princessdeia

Yarn: Knitwitches Sock Yarn in Lavender Sunset.
Pattern: Pomatomus from Knitty.
Needles: 2.75mm.
Notes: With my first pair of Pomatomus socks I suffered from SSS, even though I loved the pattern, this time around they knitted up amazingly well.

Published with wonder of Wordpress, whilst I am away.

An important part of my life has always been my desire to travel - without a doubt this love came from my father. I have the memory of watching a documentary on whether the Hanging Gardens of Babylon existed, and my Dad explaining to me about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and how most of them had been destroyed. Years later we would discuss what the “must see” sites of the world would be now and we never did complete a final list.

Last summer, the new Seven Wonders of the World were announced, when I read the list a smiled knowing my dad had managed to see all these wonders, but also that I was lucky enough to share some of these experiences with him.

Our first major family holiday was for six weeks to India; although the holiday was intended for us to spend time with our family it was important for my dad that we saw the country as well. Although I was still very young for this holiday I remember the long coach ride from Delhi to Agra, to see the Taj Mahal. I had no idea then why the building was so important as far as I was concerned it was a place I had seen on the news when Princess Diana went there alone.

Over the years we continued to have many family adventures, but the last time all four Desais went away together was to China. For me personally it was a memorable trip, it was it was the start of my journey to giving up meat (and as a result I lived off rice and chocolate for two weeks), without a doubt the highlight of the holiday was the walk along the Great Wall of China at Badaling.

The following year my sister and I intended to have our own adventures, but when my parents told me they planned on spending three weeks travelling around Mexico, I decided to tag along. Early one morning towards the end of the vacation we were up at 5am to avoid the crowds and see Chichen Itza, we ended up spending the whole day there climbing ‘the castle,’ exploring the throne room and walking around the ball court.

The link to the Seven Wonders doesn’t end there, after Jason and I got engaged, my parents, sister and I started planning our final Desai Family holiday to Peru so I could see Machu Picchu before I got married, (Jason decided against joining us on the trip as he feared the spiders). Unfortunately a month before we were due to leave my dad was diagnosed with cancer and the holiday was cancelled.

So having seen three of the seven wonders I became determined to see the other four as a legacy to my dad. As the new most important man in the life, Jason has already started this quest taking me to Rome to celebrate our first wedding anniversary so I could see the Colosseum, and he is even talking about ways to avoid the spiders in Peru!

Published with wonder of Wordpress, whilst I am away.

Yarn: NDS - ALBA Shetland 4ply, in Green.
Pattern: Baudelaire from Knitty.
Needles: 2.5mm
Notes: The last time I made these socks I had a few problems with the casting off - but this time I used the Tubular Cast off and it works. I brought yarn at Ally Pally last autumn, unfortunately it is no longer available.

Published with wonder of Wordpress, whilst I am away.

So this weekend, we are off on our summer vacation!

I have packed away enough yarn to knit two pairs of socks. I was going to knit on the plane, but have decided it is time I attempt to finish The Friday Night Knitting Club (I put it down about six months ago and it has sat on the side all this time).

Of course, I have checked Knitmap and put together a list of stores I want to visit - it is a good job I have stopped that yarn diet!

I also figure that my time away is the perfect time to blog about all my finished projects so I have queued up some posts in my absence.

Finally, so this isn’t a photo less entry… 

My Earth ATC from Vloula.

So like all sock knitters I have a bag of leftover yarn and no idea what to do with it… I did a little bit of research online and found a few patterns. I don’t have enough for a blanket, I thought these were cute, and of course there is the calorimetry.

In the end I thought I would knit another pair of socks. I enjoyed reading grumperina’s experiments with Lorna Lace Spiral Socks, but I have mainly multi coloured yarn, so this wouldn’t work. With the leftover Lorna Lace from my Jaywalkers,  I brought some solid yarn to make the Old Shale Socks, but never gor around to making them. Then, last month I had a dream.

When I awoke, I had a strong image of the socks I had been knitting in my dream. I wanted the toe, base of the foot and heel all to be in chocolate and the top of the foot and leg to be in the multi yarn. I of course turned to Ravelry to see if anyone could help me find the pattern, in the end I discovered Hidden Passion (Rav Link) - which are almost right.

Instead of ordering the book, I took my yarn, needles notepad and pen sat down in the summer sun and started to knit. I figured it was just a case of knitting half a sock at a time on two needles, Using provisional cast on and the chocolate yarn, I began with the heel flap -30 sts for 32 rows (slipping the first stitch), then created the heel.

Next I picked up the slipped stitched to create a  gusset, then I knitted into the back of each picked up stitch for one row (I found here I had to knit with three needles). Continuing by decreasing one stitch at the beginning of each row until 30 stitches remained.

I carried on knitting, slipping a stitch at the beginning of each row until I was two inches short of the desired length. Then I used Dianne’s excellent description for a short row toe. Before changing to the multi-yarn.

I picked up the slipped stitch from the foot, and knitted it together with the first stitch on the needle. Knitted to the final stitch, slipped that and picked up the stitch from the foot and passed the slip stitch over. On the next row I slipped the first and last stitch (30 stitches).

Once, I had picked up all the slipped stitches from the foot, I undid the provisional cast on and started knitting on the round (with 60 stitches), until the desired length.

Then I changed back to the chocolate yarn for the rib - I did about 15 rows of rib.

Finally, I used the tubular cast off to finished (using Anna Bell’s tutorial).

So after three months of stash-busting, I have finally brought some yarn! I read on Ravelry about Crafty Cottage stocking Peaches and Creme Cotton in the U.K. and I had to give it a try! Jo offers nearly all the shades of Peaches N Creme and a fantastic service, the yarn arrived the next day, there was a slight error with my order, but she quickly sorted out the problem and sent me an extra ball for compensation, now I can’t wait to get knitting.

Original my stash-busting plan was not to buy any yarn in February and March and to try and use up all my pink and orange yarns, as it turns out I ended up knitting a lot slower that I thought and as it ended up, I didn’t buy any yarn in April! I am currently working through my green and brown yarn as part of PS3-Earth.

Part of my plan was to also donate all the money I saved from buying yarn to charity, but I have decided to give the extra savings to Ravelry - even though Ravelraising is over, the amount of time I spent online it makes sense. Speaking of Ravelraising did you check out the list of prize-winners , I was completely shocked!

 
Finally yesterday morning, the first of my flower appeared on my Chilli Plant! 

Yarn: Cascade 220 Tutu.
Pattern: Gretel Beret from Ysolda.
Needles: 3.75 mm & 4.5mm.
Notes: After I made my version of this beret last year, my sister has been bugging me to make her a version. She wanted something to match both her brown and grey coats so this pink is the perfect colour! This was a lot easier to make the second time around (as I now have the correct version of the pattern), and it was the perfect project to practice cabling without a cable needle.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Paints (Maple Leaf) and Quarto (Purple)
Pattern:BAWK Hot Water Bottle Cozy by Yarngogo.
Notes:I added a flap so the bottle could be removed.

Alterations:
CO 31sts
Rows 1-4: Stocking Stitch
Button Hole Row 1: K7, BO2, K13, BO2, K7
Button Hole Row 2: P7, CO2, P13, CO2, P7
Next 3 Rows: Stocking Stitch
CO 31sts and join.

It seems that lately, I haven’t been able to find the time to knit let alone blog. I have had the Baudelaire socks on the needles for over a month now. I have been able to make a few smaller projects, - hot water bottle covers and a beret. I have added them to Ravelry but not updated them here, (my poor blog have been neglected). So the stash busting is going well, I now have more “used” yarn in my Stash on Ravelry than in my “stash” tab. There is still enough for 7 more pairs of socks, and several scarves/shawls. But the great thing is I am remembering why I brought this yarn in the first place and falling in love with it all over again.