princessdeia

All my orders from the weekend arrived this morning – I love post
So I have a nice stash enhancement – luckily all the wool is earmarked for projects.
My orders included:

• Good Fortune Cotton in Wine.
• Destiny Mohair in Petrol
• Hipknits Silk in Surf

The cotton is going to be turned into a twin set – I think the one from Vintage Knits. I brought the mohair for a scarf for me – I am planning on making scarves as Christmas presents – yes I am thinking that far ahead), I was going to use Rowan Kidsilk Haze, but thought I would try this out as an alternative. I adore the colour, the shade was petrol – but it’s a dark turquoise, and in a certain light a jade green.

I got so excited about the Hipknit Silk – I have seen so many other people in blogland use this wool and I was so eager to start knitting with it – I rolled into into balls by hand and what I read is true it does shred, It is really hard to see in this photo, but it is shades of sky blue, mint green and a pale turquoise I am pretty sure it will become an Arabella.

I have done about 12 inches of Marco – I wanted the jumper to look really chunky (even though it is in cotton), so I did the rib in 3 stitches of purl and knit.

I think I need a a session in front of the TV watching some cheesy show or a DVD, so I can just relax knit… oh it would be even more perfect, if I could convince Jason to bring home a bottle of wine.

Tags: Marco, scarf, Scarves, Stash Enhancement, Sweaters, Twin Set, WIP

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I have been busy working on my Dad’s jumper at the moment. I have done pretty well and have finished about half the back – I am looking forward to starting the decreases for the arms – as knitting straight stocking stitch is starting to get on my nerves.

I like to have two projects going on at once, on different size needles – just to exercise my hands. Normally, the project on the 3.75mm needles would be the smaller needles – but this time – they are the large needles and I am using 1.25mm (US 0000) needles as my other project, the Maryella cuff (which is nearly finished).

Not much else to post about the weekend – my sister went to Brussels (so now I am pigging out on chocolate), I did do some hunting online placed a few orders, I finally got some of the silk from Hipknits, in Surf. This wool is perfect for a OSW, however, I think I want to knit a summer top with it. I also brought some cotton from Texere, in wine and chocolate (for a border for my mini-sweater). I got a few bits for my secret pal too – but I am not going to post that here in case she is reading .

Tags: Marco, Maryella, WIP

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Yarn: Coats Crochet thread and Rowan’s 4 ply Cotton both in Mint Green.
Pattern:Feather and Fan Scarf.
Needles: 3.25mm.
Notes: I love Feather and Fan stitch as it is so simple and yet looks to elegant. I wanted a long skinny scarf so I did the pattern over 12 stitches rather than 18 and repeated each pattern twice.

As I had issues with having a symmetrical scarf and having a scalloped edge on both ends, I ended up knitting two scarves and grafted them together.

Both yarns were lovely to knit with and I am pleased with the over all effect, the darker wool has a shine compared to the matt look of the Rowan cotton. However, using the two yarns meant I ended up having a lot of ends to weave in.

Tags: Finished Project, Rowan, scarf, Scarves

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Jason is still on nights so I am having to creep around the house not making any noise. This morning I decided to have a bath to get out of his way and plan the rest of my day. Just as I was about to start running the bath, the doorbell rang (I hate interruptions during my me time), but this morning I was happy the postman delivering goodies from my Secret Pal – a lil package from LUSH.

There was some Smitten Hand Cream (always useful to a knitter), Dream Time temple balm – that is meant to aid sleep – perfect for this weather and some Strawberry Twin Tub Shower Jelly – which you put in the fridge or freezer and then use – it will not be ready for today’s bath but will be perfect for tomorrow. Also the little package had a little not – “Another little something from you Secret Pal. Hope that you like it allâ€? – YES I do

I thought I would post a photo of the modified Mini-Sweater – without the puffy sleeves, I am really impressed with the way the sleeves turned out. Now all I need to do is sort out the border.

As the main body is in Mocha, I wanted to have a dark chocolate border – so it really did look like a mocha – however, now I am not sure. However, the edge is really messy – I did mind before – but now I need to sort something out. I think I need a trip to John Lewis.

Tags: Mini Sweater, secret pal, Swaps, WIP

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Not much knitting has occurred – mainly as I have spent the last 24 hours reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (don’t worry no spoilers here)! Last week, I finally managed to finish both scarves I was making – however they need blocking before I will post photos.

I have also finished the main part of the Mini-Sweater, I never did find a great colour for the border – now that it is complete, I am not sure whether the sweater needs it… but the edge is a little messy – so I think I will need to do a a crochet border or something.

Tags: Harry Potter, Scarves

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With Jason back on nights this week (yes again – it was due to a new shift rotation), I am spending my evening alone knitting and watching TV (season finale of CSI tonight). It also is a great time for me to try and finish off all my current projects.

Closest to completing is my feather and fan scarf, I am using the Coats Crochet thread I got in America and a ball of Rowan’s 4 ply Cotton, both in minty green shades. I am alternating the colours to give a striped effect and I love the effect. Also as I was a little concerned both ends would have the scalloped edge so I am knitting two separate scarves and intend to graft them together. One half is complete and the other should be done tonight.

Also I had quite a head way into my mini sweater, but I didn’t like the way the sleeves looked – the pattern called for some extra increases in the sleeve section – around where the shoulder would be – I was a little concerned when I was knitting them but thought they might look better as I knitted more – however, this wasn’t the case in fact I think the whole sleeve was looking too baggy. I was looking at it this morning and thinking about frogging it back.

Then this afternoon, I saw Diana over at Street and Yo’s had decided to knit her mini sweater without the extra increases and it looks great – she said she had to make it a little longer than the pattern asked for – but that’s no big deal. So I am frogging it tonight and starting again.

EDIT: CSI finale was cancelled due to events relating to last weeks bombs – so I have to wait until next week.

Tags: Mini Sweater, scarf, Scarves, WIP

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Not much knitting was done this weekend ,
Both my parents have requested I knit them something – Mum wanted the twin set from Vintage Knits and Dad wanted Marco from Rowan Magazine 35, but didn’t like the pattern – so it’s going to be plain.

On Saturday, I went shopping to John Lewis in Kingston on Saturday – hoping to get all the wool, however the trip was very unsuccessful, we couldn’t find the colour for that Mum wanted – and eventually we got a nice navy for Dad’s jumper. I also wanted to get some dark chocolate merino for my Mini Sweater – but no luck. I guess I am going to have to hunt around online – see if I can find aubergine cotton anywhere.

I did manage to get some lovely semi-precious beads and wire to make some more stitch markers – it seems I am making them as quickly as I am start new projects. I had to make some wider one to use on the mini sweater as I am using 6mm needles.

Also Melanie at Pink Lemon Twist has revealed a completed version on of her Mystery Stole, it looks amazing – I am thinking it will make am amazing baby blanket – but I don’t know anyone who is pregnant – I guess I will have to save it.

I noticed she has also started a Mystery Shawl Along – but I don’t think I have the time to knit this as well – but it might be interesting to keep an eye on.

Tags: Daily Life, Marco, shopping, Sweaters, Twin Set

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Yarn: Paton’s Cotton DK in Denim.
Pattern: One Skien Wonder by Glampyre.
Needles: 5 mm and 3.75mm.
Notes: This was a lovely pattern to knit up – and completed extremely quickly.
As I was knitting it – I kept thinking of other yarns that this would work with, although the pattern called for worsted (which is thinker than DK), it still works well – I think because the cotton has great stitch definition.
It was a little weird knitting from the top down – something I hadn’t done before – but the raglan effect works really well.
This pattern does get bonus points as there is very little seaming – just the “cuffs” of the arms.

Tags: Finished Project, OSW

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Yarn: Paton’s Cotton DK in Sky.
Pattern: Spring Fling from Knitty Spring 2005.
Needles: 3 mm and 3.75mm.
Notes: This was a lovely easy lace pattern – great for a beginners, and the pattern looks very affective.
I decided to knit the body section as one (I hate seaming), I cast on 200 (for the small), leaving off the 2 stitches from the back and one from each of the front. I also slipped the first stitch at the start of each row, for a neater edge – as the edge is not worked into a border.

Personally, I didn’t like the hook and eye fastening – so I made two i-cords (about 70 rows each), and attached them to the first row of the neck decreases.

Tags: Finished Project, Knitty, Spring Fling, Sweaters

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I am surrounded by my family, we are all safe.
That is all I have been wanting all day.

I spend most the day in front of the TV next to the phone trying to get updates.
Decided to change the layout of my blog – just to keep me busy – I can’t even think about knitting right now.

I know there are a lot of London Knitters out there and – I hope all they and their families are all safe.

Tags: Daily Life

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