Labours of Love

One and a half months have passed since my last post, and that's because of the well-known Christmas Rush'. I've had two weeks of exams, which obviously implies loads of time spent studying and very little spent knitting. And the time I did manage to spend with my needles, was spent knitting a present for someone.

 But before all that started, I did the last few rows of my entrelac mitts. I've turned them upside-down and sewn up the cast-on edge. I did a few rows of garter stitch after the final row of triangles to make a little cuff. Now I've made them into mittens I would also like to knit a thumb onto them, but I've decided to knit the second one first and then see how much tarn I have left. I've wound the ball on to start at more or less the same position in the colour series and I think I have more than enough to knit a thumb from what I've wound on, but I'm not absolutely positive...

My first 'Labour of Love' Christmas knit was a shawl for my grandmother. I sent her a rather long list of nice shawl pattern to choose from and she came up with this one: Revontuli, which, conveniently, had been in my queue more or less since I joined Ravelry. I got a few indications on colour, but not many, so I wound up getting the yarn with the longest colour cycle I could get: Lang Jawoll Magic.This is one of the yarn most used to knit this pattern, but I found it got stripey way too early. I read in the project notes that quite a few people frogged and changed from m1 to yo, so I decided to do that from the start as  YO's are my favourite increases.

The pattern itself was really easy to follow and a pleasure to knit really. I might just make one for myself when I find some yarn that has longer colour cycles. The pattern recommends Aade and Kauni, both of which I might be able to get my hands on one day.
My grandmother wanted this shawl to wear in bed, but now I've given it to her, she says it's too beautiful to wear in bed and now wants to wear it to go out! That means I already have a present for her for next year: another shawl, but this time one she can really wear in bed. It's going to be so difficult to knit that isn't too beautiful on purpose...


Another shawl I will have to knit is one for my mother. She has very sensitive skin, so I got her two skeins of Manos del Uruguay silk blend for Christmas. I absolutely loved knitting with this yarn when I made my S.W.A.N. shawlette, so making something nice out of these two lovelies should be quite enjoyable!

My own Christmas presents included two knitting magazines and three lots of Etsy stitchmarkers -I can now finally stop using loops of scrap yarn as markers :) - And two sets of really nice buttons. I don't have a project in mind for them yet, they look wonderful to me!


My stitch markers were put to use right away.
My present to my father was to knit his a jumper. I had already bought the yarn in Britain over the summer so I've started it now and hope to have it finished in three months. My father is rather skinny, but he's also really tall so knitting his this will probably take an age. Because the chances of this being the only jumper I will knit for him are rather high, I wanted it to be one he's like. He chose the pattern, Dad's Cardigan, and for once, I bothered to do a gauge swatch. Lucky I did, because my gauge was way off on the recommended 5 mm needles and I had to go down to 4.5 to get near enough for it to be acceptable. Reading through other knitter's notes, I found that most of the the abbreviations were wrongly explained, so I just knitted straight from the chart, which, incidentally, are correct. The pattern includes raglan sleeves, which, combined with my father's long arms, meant that it has taken me a week to knit one sleeve. I've got one week of holidays remaining before I go back to school on January 7th and I hope to have finished the second sleeve by then. We will see.

To take a break from the intensive knitting of the jumper, I have also been doing some crochet, I gathered all my little bits of fingering yarn left over from various shawls and socks and decided that, instead of knitting mitred squares I would would crochet some Granny squares a see what I could do with those. As you can see, I've got very few scraps, but I suppose they will accumulate over the years... Scrap project are always long term WIP's aren't they?

That's all for now.
Mnz

YOP: post 10

There hasn't been much progress in my YOP-knitting, and as the Chirstmas rush will set in this weekend, I thought I'd run through my list ans have a look at my progress.

Techniques
1. Learn to knit continental properly, so I'll be able to do two-handed stranded knitting;
pattern: Musica mitts (deadline Jan 2013)
-> Will knit these after Christmas, during the holidays.

2. Learn to knit entrelac. I've always found entrelac extremely beautiful and I think this year is the right time to learn how it works.
pattern: Entre deux saisons
-> Started these a few days ago and can't seem to stop working on them. They now look like this:


Charts
1. The 'I Heart You' chart
-> no progress

2. The 'Papyrus' charta
-> no progress
 
Items
1. a top
pattern: either 'Bella Paquita', 'Pioneer', or 'Arbor'
-> Completed during the Ravellenics

2. a cardigan: depending on yarn gauge: 'March Basic', 'Elbow Patch Cardigan', 'Cardigan in Alpaca and Glitter' or another 'Stanton'
->  Completed the 'Cable cardi'

3. Special socks
pattern: either the 'Double heelix' or the 'Skew' socks
-> no progress

4. a pair of fingerless gloves
pattern: 'Knucks'
-> no progress

Themes
1. something geeky
pattern: various possibilities: 'Atomic Blocks', 'Irrationally Constant Mittens', 'Pi socks' (or any other constant socks, for that matter), 'Doppler Effect Socks', 'Space Invaders Socks', ...
-> no progress

2. something stripey
pattern: 'Color Affection Shawl' , another 'More Than a Triangle Shawl' or a a 'Dream Stripes' shawl
-> Base for the shawl is complete, I need to design or find a suitable side-to-side knit border to complete it.

It seems that I have made quite some progress on the larger projects, like the top and jumper, but that the projects that involve more creativity like the chart projects haven't had much attention yet. I'm going to keep my list as it is until after the Christmas holidays, so I can see what I can accomplish during those two weeks, before removing any projects from my list or adding others.
I'll be going to the monthly knitting group tomorrow, where I would like to make a start on one of my Christmas projects: a Revontuli shawl for my grandmother, although I also really need to finish the socks I'm knitting for my mother as her birthday is approaching rapidly...

Mnz

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

YOP: post 6

The last week of the holidays has finally caught up with me :( so I thought I'd get on with my knitting! I can't believe I'm actually working on TWO YOP-projects at the same time!

When I was browsing on Pintrest the other day I saw this:

It's Andrea's Shawl by Yarnmadness. And I think it's absolutely stunning. As in REALLY flabbergastingly stunning.
So I thought I'd have a go at making something like it, but without the pattern on the white part. This project also fits in in with the 'something stripey' on the 'themes' part of my list.

 This is how my shawl looks at the moment. It's aran weight, so it will be something to wear in the winter when it get really cold, which it tends to do here. Especially if you get put in a single-glazed classroom and/or one where the heating has stopped working. I've been there.
The original shawl is knit bottom-up, but I chose to knit top-down to make the most of my yardage. It's a simple garter tab cast-on, followed by a traditional triangular construction in stockinette stitch, knitting all the YO's through the back loop to avoid holes. The borders are two stitch garter stitch borders making and the dropping a YO on the side you carry the yarn on to avoid the typically problematic asymmetric degree of tightness. That's the body. So far so good.
But now the challenge. I would like to knit the border sideways, like in the inspiration photo, but I couldn't find one that I liked enough, so I decided I'd design something myself. It's my first time, so I have absolutely no idea how that process will go. Fingers crossed it turns out nice in the end.

The other project I'm still working on is my cardigan. Thanks to the people who left such positive comments on it last week! I cast on the first of the fronts and I think I'm about halfway through. Although the pattern said I'd need most of my two skeins of yarn, I think I'll finish the first front with the first one, So there's something wrong there. I'm not convinced by how the back piece turned out, but the front looks promising. I found the short-row shaping on the corner a bit bizarre , and the pattern is written in the typical jumbled DROPS style, but you get used to reading everything five times to make sure you don't forget to do anything...

That's all for this week.
Mnz

YOP: Post 3

 After finishing my first YOP project (which wasn't even officially on my list, but it helped me to learn continental knitting, so it counts, I've started my second one: the Pioneer top. Although Bella Paquita is still my favourite knitted top, I had some cotton in my stash that gave me a good gauge for Pioneer.
The yarn is a mysterious cotton I bought at the market in Spain. I bought four skeins when I was over at Easter in 2011 and so far I had only used 3/4 of one for my Ribbed Lace Bolero, so it was time to use it!








This top has twisted stitch columns and I had totally forgotten how to do those. Luckily the Internet means you're never far from a refresher, so I got the hang of them again, but they don't show very well in this yarn, which I don't really mind because this one is all about the colour for me. For one the photos aren't too bad, although it's slightly less blue in real life. I've also entered this project for the Ravellenics, so I hope I get it finished before next Sunday... I've got two travelling days planned between then and now so it should be OK, but it'll be a challenge.


Why do people destash? To make room for more yarn of course! It'll be my birthday soon, so I decided to treat myself to some new yarn.

The first three skeins are acrylic in three different shades of blue for my Sky Spirals blanket (which was originally a destashing blanket, but I realised that I'd have to add some more yarn if I wanted it to reach a decent size.

Next are a skein of Manos del Uruguay silk blend (for a shared shawlette for my mother and me) and a ball of rainbow (tropical fish) Zauberball. I've always loved this yarn, but I don't know what I will do with it yet...











Last but not least: three skeins of locally dyed sock yarn, two for myself and one for my mother.  I must say I prefer the colours in her purple skein, but I don't like the flecks, so I'm really happy with mine too!












This amount of yarn should keep me busy for quite a while, but I have a lot of items to make before I can even dream of using then. Hmmm. Okay, I think tonight I might just dream of them. There's something wrong with me, isn't there?

Mnz

March

 March is over and that means the holidays are back again :)
 Due to an amazing amount of schoolwork I've only been able to do half the usual amount of knitting, but I plan to make up for that during the holidays...
I finished the Wingspan shawl and I must say I think the construction is pure genius. It's so simple and yet it looks so spectacular (to non-knitters mostly, people who knit themselves tend to see the construction quite easily) I think I might knit another one next autumn because I'm a bit disappointed about the colour outcome. I wanted a green shawlette and this one turned out rather blue. It's not that I dislike that, but I just want a green shawlette, that's all...

The blanket is also progressing.
I've sewn seven squares to date, I've now posted photo's of six because I dropped one off at my grandmothers without taking a photo of it. I've now decided how the colours are combined within the blocks, but I'm still thinking about how to put the blocks together in the blanket as a whole. There will be 3 squares composed of different blues, 2 with pinks and purples and 2 green and brown and then one grey and turquoise-green (in Dutch they have a fantastic word for that colour: 'appelblauwzeegroen' or 'appleblueseagreen' which always amuses me as, in the normal world, the apples tend to be green and the sea blue) and one red and white. It won't exactly be what you might call stylish, but hey, the recipient wanted it to look home-made. And what looks more home-made that a slightly mismatched monster blanket?

I've also started a new jumper, a little 'printemps' cardigan. The method used to shape the sleeves is a new one on me, we'll see how they turn out.
 I've had the yarn in my stash for some years now and although I like the colours, I never really knew what to do with it given the quantity of yarn in the pack (400 gr.): not enough for a full sweater, but too much for a little shrug, although it seams that I might have got a -more or less- full sweater out of it as, at this stage, I still have 2 & 1/3 skeins of yarn left... Anyway, it's not finished yet, so we'll see.

Termtime also means socktime. Blocking my autumn shawl reminded me that I had some of that yarn left, but I wasn't sure whether it would be enough to knit a pair of stripey socks, so I divided the leftover ball into bits. Apparently I failed to keep them in the right order ;) Anyway, the second sock is on the needles, but I can't find the camera at the moment, so no photo yet.
A quarter of the year has passed now, so I'll be flashing my stash again at the end of the holidays to check my destashing progress.
Mnz