This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember



Go to Soulemama for more

WIP Wednesday

My goal this week was to finish my husband's jumper and last night I did. He's really pleased with it and so am I :-) Still waiting for buttons to arrive so probably won't have any photos for you this week but hopefully it won't be too much longer. Currently it's soaking in some wool wash before I block it later



Now it's done I'm left with two WIP's. I like to work on the crochet squares in batches of 7 because that is 5% of the total squares I need to make. I dunno why but this works best in my head lol. So I need to sew in these ends before I can start the next batch of 7.
 


The sock is about 15-20 rows off the heel so I'll probably work on that today and tomorrow. It would be nice to get this long running WIP finished by the end of the month ready for starting Sarah's Mystery KAL in February.

So that's what I'm working on this week. I'm linking in with Nicole, Tamis and Ginny so click over to them to see what other people are up to this week :-)

Today's Mission

To finish that second sleeve!



It's currently 11 inches, finished sleeve is 19.5 inches and I'm still doing the decreases so it's getting faster all the time. It will be a challenge but achievable I hope.

After that I need to do the collar, sew in the ends, block it and find some buttons. Might look for the buttons in a bit actually.

Have a good week everyone!

WIP Wednesday

I'm FINALLY ready to start the sleeves on Mr Soaring Sheep's jumper. I cast off the bottom last night, still need to weave in the ends but will do that at the end. The second attempt at the bottom was a little quicker than first time round given it's quite a bit narrower. Looking at it on him I should perhaps have done the hip decreases this time round as well but I didn't and I'm not knitting it for a third time!



I'm going to try to knit maybe 3-4 inches of the sleeve today and see how it looks on him and whether I need to adjust the shaping at all. Then I'll finish the sleeve, try it on him to make sure the length is ok and after that I will finish the second sleeve in secret! Mwuhahahaha ;-)

Looking forward to this jumper being finished and being able to knit something else! I'm linking in with WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along today :-) Enjoy the rest of the week everyone

100 days Cold Sheep-ing

I expect most yarn lovers will have heard of the phrase "cold sheep" but just incase you haven't it's like cold turkey but with yarn! Yeah that's right, I've not bought yarn for 100 days which I'm actually rather proud of :-)

Mostly I'm cold sheep-ing to see how far I can go. My stash isn't massive but at 17 miles, it's a little more than I'd like to have hanging around.



I'm actually really enjoying it. I've got some beautiful yarns in my stash and cold sheeping is, for me, about giving myself permission to actually use them. I'm so excited at the thought of knitting some of these.



This collection of yarns is just my sock yarn. It might not all be turned into socks, that stunning emerald green from Posh Yarn on the right for example needs to become some sort of shawl, hat, gloves...

It wasn't that I was spending obscene amounts of money on yarn (well perhaps best not to work out exactly how much I was spending :-S) but it's much faster to buy yarn than it is to knit/crochet it. I'm enjoying trying to rebalance a little



Have any of you Cold Sheep-ed? How long have you gone since buying yarn? Are you a stasher or are you one of those very disciplined crafters who just buys for the project they're making right now?

Hop over to Nicole's Keep Calm Craft On to see what other people are creating this week :-)

Excited

Had two very exciting things happen on my feedly page today. Firstly I saw a post from Nicsknots. She ran a competition last year where you had to blog what was in your project bag. I joined in with this post and I won! How excited am I!

The other exciting thing was when I read Sezza's latest blog post where she talks about a mystery sock KAL she's running from 1st February. The pattern is free whilst the MKAL is running and Sarah's patterns are very clear and well written so it's definitely worth check it out. The ravelry page is here

I'm not sure which yarn from my stash to use. I've got a couple of semi solid/single colour yarns which I think might work. Maybe I'll wait and see which one I feel most inspired by

Sparkleduck Galaxy in Neptune


Flamboyance Yarns Meteor in Violets


Flamboyance Yarns Meteor in Deep Purple


They're all sparkly so not sure if that will be a problem. My other sock yarns are multicoloured which might detract from the pattern. I'm 2 days of reaching 100 days of Cold Sheep-ing so I don't really want to buy a new yarn just yet. I shall have a think :-)

Is anyone else planning on joining in? What yarn are you going to use for your pair?

This Moment

Joining Amanda from Soulemama for This Moment. A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

WIP Wednesday

This week I'm concentrating on the crochet blanket and my husband's jumper. I've not really worked on the jumper very much if I'm honest. I'm a bit bored of stockinette stitch at the moment and I've already knitted this boring bit once already (it got frogged)



I've made some progress I guess, still got another 10 inches or so to go. My camera did not like the dark colour of the yarn so the colours are a bit off in this picture, sorry!



This is my next batch of colours to sew onto my blanket. I like to do a square in each colour and join them on before I start on the next batch of colours, that way it's more balanced. Got a few ends to weave in first though



It's just the standard "Lucy pack" of stylecraft colours but they work nicely together. The only one I don't really like is the grassy green in the bottom middle but it does work well with the other colours so it's allowed to stay lol.

Well I'd better get on with some more hooking. I'm linking in with Tami and Ginny as it's Wednesday so hop over to their blogs for more crafting posts :)

Blanket Progress

Since the start of January I've been putting more effort into getting this blanket finished. I've been aiming to make at least one square a day but preferably two. This means I've made 70% of the squares I need



I'm aiming for a blanket that is 14 squares long and 10 squares wide. This means I've currently got 98 out of the 140 squares. I think today I'll definitely have to go for 2 more squares so I can reach 100 :-)



Of course even when the squares are completed I've still got to join them all together, weave in the ends from joining them together and make a border. Despite that though, it's nice to feel I'm getting closer.

To see what other people are crafting this week visit Nicole's Keep Calm Craft On

What noise does a frog make?

Rip-it, rip-it....



Sometimes you've just got to accept that it's not working out. I frogged back so the arm holes are less deep and the numbers are more of a medium size. Surprisingly I don't feel that sad about it any more. I'd rather spend extra time making something that fits properly, even if it does suck having to re-do it

Boy knitting is hard!

I've never knitted a jumper for a man before. I've never knitted for an adult other than myself before actually. Well apart from hats, scarves etc. which don't really count lol. I followed Sarah's advice in the amount of ease to aim for with the Alec XL jumper and cast on the large size. Unfortunately I have a funny-shaped husband who whilst he has broad shoulders he has a slim waist and arms. The waist could have been sorted with a few more decreases although I don't mind it being a bit baggy. The arms on the other hand... well have a look



It's just not working is it. I'm going to frog back and start the decreases earlier up the sleeve. I might also do a couple of extra ones to get the arms to more of a medium size rather than large. Luckily as it's the weekend I'll have him around for a couple of days so I can keep trying it on him. I don't mind a bit of bagginess on the sleeves and if I decreased them too much they'd look odd. If I knit this pattern again I'll play around with the numbers and knit him medium sleeves and body with a large chest lol

WIP Wednesday/ Yarn Along

I've got three projects on the go at the moment although I'm mainly concentrating on the jumper



I've not really made much progress on the sleeve yet. Hardly knitted at all yesterday actually and not done any today so far either. Oh well!



This is the second sock, the first was finished a while ago. It's mostly an in-car project (DH drives, I knit). I'll probably work on it more once the jumper is finished, I'm looking forward to wearing this pair, the colourway is so bright.



I've got back in to making squares for my son's blanket. I'm trying to do at least one a day. I added two more rows to the blanket at the weekend but I've now used up my stash of finished squares so need to make a new batch.

As it's Wednesday I'm joining in with WIP Wednesday and YarnAlong. I'm looking forward to sitting down with a cup of tea later and reading about what other people are crafting this week :-)

Keep Calm Craft On

Today feels very strange. Not only have the children gone back to school, my baby is having her first day at pre-school. I'm home by myself :-o Weird!

I'm going to be working on a jumper today, specifically the sleeves. Hopefully some fairly mindless stockinette will work for me. Before I show you photos though I need to apologise for their quality. It is very dark here at the moment and my camera does not like it!



The above photo was taken last night when he came home from work. I was racing to get the bottom cast off before he got home and just managed it. It's rather strange knitting for a man, he needs ease in different places. I could possibly have done a few more decreases after the chest but it looks ok I think



It's a bit darker than this photo suggests, rubbish lighting and flash messing around with the colours again. Most irritating!

Lastly, as it is her first day at pre-school, here's a picture of my little girl, super excited and ready to go. She was a little shy when we got there but I left her happily playing with the toys



I'm joining in with Keep Calm Craft On today. Thanks for dropping by :-) Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some progress on the sleeves to show you and also some photos of the other projects I've been working on :-) For now though I'm going to make a cup of tea and try to keep myself busy until it's midday and I can pick up my baby girl

Adventures in Felting

Back in Autumn 2012 I knitted this lovely Milo for my youngest son.



It's been much loved and up until the weekend was still being worn regularly. Unfortunately a mishap happened. It got put in the wash basket and I didn't notice it until it came out of the washing machine looking like this :-(



It's hard to tell from photos but it is very felted and no longer wearable, not even by my littlest girl.

There were tears. There was stomping of feet. There might also have been a few swear words. Yes it was me having a tantrum. My son has far too much faith in my ability to knit a new top to be too upset...

So what to do with this felted fabric now? Turn it into a small bag? A little cushion back? Does anyone have any other ideas? Excluding the straps it is now 9 inches long and 21 inches all the way round.

It's still quite soft and supple considering it's felted, I'd like to give it another chance to be beautiful. Help please!

FO Friday - Colourwork Cardigan

Rather overdue post here but I'm so pleased with this colourwork cardigan. I've got soo many pictures to show you :-)











Such a poser ;-)



Pretty flower buttons from an Etsy seller



Let's go outside for some better light











Crazy hair!



Pattern was Happy Days by Emily K Williams and was part of an issue of Knit Now magazine. I used Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in Lipstick and Royal. I followed the pattern as written apart from changing the button holes slightly because the numbers didn't work for me. I made the 2 years size for my 2.5 year old daughter but she's rather petite. I'm very tempted to make the 3 year size for her for next Winter!

This was my first time doing a colourwork garment (apart from a rather badly knitted hat when I first started knitting!) and definitely my first time steeking. I crocheted on either side of the steek before cutting it because I'm a scaredy-cat! It worked beautifully and I'm very pleased with it :-) Definitely want to use this technique again, it's so clever!

Linking in with FO Friday, Fibre Arts Friday Friday and Creative Friday. Have a good weekend everyone, thanks for visiting :-)

Daffodils and Knitting

One of the things I really like about Christmas decorations is taking them down again! I know that sound a bit odd but as much as I enjoy getting the house ready for Christmas, I love the feeling of space and decluttering when you take them down again. In our family the decorations go up the first weekend of December and come down the 1st January.



I like reclaiming the house, getting out the ornaments, candles etc. that I normally have around the place. I do change things around anyway as the seasons change, more candles in cold dark weather, more flowers in the Spring and Summer. It's more gradual during the rest of the year though.



Daffodils are my favourite thing about Spring. I know it isn't Spring yet but with these happy yellow flowers and the sunlight shining in through the windows I can pretend it is.



The dark evenings under a blanket watching the fire say it's still Winter. But that's ok too because I can knit a warm jumper for Mr Soaring Sheep :-)



It's grown another couple of inches since I took these photos. 15 inches of stockinette takes a while



I don't think Mr Soaring Sheep is that fond of modelling! Or maybe he's just concerned about the knitting needle sticking out ;-)