princessdeia

Now that Christmas is over, I can get on and post all my finished projects from the last month. All the recipients have received their gifts and those I have seen since Christmas have been wearing their scarves to beat this chill that is creeping in over London.

Branching Out

Yarn: KidSilk Haze in Liqueur and Meadow.
Pattern: Braching Out from Knitty, Spring 2005.
Needles: 3.75mm.
Notes: There is nothing to more to say about this pattern, I love it, everyone in blogland loves it and seems to be knitting it.

Fishtail Lace Scarf

Yarn: KidSilk Haze in Grace and Pearl.
Pattern: Fishtail Lace Scarf (pdf file).
Needles: 3.25mm.
Notes: KSH leans itself extremely well to any lace pattern, I opted to do some simple patterns just to save time – but it works so well (Take Airy Scarf and simple easy pattern that knits up in hours and looks so good). This is one of those easy patterns – great for a first time lace project as it really is only four stitches, K, P, YO and sl1-k2tog-psso.

Little Leaf Scarf

Yarn: KidSilk Haze in Smoke and Drab.
Pattern: Little Leaf Scarf .
Needles: 3.25mm.
Notes: Again this is another fantastically easy pattern, four simple rows repeated numerous times (I think I did over 100 repeats on this pattern). I left off the garter borders – once pressed the edges did not curl and it looked lacier without the edging.

Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf

Yarn: KidSilk Spray in Pebble and KidSilk Night in Starry Night.
Pattern: Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf .
Needles: 3.25mm and 4mm.
Notes: I love this pattern on smaller needles using variegated yarn the pattern looks amazing, using bigger needles it becomes an interesting lacy pattern.

I have been so busy over the last few weeks, I have not had time to stop and update - it doesn’t help that I have been away from home so PC and Camera-less! I am in the middle of printing the inserts for my handmade Christmas cards, so finally have time to update.

I was planning on making 40 mini stocking from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, however time has not been on my side and I had to change the plan.

I was also asked to make Wedding Invitations from Jason’s cousin - which she needed this weekend - luckily, I was able to make a pretty simple design so it didn’t take that long. (This was one of the rejected cards - as the heart is wonky).

I had my last parcel from my Secret Pal - which was Mother of Purl by Edith Eig, which I loved mainly as it had the pattern to the Lost in Translation Scarf - which is one of my favourite films. Jumbled up on the back of the parcel was numerous letters, that I think are an anagram of my Secret Pal, but I have no idea still as to who s/he is.

I was spoiling Brynne from All This By Hand, I say spoiling but really all I did was converted her to Lush. It was strange spoiling an experiences knitter again, as I had seen Brynne’s designs in Knitty (including Samus, which I think I will be knitting in the new year).

Speaking of Knitty - this issue is amazing, I love…
knecklace
bamboozelle
best friend
forecast
tempting II
festive (another Brynne design).
tubey
blanche-neige
bristow

I will be so busy next year :s

For personal reason, Jason and I have been spending a lot of time with his parents in Stevenage, whenever I come back home I find a little parcel waiting for me from my Secret Pal, it is so lovely. I am always pleasant surprised with my presents seeing what little bit of information they have take from my questionnaire and what they have done with it. Like this funky little baby tee to add to my increasing collection. I love this Fat Boy logo – it reminds me of the Big Boy spaceship in Austin Powers (groovy baby).

The logo on the bottom of the t-shirt says UNLV - could this be a clue to my SP’s identity - I know they live in Las Vegas, but are they a student or a lecturer there, oh I need Grissom to help me out with this one I think.

In knitting news, I have finished three of the Xmas scarves, unfortunately, I have decided I love the multi-directional scarf too much to give up – it looks amazing with my new jacket – I had to buy more wool to make another one for me

So much has happened lately – but rather then post a long entry, I thought I would post a photography entry of the two weeks. Firstly, it was my birthday :D.

My sister made me this amazing birthday cake – which was in fact 16 little cupcakes, spelling out “HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEE”

It was also Halloween, so another part of my present was this amazing bouquet complete with an evil little witch.

None of my presents where knitting related (apart from a Knit Pixie voucher from my Secret Pal), I did get two jackets – so plenty of opportunities to knit yet more scarves. But it will have to be way after Christmas as the Xmas scarves are going very slowly.

As well as my voucher my Secret Pal, sent be this box fully of little yarn sample. There are so many yarns in here, we can’t get in the UK and more I have never heard of. I think I will try and turn them into a leftovers sweater. My favourites so far are…

Schoeller Stahl Merino Stretch.
Lily Chin Signature Collection Tribeca.
Lanaknits.com’s Hemp for Knitting.

Finally, some knitting news.

This is the third of the ten scarves, I have to knit for Xmas, it is using Fishtail Lace Scarf pattern in the light pink KSH, I think this pattern looks great in the lighter colours and I can’t wait to see it blocked (I haven’t really been doing gauge squares with these scarves).

Yesterday, I received my second parcel from my SP – she is so organised, I am always amazed how each SP present is so perfect – she gave me a mini calculator it put in my knit kit, which is something I could really do with, in fact I started using it last night.

As the weather is so unpredictable in London at the moment, I figured it was ideal time to knit another shrug. I was going to knit another OSW, I was looking in my mini stash and found the Rowanspun DK that Tracy got me in the last round of Secret Pal, that I earmarked for a mini-sweater. The wool is thinner than the pattern called for so I had to rework the pattern a little (hence using the calculator).

Using Jason as my swift I tried to roll the two hanks into balls, however, it all went terrible pear-shaped and we ended up with a massive nest – that somehow Jason managed to get into a big ball and a little baby ball – he is my hero. Hopefully, I will have this little baby knitted up ready to wear over the weekend.

Which will be amazing as my obsession with not complete projects is continuing, I still haven’t finished branching out, even though it is such a simple lace pattern to knit, I am getting so carried away with other projects. I just love this colour, it is going to look so perfect with both my autumn jackets (one is grey the other navy).

I am still undecided if I will knit several branching out’s for gifts, after hunting around online, I found Wendy Knits’ list of lace scarves, and fell in love with Lorrie’s Fishtail Lace Scarf, Little Leaf Scarf and the Simple Knitted Lace Scarf.

With the second ball of Kidsilk Spray, I have I decided to try Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, again, I dropped the needle size down to 3.75mm and I am really pleased with the results, this pattern is so simple and looks so affective, I think I might have to knit one of these for myself.

I seem to have lost the cable to upload my photos on to the web And I have loads of photos to post. I have taken some photos with my camera phone but they do no justice.

Finally, I have a finished project, NLLALM is finished – it is just waiting to be blocked – all I can say is never again over 160 stitches for the back and front, took forever. Although I am pleased with the rest it just took way too long.

Now I am concentrating on the KSH scarves. I am half way though Branching Out, I have done 20 repeats of the pattern, but as I am using 3mm needles it is still really short (about 30 inches), I think I will need to do about 50 to get it too the length I want. But I have loads of wool left.

Over the weekend as a quick project, I cast on an Airy Scarf (from Last minute Gifts) in Kidsilk Spray, for this version I am using the pinkie colours, and it looks amazing, there are four tones of pink in there, from an almost lilac colour to a bright pink, and totally unintentionally the colour weaves through the scarf like a wave.

Once again, I am using smaller needles than the pattern asked for, and I cast on extra stitches to make it wider, after knitting for 4 hours (the blur above the pattern says that was how long the designed knitted for), the scarf is 24 inches, I always intended to make it a longer scarf, but now I think I might just knit until I run out of wool.

EDIT:After I posted this morning the postman delievered some goodies… a postcard all the way from Vegas (baby), and a lime green jiffy envolpe, also from Vegas. Inside was this amazing package, the wrapping paper was hand-made. I didn’t want to open it as I would ruin her lovely work. But inside was Weekend Knitting : 50 Unique Projects and Ideas , which I have been lusting after forever. I spend all this lunch time planning what I am going to make.

Since I started knitting again, I have been really strict on myself - so that I won’t develop and stash and have hundreds of planned projects (I just don’t have the space), however, slowly and shortly I have a stash and loads of planned projects, yesterday I made a list (oh I love making lists).

1. NLLALM Sweater.
2. Twin Set - Cardigan.
3. Branching Out Scarf.
4. Harry Potter Scarf.
5. Maryella II.
6. MiniSweater II.
7. Hip Silk Vest.
8. 10 Xmas Scarves.
9. Sweater with Mohair Strips (Vintage Knits).
10. Leaf Jumper (Loop-d-Loop).

And now, I have been looking at patterns online, the new knitty is out and I have fallen in love with Arisaig, Blackberry and Flora, lets not forget Melissa’s new sweater in Magknits.

I think I will be knitting Winter projects until next summer.

The Kidsilk Haze I got from Tracy in my final Secret Pal present, is prefect for branching out, after starting my own version over the weekend I decided I had to make more as Christmas Presents, when I used the wool before, I found it really awakward to knit with (it is just too thin), but I think now as a slightly more experienced knitted I am finding it a little easier.

So armed with a plan I went to John Lewis in Kingston on Saturday and brought 10 balls of Kidsilk wool ready to make scarves. I brought 6 balls of the Haze – all in neutral colours and then 3 balls of the Kidsilk Spray which I think will look amazing as Airy Scarves from Last Minute Gifts (but I think I will make longer versions). Finally, I had to get some of the Kidsilk Night – I am unsure what to do with this, I am hunting around online for a nice lacy pattern, that I can turn into a scarf.