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... :-)