More Gradient Gorgeousness

Well, there was quite a positive response to the blog post concerning my Countess Ablaze spinning, I thought I'd give everyone a quick update.

I have actually started knitting Antarktis with this gradient yarn. I should warn you with this pattern, it tells you to read the pattern all the way through before beginning. Make sure you not only read it, but understand it. I didn't and got waaaaay off track and had to rip a good thirty rows out.

However, I'm nearly back to where I was before the ripping incident, and this is what it is beginning to look like.

It doesn't look like much so far, but I have high hopes!

What I'm Working On and a Finished Pair of Socks

I haven't done a WIP post for ages. I've got into a bad habit where the only thing I seem to be posting about are finished objects. This blog was never meant to be a simple catalogue of FOs. I wanted to share my ups and downs and thought processes, but I think I've been sharing most of that on my podcast or posting on Instagram for a quick "here's what I'm working on right now" photo and explanation. I think in order to get round these omissions I might try and set up a way of posting those update photos from Instagram to the blog. I will try it as an experiment for a week or so and then decide if it is working or not. These updates will be titled as Instagram posts, so please let me know if you find the posts helpful, interesting or a pain in the neck.

In the meantime here are some updates on what I'm currently working on.

These vanilla socks are being knit out of some of my favourite sock yarn, which is from Knitters Nightmare. Sadie's Boogieman Sock is a wonderfully smooth and soft sock yarn that is strong as well. The yarn is 75% merino and 25% nylon and the colourway is Seashore, and yes the colours really are that vibrant! I love knitting these socks and I can't wait to get them on my feet.

I just realised that I haven't shared with you a pair of socks that I finished a couple of weeks ago. I do tend to knit them quite quickly these days and they get lost in the rush. These socks are rather splendid though so I want to share them with you.

I decided after working on only stocking stitch socks, I wanted to make texture a part of these socks and chose a pattern from The Knit Stitch Pattern Handbook, by Melissa Leapman, called Little Boxes on Pg 25. It's a simple and easy pattern and it worked brilliantly with these socks. I adore these socks and I think they will really last because they are a high twist yarn made from Blue Faced Leicester and Nylon, which is sturdy stuff! The yarn is Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock from The Golden Skein's club inspired by the photo Tornado Over London, which I got as a left over single skein. I love the idea of this club and in fact have entered a photograph into their recent competition to be used as inspiration for the first quarter of 2015. If you are interested you can go and vote over on their Ravelry group. (Mine is Butterfly and I would receive the club shipment, inspired by my photo, if I won. Entries close on Friday 16th May 2014)

I know I have a bit of a tendency towards to knitting rather bright socks but after the success of these more neutral socks, I decided I wanted to try some more muted yarns. I picked up some ordinary Regia yarn so I can throw the socks in the washing machine. I don't have many pairs of machine washable socks using my new personalised vanilla sock pattern so it seemed sensible to knock up a couple of pairs. Regia is such a great workhorse yarn. These socks will be worn for years.

The yarn is Regia Design Line Ombre Stripe in colourway 04480. I really like how this muted stripe looks and it's a nice contrast to the Knitters Nightmare socks that are so vibrant. Sometimes it's nice to knit soothing stocking stitch in a nice soft colour. It's calming!

In contrast to all the soothing stocking stitch I have a couple of interesting projects that I need to concentrate a bit for. The first is the Simene Stole, by Melanie Edgar, from The Scrumptious Collection Volume 3 that I reviewed in January. I'm using Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in the Teal colourway. It's gorgeous stuff and the pattern is pretty straight forward, for a lace pattern.

I've got as far as midway through the 7th chart repeat, in the first half of the stole. There are only meant to be 6 repeats but I wanted to use up as much of the yarn as possible, and also ensure that the stole could be properly wrapped around my ample frame! When I've finished the 7th repeat I'll weigh the skein and measure the worked part and see if I think I can squeeze in another repeat without running out of yarn or making it into a Doctor Who scarf rather than a stole!

The other "thinking" project is knit using cables. The pattern is from Coopknits Toasty Vol 1 by Rachel Coopey. I really enjoyed her work in the Fyberspates Scrumptious Collection Volume 3 book and decided that as I enjoyed her writing style and her design aesthetic I would buy this book, and it's worth every penny of it's £12.00 price tag, especially as you get a digital download code for the patterns on Ravelry included in the price of the hard copy. The pattern I decided to start with, from this book, is Ripon. It's a lovely slouchy hat knit in 4 ply and covered with cables. What more could a girl, who loves hats, want?

The pattern is written to use Titus 4 Ply but I wanted a hat to match the new stole I am making, plus my new turquoise handbag. I decided to use Jamieson & Smith 2 Ply Jumper Weight Yarn in the Very Bright Turquoise (132) colourway.

I haven't got very far, but I am enjoying it immensely. I hope to get this hat finished by the end of June 2014 as that is the deadline for entry into the Island KAL being run by Sarah of the Fiber Trek podcast. The project uses Shetland wool, which means it is eligible for the KAL, as it is an island produced yarn. It's a fun idea for a KAL and it's nice to do some cabling work again.

So those are most of my currently active knitting projects. It's nice to take stock occasionally and share my progress. I will try and do more update posts again, I do miss it. Hopefully the Instagram posts will help fill the gaps that I leave, but please let me know what you think of that idea, both in theory and reality!

Working with Wollmeise

This week I have been captivated into mainly working with a new purchase.  Over the weekend I got a delivery of the biggest skein I've ever owned.

This is a lace weight skein that weighs 300g!  It is also, more importantly, a Wollmeise Lace-Garn skein in the Kornblume colourway.  It is around 1590m/1700yds in length and is made up of the squishiest and softest superwash merino imaginable.  I can see why people go nuts for it.  It was incredibly expensive if you think of it in terms of buying a single skein, but when you convert it into three skeins it becomes much more reasonable in price.

One of the problems of having such a huge skein becomes evident when you try to ball it up.  I used my regular ball winder until the cake of yarn got too big for the handle to turn without catching the yarn.  Then I removed it and wound the rest manually.  I could have cut the yarn and wound three cakes but I didn't want to do that when it came as one.  It took several hours to wind the whole skein, but I did keep having to take breaks.  The resulting cake of yarn is gigantic and I can barely get my hand around it.

I decided that perfect bag to put this in was, my new one from Nicsknots, my superhero fabric bag.

The balled up yarn just fits into the bag.  This bag is fabulous and I just had to team it up with this superhero of a cake of yarn.

Of course, once I had my yarn already to use and in a bag, I had to find a pattern.  Except, I already knew what pattern I was going to use.  The pattern was the reason I had decided to splash out and buy such an expensive skein.  The pattern is Viajante by Martina Behm, another one of my set of pattern purchases that included Brickless.  This pattern is another intriguing one from this designer, with lots of stocking stitch.  The resulting item is shawl-like in appearance, except it is made up of two layers, joined in the round.  This means you can get inside the shawl and wear it like a cowl.  It is incredibly clever and inventive and I know it is something that I would wear a lot.  The pattern was originally knit in Wollmeise Lace-Garn and it looked lovely and I couldn't think of another yarn that I wanted to use as much.  I stalked the updates and bagged this skein.  Even though this colourway wasn't what I thought I was going to buy, it has turned out to be a great choice.  The blue is very deep and vivid and is almost impossible to capture on camera by someone who isn't very talented.  I adore the colour and the yarn, and I am going to relish knitting this pattern.  It's just as well, as it's going to be a mighty endeavour!

The pattern starts with a garter stitch triangle and then is joined in the round.  The garter stitch is very squishy and I am enjoying knitting it.  Soon it will be stocking stitch though and then I'll be doing that for eons!  This is likely to be a long term project that I can take around to social occasions as it won't require much pattern checking.  I hope it gets done faster than the Nuvem!

STCLKAL Update and more Prizes!

As promised last week, I am actually posting on a Monday to let you know how the Crafting Library KAL is going along.

I've been slogging my way through the largest number of stitches, around the hips.  I have finally reached the point where I can decrease down to the waist.  From here on in, there will be fewer stitches!

You can finally see the the cabled panels clearly as there has been a full repeat and a half of the charts.

I've been working my way through the maths for this project.  It feels like I'm completely re-writing the pattern to make it fit me properly.  I have discovered that the length of my torso is almost exclusively situated between my waist and the upper bust.  No wonder I nearly always end up with the waist of garments sitting way too high.  The things you learn whilst you are altering patterns.  I still haven't done all the maths because my brain started to hurt.

When I had wound all the skeins of yarn for this project I realised I didn't have a project bag big enough to hold it all.  I decided that was a good reason to buy a new one!  I found a great linen/cotton bag on ETSY from KnitterBag.  Whilst the shop is based in Lithuania, and therefore International postage has to be paid, you don't have to pay customs charges because this country is part of the EU.  As the basic postage charge went up to quite a heavy weight, I ended up buying two bags, but I will only show you the one I bought for this project.

The bag holds SO much.  It has screen printed owls around the bottom of the bag.  It is 22cm x 10cm (8,5" x 4") in size and it's height is 32cm (14").  I have 10 wound 50g skeins, the current half knit skein and the project.  There are also swatches in there AND the pattern book!

It also has four pockets inside the bag, which come to approximately 2/3rds of the height of the bag.  In the photo below there are two skeins stacked on top of each other, so you can judge the scale of these slip pockets.

The pockets run all the way around the bag, 2 wide pockets and 2 more narrow pockets.

It's really well made with it's draw string top and the strap handle is really useful.  The service was great and I got the bag really quickly.  I really recommend these bags for us Europeans.  I love how my entire project fits in so neatly, including the book!  I will get great use out of this bag.

Going back to the KAL, I have been contacted by a couple of members of the Stitched Together Designs Group on Ravelry with lovely generous donations of prizes for the KAL.  Sarah, aka ForeverKnitting31 has offered one winner a pair of her Awesome Boot Toppers from her ETSY store, HomemadeSunshine11.

Louise, aka madmum, has offered up some lovely yarn from her stash.  The yarn is a skein of Araucania Ranco Multy in colourway 308.  I really like this yarn and I used it to knit an entire cardigan, but it would make great socks.  It is 344m/376yds in length and is made up of 75% wool/25% nylon.

I'm very grateful to Louise and Sarah for their generous offers of prizes.  The more prizes, the more the chance of winning!

I am enjoying all the chat going on in the Group so much, and the projects being knit are lovely.  There is still plenty of time to join in the Stitched Together Crafting Library Knit-A-Long, why don't you come and join us?

Remember to use the hashtag STCLKAL on twitter and Instagram, and on blog posts, so we can find each other and see how everyone is coming along.  Hopefully by next week's update, you'll be able to see more of a garment!

KALs in Progress - STCLKAL, NEWTOYOUSAL, MSROBKAL

September has started with a bang.  31st August, was the start date for the Stitched Together Crafting Library KAL (STCLKAL) and it seems there were several of you waiting with baited breath.  There is lots of chat in the thread on the Ravelry group board, and there are already several progress photos posted.  It's really exciting and inspiring seeing what everyone is casting on. As you might have guessed, I too have cast on.  I have a measly 1.5" knit, but then I have to remind myself that this is the whole body being knit around and I had to do lots of sums first!

I have decided to make this cardigan to fit me perfectly - assuming I lose 2" all the way around my circumference!  I am currently losing weight at quite a good rate so it seemed silly to make the garment to fit me now, because by the time I've finished the garment it will be too big.  I have assumed that my back measurements won't change a lot, nor the proportions between the height of shoulder, waist and hip.  I am making the size that fits my upper bust measurement less 2", but as there is quite a large range between sizes it actually should just about fit my upper bust now, which is fairly comforting!  I should be able to wear this even though it will be a little small on my full bust and hip.  I know from past experience that when I lose weight my proportions remain fairly consistent, so I feel safe making these assumptions.

I am placing most of the additional stitches required for my bust at the bust darts and some at the side and the additional decreases for my waist will happen at the sides and the back darts.  I also know that I need to add length to the torso and between my shoulder and bottom of the armhole as I have a long rib cage.  There are lots maths involved and in order to get started I've only done the bottom bit of maths, the hip!  In about another 2" I'll have to start the decreases and I'll need to do more maths.  I'm really enjoying this challenge after reading Knit to Flatter and I'm hoping this garment will really fit me nicely.  Even when I've added bust darts in the past, garments don't fit me perfectly because of my long torso and relatively small waist.  It shall be interesting to see what kind of difference it will make to my appearance.

The cabled panels, at the front of the garment, keep things interesting.  The cables are single stitch crosses and the knit stitch is nearly always twisted by knitting through the back loop.  It looks great but it makes things a bit slower.  I'm knitting the cables without a cable needle.

The panels are mirrored, so you need two charts, but I think it makes it look really polished.  I started to knit this using Addi Lace circular needles because I couldn't find my ChiaoGoos and they really weren't pointy enough to deal with the cables.  I was so relieved when I dug out my ChiaoGoo Lace Interchangeables from an unused project bag.  The difference in doing the cables was significant as the point is so much sharper.

I have added the additional stitches equally between each front and the back, as there are false seams, and kept the back and bust darts in the same locations as if there weren't additional stitches for the hips.  I'm not sure that I will keep those darts in that position until I've knit a little more length so I can compare it to my own body and work out whether I should move them a little.  I like the look of the fake seams which involve slipping the right side stitch and purling the wrong side stitch.  You can see the effect above.

I hope I have more to show you next week.  I plan on having a regular STCLKAL blog post.  I was intending to do it on Monday, but I wasn't very well earlier in the week and couldn't face blogging.  If you are blogging about the STCLKAL then leave a link to it in the comments.  It would be good to see what other people are thinking about this KAL!  Remember to use the tag #STCLKAL on Twitter and Instagram, as it's been great seeing what people are doing on those platforms.  If you don't use Instagram, I highly recommend it, as there is an app for iPhone and Android now so you can easily see your friends' photos.

This project is actually a double dip KAL.  I am applying it to the Must Stash podcast's Rhinebeck or Bust KAL.  The ideas is to make a stand out item that you would be proud to be seen wearing around The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck (usually just referred to as Rhinebeck).  I am fairly sure that this cardigan will fit that!  I can't win any prizes for my KAL, so I'm double dipping to win somewhere else!

Speaking of prizes, there have been a few people who have offered additional prizes for the KAL, which I will hopefully tell you about next week when it's all firmed up.  They are good ones that I think you'll like!

I'm also taking part in a SAL!  "What is a SAL?", I hear you cry.  It's a SPIN a long.  Melia of the Yarn Raising podcast is running a New To You SAL.  New to You means using a fibre, technique or tool that you've not used before (or maybe just sampled).  As I've not done a full skein on my Tibetan spindle I am using that and spinning the Fyberspates fibre I got in their sale.  The blend is merino/silk/gold stellina.

It is spinning like a dream!  It's so quick to draft.

The new technique I want to use is chain plying.  I think this would be a lovely 3-ply yarn and I think this would be a heavy lace or light fingering when it's done if I carry on with this thickness while I spin.  I think this fibre would work well as a chain plied yarn as it's got a limited palette and they colours blend together beautifully.  I'm really excited about this spinning and I'm glad I decided to join in with the SAL, even if it is another commitment!

As this is technically a WIP post as well as a KAL/SAL post, I'm linking up to Tami as usual.  I'd love to know what KALs you are joining in with at the moment.  Please tell me I'm not the only lunatic!

Inbetween Big Projects

I don't feel like I have much to talk about at the moment.  I'm doing lots of little things.  After spending a week concentrating fully on the Minerva Crafts Tee, I've ground to a halt.  After sewing it up and weaving in the million ends that are the result of a striped tee, I realised my mistake.

I forgot to ask for buttons!  After checking my button jar and coming up empty I went to ebay, my favourite button finding venue and found some buttons I liked.  I went on to order them and realised that the ebay store was for Minerva Crafts!  I didn't realise they had an ebay presence.  I decided to email my contact at Minerva Crafts and very kindly offered to put the buttons I wanted in the post.  So, while I wait for my buttons to arrive I feel like I'm flitting from project to project.

I don't want to start anything big because the Crafting Library KAL is due to start in a couple of weeks, and when that starts I want to be able to concentrate on that, so I've been doing little things like making stitch markers.

These are lovely little light stitch markers that glint when you slide them along your needle.  Then I couldn't resist using two beads that I've kept to one side for a long time.  I decided I was never going to make them into earrings, so I may as well use them as stitch markers and actually get to enjoy looking at them.

I have also been spending more time getting to grips with my Tibetan spindle.  I have been working my way through my Fibreholics package.  If you are in the UK and haven't heard of Fibreholics I shall let you in on the secret.  Fibreholics are a group of indie dyers in the UK who collectively put out a sample pack, every two months.  It costs a very reasonable sum and you can order either 100g or 200g of either yarn or fibre. The samples are usually around 20g or so, to give a good representation of the quality of either fibre or yarn. I decided that as I know so little about fibre dyers in the UK getting a fibre pack would be really useful to me.  I ordered the pack and got a good selection of different fibres from different dyers.

The samples are, from top to bottom, left to right;

Hilltop Cloud (this wasn't included in the Fibreholics Package, I got it with my last purchase)
Colourful Designs (which seems to be on hiatus)
Knitterscarlet
Mandacrafts
Porpoise Fur
Lime Green Jelly

With these samples I'm simply spinning them on my Tibetan to improve my technique, to try different fibres and different dyers.  I'm enjoying spinning for fun rather than to produce a yarn that will be used.  It makes me feel more free and less worried about making it perfect.  I still haven't tried plying on my spindle yet, I'm scared to try.  I will do it eventually, but at the moment I'm simply spinning singles and storing them on drinking straws!

I am doing some knitting.  I decided to visit my queue and cast on Pogona by Stephen West.  This pattern has been in my library and queue for some time.  I even had the yarn from stash waiting to go.  I pulled out my skein of Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin in the We're Different range.  I bought this from a destash for a reasonable sum (ie cost plus p&p), so I'm not quite sure of the colour.  I think it is Gruenfink. Essentially it is a gorgeous zingy apple green.  This is the first Wollmeise I've used and I can see why people rave about it so much.  The stitch definition is amazing and the colour is incredibly saturated (my favourite).

I had read, that because Wollmeise Sockenwolle is a larger skein than usual, the Pogona is a much bigger size when finished, as it is an easily adjustable pattern.

This semi-solid colourway is showing up a treat in this pattern and I'm enjoying knitting it, using my new stitch markers!  I think this will be a lovely scarf type shawl that will brighten up my dark grey Winter coat when it is finished.  I can't wait to see it done!

I'm quite enjoying being between big projects.  Whipping up some smaller things makes me feel like there is no pressure and I am getting lots accomplished.  To see other works in progress, click the button.

Single Minded Knitting

Over the last month I've had a bit of a scatter-gun approach to my knitting.  I've been doing lots of bits of things as they fit around my new obsession of spinning.  I have now cleared the decks a bit and I'm back to focusing on one item, my King Cole Bamboo Cotton T-Shirt.  I have managed to finish the back. (That stitch marker is to remind me to sew in some loose plies that got missed in a stitch. The one downside of this lovely yarn, is it's splitty nature.)

Yesterday I cast off the front too!

It looks a little low cut doesn't it!  That is where the placket will go, so I think it will be perfectly decent.

The longer I knit with this yarn the more I like it.  The yarn is so soft and drapes so elegantly I think it will be a very useful addition to my wardrobe.  Even though there is no shaping in the tee, it will look like it has, simply because of the finished knitted fabric.

I have finished the ribbing on the first sleeve and now that I am focusing on this one garment, almost exclusively, I hope I will manage to finish this soon.  I really want to wear this tee before Summer is over!

If you are inspired to try knitting with King Cole Bamboo Cotton, mine was supplied by Minerva Crafts to review.

As this is a work in progress, I shall link up to Tami's WIP Wednesday.  If you want to join in, click the button.

WIPs and Spinning

I haven't really done a WIP update in a while.  I think it has been all the excitement of starting a podcast and starting to spin.  Speaking of spinning, I have managed to finish plying my first Tour de Fleece 2013 project. I have got two 50g (ish) skeins of 2ply yarn.  They are currently drying, but here is the result, photographed just as they were finished.

As soon as it s dry I shall show you how different it looks after a soak.  I also got this in the post yesterday:

Yes, my long anticipated supported spindle from IST Crafts arrived, along with an apology for the delay and a WPI gauge thrown in too.  I got the Purpleheart on Sycamore with Purpleheart shaft, without a brass tip, but with a bowl. As you can see, there is no fibre on my lovely new spindle yet.  That is because I am scared!  I don't know why, because I have some fairly robust fibre to practice on.  I have some Falkland fibre from World of Wool, that is undyed, which will be perfect.  I think it is because I have not found many videos on YouTube.  I think I will have to do some more searching.  I have bought Respect The Spindle, after deciding that it was so highly recommended that even if it didn't focus on supported spindles it would give me lots of valuable information.  I have only just started the book but it is really well written, clear and interesting, so I am reluctant to start spinning on the new spindle before reading more of the book.  I shall have to decide soon, otherwise I won't have anything to spin for Day 5 of the Tour!

So, moving on to my knitting!  If you have listened to my podcast you would have heard me talk about being approached by Minerva Crafts to do a product review.  I could pick a pattern that they sold on their website and make it using yarn they sold.  I eventually chose a King Cole pattern, because though I have knit with King Cole yarn, I've never knit one of their in house patterns.  The pattern I chose is King Cole 3324, which is for either a long sleeved sweat shirt type top, or a t-shirt with an open neck.  I decided I like the idea of making a nice simple t-shirt, especially as it has stripes!  I chose blue and white King Cole Bamboo Cotton yarn, as I've never used that yarn.  Having yarn as well as a pattern, that were new to me, felt the right thing to do if I was to give an unbiased review.  I didn't want to already know what the yarn or pattern would be like before starting.

I really am impressed with this yarn.  It is incredibly soft and drapey and is beautifully smooth to knit with.  I did a swatch and hung it to dry with clothes pegs attached along the bottom, as I was pretty sure this fibre would grow - and I was right.  The swatch before washing and hanging was no where near the gauge, but it was spot on afterwards.  The fabric is beautiful when knit up, even before blocking.

The style of t-shirt is very boxy and it relies on the drape of the fabric to give shape.  I think this will be an incredibly light and comfortable garment to own.  The t-shirt is knit bottom up and in pieces, which is pretty common for the patterns written by UK spinners, but in this case I think it is a good idea, as it will help anchor the very drapey fabric, so it doesn't stretch too far out of shape.

I have already knit up past the decreases for the armholes on the back and I'm really enjoying my stripey knitting.  At the decreases for the armholes I carried the yarn along the back of the cast off stitches in the same way as I learnt from here, whilst starting my Tribute Wrap (I really must pick that up again, I'm half way done!).  It was more tricky to use this techniquebecause the carried yarn wasn't cut, like in the tutorial, but I twisted the carried yarn one way for half the stitches and the other way for the other half.  It all untangled and I think it looks pretty neat.

I tried to take a full shot of the back, but my cat decided that as it was laid on the floor it must be for her.  It's unusual for her to take such an interest in my knitting, but I decided that I didn't want my knitting either being shredded or dropping off the needles due to her playing with it.

The other project I have started, and was mentioned in the podcast, was Henslowe.  It's a lovely simple shawl pattern that I learned about from Emily of the Watcha' Swatchin' Podcast.  I cast on immediately after seeing it, by using some Malabrigo Sock from stash, in Abril.

I already had this yarn caked, to play around with a pattern idea I had, that didn't work out, so it seemed a perfect match for this pattern.  I adore Malabrigo Sock.  It's a gorgeously soft and springy merino that is so wonderful to wear round your neck.  I can't imagine anyone wearing it on their feet, because I know the socks wouldn't last long with yarn this soft.

I quickly knit up the centre garter stitch panel that is knit side to side with yarn overs at the beginning of each row, and then cast off the top long edge using a suspended bind off.  As it was a technique I've not used before I looked it up and found a great tutorial from Bella Knitting. (I already shared that link on my Facebook Page).  The technique is really easy and though Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off is stretchier I think that the suspended bind off will keep the edge from stretching out of shape when it is worn.

I have now picked up the yarn over stitches at the end of each row to start knitting the lace panel outwards along the curved edges of the garter panel.

The lace is pretty easy and I was able to do it at knit night without having to rip any out.  I am really enjoying this pattern and I can't seem to stop!

One more thing before I go, I mentioned on my podcast that I wanted to start a KAL/CAL towards the end of the Summer using patterns from your crafting library.  The idea being that everyone could choose the type of project they wanted to create, but they would be doing something that they forgot they wanted to do, when they bought either a book or a magazine.  I also thought it would be a great opportunity to knit from stash, as often those long owned patterns also have yarn bought for them to knit when you "have time" or when you are not distracted by the new and shiny!  I am tentatively proposing the start date of Saturday 31st August and running to Friday 1st October.

I'd love to know if anyone would want to join in with my Crafting Library KAL/CAL and if the dates would work.  I am not proposing to set any particular size restrictions on the projects so you could do a baby jacket or a blanket.  I would probably give (some small, probably from stash) prizes at the end of the KAL/CAL that would be drawn from anyone who posted a minimum of three photographic posts in the update thread on my boards.  I think, that way, people could join in, whatever the scale of the project and not feel annoyed that their blanket or huge sweater would take longer than the baby jacket or hat, knit by someone else.  I want people to work on the projects that interest them, not force them into knitting something that has to be completed by a deadline.

If you are interested in taking part, or have any thoughts on what I have suggested, then please go over to the Ravelry Board and join in the discussion on the thread.

And if all that wasn't enough food for thought, you can click on the button to find out what everyone else is working on!

Striping Away

This week has mainly been about knitting stripes.  I am knitting a striped shawl in 4 ply, with a non-standard shape.  It is designed to wrap around the shoulders.  This shawl uses the yarns I shared with you a couple of weeks ago.  I was right about how lovely this yarn is to knit with.  It's so soft and creamy against my fingers. I have almost reached the end of the striped section of the shawl.

I have reached the stage where I think I will start weighing the yarn to see how much is used for each stripe.  I can then decide when to stop striping, so I don't run out of yarn 2/3rds of the way through a stripe.  As you can imagine, each stripe takes quite some time to knit now!

Once I have finished striping I can start knitting on the border in the dark colour.  I have yet to choose a border pattern, and I think I really ought to start soon so I can fiddle around with stitch counts on the final row.  After all the mindless stripes, I'm looking forward to doing the lace border.

I have also been working on my spinning.  I have two single plies, created from the Slinky Goodness from Picperfic.  I think I will have quite a fine yarn when it is plied together, and I'm also fairly sure it will be a gorgeous yarn too!

These plies are currently "resting" before being plied together.  Apparently, the plying is much easier with rested plies, because the twist is more settled and less likely to kink up and cause problems.  I really want to get this into yarn form and see what my yardage is and what gauge it will knit at.  I am itching to knit with it!

I have also been planning my next project.  After the big garter stitch shawl I am keen to do a quick and interesting project.  I have decided to use one of the patterns I won, Drizzle by Mel of Single Handed Knits. I have the perfect yarn in my stash.

This is a sport weight yarn from Posh Yarns, Martha Sport, in a Tree Called Life colourway.  Its a merino, cashmere and nylon blend and has sumptuous shades of green through it.  I think the pattern will really show off this yarn and it will be a pleasure to knit with.  I'm desperate to cast on this project, but I've been held up by the steep learning curve that Knit Companion has.  This is actually quite a good project to learn setting up on Knit Companion, because it is relatively straight forward, but it does have a small chart and sizing.  I finished setting up the pattern last night and I think I might be able to cast on today.  Knit Companion is not an easy app to get to grips with, but it is a very powerful tool and there are very comprehensive tutorials and webinars are available too.  The app was free to download and there are several free patterns that have been set up already for you to use.  You can then follow the tutorials and see if you like using the app before buying the full version for £10.99.  It is not a cheap app to buy, but I think it is worth every penny for such a complex piece of software that will enable the user to knit a project easily, in a way that keeps perfect track of where you are, and what comes next.

Once I have done the hat pattern, I will return to the Dew Drops Shawl and set that more complex pattern up on Knit Companion and carry on knitting that shawl.  The new app has stalled this project, significantly.  I really want to get on with it now but I think once I've learnt how to set up that pattern, I'll feel pretty confident about setting up in the future.

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