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!