princessdeia

For months I was planning on knitting this sweater, if I am going to be honest, I think I planned on knitting this pattern soon after buying the book in New York way back in June 2005.

Now after a week of knitting I have nearly finished the first arm (I have a long knitting session planned tonight). I know this pattern is in the “Over Eight Hours” chapter of the book, but I thought that meant way more than eight hours, I think I have been knitting for around seven hours now.

I love this knitted on the round yoke type sweater, and I am already on the hunt for the next one to knit, I love the IK’s Equinox Yoke Pullover and Aftur (especially after seeing Lolly’s completed version), however I think that fair isle pattern is out of my league, so I think I will opt for Neiman, now begins the hunt for the right yarn.

I spent most of the weekend working on my Hourglass sweater, I have to say this is knitting up so quickly, I have finished all the decreases and increases on the sides, I was thinking of knitting this as part of NaKniSweMo, but thought I would never knit that quickly now I am having second thoughts - maybe I could have who knows. I think part of the joy of knitting this sweater (apart from it being knitted on the round) is the yarn. Both wools are so soft, I just love the feel on the yarn in my hands and also the knitted fabric.

Recently my new obsession has become knitted things for the home, I have had Erika Knight’s New Knits for a while and love most the patterns, and she is about to publish another book Glamour at Home, which I can’t wait to see. After hours of searching I have found several things I want to knit (Mason-Dixon’s Absorba Bath Mat, Mug and French Press Jacket and Reverse-Bloom Flower Washcloths), but I started off with these lovely Flower Scrubbies. I adapted the pattern a little, to cover one side to protect your hands whilst washing.

As well as being a showcase for all my present and past projects, it has helped me organised my stash and needles. But my favourite section has to be the “queue.” Of course I always have a list of planned projects - used receipts in knitting books, post it notes in magazines saved web pages and the odd scribbled note in the bottom of my knitting bag.

At the top of this list was always the Hourglass Sweater from LMKG, I got as far as buying the yarn for the project in the summer some Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL from Coldspring Mill. Before, I cast on the project I was checking out Ravelry (as you do), and discovered that you actually need more yarn than the project suggests, knowing I couldn’t get the same dye lot for this yarn, I decided to get another colour and add a few stripes to the sweater.

I then discovered it was almost impossible to get Elsebeth Lavold yarn in the U.K. so I asked the London Knitting Group for advice, I found out the Rooster Almerino Aran is a very similar yarn (50% Baby Alpaca wool and 50% Merino Wool), and comes in some amazing colours.

I managed to get the yarn in at Ally Pally, and now whilst ill in bed this week, I finally got around to casting this project on. For the hem, I used the provisional crochet chain cast on, and folded hem, similar to what you would use for a Picot Hem, done with the Almerino Aran and then changed to the Classic Al for the main body.

Yarn: Natural Dyed Studio Alpaca/Silk - DK in Midnight Ice.
Pattern: Pomatomus.
Needles: 2.75mm.
Notes: These were the first socks I experienced SSS with - at first I thought it was the pattern - but once I cast on the second sock, it seemed to knit up very quickly!

I loved this yarn - the colours are beautiful and it knitted up fabulously - I have even seen they have some more on eBay (I can’t buy more can I?)

All along, I had planned that this weekend would be devoted to my hubby in celebration of his birthday, so all along I knew I would be missing The First Official UK Stitch ‘n Bitch Day, but it hasn’t stopped me getting jealous of everyone else’s lovely new yarn, so instead this week I am reconnecting with my yarn and attempting to shrink my stash a little, first of I cast on and finished the Monkster Sweater from Kidsknits for my Build-a-Bear in some Wool of the Andes. This was a fab little knit - great for stash-busting and so simple, it took me about 3 hours to finish.

Then I finally, cast on some Monkey socks with the KnitWitches Sock Yarn I brought at Ally Pally, I have to say I get the attraction! I had wondered why over 230 Ravelry users currently have a pair of Monkey’s on their needles - now I understand this pattern in so easy - it looks stunning and they seem to knit up really quickly.

Yes that is a little yarn cake there - I finally got around to buying a ball winder now all I need a swift (I am hoping to convince my FIL in make me one for Xmas).

Yarn: Knit Witches Silk Laceweight in Storm Grey.
Pattern: Lace Scarf from Debbie Bliss Pure Silk Collection (Link to Ravelry).
Needles: 3.25mm
Notes: There is not much to say about this pattern, it is a really simple lace repeat, but the silk yarn makes it really dramatic. I used the laceweight yarn rather than the DK the pattern suggests, this and the smaller needles to made a skinnier scarf, I just kept knitting until the scarf was about 80 inches.

Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk in Navy.
Pattern: Gretel Beret from Ysolda.
Needles: 3.75 mm & 4.5mm.
Notes: I started out knitting this pattern really quickly, I knitted the regular version so it didn’t take long at all, I couldn’t get the decreasing right, so I kept ripping it back, and eventually gave up, whilst I was in South Africa Ysolda released a newer version of the pattern and then it was completed pretty quickly.

At first I was concerned about knitting cables on circular/double pointed needles but I found it was pretty easy - this is one of those looks harder that it is patterns - to be honest I think it could be knitted up in a day.

We have all heard of Facebook Envy, I am thinking I have Ravelry Envy, I subscribed to my friends activities, now whenever I see a project I like I have to queue it, or else I am coveting a new yarn. The problem is, I am picking patterns that I don’t have the yarn for when I should be trying to get rid of the yarn I have.

Last night, was meant to be the first of the Chiswick Ravelry Meet-Ups but it ended up falling to bits. So I spent the night finishing off some projects, I am actually really pleased with myself - I cast off two projects last night, the birthday scarf is blocking on the ironing board and my Baudelaire are on a wire-hanger-blocker.

I made a promise to myself this morning that I am going to have this many projects on the go at once, has made me so unorganized, I have forgotten the repeats of lace and ended up having to frog the sock more than once, I also don’t really have the place to store this many projects (my flower basket shawl is currently in a tesco’s carrier bag).

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in 07.
Pattern: Shrug from Pure Silk.
Needles: 3.25mm and 4mm.
Notes: I didn’t make many modifications to the pattern, only on the shoulders, where I used short row shaping for the shoulders and also grafted the shoulder seams.

I actually finished this project over the summer and I was waiting for the perfect sunny day, to model the shrug for my blog. However, our summer was non-existant so the photoes where never taken, I wore this shrug over the weekend and remembered I needed to take the photos.