New Projects - inside and out

I have finally gotten around to having a go with Wollmeise.

First I swatched (but not with the colour I was going to use):

To me it feels like cotton to knit with but it came out much softer after washing and blocking.

Deciding on a project was hardest, in the end Raiun won. My project or  Rav Link

Specs:
3.25mm needles
Wollmeise twin in Petit Poison Dark
gauge 6sts/ 8 rows per inch

Things I have learnt:

Provisional Cast On.  A simple figure 8 cast on. You can just see the wonky stitches where the marker is denoting the Cast on row. It took me an hour to get this right, I nearly gave up.Looks ok though, I will try to snug the stitches up later.

 M1P = Make one purl, yep I have never done this before either. Some are a little wonky until I got it right. I bit the bullet and looked it up rather than trying to work it out myself. I couldn't decide whether to pick up the bar from front to back or back to front.

There are a few mistakes right up near the beginning of the sleeve increases. A purl that should have been a knit etc.  This is where I second guessed the designer's plan and changed a knit to a purl because I thought the pattern ribbing would not be correct. So I have learnt to trust the designer in future and just go with the pattern. I will not try to fix it by dropping it down and picking back up because I know what will happen if I drop down 7 rows and can't get back up sounds easy but it's near another lifted increase and I just know i could stuff it up really well so I will live with it. Yes, I can do that, I can live with imperfection, just watch me.
It is actually bugging me a lot but it's such a tiny thing that no-one will see because my hair will be covering it up. So shhh, no-one will know it's there but me.

Outside of the house we have been developing our veggie garden this long weekend.
So far we have planted corn, tomatoes, coloured silverbeet, lettuce, leeks, capsicum, zucchini, carrots and basil.
We also have most of our dwarf fruit trees in. We have 2 apples, 2 nectarines, peach and an orange, we are still looking for a dwarf mandarin. Most trees are full of blossoms.

Here's the resident gardener planting out the ornamentals. The veggie patch is the part covered in pea straw at the back. This is where our big double shed used to be.

We also have the formal ornamental part complete with pot:

I reckon the pot will get blown over in a strong wind gust but we will see. It looks crooked but I keep telling myself that is part of the optical illusion of the pot's design.  Either its that or already on its way over.

Must include a pic of our water feature now that we have pots next to it:

Finally the obligatory kitteh pictures.
They are sneaky, I opened the craft room door to hang up some laundry indoors (didn't want pea straw on the freshly laundered clothes) Kitty snuck in, ignored my stern NO, jumped up on the sofa and immediately snuggled in as if she had been asleep for ages.  Andy soon followed her.

They had swapped places from where they first were, my guess is that Andy went to bite snuggle Kitty so she got up and moved away from him and he took her spot - this happens a lot.

The best part is no more uni until January next year, well one more assignment to submit but it is DONE, just hanging on to it because I always think of other things to add after submitting, yay. I'm taking Summer Semester off this year before I burn out. That leaves just 4 units to go then I will be finished. Two each year as two units are full on practicums, one music which should be easy and an Entreprenurial Professional something or other.

So the next few months will be focusing on making resources for my current class- still working as a School Services Officer in Special Ed, unpacking the many boxes still in the shed, putting my craft room in order (no pictures because it is too messy at the moment) and knitting -can't wait to try out my new garnrollenhalter that came today:

It spins so quietly and effortlessly releases your yarn as you knit. A combined bulk order with a Ravelry group. I had been using this:

from here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Rotating-Yarn-Holder/
This one is noisy as the lazy susan is very rattly. However it did work quite well and the noise was ok after a while. I simply Blu-Tacked a small lazy susan spinner onto the bottom of a CD spindle, nowhere near as complicated as the linked project. It needed the whole spindle to spin and not have the yarn rotating around the stick part causing friction.

So...I have Raiun to complete then on to a Featherweight Cardi in Wollmeise lace (Im Jahr Der Ratte), Ardelise in Bendy (Red Tweed) oh and I must make a Vanadium Bendy Classic 5 ply (Cranberry) and I must make Elfe too though not necessarily in that order. What's on your To Do list?

It's finished and it fits!!

I just finished sewing a zipper in my Viking Cabled Central Park Hoody and I looove it!!
Finally something that fits.
I mucked up the zipper 3 times and had to unpick it luckily I only had to unpick one side but gah! so much unpicking.

I am now an expert (self-proclaimed of course) at installing zippers.
Here is what I have learnt:

• Baste it in with two strands of sewing thread with small stitches. Make sure you are lining up the rib on both sides.
• Use a sewing machine to secure it in place permanently - use a medium/long stitch - I didn’t realise my sewing machine, although set to medium, was sewing tiny stitches.
• Remove and tidy up threads.
• Dance around and show the cat, be amazed at your skills.

Anyway it is done, drumroll please...

Socks!

Two pairs of socks have been completed this month:

Yarn: Vinca - #549
Needles: 2mm
Cast On: 68sts
Comments: Interesting yarn to knit with, lovely colour changes. Firm fit.


Yarn: Opal 'Lupin'
Needles 2.5mm
Cast on: 68sts
Comments:
Accidentally snipped the working yarn at the ribbing and had to reattach :( fortunately it didn't muck up the matching striped too much. Had to add some more black yarn 2 rounds before the end of the toes otherwise one would have had yellow and red at the tips of the toes. Very easy to match this yarn.

I have decided that life is too short to be saving the 'good' sock yarn. I had been waiting until I was worthy of the good yarn - not saying I am now worthy just giving up on that idea as no matter how careful I am during knitting, a small error inadvertently creeps in, whether it is a missed decrease found after the toes are kitchenered or me not remembering if I crossed a box on my ticky sheet. Socks are rather forgiving and mistakes like these do not affect the end product.

So I am going to be knitting up my Noro and my long petted yarns and my excitement for sock knitting is now bordering on the crazy side :)

We have been messing around with the Ashford Dyes again. Now that the shed is set up it is so easy to head out there and throw some dye on some yarn.

I will never get ( well I don't think I will ) any Poison Nr 5 from Wollmeise. So I tried dying yarn with purple and black:




Wanna closer look? It's darker in person.



But wait.. were's the black? Well after it had dried I noticed some patches that I missed, and I checked during dyeing, really I did, so I threw it in a purple dyebath for a second go. Some black bits remained black and the purple went really bright. In person it looks more darkpink and dark purply black. This will be a Forest Canopy Cowl Fetching Set.

I am trying to dye the perfect *tiger* yarn. Oh wait let's look at my first go - which I used to knit my Tiger Feet socks ( yes, I did do one) emphasis on the one.



Just not happy with how they were knitting up. And I suck at duplicate stiching so I've found out. They are hibernating because I had to go and attempt tiger yarn #2:



But wait, where are the white bits? Duh forgot to leave room for white. Back to the dyepot:

This is tiger yarn #3. I'm much happier with this one but there is a bit too much grey. Alhough I like how the colours merge into each other- took care with this when dyeing it up, so that turned out as planned - which are a bit lost in the way it knits up but. Had to drop everything to see how this would knit up. Grrrr ;)

wish blogger would stop messing around with my photos looks much better the right way up.


Miss A had a go at dyeing up some balls for projects that she has requested. This we have named Rainbow Pony Spew, it has soo many colours. It is going to be her winter Fetchings.



This one she dyed up for socks, mainly has primary colours and is not as colourful as the above yarn.



This is my blue/green attempt. This one is also for a Forest Canopy Cowl/ Fetchings Set.



I have not been monogamous with my knitting lately which is not at all like me.I cast on the teal Moda Vera Socks to see how they'd knit up ( been doing that a lot lately) on 2.5mm needles. So far so good these will be put aside as an 'in between projects' project, something to grab when a small project is needed. They are more teal in person.



Still want to knit a Wisteria and a Tangled Yoke Cardi, and have the yarn ready to go for them but uni starts up March 2nd and I am having fun messing around with dyeing and socks at the moment.
I know when uni starts I won't have the time to mess about and will be back in the strict timetable cycle of work sleep study.

Bag Adventures...

I have my knitting mojo back in felted bags at the moment. There have been lots of discoveries during this Research and Development phase. I am trying to find a 'goto' bag pattern. So far my experiments have ended up too big, too thin, and almost perfect.

Some tips for felting:

• Don't use towels, the lint will mute the colour of your bag, when I used jeans, the colours were much brighter and obviously no lint was on the bag when it came out of the machine.
  

• For a first attempt, stick to the pattern, I wanted a big bag - not a huge bag that is not good for anything. (see previous post)

• Maybe putting the item in a zippered pillow case is not a good idea, I never ran into any problems when I just threw it in the machine. (see below)
  

• Check the handles, when I used the pillow case the handles must have rolled in on themselves and felted that way therefore they ended up waaaay narrow.

• Check the bag, when I used the pillow case the bag felted in on itself where it was folded in half and put into said pillow case. Was difficult to pull apart and still has creases where it melded to itself.

To summarise: pictures later as blogger is not playing nice today, oh here we are...

First Bag: French Market Bag 256 sts around is waay too biig.
See last post for pics.

Second Bag: French Market Bag with 164 sts is still a little on the big side but not too bad, handles are a bit too short.






Third bag: Ann's Petite Felted Bag, this is the one where I mucked it up by putting it in the pillow case for felting, apart from that it is a good size and I am making a second one that will be perfect :)





See the difference in handle with? I assure you they are both 9 sts wide.


Fourth Bag: Petite Felted Carrier, decreasing the handles at a rate of 9 rows to make up for the mod to change to two handles. No pics - but a WIP none the less.

All of these are knitted with Vintage Hues and 5.5mm needles.

Cat Content:



They line up for food in our house. Always in this order though.

test

Forgot

Forgot about the 3 pairs I had on the needles at the time plus the yarn 'in transit' oh and what I got today.... soo that'll bring the total to, let me see....oh let's just say closer to 140.

Found some Sllivans sock yarn at Lincraft today and 4 balls came home with me. Need to try this on 2.5mm needles and see how they turn out.

Finished the ones on 2mm needles:

Liked these but 2mm needles are small I need to try 2.5s.

Jenny Wren is finished not sure if I included picks of both before, so here they are:

Knittery Cashmerino Warm Pinks I think.

At Lincraft I picked up some Shepherd Colour For Me for some quick knit 8ply socks for me using Thuja pattern, 3.25mm needles and 48 sts cast on:

These are one of the pairs that were on the needles and missed being counted:

Hobby Print by rico, 2mm needles. Same specs for both of them but they are turning out a little different. The yarn is pooling diffeently on the 2nd one. See the pink and white stripe, much more noticeable and I don't like that, they are more random in the first one. They have been set aside for the pink ones.

Not just knitting socks either, this is Puff, a bear I made a few years ago now. The yarn is so soft and squishy.

Had 2 balls left over that were re-discovered when stash diving the other day and were turned into a scarf for Miss A. It is Patons Charming nice and squishy but not much use for anything but a scarf.

Not much else is happening here, been doing some prac teaching this semester and need to get 4 more days in, in the next 3 weeks and write a report then this semester is done. Can't wait cos I have not had a proper break for well over a year and I really need one. Struggling to complete this semester.

Currently working on...

Jenny Wren socks
Yarn: The Knittery Merino Cashmere Sock yarn
Needles: Addi Turbo 2.5mm
Mods: 70 sts, incorporated pattern into my sock recipe, Eye of Partridge heel.
This is slow going as it is at a tighter gauge than I am used to and the needles are have been rubbing my hands. But still an enjoyable knit. These are the first socks that I have knit that have a pattern, and continue said pattern down the foot! Ooh what a wild, reckless knitter I am becoming. I have knit ribbed before but not cables. I prefer to let the colours of the yarn shine through. This is a very simple pattern and I love it.




Photo of completed Crayon socks, not sure if I blogged these finished before, here they are anyway. I added some length to the foot and they are now comfy.


Still really enjoying knitting socks and have stash dived and rounded up all of my sock yarn. Oh my!
I have 2 very big tubs of sock yarn, this really needs to be knit up and I must stop buying sock yarn.

Floozy

Normally I am a one project woman, normally. I have been suffering startitis for the first time I think.

I have the Kiri shawl on the needles growing slowly. A good project when I have the time to sit and concentrate on something.

I have another Ice Queen on the needles as the other one is a bit short for me but okay for Miss A. An easy knit for when I can't concentrate and want something straightforward to do. Looking forward to wearing this in winter.

Yarn: Caressa DK same as the other one.

Needles: Boye size 6s (4.25mm)

And as a constant in the background to work on whether it is a few stitches here and there or easy knitting or a 'take with' project....

Now that the weather is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter, I have a hankering to knit some socks. In the past I have used the Crazy Toes and Heels method. This has served me well as it was a way that I could understand to begin knitting socks, I cannot use dpns. However I think the reason that I haven't knitted socks for so long is the fact that with this method (2 at a time on 2 circs, toe up) I have a contraption that is not so portable. I have always bemoaned the fact that it takes me over an hour for one heel (they are knitted around and around even while doing the heel so it takes a longer time than a heel flap) .

I am envious of Jess who produces beautiful socks on a regular basis. So I am going to give her method a go, see below...

short circular, top down, heel flap etc. I remember trying this with a sock in progress before and couldn't do it. It felt uncomfortable. This time it is different, I think the construction will be easier this way - especially the heel part. And I can take it with me more easily than the other way.

I only have one of these needles so I am off to find another few so that I can start it's partner.

I am a bit obssessive when it comes to matching socks, I don't think I will be comfortable with just measuring them for the length, so I think it will be ticky sheets and row counts.

Specs:

Yarn: Yarnivorous' Tiger sock yarn given to me by Jess. Thanks Jess - I have wanted to start these for ages and now have the sock bug again.

Needles: Addis 2.5mm, 30cm length

I am excited at using up my sock stash again. I can take these with me and always have a sock on the needles laying around.

Uni

Summer Semester finished this week yay! I am soo glad to have that behind me- 3 units plus working 6 days a week phew! No more maths exams! I now have one week off - first semester 2008 starts on the 3rd March.

Other

Miss A is at her Dad's this weekend, it is getting a bit easier but not much. It is my turn to pick her up from his girlfriend's place and I am to beep when I get there. Not allowed to go and knock on the door. Aah, but I will have my sock for company, not too dark I hope, maybe I'll get a few rounds in!

Where Does The Time Go?

Well not much has been happening here lately just the same old work and study routine.

University studies are going very well and I'm even enjoying it. Got some credit for my previous studies and have been successful in applying for exemption to two assignments for one unit. Phew - that means less work.

Even been allowing myself time off for knitting. No pictures yet as it's just the CPHoody for Miss A and is growing slowly. I haven't had the urge to knit anything so haven't picked it up for weeks now but it is there and this week I've been knitting a little, even if it's just one row after I've read my papers, it's starting to entice me back. I'd forgotten how relaxing it is for me. if I put it off much longer Miss A will have grown out of the Hoody!

Really - not much happening = not much blogging.

Of scarves and things...

Recently finished the Stress Relief Scarf, this was a kit available in stores by Patons, if I remember correctly. It came with a circular needle, a sewing needle, instructions, yarn (Zhivago) and a nifty zippered bag. I have made several of these now and from different yarns. This one is Velveteen and it was a quick knit.



I have decided not to fringe this one.

I liked being in between projects, that delicious time of choosing what's next. Maybe some Karaoke, or that nice Alpaca from Bendigo, Noro, hmm what else is in the stash?

I thought that I'd try the Irish Hiking Scarf but as I only have one ball of the Bendy Alpaca, I left off a cable repeat so this one will only have two cables. i like my scarves narrow and long, I'll see how it goes and if it likes this or wants to be something else - I was thinking of Coronet.

So far it's okay.

Oh an update on my car....
the leak is indeed fixed - a simple sump plug problem, now the skeptic in me wants to know if it was this simple to fix all along or were there really mega buck leaks.....we willl never know.

A bit sad on Friday after work when I went to my car to find that the idiot next to me had opened his/her door onto my car and taken some lovely chunks right out of my driver's door!!
Hmmm, white on dark blue does stand out terribly. So this morning was spent finding some touch up paint.

Thanks to the wonderful guy at the crash repairs who colour matched and mixed up a jar of paint for me and then asked if I needed help to apply it. "That would be great," I replied "then I can see how to do it"

After doing the door he then proceeded to check the whole car and spent some time touching it up - the car - and as he did we chatted and I told him how much bad luck I was having with it. When it came time to pay he said not to worry about it and that maybe that would help to change my luck....wasn't that nice of him? Phew something nice for a change, now if I'd just been able to get his phone number.....

Miss A is sick this weekend so we are in for a real quiet time of knitting and dvd's in bed.