Kitten's Yarn

Never-Ending Tunic

2013-05-23T20:37:00.001+01:00

Finally finished the back of mum’s tunic! The shaping is a bit odd as you can see, it’s completely straight then about six rows worth of casting off stitches at the beginning of each row and then…. that’s it!No wonder I was getting bored! The front is a bit more interesting though. It’s split half way up so it’s worked straight for about 14 inches then each side is worked on it’s own. I think that’s about as interesting as it gets, so this might be a long project!

I’ve also added to my queue Na Craga from Alice Starmore’s “Aran Knitting”. This is for my dad, but I’ve yet to find the right wool yarn for it. You can’t have a fisherman’s sweater that’s not made out of wool! And there’s a new addition to the extended family due in September so I’m thinking of knitting some cute baby things too!

Wordless Wednesday: Dave Modelling Rosie’s Jumper

2013-05-15T13:17:00.000+01:00

Calculations

2013-05-11T09:13:00.001+01:00

Ok so I confess I’m still on the back of this damn tunic. I’ve just started my fourth ball and my fifteenth pattern repeat. I’ve made some calculations, which are as follows:

Each repeat is about an inch long
Each repeat takes about an hour
The ribbing was about five and a half inches

Therefore:

For twenty eight and a half inches I need twenty three pattern repeats (including ribbing)
The remaining eight I have to finish should take me eight hours solid knitting

I’d like to say this only takes me to the shoulder shaping, but at that point the end is in sight. So technically if I knit all today without pause, I should get it finished! Watch this space….

Wordless Wednesday: Rosie’s New Jumper

2013-05-08T13:15:00.000+01:00

Freedom Spirit Tunic

2013-05-04T13:07:00.000+01:00

As promised, this is the tunic I’m knitting for mum! When I bought this pattern, I made the same mistake you probably are right now – ooo, it’s cabled! But no, that’s not cabling, it’s actually unblocked lace! Lesson learned – read the pattern before paying for it, or you really will pay for it later!

The yarn is Freedom Spirit by Twilleys, and is 100% wool in a colour which is a loosely spun mix of caramel, brown and red plies that stripes subtly over a few rows. I had to cut a small amount out because of a rather unattractive slub, but that didn’t seem to make a difference to the stripe. It was actually discontinued when we bought it, and on sale at half price – absolute bargain!

So far I’ve done 42 rows of rib and 48 rows of pattern, which is about twelve inches, really slow going for over a fortnights worth of work! There’s another sixteen inches worth before I even start the shoulder shaping (I don’t think there’s any sleeve shaping, but I might be wrong – at least I hope I am because sewing it together is going to be a nightmare!) which is going to be a bit of a faff – I’m intending to butcher the pattern a bit so I can use a three-needle bind-off for the shoulder seem, I always think that looks a lot neater and much more solid than I can manage with a yarn needle!

This is another one of those “I was gone but now I’m back” posts

2013-04-27T20:04:00.001+01:00

It’s true, I’ve neglected this blog AGAIN. The truth is that I’ve been really busy, and I’ve been meaning to write, but never did. Yesterday I read an article about a site called 750words.com, which basically encourages you to splurge 750 words in complete anonymity and privacy with the aim of increasing productivity and inspiration. So over the past two days I’ve written over 1500 words, and some of it did indeed have some real gems to post here!

So, between the last post and this one, I’ve knit two hats, a scarf, a hoody for a little’un, a dog jumper and I’ve started a tunic for my mum! I did say I’ve been busy! Sadly I took zero photos, so there’s nothing to show here for my efforts, but I can at least tell you about them!

I knit a hat and scarf set for my auntie in February just before we had that sudden cold snap – right when you want to have just received a knitted gift! I knit it in a simple basket stitch, from a red shiny yarn by Patons i think.. helpful i know! It was very soft though and I was very happy with such a simple knit.

The second hat was in a chunky variegated blue yarn which i also knit in a sort of basket stitch, this time for my mum. Again i cant remember the name of the yarn, I may have had the time to knit but not the time to write all this down! I had just under half the yarn left so i started knitting a hat for myself, but havent finished it yet. I had a horrible suspicion that I would run out of yarn, so i did what every sensible knitter does – put it to one side in case it magically spawns more yarn!

The next thing I knit was a hoody for my sweet little niece. It was using some yarn I was gifted – already knit up into something else so I can claim I never actually knew the brand of yarn! I designed a top down raglan cardigan with moss-stitch button-bands and cuffs, and a lovely King Charles Brocade through the body. And of course it had a hood, with the same moss-stitch border around the edge. I finished it off with some lovely pastel-coloured flower buttons. I’ve been intending to write up the pattern for this but not got around to it yet!

The last thing I’ve finished is a wee jumper for Rosie. She’s been feeling the cold of late – after all she is quite a slight little dog, so I butchered a drops pattern that was meant to include all kinds of intarsia and fanciness which didn’t get included in my version. I used a striped yarn (Striped, not self striping – so the resultant effect is more like awful camouflage) and knit the size meant for Chihuahuas, but it is still a bit too big! I will probably knit her another one but this time not do as many rows before the split for the leg holes comes, and also the small strip that goes between the legs (and eventually is picked up from for the leg-cuffs) needs to be 2-4 stitches narrower. She really is tiny!

Next time I will show you (with pictures, I promise!) the tunic I’m knitting for mum. It really is going extremely slowly, possibly because I’m comparing it to my last few FO's, which have all been quite small and quick!

Of beads, and Trees and Pretty Baubles

2012-11-26T11:57:00.001+00:00

You know when you have a really great idea in your head for a knitted project, and then you spend AGES on it and it doesn’t work out too well? That's what my green jacket thing is doing to me right now.

For some reason in my head, I didn’t allow for stockinette to curl in quite the amount that it is doing, and that's making me really really sad. I didn’t want to have to use rib at the bottom edge, but it looks like I’m going to be forced to. I’ve already undone the applied i-cord I’d used across the bottom (twice, because you know I might have done it wrong somehow the first time…) and I’m thinking about ripping back about ten rows and ribbing from there. This designing business is not as easy as it looks!

I finally got round to buying the beads for the Luna Moth shawl I’m making. I know I said I was going to get the matte black beads, but I ended up getting about 30 grams of the Pebblestone mix instead! Either I’m going to end up with a lot left over, or I’m only just going to have enough! I’m about 4 rows and a cast off away from finishing though and I’ve still got plenty left.

I can’t take any proper photos because the weather here is so dismal. When it’s not raining it’s dull and overcast. I wish it would hurry up and snow! It is the puppies’ first Christmas so we’ll be taking plenty of photos.

Talking of Christmas, we’ve just bought our first real Christmas tree! I know it’s a bit early, but I couldn’t resist decorating it! Dave is very interested in the shiny gold baubles because he can see his reflection in them. I woke up this morning to a few (but not many) needles on the floor, so I’m hoping it will last all the way through the rest of November and December to Christmas day!

GAAA Wordless Wednesday

2012-11-14T15:41:00.000+00:00

You know when they make those amazing programs but only show half the season and then have a really big break? Well GAAA Wordless Wednesday is doing that. You see, I’m really lazy and haven’t finished the grafting on two of the squares, neither have I designed and knit the 25th OR Started on the edging. I’m guessing it’s going to be well beyond Christmas until I get back to it since I’ve got lots of other things on the go too. If you’ll all bare with me, one day you might see the finished article!

Very Late Birthday Post

2012-11-09T15:32:00.000+00:00

It was my birthday on Tuesday! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, got lots of chocolate and flowers and cards, and was properly spoilt.

I spent the morning at Black Sheep Wool which is sort of on the border between Croft and Culcheth – the posh bit of Warrington. I’m definitely going to go back there, they just have so much stuff!

I bought this shawl pin to go with both my Garden Path and Aeolian. I wore garden path on Thursday when we all went out for dinner, and it looked gorgeous!

I also bought some 3.25mm Symphonie interchangables to go in my collection, and some really sweet sheepy stitch markers by Lantern Moon.

I bought two hundred grams of Rowan Baby Alpaca DK – I’m going to make a vest top with some sort of lacy design that I’m yet to devise!

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Susan Rainey Square

2012-11-07T13:07:00.000+00:00

This square is the prize winner of the competition, and not for those that dislike sewing! The sweater is sewn to a plain background in three pieces. For more information, visit my Great American Aran Afghan Squidoo Page

Repairing My Ten Stitch Blanket

2012-11-02T11:15:00.000+00:00

Remember ages ago I knit a ten stitch blanket? I used 500g of Sirdar Denim Tweed I’d bought on sale and didn’t like when knit up, but poppy adopted it even when it was washcloth sized and so it became a dog blanket. Cut to the end of April and poppy gave birth on it! Five chewing puppies later and it ended up with this big hole!

I had to wash it before I repaired it, so I undid some of the knitting around the hole and tied it all in a knot so it didn’t get snagged in our brand spanking new washing machine (for a yarn I dislike so much, it washes really well –several boil washes later and it’s not actually as faded as it seems in these photos). Two hours and some fabric conditioner later and I shoved some needles through the stitches and began knitting up the long strand at one end. I left a long enough strand for the cast-off and then put those stitches on a holder and switched ends. There wasn’t as much to work with on this end so I joined some white acrylic and knit double with the old yarn for a few rows to try and make the repair a bit stronger.

When both ends met, I used a three needle cast-off, (although it was more like a two needle and a holder cast-off!) which was made more difficult than usual because the first stitch of each row is a knit-two-together – this joins each strip of ten stitches to the last strip. All in all (not including the washing or the searching for needles I used last and holders and so on!) The repair took me about an hour.

The important this is that it’s not going to come undone in a hurry - if this was something for a human I would have bit the bullet and grafted but thankfully my dogs aren’t so picky!

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Ginger Smith Square

2012-10-31T13:05:00.000+00:00

This Square is knit in panels whilst the other stitches are kept on hold – a really useful technique to learn! For more information, visit my Great American Aran Afghan Squidoo Page

Poppy’s Puppies

2012-10-29T12:53:00.000+00:00

Warning: Lots of cute pictures and videos!

About six months ago we had a litter of puppies from our gorgeous jack Russell, Poppy.

On the 30th of April 2012 at 3:30pm Poppy started going into labour – an hour an a half before I had to leave for an exam! Luckily the other half was on hand to keep a check on her until I got home. At around 6:45 she had the first pup – Ralph, who was huge! I was back by seven, and no sooner had I walked through the door when Dave arrived, closely followed by Rosie. She had a bit of a break then, and half an hour later Wee Man and Bramble came into the world! Wee Man was so-called because he was the runt at birth although now it’s definitely Rosie!

We didn’t really take many pictures after these until their eyes opened, which was funny to watch too! Dave wasn’t so sure so only had one eye open for about two days. Rosie opened her eyes and then closed them again until the day after!

Here’s Ralph and Wee Man, who is pulling tongues:

Once their eyes were open they started getting a bit more active. We had built them a little cardboard enclosure to keep them from getting lost in the living room (and to keep the mess in one place!). It was about now that they started escaping to explore more of their surroundings!

Rosie (left), Dave (right) and Bramble (on his back):

Ralph (top left) Wee Man (top right) Rosie (middle) Dave (bottom left) Bramble (bottom right):

One of Rosie’s favourite pass-times is picking on bramble. Here she’s about to nibble his leg. Poppy’s favourite pass-time is cleaning things, and here she is cleaning Dave’s ear!

Here’s some videos of them playing in the garden (They might take a while to load depending on your connection):

Sadly at seven weeks, we lost wee man, but Dave and Ralph are still with us and Rosie and Bramble are with my parents, getting spoilt rotten!

Progress Report

2012-10-26T10:03:00.000+01:00

It’s amazing how long it takes to knit a sleeve. I’m still on the first one of my secret project, but at least I’m an inch or so from the end. I’m going to try putting a row in between each bit of joined i-cord because my other attempt came out a bit tight. The bad thing though about sleeves is that I’m about to do it all over again!

The Luna Moth has stalled in favour of the simpleness of the above project. I’m up to the fourth chart repeat and I’m deliberating a fifth since it’s still quite short, but I’m not sure how long it’ll go after blocking... I think the plan is going to be to finish the repeats before I start the edging so that I have a better idea of how many beads I will have to buy. I’ve decided on the matte black because I like the oily colours and it will break up the darkness of the yarn.

My mum’s asked for a new jacket for Christmas. You might remember I knit her a jacket for Christmas 2009 (and blogged about it here and here). She’s asked for Therapi from knitty’s winter 2008 issue and I’ve been looking at yarn – she’s asked for grey again! I’m not ordering the yarn yet though since I’m going t be good and finish some other things first!

Lastly I’ve still got more Great American Afghan squares to photograph, although I’ve still not finished the grafting on two of the squares. I bought a new Samsung Galaxy Ace on Tuesday so I’m going to try and work out how to use it and hopefully get those pictures sorted at the same time!

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Ann Strong Square

2012-10-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

For more information, visit my Great American Aran Afghan Squidoo Page.

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Georgia Vincent Square

2012-10-17T13:57:00.000+01:00

This Square came out far larger than the prescribed 12” square, so I’ll probably reknit this with a smaller needle. For more information, visit my Great American Aran Afghan Squidoo Page

Secret update

2012-10-12T12:56:00.000+01:00

Why does casting off the body of something always give that false feeling of being finished?

I used a 3 stitch I-Cord to finish the bottom of the jacket (I tried a 4 stitch one but it didn’t look very I-Cordy!) but I’m unconvinced that it’s not too tight, so I may have to undo that at a later date, depending on how it wears. The bottom wasn’t meant to pull closed anyway so I may yet get a reprieve. I stopped about an inch and a half from where I had measured to, but I don’t think it will be a problem – in fact I think it might look better that way anyway – so I’ve started the sleeve with probably the last 50g of the first ball. The sleeves wont have any shaping to them, and will be finished in the same way with I-Cord. I’ve stopped having that nagging feeling that there won’t be enough yarn, but i doubt that will last for long!

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Jay Campbell Square

2012-10-10T13:52:00.000+01:00

This Square puckers slightly in the middle, but I am assured that it will block out! For more information, visit my Great American Aran Afghan Squidoo Page

The One Where I Start Christmas Knitting

2012-10-08T12:37:00.001+01:00

I cast on Luna Moth yesterday! I guess that’s not all that much of a surprise since I’ve been chomping at the bit to get started. I realised that 4.5mm needles were what I should use so I didn’t need to wait until I’d finished with them from my other project.

Originally I thought the yarn was Double Knit, however I started to doubt that because of the thinness of it. At 15 Wraps per inch (wrap the yarn around a knitting needle lots of times, then measure how many wraps are in an inch of needle) it’s actually what Ravelry decide is fingering, or 4ply. It might still plump up a bit if it is indeed machine yarn and the oil is washed out, but even then I think the blocking process will preserve most of it’s laciness

It’s still at that awkward stage where it’s too small to really see any sort of pattern – I’ve knit chart A which is 14 rows long and half of chart b (so about 10 rows of that). I imagine it will speed up once I learn the pattern repeat better, but at the moment it’s slow going and partly due to using black wool which is difficult to see at the best of times! I’m having to use the pattern for the Aran version because although I said in a previous post that there was a 4ply version, I can’t appear to find it anymore. I’ve noticed on Ravelry that a lot of people using 4ply have just added an extra repeat of the chart, so it doesn’t seem to be much of a pain to adapt.

My Package Arrived!

2012-10-06T12:59:00.000+01:00

It came today – that’s almost like overnight delivery! Here are some pictures:

It’s Purple and gold brocade, with purple cotton insides. There are lots of lovely compartments for storing all my bits and pieces such as cable buttons, extenders and keys, as well as cables and needle tips. In the pocket with the press stud I keep a needle gauge because the one thing i dislike about symphony needles is that the size printed on them rubs off very easily.

Needless to say I’m very pleased with my purchases! All i need to do now is fill some of the gaps in my needle collection (I have more than is shown here!) but with a birthday and Christmas coming up, I don’t think that will be hard!

New purchase

2012-10-05T20:29:00.000+01:00

I've just ordered a new knitpro interchangable needle case for my symphonys! I'm thinking they'll be here for monday, I'm so excited!
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

GAAA Wordless Wednesday: Judy Sumner Square

2012-10-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

There is a small bug left to add to the top right hand corner, but I’m still in two minds about whether to do it. For more information, visit my Great American Aran Afghan Squidoo Page.

Thinking ahead

2012-10-02T13:36:00.001+01:00

Not that I’m ready to cast off just yet (although that mini deadline is certainly approaching!) but I have been thinking about how I’m going to do it. You see the main part of the thing is stockinette, so likely to curl without a little weight to the bottom, so I’m thinking possibly an applied i-cord cast-off. However, part of the last row will be vertical ribbing, so needs to retain that stretchy look, which i-cord is definitely not. Should i just gather some of the purl stitches as I’m casting off, or do something different? At least I’ve still got a bit of time to think about it!

My Week

2012-09-30T08:54:00.001+01:00

Monday: Cone of black yarn arrives, promised by mother-in-law, gets buried in van-full of bedroom and living room furniture, bed and half a tonne of curtains and bed linen. I do love when my family have a sort out!

Thursday: Rediscover yarn and idly search out shawl patterns that require double-knit. Wonder if yarn really is double-knit but then remember as yarn is definitely thicker than 4ply and is technically meant for machine knitting then is probably oiled (and so looks thinner anyway). Find perfect shawl pattern for mother-in-law.

Friday: Decide said shawl would be better in something chunkier, like Aran, but as sister-in-law dyes and cuts my hair for free and does a far better job than any hair dress I’ve ever been to, then she definitely should have something special for Christmas. Spend evening trawling Ravelry for more shawl patterns. Find Lunar Moth Shawl but realise they only have the pattern for the aran, 4ply and laceweight versions. Decide to fudge it.

Sunday: Still resisting urge to put super secret project on holders and cast on for shawl, as shawl needs same needles. Have just got to patterned bit in super secret project, so will at least finish the end of the body first – that way no loose ends!

Anastasia Socks

2012-09-28T14:25:00.000+01:00

I told you in a previous post about knitting some Anastasia socks and I’ve finally gotten around to photographing them:

I had to take the off to do it, as they are really comfy! I knit these on my 2.5mm Purple Pins using Wendy Happy, I think the colour was called Hyacinth. I think for future socks I’ll be using 56 stitches not the 60 this pattern calls for, as those extra stitches really make a difference!