I’m late again! But this time I have a much better excuse because we were very busy. We were at my parents over night for my dad’s birthday, and my mum gave us a lift home. Then she spent the last two hours of daylight helping us out in the gardenand took us down to B&Q for a new starter motor for the kitchen light. By which time I was shattered and stuggling to stay awake past 7 pm!

I’ve had a busy week on the crochet and knooking front. I finished the Shawl Collared Cowl, and wore it this weekend. It’s so warm, I love it! Now I have two choices of cowl too, which is never a bad thing! Since I’d finished something, that meant I got to start something new! However, since I already had eight current WIP, that didn’t seem like such a good idea. So I did the next best thing. On Friday we went yarn shopping, to get some yarn for my husband’s Windschief hat. We got him some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in a blue-grey, which is gorgeous, and I got some Debbie Bliss Rialto in a dark brown shade.

So how do you start something new, without adding to WIP? Ages ago, I made a skaði fingerless glove, in some random purple yarn I had in my statch. It was a bit scratchy and it wasn’t a colour I would normally wear, so I decided to make the pair out of some other yarn. Originally I was going to make it out of some 4ply, bamboo/nylon yarn, but it was taking forever and I was getting bored, plus they wouldn’t be very warm at all. So I’ve started again, and I’m making them with my Debbie Bliss Rialto! As you can see, I’ve finished one glove already and I’ve finished the cuff for the second, so hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll have a pair. The yarn is so nice for these. They’re warm squishy and cosy, and I’m going to need them soon, because the weather seems to be turning cold at last. It’s been so warm recently that my plants are confused - my rose bush has new buds on it, and one of my big bushes is flowering again!

I’ve also put a bit more work in on my Happy Lavender Scarf, and there is another turquise stripe at the top, although it seens to be disappearing into my lovely assistant’s t-shirt! I’m still enjoying the scarf, but working with fingering weight yarn feels so slow after working with bulky for so long!

I’m going to have to start work on my husbands Windschief Hat soon, and for myself I’ve added Calorimetry for me, which should be pretty quick and keep my ears warm while my hair is up. I’m also adding the Snowbaby Hat for myself, and I think the colour work will be fun to do and hopefully not too hard. So here’s the new list. Have a great weekend everyone!

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

• Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
• Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
• Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
• Urban Shells <- Finished
• Elise Shawl <- Finished
• Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
• Blue Lagoon
• Magrathea
• Betula Ring <- Finished
• Mochi Neck Warmer
• Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished

Amigurumi

• Chester the Dog
• Tilly the Panda
• Sheldon Turtle
• Realistic Octopus <- Finished (and awesome!)
• Finola the Fox
• Knit Bunnies x 7 <- 2 done

Other Things

• Tote Bag <- Finished
• Cap Sleeved Top
• Guenvieve
• Ginny Cowl
• Realta Blanket <- In progress
• Polo Neck Bag <- In progress
• Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- In progress (one done)
• Hearts on Her Sleeve Fingerless Gloves <- In progress (one done)
• Calorimetry
• Windschief Hat
• Snowbaby Hat

It’s Friday and I had the day off so I’m late posting today! Normally I have to finish things and take photos the night before, but this time I decided I could leave sewing on buttons and sewing in till this morning. Then I didn’t get round to it till four o’clock! But the buttons are on, ends are sewn in and the photos are done. I’ve finished my Shawl Collared Cowl! It is really cosy and warm to wear! I haven’t tried it on under my coat yet, but I’m sure it’ll be great to wear. I really love the Rowan Colourscapes Chunky yarn. I think it’s now my favourite bulky yarn. The colours are great and I love the way they fade into each other. I also love the buttons on this one, but I forgot to take close up photos of them, sorry!

For more FO’s hop over to Tami’s!

It’s Wednesday again and the cowl is nearly finished! After having to rip out several inches of the main part of the collar at the weekend, I’ve made it all back and the end is in sight. The decreases are all done now, and I just have two and a bit inches, plus four rows of garter stitch and it’s done. Once the short rows were done and the decreases started every row just got faster to finish, which is great since finishing is fun! I love this yarn so much. It’s lovely, warm and squishy. I love the colours too. The red is a little bit random and doesn’t really match the rest of the cowl, but when the ends are overlapped it will mostly be hidden. I have the buttons ready to be sewn on, and hopefully it’ll be ready to be seen by Friday!

Don’t forget to check out Tami’s and everyone elses WIPs!

Seventeen weeks gone already! Where does the time go? This week, I managed to finish my second Betula Ring cowl, with a few changes. I love it! I wore it to work all week, and it’s very cosy and comfy. I find it a little bit tickly, but it’s not itchy so I can live with it. I also love how versatile it is! I just pull it ovver my head most days as it’s not that cold here yet, but I can button it up and make it more snug when it’s cooler. I also love the autumn feel of the colours, and they are a gorgeous match with my brown winter jacket. And the buttons are one of my favourite things about it (close up here).

Other than my Betula Ring, I’ve just beenworking on my Shawl Collared Cowl. Just when I had reached the nine inches I needed before the decreases began, I discovered that I’d dropped a stitch. Four inches back. I’ve managed to pick up dropped stitches when it’s only been a couple of rows, but four inches was just too much, so I frogged it back. Over the weekend I managed to make the four inches back up, and now I’m into the decreases, so hopefully I’ll be able to get it all finished up by Friday for you to see!

The list is due to under go some new revisions I think. I need to add a hat for my husband. He’s chosen the Windschief hat, and we’ll take a trip to John Lewis this week I think, to get yarn for it. He is really sensitive to wool yarns and practically every woolen yarn I’ve bought he’s found itchy, apart from merino. So we’ll be getting some sort of 100% merino, probably Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran, from my memorie of what they have at the shop. I think I’m also going to make a hat for myself, and a Calorimetry for when I want to wear my hair up, because I need to keep my ears warm when it gets colder. Unfortunately, this time, I think a couple of my amigurumi are going to have to disappear from the list, since I haven’t started on any of them. The Dawn Toussaint ones will definitely be staying on my list though. She’s one of my favourite amigurumi designers, and has the advantage that most of her amigurumi parts are crocheted together, instead of stitched on afterwards, which makes them much more enjoyable to put together! So Little Bear has come off, and so has the Fawn, although I still plan on making them later, maybe on next years list! After Christmas I’ll probably do a complete review of my list, and add to it then, since I still have half a year to go.

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

• Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
• Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
• Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
• Urban Shells <- Finished
• Elise Shawl <- Finished
• Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
• Blue Lagoon
• Magrathea
• Betula Ring <- Finished
• Mochi Neck Warmer
• Shawl Collared Cowl <- In progress

Amigurumi

• Chester the Dog
• Tilly the Panda
• Sheldon Turtle
• Realistic Octopus <- Finished (and awesome!)
• Finola the Fox
• Knit Bunnies x 7 <- 2 done

Other Things

• Tote Bag <- Finished
• Cap Sleeved Top
• Guenvieve
• Ginny Cowl
• Realta Blanket <- In progress
• Polo Neck Bag <- In progress
• Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- In progress (one done)
• Hearts on Her Sleeve Fingerless Gloves <- In progress (one done)

It’s Wednesday so that must mean WIP time! Yesterday I showed you all the unfinshed projects I currently have on the go, and last night I was hard at work on my Shawl Collared Cowl. I’m really enjoying working on this one. The yarn is squishy, soft and lovely, the pattern is easy but interesting with the short rows providing variety, and the colours are great, I love seeing what’s coming up next! I’m now six inches into the nine inch stretch, so it won’t be too long before I’m decreasing for the other side of the cowl. The colours in the photo are fairly true, although it might be a little darker really. Hopefully I’ll be able to get on to the decreases by the weekend, but I’m going to be busy for the next few evenings, getting the house tidy enough to meet my mother’s standards, so I’ll just have time to squeeze in some knooking before bed I think.

Check out everyone’s WIPs over on Tami’s!

Is too many? Some people like to work on mulitple projects at a time, and I am definitely one of them. But just now, I think that even I have far too many things on the go! Personally I like to have a couple of things on the go, especially if one is long and repetative, then having a change is a great break. I currently have eight things on the go, according to my Ravelry projects page!

First are my seven gift bunnies. These aren’t quite so bad as the rest. They are very quick to make, and I don’t have any currently on the hook. As they’re so fast it really only takes me a couple of evenings to get each done, which I have to do before Christmas. I’ve completed two of these out of the seven so it shouldn’t be too hard to finish off the last five in the next few weeks.

Number two is my Happy Lavender Scarf. I love this scarf, I really do. I love the way it looks, the way it feels, and I particularly love the colour changes. The problem is that it’s very slow going. I have no idea how long it’s going to end up being, but it’s currently about the length of my arm. This one, I think I need to get back on track with, by completing between one and three different colour stripes per week (depending on their size). This one isn’t my highest priority to finish though, as it’s too thin for winter use and more suited for spring or summer.

Next up is my Hearts on Her Sleeve fingerless glove. The first is complete, the second is where I’ve stalled and just haven’t got going again. It would be easy to finish in a weekend though, so if I have time for it, that’s what I’d like to do this weekend - after tidying up and possibly planting bulbs with my mum! If not, I’ll plan to do it the weekend after. I do love the pattern though, and I love doing cables so I’m looking forward to working on this one again, and since I’ve worked out a neat trick with my new knooks, it’ll be easier than making the first was.

Now we have another pair of fingerless gloves, this time Moss Stitch gloves, in crochet. The first of these is complete and just took me an evening to make up, so this one I really just have to get on with and do it! It should work up really quickly and be an easy project to tick off the list.I’ll either fit this one in on an evening sometime, or maybe work on it this weekend, especially if it’s a very busy one like I expect it will be, unless it rains and my mum decides not to come and help plant bulbs after all.

At number five, we have my poloneck bag. This one is just a big rectangle of back loop only single crochet, so it’s turned out pretty boring to work on. The end result is gorgeous though and it is going to be pretty useful. I want to finish this one before Christmas as it’s destined to be a project bag, and since we’ll be doing a fair bit of travelling around Christmas, it would be great to have it ready and in use for that. I’m over halfway through the fabric for the bag, so I just need to get on with it. Then I’ll just have the handles to make and the assembly to do.

Residing at number six, and destined to be there for a while, is the Realta Blanket. This one, I think I’d like to have finished by the end of the Year of Projects in June, which gives me just over seven months to work on it. I do love the look of the blanket, and working on the individual motif’s is quite interesting, although starting each new one does make me panic about my guage! I need to work out how many of these it’s resonable to make every week, and try to stick to that. I’d like to try one a day, but the octagon’s are so big, that I wouldn’t have time to work on anything else, and I’d definitely get bored. I’ve made three and I need 80 octagons, plus some small squares and triangles, so I’d better get on with this one soon!

My Shawl Collared Cowl comes in at number seven. Last night I finished my second Betula Ring cowl (look out for it on Friday), so this has become my top priority. I guess I’m working on the boring bit now, as I’m just working in pattern for nine inches, before the decreases start. I’ve done three inches though so I’m about a third of the way there. Hopefully I’ll make pretty good progress with this one over the next few evenings, and have a new photo for you tomorrow!

Last but not least is my Recuerdos de Infancia shawl. I do love this shawl. The yarn is Fyberspates Scrumptious and I’m loving working with it. It’s been lacking in progress over the last couple of weeks, because I got all wrapped up in making cowls for the cold weather. After my Shawl Collared Cowl is done, I think this will become my main project, and I’ll hopefully get through the main body soon, then on to the fun part, the border. The problem with shawls is the closer you get to the end, then longer they take! I’m looking forward to getting this one finished though, because I fell in love with the pattern as soon as I saw it.

I’m going to try and resist the urge to cast on anything new and time consuming until I’ve got through at least a few of these - although I probably won’t be able to resist starting something quick as a treat!