12.31.08
Looking Forward
I could do a 2008 summing up post, as it is the 31st of December, but its not really my thing. I am currently working on a second page for the blog which will sum up a lot of what I have shared with you this year but that will have to wait another couple of weeks.
So, on to 2009.
I have many projects up my sleeve, or should I say in my stash, for 2009. Summer is just really getting started for us here in New Zealand but if I started a summer garment now I would never finish it before the chill of late March. Plus, I have recently assessed my clothing and came to the conclusion that I am not in need of any more knitted garments, therefore winter accessories will feature frequently on my WIPs page at Raverly this coming year. There are a few pluses to the accessories thing:
- Stash busting. The stash is fast becoming unruly and starting to encroach upon Lossy more then he knows.
- Speed. Most of what I will be knitting will be pretty fast off the needles which leads to point 3.
- Lots of finished FOs (finished objects).
- And maybe even lots of gifts for next christmas all sorted nice and early.
I of course have the Winter Twilight Mitts all lined up and sitting in my knitting box. These will be my first project I cast on in 2009 after I finish the Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf, which I will quickly add, I grafted the two haves together today with the help of Mum. The second project I’m pretty sure I will be casting on is the Kusha Kusha Scarf made with a blend of fiber I find very interesting silk & stainless steel. I was super excited when I found I could by the Habu Textieles yarns here in Auckland from South Seas Knitting, now i just have to give Mel a call in the new year and see if I can arrange a time to visit to pick out what colours to use. Coincidentally on linking to slipslipknit I see that today she has just posted that this is her most popular yarn.
I wish you a happy and safe new year celebration and will see you in the new year, I’m off to bed.
12.29.08
Flax Flowers
A week or so back in some high wind one of the flax flowers kind of fell over which has aloud me a never before seen view of the flowers. The colours on these little beauties are amazing, especially set against the green of the garden.
12.27.08
Handmade Holiday
Christmas is over for another year and I am glad. I hadn’t really been able to post may of my recent projects as they were for gifts and I didn’t know if any of the recipients might stumble upon one of my posts. I am proud to say that apart from Lossy & TP every gifts i gave this year was handmade. I love handmade gifts as the person has put a lot of what is most valuable into it, time. So here is a round up of what I have been doing over the past month.
Bookmark for MIL
Pattern: Flourish Bookmark by Nina Casey
Yarn: DMC Coton Perlé 5, Skein
Needles: US 0 / 2.00mm
Just a small handmade to go with a DVD Lossy picked out for her. She reads heaps and is a book crime repeat offender so this will go to good use.
Hat for BIL
Pattern: Rib-A-Roni by Jane Tanner
Yarn: Naturally Hand Knit Merino & Fur
Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm
BIL is a Linesmen who has recently moved from Northland to Rotorua, so I was thinking come winter he is going to really appreciate a warm hat up a cold power pole.
Cup Cozy for TP
Pattern: Cabled Coffee and Hand Warmer by Ali S
Yarn: Mystery Warehouse Cotton
Needles: US 5 / 3.75 mm
This looked like a really good idea but in reality once it was put on the travel mug intended for it made it very hard to hold as it was too slippy. Not what you want for a 7 year old in a car.
Bookmark for Mum
Pattern: Kunststricklesezeichen Lace Bookmark by Utlinde
Yarn: DMC Coton Perlé 5, Skein
Needles: US 0 / 2.00mm
This was just a little extra thing for mum, don’t know if she will use it but I enjoyed making it.
Calorimetry for SIL
Pattern: Calorimetry by Kathryn Schoendorf
Yarn: Yarn Bee Seasoned Spice #075
Needles: US 10½ / 6.5 mm
SIL loved this and it really did match her outfit on the day.
Booties for Sister
Pattern: Grown-up booties by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Naturally Hand Knit Merino & Fur
Needles:US 6 / 4.0 mm
I didn’t finish the second one of these until today, but I did give her one on xmas day to check for size, just like Cinderella.
12.19.08
Sugar Snap So Sweet
See the large pea at the bottom its not on the plant any more, TP was so excited she wanted to try one of our sugar snap peas, she didn’t like it but I really enjoyed it. It was so sweet and crunchy, everything a peas should be. I can’t wait for more to be ready.
12.18.08
Tui song
One of the things I love about summer here in New Zealand are the Tui, we are lucky enough even though we live in an urban area that they visit us pretty much everyday. I have tried and tried to get a good photo of them, but they always sit at the top of our trees, as a result I get lots of photos of the rear ends. But a photo no matter how good, could never sing you their song of the tui. It is a true sound of summer for me.
12.15.08
Christmas Knitting
Chirstmas is fast approaching and I have been concentrating on doing some little knit gifts, as a result I don’t have much I can share at the moment. One thing however I can is this cute little christmas sock I made for TP’s friend.
The scarf is on the back burner while I do presents and think about whether I am going to frog it and start again. I though maybe I could pull undone the pocket bit which is shorter and redo that so it is correct. Time will tell after I have finished the others.Also TP’s jumper that I was designing, I just don’t know what to do with it. The neck just does not work and the sleeves look too big, I think I should just give up with the dream of ever knitting anything like this without a pattern as I just can’t get it right. Another thing that will sit unfinished for the time being.
12.10.08
Moments of Clarity
Why do moments of clarity come only after you have knitted 112 rows?
I had a problem with the beginning of the hooded scarf after finishing the pocket and knitting off the holder to complete the scarf portion. The pattern reads “with WS facing P41 from holder” now I tried this again and again and couldn’t understand how this would work as once folded the pocket would be on the wrong side. After much frustration I concluded that although I could not find any errata for the pattern there must be an error and it should read “with RS facing..” So off I went purling my 47 stitches off the holder with the RS facing.
It is only tonight after competing 112 row, or two complete hanks of yarn, that I find if I had just continued reading the next few lines of the pattern that I would have found how it works. Just four rows down it has an adjustment to the rows which means that you knit two WS rows, therefore from that point on the WS becomes the RS just in time for the pocket to finish covering it. Why I even went back now and found this I don’t know nor do I know how to fix this error without pulling the whole lot undone.
What have I learnt form this?
Always read the pattern all the way through carefully before casting on and when you can’t work something out at 10:30 pm it is time to put it down and go to bed. Start fresh a new day.
12.06.08
Interweave In the Box
Having seen the privew of the winter Inerweave knits I think all of us over on the Interweave Knits group at Ravelry were hanging out to get our hands on copies. Well mine finaly was in the PO Box on Thursday and as soon as I got home I pulled out the Naturally Yarns Harmony, that mum kindly gave me, and got started on the Pfeiffer Falls Hooded Scarf.
When I first saw the pattern I thought that I wouldn’t do the pockets on the ends, but having read the litte decription in the magazine I changed my mind. It said something about how the pockets help the drape and it to stay in place, and when you think about it of course they will as it adds weight to the end of the scarfs so hopefully while walking along my windy street come winter the ends of it won’t get blown about over my shoulder. I did make a small adjustment to them though, I have only done 2 repeats of the cable pattern as I didn’t want them quite as deep as they have them, I must just remember to add an extra repeat to the scarf bit to make up the length.
I have also already learnt two new things while knitting this and I’ve only just finished the first pocket bit. I wouldn’t have thought I had anything to learn on this project when I first saw the photos on the web and that is what I love about knitting, there is always something new to learn. In this case I have learnt how to do a one row button hole, which will be very handy in the furture and the second is the way the pattern tells you to construct the bottom of the pockets, it doesn’t just fold over but after casting on every other stictch is transfered to a holder to knit after you have finished the pocket. What a great idea I wonder what that is called and if it could be used for the toe of a sock?
12.03.08
Inspired by Moonrover
For months now I have been admiring Moonrover’s Leaf Lace- Linen Cuff. It puzzled me for weeks until one afternoon I just got it, I worked how to do it. I used DMC Coton Perlé 5 in colours 950 & 543, these were a great price of $1.50 each which makes for a very reasonable priced little project.
