YOP: post 8

 The return to school is really starting to take it's toll on me and on my knitting, so not much has happened since last week...

I didn't manage to do ANY knitting on my jumper during the week, but as there wasn't much left to be done I still managed to finish it before it was time to write this post, even if there were only about five minutes between both actions ;)

I'm quite happy with the result: the fronts and collar look lovely, but it seems I slightly misjudged the height at which to place the buttonholes... They're not as high as they look in the picture because the cardigan comes down over the hips, but they're still a little bit to high for me to be 100% happy with. If -and probably when, because the first thing my mother said when she saw it on me was 'You wouldn't make one of those for me, would you?'- I'll start the fronts with a provisional cast-on so I won't have the big seam at the point where the two fronts join on the back, and the use the kitchener stitch to seam them together at the meeting point in the collar. The sleeve measurements are a bit on the generous side for me, but then I have particularly short arms... 
















The only other thing I managed to do this week is to alter my 'Welsh skies' Safire shrug. The sizing on this one is known to be generous, so I knit a size smaller than I normally do, but it still turned out a bit too big, so I moved the buttons from the middle further to the side to reduce the size. I had always found the neckline a bit deep, so this alteration has turned it into a crossover type shrug, which also reduces the depth of the neckline :) I'm still totally in love with this yarn, so I hope I'll get some more wear out of the shrug now it's a better fit.

I hope next week will be more productive than this one has been.
Mnz

YOP: post 7

Term has started again, which means that my flying progress on my cable cardi has somewhat ground to a halt. I Finished the first front on Sunday, so my jumper looked like this after I'd seamed it on Monday morning, before going to school. (I only had to be there at 11.10 AM)












On Friday afternoon, I cast on for the second front. That means I hadn't been able to knit a single stitch of jumper during the whole week. On Friday evening the front looked like this.


Luckily, I don't have too much homework this weekend, which means that I managed to go to the monthly knitting group at my LYS. The weather is nice for the moment, so we sat outside and KIP'ed. Knitting group is usually quite a productive moment for me, so after about two hours of knitting, my front looked like this.

I finished turning the short-row corner and did the increases. I also bought the buttons that will be used to keep the jumper closed, and then remembered -only just in time- that that meant that I had to make buttonholes. I wouldn't be the first time that I forget and have to frog my project back 10 cm or so. But anyway, as it happens, I remembered. I hope to have this cardi finished for next weekend, I think that's an achievable goal if I concentrate on it.

If you read my last YOP post you might remember I wanted to design a lace edging for my stripey shawl. As I had never made a sideways border, I decided I would knit one first, so I had a look around on Ravelry and I found the Rectangular Crow Waltz Shawl. The edging on this looked rather different to what I have I mind for the Stripey Shawl, but I thought it would be a good start. The pattern is an easy to remember 10 row repeat. The points will need blocking out, but I rather like the YO, P2tog band along the top because it reminds me of crochet.



I used some yellow-orange-gold yarn of which I had most of a ball in my stash for the border, so I had to knit both edges first in order to make the most of the yarn I had. Because I knew I'd have way too much of the brown yarn from my jumper (I bought two 400 gr balls and only started the second ball when I started the second front, which is the last piece of the cardi), I started the main body of the scarf/shawl. (This is all last week's work BTW, if I'd have had the time this week I'd have worked on the jumper). I've still got a fair way to go, but I'm quite enjoying the pattern: it's not too simple, but it's not that complicated that you can't do it while catching up with season 8 of HOUSE M.D. , which, in my case, was rather much essential during the last week of the holidays ;)

The one project that has benefited from the start of term are my socks, because they get to come to school with me to occupy my hands during break time. I had already put the left sock on hold until I reached the same point on the right one and I am now, slowly but surely, progressing in that direction. I had to frog this sock back partially because I had forgotten to start the stripes, but now I've finished the increases, so I hope to be able to start turning the heel somewhere next week, as I'll be spending a few hours on the train to Ghent and back. I could have made more progress, because when I went to Sint-Nilkaas last week not only did the train get stuck in Puurs for an hour and a half (on top of the hour it takes to get there from Leuven), but I had also forgotten to transfer my knitting into the bag I was taking, so I had nothing to do! Luckily, I was in good company, so the wait wasn't too boring. I hope it doesn't happen again this week! Anyway, that's all for now.

Mnz