Knitting round up 2016

I anticipated not getting much knitting done in 2016, thanks to having LO towards the end of 2015. But I was delighted to find this wasn't the case! LO turned out to be a champion sleeper, which meant we got our evenings back relatively early on, and soon eased back into our previous routine of finishing the evening with an hour's TV and knitting on the sofa. So, I've enjoyed some really good TV this year (The Missing, Homeland (OK, that was the previous year but we recorded it as didn't want to watch it accompanied by a howling newborn), Deutschland 83 were particular highlights, but we also got through the whole of the first series of Outlander and part way into the second series.

What I did struggle to find time for was actually planning knitting projects. I was on maternity leave for all but three days(!) of 2016, but there wasn't much time for getting out different yarns, swatching, carefully browsing Ravelry and selecting a pattern. Which means there has been a LOT of sock knitting in the last year, as it was easier just to go into the sock yarn box, grab a ball and get on with a straightforward pattern.

I already blogged earlier in the year about earlier knitting projects, so this post is to bring us up to date.

I made a Pocket Ted for my God-daughter's birthday. It was very fiddly to knit, but she seemed to like him, so it was worth it. The pattern is a good one, it's fiddly because it's so teeny tiny. The tin formerly contained travel mints.

Gemini was my big garment project of the year, knitted in Mirasol Yarns Lachiwa, which I'd bought on sale a few years ago, so this was a stash project too. The yarn is a lovely linen/cotton mixture and good to knit with. I only got this blocked over Christmas though, so won't be able to wear it until the weather is a little warmer.

One of my more recent projects was a Sensory Caterpillar for my Godson, who has special needs. This was a fun pattern to knit, and I used Stylecraft Classique DK 100% cotton as it's available in bright colours and is sold in the local haberdashery. There is a rattle in one end, and a squeaker in the other, but I couldn't get the squeaker to squeak at all!

Oops, photos out of order, but it's already taken long enough to do this blog post so I'm not going to start rearranging now. This is Gemini blocking.

And, finally, some fun things I've received! This was my return-to-work present from Mostly Knitting. Cool or what?! (well, actually nice and warm as it was rather chilly on my return to work).

A yarny Christmas present - a skein of Countess Ablaze Lady Persephone sock yarn. The photo doesn't really do justice to the depth of colour in this yarn.

And my current project! I wanted something different for self-striping sock yarn, so found the Tootsie Rolls pattern. Simple and fun to knit, and works really well with those stripes after a bit of trial and error. The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4ply yarn in the Holly Berry colourway, which seemed appropriate for the time of year.

I have become slightly addicted to WYS yarn this year, which is probably why I haven't managed to knit up more than I've acquired. Although I would have done if I hadn't been given the Countess Ablaze yarn for Christmas. See, unexpected present, I hadn't planned for that... Apart from the sock yarn, the only purchases have been for presents, and I've only used part balls from the cotton which explains why the stash has grown more than I anticipated.

My stash totals for this year are:
Yarn in: 2573 metres
Yarn out: 2159 metres
So I acquired 413 metres more than I used (but the Countess Ablaze is 424 metres, so there!).

I'm anticipating a lot more knitting from stash in 2017, as how much does childcare cost?!?!?!?! So, I'll be aiming to do the majority of my knitting from stash next year, with purchases limited to presents and things I need in addition to stash for particular projects (for example, I want to knit a jumper for LO to use up some DK I have in my stash, but I only have two balls left so will need to buy a little more to have enough). I'm also going to be interested to see how much knitting time I get now that I'm back at work as the evenings are all a bit of a gallop now of work, commute, hurtle to nursery, hurtle home.

What are your knitting plans for 2017?
 

Several knitting projects

I was going to go on a yarn diet as I'll be on maternity leave for almost all of this year, but present yarn is excluded. I took LO into London

 to meet up with some friends, and managed to make my way to Iknit as well, where I found they stocked West Yorkshire Spinners sock yarn (something I've been greedily eyeing up online). Two balls found their way home with me (Bullfinch and Cayenne pepper) initially intended as a present, but then the recipient let it be known that they had a present in mind, so I bought them that instead and kept these for myself! I am now using the Cayenne pepper to knit a Thousands cardigan, using some leftover sock yarn as the contrast colour.

I then had the bright idea of knitting a Thousands cardigan for LO, and some knitting group friends were doing a bulk order to save on postage, so I ordered two more balls of Signature sock yarn in Poppy seed.

I've got a couple of finished project to finish off. This is a hoodie for my Godson's birthday, when he'll be two. The pattern is Playdate Hoodie, a free Lion Brand pattern, and I used some John Lewis Heritage Aran from my stash. It's a nice pattern, with not too much sewing up to do.

I've also finished a pair of socks. These are another pair of Garter rib socks, for me, using Baby og Hosegarn sock yarn from my stash.

Up until now I've had one project on the go at a time, as I didn't think I'd have time to do much knitting with a baby around. But I've had a few incidences of her falling asleep in the car, and me having to sit in a car park, outside the house and wait for her to wake up (we haven't got a travel system, so I remove her from the car seat to take her out), when it would be really  handy to have a small knitting project with me. So I think I'm going to have a home project and a project to take around with me from now on. Haven't decided what this project will be though, but probably another pair of socks.

Like last year, I'm keeping track of yarn acquired and used this year. So far:
Yarn used: 1455.1 metres
Yarn acquired: 1600 metres

so I have a bit of work to do to make the first figure bigger than the second!

Honey, I shrunk the kid's knitting

Remember that tank top I knitted for the baby last year? Well, she's worn it a few times, but then I put it in the washing machine on the wrong cycle and look what happened! It's now rather small and felted. I initially felt quite sad as it still had plenty of growing room for her left in it, plus it was the first thing I knitted for her when I was pregnant (I actually ordered the yarn in the first trimester but didn't dare start knitting until after that)

It turned out to be just the right size for her bear though, so now he's wearing it. Actually, this probably means it's achieved more longevity than would otherwise have been the case, as I'm not sure what I'd have done with it once she grew out of it?

My knitting productivity has increased recently as LO now goes to sleep earlier in the evening in her Moses basket, instead of on me in front of the TV. I finished the second one of this pair of socks. I cast on for the second one when I went into hospital to have her, and knitted about a third of the leg during labour and our subsequent few days in hospital. The rest followed more slowly as the only knitting I got done for a while was at knitting group whilst other people held LO! The pattern is Samwise Gamgee, knitted on 2.25mm needles using Katia Olé Socks Comfort yarn, which initially seemed a bit splitty until I got used to knitting with it. I used almost entirely two balls of the yarn as I made the legs quite long.

I've cast on another pair of socks. This time another pair of garter rib socks from Sensational Knitted Socks, as I wanted an interesting but basic pattern to keep me going for a while. The yarn is from stash and is Baby og Hosegarn by Løve Garn, a Danish brand I received in a swop. It's nice to knit with and I like the stripes, as I don't have the brain power to knit a complicated pattern at the moment.

So, how do you get on with crafting with a small person around? And how has that changed as your small person/people have grown up?

Knitting and sewing

As we've had to move stuff around to make space for the baby (more like it's stuff!) I now have a new sewing zone set up. The table isn't huge, but the light is much better than the room it was in, as there are windows to both the left and right of this table.

I've been working on getting this cot quilt finished, and the improved lighting certainly made a difference to the sewing, even at this dark and dull time of year. I'm not intending to use it as a cot quilt (I thought a play mat would be better), although it was originally meant to be for a cot, several decades ago, when it was started and intended for me to use. It never got finished, so I've been finishing it off now. The light today has been terrible for photos! This is it finished, and I put it through the washing machine on the delicate cycle, with some trepidation as I wasn't sure whether the fabric would shrink... It seems to be fine though, and I just need to give it an iron. It's a rather sweet Sanderson printed cotton showing a teddy bears' picnic.

The DK bedsocks are coming along quite fast, although this is proving the most annoying pattern ever to make. I think I prefer knitting socks in the round than flat and having to seam them.

I've also looked out other projects on the go, and realised I'd managed to knit about 2/3 of the second of the Samwise Gamgee socks in a smaller size than the first one... Oops. So had to frog that one. Have no idea what I was doing there, as the pattern is written for one size, so I obviously took it into my head to cast on fewer stitches!

I also managed to find a picture of the finished dress I made for my little niece in the summer. I thought I'd forgotten to take a picture of it, then discovered this in a random folder on my computer!

Sitting around with my feet up

I thought once I finished work that I'd have loads of time, and pictured myself crafting away whilst catching up with TV, updating my blog and reading my way through the huge pile of books sitting in a wobbly pile next to my bed. Well, it's now a month since I finished work (still another month before the baby is due!) and I haven't done that much crafting, or that much reading really. It's not particularly comfortable to sit still for large amounts of time, so I haven't been! I have done an awful lot of Sorting Things Out in the house, and boring but necessary tasks like organising people to service the boiler, clear the guttering of leaves and service the car. I'm kind of presuming that December will be a bit busy, so I've almost finished my Christmas shopping (should be completed this week!) and getting things like presents and cards ready to post.

This is what I have been doing, craft-wise:

Another Beyond Puerperium, this one in 3-6 month size to use up the oddments of sportweight yarn I had in my stash (I worked out that this was the biggest size I could make with what I had leftover). The yarn is a mixture of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, and MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino, both of which are lovely to knit with and have the same gauge. I pulled the yarn a bit too tight whilst changing colours at the ends of rows, so it's slightly skewed at one side, but I don't think that will matter (and the baby isn't going to mind, is it?!). I ended up buying a couple more balls of the MillaMia for the due date swap group I participated in, as I thought my swap partner would enjoy knitting with it just as much as I have. I also seem to be addicted to this pattern - that's the eleventh one I've made! I've now made newborn and 3-6 month sizes for my baby, so I will next be aiming to make the next size up. Some more stash yarn is earmarked for this.

I've finished another pair of children's socks for a birthday present. The yarn is My First Regia again, cos it's machine-washable and nice and soft. I initially started off with the Toots pattern, but this nearly drove me mad with bizarre lace patterning that wasn't particularly intuitive, so I switched to the Garter Rib socks pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, which I've made before, so know I enjoy knitting and that it works!

My latest project, only cast on last week, is a pair of slouchy bedsocks in DK yarn, Sirdar Crofter DK. I received one ball of this in last year's knitting group Secret Santa, and found the pattern in a yarn shop on holiday in June, and it only needed another ball, so it seemed a good way of using the yarn up. The socks are knitted flat and then seamed, and I'm now regretting not altering the pattern and knitting them in the round, as knitting them flat seems awkward. The heel instructions weren't very intuitive, so I had to do a lot of checking on other people's experiences on Ravelry forums before I could get anywhere. Does anyone else find this, after knitting indie patterns that are pdfs and so there is less limitation on space when providing instructions? Everytime I've used a bought printed pattern recently it seems to be a bit deficient in the instructions department.

I've also sewn this dress, for my swap partner in the due date swap group. The fabric is 100% cotton, and I was really pleased to find it in the closing down sale from our local haberdashery, as it was the perfect amount, and in the colours (pink and grey) which she said she preferred!

This is part of the present I received from my swap partner - a sheep baby hat! Isn't it cute?! There were also some other goodies in the parcel.

And, finally, I was given this baby blanket last night at my knitting group meeting - all my knitting group friends had made squares, which sounds like it needed a lot of organisation as they were apparently passing balls of yarn backwards and forwards to each other! Isn't it cool?!

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll get another update in in the not to distant future!

Hats everywhere

Finally, a knitting update. I've just finished a bit of a baby hat knitting spree.

No, I'm not expecting quadruplets... One is for my baby, the rest for presents. Three of them are baby size, and the other toddler sized. I used a free pattern Super soft merino hats for everyone by Purl Bee on 7mm needles, and the yarn is Sirdar Click Chunky.

I got the mitred square baby blanket finished off with a crochet edging. The colours have proven really hard to photograph well! It was a great way of using up odds and ends of machine washable sock yarn, and I enjoyed remembering all those socks I'd knitted with the same yarn as I worked away on it.

I realised I'd forgotten to post a picture of the finished sheep tanktop which I made over the summer. Very pleased with how this one has turned out, and the Millamia merino yarn is lovely to knit with. It used almost an entire ball of the grey, and 30g of the snow colourway to make 3 -6 month size.

I've knitted a pair of child's socks for a birthday present. I think these will be a bit too big, but the recipient can always grow into them. I went with Regia sock yarn in the end because of the whole machine washable thing... This is the basic sock pattern by Ann Budd, but I'm also intending to make a second pair using a more interesting pattern.

The next thing I've cast on is an eleventh (!!) Beyond puerperium, this time to use up leftovers of the Millamia in the snow colourway, and two different greens of Debbie Bliss Baby cashmerino. I should have just enough for one of the smaller sizes.

I realised I haven't done stash totals for a couple of months. They're looking pretty good as I've done several smaller projects and got them finished!

Yarn bought in August: 420m and September: 74m
Yarn used in August: 305m and September: 866.2m
(I don't have the actual total used for the baby blanket, as I don't have a record of how much of some of the yarn was leftover, as it's been in my stash from before I owned digital kitchen scales. I've only included the amount for the leftovers recorded in my stash).

That means that totals for 2015 so far are:
Yarn bought: 4726.5 metres
Yarn used up: 6795.6 metres, which means I've used up 2169.1 metres more than I've purchased so far!

I'll leave you with a picture of the knitted boob at the breastfeeding antenatal class I went to last week! There was one waiting for each of us when we got there, and I was delighted, as back in the dim mists of time of 2007, I knitted one for Liverpool Women's Hospital!

Fair Isle sheep

Knitting tiny sizes certainly goes quickly! This is the front of the Milly tank top in size 3-6 months which only took a few days to do. I have realised that, whilst I like doing the regular type of Fair Isle with repeating patterns, I'm much less keen on the ones where you have to do lots of counting and it isn't regular, or you have to carry long floats behind the work to twist in every so often. It would probably also have helped if I hadn't also been watching 1864, which is in Danish with subtitles at the same time! Still, it was fun knitting on this size garment. I think for an adult size garment I'd want to stick to regular Fair Isle, as I learnt the holding-the-yarn-in-both-hands technique a few years ago.

This is my mitred square baby blanket made out of (machine washable) sock yarn oddments. I've finished all the mitred squares now and am planning to crochet a border, just had to wait for a 2.5mm crochet hook to be delivered as they don't have the Clover soft-touch ones at my local Hobbycraft.

And I finally got around to cutting out the pieces for a dress for the impending niece. This is the fabric I bought on holiday back in early June so it's been handing around for a while! This is the wrong side, the right side is much brighter. The local haberdashery is closing down at the end of this month, so I am going to have to be organised about going somewhere to buy buttons for the dress, as I'll have to get the car out and go further afield for them now.

Holiday 2015: crafty stuff

The last of the holiday posts! I had a few ideas in mind for things I wanted to buy on holiday, as I'm trying to avoid buying just random stuff to stop the stash building up again. There were a couple of nice fabric shops in Worcester, and I found this elephant fabric in Rags Fabrics (I couldn't find a website for them) to make a little dress for my impending-niece.

In Hereford we happened to come across a fabric and yarn shop in an alley leading to the cathedral, Doughty's does have a website. I managed to find both a ball of Sirdar Crofter DK in the same colourway as the one I got in the knitting group's secret santa in December, but also a book of Crofter DK patterns at half price. With two balls I have enough to make a pair of snuggly bedsocks (how old am I?!).

And in Worcester we found possibly the smallest but most packed wool shop I have ever seen, Hopmarket Wools, where I bought a ball of sparkly pink baby wool to make a frivolous cardigan for the impending niece (my brother and SIL aren't ones for gender-stereotyping, so they're going to love a sparkly pink cardi!). King Cole Baby glitz isn't the type of things I'd usually choose... But the balls are 100g, so you only need one to make a baby cardigan.

I am really behind with my stash running totals. In June I bought 458m of yarn, but didn't finish any projects, so that gives a running total for the year so far of 616m more yarn used than purchased. July should look better, as I haven't bought any yarn (yet), and finished a couple of projects, which I'll blog about soon.

Knitting update May 2015

There isn't a huge amount of progress to report, plus I have forgotten to take a pictures of my Samwise Gamgee socks, so it looks like I've done even less than I really have!

The only finished project this month is another Baby vertebrae, as a present for a friend's baby. This one is knitted with another ball of Patons Fab DK, this time in the "Halloween" colourway. Does it look anything like Halloween to you?! I like this pattern as it's easy to use up an entire ball knitting it - you do the body and the edging, then weigh the yarn that's left over and divide it in two to do the sleeves.

I've done quite a bit on the Ella Funt cardigan too. This one is knit the body and sleeves separately, then join the whole lot together for the yoke. That's the stage I'm at now. I actually started the fair isle using some leftover bits of yarn, but there wasn't enough for all the elephant rows so it looked a bit strange. I've frogged that back now and going to do the elephants again with a different colour yarn this time!

And that's about it for this month. My totals aren't looking great, due to the trip to Iknit Fandango ;-).
I've only used up 274.3 metres this month, but acquired 2687.9 metres! Oops. Still, that still means over the year so far that I have used up a total of 4848.9 metres, and acquired 3774.5 metres, so I'm still 1074.4 metres down this year. Just depends whether I buy any in June...

Zooming along

Probably because I haven't done a knitting update for a while, I seem to have a lot of FOs to show off. I'm particularly pleased with my Harvest Moon cardigan, which is really comfy to wear (I love the pockets, even if they were a bit fiddly to knit) and which I really enjoyed knitting. The pattern is Harvest Moon by Heidi Mirrmaier, and I used 11.4 balls (570g) of Rowan Amy Butler Belle Organic Aran on 4mm needles. The yarn is 50% wool and 50% cotton and lovely to knit.

This is it prior to blocking!

I've also finished a couple of baby cardigans for friend's babies' birthdays. These are the Baby Vertebrae pattern by Kelly Brooker (whose Puerperium cardigan I also love). The yarn I've used is Patons Fab DK, an acrylic which doesn't feel acrylicy, and you can get a 12 - 18 month size out of one 100g ball! This colourway is Violet Print, and I got it from John Lewis at Nottingham. It's come out a lot more purple/brown than I thought it would from the ball.

This colourway is called "Fruity", although I think "Neon" would be a better description. This one was from Love Knitting using a discount code.

Remember this Beyond Puerperium I knitted back in November? Here's a picture of the recipient wearing it!

And, of course, after all that knitting, I needed a new project. I'd just seen Tabitha's Heart Design's Samwise Gamgee socks pattern, so decided to make a start on a pair of those, combined with some Katia Olé sock yarn from my stash. 

So, I haven't done a stash in/out update for a while, and I've got through a lot this month (I only count totals for yarn used in a finished item in the month it's finished). There is another secret project which I also got done this month which is included in the totals.  So far this year:

January: In 0m Out 820.7m

February: In 388m Out 406m
March: In 274.3 Out 1703.7m
April:  In 424.3 Out 1644.2m

So, I have acquired some yarn so far this year, but for projects that are presents. That is 1086.6m acquired, but I have knitted/destashed a total of 4574.6m, and every month has seen more used up than acquired! So, so far this year, I have used up 3488m more than I acquired. Which is good as I have trips to Iknit and Iknit Fandango planned during May, so my totals may not look quite so good soon!

A bit of a gauge issue

I have one finished item to show off. A cardigan for my [future] Godson, made with two balls of Sirdar Donegal Tweed. The pattern is Baby Vertebrae by Kelly Brooker - I really love her patterns, they are clearly written and fun to knit. It's intended for his birthday in July.

This is my latest victim knitwear model wearing the Beyond Puerperium (another Kelly Brooker pattern) I made for his baby shower.

The reason why I'm knitting things in March for a July birthday? He has a twin... Hopefully she'll like one in this yarn:

I've finished the body on my Harvest Moon cardigan. I love the i-cord cast off (OK, I didn't love the time it took, but I love the look it gives) on the body. Now I'm onto the sleeves. To get gauge I knitted the body on 4mm needles, but the sleeves are on DPNs and I seem to be knitting tighter on those, which isn't something I've particularly noticed before, although I've read it can happen. This is what the first sleeve looks like on 4mm DPNs, and there is a noticeable difference and it felt tighter when I tried it on, so I had to pull that bit out and try on 4.5mm instead. That seems to be a lot better!