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!

Here we are at another Monday, and another whole week till the weekend! It was sort of light on my way to work this morning, so it’s starting to feel like spring is actually on the way at last! I’m looking forward to warmer days soon. I’ve been pretty busy this week. We’ve got a new TV - a flat screen at last, instead of our old huge bulky one - so we rearranged the living room to give us more space now we can have the TV wall mounted. It’s opened the room out a lot and makes it feel a lot bigger.

This weekend the Hairpin lace has fallen behind a little, because I’ve got swept away with Magrathea! Magrathea is nearly done! I used around two and a half skiens of yarn to make the body, which was 17 repeats long. Then I joined the fourth skien right befor starting the lace border. I didn’t want to have to join a new skien during the lace, so I thought this way would be best - which didn’t work out because I found a large ugly knot and had to cut it out, but I managed to get the join in the middle of one of the diamonds, so it shouldn’t show too badly. I’ve only got a few more rows left to go, so hopefully it’ll be done by the end of the week and I’ll get it blocked.

The blanket has been going along fine, although it was very ignored yesterday, after I’d started working on the border of my scarf! I have the colours all planned out, so I know which strips I’m doing when. The third strip is underway and I quite like the colours so far, although the pink is very hard to photograph well! The true test will come after this strip, when I move into other colours, and start to get a feel for how the colours will look together. I chose this colour scheme by putting all of the colours into a colour wheel, then taking every third colour , round and round in circles. I have 19 colours, so using every third number let it go round nicely, moving the pattern over one colour every time I went round.

The most exciting thing about being nearly done with Magrathea, is that I can start thinking about what to cast on next! I’m off to London a week on Thursday. I’m going there and back by train, which is a seven hour journey each way! That’s 14 hours of knitting time, with no distractions! I’m going to treat myself to a new audio book for the trip, and I’ll work on a Garter Ruffles Scarf on the trip! I’ll be making it with the Debbie Bliss Andes yarn my husband gave me for Christmas - it’s replacing the two options I had in my list before, because it’ll make better use of the yarn. It should be uncomplicated enough not to give me any problems - important when I don’t know if I’ll be able to get internet access on the train - but the short rows will hopefully keep it interesting. As for the next week or so, I should be good and work on my Childhood Memories shawl, but it’s another crochet piece, and I’d really like to have some knitting on the go, along with the blanket which is crochet. I’ve also been longing to do something with my Stash Addict yarn for ages! the blues and greys are gorgeous, and some of my favourite colours. So, I’m going to give in to temptation and cast on for Henslowe.

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

• Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
• Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
• Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished
• Urban Shells <- Finished
• Elise Shawl <- Finished
• Betula Ring <- Finished
• Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
• Magrathea <- In progress
• Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
• Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn
• Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK
• Garter Ruffles Scarf - Debbie Bliss Andes
• Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn
• Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel
• My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky
• Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)
• Long Nights Cowl <- Finished
• Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

• Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished
• Realistic Octopus <- Finished
• Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
• Tilly the Panda
• Finola the Fox
• Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

• Tote Bag <- Finished
• Windschief Hat <- Finished
• Snowbaby Hat<- Finished
• Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
• Hairpin Lace Blanket <- In Progress
• Genevieve <- In Progress
• Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris
• Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere
• Calorimetry<- Have yarn
• Phone sock/cosy <- Finished
• Pin cushion
• New Era <- In trouble!
• Needle book <- Trying out entrelac (leftovers of blanket yarn)
• Scissor case

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!

Another week is over, and we seem to be getting through January quickly. It’s even still a bit light when I leave work now, so it feels like we’re on the way to spring. I’m starting to think about my birthday and Christmas presents for people this year. One thing I’m considering, is letting my best friends choose a few scarf or shawl patterns they like on Ravelry, then making it up for them in some gorgeous yarn. One of my friends is also having a baby, due on the 31st of July, so I’d like to have something ready for her when the baby arrives, so there might be a few more things on the list soon!

This week I’ve been working on my Magrathea. We bought a couple more skiens of yarn to make sure I have enough to finish it. The yarn was on sale in the shop, so I got two for the price of one which was a bonus! The pattern states you need 25% of your yarn to complete the lace border once you’ve reached the length you want. That means, I can use up to three skiens to make the rest of the shawl. I’ve just joined my second skien and I’ve done 8 pattern repeats. I think I probably want it around 16 repeats long, so hopefully I should have enough yarn for that, bearing in mind that each repeat uses up slightly more yarn as the body gets wider. Sorry for the awful photo - my desk isn’t big enough anymore, so I laid it out on the bed, but the lighting is terrible.

I also started out on a Long Nights Cowl, to use up my Drops Nepal yarn. Originally this yarn was going to be a Broomstick Lace Scarf, but I didn’t really like the way it felt when I crocheted it. I love it in garter stitch though, and it feels lovely and soft. I’ve just joined my second skien of yarn for this, and I think I’m around halfway through. I’m hoping that I won’t need to use my third skien of yarn, because I’d like to turn it into some fingerless gloves. There should be just enough in one skien to make a pair.

I’ve added a scissors case and a needle book to my list below, as they’re a couple of things I have missing from my knitting bag. I’ll probably make a case for my crochet hooks later too. My plan for these (and the pincushion) is to make them out of scraps and left over yarn.

I’ve also changed the realta blanket on the list. The idea of making 80+ hexagons, and even more squares and triangles for the blanket is just too boring and I can’t motivate myself to do it. Instead I’m going to be making a hairpin lace blanket - I expect it’ll probably still be boring, but I’m not going to need nearly so many strips - probably only 20-30, so hopefully it won’t be so tedious, and I love the joining method, so I won’t have to sew anything. Once I’ve made a couple of strips I should be able to work out how many I need for the whole blanket. I’ll definitely be blogging about hairpin lace later this week if you want to pop back.

Hope you all have a great week!

The Revised List

Scarves and Shawls

• Lacey Crochet Scarf <- Finished
• Iris Crocheted Shawl <- Finished
• Shawl Collared Cowl <- Finished
• Urban Shells <- Finished
• Elise Shawl <- Finished
• Betula Ring <- Finished
• Recuerdos de Infancia <- In progress
• Magrathea <- In progress
• Happy Lavender Scarf <- In progress
• Mochi Neck Warmer <- Frogging first Betula Ring for yarn
• Branching Out - Patons Smoothie DK
• Chinook/A Little Bit Bohemian - Debbie Bliss Andes
• Henslowe <- Stash Addict yarn
• 200 Fingering Rocket Shawl/Usoa Shawl <- Drops Fabel
• My Kind of Town Cowl <- Wendy Serenity Super Chunky
• Sunderland <- Wendy Happy (Cinders)
• Long Nights Cowl <- In progress, Drops Nepal
• Blue Lagoon

Amigurumi

• Knit Bunnies x 7 <- Finished
• Realistic Octopus <- Finished
• Sheldon Turtle <- Have yarn
• Tilly the Panda
• Finola the Fox
• Chester the Dog <- Knit picks yarn

Other Things

• Tote Bag <- Finished
• Windschief Hat <- Finished
• Snowbaby Hat<- Finished
• Skaði Fingerless Gloves <- Finished
• Hairpin Lace Blanket <- Replacing Realta Blanket
• Giselle
• Genevieve <- In Progress
• Faceclothes/Make up pads <- Drops Paris
• Cap Sleeved Top <- Freedom Sincere
• Calorimetry<- Have yarn
• Phone sock/cosy <- Finished
• Pin cushion
• Fingerless gloves <- Left overs of Drops Nepal, hopefully
• Needle book <- Trying out entrelac
• Scissor case

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!

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!

Wednesdays and Sundays are typically the days when I recap on what I’ve been doing and decide if I’ve been productive or not! So this week, I finished balling up my skiens of Fyberspates, and started work on my shawl, and frogged it and started again with a slightly bigger hook. The yarn I’m using is four ply, but it’s more of a sport weight than fingering weight yarn, so using a 4mm hook it feeling very solid. Now I’ve gone up to a 4.5 mm hook the shawl feels much lighter and more flexible, and I’m going to skip some repeats in the body of the shawl to keep it a manageable size.

I cast on and finished my second bunny square. It’s going to become a bunny in the tonight hopefully and you’ll definitely be able to see him on Friday. This one has come out pretty much the same colour as the last one, but I can see two colour changes coming up in my ball of yarn now, so I’m pretty sure the next rabbit will be a different colour. I want to come up with names for the rabbits, to go on the little tags I’m planning for them, so if you have any suggestions, let me know! I need seven names and the rabbits will all be shades of brown.

My Happy Lavender Scarf is also still hanging around. I had intended to put it to one side while I work on my shawl and bunnies, but the bunnies work up so fast I can finish the squares in one evening, and I’m really enjoying having a crochet and a knooking project to swap between whenever I need a break. I’m currently working my way through another long lavender stripe, heading towards another dark green stripe. I’m finding these stripes really exciting! I have no idea how it’ll look when I’m finished but I’m sure I’ll love it. It’s already almost as long as my arm. I’m planning just to use up all my yarn on the scarf. I started with 111g so I’ll try and remember to weigh it again soon and see how I’m doing. Because it’s so thin, wrapping it around several times won’t make it feel bulky.

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

Hurray for another WIP Wednesday! I love to see what everyone else is working on around the world, and I think it’s awesome that something so simple as yarn can bring so many people together! So this week I’ve made more progress with my Happy Lavender Scarf (if you’ve seen my YoP post you’ve already seen this photo, sorry!). I love this scarf and the yarn so much. It’s about to be put on the back burners for a little while though, as I have something very exciting to work on. I have no ambition to finish this scarf before next easter at the earliest, since it’s way to thin to be a winter scarf, and I’m glad to think it’ll be waiting for me whenever I want it.

I’ve started on my first gift knit bunny! The test one was a four inch square, but I wanted them a little bigger, so this is going to be a five inch square. The yarn I’m using is Rowan Colourscape Chunky and it’s something I’ve never worked with before - pure lambswool. It’s really soft and it’s knitting up so fast, I’m loving working with it. The yarn itself is lovely - it has several shades of brown, with pretty long colour runs, and little flecks of white and darker brown through it. I’m hoping I’ll be able to make all seven rabbits out of one skien, and that they’ll all look different to each other.

I got a very exciting parcel in the post yesterday. It had some new hooks for knooking that I’ll talk more about tomorrow, and it had yarn! The colours in the photo are a little off - it’s really a gorgeous teal colour and a bit more green than the photo. It’s Fyberspates 4 ply Scruptious, which is a 55% superwash merino, 45% silk blend, and it’s amazing. It feels so soft! I’ve already turned the first skien into a ball - which took about an hour, so after the next is done, I can start crocheting with it. This is what my Happy Lavender Scarf is being put aside for, and I’m going to turn it into the Recuerdos de Infancia shawl on my Year of Projects list. I’m really excited to get started on it!

Don’t forget to heck out everyone else on Tami’s and see what other awesome things are currently in progress!