All the WIPs...

... so much to do, so little time.

When I had that year off from crafting (more or less), I neglected a lot of projects, and I've been revisiting them, one by one, with a view to making some room for new projects in my life.

I've already written about the Purple Cashmere Socks, which had been languishing in my WIP pile forever, but that isn't the end of it, not at all.

I recently pulled out a truly ancient project, which was never particularly exciting to me, but which, hopefully, will eventually result in something quite useful.

Ages ago I bought some blue 100% wool yarn on ebay. When the yarn arrived I realised that it was a really dull, undefinable blue, and also not particularly soft. It felt... kind of old and fusty. But it was 100% wool, and that's always useful for felting, right?  I finally settled on a kind of satchel bag, but rather than knitting it up as a pattern and then felting it to size I thought, why not knit this up as a really sturdy rectangle and then just cut it into pieces and sew it together? And that's what I did, or rather, what I started to do. I used 3 strands of yarn together to create a really bulky and strong fabric, and started knitting.

Is there anything less exciting than a stockinette stitch rectangle in a solid colour? Needless to say, I never finished.

That is, until now! I finished the dreaded massive rectangle a couple of weeks ago and stuffed it in the washing machine. It took 3 wash cycles and an extra spin, but it finally reached the desired density. For now the felted rectangle sits on the armrest of our sofa to protect the fabric from Jack the cat, who likes to crouch up there, but I'm planning my satchel bag...

Next eternal WIP - the Blue Ripple Blanket. Again, this was started years ago, probably sometime in 2015, but in a fit of insanity I made this so wide that it would probably cover a double bed. As a result each row takes absolutely ages to crochet, and I also constantly managed to run out of yarn. I've started working on this again a few weeks ago and already had to re-order all the colours. What on earth was I thinking?

I do like this blanket, though, and I reckon if I can just bring myself to knit a few rows each week it should be done in a year or so, and without me actually having to put too much effort and time in on a day-to-day basis. 

The last project I dug out to finish are the Stripey Mitts.

ETA: piccy of the stripey mitts!

This is a project I was sort of making up as I was going along, even though I was nominally following a pattern, and I finished one mitt without writing down any instructions to replicate the pattern for the second (thanks, past self, that was helpful...) so it's going to take a bit of time to find my way back into this project. They are pretty darn cute, though, so I'm determined to wear them next winter!

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A Year of Projects

All the socks...

I've been on a bit of a sock-knitting binge this past week. 

First I pulled out that gorgeous red Regia sock yarn that I bought a couple of summers ago on Borkum, and finally found a good pattern for it. I wanted something with some texture because I tend to prefer solid colours for those kinds of pattern, but I didn't want it to become too complex because, well, I know myself and the sock knitting... I didn't want this to become another endless WIP.

I finally settled on the Hedgerow socks. The first few rows were, not exactly confusing, because it's not a difficult pattern, but I couldn't quite see how it was coming together. It all just seemed really random and looked chaotic. Now, a few repeats into the pattern I can see my way more clearly and it's coming together rather nicely.

While I've been busy with this project, the other day, while digging around in my office, I also managed to unearth another ancient WIP. It was a sock, knitted in purple cashmere yarn, held double-stranded to make a slightly bulkier sock. I had only knitted slightly more than that cuff of sock one, and had then evidently given up because I couldn't be bothered to figure out how to do the heel. I took it downstairs and after digging around a bit on Ravelry I found a dk sock pattern that seemed close enough to my stitch count to adapt. 

My sock had 44 stitches, while this pattern was for 40 stitches, but the heel worked out fine by substituting the 19 stitches for the heel flap for 21 stitches, and the short rows for K9 rather than the K8 required in the pattern. I pretty much winged it, but it worked!



I finished the first sock yesterday evening, and, to avoid another endless delay, cast on for sock two this morning. I very much hope the yarn will be sufficient because it's obviously not meant to be held double-stranded. To make it go further I had started using some left-over Freedom Sock yarn, but now that is running low and I'm using it double-stranded with some pink cashmere. A stylish project this is not, but this yarn is so soft, I'm sure the socks will get a lot of wear anyway, even if I run out of yarn half-way down the foot and have to finish in a different colour! :D

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A Merry Sockmas

It was cold out there this past week. Even the cats were looking for novel ways of keeping themselves warm...

Seriously, though, what is it with cats and boxes? 

Personally, I prefer some warm wolly handknits to keep me warm in this weather. Good thing then, that we had a rather sock-tastic Christmas this year. Godi, the lovely aunt of my dad's partner, came to see us while we were in Germany, and she came with some rather lovely gifts. Just look at these!! 

Those were for D. There are two pairs missing, because he'd already started wearing them, so one pair was on his feet (and he wasn't available for photographs when I took these) and one was in the wash already). I got four pairs too. Three pairs here:

And one pair on my feet already! :) 

I'm still quite speechless int the face of such generosity! She'd said that she might knit some when she came to visit us in September, but eight (!!) pairs of socks?! 

Some of the wool came from us. I gave her 2 sets of Natural Dye Studio sock yarn (the ones on my feet and the blueish-green yarn) and 1 large ball of blue self-patterning sock yarn (one of D's pairs, but I'm not sure which one), but she must have then gone out to get more yarn. I'll have to get a nice parcel of something together for her as a thank you. 

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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Hooking on Hump Day

WIP Wednesday

The summer holidays are a tough time for knitting - and for writing the blog.

This week I'm having the boys at home, which has been nice, but which has also meant that there has been precious little time to myself, resulting in a lack of progress on my knitting projects and a lack of blog posts. It's OK, I don't really mind. Instead, we've been to the cinema and we've  been to the playground, we've tidied their rooms, only to make them untidy again almost straight after. D has taken a bit of time off here and there, and today we had a whole day together.

We took the chance to go to Whitby on the North Yorkshire Moors railway from Pickering. What a fabulous day it was. We started off really early because not all the steam trains go to Whitby. A lot of them seem to stop at Goathland  (Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films) or Grosmont but there isn't a lot else to see for kids apart from the steam train, so we thought it might be much more fun to go all the way to Whitby.

We had a great day. The boys loved the train, and despite the crowds, Whitby is lovely. I'd never really seen the town itself (I'd been before but mainly to the beach and to walk by the sea). It's so pretty, and the view from the old abbey is beautiful.

Walking back to the station we watched all the crab fishers by the harbour. Boy #1 was very taken with this so we may have to come back at some point and do some of that...

On the way back on the train I realised that it is Wednesday today, so I took a quick picture of the Lombard Street sock as it is right now. I'm almost at the right point to start the heel.

Despite the slowness of this project it's so much fun knitting this. Just complex enough not to be boring but not so complex that it becomes annoying.

This doesn't mean that it's flawless (my knitting, that is, not the pattern). Really early on I managed to twist a whole row of cables, and while I was knitting in the cinema the other day I must have managed get a bit muddled up with my rows but can't really detect what it was that I've done. All I know was that I was half a row out with the pattern.

Will I rip to fix these issues? Nope, I don't think so. The past few weeks of summer holidays with all their chaos and imperfection and fun have emphasised my natural pragmatism. Live and let live, right? If this was for anyone else I might have ripped straight away when I realised that the cables were twisted (I noticed that pretty quickly), but you know? It's all good. These socks are for me, and I don't mind the twisted cables, never mind the other mistake that I can't even quite see.

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WIP Wednesdays

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...

FO - Socks for Boys

I had this idea in my head of this perfect shot of all the three boys, lined up with their new stripey socks on, ordered from littlest to oldest. I was going to take a shot of their feet and you could all marvel at the cuteness of the socks on little boys' feet.

Ha!

Instead you get to marvel at the discrepancy between said ideas and the reality of lining three boys up for long enough to take shots of their feet. 

They were happy enough putting the socks on -that much was no effort. They were thrilled that it was all finally done, so as soon as I suggested that they might wear them they were off to pull them over their feet.

So yeah, that was the easy part. The impossible part was to then keep them still to take pictures. Not even all three of them - just keeping one of them still was already pretty much impossible. D stood by and laughed at me as I futilely tried to motivate them to line up for my 'perfect' shot. 

In the end I got them to lie down on the grass with their feet together. They were sufficiently intrigued by the novelty of that to try it for at least 3 seconds so there you go - 3 pairs of socks for boys, completed. 

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Back home...

I'm exhausted. Somehow holidaying with the kids is less like a relaxing holiday and more like some kind of boot camp inclusive of hideously early mornings and random drills throughout the night. Ugh. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but I'm, well, a bit in need of a holiday now. 

Instead I am coming back to hundreds of work emails and various urgent work commitments that I will have to attend to this week. Today, though, I'm taking it easy. I am checking on the really urgent stuff, but we only got back yesterday, and one of the less lovely things that I've brought back from Germany is a nasty bout of summer flu and a hacking cough that keeps me up most nights. It's great stuff, really. So I'm on a sort of sick leave today. 

Which does give me a little bit of time to check in on the blogging world and post an update. 

Despite all the tiredness and exhaustion and illness there were lovely moments this holiday that I won't forget. My dad got married, 15 years after my mum passed away and it was such a lovely and joyous event. The boys threw flowers after the ceremony, which they were both exited and baffled by ("why are we allowed to throw flowers on the floor?!?"), and we even managed to squeeze in a few days of camping with just the 5 of us after the event. For once it didn't rain and we all had a fabulous time.

I even managed to get a bit of sock knitting done!

Still, I'm happy to be home now. Next on the (non-work) agenda is the Garter Yoke Cardi. Did I mention that I finally found a yarn with which I get the correct gauge? It's my trusty Rowanspun DK, this time in a dusky olive colour. 

I so love this yarn and the way it knits up (my Tea Leaves were knit with Rowanspun in burnt orange colour), so I'm more than happy to have another project on the go that allows me to use this yarn.

FO Friday - Pink Socks

These were finished a little while ago, actually, but I'm trying to pace myself with the posting, and thought I'd wait for a FO Friday to share these.

I really really like these socks and have been wearing them quite a bit, off and on (depending on the weather of course). They are knitted in a simple top-down stockinette pattern with a short-row heel, but working with the Lorna's Laces sock yarn was such a pleasure, and patterned yarns always make projects go quicker I think - as you knit you wait for the next colour change and before you know it you've done another inch.

Knitting these has also been hugely fascinating to the clan of boys - each of them, at some point, came and inspected the socks, and when they were done they all tried them on and decided that they'd like a pair too. So there we go - I guess that's my next project(s) all lined up... In fact, I've already started with a pair for boy #3, but I'll share those another time. :)

Sharing with Tami's FO Fridays. 

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!

Yarn Along - Pink Sock update

I've made good headway with the Pink Socks and due to a major organising session of my yarn stash I even a) discovered the second ball of yarn so I will definitely have enough and

b) I think I may have discovered the identity of the yarn - Judging from a label I discovered in one of the baskets that doesn't seem to fit with anything else I think it's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Colour 630, Bittersweet. 

I finished sock number one yesterday. There are some errors - that's what you get from not following a pattern properly - but I felt too lazy to correct it and it won't impact on the wearability of the socks at all. If they were a present for someone else I might have bothered, but I'll wear them anyway and to be honest, the mistakes are barely noticeable at all. 

Concerned about another bout of 'knitters-block', I swiftly cast on for sock #2 and, despite a meeting last night, even managed to knit a little more. At this rate it won't be long before I will be able to wear these! 

Unplanned...

Things don't always work out the way we want them to. I was going to give a progress report today, or rather, yesterday, but with one thing and another I don't really have much to show for. Yes, the pink socks are progressing at a fairly steady rate and I've even managed to turn the heel during a brief post-dinner knitting moment at my lovely friend Amy's house, but a just-turned-the-heel-sock isn't all that photogenic so it doesn't make for a very amazing progress picture. I think I shall wait a day or two until I photograph it again.

Crafting has been slow this week. I've had work, obviously, and various lengthy meetings too, and then there were evening engagements, which always means that valuable crafting time is lost. Then boy #2 went on his first ever residential trip and promptly had to come home again that very evening with mild concussion because he ran into another little boy while chasing around. He's fine, but that whole incident obviously made for a rather exciting and knitting-free evening! At least the poor little lad was able to go back the following evening after a day of observation at home. I felt rather bad for him missing out on all the fun.

I've done some thinking about the blog, though. I'll give it a few weeks of course to see if I can truly get back into the habit of posting regularly, but if so I'll have to think about some changes.

1) the name needs to change - I don't even live in Middle England anymore! So that means at the very least a new banner.

2) I think I could do with a tighter framework for the blog. It at once provides some structure for regular posting and it can help me stretch my crafting and photography habits a bit. I've already started this with #simplethingssunday. I like the idea of capturing and posting something from the week, a moment, an activity, something simple yet memorable. It's a lovely way of celebrating the end of each wonderful week, a way of taking stock and of looking back and reflecting and appreciating.

I think, though, I could do with a few more of these. Perhaps not for every day - it's nice to have a bit of freedom too, and I may also not be able to update quite THAT often! I'm contemplating adding a couple more set days, though. I may do Soulemama's This Moment Friday because it's another way of stretching my photography skills and appreciating those little moments. I'm also part of a few Flickr photography groups, so something from there may well feed into the blog too.

And then of course there are the crafting updates. Perhaps I'll reserve a day for those too. That should bring me up to something like this:

Monday: 

Tuesday: WIP Update Tuesday

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:  This Moment 

Saturday:

Sunday:  Simple Things Sunday