Bad Girl

For a girl on the wagon I've acquired a few skeins of yarn this year.

Misti Alpaca - Northern Lights

Kozmos - Mallard

Juno Pearl - Canopy

Wollmeise Twin - Sabrina

Wollmeise 100% - Sanguinella

Cascade 220 - Framboise

Cascade 220 - Azure

Cascade 220 - Burnt Orange

Cascade 220 - Hunter Green

Cascade 220 - Chocolate

The Cascade is for hats as requested by my god daughters (one pink with flowers and one striped), but I have no firm plans for the rest. The Wollmeise will most likely become socks. I was thinking Baby Surprise Jacket for the Misti Alpaca and some kind of shawlette or scarf with the Kozmos and Juno Pearl but who knows?

Slow Going

Well 11 in 11 has gone from ticking along nicely to very slow going. Some progress is being made but not nearly enough if I'm going to manage to reach the finishing line.

Baby Surprise Jacket #1

Tiny Tea Leaves #2

Poppy #3

February Baby Sweater #4

Baby Yours #5

Kusha Kusha #6

Alhambra #7

Pomatomus #8

Baby Surprise Jacket, Tiny Tea Leaves, Poppy and February Baby Sweater are all finished.

Baby Yours has been knit and block and just waits to be seamed.

Kusha Kusha has been finished and blocked, I'm just waiting for it to dry so that I can weave ends and declare it completed.

Alhambra has passed the half way mark but remains stalled as I have to concentrate while knitting it. A concerted effort on this would see it done in a week.

I have been knitting Pomatomus on the tube and have reached the foot on sock one. I have 2 more weeks of tube travel before Christmas and hope to get sock one finished and a good portion of the second leg done.

Baby Mine is the last of the started projects and at the moment is one almost complete sleeve. This will be going with me to Spain and a couple of airport waits, flights and nights away on my own will (fingers crossed) see the back of this project broken.

And that just leaves projects 10 and 11. I had planned these to be Anemoi (a pair of stranded colourwork mittens) and Girasol (a circular lace shawl). While finishing the cast on projects this year is a possibility I'm pretty sure I'd need a thirteenth month to add completed Anemoi and Girasol to them. While my rules would allow substitution of a simpler pattern it feels a bit like cheating as I'd always planned to include Girasol in the years knitting. The most important knits will be finished - baby garments for imminent arrivals - and if they others don't quite make it ...

New Tricks

Yesterday I went to London to take a knitting class. My first ever knitting class. Fair Isle the continental way with Juju Vale at Loop in Islington.

I had a great time. The group was nice and small and each student was able to move at their own pace with Juju working her way around encouraging people forward as they were ready. The classroom is in the basement of the shop and quiet despite the bustle of the store above.

When we arrived the table was set with a circular needle at each place and inviting groups of Spindrift yarn.   We started off working with one colour and learnt the long tail cast on before joining into a round and learning to magic loop. Once we were familiar with magic loop we moved on to knitting continental style. And here I stayed for a while as I just could not get my fingers to cooperate! Finally I was able to introduce a second colour and start to follow a chart.

 We were then shown how to catch long floats, purl continental and knit corrugated rib. I started to try these but with my new slower continental style ran out of time! I have a stranded colourwork project lined up for 11 in 11 and hope that by the time I have completed that I shall be a dab hand at continental knitting as I can see how useful it will be to have in my arsenal of skills. I don't think I shall be swapping my DPN's for magic loop any time soon though.

Ten Tiny Toes

Pattern: Baby hat, socks and mitts by Sue Morgan
Yarn: Sundara sock yarn in Pine Over Gold
Needles: 2.5mm bamboo DPN
Cast on: July 2011
Cast off: August 2011

I cast these on as I finished February Baby Sweater to use up the small amount of left over yarn. They are from a pattern purchased at Get Knitted a number of years ago and are by the same designer as my go to adult socks. I doubled the length of cuff that the pattern calls for and knit it all in my standard K2 P1 rib to give an extra anchor against a sock resistant baby.

These are a really satisfying knit. They are quick, use a tiny amount of yarn and with their tiny heels and toes are super cute!

Ticking Along Nicely

With the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally fast approaching I've finally cast on some yarn I purchased there three years ago!

These are both 11 in 11 projects as the patterns have been queued for longer than I've had the yarn. And with these 2 projects well under way that puts me in a better position for hitting my target than I'd previously thought. I thought I had 6 more projects to cast on for but it turns out I only need 4 more. 7 + 4 = 11 right? right? someone please tell me I'm right!

February Baby Sweater

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (February) by Elizabeth Zimmerman from Knitter's Almanac
Yarn: Sundara Sock Yarn in Pine Over Gold
Needles: 3.75mm circular
Cast on: June 2011
Cast off: September 2011

This has been on my want to knit list for quite a while. This version by Brooklyn Tweed sent me off to Amazon to buy Knitter's Almanac just so that I could knit one too. I then kind of freaked out that as a fairly novice knitter I couldn't follow the pattern. Fast forward a few years and this was a no brainer inclusion on the 11 in 11 list.

I used a stashed yarn, Sundara Yarns sock yarn in Pine over Gold (coincidentally a similar yarn and colour to BT's version). The yarn was a little crunchy and rough whilst I was working with it, which was unexpected as previous colourways that I'd used were lovely and soft. Once the cardigan was finished I blocked it using Eucalan and it softened up nicely.

I took this project on holiday with me, knitting happily away on the plane to and from Guernsey, neither security nor stewards batting an eye. The pattern is well written and I found it easy to follow. However, in my usually fashion I managed to sabotage myself. In this case when I switched from the garter stitch yolk to the gull stitch body I was so busy concentrating on the lace pattern that I kept forgetting to knit the first and last few stitches to form a garter stitch button band. I also forgot to start adding button holes, which is why this version only has two, slightly randomly placed, buttonholes. I've made a big note on the pattern so that next time I will remember to add button holes!

All in all I'm pretty pleased with how this project worked out. I like the strong colour combined with the openness of the lace and after it's bath the yarn has a softness that will be perfect next to a baby's cheek.

Blocking

I finally got around to blocking the next two 11 in 11 projects today. With any luck (and by luck I mean if I don't distract myself) they should be completed with buttons and all this weekend.

Pink Poppy

Pattern: Poppy by Justine Turner
Needles: 4.5mm bamboo, 3.25mm circular
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in 300021
Cast on: 26 August 2011
Cast off: 28 August 2011

This was a nice quick knit. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. The yarn is cashmerino aran which I've used lots and is always nice to knit with. If I made this again I would look at the slipped stitches. The pattern says not to knit them but I don't like how noticeable they are on the finished hat. With a more tweedy or variegated yarn they may have been less obvious so that could be worth a try.

This is the third finished 11 in 11 project. There are a couple more than are knit but need seaming or blocking. Having said that I will need to get a bit of a wriggle on to hit my December deadline, especially as Jared Flood's Girasole is on the list! I'm glad I've got a lot of baby projects in the 11 as several friends have bumps. I should be able to hand out appropriately coloured hand knits once the babies arrive.

Fasnet

It's that time of year again when my brother heads off in a small boat to sail a long way. This year he is on Sailing Logic's Addiction Logic for the RORC Fastnet, a 608 mile race from Cowes, around Fastnet rock and into Plymouth. We spent yesterday on the green at Cowes watching the organised chaos of the race start. Conditions were just right that his class were close into shore as they crossed the start and we were able to see the opening jockeying for position, and finally spot Addiction. Current estimations put their arrival into Plymouth as late Thursday afternoon. I hope they all have a great sail, we'll be watching their progress here.

Hazy Lazy Days

Following hot on the heels of the camping trip I headed off to Guernsey. This time for a week with the family and my cousin's wedding. We were held on the runway on the way out due to heavy rain and lightning, but once we were there the weather was glorious - resulting in a lot of pink noses.



Both the bride and groom's families took apartments at The Del Mar Court which I can highly recommend. The accommodation was well equipped and nice and clean as were the grounds and heated pool. The staff were friendly and couldn't do enough to help, sorting out any problems or queries promptly.



As this was a week of celebration there was a lot of eating and drinking but we managed to fit in a few touristy things too. A trip to Herm, a bus ride around the island and and afternoon watching sand racing at Vazon Beach before coffee and a sneaky ice cream at Crabby Jack's.

Happy Campers

I recently returned from a couple of days camping with my friend and god-daughters. As I'm the only person who had camped before I booked a pitch on a small site 5 miles from their house. That way if the two girls (both under five) weren't enjoying themselves or the British weather did it's usual and wouldn't stop raining we could pack up and head home.

The site was fantastic. A small family run site with a mix of static caravans, tourers and tents spread over 3 fields. There was a small shop with a good selection of produce including local cakes and free range eggs.



We were the only tent pitched in our field and the girls enjoyed running around without any obstacles to avoid. Free range chickens, ducks and geese have run of the camp and on more than one occasion an inquisitive chicken had to be shoo'd away from supper preparation.



We had a trip to visit Mary Arden's house and farm which was in the next village. There was a great little cafe which provided a change my camping stove cooking. The girls enjoyed seeing all of the animals and had a good play in the playground.



The girls enjoyed themselves so much that I need to look for another local campsite we can head off to when the break up at they end of the month.