- knitting challenges
All it took was finishing this one small lace project so quickly to have me thinking about what other lace projects I have in my queue. Butterfly was the winner, mainly because I’ve wanted to knit this dress since I first saw the pattern in 2007. Unless I’m having a very girly summer this year it’s unlikely I’ll be wearing a lace dress very often, but it’s such a pleasure to knit so far that I’m not overly concerned with whether it will go to waste hanging in some dark cupboard.
Looking at the charts I felt like I was in for a frustrating time, trying to keep track and memorise a complicated pattern, while working with lace weight yarn on larger needles – something I generally don’t like much at all, I like my lace on 2mm needles or a size equally ridiculous. On closer inspection this pattern is so simple that baring some other project catching my eye, Butterfly will be finished within the month.
And now it’s time to get back to it :)
- grecian
I finally snapped a couple of shots of my Grecian FO over the weekend, these photos are a long time promised on here and over at Ravelry :)
My favourite aspect of the project was by far was using a hemp blend for the first time and the sideways cable edging, I really liked this technique. You can see by the puckering around the shoulder area that I followed the count for picking up stitches in each area exactly – it’s not as noticeable when worn so I don’t think I need to re-knit the neckline.
Right now I’m on a skirt & dress knitting kick so I’ll probably be casting on a couple of new projects over the next week (and no, I haven’t finished that last shoulder of Honeybee, but I’m sure the inspiration will kick in soon… right?).
- absent…
I haven’t been online very much for quite a few weeks now, but I promise it’s due to a series of very good reasons! An unexpected trip, a new job, and a move all around the same time has left me with not much time for a lot of things. I found my camera usb cord yesterday morning!
We only had minor injuries, lots of sore muscles, and too many boxes from the move.
I have found some knitting time, abandoning Honeybee on the final stretch (just have the shoulder shaping on one side to complete…) instead starting & finishing Ishbel. It isn’t blocked, but it’s finished!
A side note, I am loving the redesign of Flickr! It and the update of the wordpress backend interface seriously makes me even more motivated to redesign Scatterpig, it’s definitely time to find someone more competent than me at coding blogs who can turn a psd into a template for me…
I’m happy to be back :)
- viola
I would love to be knitting something right now in these beautiful colours – Radioactive & Goldfish, by Canadian hand-dyer Viola.
- honeybee is flying along
Excuse the phone photo but I wanted to share how fast my Honeybee Cardigan is knitting up. It’s been a busy week with not much knitting time and I’m already 9 inches into the lace (plus the two inches rib), only a couple more and I’ll start on the sleeves! I’m really looking forward to blocking this cardigan, the lace is going to look amazing.
I’ll take some photos of my finished Grecian Top and Embossed Leaves socks soon, with Winter approaching I seem to be continually running out of daylight hours to photograph what I need to. Of course, as happens every year, it’s getting to those low temperatures where I wish I had begun winter knitting sooner :) so I need to get cracking on my Carnaby Street Pullover.
- honeybee
I decided to knit the Honeybee Cardigan by Laura Chau (ravelry link) even though I have so many winter projects queued that I wont be able to get them completed for this year’s cold weather.
I started looking at some fo’s on Ravelry and the opportunity to use Malabrigo Sock again was too tempting :) Besides Jo Sharp’s Alpaca Silk Georgette, this is my favourite yarn to work with. The colour I chose, Ochre, doesn’t quite live up to my hopes so I’m considering overdying the finished garment to make the beautiful mustardy yellow pop a little more.
Although I’m disappointed that the lace isn’t charted, seriously once you move to charts it is so hard to go back to written instructions, the pattern is written and laid out with so much care (8 pages!) that it’s really hard to fault.
So many comments I’ve read about this cardigan center on row 5 of the honeybee portion of the lace and how painful it is, I don’t agree! I’m really enjoying the rhythm of that row… but I’m only one repeat in so maybe I’ll be eating my words in a few days ;)
- to frog or not to frog
You knit something that looks great, fits well, and you really like… but don’t like to wear. In fact you realise that in the 8+ months since you have finished it you haven’t worn it once, had forgotten it existed until you wanted the yarn to make something else.
I have well over half a skein of Malabrigo Lace in this colourway, not enough to make something very useful (as much as I try I’m really not a scarf wearer) but way to much to just be sitting there. I’m thinking of turning this Whisper Cardigan into it’s cousin the Featherweight Cardigan. It’s just so hard to rip something like this!
- ufo mugshot
My thinking is that if I start talking about knitting projects while they’re still in progress then it will make it a bit more difficult for them to disappear onto the unfinished & unloved pile.
In this new spirit of wip sharing, I’m introducing my three quarters complete pair of Embossed Leaves. These socks began as a procrastination from completing my Dulce De Leche and Grecian Top, so as soon as they are finished I have to finish both these projects before starting anything else. Someone has to hold me to this!
- pea coats
Karen Walker – Turquoise Wool Peacoat
Kate Gilbert – Sweet Pea Coat pattern (I’d make this at a less awkward length)
Teva Durham – New Pea Coat pattern
Sarah Hatton (for Rowan) – Patti
It seemed like a good evening to start a list of winter clothes I like, especially ones I want to make. I have wanted to knit Patti for so long, I can see it’s been in my Ravelry queue since August 2007!
My list for jumpers is about this length, and my list of cardigans about double. I know I said this at the beginning of Summer and then did nothing about it, but I really should start my Winter knitting a season in advance… Oh & I still have a soft spot for this guy.
- new purl soho
The location of the new Purl Soho is gorgeous! The old shop was very cute, I actually asked John to take a photo of it while he was in New York last year, but this building has so much potential. The fire escape makes it. In my dream we would live over the entire top floor with a private roof top garden to rival the best.