
7. Hazel at Crafty n Clothy makes some beautiful patchwork pieces as well as various other crafty projects
8. Louise at Vintage Giraffe is actually someone I went to school with! She is so talented with a sewing machine.
9.  Katie at Katidids Knits is a knitting machine! Her needles much be on fire she makes so many beautiful outfits. Through her blog I've found several new patterns that she has tested for various designers as well as been inspired by seeing the colours she puts together both while knitting and when she dyes her own yarn 
10. Last but definitely not least is Annie at Heavenly Anarchist. She sews, she makes jewellery and she runs her own business selling beautiful OOAK outfits, jewellery and accessories. She is a very wise woman and a lovely person to boot :-)

Evelyn x

First sleeve done!

Ooo I'm getting excited, I cast off the first sleeve yesterday and it only took me 4 days to knit so maybe I'll have the cardigan finished by this time next week!! Although I haven't got buttons yet, so it won't be completely finished. I need to decide what type of buttons to get, I'm thinking something big and wooden.

Here's a photo I took yesterday just before I started the moss stitch cuffs. Apologies for the poor lighting, feels like it's been raining forever. It's supposed to be Summer!




I would also like to apologise for the manky looking floor! We're renting and I don't think the landlord has replaced the carpets since the house was built. They are clean, just grubby looking :-S *sigh* I hate renting, one day we will buy a house and decorate it ourselves and it will be wonderful...

****

As I didn't have much knitting to show you I thought I'd take a couple of pictures of where I knit so you can have a nose around my lounge. This is what I look at when I'm knitting, the mirror was made by my Mum, it's a cardboard frame with paper maché on top followed by lots of decorations!

The tiles were decorated by my girls for Mother's day. I'm not entirely sure what to do with them at the moment so they are just propped up like this. Does anyone have any ideas?




Finally here's my spot on the sofa, note the laptop for reading patterns, the random knitting accessories lying around and of course the obligatory cup of tea! It's so cosy sitting here while the children are sleeping :-)





Hope you guys have a good weekend, I'm crossing my fingers for some drier weather so we can get out of the house for a walk! Some knitting time would be good too :-)

WIP Wednesday

Not had a very pleasant time since I last posted. We've all been enjoying (!) a sickness bug. Started off Friday with Ava and DP. They seemed to be getting better on Saturday so we went out to do a bit of shopping and get some Summer plants for the garden. Ava and Eli were sick over their car seats. Later that evening I started being ill and was up most of the night. Poor DP was up as well sorting out the bigger two who started being sick too.

Sunday was completely written off, I spent the day barely conscious in bed, DP and the children stayed in the lounge and watched Cbeebies/dozed.

Monday we were no longer being ill but feeling pretty weak from not eating. We stayed at home and didn't really do anything. I finally finished off the moss stitch edging on my Romantika

Tuesday we had a gentle walk and have taken things quite easy. I got a little bit of knitting done on the first sleeve. I've managed about 7 inches but there is another 10 inches to go and then the edging, and of course then the second sleeve and the collar. It's growing slowly and I'm getting a bit bored with the grey yarn if I'm honest!





Today the plan is to have another lazy day. The weather isn't brilliant. We'll probably go to the local Toddler group to be sociable and then come home and all have an afternoon nap. Perhaps do some baking, or maybe watch a DVD together. Gentle things.


I'm considering casting on another project. I don't like having more than one WIP at a time because I find they all grow slowly and I get bored of them quicker. Plus I feel guilty about not finishing the first one before starting the next. But I am getting tired of the grey yarn. I want some bright colours that change as I knit along the row. I want something other than reverse stockinette which just doesn't flow as well as normal stockinette. *sigh*

I'm also finding myself gazing at various pretty yarns for sale and considering buying them. Never mind that I've got plenty of yarns in my stash already,  several projects lined up that I want to knit and no extra knitting time in the near future. I guess buying pretty yarn is instant gratification whereas this cardigan definitely isn't!

I'm going to try to challenge myself to not buy any yarn this month. And if I really can't resist a yarn then I have to close the internet window and have a rummage through my stash and cast something new on!


(watch me finish this month with 30 WIP's and a very long shopping list for the 1st July!!)

Speedy Saturday

Not really made much progress on my Romantika from yesterday so no photos today! Just wanted to quickly point you in the direction of the lovely Julie's blog. She designed the Little Rascals pattern that I used to make the Birthday hoody and has some other beautiful designs ravelry. For this month she is offering a very generous discount code ;-)





If you hop over, tell her I say hi :-)

Hello!

First of June already, wow! Unfortunately at Soaring Sheep towers it's been a bit of a rubbish start. I had a series of headaches last week but being a mum (blatant stereotyping I know) I just got on with things. Unfortunately now Mr Soaring Sheep has the headaches and as he's a man he doesn't take any medication and instead just lies around whinging about how ill he feels. He's also finding the dizziness is making him feel sick so he then goes to the bathroom and makes himself sick. Can you tell I don't have a lot of sympathy for him right now? >.<

Poor Ava has been sick too, she gets lots of sympathy and cuddles and attention! She whinges less too...

So, on the knitting front, today is not a FO Friday although I am starting to wonder if it will be next Friday or perhaps the one after when I have finally got my Romantika finished. I've got about half an inch to do on the skirt part before starting the 2-3 inch moss stitch border. I know it doesn't look like much but each round is very long!

I've decided to do the after-thought pockets again. I was a bit unsure where to place them according to the pattern. I think they'll be ok though. It's such a clever technique, basically, for those who don't already know, you decide where you want the pocket to be and then you knit the stitches using a piece of scrap yarn. Turn your work and knit back to the start of the scrap yarn and then pick up your original yarn and knit as usual. Later on you unravel the scrap yarn and you're left with live stitches which you can then pick up and turn into a pocket, simples!

I'm getting a bit bored of the grey yarn now. It's going to look lovely but I'm a fan of colour. I've got my Holiday knitting planned out but I'm hoping to be able to squeeze in a couple of smaller projects in between. I'm very tempted to knit a Far Away So Close shawl using some of my Stash yarn. Or maybe I should knit some more shorties/skirties for Ava while she's still teeny. I do have lots of yarns I plan to knit up for her so I should probably get on with that sooner rather than later. Or maybe another Molly Bubble romper, that would look rather cute for the Summer, especially with her fat little toddler legs!

I mean, look: isn't she yummiful?