Old FO - my Casual Orange Jumper

I actually finished this jumper a little while ago but then never got round to blogging about it. 

It was one of my stash-busting projects and I pretty much used up every tiny scrap of this yarn to finish it. Originally I'd hoped that this would be a cowl, but cowls take a lot of yarn and I had only three skeins of Jaeger Shetland to work with. 

This is knitted bottom-up and when I got towards the neck I made a quick decision, scrapped the cowl, and went with a simple scooped raglan neckline instead. I had kept a bit of yarn aside for the sleeves and I basically knitted them bit by bit, together, so I could figure out how far the yarn would go. 

I'm actually pretty happy with this project - I've not worn it much yet because I finished it in July and it's been so hot since, but I'm anticipating getting quite a  bit of wear out of it this autumn and possibly even in winter if I layer it with a long-sleeved top. 

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A Year of Projects Update Post

I didn't upload anything last week, but hey, better every other week than never, right?

As usual, I'm finding it a little tricky to stick to a timetable. Will I ever learn? I'm in my mid-40s now so the chances that I'm going to completely change into an ultra-organised person are not so good I feel... But I have got better. I used to be notoriously late for everything, always apologising, always rushing, and my organisational skills have improved over the years. It's mainly down to having to balance kids and work I think...

Enough of that, though. Let's get to the main topic of this post - my Year of Projects update. I've not been terribly productive this past couple of weeks. Obviously I'm in Germany right now (though about to head to the airport), so there is that, but also, I suppose it's part of the whole summer holiday thing - the days stretch out and by now we are all thoroughly used to not doing very much at all (not D, though, he's back at work, poor thing). We get up late, have breakfast even later, tinker around the place, play a bit, perhaps see some friends, loll around on the sofa, and the boys have alternated between quite a bit of gaming but also quite a bit of biking. As I mentioned a few days ago, D has built a mini bike track in the back garden and boy #3 in particular has been going round and round on his little mountain bike.

I did get a few rows in on my mohair cowl, so I'm up to the armhole decreases now, and it's the only project I've brought with me to Germany so it's received at least a bit of attention. The yarn knits up pretty well, and considering how much this project has been carted around it also seems to wear fairly well.

Other than that, I've been thinking about projects rather than actually working on projects. I still have all this stash yarn, you see, and I think I've finally found a few projects that might work. Look at this, the Mohair Cowl Pullover. I think it will do really well for this yarn:

And this, the Grocery and Produce String Bag - I'd love to make a few, which will deplete my cotton stash a bit.

The Sunday Chunky Jumper might be just the ticket for the remainder of this rather scratchy bulky yarn that I still have lying around.

But then I also really fancy this Curvy Crochet Cowl? And I've never crocheted a jumper, so that makes it quite tempting too! Perhaps I have enough of this yarn left for it:

And what do you think of either the Frosting Pullover or Maria for this Fleece Artist single-spun mohair yarn?

I'm also contemplating another crochet blanket - perhaps another wavy one  - because of this:

I think there are just enough left-overs for a blanket - though I'm just as likely to run out at the crucial moment so I have to emergency-buy more yarn that I then have to use up in turn...

And there you go, I think you can see my problem. There are just too many potential projects! I'm obviously sticking with the blue Mohair Cowl that I'm working on right now because I want to see it finished in time to actually wear it in the autumn, but I think  I could perhaps add one more WIP to my current list - which one is it to be?!

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Hello there?

Anybody here?!

Likely not, especially with this amazing weather still going on. Honestly, what's happening to the UK?! The last time I remember a summer that was even close to what we are experiencing right now was more than a decade ago when I was pregnant with boy #1. Pretty much every summer since has been... kind of soggy?

Anyway, much as  I seem to be unable to find a blanket thin enough to sleep with at night, I am enjoying this weather immensely.

And... I even have some FOs to report back on.

I've actually knitted and crocheted lots in recent months, but I always seem to forget to take pictures and blog. So what I'll do is do a few posts for individual projects until I feel that I'm more or less up to date.

First one up, my market bags.

I made two of those, in different sizes. This one is the larger one  - oddly it looks smaller here than the small bag, but that's because I had to sew the handle over to shorten it because it was so deep that if I had a lot of things in it it hung down to my knees. 

I've actually really loved making these. I have so many odds and ends of yarn, either leftovers from other projects, or skeins of handspun that I had no idea what to do with... When I saw this project I initially wanted to buy the 'Homespun' that the pattern called for, but then restrained myself because I'm trying to save money AND I'm still trying to reduce my unruly yarn stash. As I was wondering what to do I realised that if I pulled together 2 or 3 strands of yarn and alternated them gradually (so just changing one strand at a time) I could get a really nice effect going where different colours would gently blend and mix.

I used an insane amount of yarn, and because I could alternate between two and three strands, depending on the thickness of individual strands, I've been able to use lots of different yarns, from sock yarns to thicker handspuns. I'm so pleased, both with the reduction in stash and with the way these bags have turned out. They are sturdy, and striking and I love them!

Initially I made the larger one, and by larger I mean it's HUGE. Boy #3 fits in it. That size can be useful, but on an ordinary day it's a little too large - I'm constantly fishing around in it and can't find my phone or wallet. So I made the smaller one (picture below) by simply reducing the increases by a few rows. So simple! I took that one out for the first time today and it's pretty much perfect for what I need. Small enough that things don't just get lost, and  I still managed to fit lots of stuff in. These bags are like the Tardis, honest.

Who knows, I may make a smaller one still, as a sort of handbag?

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Catching up...

Doesn't this look amazing?

I actually have no reason for posting this, but it made me happy this weekend. The first locally grown strawberries are always a highlight of early summer for me, and these were absolutely delicious. 

Despite this rather misleading start this post is actually not about strawberries but about catching up on all those neglected FOs that I never posted about. It's time I update my Ravelry list, so without further ado I present:

The Boneyard Shawl

The Boneyard Shawl was started almost well over a year ago (heck, make that nearly 2 years ago) when I purchased some gorgeously soft Seidenstrasse yarn at a little wool shop on Borkum in the north of Germany. I cast on for this shawl there and then, and despite slow progress I finished it in September 2016. It's an easy and effective pattern but I still found working it a little boring. Apparently I'm not much of a shawl knitter... 

I do like the finished product, though, and actually wear it fairly regularly, so I'm glad I persevered. 

~*~

The second FO is the Bias Knit Sari Silk Scarf

This was a stash-busting project. Do you remember when Sari Silk yarn was all the rage? All those years ago? Yeah, that's when I bought this skein from a little online yarn shop called Hip Knits. I think it closed down years ago but they used to have lovely hand-dyed silk yarns and I used them quite a bit at the time. 

Anyway, since I had this skein of Sari Silk languishing at the bottom of one of my yarn boxes I thought this pattern would make a good stash buster because you basically knit until you run out of yarn and presto, you have a scarf!

This was super quick - I started on 17th Dec and finished on 21st Dec 2015 in the midst of my flurry of xmas knitting at the time, but then I never actually posted about it. 

So there you go, two neglected FOs, finally documented! :) 

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