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.