Fibre Friday #9

Hi everyone! Happy Friday - this post's a bit later than planned as I had an extra shift at work this afternoon (can't complain, it funds my yarn habit!). Anyway, straight into the knitting talk, this week I have a finished object! It's been a couple of weeks since I've finished anything and I'm pleased to say that my not-so-tiny child's sweater is off the needles.
The pattern is Sirdar 1310 and I used Rico Baby So Soft in colourway '014'. It's for a friend's little girl who'll be one in May - so naturally I knitted the 2-3yrs size, because she's not going to need a sweater in the summer and I wanted it to be roomy enough for her to get a good amount of wear out of it.  I really liked working with the yarn, I'm planning a post on my favourite acrylic yarns (because sometimes acrylic is necessary) at some point in the future, and Baby So Soft will definitely be included, it was great to work with.


I put another repeat on my Tic-Tac-Toe-Up socks by Wendy D. Johnson from her book Socks From The Toe Up, knit out of my hand dyed yarn. This first one would've been finished if I hadn't decided to do a Tubular Bind Off* - which was too tight and I couldn't unpick it and it turned into a horrible yarn explosion - that ended with me taking the scissors to my knitting for the first time ever. I was so angry (it was gone 10pm at night, when everyone does their best knitting, I feel! haha) I nearly cut the whole thing up, but managed to restrain myself. Unfortunately most of the ribbing was sacrificed and now looks a state - see below - so I put in Time Out until I can bear to look at it again - when I'll be using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off instead!

*I've used the Tubular Bind Off before and loved it, so clearly I messed something up this time!

The lace inserts for my Old Romance cardigan by Joji Locatelli are done! Finally. It only took what, six or seven weeks?! Now I can finally start the main cardigan - or at least, I can when I find another set of 4mm (US 6) needles... I know full well I own multiple sets, but can never find them when I need them!

After the nightmare with the Tic-Tac-Toe-Up sock, I realised that I didn't have any Bus Knitting. Tangent for a second - I try to have a small simple project on the needles at all times, for throwing in my handbag and knitting on the bus, or at work, or in the car etc etc. Vanilla socks are perfect Bus Knitting. So, at 10.30pm on Wednesday night I cast on for a new sock - toe up, 3x1 rib, I'll probably do a short row heel when I get to it. I'm using Trekking XXL in the colour '534' which is a fabulous muted rainbow and I love how it's knitting up so far.

I got around two hours of spinning in this week - while I was watching The Voice final on Saturday night - I must move my wheel up to my room, I get most of my spinning done while I catch up on shows and my family and I have very different tastes in television! I'm still spinning the BFL, Cashmere, Nylon blend by Lime Green Jelly (hi Jo, if you're reading!) it's a dream to spin, I love watching the colours change.

Last but by no means least, I got some dyeing done. The above skeins are a blend of purple, grey and black - which I'm really pleased with. Below is a swatch I knitted using some yarn dyed a couple of weeks back - I was unsure about adding the magenta, but I really like how it looks knit up.

I didn't think I'd done all that much knitting this week, but it looks like I did more than I thought! I'm not sure how much I'll get done next week, as I have a friend visiting for a few days, but we shall see.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, I'm hoping to get out into the garden if the weather stays dry - and I have a new(ish) weekly blog series starting on Sunday, so I'll be back then!

♥