Christmas in progress

I've moved to blogger beta, so apologies if things look a little odd or if anyone has trouble commenting.

It's a week until Christmas and I've still got a pair of socks (one started) and a tea cozy (about 1/3 done) to knit. This is the parcel of yarn which arrived from Get Knitted on Friday. The Noro Kureyon is for the tea cozy, the brown Trekking Pro Natura is for socks for my (non-blog reading) Grandad and the purple stuff will probably be socks for me (perhaps Pomatomi) one day and will sit in the stash until then.

Two socks in a week. Or perhaps less, depending on when we go to see my Grandparents. Doable? Bearing in mind I'm working all week? We'll see.

Diamond Fantasy Shawl

It proved impossible to take a picture of me and the shawl which flattered us both, so here it is, hanging on my pinboards. Click for bigger.

Started: 22 July 2006

Finished: 1 December 2006 (knitting) 7 December 2006 (blocking)

Pattern: Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding

Yarn: Most of one 100g skein of Cashmere sock yarn from HipKnits.

Needles: 3.25mm (I think) straights.

Modifications: None. I did 7 repeats of the main pattern.

Notes: Love it! This is my first proper largescale lace project, if you don't count Arisaig. This size is just about right for a small shawl, but I'd love to make a bigger one, using proper laceweight yarn. 7 repeats was as much as I could cram onto straight needles and it got a bit tricky at the end. It's also hard to tell how big it is before you cast off. The lace repeat was too long to memorise completely (40 rows, I think, half of them plain purl) but there were really only about 3 or 4 different sorts of patterns, so once I'd worked out what sort of row I was on, I could just get on with it without having to consult the pattern all the time. Lace charts are very useful and make it easy to see your mistakes. As far as I know, there are no mistakes in the finished object.
I'd happily wear this myself, but it's going to my Grandma. I hope she likes it.

Updated to edit photo.

Because I'm impatient and like showing off

Here's the back of DFS. In the dark, in a mirror.

I know we all know blocking is magic, but I'll say it anyway. Blocking is magic!

it's been a while

Has it really been that long? Well, I've been knitting knitting knitting, but all of it is secret until after Christmas. But I have finished a couple of things I can show you. This was our living room last week. It's a good thing I have lovely housemates who don't mind if I take up the whole of the floor with towels for blocking.

Updated: Sorry, pushed publish too soon. Here, from the top right, you can see Diamond Fantasy Shawl (present for my Grandma), a swatch for Sunrise Circle Jacket (got gauge first try, woo hoo! I'm using an oiled yarn, Troon from Texere in Cranberry, and when washed, it puffs up nicely, giving me just the right dense fabric), Jaywalker socks, which aren't new, but happened to need washing and Cobweb (for me, using up the remains of a skein of cashmere sock yarn). Modelled shots when I've convinced said lovely housemates to take some.

worth learning crochet for?

Take a look at these amazing crocheted hyperbolic models from the Institute for Figuring. Me and crochet have never got on well, but if we did, I'd definitely try out one of these.

Here's an article on hyperbolic geometry and crochet from Cabinet Magazine.

yes, I'm still knitting

Hello! Bit of a news blackout, sorry. I have been knitting, but not taking pictures.

Currently being worked on:
Cashmere Diamond Fantasy shawl for my Grandma. I'm 5.5 repeats in. The pattern suggests 6 repeats for a scarf and 10 for a shawl. So far, there seems to be loads of yarn left, but it's a point upwards pattern, so the rows are getting longer. I'm pretty sure I can get 7 repeats out of it, possibly 8. It's quite hard to tell how big the shawl is since I'm knitting it on straight needles. I might transfer it to waste yarn and stretch it out once I've got to 7 repeats. And then I'll take a picture.

Secret Christmas knitting. Only one project of several planned ones is currently happening. It's gorgeous, but secret until after Christmas.

Cashmere shawlette. I'm copying Kerrie and knitting a Cobweb out of some leftover cashmere sock yarn. It's pretty and easy, perfect for TV knitting and non-wool.

Forecast. I'm about halfway down the ribbing on the body. I'm planning to get this finished once all the Christmas knitting is done, or use it as a mindless project when everything else is too complicated. The yarn's wool and not particularly soft, but I don't think it'll be too much of a problem since it's not as close fitting on the arms as Arisaig, apart from the wrists. Maybe one to wear with a long sleeved top.

Thanks for the sympathy about woolly itchiness. Some googling suggests wool allergy as such is rare, but lots of people have sensitive skin and react badly to itchy wools. The yarn I used for Arisaig, although fine, isn't very soft. It's the sort of very grabby wool that would work well in fairisle knitting or something you wanted to steek. But possibly not the sort of thing you want to wear next to the skin. I think I'll think harder in the future about the texture of the yarns I use. It intrigues me that most of the time I haven't knit things to wear next to the skin. Without thinking too much about it, I've chosen non woolly yarns when I want something soft, e.g. a silk Clapotis. I've been intending to make another Clapotis out of something less drapy than silk for ages, but I've never found anything that's both structured enough and soft enough to consider wearing round my neck. Perhaps I already knew that wool was a bad choice and therefore, subconsciously or consciously, avoided it. Anyway, enough navel gazing. Moral of the story - when choosing yarn, think about texture and feel against the skin as well as colour, gauge and the overall look.

itchy itchy

I've got a horrible feeling I might be allergic to wool. After wearing Arisaig most of the weekend, the skin on my forearms is itchy and covered in little insect bite type lumps. Oh dear. Yesterday I was wearing it over a long sleeve top, but on Friday and Saturday I wore a three-quarter length sleeved top and I wasn't itchy before that, so I suspect wool might be the culprit. (Any wool allergic people out there? Do my symptoms sound like yours?) That would actually explain a few things, like the unseasonal 'insect bites' I occasionally find on my ankles and wrists. Mostly, apart from socks, I don't wear woolly things next to my skin, more by accident than design. It's just annoying to find yet another thing I'm allergic to. No, it's not a long list (cats, nickel, raw apple, tree pollen), just an inconvenient one. Grrr.

arisaig finished

arisaig finished, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I promised an FO picture, here it is!

Started: 6 August 2006, finished 17 November 2006

Pattern: Arisaig by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: 6 and a bit 50g balls of Jaeger Gaelicspun in Blackberry

Needles:2.25mm and 2.75mm straight.

Modifications: The body is knit as written. The arms are narrower than written, to make them very close fitting. Sleeve caps rewritten with lots of help from Jenna Wilson's sleeve cap maths article from Knitty. I didn't do the neckline trim all the way round, just picked up stitches for the ties on the front and at the side seam. There are four buttons on the inside keeping the inner front neatly tucked away.

Notes: I absolutely love this! I finished it on Friday evening and would have worn it all weekend, but for the fact I was singing in a concert on Sunday, so had to wear all black. The fit is just what I wanted, no ease, very close-fitting, which makes the sleeves a little tricky to get on. You can't tell when I'm sitting down, but it wouldn't hurt by being a few inches longer. However, there's very little yarn left over and although I had a go at finding yarn to match it, nothing was quite right. (Rowan Scottish Tweed in Thistle was the nearest I got, but it's darker, thicker and doesn't have the gorgeous depth of purpleyness that this yarn has). Seaming wasn't as nightmarish as I thought it would be. Mattress stitch is magic! This wasn't a quick knit, and you need to pay attention during the front shaping to make sure the decreases are in the right place. However, I think the finished result is well worth it.

Crossposted on Ysolda's knitalong page.

Christmas is coming

Secret knitting has started. I was going to show you a picture, but the intended recipient reads this blog, so all I'm saying is it's red and very pretty.

Arisaig is very very nearly there. I seamed the sleeves and sewed them to the body last night. Now I just need to decide whether I'm going to do the long neck border/ties as written or copy Princess Pumpkin by just having buttons or do something else.

FO pic on Monday, I reckon.

no news = no progress

Arisaig is still in bits and is likely to remain so for a while. I have a super busy week ahead and quite possibly no time to knit. See you in a week or so when I surface again.

Arisaig knitted

arisaig knitted, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Copying Princess Pumpkin, here's the all the bits are knitted and waiting to be seamed and blocked picture. Actually, I still need to reknit one sleeve cap and then there's about 106 inches of neckband to knit, but apart from that, the knitting's done.

hello weekend

Are you here at last?

I'm tired and fuzzy-headed. Looking forward to sleep, knitting and watching films all weekend. Maybe, just maybe, I'll finish something this weeked.

Stay tuned.

cat knitting

cat knitting, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Last night's knit together in the Cambridge Blue. More on the Knit Cambridge blog.

Arisaig has sleeves! (almost)

It's still missing a second front, but it has two sleeves. Nearly. I have now knitted 3 sleeve caps (first attempt looked OK, until I put it next to the finished front and back and it became obvious that it was far too big, so I knit sleeve 2 smaller and then reknit sleeve 1) and I think sleeve 2 is going to have to come out and be done AGAIN because sleeve 1 is half a repeat longer than sleeve 2. I know what I did. I rewrote the sleeve pattern to make it narrower, or rather, made it up and rewrote as I went. Unfortunately I forgot to write down that I knit one extra half repeat between the end of the increase section and the armhole cast off rows. At least, that's what it looks like I did. So I shall rip out the sleeve cap on the too-short sleeve and knit it again. But that's only one reknit of sleeve cap per sleeve and if I don't reknit it, it WILL annoy me, no matter how hard I try to pretend that it won't. So, one reknit sleeve cap and one front to go. It's like that last little bit of the mountain, just before the top. Or you think it's the top and then you discover there's still quite a bit to go, otherwise known as blocking and seaming.

last night's knitting

last night's knitting, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Look what I found when I got home last night - Yarn Forward. So I got all excited and curled up with some chocolate to read it. It's good. It feels like an extension of the UK knitblogosphere and I think that's a good thing, in that it's ours, by knitters, for knitters, but it's also not exclusive or cliquey. There aren't bloggy in-jokes or product placement. Kerrie's very clear it's not a HipKnits house mag and it isn't. But it does have her friendliness and accessibility stamped all over it.

Enough of the style, how about the content? The cover design is by Ysolda and it's gorgeous! There's a darling little top by Alice, a sock pattern, a bag pattern, a couple of cardigans (one for men) and probably other stuff I've forgotten. All in a proper range of sizes. No ridiculous XL=40" bust here! The patterns look well set out and easy to follow. The only thing I'd like to add would be schematics. Perhaps they could be online if there isn't enough space in the mag itself? Another good thing is the suggestions for substitute yarns for different budgets. All in all, it's a great new venture and I wish it well. Go Kerrie!

Also last night, more Arisaig sleeve (going on forever!) and more Forecast (also interminable!). With both of these projects, I've got to the stage I just want to get the things finished. I'm trying to be good and resist starting anything else, or I'll never be done. Having two projects on the go so I can switch between them helps, especially since they're quite different.

jumper stash

jumper stash, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

It seems I only ever knit things in purple or pink. This is (nearly) all the knitted (and non-knitted) jumpers I own, two-thirds of them made by my own fair hands. And as you can see, there's not a lot of deviation from the purple/pink side of the colour wheel. And currently on the needles are two more purple garments and one navy one, all for me.
(click though to flickr for notes on each one.)

What to do?

Expand my colour palatte. The one jumper not in that picture, because I'm wearing it, is grey. It's a shopbought mohair-blend with a huge cowl collar, which I love, slightly unexpectedly. But then, as far as basic suit colours go, black is too dark for me and navy always makes me look like I work in a bank. Charcoal and grey are one way I could branch out. Or red. There's not much red in my jumper collection. Perhaps a nice claret or burgundy.

Of course, I mostly knit in purple because that's what suits me and goes with my wardrobe. Green just isn't me, ditto orange, yellow and brown. So perhaps I should knit for other people. I'm sure other people I know could be pursuaded to have things knit for them.

Any other ideas?

slow Forecast

slow Forecast, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I worked on this a bit at the weekend too, when I decided I needed a break from 4ply yarn and fine needles. Forecast is FINALLY past the armholes and into the body. It should be a little quicker from here on in, especially now I'm using Cmeknit's no-turn bobble technique. It's quicker (although I still have to turn my work once because I'm knitting the bobbles from the wrong side after switching from purled garter stitch to knit garter stitch) and seems to produce a neater bobble.

arisaig in progress

arisaig in progress, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

To prove what I said, here's my progress on Arisaig. I finished the first sleeve on Saturday and I'm 56 rows into the second one. I was going to knit the other front next, so I could maybe finish the body and try it on, but at the time, i couldn't face all that fine ribbing, so I went for a sleeve.

I like it. It's going to be very close fitting and probably a little on the short side so i might have to think about how to wear it, but the lace is lovely and a good fit for the yarn (Jager Gaelicspun from my grandma's stash).

long time no see

Keep forgetting to take pictures, but since HP keeps asking how Arisaig is going, here's an update. It has a back, a right front and half an arm. The arm as written was going to be huge (I think other people have had this problem with the larger sizes too), so I narrowed it, starting with 56 stitches and increasing gradually to 96 just before the armhole cast-off rows. I think it'll work. And it looks like the yarn I've got will hold out too. Hoorah!

If you want to see a rather more nearly finished Arisaig, Princess Pumpkin is seaming one.

updated: I just discovered this blog is the top google result for 'Arisaig finished'. Shame it isn't yet.

hopscotch pair

hopscotch pair, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Finished last night.

Finished Hopscotch socks.

Pattern: Hopscotch by Pixeldiva

Needles: 2.5mm Addi turbos and dpns

Yarn: HipKnits cashmere sock yarn

Yummily soft yarn, gorgeous lace pattern. Lovely!

It's hard to find somewhere in my house to take good photos in natural light. I had to sit on my desk with my feet balanced on the window siil.