Well, this week I’ve been busy, but I don’t have very much to show you. I cast on for a fingerless glove at the weekend, but the first one is finished now - although I still need to sew in ends and put a button on. It’ll be ready for you to see on Friday. I’m not going to cast on a second one until the weekend. Just now I’ve been working on my hairpin lace blanket. I’ve joined the One a Day group on Ravelry, with the aim of doing between 50 and 100 loops everyday. I got 75 done last night, so my total is now 375. The first two strips I want to make 500 loops long, so that I can see how many loops I really need and undo any loops I don’t need . It’s always better to have too many to begin with because it’s much easier to pull them out than add to them.

Magrathea is still in timeout for bad behaviour, so I pulled Genevieve back out of the bottom of my bag. If I want to be able to wear this one, I should probably get on with it while the weather’s still cold. This is an old photo, because I only did a few rows last night, and really it’s still just a rectangle. I’m very close to putting the sleeves on now  and then it should start to look more interesting. It isn’t the most exciting pattern to work on, since it’s just long stretches of the same stitch, but I’m determined to finish this one, and I just have to keep pushing myself to carry on.

To see what everyone else has been up to, check out Tami’s!

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!

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!

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 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!

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!