A Year of Projects

It has been an absolute age since I last posted!  My lack of posting should not deceive anyone in to thinking I had  been too  busy - I simply had nothing to show!

I am starting to feel quite limited by my list - I feel like it is constantly in my mind and making me feel guilty, so I am trying to take a more relaxed approach.  I will do most of the objects on my list, but as the months go on, I find patterns I like more, so may substitute a few for other examples, so mittens for mittens, shawl for shawl.

The reason for this post is I finally finished my February Lady Sweater.  I posted about this on FO Friday, so this is for those that missed it.

 I wanted it to sit on my hips, but it turns out I really love the length it grew to.  I have some minor quibbles - the shoulders have a habit of gaping, the arm-pits are huge, I wish I had spaced my button holes out more so they ended at the start of the lace.  The yarn I chose (Fiddlesticks Silken merino) is gorgeous, and I still have a full ball left which I have no idea what to do with.

I adore the colour!  This photo is fairly accurate.

It is very warm, and the colour choice makes it the perfect item to add more colour through accessories.

I'm not sure what I am going to do next - I am no longer going to do the Mini Mochi Mittens, but may use the yarn for Swedish Fish.  I have a couple of fun small projects on the go, but will hopefully get them started in a couple of weeks!

FO Friday

It was with great happiness that I finally finished my February Lady Sweater!

It grew.  Oh boy, did it grow!  

 I wanted it to sit on my hips, but it turns out I really love the length it grew to.  I have some minor quibbles - the shoulders have a habit of gaping, the arm-pits are huge, I wish I had spaced my button holes out more so they ended at the start of the lace.  The yarn I chose (Fiddlesticks Silken merino) is gorgeous, and I still have a full ball left which I have no idea what to do with.

I adore the colour!  This photo is fairly accurate.   I am also very glad that the mistakes I made in the lace can't be seen.  I can't remember where they are, but nothing obvious sticks out, and I'm not going to look too hard in case they suddenly appear and I can't stop seeing them!

It is very warm, and the colour choice it the perfect item to add more colour through accessories.  Sadly, Autumn seems to have gone missing this year and we have hurtled from summer to winter in the space of a few days, so it won't quite be as useful as the in-between outerwear I thought, but there's always spring (unless that season also goes AWOL).  

When I saw the last picture, I noticed something odd.  Probably not many can see it, but I have a knack for expecting mistakes in my work and noticing them (hence my pleasure at being unable to see the lace errors!).  I am very glad for this mistake though, otherwise the cardigan may have turned out huge.  You see, at some point along the lines, I dropped a needle size.  I know when it happened, because I took a long break and needed the needles, and had just completed the eye-let row.  Like I said, it's not obvious and Jitterbug could only see it when I stretched the fabric out and pointed out how much smaller the gaps  between stitches were below the eye-let row.

I also received great news on the Christmas Jumper front.  Jitterbug has been asked to go to Kenya for 3 days next week, meaning the collar, and therefore the jumper, should be finished on schedule by the end of the month!  I cannot wait to have this done and blocked and hidden away.  The bag it is in is becoming harder to hide, and I am very worried he's going to eventually catch on to the fact whenever I go out knitting I take it, and not any other projects I'm working on.

For other beautiful FO's, you should have a look at Tamis blog.

A Year of Projects {Week7}

Here we are again, and I come bearing an FO!

I finally finished the KISS Triangle Shawlette!  I decided it would work better as a bandit style scarf tied at the back, and I also did the crocheted cast-off.

More accurate colour in this than below

Project: KISS Triangle Shawlette
Yarn: Araucania Ranco Solid in black
Needles: 3.75mm

I was smiling, honest!  But then a child appeared asking for the toilet. 

I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I adore the yarn I used, the colour is perfect!  The pattern was very simple and very easy to memorise, but maybe a bit too boring towards the end :laugh:  One thing I would change if I could is the needle I used, I'd go up a size or 2 and not had to block the crap out of it to get it to a half-decent size!

I have also decided to make a change to my list.  It is not something I wanted to do, but I think I will be happier with the end result.  I am removing Baktus from the list, and replacing it with Silk Kerchief.  Luckily, I downloaded the pattern for Silk Kerchief 2 years ago!

There are a number of reasons for this change, none larger than the other, it was a culmination of factors; unable to get the yarn I ideally would use for it (Kauni EQ), Baktus being one of those patterns which has been removed then added to my Ravelry queue more times than I remember, not being sure I love the pattern enough even if I did have the correct yarn.

So, the list is now as follows

Endpaper Mitts - Garnstudio Drops Alpaca in red and white
KISS Triangle Shawl - Malabrigo Yarn Sock in Rayon Vert
Ayakos Vest -Magliatopia Soffstar Melange
Lanesplitter - Noro Kureyon or Tivoli Ocean
Lizard Ridge - Noro Kureyon in multiple colourways
Have You Made A Jumper Yet? - Fingering weight, tbc
Ziggy - Noro Kureyon Sock
Silk Kerchief - Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball, Drops Alpaca
Mini Mochi Fair Isle Hat - Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi
Mini Mochi Fair Isle Mittens - Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi
Ishbel - Araucania Ranco Solid, Stone or Black
February Lady Sweater - Fiddlesticks Knitting Silken Merino

I will still be using Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball for it, but will be alternating that and Drops Alpaca (I think, this part may change to Fibre Harvest 4ply, I need to do a comparison of them but I think the Drops is more suitable).  I feel happier with my list now, I think that I was looking for an excuse to use Kauni rather than looking for the perfect yarn for a pattern I love.  I am still going to be on the look-out for Kauni though :D

So, I am now going to be cracking on with the February Lady Sweater and hopefully I can get it done by the end of the month (ever the optimist!).  I also have some non-YoP knitting to do so Sundays may be a bit on the light side for the next few weeks.  Next Sunday I don't think I'll be able to do a proper post but I will try and update quickly!

A Year of Projects {Week 6}

I am almost finished my shawlette!

Not much to look at here, but it has grown since I took this photo :D  These photos really capture the lovely colour of this yarn - Araucania Ranco Solid - well.  I quite like how the black is not 'pooling' too.  I hate pooling.  Hopefully I'll have an FO for next week!

February Lady Sweater is still no further on, but when the shawl is done this will be my main project so should go quite quickly.

And in addition to these, I also started another block for Lizard Ridge!

And did you notice my new concerted effort to provide good photographs.  I recently became reacquainted with my DSLR and forgot just how much difference a good camera with good lighting can make.  My point-and-shoot is great, but not great for close-ups or details or capturing colours well, so from now on I am going to take time to set-up and wait for the right light for photos, instead of my current point, shoot, job done approach.

I'm also going to be posting some extreme close-up shots when I can find my faux-macro filters.

An altogether more positive post this week, I think you'll agree?

More Year of Projects can be found here

A Year of Projects {Week 5}

Well, as usual, grand plans with very little result!

The February Lady Sweater is looking the same as last week, and when I said that I'd be working on the Kiss Triangle Shawlette this week, I didn't take into account any evenings spent knitting on other things (one secret knitting which I may talk about on WIP Wednesday this week, the other a WIP that was playing on my mind) or giving Jitterbug a massage after he threw his back out brushing his teeth one morning.

Needless to say, the scarf is not finished, nor is it looking much different!  I have done approximately 14 rows since last Sunday :D  I am the queen of optimism!

Needless to say I have no photos to show this week, so I will leave you with these photos, taken at Zaanse Schans, just outside Amsterdam.

If you ever want to get up close to real life working windmills, this is the place!  Some of the staff still wear clogs too, for the genuine Dutch experience!

A Year of Projects {Week 4}

Four Sundays and and I still have no FO to show for it!

I'm in a funk, and I don't care who knows it.  I need results, and quick, so I'm going to cast-on a baby thing next week and do that until it's done, then that's one thing down.

I've been working on February Lady Sweater most this week.  It's slow progress, mainly due to my head being elsewhere.  It's starting to look like a cardigan now, and the lace section is really coming on nicely, much faster than I thought it would.

Project: February Lady Sweater
Notions: 4.5mm needles, Fiddlesticks Knitting Silken Merino

The lace pattern is really easy to memorise, and I've so far only made 1 mistake, right back at the start of the lace that even I can barely make out!  Really looking forward to finishing this, it feels so soft and squidgy, it'll be perfect for winter.  Not sure I'll do long sleeves, might just do short sleeves, but I'll decide nearer the time.

The next project I started on the way to Holland, and worked on it for a few hours, then never picked it back up. Not because it was hard or ugly or even boring, but I was too tired while there to do anything that required thought, and have been too busy working on the FLS since we got back.

Project: Kiss Triangle Shawlette
Notions: 5mm needles, Araucania Ranco Solid

The yarn is knitting up beautifully, and the variegations are subtle enough for me to not mind them.  I'm generally not a fan of variegated yarn, but Araucania seem to produce very light subtle changes (at least in the colour ways I have of Ranco and Nature Wool).

Hopefully there'll be some more progress on one or both of these next week, it all depends on whether I actually cast-on a baby project next week or not!  I can hear the call of baby sewing and knitting patterns beckoning me, and Tin Cup is on the TV (there are few finer men than Kevin Costner!), so I will leave this here for now.

Stash Enhancement!

I'll cover our trip in another post, but want to flash my many new goodies first!

I already posted a bit about Knit Nation, but I took better photographs of my purchases today, so will include them here again.

Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball

Socktopus Sokkusu

Love the colours of this!

Noro Kureyon Sock

Wollmeise Twin

Wollmeise Twin

Crystal Palace Mini-Mochi

Toft Alpaca British Alpaca Yarn

Fibre Harvest 4ply

Fibre Harvest Lace

Alpaca & Bluefaced Leicester

Alpaca Merino & Silk

The Kureyon Sock, Mini-Mochi, and Zauberball are for my Year of Projects, the Toft Alpaca has been earmarked for a crocheted scarf pattern that came with it.  The Wollmeise and Sokkusu were my guilty purchases.  I have always been very curious about Wollmeise, and almost choked at the price tag (which was a 50% increase on last years prices apparently!), but now I can say I've owned some, and will eventually try it.  I can see why people rave about the colours, but Easy Knits also had very vibrant colourways available at Knit Nation.  I obviously don't know what it's like to knit with, but it doesn't feel like it holds much stretch and seems quite tightly plied.  I don't think I'd buy more, purely because of the price tag.  Sokkusu was my one really guilty purchase, having said previously I'd be buying no more single skeins (Wollmeise doesn't count since it holds more yardage), but these colourways really are unique so it's not really something you can buy 2 of.  That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball

Borgs Bavgarner Mora Lace 

Cascade 220

Malabrigo Lace

Ruler & stitch markers!

Cascade 220

GGH Baby Alpaka

GGH Baby Alpaka

Ribbon - 10m in each thingy, and dressmakers rulers

vintage fabric, 1.75*0.80m each

Black/grey thick jersey, and thinner blue & white striped jersey

Cottons

Light grey linen, grey cord  and black cord

Amsterdam was more of a trove than I initially thought.  The markets were fantastic for cheap fabrics, between 2 and 3 euros a metre!  The ribbon was 1.80 euro each, which is jaw-droppingly cheap!  Some of them I already have ideas for, and went shopping with those projects in mind.

The yarn stores I visited were good.  First one was de Afstap, which sold mainly Rowan yarn, which I could get cheaper here, but there was also some others, hence the Schoppel-Wolle and Mora Lace!  I'd never heard of Mora before, but it's feel lovely and came in some gorgeous colours!

Penelope Craft was the highlight, as even though they sold yarns that I can get here, they sold yarns that I actually want to buy!  The prices were marginally cheaper for everything, and the GGH is just divine, both in feel and colour.  It has already been set-aside for some special projects, as has the Malabrigo Lace.  The shop has such a nice feel to it, and the owner was lovely.  I will for sure be returning next year with more money, and hopefully the pound will be stronger then.

I still need to order the rest of the yarn for my YoP, but I may hold off a couple of months as I can't make my mind up on colour.  Stash also has another sale on which has proven very dangerous, I am looking forward to visiting Yarn Cake next month while in Glasgow, and picking up some more Shilasdair.

I have promised Jitterbug after this, that is it for a long long while (but in the same breath mentioned the Knitting & Stitching show in London in October, which doesn't count)!