Knitting - Dane Shawl and some knitwear in action

I am certainly getting through some knitting at the moment.  Put it down to the dark winter nights and wet weekends that keep me out of the garden.  That's my excuse anyway.

I finished my Dane Shawl before weekend and have managing to now get it blocked.  I am so happy with the result.  This for me was a challenge.  I normally avoid lace patterns that are charted, preferring written instructions.  When I saw this shawl on Ravelry I knew I would have to get over that and give it a go.  I won't say it was a breeze but once I got going I found the chart easy to follow, just not ideal for TV watching.  The yarn I used was a gift from my friend Joan - Sincere Sheep Silken Fingering - the 500yd skein was enough to do 4 pattern repeats with just a tiny amount left over.  This yarn blocked beautifully, the only problem with it was that I got green fingers whilst knitting, which was odd, as when I soaked it prior to blocking the water was clear!!?

So here is my Dane Shawl

Now onto the knitwear in action.  We had all the grandchildren here this weekend and I was more than happy to see them attired in their warm winter woolies.  The pattern for the boys sweater is this, Jess' this this one and Rachel's is the Ellen Cardigan

Weekend - all change

This weekend wasn't the one I had expected to have.  I was due to attend my postponed (by me) Photography for Knitters workshop but this was cancelled due the tutor being ill.  It will happen at some point.  Anyway I had a bit of a play on my own today, trying to take some arty shots.  Not really sure if I've succeeded!

I also had a sort out of my button jars, I'm going to run out of space on my shelves before long.  There is something very soothing about sorting buttons.

Whilst talking about sorting, I had a mad panic this morning.  I decided to have a tidy up of my computer, deleting photo folders that had been synced to Google to clear some disk space, it was only as I had done about 6 folders that I noticed a check box was ticked for REMOVE ONLINE COPIES TOO.............No No No.  Yes, they had gone and also the link to photos on my blog....... No No No.  Feeling a bit sick I sat for a few minutes then thought, check the Recycle Bin....... saved there they all were, so I restored and then resynced, photos saved.  However, I need to go through the blog and find the posts involved, I've found a few and sorted those.  If you happen to come across a post with photos missing please give me a shout so I can sort them.  So lesson to self, before you delete anything check twice.

Knitting - Ellen Cardigan

Good afternoon all, hope you are managing to keep warm.  I came home today in the sleet, lit the woodburner and settled down with a cup of tea and finished Rachel's Ellen Cardigan.  

I  am really happy with how this turned out, even if there was a bit of swearing on the sleeves.  I HATE dpn's so used my smallest circular which was fine at the top of the sleeve but required a bit of jiggling as I got towards the end. I have ordered a few 12" Hiya Hiya needles in various needle sizes so hopefully this will solve any future problems, good use of my Christmas money.

I still need to buy buttons, hopefully this weekend.  The only amendments to the pattern was to add 2" extra to the length of the body and an extra 1" to the sleeves

Best get moving and go shut the chickens up for the night.  Casting on a Dane Shawl this evening

Knitting - WIP Wednesday

Back to work for me this week, hard to have to get up in the dark again, and missing those cups of tea in bed with my book.

I have been working steadily on my Ellen Cardigan, adding an extra 2" due to my daughter being so long in the body.

As I said in my previous post, I dipped into my charity stash box for yarn to knit with at my knitting groups. I didn't manage as much as I'd hoped yesterday due to getting a migraine. I have finally been to the doctor today and got antibiotics for my reoccurring colds/throat/chest/sinus problems.  Lets hope they finally knock these bugs on the head.

Anyway this is what I managed at Mon/Tuesday's groups - both hats 6-12 month size.

Knitting - January sort out

What to do on a wet and rainy Sunday?  I sat knitting for a while this morning, then decided I really needed to 'do' something.  One of our bedrooms is a guest/craft room and my table was overloaded with "stuff". I've had a good sort out, new buttons into jars, patterns into folders, ribbons sorted and tidy (for a while).

I then sorted out all of the knitted items I seemed to have by me, some that are to go to charity, others as gifts.  I tackled the yarn cupboard next!  I already had a bag of odds and ends but decided that I would go through and sort all the odd balls and designate them to a charity yarn pile.

I then tipped out the bag and sorted all the odds and ends, bits that may just knit a row were also included.  I now have a nice tidy box into which I will add ends as I finish projects.  It amazed me how many shades of red there are in this box and to see what I actually had by way of odd balls.

The plan is only take charity projects to my knitting groups, leaving my main projects at home to work on at my leisure.  A satisfying couple of hours and its still raining

Knitting - 1st WIP of 2016

Good morning/afternoon and welcome to day 2 of 2016.  The trees are down, the house is tidy and I have been having fun with a new project.

This project is for Rachel, she requested a fair isle yoked cardigan and we trawled through Ravelry looking for ideas.  Finally deciding on the Ellen Cardigan by Amy Christoffers

The yarn I am using is Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool for the main, and just oddments of aran weight yarn for the fair isle. I love working top down as it allows you to make adjustments as you go (Rachel is very tall) and also allows for the fun bit right at the start.

There have been a couple of project that I finished in the run up to Christmas but haven't shared on here.

The first was for Rebecca, she wanted a short sleeved but long chunky cardigan, again we went to Ravelry for the source and found this pattern - Best West from Drops  knitted in Drops Andes.  Rebecca decided whilst trying it on along the knitting process that she wanted the neck line to be round rather than a collar and to leave off the pockets (they'd only get filled with tissues and odds and ends from the boys).  This was the end result.  Rachel says the photos don't do it justice but as yet I don't have any of Rebecca wearing it.

There was just enough yarn left over for a matching hat which I made up from a basic hat pattern using the pattern repeat from the cardigan

Next whilst awaiting the navy yarn to arrive I whipped up this little number for Jessica.  Her first jumper/sweater. The pattern is from Sirdar's Secret Garden pattern book and called Design A.  It have a flower design around the bottom but the yarn I used doesn't really allow it to show up. The yarn used was King Cole Twist which is an aran weight.

These photos were taken in bad light so don't really do it justice either

I have lots of plans and projects in mind for the new year.  One being to try and work through some of my stash.  Lots of it has been hanging around for a while and should really be used.  I have several cardigan patterns in mind for myself.  I have yarn for a cot blanket (needed for May).  I'd also like to make another Ten Stitch Blanket, no idea who for or what colourway, but they are such a fun project to do.

So there you have it a new year, a new project and a whole fresh year laid out with no firm plans as yet....... the possibilities are endless