Ooh look! Thank you Liz!

from Liz - outside, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I entered Liz's end of year competition on her blog and I won a prize!

Mouseover to see what's inside!

And look closely at the label on the yarn.


Thank you Liz!

ouch!

I think I may be not knitting for a bit. I've got a painful elbow, which I think is displaying all the symptoms of tennis elbow. Knitting seems to make it worse, so I think I'd better stay away from the needles for a bit. :-(

Grrrr.

Christmas knitting - HP's shawl

HP's shawl - wing tips, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Christmas knitting has almost all now reached its recipients, so I can show you what I made.

This is a shawl for my little sister HP. It's actually been in my head for a while. The yarn was a subscription renewal gift from Yarn Forward magazine about a year ago. It's a cobweb weight cashmere/silk blend in lime green. HP likes lime green, so it had to be something for her. Then I found the Laminaria pattern in Knitty's Spring 2008 issue. Perfect marriage of yarn and pattern!

I started knitting at some point in the summer. I can't really remember when. I know it was beyond my powers of concentration for a bit when I was proper ill. I finished it in early December, just before I was going away for the weekend so could use my bed as a blocking surface.

I'm really pleased with the result. It's my first proper lace project (the previous ones have used 4-ply or thicker). There's one big mistake in the star stitch section which I couldn't work out how to fix, but it's not terribly obvious at first glance. I wanted to give it a proper photoshoot, but I forgot, and had to settle for a few snatched snaps, complete with lensflare. More on flickr.

oops, there went December

Now despite the fact that I do now have a camera, I've still been a very bad knit blogger. In my defense, the things I've been knitting lately have mostly been Christmas gifts. I'll take pictures and post them after Christmas.

In the meantime, have a lovely Christmas, whatever you're doing, and I'll be back in the new year.

wisteria finished

wisteria finished, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

My mummy wanted proof.

I'll post a better pic when I've taken one.

winter jumper

winter jumper, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Here's what I'm mostly knitting now - a jumper (sweater/pullover) for me. The pattern is Wisteria by Kate Gilbert from Twist Collective. The yarn is gorgeous. It's Airedale Aran, a soft 3-ply Bluefaced Leicester yarn from Texere in a pinky-purpley colour called Berry. The yoke zipped along, all those beautiful cables and now I'm into the relatively boring body section, which makes good DVD watching or talking to friends knitting. I've got vague thoughts of trying to do NaKniSweMo and finish it by the end of November. Maybe. There are various bits of Christmas kntting which should probably be a higher priority though.

last month I was mostly knitting...

small knitted boy, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

...this little guy.

He's a small boy who looks after a camel in a story book. He's to go in a 'truth sack' at church - sacks with a story book and some characters from the story. I followed a pattern for the body and hair and then made up the clothes. I think he's a pretty good likeness to his original in the story book. Click through to flickr to see if you agree.

cardigan sleeves

ridiculously bright cardigan sleeves, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

As promised, photographic proof of progress. I think I need to work on my technique a bit, the colours are a little washed out. Still, the hand-dyed cardigan has sleeves.

newsflash!

It's time to get this blog working again. The main thing preventing me blogging has been lack of digital camera. You can do a bit with a webcam and a phone, but it's not the same. Today I took delivery of a shiny Canon Ixus and soon, promise, there will be photos and posts once more in this somewhat dusty corner of the knitblogosphere.

Huzzah!

fake fox finished

fake fox finished, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Done!

Pattern: Vegan Fox

Needles: 10mm circs, 6.5mm straights, 5.5mm dpns

Yarns: Duttons Yarn Ltd Fancy that (fringe), Patons Studio Mohair DK (soft plain bits), Stylecraft Eskimo (eyelash).

Notes: Simple, but effective. I think there's a line missing in the pattern. I added a row of knits between rows 2 and 3 of the body section. (Otherwise you would switch which side of the stocking stitch is the right side). I was surprised by how fast it knit up, but that is what happens when you use 10mm needles. Goggly eyes are stuck on with glue.

fake fox in progress

fake fox in progress, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I've wanted an excuse to knit one of these for ages.

It's the Vegan Fox from Knitty.

hand-dyed cardigan in progress

hand-dyed cardigan fronts, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

This is what the little strip of knitting in the last post has grown into. Onto the back next.

a pile of hand-dyed yarn

a pile of hand-dyed yarn, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Terrible photo cos all I've got is PhotoBooth on my Mac (anyone want to buy me a digital camera for my birthday?). But here is the yarn I dyed with Rosie last weekend.

I'm turning it into a cardigan, or more likely the body of a cardigan in stripes of the different yarns. The narrow vertical stripe is to make the most of the short colour sections in the rainbow coloured yarn I dyed. I didn't like the mixture of colours when I wound it into a ball, but when they line up they're gorgeous. So, this is my first garment sized intarsia project (does it count as intarsia if it's all in one stripe?). I tried out my technique on a little hat last week. The bottom has a knitted in hem to keep it neat (first time I've done that on a large garment too, though I've done it on socks). I think I've got enough yarn to make 2 fronts and a back, with some left over to do little stripes on the sleeves. I'm not sure what the sleeves will be made from yet. Something plain, maybe more off-white aran, though I've not got many balls that match, or maybe something else. I'm basing the pattern on the Go-Everywhere, go with everything cardigan (Ravelry link) but since I've already deviated from that by changing the gauge, adding stripes and a hem, and will probably add a little waist shaping, it's really only a guide.

little tiny hats

little tiny hats, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I've been knitting tiny little hats for smoothie bottles.
They're for Innocent's Big Knit campaign.

You knit little hats, send them to Innocent, they put them on bottles and 50p goes to Age Concern for every be-hatted bottle sold. I meant to knit hats last year and the year before and never got round to it. This year, I've got nothing else to do (apart from looking for a job) so I'm doing something useful with my spare time and woolly leftovers.

(pic is reversed cos it's taken using Photo Booth)

hello there

Daddy's hat - front, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Long time no knit! Sorry. Life got busy and I'm camera-less. Apart from the web-cam on my new (ish) Mac.

I have been knitting. There are various things in progress. And here's one I've just finished. It's a hat for my Daddy. I say finished, I've haven't woven in the ends in yet and he hasn't tried it on yet. But it looks like a finished object, so I thought I'd blog it.

Pattern: Greenery Hat by Lilith Parker

Needles: 4mm circs

Yarn: 2.5 balls of random off-white aran wool or wool blend from my grandma's stash.

Modifications: Increased to 120 stitches (one extra cable repeat round). 30 rows of ribbing for a big turn-up.

Notes: The pattern's well written, although I wish it had charts. Could always have made my own, I suppose. Once you get into it, the cable pattern becomes logical and I didn't really need to refer to the directions, except when it came to decreasing. All the decreases are written as k2tog. I switched some to ssk because I thought it looked neater. It's an easy pattern to tinker with, e.g. deciding on the amount of ribbing, adding or decreasing the number of cables horizontally or vertically to change the size. I'm toying with the idea of knitting a baby-sized one in 4-ply, or maybe the Calmer I've still got left over from Shedir.

Hannah hat for Hannah

Hannah hat - back, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I'd forgotten this one.

This is my sister Hannah. She often wears hats and often wears her hair in a ponytail, so when I found a hat pattern which literally had her name on, I had to make her one.

Pattern: Hannah, from Magknits, December 2007. Now available as a Ravelry download.

Needles: 6mm circs.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Maya, leftover from the purple jacket.

Started and finished in April 2008.

Modifications. Yes. I didn't write down exactly what I did, but I know I added height to the crown.



Check out the funky green triangle buttons. More pics on flickr or ravelry.

my eleanoras

my eleanoras, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I started them in October 2007 and I can't remember when I finished them. I was still knitting them in December 2007, I remember that. Anyway, they're done now.

Pattern: Eleanora by Miriam Felton

Needles: 2.25mm and 2.5mm circs

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Berry. A Christmas present in 2006 from Debs and HP.

Notes: Knitted exactly as written, on needles 0.25mm bigger than those suggested in the pattern, these come out exactly the right size for me. Which is very pleasing. I love the charting of the toe, it makes the patterning continue all the way to the end, decreasing gradually and logically. Which is also very pleasing. The only change I made was an eye of partridge heel rather than the straight slipped stitch heel specified. Just because I like it and it matches the texture of the not-stripy panels.

not dead; meme

Still alive, still knitting, just about. There were a couple of horrible weeks when I couldn't even knit, but I seem to be past the worst now. Currently on the needles are the yoke of a Cobblestone, another Diamond Fantasy Shawl (actually I still can't concentrate enough to knit that) and some DNA spiral illusion knitting socks. Pics might appear if I can work out how.

Liz tagged me for a meme, so here you go.

The Rules
Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What I was doing 10 years ago?
Sitting my A-levels, knitting on my Dr Who scarf in between revising and exams (it's a very long scarf in random bright colours rather than an accurate replica. I wore it almost constantly through my next three years at university.) Having lots of rehearsals at school to prepare for our music tour to Barcelona.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today? (not in any particular order)
Go with Debs to collect her possessions from her dead car.
Empty the bins
Watch a performance by ARU drama students
Find the floor in my room
Do some back exercises

3. Snacks I enjoy
Dark chocolate
Brazil nuts
Hummous topped with olive oil and paprika

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire
Buy a pretty house in the country with a stable full of beautiful horses
Ride horses and read all over the world
Fund my PhD and set up a funding body to support other quirky little cross disciplinary ideas
Learn to sail little boats on beautiful lakes
Buy many many many books
Go on holiday with all my friends and family

5. Places I have lived
London
Oxford
Bath
Cambridge

I tag you, you and YOU! (if you want to)

cushion for H

cushion front, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Now that it's reached its intended recipient I can show you this.

The tree are from Leaves in Relief. I've loved this pattern ever since I saw it, but didn't think it would really suit me as a jumper. The tree pattern makes a beautiful cushion.

This is for my friend H. It's backed in green to match her colour scheme.



Started: 10 March 2008. (Strictly speaking it was started on 7 March, but the first attempt came to a halt when I ran out of wool in that particular shade of off white. That's the trouble with going stash diving in a bag of various balls of unidentified off-white aran.)

Finished: 13 March 2008. (and that includes the sewing. I took it to work on Wednesday to work on in my breaks and then spent most of Thursday finishing it.)

Needles: 3.5mm circs.

It's more or less square. I left off the top leaves to make it a bit more square and then blocked it even squarer. A wet block would have done the job better, but I only had time to steam block. The edging is applied i-cord.

If I made this again I would swatch more thoroughly to make the panel properly square and calculate the right ratio for picking up stitches for the applied i-cord on the sides. Having said that, I'm really pleased with how this turned out and H likes it, so I'm happy. :-)

purple jacket finished

purple jacket - cuffs up, collar down, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

This one was pretty quick, really. Started some time in February, finished last night.

Pattern: Drops jacket 103-1 mostly, although the cuffs are adapted from Brompton by Alice Bell.

Yarn: 800g of Debbie Bliss Maya, colour 12.

Needles: 6mm straight and circs. (I started on straight because that was what I had, but it was far too heavy and uncomfortable so I bought some circs, which were much better.)

Notes: My gauge wasn't quite right, so I knitted the M size directions (of the finer gauge set of directions), but ended up with the L size. The cuffs were a last minute inspiration, but they suit the adaptable collar well. The buttons came from John Lewis. I think they're rather lovely.

The wool's a little bit itchy, so I suspect I'll wear the collar down more than up. I'm pleased with how glam this jacket looks. Sort of Russian or Elizabethan. More pictures on flickr or ravelry.

ETA: I knitted the body as written, but the sleeves were knitted circularly from the top down by picking up stitches round the armhole and using short rows to make the sleeve cap. I first saw this technique on a blog which now doesn't exist. Jenna Wilson's knitty article on sleeve caps has some pointers. I got to something I liked by trial and improvement.

This jacket's quite heavy, so (thanks to the Yarn Harlot's timely advice) I stabilised the shoulder and neck seams with crochet.