WIP Wednesday update!

Well, it's been a productive week. 

I finished the granny square blanket... I'm still a bit in shock, I think. I've had this on the go for so long I don't think I really believe that it would ever be finished. 

The blanket was done a few days ago, actually, and we've had it on the sofa ever since. It's quite heavy, but in a good way, and very cuddly and warm. The boys love it, although I've had to scold them a few times for digging their little toes into the granny squares. I guess it's quite tempting... 

I'm so so happy with it!

In fact, I'm so happy with it, I decided that with the remaining 9 squares (they were the first ones and the gauge was just totally different because I was still learning) I was going to make a little cushion cover for the new stylish Matilda the Caravan. I edged these with blue so they'd match her new shiny outside paint. This is not finished, but I'm planning to crochet around the edge until it's the right size to cover that side of the pillow. I'll then hand-sew the crochet onto the cream pillow itself and tadaa! new cushion cover made out of an old (and rather worn) one!

In between all this I've obviously completed my handspun mobius cowl. I've actually been wearing this on and off - it's great to wear. How did I know know how comfortable cowls are? 

I've also continued to make progress with the Lombard Street sock #2. I've had a couple of hospital appointments this week and as I'm sure we all know, that always entails a lot of waiting around. All good for sock knitting, though, so to be honest I quite enjoyed the quiet time to sit down and work on this .I can't show you a picture though, because, guess what - I've forgotten it at work.

I've also been digging around for some yarn that might be suitable for Steph's Hitofude KAL and I managed to find this:

This is a HUGE cone of some sort of burgundy wool. I think it's lace-weight, so a little thin for Hitofude. May do a swatch, though.

Then I found this:

Honestly, I'm a little bit horrified. There are two cones of 4-ply, one of them superwash. There are also two hanks of Knitpicks yarn, one of them lace-weight, the other 4-ply. Seriously, I had no idea I had all this stuff!! The problem is that I'd have to dye it. Perhaps some Koolaid dying might do the trick? 

I'm also looking forward to starting Liesl. Here is all the yarn - should be enough, no? 

There is still no progress on the Garter Yoke Cardi, but it's next on my list. What with the crochet obsession I've just not found a moment to think myself back into this project (what row was I on anyway??). I'm looking forward to reconnecting with it in the coming week, though.

Oh, and last but not least, D's auntie gifted the boys with this:

Boy #3 calls him 'Ratty Bear'. Isn't he adorable? 

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WIP Wednesdays - on Thursday!

OK, so this WIP post is a day late, but never mind that - there's been some actual progress this week!

My obsession with the granny square blanket has continued unabated, so I'm pretty much done with it by now. In fact, if I hadn't decided last night to add one or two more rows to it so it would drape more nicely across the sofa I'd be finished by now. I've crocheted all the squares together and have even sewn in most of the ends. The only thing left is to crochet once around the whole thing, but obviously I have to wait with that until I've made more squares for another row or two... Hopefully it'll be done by Friday so I can do a proper FO post for it. It also needs to be washed and blocked properly, but I think that'll have to wait - I want to admire it on the sofa for a few days before I wash it and can't use it for days until it's dry!

 I've also made progress on my Lombard Street Socks. I've finished sock #1!! In the end I kind of made up my own pattern, lol, because the instructions were confusing because I wasn't knitting on dpns. It all worked out perfectly, though, so no harm done. Today I briefly went into work to look in on a colleague's conference, but because it's normally my day off I decided that I would use the half hour before to cast on for sock #2. I've only done a few rows on it but I've done the piquot edging , meaning that I can start with the lace and cable pattern now. I'm really pleased with this pattern - it's fun to knit, and the sock fits perfectly.

I'm taking a couple of days off now, which I am very excited about. D and I have plans to finally paint our old caravan. I bought Matilda (yes, all our vehicles have names...) on ebay last year. It was a bit of a spur of the moment purchase and she is very old and hasn't in fact been anywhere since we've bought her. Her tires need looking at and really, my idea was that she'd mainly be a summer house that we could, very occasionally, take with us when we go camping. I'd like to re-do the interior (take out the nasty-looking little bathroom and the wardrobe to make some room, paint the lot, make covers for the seats, etc.

With all those grand plans, though, not much has happened since she came home to stay with us. After her first winter here she looked decidedly run down and overall pretty green and slimy. We were not enamored. All five of us, armed with sponges and brushes and lots of soapy water, were able to restore her to her slightly shabby previous self, but I think the time has come for her to get her make-over, so this morning we armored ourselves with paint brushes and a tub of Dulux Weathershield and got to work:

Isn't this better? She's not finished, of course - she'll get a coat of white around the middle tomorrow, and we are contemplating whether to paint the roof white or blue... 

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The last days of summer...

We've had a surprisingly nice last few days - surprising not because of the time of year, but because of the performance record of the August weather so far. The boys went back to school this morning, with boy#3 having his first pre-school morning ever, and I'm taking a bit of time off here and there this week to catch up on things and re-charge my batteries before my own work load picks up again at the start of the university year.

We spent these last few days before the start of school enjoying all the little things we like - boy #1 went to his best friend's birthday party and came back full of Mac Donalds junk food (my stomach turns just a little bit but he LOVED it), and all three boys enjoyed time with their little cousin. We dug and weeded at the allotment and brought home more spuds and carrots and late-summer salads as well as more beans (these beans, they just keep on coming!). 

Boy #1 and #2 spent quite a bit of time with D in the shed. They love shed time and both of them worked hard on their little projects.

As for knitting and hooking progress - I'm planning on finishing the granny square blanket in the next few days - hopefully there will be a FO post this Friday. If I can get all the critters and boys off the half-finished blanket that is - it seems to be some kind of kids and animal magnet (that's not even our dog - it belongs to BIL). 

A little bit of everything...

... Well, not really, but I have done much more than the previous week. Only the Garter Yoke Cardi didn't get a look in this week. Mainly because I'd forgotten where I'd put it. I've now located it in its little bag in my office so hopefully there will be some time later this week to make some progress with it. Here it is, as it looks now:

These past couple of days I've been slightly obsessed with my Granny Square Blanket.

This is such a long-term project and it's using up scrap yarn that's accumulated over many years. Now, though, it's nearing completion. I've finally figured out how to attach the squares. For a long time I was balking at the idea that I may have to sew all these little squares together, in particular when I was imagining the untidy hand sewing that I was bound to produce. The other day, though, I suddenly hit upon the solution - I'm going to crochet them together. I immediately set out to try it and lo and behold, it works, it looks tidy and it's a lot less fussy than sewing all these pieces together.

I still have a number of squares to complete, and ideally I'd like the blanket nice and big, but I've made a lot of progress on this these past few days and I'm so in love with its mad and mismatched look!

Apart from that I've also been busy with my Lombard Street socks.  can't show you a picture because I've forgotten them at work, but I've turned the heel! There was some slight pattern confusion because the patterns is written for dpns and I'm using a circular needle, but fortunately by that point I'd basically memorised the lace pattern anyway and I just ignored the lace instructions post-heel and carried on with the pattern as before. It's working well and I should complete sock #1 soon.

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A Year of Projects - update for 10-16th August

I think it's time that I review my project list for this year. Some things were finished this month, others changed...

For example, I was going to knit either Conwy or Whitby socks for myself from my sock yarn stash - I've since realised that they are both book patterns, and one of my resolutions for this year is that I won't buy much (ideally I won't by anything yarn related at all, but we'll see how that goes...). I've therefore changed my mind somewhat and I'll instead knit:

1 pair of Lombard Street Socks, using the Patons Kroy Sock yarn that I have in my stash. It's a very pretty mottled grey/brown in colour and I'm realising more and more that I'm definitely a solid colours kind of a gal. I do like stripes, but again, it's the solid blocks of colour that appeal. Much as I like variegated yarns on the skein, knitted up they are often not quite my thing (although of course there are exceptions).

I'm also thinking about some quick DK socks. Perhaps a pair of Skyp Socks and a pair of Breaking Waves socks? Not sure about the yarn yet, but I have any number of DK yarns that might work.

So otherwise, where are we, regarding my projects list:

The Garter Yoke Cardi
Yarn - natural wool/cashmere yarn from stash
I've now started this:

Ink Flare
Yarn: that unruly purple yarn that never gets the correct gauge
Complete:

 Ink Flare
Yarn: the huge hank of green Fleece Artist hand-dyed mohair that I've had for I don't know how long.
This is still something I want to knit - the yarn in question is this one:

Socks for boys
knit one pair of socks for each of the boys. They've chosen their yarn already, so:
Yarn: Regia Crazy Color self-striping 4-ply.
Yep, those are done!

Bulky Moebius Cowl
Yarn: Berry Handspun (by me)
I may knit another one with the 1-Hour-Herringbone pattern.

I love this yarn - I received the fibre in some swap years ago and I'm pretty sure it's a wool/silk mix. Sadly as is often the case with fleece candy, there isn't very much of it, so I spun it deliberately slubby, with a scarf or hat in mind as a potential project. It should work well as a cowl - I hope...

Shalom cardi
Yarn: Olive wool/cashmere blend
Yes, this is still part of the list! I have a shed-load of this yarn, and it refused to be the Garter Yoke cardi, because although it's supposed to be aran weight it was just too thick to get the correct gauge. I think it might work for the Shalom cardi.

Ubernatural
Yarn: orange and yellow handspun
I'm unsure about this one, not because I don't like the pattern, but because I'm not sure I have enough yarn for it. This is what I have - enough? Do I need to omit sleeves?  The alternative would be Liesl. What do you think?

Dietrich
Yarn: sock-weight feltable yarn from stash
Yes, still part of the list!

Sideways Grande Cloche
Yarn: Single skein purple Cascade
Yep, same.

Easy Raglan V-Neck
Yarn: GGH Savanna
This is such an awkward project for me. I actually cast on for it ages ago, but I'm really not fond of the yarn. I don't like the mottled brown of it, and from the way it handles just when knitting with it I get the feeling it's going to wear really badly. On the other hand I can't imagine that anyone would want it, after it's been handled so much (I ripped another project, so it's been handled A LOT).

Granny Square Blanket
Yarn: all the left-overs and the single balls and skeins that I have lying around in dk and aran.
Yes, this is still happening. I'm slowly making progress, although it may take me a while. But then, since this is a left-overs kind of project it doesn't really matter if it takes me another 6 months, does it?

So what is new?

I decided that I fancy some Mermaid gloves. No yarn allocated yet, but I have enough single skeins lying around that it shouldn't be much of a problem.

I also want to knit a simple raglan sweater, using the beige cashmere blend yarn that didn't want to be a Garter Yoke Cardi. I'm thinking the Spring Forward Fall Back Raglan pattern might work because it asks for a heavy aran yarn.

I do want to add some more crochet, because I find the projects so nice and portable without all those needles! On the list are:

The Flat Circle Pillow looks really cute.

I also fancy the Attic 24 Mandalas. Would be pretty on the dining table with a jug of flowers on top...

Plus, I really want to crochet some pot holders.

One problem I have with the crochet projects is that I would like to use cotton for them (a bit of a necessity with the pot holders anyway!). I don't own any (!) cotton yarn apart from maybe a tiny ball of something somewhere. The closest I come is some cotton mix, but that's it!

I have a plan, though - rather than go out and buy some yarn I'll try to swap/trade it for some of my own stash of unwanted wool. I found some groups on Ravelry that look promising: The Completey Pointless and Arbitrary Swap Group looks good, and so does the Yarn Swap and Sell Community and the ISO and Destash of Yarn Community.

I'm now off to photograph all my unwanted stash...

A Year of Projects

I've signed up for A Year of Projects. Since my aim for this year was to a) get back into a regular knitting and blogging routine and b) to knit from stash, I thought I might as well make it official and join up.

I've since done some thinking about what I can rationally achieve this year. The idea is to not buy any yarn, so that limits it somewhat, but with a stash as huge as mine it doesn't really limit it very much!

This is my ideal list:

The Garter Yoke Cardi
Yarn - natural wool/cashmere yarn from stash

Ink Flare
Yarn: that unruly purple yarn that never gets the correct gauge

Ink Flare
Yarn: the huge hank of green Fleece Artist hand-dyed mohair that I've had for I don't know how long.

Socks for boys
knit one pair of socks for each of the boys. They've chosen their yarn already, so:
Yarn: Regia Crazy Color self-striping 4-ply.

Bulky Moebius Cowl
Yarn: Berry Handspun (by me)

Shalom cardi
Yarn: Olive wool/cashmere blend

Ubernatural
Yarn: orange and yellow handspun

Dietrich
Yarn: sock-weight feltable yarn from stash

Socks for me
Patterns: Conwy or Whitby
Yarn: any number of possible yarns from my huge sock yarn stash

Sideways Grande Cloche
Yarn: Single skein purple Cascade

Easy Raglan V-Neck
Yarn: GGH Savanna

Granny Square Blanket
Yarn: all the left-overs and the single balls and skeins that I have lying around in dk and aran.

I'll update, create links and images and add to the list in the days to come, but it's a start!