Fibre Friday #13

 This week I have been struggling with my knitting mojo - there are lots of reasons behind this, but I think something that hasn't helped is I'm not in love with any of the projects in my UFO* box and the only things I'm working on are second socks. Not a good place to be in! That being said, I got a chunk of knitting done on my muted rainbow socks out of Trekking XXL in '534' and I'm now past the heel and on to the leg. In case you've missed previous posts, this is a toe up sock with a 3x1 rib and a short row heel, knit on 2.25mm (US 1) needles.

*UFO - Unfinished Object (the same as a WIP - work in progress, I alternate terms as and when I please!)

I put another pattern repeat on my Tic-Tac-Toe-Up Socks by Wendy Johnson, from her book Socks From The Toe Up. This a slow going sock - it's not enough of an autopilot project to make it into my handbag for On The Go Knitting, so I only put a few rows on it here and there, but I love the colour of the yarn, so that's helping. This is knit out of a skein I hand dyed a while back, on 2mm (US0) needles.

 I did get my Olivia shawl finished in time for the test knitting deadline! I ran out of yarn with five repeats of the applied edging to go - yarn chicken beat me! The yarn was a skein of hand dyed lace weight and luckily I had a skein of fingering weight in the same colourway - not the same dyelot, but (and I guess this is a testament to my dyeing skills, or my note taking skills...) close enough that if it wasn't for the difference in yarn weight, you'd never spot it.

Olivia is a shawl designed by Nina La Fountaine, although this was a test knit and the pattern isn't available yet, but you can see Nina's finished shawl here.

I don't have any finished photos of it yet - the above photo is from a botched blocking attempt - it's going to have to wait until next payday when I can buy blocking wires - which is something I've been meaning to do for a long time!

 I also cast on and knit the rib for another Sirdar '1310' baby sweater out of some mystery lilac acrylic from my mum's stash. This isn't something I intend to finish - I started it for my mum, who's going to knit it for her new Great Niece, I just needed to knit something and lacked inspiration to start anything of interest! You can see the sweater of the same pattern that I finished a few weeks ago here.
 Spinning-wise I finished the bobbing of hand dyed Merino I was working on last week - I love the navy flecks it has. This is going to be plied with a similarly dyed braid that I have in the stash - I'm not sure what it's going to grow up to be - possibly a hat, if it doesn't clash horribly with my hair! Or maybe some fingerless mitts...

I also got a good start on the third (and final!) bobbin of my BFL/Cashmere/Nylon blend from Lime Green Jelly. Moving my wheel up to my room was a good idea - I got a whole lot done whilst watching a Spooks boxset the other night... Anyway, I've been working on this 100g braid on and off for nearly 3 months, so I'll be glad when it's finished!

Right, I'm off to spend my weekend finding my knitting mojo - wish me luck!

♥

5... Sweater patterns that are really wearable

Mixing it up a little this Sunday - instead of My Week In Pictures, today I wanted to share five sweaters that I'm itching to cast on.

 photo: Amy Miller

Isabel by Amy Miller. I love the swingy drape of this cardigan, the long rib pattern on the sleeves and the shawl collar. Knit in a more neutral colour, this is a garment I'd get a lot of wear out of - especially in spring and on cooler summer evenings.

photo: Alicia Plummer

 French Toast by Alicia Plummer. I'll admit, the colour and the styling of this sweater is what first drew my attention to it. I love a good mustard yellow and where possible I like to wear all of my sweaters over a shirt with the collar, cuffs and hem peeking out. But I love the fitted waist and the central cable - sometimes simple is best.

photo: Suvi Simola

 Light Trails by Suvi Simola. Another simple, wearable sweater. I love the decreasing size in the sleeve cables and the mixture of stockinette stitch on the body and garter stitch on the sleeves. A looser fit than French Toast, this would probably suit my body shape a little better.

photo: Quince & Co.

 Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig. Unless you've been living under a rock (or you're not really into Ravelry) you've probably stumbled across this cardigan. After all, 7000 knitters can't be wrong! I'd quite like to knit a couple of these - one as written and another slightly longer with full sleeves, maybe adding a ribbed collar. It's such an easily customiseable garment.

photo: Jared Flood / Brooklyn Tweed

Hawser by Jared Flood. It was pretty hard not to fill this post with Jared Flood or Brooklyn Tweed patterns. Maybe I'll do a top five BT patterns post at some point... Anyway. This sweater would be perfect for autumn (or if you're having the weather that we are, here in the UK - you could probably wear it right now!). Again, worn over a shirt it looks casual and fabulous. I love the chunky cables down the front - although I suspect knitting the cable crosses could be awkward!

Now I'm craving sweater knitting. I've spent most of this year working on socks and shawls and I think it could be time for a change...

♥

Fibre Friday #12

Another Friday... The first of May - this year is flying by! I've spent most of this week working on my Olivia Shawl - which is a test knit for my friend Nina La Fountaine - host of the Fuzzy Love Knots podcast (which I'm so behind on - sorry Nina!). I'm knitting it out of some hand dyed laceweight yarn and I'm finally on to the applied edging. This is my first time knitting an applied border and I'm really enjoying it - I love learning new things! I think I could end up playing a little game of yarn chicken though, as the ball is looking remarkably small now... I need to get it finished by Monday - so it's full steam ahead!

I put about an inch on my toe up 3x1 ribbed sock out of Trekking XXL in colourway '534' - this is my Out and About Knitting - so it gets a bit of work on it when I'm at the bus stop or on slightly longer bus journeys. Thankfully this is the second sock, because I'm getting a bit sick of it - I think I need to work on something other than socks for a while...

I've also knit a few swatches for a secret project I'm planning - more information on that soon!

Spinning wise - I spent a large amount of last weekend catching up on tv shows and finally finished the second bobbin of my BFL/Cashmere/Nylon fibre by Lime Green Jelly. I have one more bobbin to spin - but I'm breaking it up a bit by spinning something else (see below) in the meantime - as spinning finer means it takes a lot longer to work through a braid!

Finally, after finishing the LGJ bobbin that's been on the wheel for ages, I rummaged in the stash and pulled out some fibre I dyed back in March - I was about to say I couldn't remember the fibre content, but realised I blogged it - hooray for blogging! It's a 50g braid of 100% merino that will eventually be plied with a similarly coloured braid of fibre.

Well, I need to get back to the Olivia Shawl - I still have about 24 repeats of the border chart to knit! I hope you have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend if you're in the UK - or a lovely regular weekend if you're not! I'm paying the price for my four day weekend by working nine days with one day off, but it keeps me out of trouble! ;)

♥

My Week In Pictures #3 - The one where I made biscuits

My plant babies (I'm a plant mama, I have no desire for children nor a particular animal affinity, but I love a good plant) and working on my Olivia shawl.

Making biscuits for stocktake at work.

Knitting toes out in the sunshine and painting my toes with my favourite sparkly polish. Also - that polish is sitting nicely on top of my provisional driving license - because aged twenty four, I had my first ever ever driving lesson this week!

Relaxing in the bath and taking a break from the hard hitting crime novels I usually favour, to read some fluff instead.

And putting on a full face of make up when I have no plans to leave the house.

This week has predominantly been spent at work, bar my driving lesson - which I'm THRILLED about. I lived in London my whole life, if you life within a stones throw of a train station, you don't need to drive. But here in Sussex the bus stop is a twenty minute walk away from my house and the train station is forty five. Whatever they try and tell you, public transport just doesn't work outside of London!

Anyway, I need to get a move on. I have a lot of things I want to get done today - my family have gone on a sojourn to Cornwall and I am very much enjoying having the house to myself - I miss living on my own!

♥

Fibre Friday #11

Happy Friday (I'm giddy because I have FOUR DAYS OFF in a row so excuse any excessive use of exclamation marks)! Knitting wise - I cast on for my second Tic-Tac-Toe-Up Sock from Socks From The Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. I knit the toe outside in the sun this week and it's coming along slowly. I'm getting a bit tired of the pattern now, but I'm sure they'll be worth it when they're done! I'm knitting these on 2mm (US 0) needles and using some of my hand dyed yarn.

The majority of this week's knitting time has been spent on the Olivia Shawl - that I'm test knitting for the lovely Nina La Fountaine (host of the Fuzzy Love Knots podcast). I'm not sure when the pattern's going to be released, but the deadline for test knitting is May 4th - so I need to crack on! I'm sorry the photos are a little on the abstract side - but we all know what lace looks like before it's blocked! I'm on the fourth lace repeat with about 24 rows to go, so hopefully I'll be on to the applied edging by next week! This is being knit out of some of my hand dyed laceweight that I had languishing in the stash - I never use laceweight - but I particularly love how the stockinette portion of the shawl is knitting up, the drape is fabulous. So maybe I'll cast on for a Featherweight cardigan soon…

I've made a little bit of progress on my Trekking muted rainbow stripe socks - knit out of Trekking XXL in colour '534'. These have only been worked on while I'm on the bus, or on my tea break at work, so progress is pretty slow - but they'll get there eventually.

I've done a bit more spinning - you'd be forgiven for not noticing though - as it looks remarkably similar to last time I shared my spinning! I'm still working on the BFL/Cashmere/Nylon blend from Lime Green Jelly. It's still the second bobbin and it's taking a long time. I'm going to have a break from it for a while when this bobbin's done - because spinning fine is exhausting!

I've also spent a fair amount of energy and brain power helping my mum with her Poivre and Sel sweater - which is a top down sweater with cable detailing by Elise Dupont.

Note: I haven't been helping her because the pattern's difficult to follow or badly written or anything, because from the chunks of it I've read, it's a brilliantly written pattern, with lots of hand holding (as I like to call it, or 'breathe here, blink here' as the Knitmore's refer to it) - I think it would make a great first top down, in the round sweater pattern.

Anyway. My mum is a perfectly capable knitter, but she stays very much in her comfort zone - no charts, no working in the round, and she panics too much about the tiniest things,  so I've been doing lots of tinking back and dropping down to rearrange things. It's making me crave sweater knitting. Maybe I should go back to the Old Romance cardigan, or I could cast on something new…



I'm so pleased it's the weekend - the novelty of having a weekend off is huge (as anyone who works in retail will understand! I've always worked Saturdays, and in my last job I worked Sundays too) - I'm going to spend it knitting, having long bubble baths, shopping and catching up on some podcasts as I've been getting behind recently.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

♥

My Week In Pictures #2 - The one where I didn't leave the beach

Admiring the magnificence of the landscape along the South Coast and wearing my Fab Funky Fibres striped socks for the first time.

Hanging out in Brighton and shopping in the North Laines. I think my future home needs a yellow mosaic floor like this one.

Photobooth fun with one of my best friends and lying on the beach after a fish and chip lunch.

What all English seaside towns should look like (in my opinion) and playing on the 2p machines in the arcade.

Hanging out at the beach with this frowny pink fellow (freshly liberated from the 2p machine prison!) while Bekah caught up on her reading. Sidenote: How To Be a Woman is well worth a read. I'm a big fan of Caitlin Moran.

How my garden grows (slowly, that's how). 

In case you didn't notice, I spent most of the week at the beach. The weather has been lovely here on the south coast and I'm making the most of living in a seaside town. Lots of ice cream, lots of beach time. I hope you're having a good weekend - I'm looking forward to a roast chicken dinner and some serious knitting time.

♥

Fibre Friday #10

 

It's going to be a short one this week I'm afraid - I've had a house guest most of the week and I've been busy enjoying the good weather and playing at being a tour guide! I don't have any spinning or dyeing, but I do have a little bit of knitting, so let's get started...

 

I cast on for a shawl I'm test knitting for Nina of the Fuzzy Love Knots podcast. I'm using hand dyed yarn in a heavy lace weight / light fingering weight on size 3mm needles - I need to get it finished by May 4th, so it's jumped to the top of my knitting priority list! Nina's given us permission to share our progress, so you'll hopefully see more of it next week.

 

I finished two first socks this week. My Tic-Tac-Toe-Up sock only required the ribbing to be re-knit, and a bind off and that's done. I must cast on for the second one or I'll never get it started... The Tic-Tac-Toe-Up Socks are by Wendy Johnson and feature in her book Socks From The Toe Up. I used a skein of my hand dyed yarn. 

The project that's had the most work this week is my vaguely vanilla sock - which is an improvised toe up sock, with a 3x1 rib and a short row heel. Last week I'd done the toe and a couple of inches of rib and this week the first sock is finished and the second toe is done. I got a lot knit on bus and train journeys this week - which used to be where I got the bulk of my knitting done, but now I don't live in London, commuting involves a lot more walking! For this sock I used Trekking XXL in colour '534'.

Finally I put just over an inch on my Less Is More shawl by Maanel. This is a free pattern on ravelry, and is an asymmetric triangle shawl, knit on the bias. I haven't worked on this for a few weeks - it's getting pretty laborious as the rows are getting longer and longer and progress is hard to see. This is also being knit out of my hand dyed yarn in a fabulous semi solid coral colour.

I also wanted to share some stitch markers that arrived this week. They're from Crafty Cat Knitty Bits and I have them earmarked for a particular lace project. I love Debs' stitch markers, I have this set too and I've been using them on all my recent projects. I'm a big fan of pretty stitch markers and I find the little ring ones don't catch on my projects. 

Okay, so that's pretty much all I have this week. Next week I'll have more, I promise! (I do have heaps of photos from things I've been up to this week, so check back on Sunday if you're interested in my adventures). 

Have a lovely weekend everyone, happy knitting! 

♥