Damn, Knit & Blast It

I had forgotten that last new year, the Guilty Knitters and I had made knitting resolutions. And that Jane had written them down. (Damn her!)

We had much hilarity, thanks to Jane’s careful note taking, rediscovering these knitterly resolution and admitting by how much we had each succeeded or failed.

My resolution had been to get back down to one WIP at a time. Hmmm……

Actually, I hadn’t done too badly! Now that Flag was  finished, I had just one thing one the needles…My See-Through top.

I blogged it here when I started… “Knit Blogger’s Block”

I started this project back in February 2009 and somehow always put it aside in favour of more exciting knits. I have no idea why I kept putting it aside. It’s an easy stocking stitch knit in two different yarns?? Who can fathom the mind of a rabid knitter?

It actually only had a sleeve and a half to do so, a month late for my resolution, I’ve finished! No more WIPS shouting at me from the Knit-Room! I feel somehow, “lighter”.

This was the Rowan piccy…

From See Though

I had decided to knit it in black, using black Kidsilk Aura and sparkly, black Kidsilk Night for the see-though bits…

Enough text – want to see it?

From See Though

It has really turned out well! And quite dressy

Here’s a shot where I don’t look ready to chastise someone…

From See Though

And a close up of the neckline (and my rather fab necklace!)…

From See Though

I’m wearing a bright red vest under it for these shots, to try and show the contrast…and to avoid the “flash-induced transparency issues” experienced by Vivian Westwood in the NSFW picture in my earlier post about this project (Seriously – not while eating!!)

I love the combo of KSH and Aura – This is surprisingly warm, fluffy and snugly to wear without being bulky.

I think this will suitable for work too, dressed down of course.

I have got double duty out of the first photo too…I’ve just finished making those curtains behind me for the knit room Do you like them?

Here’s a better shot…

From Knit-Room

They are fully lined with blackout lining and have the cute eyelet header…

From Knit-Room

Once the curtains were done, I just had to find the perfect lampshade…harder than you think for a Knit-Room.

Then I saw this in Homebase – the perfect messy ball of yarn lampshade!!

From Knit-Room

So the Knit-Room is officially finished, and I have no more WIPS……………

………………………So what now?………………….

…………………And what are THIS year’s resolutions?!!

This year’s resolution is challenging and drew gasps from the Guilty Knitters….

I resolve to knit up all the yarn I bought in the January sales, including the beautiful cashmere I have just bought!!

From stash

But what to knit first…??

Knitting has a wonderful ability to change my response to situations.

My trains have been late, cancelled, crowded and generally a disorganised mess since the snow in December. MPs are now involved and there is a growing call for Southeastern Trains to loose their franchise all together. As a beleaguered daily commuter on this shabby excuse for a service,  I should be cussing, fistwaving and stamping my foot. But I’m not

Why not?

Because, after a couple of weeks of adding up the total number of minutes my trains were late, I was gaining at least an extra hour a week knitting time! So now, when the driver announces that there is congestion at London Bridge, a dog on the line or that the train has lost it’s path (Yep, we really had those and more this week !) I huff and puff a little, then think , “Great, I can get some more rows in!”

So, all these late trains mean… I’ve finished my Easy for the Train socks .

From Easy for the train

From Easy for the train

Not thrilling or challenging but colourful and fun – a success.  For me these were not all about the finished product but about de-stressing my commute – a success in that respect too!

Oh! I must be turning into a process knitter- Gasp!

Today is this blog’s 4th blogiversary!

When I do an annual review of my knitting and blogging achievements, I’m astonished that I’ve kept it up this long. It would never have kept going if you lovely readers hadn’t kept on commenting and encouraging me – Thank you! 

I looked back to see what I had written for 2009′s annual review as a starting point …errrmmm…I didn’t do one! (More excuses reasons coming up) Well,  I had just moved house and was in the middle of having all my windows replaced  – so I’ll briefly cover 2009 here too.

Just in case you’re desparate to see what I did in 2007 and 2008, click the links below:-

2007  – 1st Blogiversary

2008  – 2nd Blogiversary

Not many pictures but I’ve added links to all the projects I’m going to  mentioned here  in case you want to have a look-see

I was curious to see if I was posting less and less??

2007 – 87 Blog Posts

2008 – 69 Blog Posts

2009 – 35 Blog Posts

2010 – 36 Blog Posts!!  I beat last year! That’s an average of 3 posts a month – frankly, better than I suspected.

And I have a good reason for the dramatic reduction since 2007 as I returned to full time work mid 2008 – It’s shocking but true – work has impacted my knitting time

But what about last year – 2010??

2010 did seem to be my year of hats and small items (and a huge blanket!)

In 2010 I made…

• 6 hats – 3 for my sister, 1 beret  for me, one for Ben and one for Yaquaholic
• 1 iPhone cosy
• a baby’s matinee coat- my first baby garment
• A huge intarsia purple flower blanket
• a cushion for the conservatory
• a fairisle teacosy – including steeks
• a miniature Lopi jumper
• 3 jumpers for me – the lovely Halcyon, warm Catrin and the horrible, horrible disaster in Big Wool

and I blogged 2 pre-blog projects…

• My lovely Kidsilk Haze Birch Shawl
• Maria in Linen Print

Oh dear – that’s only 14 projects in a year – I’m slipping

But to put that into context – I had just moved house and had also managed to create a fabulous Knitroom, refit and tile a utility room, had new windows fitted, refurbish the conservatory and build a mancave for Ben! (Oh yes, and we got engaged!!)

In 2009…

• 2 cushions – designed and knit the ribbon twist cushion cover and a Carol cushion for my sister
• a Sackboy toy or Ben
• 2 pairs of socks while commuting – boring and happy!
• a hat for Ben which he promptly lost – grrr
• a Starbucks bear
• a knitted wire bracelet
• 4 tops for me – Cheer in green, KSH Lacy top, red Katia and lovely golden Iris

AndI blogged  4 pre-blog projects…

• 3 old projects I was throwing out
• 1 old fave French cable jumper

Only 13 projects in 2009

Other achievements in 2009 were to eventually get to move house, unpack, catch my breath and insulate the loft!!

Thug and Mewsley are still helping with the knitting but not as vigorously – their age (19 years old in April) means they are slowing down a little.

I thought you might be missing them and they did forbid me from embarrassing them (silly cats shouldn’t have mentioned it!) and showing you their “New Year’s bath” shots – poor little  Soggie-Moggies!

From Catbath

From Catbath

I have  finished Flag and it’s great!

A couple of evenings of dull garter stitch and careful seam sewing for the sleeves and I was done

The pattern did call for a crochet edging all around the edge but I have not done that. Partly because crochet now aggravates a tendon in my elbow and more because I’m frightened that I’ll make the already quite neat edges pucker…I can always add it later.

Flag has now been worn to show the Guilty Knitters (who loved it) and modelled for a photo shoot with the lovely Ben behind the camera….

But which shot to show you??

I give up. Flag can be worn so many ways and posed and played with I had to make you a collage of some of the better shots … that means, “where my eyes are open and my mouth is shut”…

From Flag

Flag is probably a little big on me – probably because I took a casual approach to the tension (bad Susan ) But the garment is so flexible that I simply have to turn back the collar a little – like this…

From Flag

From the front, Flag looks like a geometric, angular waterfall cardigan but, Of course, the whole “Flaggyness” of the garment is not revealed until you hold out one side and view from behind!

From Flag

Or even both sides!

From Flag

I’m hugely pleased with Flag – it’s going to be versatile and surprisingly warm too …if I can stop posing with it…

From Flag

Do you ever pause, just before dashing out of the house in the morning, saying to yourself,

“I can’t face that train journey without some knitting”?

I do!

Apart from being valuable knitting time, knitting helps me ignore the the “less pleasant and irritating” aspects of some of the other commuters. Anyone who has ever taken a rushhour train in London won’t need that elaborated on!

I had about 4 minutes to spare before I had to leave so this was a quick decision – Socks!

Grab the nearest sock yarn from my stash and the faithful, boring Regia free pattern I always seem to knit. Stuff in my knit pouch and run for the train.

For a project started with so little thought – I’m rather pleased!

The yarn is Garnstudio DROPS Fabel – some I bought with my friend Judie a couple of years ago at a knit show (Ally Pally I think). The nice lady on the stand said 3 balls would make 2 pairs of socks so Judie and I bought 3 balls each of two different colours and swapped what we didn’t use. Judie finished both her pairs ages ago!

It’s not a thrilling commuting project but ideal for the train and those funky colours wake me up in the morning too!!

From Easy for the train

Christmas is over and that means just one thing to me – The Bluewater John Lewis yarn sale!!

Most of my ridiculously obese stash can be blamed on the temptation of those wonderful reductions on Rowan yarns

Apparently, there is a sale in the rest of the store too but I’ve usually spent all my money before that actually dawns on me

In this year’s sale I was simultaneously very bad, very good and a bit disorganised.

The very bad first…

I bought more yarn even though I definitely don’t need it. Other years I have managed to be strong and not go to the sale. One year I even didn’t buy anything  – mainly because I got there several days into the sale and the good stuff had gone!

I weakened for Kidsilk Aura – You know how bad I am for Kidsilk Haze – I’m almost as bad for Aura!

First I riffled though the Kidsilk Aura collection book – this one…

From stash

And, given my recent success with fairisle, decided immediately on Liliana – the fairisle jumper….

From stash

I really liked the original colours and managed to find them all (red, cream, black and grey) in the sale except for the dark grey

Janice, our Rowan rep even was kind enough to rummage in the stock room for me but alas – it had been discontinued some time ago. I reluctantly bought a lighter grey that would be OK but not perfect.

I was sure I had the Kidsilk Aura book and didn’t buy it. After all, I bought some Aura for my stash last year didn’t I?? I must have it.

I went to the till and paid, had a look in the other shops and the non-yarn sales  – and actually didn’t buy anything either because it wasn’t that much of a bargain, there was nothing I liked or the queues to pay were stupidly long! Who in their right mind would wait an hour to pay for a £9 t-shirt???

Unfortunately, I had to walk through John Lewis again to return to my car….More badness.

Silky Tweed was also in the sale – I had used it and loved the yarn when making Catrin and promised myself more.

Most of what I saw in the sale was brownish shades, too similar to Catrin. Then I saw some very pretty green – the lady at the till said “oh you’re back again – more knitting??” Project to be decided 

Here it is…

From stash

Now the disorganised bit…

When I got home I checked my stash -I really must load a version of my stash onto my iPhone so I can check it when I’m out.

I was overjoyed!! I had the Grey shade I couldn’t  buy to make Liliana from a previous year’s yarn sale stash enhancement exercise!! But where was the Kidsilk Aura book??  Stupid, Stupid, Susan didn’t have it
Add a list of my knit books to things I should have on my iPhone!

All that did was give me an excuse to jump on the train the next day and head up to John Lewis Oxford street – they tend to have even more yarn than Bluewater!!

I bought the Kidsilk aura book and after a darned good rummage in all the yarn bins – decided to buy some brown Kidsilk aura to go with the recently rediscovered antique gold Kidsilk aura that’s already in my stash – I intend making Gelsey – lovely mottled cabley big warm jumper…

From Gelsey

And the “Very Good”? How can I possibly redeem myself after such a yarn splurge??

Well…I liked Gelsey so much that I also picked up the Kidsilk Aura in purple and lilac to make a second version The woolly mist of an uncontrolled yarn buying frenzy was closing in on me…

I carried the purple and lilac around the shop while I looked at other things on the other floors – for about an hour…my good sense was fighting to be heard,
“You might not like Gelsey when you’ve made it once”
“By the time you’ve made two Kidsilk Aura garments won’t you be bored with it? And it’ll be summer?”
“Your stash is big enough!”
“If you really decide you want it later – there’s plenty of places you could buy that yarn – this isn’t your last chance.”

So I was “Very Good” and put the purple and lilac back.

Maybe, just maybe, there is a distant ray of hope for a pathetic Stash Addict!

Happy New Year!

You may be wondering how I’m getting on with Flag – after all, I’ve had the Christmas break to knit haven’t I??

The truth is … I’m Flagging (pun intended!)  It has gotten so boring!

I’ve finished the fun intasia “flag section” – that was a pleasure to knit and has come out beautifully. The fabric is lovely and is going to drape perfectly.

Then I started on the sleeves and had several false starts.

The sleeves are supposed to be knit in the round on DPNs. I didn’t have and 5mm DPNs so I used a circular and did magic loop (should have just gone and bought the DPNS). Yes, hard as it is to believe there are some sizes of needle I don’t own!

The sleeves are garter stitch which means knit a row then purl a row when knit in the round – not hard huh? I just could not get this right! It was so bloody annoying – I lost track of the start point, did 2 knit rows and generally made a mess.

My solution has been to abandon knitting in the round and do the sleeve flat and sew it up later – nice easy knit every row. I may come to regret that decision as the seam will run up the back of the sleeve – depends how neatly I can join the garter stitch….

Looks like this so far…

From Flag

The only problem with knitting it flat is that has made it rather dull to knit and I have been avoiding it

Listen to me whining – I want my cake and eat it.

So, do you want to see the flaggy bit and the progress so far??

From Flag

I really need to get this finished so I can get on with my new purchases from the sales
(More news on that to come!!)