Well Wednesday is here and I have a new project to show you! I finally finished off the lace edge for Magrathea and it’s ready to be blocked! I have some new blocking mats - the interlocking ones on the way, but I don’t think they’ll come before tomorrow, or Friday, and I really want to get Magrathea blocked so I’ll probably  get out spare towels and my yoga mat and use them tonight. My yoga mat is too thin to hold the pins so I have to put a couple of towels under it, which is why I decided to get some new mats - plus my yoga mat isn’t wide enough for big shawls. The bind off edge of Magrathea is going to take a bit of blocking to give it the same nice spikey edge as the other side. I’m really excited to see this one done, and I’m planning to take it down to London with me next week. Here’s a photo of the nearly finished lace for you.

I let my hairpin lace blanket fall by the wayside a little last week, because I was so keen to get on with Magrathea this week. But I picked it back up yesterday, and I’m currently on 250 loops on my third strip. It should be finished and joined up by the weekend if everything goes to plan.

And last night I cast on something new! I’m finally getting to use my stash addict yarn and it is gorgeous! I love the colours and the way they sit together, and the Blue faced leciester yarn is lovely and soft. I’m never used BFL before, and I really like it. I’ve cast on for Henslowe. It looks beautiful in the photos and hopefully it shouldn’t be too hard. It will be the first crescent shaped shawl I’ve done and so far it’s going well. I’m using 3.5 mm needles which are tiny! the only in my right hand is fine, but holding the one in my left feels a little awkward.  I think it’s partly the change from 5mm to 3.5mm and I’m sure I’ll get used to it soon.

Check out Tami’s for more WIP Wednesdays!

Well this week, I haven’t got too much done. I had a disasterous time with my second New Era glove, which you can read about here. They’ve been banished to the bookshelves for a while, until I can face frogging them - they could be there till autumn! I did manage to finish the hairpin lace strip I was working on last week, as well as a second one, but I haven’t started the third strip yet. I planned out a few different ideas for a blanket and you can see more about the blanket here. My husband chose the pattern he likes best - it’s the middle one on the left in this image, so I’ll be starting that tonight. You can see in the photo, that I’ve joined the first two blanket strips together - they are really easy to join, so I’m going to keep joining as I go. So far I think I need 32 strips, but if I’m joining as I go I can either stop early, or put in some more colours.

Last night I picked up Magrathea again. I’m really glad to be working on it again, and I’m going to resist casting on any large projects till I’ve got it done - everyone needs some instant gratification every now and then! I frogged back to where I’d missed a yarn over the last time, and I’ve done another repeat or so since then. I’d forgotten how soft the yarn I’m using is! It’s gorgeous and I’m loving working on it again. I’m being very careful now, and counting the lace every time I finish a row now, to make sure I’m up to the right place. I need to always have an even number of stitches, either 24, 26 or 28. As long as I can keep that right, everything else should follow on nicely.

I’m already starting to think about this years Christmas presents. For the girls/women I want to try and do as many handmade things as I can - and for the guys too, although they’re a lot harder! I have plans to try a lot of new things this year, like making soap, and I’ll definitely be blogging about them all. So this year I want to start early. I always put a small toy in the boxes I make up for friends and sisters (have a look here). Last year I made knit bunnies for everyone. This year I want to make something else cute! There’s a lot of cute patterns on ravelry like bunny nuggets, chubby chirps, owl puffs and monster chunks. Loads of things that would be prefect for using up the scraps of blanket yarn I’m sure I’ll have, and be cute and cheerful little gifts. So on weeks when I know I’m not going to have anything else finished, and I need a little instant gratification knitting, I’ll be testing out these patterns with scrap yarn in my stash! This week I’m going to make an out of yarn ball. One of my friends is having a baby this summer, and I think some of these in loads of colours would make great little baby toys!

Check out Tami’s to see what everyone else is working on!

Well, it’s Wednesday again, and I always look forwards to Wednesday lunchtime as it marks halfway though my week, and means I’m halfway to the weekend! I managed to get quite a bit done this week, and I’m happy with how my projects are doing, although I am getting a bit bored with so much garter stitch in both my projects. I really want to use my stash addict yarn so I might start the Henslowe shawl on my Year of Projects list, but I should also work on some of the things that have been hibernating for a little while. On the other hand though I should really use up the last of my Drops Nepal making some fingerless gloves, if I have enough yarn left, before the weather warms up and I don’t need them any more. At the moment though, I’m being strong and resisting the urge to start anything new until the Long Nights Cowl is finished.

 Speaking of which, my cowl is now 19” long, with five to go! Hopefully I’ll be able to get most of it done tonight, then assemble it tomorrow and have an FO for you to see on Friday. I have still got some off my skien to go, but I’m not sure how much - I should probably weigh it. Hopefully it will be enough to finish off the five inches, but if not, I’m tempted just to let my cowl be a little bit shorter - provided I can still get it over my head! To bind this off, you sew the last row to the straight section to join it in a loop. I’ve never done anything like this before so I’m not quite sure how it will work out, however, I guess the best thing to do is just to try it and see.

Magrathea is still getting longer and wider. Each row takes longer and longer to complete, but it’ll be worth it in the end. I try to do a minimum of one repeat per day to make sure I keep going. I’m going to London at the endo of February, so I’m aiming to have it finished and blocked before I go so I can wear it when I’m down. I’ve finally reached a point where I’m beginning to remember the pattern. For some reason it’s taken me a long time to remember how the four rows (not counting the purl rows) go.

I also started my Hairpin Lace blanket this week. So far I’ve done between 70 and 80 loops. I kept losing count last night, so I put it down and left it. I’m going to aim for an easily accomplished number of loops per day to keep this one moving a long too. Hopefully I’ll be able to complete one or two strips a week this way. I might even join in the One a Day group on Ravelry to keep me motivated and moving along with this one. If I can get this blanket done, then I’ll have a lot more room in my yarn boxes!

For more WIP Wednesdays, check out Tami’s!

Well Wednesday is here again, and I’ve been doing very well with my blogging this week. I’ve had a post on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so today makes four in a row. I’m not sure what I’m going to post about tomorrow though! This week I’ve been quite busy. I’ve done a bit more on my Magrathea and I think it’s about a third of the length I want now. The thing I love about patterns like this, is that I can just keep going until it’s as long as I want. I have four skiens of yarn for this shawl, and the lace border at the end takes 25% of your yarn according to the pattern, so I can keep going until I’ve used up the other three skeins. I’m about to finish my first skien of yarn and I have the russian join all done and ready.

I also cast on a new small project this week. I was considering turning this yarn into fingerless gloves, but instead I’m making it into a Long Nights Cowl. The cowl looks gorgeous in the photos, although the instructions for assembling it look a bit strange. I’m hoping it’ll make more sense when I’ve reached that stage and I can try it out for myself. It find things often make more sense to me if I just try it instead of overthinking it.  I’m really enjoying the yarn for this project. It’s Drops Nepal which is a wool/alpaca blend and beautifully soft. It’s funny because I bought it originally for a crochet broomstick lace scarf and I wasn’t really keen on the feel of it then, but in garter stitch I love it. It’s surprising how differently crochet and knitting make yarn feel sometimes.

To see what everyone else has been upto this week, check out Tami’s!

It’s WIP Wednesday, and I’m back at work, so I’m getting back into my normal blogging routine again at last. During the holidays I started a couple of new projects. The first is Magrathea. The pattern is designed for fingering weight yarn, but I’m using some gorgeous aran weight yarn my husband got me for Christmas (I’ll be posting about all his yarny presents tomorrow). The yarn is Belle Organic Aran, which is a wool/cotton blend I fell for a while ago and it’s gorgeous. I have two balls of it, and I think I might need a third, but I love the way it’s working out so far. It feels so soft and snuggly! The pattern is great too. I love the border and the garter stitch body and it’s going pretty well so far.

I also started hooking Genevieve. It’s been on my Year of Projects list for a while now, and I decided the Christmas holidays were a good time to get started. The pattern is going well so far. It’s really clear and simple to adjust to your own measurements - I’m making mine longer than the original and with longer sleeves. I’m almost at the point where I can start addin in the sleeves. The pattern is worked flat all in one piece, then seamed up the sides and under the arms, then the edging is put on. The yarn for this one is Sirdar Supersoft Aran, which is quite nice, and affordable when you’re buying 8 balls of it!

Don’t forget to check out everyone else’s projects on Tami’s!

It’s the last Wednesday before Christmas, and I haven’t finished my gifts! I’m confident I will though, so there’s no need to panic. I have four more bunnies to finish, so I can have a photo of the seven together before they all go seperate ways, although three aren’t likely to go to their new homes until late January. Three of the bunnies are squares waiting to be made up, and the fourth is about halfway done. I’ll finish the square off after work, and begin stitching them up tonight. I decided it might be easier to do all the squares in one go and put them all together at once, so I have my stuffing and ballast stone, needles and pompom tails all ready together, instead of hunting them out each time. I love the variation in shades of brown between the bunnies, and I particularly like the white flecks in one. I think it’ll make a lovely freckled bunny! I also need to name them all and make up tags for them, which won’t take long. Then I need to weave in the ends on the scarf I made for my mum, and get all the presents wrapped, because I haven’t wrapped any yet! I also need to pick my holiday work to take away with me, and I’m hoping my 3mm hook will arrive before we go, so I can start my Magrathea! We’re off to my parents on Friday so everything needs to be wrapped and packed by then.

Check out Tami’s for more WIP Wednesdays!

I was going to prepost this, but I was sleepy last night and I didn’t! I’ve been working on my Snowbaby Hat and I’ve been getting on quite well so far. I’m using a 3.5 mm hook for the ribbing, because I’d like it to be a little bit tighter. When I finish the ribbing I’ll go back to using the 4 mm hook. I’ve just finished the two inch brim that will fold up, and I’ve just started the inch of ribbing at the bottom of the hat. I love how this feels so far - it’s so soft and squishy and I really hop it’ll be lovely and warm. My husband is loving his hat, and I really hope I’ll love mine too.

I think the hat will probably be taking me more than just two more evenings to finish, so I won’t have it done by Friday, so tonight I’m going to start work on another knit bunny. I need to finish 5 more bunnies for Christmas presents, so if I finish one this week, I’ll spend the whole weekend working on my hat, and next week I’ll turn myself  in to a bunny factory and make the last four!

So that’s my plans for the next couple of weeks. Don’t forget to check out everyone else on Tami’s!

It’s a very sleepy Wednesday for me today! I should have had an early night last night, but I was excited to work on the Windschief hat a little more. I’m now about to start the decreases. I have all the stitch markers in the right place now, but I was starting to fall asleep last night as I was counting the stitches, so I decided it was time to stop! I love how the hat is looking and especially how soft it feels. I’m looking forward to starting the decreases so that the hat will speed up towards the end.

I’ve got to the point where I’m about to have to join my second ball of yarn. This is the first time I’ve had to do it for knitting, and after a little googling, I’ve decided to go for a Russian Join. I’ve already joined the yarn together and I’d hoped to reach it last night so I could see how it looks, but I’m still about 30 cm away from it. If it works nicely I think this will become my favourite way of joining yarn, especially as it means there’s no sewing in ends afterwards. I hope it won’t be too bulky or obvious.

Last night we also bought the yarn for my hat! The photo is terrible, sorry! I was having trouble with bad lighting and the cream coloured yarn kept turning into a bright white glowing ball! The other two are dark brown, the same colour as my fingerless gloves. I’m making a Snowbaby hat for myself, when I finish my husband’s Windschief hat. It’ll be my first time doing colourwork in knitting, so I’ve been looking at some videos to make sure I know what I should be doing. I’m looking forward to it. After using the Rialto Cashmerino for my husband’s hat, and enjoying how soft it is, I decided to get some for my hat too!

Don’t forget to check out Tami’s for more WIP’s!

Wednesday means I’m already over halfway through my working week. Only one more early morning before I can have a lie in! I’m using up the last of my holiday for the year by taking every Friday off, so just now I have four days of work, and three days of relaxing, crochet, knooking, jewellery making, origami and notebook decorating leading up to Christmas. After last weekend’s mad rush on tidying and gardening, there aren’t too many chores for this weekend and I plan to make the most of it!

The weather’s taken a sudden turn for the cold this morning to I’m going to have to rush on with my skaði fingerless gloves. If you didn’t see my post on Monday, I’ve changed my yarn and I’m now making them in Debbie Bliss Rialto, which is so squishy and warm I think they’re going to be great. I have one done, but I haven’t done anything on the second since Monday. I’ve just finished the cuff of the second and I’m about to start the increases. They work up pretty quick though, so I should have them done by Friday.

I’ve also cast on something new, which I hadn’t planned to do, But it’s for a good cause. I made my husband get his hair cut at the weekend, and now his ears are getting cold! So the Windschief hat has been bumped up the queue. This one is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. He picked out his own yarn for the hat, and because he’s super sensitive to wool, and I knew a merino yarn would be great for him. This yarn is so soft, it’s amazing. Knooking with it is so good, that I didn’t mind too much that I had to cast on twice! The first time I’d got half way through the first round when I realised I’d twisted it and had to start again. But it’s underway again now, and I’m loving it so far. Knitting through the back loop is new for me, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it works up once I’ve got more done. Hopefully it’ll knit up quite quick, because the weather’s getting colder.

I also what to get through my current WIP’s (plus the ones that have been a little ignored recently) because I got my Stash Addict yarn and I can’t wait to start using it! Don’t forget to check out Tami’s for more WIPs!

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!