Oh! You Pretty Thing!

The weather was very kind to me today. Everything turned out to be super-photogenic. Who needs an expensive DSLR camera when you have neigh-perfect light and location? Okay, so the frilly bit is a tiny bit out of focus.. But I digress.

This is my third finished object of 2009. It's a triangular shawl with an interesting lacy frill. It's very pretty, quite girly and thus not meant for me.

However, I have pattern notes and plan to knit another one, and then possibly I'll make the pattern available as a free download (Other Half seems to think I should). It's a relatively easy knit and I'm thinking its play with textures and volume also make it slightly more on-trend than many triangular lace shawls. Hmm.. something to ponder.

The rest of today will be spent sorting my stash and my knitting bags. I plan on making Forecast (I really like this version, just like the rest of the world, and this one) because a) if we are going to Southern Poland in March, I'll need a warm cardigan and b) I'm going use a pattern this time (she says looking at the Ever-Expanding Grey Pullover). I have some very pretty forest green wool in my stash which is begging to made into a warm cardigan. But first I'm going to be a good girl and get all organise-y on the tonnes of stray balls in the living room.

St. Teresa

See the colour of my skin? I was standing on top of a windy hill in Scotland in January wearing just a long-sleeved tee, jeans and my finally-finished grey jumper. Don't tell me that I don't suffer for my blog. I finished the jumper on Tuesday. Wednesday I wore it outside and found out my neck itched like crazy (and the collar looked silly). Friday I took the scissors to the neckline, got a little over-enthusiastic and had to fool around with lifelines and cutting out a fair chunk of the yoke. This morning I knitted the neckline and decided to nick the idea of a tied bow from St. James. I just had had enough of my own ideas at that stage.

So, we went out for a walk, shot some deeply unflattering photos and then walked past this amazing church which promptly lent its name to the project.

Note to self: get better photos (and shoot them INDOORS). And don't ever knit with grey wool during the dark, rainy winter months.

A Knitting Confession

Hand on heart: I am so tired of knitting my grey jumper. My problem is two-fold. Firstly, I need a colour injection in this dreich weather. Secondly, I made half a cardigan using the same wool before realising I wasn't happy with the outcome and that I'd rather do something else. It now feels like I've been knitting my jumper for months. And, full disclosure here, I have knitted bust-shaping short rows for the first time and while one side looks fine, the other side looks slightly wonky. I have one-and-a-half sleeves and the neckline to go. Oh, botheration.

I still have my colourful triangular shawl that I can work on, but I'm doing the edging in Kidsilk Haze.

What to do when both your projects are driving you slightly batty and you also prefer to finish something before starting something else?

When In Doubt, Knit.

It snowed this afternoon and we are said to get heavy snowfall tomorrow. I have been curled up inside finishing my first project in 2009 and also doing a stash-busting exercise with plenty of colours. Colours warm my soul - especially with snow outside. The first finished project in 2009 is this little cardigan which I've dubbed Presto Chango Monsta (literally "Quick Change Monster"). I have a nephew due in March and I thought he might like to snuggle up in a soft little top.

The Presto Chango pattern was an utter delight whilst my chosen yarn, Washed Haze, was splitty and showed up every tiny flaw (plus I'll never be a fan of cotton or cotton-blends). I chose to embroider a little monster rather than knit a lacy front.

The end result is rather nice even if my freehand embroidery is wonky.

I suspect that Presto Chango will become my go-to pattern for baby gifts. It's very easy to customise and is a joy to knit. I just need to find a less irritating yarn (still washable and still soft).

My stash-busting project is this shawl. I began it whilst watching In Bruges and it has grown enormously since then. It's a bog-standard triangular shawl (I have posted brief pattern notes on the Ravelry project page) knitted in Wendy Fusion with an edging done in Rowan Kidsilk Haze. It makes me smile, it's easy TV knitting and it uses up all those stray balls of wool I have lying about.

A non-knitting observation, finally.

I do not have many kind words to say about Facebook and privacy settings. However, I just found out that you can actually block specific people from finding you on Facebook (let alone try to friend you or view photos posted of you). I have now blocked my old stalker* from viewing anything related to me which gives me a nice, fuzzy feeling. Thank you, Facebook. It's a nice feature.

(* stalker in the "oh god, now the police is involved, I have to hand over evidence and I cannot sleep in my own home" sense, alas.)

PS. Our Christmas tree has been recycled and its removal from our home now means I have free access to my yarn stash again, oh happy days.

Knitterly Yours

Pattern: Woodland by Nikol Lohr. It's a fabulous pattern. One day I shall knit one for myself. I made it scarf-sized rather shawl-sized. Wool: 100purewool merino laceweight in "Choir". I used approx 65 g.

Needles: 3.25mm. I think I could have gone up to 3.5mm and it would have been amazingly airy, but I liked the 'airy, but substantial' fabric the 3.25mm needles made. Similarly, I think you could have taken it all the way down to 2.50mm as well.

This was my mother's Christmas present. I worked on it from May 2008 until September 2008. Then she sent me a wishlist saying that she'd like a scarf (yes!) but NOT in any shade of brown (cue panic!!). Although many kind souls offered to take the scarf off me, so I could buy my mother something, I decided to chance it. Fortunately, she loves it and I can stop panicking (for about another six months).

During Christmas I actually finished a beret, but I have been unable to snap any great photos of it (I blame my cold). I wanted a portable holiday project which would be fun to knit, easy to do in a house filled with relatives and something I'd use.

I chose a free beret pattern from the ever-reliable Garnstudio and it turned out to be the perfect holiday project. The lace pattern was interesting enough to keep me hanging in there but easy enough so my three-year-old nephew could bounce around without me losing track. Instead of using the suggested wool, I opted for Sandnes Tove in a lovely olive green shade. I used about 1.3 balls in total (which leaves enough for a pair of mitts).  I finished the beret in three days or so with nary a modification. Unfortunately the bouncy nephew and the Christmas excitement meant my gauge was way, way off, so the beret turned out to be huge. So I threw it in the washing machine at 40 degrees. It's now perfect. Perfect, I tell you.

What's on my needles now? A top-down jumper in a wool/alpaca blend. It's my own design and I'm now at that scary point where i have to work in darts. I'm also getting ready to cast on for a shawl, but all my laceweight is hiding in the storage room behind our Christmas tree. So I cannot access it, oh the trauma.

And so the knitting begins..

Happiness Is A Warm Neck

One finished object to show off! I'm very, very happy with this one, actually. Finally getting my clammy hands all over a hank of Noro Cashmere Island, I managed to whip up this cowl in two evenings. I used a simple feather and fan stitch, found some perfect vintage buttons in my stash and .. it was done!

It feels divine, it's wonderfully warm and it matches my green coat (as much as the multi-coloured Noro yarn ever matches anything). Woo!

Next up: a pair of mittens.

PS. People have asked which secondhand shops I peruse here in Glasgow. "Relics" down Ruthven Lane is the Daddy-O off all secondhand shops anywhere (I scored two vintage silk scarves there yesterday, for example, but they rarely do clothing). I also like the shops along Dumbarton Road - the further out you get, the better stuff you find. As with all secondhand shops, you need to visit regularly to find good stuff.