See you in a bit

This is a scheduled post as when you read it I'll be on my to the seaside. Hopefully I'll be back with some progress shots of my socks and sweater WIP's, or failing that maybe some photos of cycle rides, walks and beaches :-)


Ooo I tried the sweater out on Mr Soaring Sheep, it's looking promising so far, and at least he'll be around for more fittings for a while! I'm hoping to get the sleeves separated by the end of the holiday so I can then just knit, knit, knit on the body.



I decided I'm going to make up some sort of shawl collar using short rows. The neck is open enough that Mr Fussy Mr Soaring Sheep doesn't feel restricted and it solved my issue of starting the cables in the right place



Speaking of cables, I love how they're knitting up :-) I'm using this pattern for them. I love braided cables lol.


Right, I'd better get on with the last of the packing instead of procrastinating! See you later everyone

Evelyn

Custom Raglan Adventures Part 1

I've knitted quite a few raglan sweaters over the years and thought I'd be up for the challenge of designing a sweater from scratch. First thing I did was to knit a swatch and block it. I'm using some Cascade 220 Heathers in the Mallard colourway.



Using this recipe for designing a raglan sweater, combined with my gauge swatch and Mr Soaring Sheep's measurements I cast on.



And this is where it got tricky! Mr Soaring Sheep doesn't like sweaters with round necks, he prefers a V neck so it doesn't pull on his top underneath. He is also working away so opportunities to get him to try it on will be limited too. I decided I wanted to do some sort of cable design down the front. Well where on earth are you supposed to start a cable on a top down V neck?? To be honest I'm still figuring this bit out! I'm thinking I will start with just columns of knit and purl stitches at the appropriate points until I can join the sweater in the round and then start the cable properly. I'm hoping that will work out. I was planning on having some simple cables either side of the main one down the front but they got scrapped when I realised I should have started them several rows before. Hey ho, it's a lesson for next time!

It's not really been relaxing knitting at this stage. It will be once I've joined it in the round and started the cable and hopefully it will start looking ok. I did consider just copying the measurements and stitch counts from an existing pattern but decided that would be cheating a little. This could all turn out to be a complete disaster but it's a learning experience :-)

Has anyone else designed a raglan sweater and has some tips for me? I'd be very grateful lol. Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along

FO - Stripy Father's Day Socks

Mr Soaring Sheep has been asking for some stripy socks after seeing the ones I've been making so I thought I'd cast on a pair for Father's day. I allowed myself a couple of months to knit them as I knew I could only work on them when he wasn't around. Now they're finished and blocked I can stash them away for later.



I'm pleased with how the heels have striped. And also that the socks are almost perfectly the opposite of each other. The dark blue on one sock is the light blue on the other and vice versa.



I've again chosen to do the Fish Lips Kiss heel for these socks. So easy to work and it comes out so neatly too. I know the pattern off by heart now which is useful.




Today I'm going to start working out stitch counts for a sweater I'm planning on making. I'll share more about that tomorrow if you want to pop back. It's my first time coming up with a pattern on my own so I'm a little intimidated! Wish me luck lol.

I'm linking this post up with Nicole's Keep Calm Craft On so hop over to her post for links to more crafty blogs :-)

Monday Happy's

I'm feeling a bit blue today. We had a lovely weekend cycling alongside the canal in Milton Keynes and meeting up with my extended family on Sunday. But today it's raining, Mr Soaring Sheep has left for the week and it's all a bit blah. I had a bit of a whinge to myself and then thought I'd find some things that make me feel happy and share them with you too :-)



Another amaryllis has come into flower. I didn't get to see the flowers properly on this one last year because a small person who shall remain nameless (I've forgotten which one!) accidentally broke the stem. It's rather pretty though, and there are a few more buds to open



I've just got this bread out the oven, it's the No Knead Artisan Bread recipe which we've tweaked slightly and cook in a loaf tin so it's better for making sandwiches. It makes excellent toast too



My fairy lights in the kitchen take the edge off the gloomy weather outside. Can't be sad when there are fairy lights around lol.



I'm going to make myself a cup of tea now, plonk myself down on the sofa...



...and do some sock knitting



Have a good week everyone :-)

Thursday's Jobs

I was hoping to show you Mr Soaring Sheep's finshed socks today but as I was just about to cast off yesterday I realised I'd knitted the cuff with k1p1 rib rather than the k2p2 rib I used for the other sock. What a pain lol. So I've frogged it back and I'm now reworking the next 20 rows in the right pattern



The purple sock on the left is almost ready for me to turn the heel. I used the safety pins to help me keep track of which row I'm on. The bottom pin is the starting row, the top one marks row 70. Saves me having to start right back at the begining each time I count. Although I guess I could just count the pattern repeats instead which would be simpler. Oh well!


I've been starting to plot about what  I want to knit next. I think it's going to be a sweater for Mr Soaring Sheep using this recipe and this yarn:



Hopefully I can get a swatch done today if I have time and then I can start taking measurments and working out stitch counts and cable patterns. I'll share more about my plans later as they're a bit vague at the moment!


Right I'd better get knitting :-)

Sunny Monday

When we decorated our lounge a few weeks ago Mr Soaring Sheep and I knew we wanted some new light shades for the ceiling but had no idea what. All we had there before some very cheap uplighters that we bought years ago that were perfect at catching dust :-S We finally spotted some over the weekend that we loved

I thought before looking too closely that the balls had that crackle glaze effect where they look like shattered glass. But actually the inside of them is filled with thin strands of glass, like spun sugar

When the lights are turned on the thin strands catch the light beautifully

I love the shadows it makes on the ceiling too :-)

I decided to make my own posy for the week using flowers from the garden. Not the most artistic arrangement ever but I love that it's from things that I've grown

I'm still knitting on my rainbow socks. I've done both the heels now so it's just a matter of knitting until the yarn runs out. I'm determined to use as much of the yarn as I can

Have a good week everyone :-)


Sorry if the photos are a bit big. Flickr's uploading page seems to be playing up at the moment so I uploaded the photos to blogger instead and it's hard working out the right size!

FO - Tully Cardigan

I finally got my daughter's tully cardigan finished and blocked. I had to wait patiently for Mr Soaring Sheep to sew the buttons on, buttons and I don't mix I'm embarrassed to say! Yesterday afternoon we took advantage of a gap in the rain to get some photos



I made the age 4 version of the cardigan but given how much the yarn has loosened up with washing and blocking I could have gone for the smaller size. However as we're going into Summer soon (she says optimistically) she won't be wearing it much anyway and perhaps by the time it gets cold again she'll have grown a bit lol







I love the sleeves on this cardigan. You can just do normal straight sleeves but I loved the bell shaped option. Also means they stay in place a bit better when she's wearing them lol



She got a bit silly (or sillier!) for these next photos and stretched out the sleeves so they look absolutely massive. It does fit better than it looks, honest!





The lace is very simple to work, only a 4 row repeat and two of those rows are purl ones. The spotty buttons were from etsy, and coordinate with her spotty dress, spotty shoes and chicken pox lol





The yarn I bought on sale from Love Knitting. It's Debbie Bliss Rialto DK in the Mustard colourway. Not a colour I would normally chose as it doesn't my family's skin tone particularly well but I had a craving for some yellow yarn. I think it looks ok on her, even if it isn't the best colour for her. It's lovely and soft :-)

I'm really pleased with how this cardigan turned out and I think she rather likes it too. Definitely a pattern I'd knit again too.

Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along, thanks for visiting :)

Keep Calm Craft On

Not as many words today :)



Spotty girl with matching dress is off pre-school until her chicken pox has gone



Rainbow socks getting close to the heel



Soft yellow flowers from the garden



More socks, onto the second blue stripey one now



Slightly more colour accurate photo, my camera is struggling with the purple and I'm still learning how to adjust for it. The pattern is Express Lane socks, simple to knit without the pattern if you can read your knitting and it's a free pattern.


I don't think there's going to be much knitting time this week and yet it's making me want to cast on new projects. Why is that lol?

Linking up with Nicole's Keep Calm Craft On

My Garden - May 2015

Everything in the garden seems to be having a growth spurt lately. Every day there is something new to notice and looking back through my posts for March and April you can see how much lusher and more colourful everything is



We're using the garden much more now too. Not having many meals out there yet but we've had some lovely sunny days playing outside building dens, reading and yes hanging the washing out too ;-)

I'm really enjoying this plant at the moment, it's a "Centaurea", a type of cornflower





The flowers start off as purple buds, then open to this electric blue before fading to a reddish purple. So pretty



My Queen of the Night tulips are blooming away. The previous people living here had planted some around the garden too so they've been popping up all over the place.



They also planted quite a lot of lillies, including a couple of these monster ones! I think they're known as tree lillies? Very much looking forward to seeing these flowers, look how huge the stem is already :-o





I bought these frilly pansies as a reduced tray in mid Winter. I think one or two died but the rest are full of flowers. I love bargain plants lol





I've got a few lupin plants scattered around the garden and I noticed that this one has the beginings of a flower spike starting. How exciting!





Mr Soaring Sheep bought me two of these happy windmills, aren't they fun? I was pathetically over excited by them lol. You can see the massive hibiscus plant my Mum gave me on the right is just starting to grow leaves.



I've got some scented narcissus still flowering but aside from them my pots are full of tulips instead. There are some tulip buds getting ready though, I guess this pot doesn't get as much sunlight so everything's a bit further behind


Another heuchera, I love these plants. Mr Soaring Sheep got me this one for my birthday


I planted up the hanging baskets at the front and back of the house with some Summer plants. There are two or three trailing geraniums in this one and a fuschia too although you can't really see it from this angle




Does anyone else have some garden posts to share?