princessdeia

It is very hard to update at the moment, as I am unable to talk about a lot that is going on. I am working on a something major and until it is all finalized, I can’t talk about it. As for my current knitting project, that currently for my One Skein Secret Pal, so I am unable to post about that either.

My World Cup Cardigan is still on hold, as it is too big to carry around with me (I am busy travelling a lot this week). After that, I think I will finally start knitting the Felted Tote from the One Skein book, oh and another pair of socks

Well I have to admit defeat - as hard as I tried to finish my World Cup Cardigan, I am nowhere near finishing (I have about 30 rows more to do on the body). Like the World Cup final, I need extra time and possiably a penlty shot-out.

Unfortunately, I an busy over the next few days and have very little knitting time so I doubt it will be finished this week

My excuse for failing this task - I forgot I was a football widow became obsessed with being a WAG and watched far too much football in the pub, rather than staying at home and knitting! I guess there is always Euro2008.

Without a doubt the best thing about this weekend was the arrival of my One Skein Secret Pal Package, from the moment I saw the parcel with the Hawaii postmark I was smiling.

Inside, was a ball of Mohair Premier, I have never seen this yarn before, it seems to be a thicker version of KSH, and is amazingly soft. My pal informs me it is from Japan and pretty hard to get hold. As soon as I saw the colour, I thought of our bedroom walls, as it the shade I am hoping to paint our room later this year. So obviously, this yarn will have to become something for the room, I am thinking a cushion cover.

Also in the package was some Burt Bee’s Hand Salve, as a fan of their lip balm, I couldn’t wait to try this (The yarn also smells on this which adds to it’s yumminess). The yarn was also gift-wrapped with a lovely knitted flower, which I am going to add to my felted clutch (when I finally get around to making it).

In World Cup News, not only was this weekend a bad time for the England team, it was also a bad weekend for my knitting. I am still on the second sleeve and am pretty sure I will not met the deadline :(. But I am going to keep trying.

As the World Cup entered it’s second round, this weekend, I began the second stage of cardigan. As I am knitting this cardigan top-down, I am now at the stage where you stop all the increases, as you do on the mini-sweater.

I am unsure what to do about the sleeves whether to make them full length or three-quarter lengths, so I am starting to sleeves first - over the weekend, I managed to complete over half of one sleeve so hopefully, I should have them both completed by the end of the week. Ready to start the main body during the quarter finals.

Part of the rules of the Knitting World Cup, you have to choose a project you will find a challenge. So what is challenging about my project after all it is a cardigan and I have knitted a few of them before.

Well first off, completing a project in 30 days is a major challenge for me, but most importantly this is the first project I will be knitting without a pattern. I have made a few items before where I have adapted a pattern but this is totally out of my head.

Originally, it was meant to knit the Chanel Jacket (pdf file) from Knit Scene, but I figured that wasn’t enough of a challenge. I love cardigans that are knitted top-down, as they knit up so quickly, so I figured this was the way to go, to insure that I will complete it in time… And it seems to be working!

This pretty much a “bear” representation of our weekend, Friday afternoon, Jason began his month long marathon of watching football matches and I started knitting, I manage to cast on my cardigan during the Germany/Costa Rica game, and did a little more over the Poland/Ecuador match.

Saturday was devoted to enjoying the sun, watching the England game and catching up with friends. On Sunday, I started knitting some blue squares for Knit-a-river, perfect for stash-busting and also for this month Project Spectrum.

I had a wonderful weekend helping my sister celebrate her birthday, on Saturday we went to Bicester Village, for some extreme shopping, my poor credit card. Then on Monday, we watched Friends with Money and had an amazing meal at Harlem (corn bread and mac and cheese).

Not much knitting has been done, I started the sleeve for my striped sweater, I am going to have cap sleeves, all in wine with raglan sleeve. I am hoping to finishe both of them this evening whilst watching TV.

I have also signed up for World Cup KAL, as I am already a football widow; it is just like the Knitting Olympics, only over 30 days rather than two weeks. I just need to think what I am going to make, I have some lovely Navy Aurora 4 Yarn that I have wanted to make into a cardigan, something like the Chanel Jacket (pdf file) from Knit Scene I guess I could make that in four weeks, or I could make the crochet dress (but this is meant to be a Knitting KAL). Once I have sorted out that dilemma, I can move on to my next one should I watch England in the final or complete the KAL (Yes I do Believe).

I have been unbelievable busy trying to get my pet project up and running, that I have been unable to update my journal…

However last weekend, Jason finally managed to take a few photos of me in Lucky Clover Lace Wrap. As I was trying it on, I realised I have sewn the neckband on wrong and the tie was on the right instead of the left – but being left handed I thought it was kinda apt that it was cack-handed – and so I left it. Well the honest truth was the sewing was all done with a wing and a pray that I doubt it would work again.

I knitted the smallest size and although, I didn’t constantly check my gauge, when I blocked the pieces they were the right size however the whole cardigan is a little larger than I was expecting, however, I think it will look great when teamed up with a dress.

The close up here shows the inside tie and yet again shows it is on the wrong side… This is also a better photo than the one I took the other day as that was on my phone camera and this is with a decent camera. I was hoping to get a darker colored ribbon, but this lilac color looks good and I guess no one will see it.

Now I need to get started on my next creating. I am hooked 4-ply cotton, it is seems silly knitting With heavy wool in the summer, so I have planned a few summer cotton projects.

First I am knitting my sister a cream borelo with gold beads – it’s a cross between two patterns in Vintage Knits the bolero and beaded sweater that both have the same gauge.

After that I am planning a little delicate sweater for myself, I was hoping to get it ready for the end of May as I have a naming day to go to and I thought I could wear one of my projects with pride – but it looks like I don’t have enough time.

Last weekend, I managed to get back to knitting my Lucky Wrap, now I had all the wool and the time. I managed to finished both sleeves over the weekend.

Having put in so much work making this baby – she has become like my little child over the past few weeks, I was determined to make this wrap entirely mine, I bit the bullet and forced myself to sew.

Once the sleeves were finished it was then time to begin the mammoth task of the belt/collar thingy, 62.5 inches – that is almost as tall as me.

Knitting 13 stitches in rib is a pretty boring task so I decided to start seaming the other parts as well, to mix it up a little. I would knit 10 inches and then join the arm to the back… and finally, I finished the 62.5 inches and measure it up against the cardigan to find out it was too short, I actually ended up knitting closer to 70 inches for the belt.

Just to neaten it up I started to decrease a stitch on the outer edge on the last 13 rows so I ended up with a straight edge on the inside – even though it will be hidden. I guess that perfectionist in me reared her ugly head again.

Looking back now it was quite funny that I was so concerned about the knitting the collar as the biggest task ended up being weaving all the ends… I just didn’t realise how much wool I ended up using.

Unfortunately this morning, my efforts at photography are awful, but you can just about make out how amazing the front looks once the collar has been added.

I saw this message in the Livejournal Knitting Community, it kept me amused when I should have been working this morning. Personally, I have never liked and I doubt I will ever like ponchos and I hate them even more after the whole Martha Stewart “Home-coming” thing. I’m not really into the whole capelet thing either. I guess it is annoying to buy a magazine only to have it filled with awful patterns - hence why I don’t subscribe to any… it was a little extreme though and over 100 people commented - I guess the people have spoken.

The Easter weekend was quiet… nothing amazing happened and not much knitting was done.
Did manage to finish one sleeve for Lucky - yeah!
Didn’t manage to get anymore wool - however Jason should be going to John Lewis this week for me.

I started a bolero from Vintage Knits in a mohair blend I got from eBay… I’ve added a slight lacey pattern to it - jazz it up a little and after messing up a sleeve yesterday, I’ve decided it’s going to be short sleeved… make it will make it quicker to knit too.

Finally, I have managed to get my camera out and add some images to a post.

Jason has been working funny hours again - which mean loads of nights in, in front of the TV for me and of course loads of knitting, without fear of getting moaned at!

This is the left front looks all amazing - I cannot believe how amazing this looks - I can’t wait to finish it - just so I can wear it.

As I said I have done loads of knitting - not only have I finished the left front - I have also done the right front and the back (for the second time).

The pattern seems to really use up wool. I think I forgot to carry a one or something when calculating the yardage, because I don’t think I have enough wool left to finish it - hopefully, I can get to John Lewis this week to get some more - if I buy too much, I’m sure I can find another project for it.

I thought I should comment more on Lucky as it’s the main thing I’m working on at the moment. I’m using Paton’s Washed Haze in Rose Pink - although it’s more of a purple color, I loved the colour and didn’t stop to think that I don’t have much purple clothes to go with it - still it’s an excuse to buy a new dress and I’m sure it will look great with jeans.

I had completed the back however; I noticed a few errors, clovers with only two leaves. So I started again, now it’s looking a lot better and I seem to be getting into the swing of things with the pattern. As I started the back again, I decided to do the rib in tubular cast-on or Italian style (I’m not sure what it’s called), so hopefully it will look neater - I always think my casting on is messy.

The other problem is I am spending the week at Jason’s parent’s house and I remembered all my knitting stuff but forgot the camera, so I won’t be able to post any pictures until after the weekend.