Oy...

I'm currently knitting like a fiend. I cast on the triinu shawl while I was away at Kandos last week. I haven't been treated well by it though. I cast on, discovered my needles were the wrong size, knit away thinking it made a good practice swatch, made mistakes, ignored them because it was a swatch, got home. Found out my needles were the right size, but I had to rip out what I'd done because of the errors. It's now back on the needles, but a new, improved version. I went through and changed all the decreases to make it neater. MUCH neater.

However, I'm also taking part in a mystery shawl knit-a-long: dem fischer sin fru (The fisherman's Wife) which needs the same size needles, of which I only have one set of tips. The plan is to use the tips on the triinu after finishing each clue for the mystery shawl... At least until the new set of tips arrive! May be a while though, since they're currently out of stock.

I assume you'll be wanting some more photos of the recent happenings.

I spun some yarn on the lovely ashford joy my grandmother has generously lent to me:

The yarn has graciously allowed me to knit it into a pair of booties, since it spun up at about 4ply/fingering weight. The booties will be given to a pregnant friend for the baby's going home outfit.

I also knitted a practice bunny for the baby:

Definitely not to be given, the thing isn't machine washable and I wouldn't do that to the poor mother!


However, on a brighter note, last year I took part in the Knitters Tea Swap. My swap partner, Amy Artisan, sent me this wonderful parcel!

Detail shot of the yarn:


Not pictured: the three blocks of chocolate also included in the parcel!

I've not yet knitted any of the yarn she sent, I'm trying to think of the perfect pattern for that sock yarn! The biscuits were tasty, and the tea delicious. I'm really looking forward to this years swap. I'm considering gathering things together now so when it starts I wont be behind the 8 ball again!

Friday, the day of knitting and yarn!

Well, tonight marks the second last clue for the mystery stole. And I'm still over a week behind. It's not much further along than the photo shows in the last post. It's hard to believe that it'll all be over soon. Till next year anyway.

My push to get the alpine lace done kind of gave me lace overload so I've been a bit slack. However, I still have been busy, though it doesn't really look like it. I've been going to uni and keeping up with my work, and even trying to get ahead. It's easier to keep up if you're a week in front!

I had been a bit antsy about the tofutsies club. Everyone else appeared to have their yarn but me! I was right too, an clerical gremlin upset the shop's address book so she accidentally sent my yarn to the wrong address. However, the yarn appeared on my doorstep this morning! Yay for fast postage!


I have to say, if I'd seen this yarn in the store, I'm not so sure I would have bought it, but I'm glad I've got it. I'm really enjoying knitting it up. See?


Well, not quite yet anyway. Turkish cast ons on dpns are not my friend, but they do indeed look good and are good practice. That's what I tell myself anyway!

To make today even better (any day that include the arrival of a ball of yarn is a good one) we were visited by our godmother. She also brought yarn!


That's 6oog of laceweight! It's going to the stash for the moment though. I'm trying to make myself finish something else before I start more.

I've also been knitting on the boy's sock. I'm on the last pattern repeat of the leg before I try and figure out what on earth I'm supposed to be doing for the heel. The pattern isn't the easiest to follow, but it'll be fun!

Finished Object!

I now have another finished object! I have completed the Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today.

It measures 19" by 62" and was blocked on the spare bed in front of a heater. It's winter, and I wanted it done as soon as possible!



I'm going to miss this stole though. I mean, I still have it, but it has been my constant companion for months. I'd memorised the pattern so I could pull it out, work on it and shove it back in as required. It's suffered the most appalling abuse knitted lace has ever been subjected to: it's lived loose in my handbag and uni bag, been squashed by wallets, phones and laptops, gotten keys and ipods tangled in it, had tea spilt on it, nearly been dropped in the bath (don't ask...)



It has done something else though. I really enjoyed knitting it. While I haven't cast on anything new as yet, I am really looking forward to my next lace project after the mystery stole. I need to cast off one more project before I'm happy with casting on another.

I did order the triinu shawl pattern however, so that's next on the list. If you want to see a photo of that one, let me know. It's a rather expensive pattern, but it's beautiful and it's a challenge!

As for the other challenge, the mystery stole, I finished clue 3 last night.


Let's see if I can catch up! Onwards to clue 4!

(edit: taking a short lace break currently)

Radio Silence

Things have been rather quiet over here for the past week. There's been knitting on the mystery stole, and there's been knitting on other lace.

Remember this?


That's my Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today. I've been working on it for about 5 months.

Well, it now looks like this:
And of particular interest is this bit:

Yes, that would be the top border that's just been started. I have a bit of a problem, but soon discovered that while the pattern says 37 repeats, it does require an even number, so she either meant 37 repeats in addition to the repeat used to 'set the pattern' or the just meant 38 and put in 37.

I ended up with 36 repeats. I'm short, the loss of a couple of inches isn't an issue.


I'm working on this almost exclusively in order to get it finished, blocked and ready to wear by next Friday. I'm being taken out to the theatre on that night, so for the first time I'm going someplace in which this stole would be perfectly appropriate.

I plan on wearing it to uni and such, but it'd be nice to have it ready for Friday.

As for the mystery stole... It can wait till after I've pinned this out!

Clue 2

And I've caught up! I have finished clue 2 just in time for tomorrow. And a good thing too, it means I can spend tomorrow apologising to the magenta lace for neglecting it. I have a couple of other projects I want to start, but I have to get something off the needles first!



Not the best photo, you can't see the beads. I might do a detail shot after I finish the next clue.

Mystery stole catch up

I have caught up! I hope, anyway. This is the completed first clue, the clue for the week I was away without internet access or beads.



I finished about 1:30 this morning, but now I can relax and take this weeks clue at a nice steady pace.

Typically, I had problems putting my lifeline in this morning, ripped it out and decided I'd be fine without it, I'd made it this far without a mistake, right?

Wrong, first error in the first row of the new chart. Turned out to be nothing more sinister than a missed yarn over that was easily fixed. Bring on the lifelines!

The Week in Review

Well, we have returned from my sojourn in Kandos and I had a lovely time. We spent an awful lot of time just doing as we pleased, watching dvds, walking around, visiting the surrounding country towns and so on. We also took a fair few photos of the green. It's not been that green out in the central west for almost a decade, so photos were taken just in case the drought continued, and so:

I knitted, I watched Sean knit: (yes, he knitted that himself)


I started learning to walk on stilts!


Speaking of knitting, I finished the tofutsies!

I'm very pleased about it really, it means I wont still be working on them when the next ball arrives. It also frees me up for some of the other projects I really should finish, such as the magenta lace.

I have also joined the mystery stole knit-a-long. Basically, a wonderful woman known as Melanie writes a pattern for a lace stole, lace that's not worked in repeats or such like much other lace. She then releases the pattern in parts every Friday. You need a bit of faith as you have no idea how it'll turn out when you start, but going by her previous works, I'm thinking it'll be just gorgeous. I swatched for this while I was away, and managed to find internet access in Mudgee so I could obtain the first clue. However, while I had the yarn and needles with me, I couldn't start it. I had to wait till I got home to get the beads, which didn't show up till Thursday anyway.

I'm working with undyed laceweight merino from live2knit.com and gold-lined clear seed beads.
Last night I finished Chart A and I'm now working on the second half of Clue 1, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up by the end of the week. Here's a shot of where I left it last night:

The magenta silk still look similar to the last photo I put up, just a bit longer. If I wasn't working on anything else, it'd be finished next week, but hey. All in good time!

What's that? Alive you say?

Well, I live, as does everyone else in this house. However, there is some truth to the saying, I knit, therefore, I am. And I have been. I have also picked up a digital camera that I'm very pleased with, a Lumix (aka Panasonic) TZ1. It has all sorts of nifty features. Please be tolerant of the photos while I learn how to use the thing to take good knitting photos. I did only pick it up yesterday.

Speaking of photos, here are a couple.



Here are the socks I've mentioned in previous posts. I'm working on finishing the foot of the second one in between cramming for my PSY237 final next week. I can't fail a sock, I can fail an exam.

I've been really enjoying this pattern though. It's an easy pattern to memorise, the yarn is lovely and soft and forgiving (I may or may not have frogged one or more repeats when I just started). And the colour! It's currently reminding me of a tiger that fell into vat of pink dye. I'm very much looking forward to finishing these socks, wearing them and starting on others. I've ordered some yarn to knit some socks for Sean, along with some undyed yarn that I'm probably going to dye when I visit Joy to pick up some laceweight she ordered for me.

As for the lace,

Here it is at the halfway point. It's on semi-hold till I've finished the tofutsies. I'm working a row here and there, but again, study is coming first.

I'll also post a photo of my gloves once I have them and my camera in the same place at the same time.

Oh My! An update?

There isn't that much to report really, though I thought it was about time for a post. I haven't been doing much since finishing the gloves apart from more work on the lace. However, I am pleased to report that the lace has just crossed the halfway mark and is actually moving much faster after having memorised the pattern! Wooo!

Haven't been doing any spinning at all. I decided to knit up the laceweight alpaca into a adapted branching out scarf from knitty. After two repeats I have decided I don't like it though, so it's being frogged.

I also have a couple of photos of that pinwheel jacket that I've been talking about since the very beginning of this blog, but have never actually shown here. Here it is! You can see the start of one sleeve there on the right. The left is still on the stitch holder. It was quite interesting there for a while, as I started the sleeve before I started the trim, so for a fair while I was juggling a pile of knitting that had three balls of yarn and 9 needles attached.

Pinwheel Jacket

Edging detail

The edging is applied i-cord. One of those things I had never done, couldn't work out from looking at the pattern but suddenly made an amazing amount of sense when the time came. Very pleased with that.

Also, I'd like to say Hello to Mrs Chris. Because this is my blog and I can!

Hello! And hello to the girls too!

Alpaca yarn, lace and accounting

I have posted about the alpaca I'm spinning up before, and I now have 100 yards of laceweight yarn hanging to dry in my shower! I'm not sure what I'm doing with it as yet, but I have a feeling I can do whatever I like with it, having 300g of the lovely stuff! I'm thinking shawl, but I'm not sure about what style yet.

Also, the bit about this alpaca is it's the first fibre that I'm preparing myself. I got it as 300g of fleece shoved into a ziploc bag. I'm carding it and spinning it from the rolag, and washing it after spinning using woolwash. It's coming up very nicely, though I'd forgotten how long it takes to spin laceweight, but then, all the laceweight spinning I'd done up till now had been on a spindle. But I never got 100 yards of it off a spindle, I always got a tad distracted before then

No photos as yet forthcoming, but the other news is I might be obtaining a decent digital camera soonish!

I've also picked up the alpine lace again since I finished my uni assignment. i'm not quite halfway there yet though.

I have to confess, I enjoyed accounting. It was nice, and neat, and everything had it's place and it was relaxing. I'm liking the same qualities in my lace. Every stitch has it's place in relation to the ones that came before it, the stitches here will make up a rose leaf later, the placement of each stitch culminates in a piece of art

Thus endeth tonight's rambling

Sleeves, lace and books

The lace has been put on hold for the next few days. I'm finishing the shrug, dammit! I'm currently halfway through the second sleeve and I'm trying to decide what size needles to use for the body, considering the yarn I'm using doesn't quite match that used in the pattern... Anyway, I'll have to make the decision at some point tomorrow probably!

The lace is at the same place it was in the previous post.

As for books, I got two new books and a pile of yarn in the mail on Monday morning. The books are the twisted sisters sock workbook and fitted knits. And now I have a pile of things to add to my to do list... Oh, how terrible!

I also got 760g of burnt orange 8 ply crepe. Not sure what I'm doing with it yet, but it was cheap and good yarn.

And now, off to do uni work.

Bedsocks on request!

Someone requested a photo of the bedsocks and so, here they are! I knitted them on the spur of the moment, without regard to swatching or yardage checking... hence the orange ankle on the left foot. I think it's kinda cute, so I'm leaving it like that, even though I could put a new cuff on the right sock. Anyway, I knitted them a tad big and so they're really comfortable for wearing around the house. They knitted up in less than two days. It took me two days, but I did have uni on...



And while I'm here and posting photos, here are a few more, of more socks and lace in progress!

This is my new sock. Knitted in some kind of recycled yarn I picked up of ebay. No composition listed but it feels like it's mostly cotton. But it's coming along nicely. I'm not working on them exclusively, as I'm also working on this:

I'm on the 14th repeat of the double rose leaves, but I'm not yet halfway there. However, I have reached the point where I can knit without the chart! It only took 160 rows to do it...

Once again, sorry about the quality. If you like, I might get hold of a family members camera and fix it up.

YARN!

My mother chose well when she picked out my godparents. Very well indeed. It turns out my godmother, who is heavily involved with such crafts as knitting, spinning and felting, also sells yarns when she sells her wares at market. Not yarns she's spun her self normally, but yarns that she gets from her suppliers at wholesale price...

Guess who now has 6 skeins of 2ply merino/mohair on order... at $12 for 100g...

I have a feeling I'll be knitting lace from Victorian Lace Today for a fair while now, and I don't have a problem with that idea, nope!

Also, I recently obtained a skein of handdyed magenta laceweight silk. I have responded to this acquisition by commencing the alpine scarf from VLT. I have an occasion I want to wear it for next year, so I'v justifed it rather well, I think!

I'm aware that the photos have been few and far between recently. I'll try and fix that once I get hold of a camera. I've been rather disillusioned with the quality that I've been getting from the camera on my phone. I'm not overly surprised though, it is actually a phone, not a camera.