Lace shawl - finished!

It's taken a while - I originally cast it on on 15th February, and cast off last week (had to wait for this week to block it though) but the lace shawl is finally finished!

I'm really pleased with it. It's my first "proper" lace shawl, using laceweight yarn, although in May 2007 I made a Diamond Fantasy Shawl in 4ply yarn. This one is the Aeolian Shawl, from Knitty, on  3.25mm needles. I used 85g from a 100g skein of Clicky Needles merino silk laceweight yarn, purchased on holiday last year at Miju Wools near Gloucester Cathedral.

I mostly followed the pattern for the shawl (there are also instructions for a shawlette), although I left the nupps out. Apparently there is also an alternative plainer edging to try, but I didn't find that!

By the end each row was taking most of an hour to knit. One row had so many beads and fiddly bits on that it took 2.5 hours! This is it when I cast it off:

I gave it a bath in the washing up bowl before blocking. I used a free sample of "Soak", which I'd acquired somewhere along the line. It smells really nice, and I liked not having to rinse it out afterwards! I squidged it as dry as possible with a towel after its bath. Soak does now seem to be available in this country, although it's rather expensive! (the Little Knitting Company and Tangled Yarn both stock it). I usually use Ecover Delicate for washing handknitted things. I have noticed the Lakeland now stocks Eucalan, another no rinse one, but, again, it's expensive. Plus, I'm not sure of the ethics of transporting what is basically laundry liquid across the glove! Ecover is made in Belgium and France.

Then I settled down upstairs for a bit of blocking, along with some catching up with the Archers and a Herdy mug of tea.

Oh, and my new blocking kit, courtesy of Little Houndale Knits.

And this is it blocked! I had to squeeze it in a bit, as it only just fits on the spare bed (which is a Queen size). I used a combination of the blocking wires (I'm glad I got the flexible ones) and then pins on all the pointy bits. And, of course, it is SO much bigger!

A few close up shots, I couldn't resist taking.

So, there you go. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to wear it. I think it would be great with a summer dress, but today is probably the last hot day of the year, so it might need to wait a while...
I've really enjoyed knitting it, although I'm also looking forward to knitting lots of other things now I haven't got huge long rows of lace to get through!

And then there was a knitting update

Two blog posts in one weekend? I'm on a roll.

I seem to have got quite a lot of knitting done since I last did an update (OK, so that was back in June, so hardly surprising).

My Fantastic Purple Cardigan is nearly all knitted, I just have to sew the seams and knit the edging. I blocked it on the spare bed one week and it took up loads of room, as it seems to have come out rather large. That's a good thing though, as it's meant to be a baggy cardigan.

I got frustrated with the Mini Mania Scarf and ended up frogging it. I'd wanted to knit it to use up odds and ends of sock yarn, but found that linen stitch was hurting my wrists if I did it for too long so decided to give up. Plus, all my machine washable sock yarn leftovers seemed to be variations on mud colour (have I really knitted a whole pile of mud colour socks?) which didn't make for an interesting scarf. Instead I have started a Sock Yarn Leftovers Blanket using mitred squares. The pattern is more of a recipe into which you add in whatever weight yarn and needle size you want. It's very easy to follow, and this is a great project to pick up when I need something fairly mindless to knit, such as at knitting group where I'm busy talking and drinking wine, or when I'm at home watching TV with subtitles (anyone else enjoying Les revenants?)

My Aeolian Shawl is coming on well, I've just started the edge pattern, although there still seem to be a LOT of rows to go. I've really enjoyed knitting this and, apart from a blip last week when I did four rows wrong, it's been fairly straightforward knitting. It is quite time consuming, as it's now at the point when it takes about 45 minutes to do a knit row.

On a trip to our nearest proper yarn shop, Mrs Moon, with a friend back in May...

I bought a couple of balls of Rowan Cocoon to make a scarf as I wanted a nice straightforward pattern for TV knitting and to take on holiday with me. I finished knitting this in the hottest week of the year - because what more could you want in 30°C than a chunky knitted scarf?!

Not sure why my ribbing looks a lot more even in the photo than it is in real life.

That was a really good shopping trip, as I also found in the sale a copy of a book I'd wanted for ages, Little red in the city, which has lots of info inside about knitting to fit your size and shape.

Think that's all for now.

Of kitchens and heffalumps and other knitted things

I haven't really disappeared off the face of the earth. I've just been a teeny tiny bit distracted by having a new kitchen. Little did I realise how disruptive this was going to be, or how long it was going to take, plus all the new muscles I'd develop carting the contents of the kitchen upstairs to store, and then back down again afterwards.

The old kitchen

The other side of the old kitchen

All the planning, disruption and work has been well well worth it though, as the new kitchen is both lovely and light, as well as giving us more storage space and being easier to clean.

The new gleaming kitchen

Lots of storage space!

I have got quite a lot of knitting done, although it had to happen around all the dust and everything else. We had to eat out every night for about three weeks (ouch) which cut into the time I had available. My main project during this time was a present for my nephew, who had suddenly requested a soft toy for his seventh birthday - a bit of a surprise, as I'd been expecting a list of Desired Lego.

I'd wanted an excuse to knit the Elijah pattern by Ysolda Teague, and this looked like the perfect opportunity. Heffalump was knitted using Sirdar Countrystyle DK so he'd be machine washable. The pattern is great - no sewing up as you pick up stitches and knit in the round so it's a very fun pattern and was quite quick to make. I made a label to go with him too.

 I've also made some more progress with my Aeolian Shawl, and have finished the first section of the pattern, although there's still a long, long, long way to go. We received an invite to a wedding in mid-June, and I had thought about getting it finished in time to wear for that, then realised that is a bit of a vain hope as I just won't have time!

And I got my Froot Loop socks finished - this has been my default easy and portable pattern for knitting group/taking on the train etc so these got finished relatively quickly. I still really like the cheap and cheerful yarn (going to be interesting to see how well it washes), and the pattern is fun - 4 round repeat so easy to memorize.

That's all for now - but I still have various gardening updates to blog about, as well as some yarn shopping expedition(s)!

Marmalade

We get a veg box (and sometimes a meat box) from Riverford each week, and last week I couldn't resist adding a marmalade kit too, now that I have more time in the week. It consisted of a bag of Seville oranges and a couple of lemons, plus a recipe.

I'd never made marmalade before and had intended to include some more pictures of the chopping up process, but I ended up with two builders in the kitchen at that point so didn't feel like taking photos of oranges whilst they were there! ;-)

It turned out that I could have done with a proper preserving pan, as the largest saucepan wasn't really big enough.

 Still, it set fairly easily and went into sterilised jars (with a bit of splodgy orange goo landing in various places it shouldn't. If I do this again it will involve a proper preserving pan AND one of those jam pouring gadgets).

Knitting-wise I finished my Everyone outta the pool socks and am pleased with the effect of the stitch pattern. I deliberately went for fraternal socks rather than completely identical. It's a nice pattern that I'd definitely use again as it was easy to memorize and fun to knit.

I've cast on another Beyond Puerperium (my third!) for a friend's baby, due in a couple of months. This will be the 6-12 month size, and the yarn is Rico Baby Classic DK. It's synthetic but it feels lovely and soft and not plasticky, as well as reasonably priced.

The lace knitting has stalled as I haven't had much time to sit and concentrate on it - looks like I'm going to have to frog this attempt though as I struggled with the pattern and whether to knit or drop all of the yarn overs in the second section.

And I've realised that I forgot to do garden at the beginning of January  - as in totally forgot, as I haven't even taken pictures! But thanks to the astonishingly mild weather we already have lots of bulbs coming up and here is our first snowdrop:

And the temperature's now dropping down to the minuses!

Decisions made!

Thank you for the comments on my last post, I got a few decisions made!

I decided that I did like the Everyone Outta the Pool socks in that yarn, so kept going and finished the first one. I did use the suggested heel from Sensational Knitted Socks, which I definitely like (still cannot fathom why I didn't like it back in 2007), although I want to find the instructions for the heel I did back then, as I liked that one too! ;-) I've done more of the heel stitch on the sole too because of where I wear out socks. I like the way the slip stitches in the pattern have broken up the bands of colour - it's more obvious the closer you look. The yarn colours are also more rainbowy in good light, and not just the pink/yellow/blue it appears in the photos. The weather has been so bad the light hasn't been good for taking photos this year!

I love the cuffs - they are double knitted (the first time I've used this technique), and then grafted together, which gives a seamless finish, and looks rather good, I think.

Meanwhile, I also acquired some beads from a local shop for my South Seas stole - none of the pinks was quite right with the yarn, so I went with clear beads in the end. It turned out I also needed a crochet hook to attach them with, as the pattern called for a US 13 (0.85mm) hook, which doesn't seem to exist here. Fortunately I found a 0.75mm one in another local shop, so I could get on with the project over Christmas rather than having to order one online! As you can see from the photo, with £1 coin for scale, the hook is absolutely teeny tiny.

I also got some buttons to finish off the baby cardigan from the last post, but forgot to take a photo of it, so that will have to wait for now!

Christmas preparations were completed. I made a pencil case for my nephew using some football fabric, as I couldn't find one to buy in the shops. But I forgot to take a photo before wrapping it up, so that will have to wait until he opens it now! I also put marzipan and icing on the Christmas cake, and I'm rather pleased with this year's effort (after last year's wonky holly leaves). The holly is edible and from Lakeland.

We got the Christmas tree put up at the weekend too.

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas break and here's to a lot more blogging soon!

Decisions, decisions

I've sewn together the cardigan I'm making for a friend's baby, due next year:

Still need to get a couple of buttons for it, but otherwise it's finished. The yarn is James C Brett Marble Chunky and the pattern is a James C Brett one, JB013 - Cardigan (imaginative title there). I do like the Marble yarns (it's available in DK as well) as they're reasonably priced, 100% acrylic but don't feel like acrylic, are machine washable and have interesting colour effects. The Chunky also comes in a huge 200g ball, which meant it only took one ball to make the cardigan. The pattern is slightly annoying (having knitted a couple of Puerperiums I am now annoyed with having to sew things together in other patterns). It actually directs you to knit the edging of the cardigan as a strip and then sew it on - I think not, I just knitted it along the edge, so much easier.

Having got that finished, I was now free to decide on what to knit next, which is when the decisions got difficult. I wanted to make one of the three patterns I was given for my birthday, and settled on Everyone Outta the Pool as it's always good to have some socks on the go. This pattern works best for socks in variegated colourways and uses slip stitches to mix them up to avoid pooling. I decided to use some Trekking XXL, bought in Bristol several years ago as I thought the bands of bright colours would look good with the slip stitches.

At first I wasn't sure this was working as the green/blue sections of the yarn make it hard to see the slip stitches, but now I've knitted a bit further I like the effect it's producing. It's been a while since I did a toe-up sock, so I'm enjoying this one. The pattern has a short row heel, but these tend not to fit my feet very well as my heels are narrow and pointy, so I decided to substitute the heel from Sensational Knitted Socks, which I used for my Beaded Rib socks, back in 2007. However, it turned out when I looked at the notes I made on Ravelry for the socks in 2007, that I'd actually substituted a different heel again, this time from the second issue of Yarn Forward, which I think I sold on ebay a couple of years ago. Oops. As I now can't remember why, five years ago, I didn't want to use the heel from Sensational Knitted Socks, I think I'll go with that one and see what happens.

I also decided to start another present pattern, the South Seas Stole, and settled on some yarn from my stash, the Clicky Needles merino silk lace, which I bought on holiday in Gloucester in May. This, of course, meant getting the swift and ballwinder out.

The yarn feels lovely, and I'm really looking forward to knitting with it, but I can't decide whether to put beads on the stole or not. The pattern includes instructions for with and without beads. The yarn is handwash only, so including beads won't affect how I care for the finished item. Part of me things that I'm more likely to use the stole if it hasn't got beads on (with beads it seems more smart/evening/going out type clothing, but then stoles generally would be in that category), but another part of me wants to do more knitting with beads - I've only done a small amount before, on a workshop I took in Nottingham with Debbie Abrahams, back in 2006. I don't have any beads at home that would be suitable, but it would be very easy to get some as there are several local shops that have things like that.

So, I'm still trying to decide about that one.

Knit Nation

Saturday meant a visit to Knit Nation at Imperial College. After much cogitation about my ability to get up and into central London for a 9am class (the OH and I both agreed that this was an unlikely scenario) I decided just to get a marketplace ticket. In the end I'm glad I did, as I wouldn't have made it in for a morning class - I only just made it into London for lunchtime and it meant I had plenty of time to look round the marketplace and chat with the pleasantly large number of people I knew. This is one side of the marketplace room.

Babylonglegs and Nicsknots were sharing a stand with Woolly Wormhead and Atomic Knitting, which gave me lots of people to talk to. I also kept bumping into Nickerjac on that side of the room. As well as various other people! And I know there were some who were there who I missed in the crowds.

I was tempted by a copy of "Twisted Woolly Toppers" from Woolly Wormhead, as well as a Big Button from Babylonglegs. And I bought something else too, but it's an order so I have to wait with great excitement for it to arrive in the post.

Round the corner we came across the Wollmeise stand, which was heaving with people when I first saw it. We went back later on when it was quieter so I could take a photo of the pretty pretty yarn colours.

And the gorgeous laceweight in big baskets. I was very tempted by the laceweight too, I've hardly ever bought any before and I never seem to see it in yarn shops, although I've seen loads online.

So I bought a 300g skein of the laceweight. Not sure whether it will be lace or something else yet, but it's very pretty.

Imperial has a lawn outside the library where we could go and sit and knit. The library also had a café with the biggest pain au chocolat I've ever seen. I think all libraries should have cafés with pain au chocolat in. The library I work in doesn't even have anything to sit on during coffee breaks. Not that I mind sitting on the floor, but as I advance forwards into old age I'm sure my creaking joints won't want to be on the floor.

Obviously some Imperial students are so desperate to get into the library that they plunge through the flowerbeds en route:

It would really take some effort to get through that flowerbed.
I spent most of the afternoon with Penny, who I hadn't seen since the wedding, doing some knitting outside with cups of tea. It was a little windy, which resulted in me having a fantastically Bad Hair Day. Penny had also brought the next two Maggie Sefton knitting mysteries for me to borrow!

And a final purchase, from Krafty Koala, where I found some gorgeous purple sock yarn in the sale bin!

So, all in all, a really enjoyable day (I then met up with the OH and we went out to dinner before heading back to Staines). I'm glad I didn't do a class in the end, as I'd have had trouble fitting it in, and wouldn't have had as much time to talk to people and wander round the marketplace as I did.