A simple scarf

I was browsing Ravelry yesterday when I came across this simple one row scarf pattern  from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I have been looking for an easy pattern to make a scarf for one of my daughters out of some left over yarn (Lang Mille Colori), so I grabbed the yarn and cast on

It’s a nice, easy to memorise stitch pattern and is completely reversible. It’s also given me the chance to try out my new Knitpicks Options needles and so far I am very pleased with them. I only use circular needles now, even for small things like scarves, and these are nice and slick (like Addi Turbos) and have a nice flexible cord. I think I prefer them to my Denise set, and my addis, and am thinking about getting some of the smaller fixed cord ones for socks

Not Quite Cowl

I’ve been making good progress on the Cowl neck sweater, but having tried it on, I have decided I can’t really call it a Cowl neck

I was a bit impatient whilst working on the neck, and I decided it was long enough when it was about 3 inches shorter that I had originally intended. I do like the neck this length, more of a polo neck (I believe it’s called a turtle neck in the US). On the subject of terminology, since I started knitting I have got into the habit of using the term ‘sweater’ rather than ‘jumper’. I think this is because it is a term that is understood on both sides of the atlantic, whereas I believe that jumper means something entirely different in the US.

Anyway back to the ‘cowl’ neck ‘sweater’ – It’s my own design – top down, round yoke and will be a loose fit hip length with slightly A-line body and 3/4 sleeves. It’s really easy work, just round and round in double (= US single) crochet. So far it’s taken about 2 balls of Sirdar Blur.

Finally Finished!

Since my last post, I decided to make an effort to finish the shell stitch wrap around cardigan, and here it is……

I’m quite pleased with it, and it should get a lot a wear. It was actually quite pleasant to work on, and the nice thing about this pattern was that there was so little finishing – no seams, just a few ends to weave, and no buttons to sew on (for some reason I really hate sewing on buttons!).  I’ve also made some progress on the mohair cowl neck sweater (no photo though) and have started test crocheting a sweater for alce.

 Not much knitting done this week, but I have made a tiny bit more progress on the trekking socks. When they are finished, I will start the Flared Lace Smoke Ring form heartstrings Fiberarts in the knitwitches fingering weight cashmere I bought at this year’s knitting and stitching show.

Slow Progress

With only one and a bit sleeves and the belt to go, I seem to have come to a halt on this. I just don’t feel like working on it at the moment. Silly really because with a couple of  evenings work it could be finished, and I am really pleased with the way it is turning out.

I’ve been working on some of my other unfinished objects this week. I started this quite a while ago

It’s a throw in stocking stitch with a garter stitch border. I’m making it for one of my sisters. She bought the yarn ages ago, but never got round to making it. She wants it to be large, and I’m aiming for about 5 feet x 6 feet. It’s just over half way there at the moment. I actually quite enjoy working on it as it’s mindless knitting, good to work on whilst watching a film, but the cotton sheds alot, so I end up with white fluff over my clothes. I have made another throw with this yarn, and that stopped shedding after it was washed, so I will be putting this into the washing machine before giving it to my sister.

I have also started a new project – a crocheted cowl neck round yoke sweater. I have now just finished the neck and am onto the yoke.

I’m using an aran weight mohair blend yarn (sirdar blur) with an 8mm hook, so it should be a fairly quick project. I’m also trying to finish the trekking sock from my last post. hopefully by the next time I post, I will have finished at least one of these.

I need to knit more socks……

So that I can finish this blanket…..

I’m making this out of oddments of sock weight and four ply yarn. I’ve done about 30 odd squares so far, but I need to finish more socks so that I can make more squares.

I’m currently working on these for my youngest daughter

I’m making them from leftovers from a ball of Trekking yarn that I had used to make an adult sized pair. I’m not sure if there will be enough left over to make a square though. I’m aiming for at least 42 square in total, and will join them in either black or cream. It could take a little while at the rate I am going (I started this at least a year ago).

I attended the UK Stich ‘n’ bitch day in London yesterday. I didn’t stay long and missed the fashion show and workshops.  I didn’t buy much as I had seen most of the stalls at this year’s Knitting and Stitching show. What I did buy though was some yarn and a pattern from Lanaknits .

 I hadn’t come across them before - it was their first time at a UK show. I was initially attracted to their patterns and wasn’t going to buy any yarn as the skeined yarn felt abit rough. I changed my mind when I saw the samples of garments that had been washed and had softened considerably. The pattern is knit in the round with short row shaping around the neckline. I could have bought a lot more from them – I hope they have a UK supplier.

Seamless

Ever since I knit my first cardigan, I have disliked sewing up seams and have never really been happy with the results. I think part of the problem is that I am so impatient to finish, I tend to rush the seams. When I learned about seamless knitting, I knit a few seamless cardigans with better results.

When I learned to crochet, I was surprised to find few seamless patterns. Crocheted seams tend to be rather bulky and crochet lends itself well to seamless and modular designs. I recently started a  Seamless Crochet group on Ravelry. I was initially a bit worried that nobody would join, but so far we have 20+ members.

On the subject of seamless crochet, I have just bought Everyday Crochet by Doris Chan (seen here with the Winter Issue of Interweave knits).

This is probably my favourite crochet pattern book so far. There are several top-down seamless garments (tank tops, long sleeved tops, cardigans, jackets) with a number of size and design options, as well as some nice crocheted belt patterns. I often end up selling my pattern books once I have browsed through them, but this is definately one to keep.

More books

These arrived today….

I am a big fan of Elizabeth Zimmerman, and already own Knitting without Tears and Knitting Almanac. I have made several projects from those books (tomten jacket, ganomy hat, 2 needle baby sweater) and I really like her style of pattern writing. The photos in her books seem rather dated, but I have seen some great interpretions of her patterns on Flickr and Ravelry.

Here is a progress picture of the shell-stitch wrap around cardigan….

I’m getting a bit bored with it now, but I am determined not to start anything else before it is finished, not least because I need a new cardigan to wear. I currently have four unfinshed projects (including this one) and yarn for three more projects. I want to finish at least a couple of these before buying more yarn.

New arrivals

 I seem to have a new yarn-related package arriving almost every day at the moment. These arrived a couple of days ago…..

and these arrived today…….

 I  have been thinking about buying the knitter’s handy book of sweater patterns for a while, but finally decided to go ahead and get it when I discovered that there are seamless raglan and round yoke options (I dislike sewing seams). The yarn is Twoon Tweed from texere (one of my favourite on-line yarn shops) to make the Prepster jacket from the Happy Hooker.

The tickets are for the UK stitch ‘n bitch day on 10th November. I managed to persuade my non-knitting sister to come with me even though she  told me ‘never again’ after accompanying me to to the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace last year (she said that I felt one ball of wool too many).  I took my daughter Carmen this year (she is a budding knitter) and we had a great time.

I am making slow and steady progress on the lion brand cardigan. Now that the yoke is done, it’s pretty mindless and a bit boring to work on at the moment – perfect for working on whilst watching TV though. I’ll post progress pictures at the weekend.