WIPeou 2009 - Baby Cardie

PATTERN: Pretty sure I got this from the back of an old Woman's Day.

YARN: Mystery 8ply cotton purchased in an op-shop many, many years ago.

ISSUES: Well it's been sitting for at least 4 years in this state - with only one side band and the neck band to go. I don't like how the bands came out and I don't like the chunkiness of it for a small baby, although the pattern is very sweet, and I really hate the way my seams came out. I could have redone the seams and I did try to unpick it but the cotton shredded in the process. Hideous.

ACTION: Binned.

WIPeout 2009 - Angelina hits the frog pond

PATTERN: Angelina by Joan McGowan Michael.

YARN: Homespun 8ply weight bought of eBay.

PROGRESS: Started in December 2005! Jejune bought me the pattern for my birthday. Knitted up to arm increases

ISSUES:

• There is a difference between homespun and hand spun which I didn't quite appreciate at the time of purchase. The yarn is quite coarse and doesn't really suit the pattern.
• Knitters I trust reported difficulties with fit when using other than the recommended yarn.

ACTION: Frog and forget until the right yarn comes along. It's done - frogged, washed and yarn drying.

WIPeout 2009 - Filigree Jacket

PATTERN: Filigree Lace Jacket by Joan McGowan-Michael.

YARN: Recycled 8ply in cherry red

PROGRESS: both sleeves and 4 inches into the body. *sob*

ISSUES: I love the colour of this yarn, I love the feel of this yarn and I really like the pattern but I cast on in the largest size 64" bust when I was about that size and it was looking a little large then. I'm 10" less in the bust than that now and I can't continue.

ACTION: It's frogged but the yarn will be back possibly in the same pattern but in a much smaller size. But not until the other WIPs are dealt with.

But I miss you most of all my darling...

When Autumn leaves start to fall.

On the first day of the month I wore hand-knitted socks for the first time this year and cast on a cardigan.

Despite all the the WIPs, I need to knit me a cardie right now!

This recycled 8-10ply in cherry red wants to be the Filigree Lace Jacket from White Lies Design. The pattern has been here for a while and the time seemed right.

So far it looks a bit big but how are you supposed to measure gauge across a lace piece? Is it blocked or unblocked? Surely with lace one blocks to measurements and there's a fair bit of play. It would be so much better to give WPI or stst tension and let me work it out from there. I suspect I’m going to have to go down a size. We’ll see once I finish a sleeve.

And the Powerball ticket? Not my winning entry I assure you - it's my row counting system. I cross through the numbers, having previously marked the squares where something like an increase needs to happen. I use pencil to cross through the numbers so the mark can be rubbed out when if I need to tink a row or so.

WIP WEDNESDAY

Time Thief Watch Caps 2007.101-104

It's a sad state of affairs when the WIPs one reported a fortnight ago are the same today.

The Khaki Cables Cardie is exactly as it was two weeks ago. Perhaps next week.

The Short Circuit Scarf has progessed but only a very little bit. Mum and I are off to Leeton this long weekend for the Stanbridge Reunion. Stanbridge is a small district outside Leeton and is where my mother was born and grew up. I was going to take some special yarn and a lovely pattern and knit something pretty for me but this scarf is screaming to be finished and I'm pretty sure Nanna will like it.

The socks. Mum has claimed these. She decided that they would suit her very well, despite previously stating that she didn't want colourful socks, and that they were obviously far too small for me anyway. OK, fine, she can have them. I'd finished one sock and had got to the foot of the second when I worked out that I'd measured the foot from the back of the heel instead of the gusset and had made them about an inch too short.

It took me nearly a week to work this out. Pissed off with myself and disappointed, Spidey took pity and unpicked the toe at SnB last night. They are not going to be finished for Mum to wear away this weekend as planned but I'll take them and hopefully finish them.

TTWCs continue apace. The acquistion of a new 4.5mm x 60cm circ is a boon (I have 6 now) and I've pressed into service some thicker needles to deal with the chunkier yarn that was at repose in the bottom of the beanie boodle. With The Shopping Sherpa helping out, several beanies will be out there soon.

So what else to take away for the weekend? I'm leaning towards Barb Coddington's Clafoutis socks for a bit of instant gratification and maybe another ball of sock yarn just in case.

Speaking of Socks, if you're into it, you can still join the Southern Summer of Socks. I don't KAL, there's enough deadline pressure in my life, but it does look like fun.

WIP it! (with apologies to Devo)

Startistis is gnawing at the admittedly shaky resolve to finish some of the projects already on the sticks before succumbing to the tempations of new infatuations.

These are the projects in current rotation.

Short Circuit scarf in mystery boucle.

The yarn emerged from a boodle box of textured but not bad yarns. I imagine that it came from an op-shop in a bag of yarn bought for something else in it. The yarn has been unravelled from another garment and there is quite a lot of it. The boucle bit is plum and the plying thread is dark navy blue. Knitting it on 5mm needles (lovely vintage red plastic ones) gives it a lot of drape. This was started in July but abandoned in the whole mix up over my leave dates. It's mindless enough to be out and about knitting so I'm trying not to waste precious home time on it.

Plain Socks in Heirloom's Jigsaw sock yarn

The yarn is from the considerable sock boodle and I think it came from Cassidy's in Jamison last year. Started a week ago so I'd have an easy sock for toting around, it has progressed to the heel. The intention was to work on this at lunchtimes but the first week back at work was a bit full on and it was only knitted during one lunch-time. Will try harder next week.

"Khaki Cables" by Penny Ollman from Knitter's Magazine Winter 2006

This is the project I took away. There is a completed sleeve and half a back is currently on the needle. There's a front done as well, but I buggered it up and it will be unravelled in the fullness of time.

The cable pattern is lovely and easy to remember, definitely a Good Thing TM. I've made sizing alterations. The pattern is for quite a short cardigan but I've done the maths (several times *sigh*) and my version will be a-lined and below hip length. I'm praying that I have enough Cleckheaton Country Heathers to finish. Loving the green. This is my at-home knit. At-home doesn't happen very often, so this could be a very long time being finished.

And the needle is an Addi Turbo. I was not an fan of the Turbo but it's definitely the right tool for this job. I still don't like the short shank on the shorter length Addis, but this one is long enough to manipulate easily.

As usual there are five TTWCs on the go. They don't really count as WIPs as they are constant. Why five? That's the number of 4.5mm x 60cm circs I have and it's convenient to have them loaded and ready to go at a moment's notice. I also aim to have at least one paler-shaded TTWC available for knitting in low light levels (movies, lectures etc.). It's also useful to have a few on the go because sometimes it isn't always possible to knit the "finishing" stage on dpns and participate in other activities (like walking).

There are other projects lurking in the WIP/UFO basket but I'm ignoring them until something can be achieved with these babies.

The Finishing Post

Much to report for a week of non-blogging. Well I tried to blog but blogger buggered it up.

I may have fallen off the Use What You Have Month (UWYHM) wagon, but I've still completed several projects from what I had.

We have, for your viewing pleasure:

The Knitting Cape

The pattern is A capella from Knitty.com. My version is not elegant but it's serviceable.

No, knittydoll, unfortunately the Knitting Cape does not confer on the wearer knitting super-powers, like the ability to knit lace in an instant with no tedious unraveling when a YO has been missed! It does, however, keep this knitter toasty warm without all the bulk around the arms that too many layers of clothes adds.

This was knitted from two strands together of the homespun donated by my SIL's godmother in February. It used about 400 g. I will admit to buying the buttons ($1.80 from Big W) because I had no suitable ones at home. You can't see them in the pic because I hadn't sewn them on at that point, but they are now firmly secured and are a lovely mother-of-pearl finish, very thin and about the size of a 10c piece. There are four of them. I added the ruffle on the bottom, knitted in garter stitch with increases in every 4th stitch for 4 rows because cr****t and fringes are forbidden in this house.

I will admit to not really liking this wool when it was donated, but knitted up it's just lovely. The pearly grey colour gives way to mauves through to indigo with some pale pink and crimson.

Java Jarmies, Versions I and II

We rise early in the Taphophile household. We like to greet the day slowly and with generous doses of caffeine. Now that the weather has turned in Canberra, my early morning plunger of coffee is usually tepid after the first cup and stone cold by the third.

As I was finishing the ruffle on the Knitting Cape, I pondered the problem and immediately solved it. What was needed was a cosy for the Bodum. A few calculations later and we have Java Jarmies Version I.

It's double rib with the homespun knitted on two needles with a button hole flap to accommodate the handle and a v-shape in the centre front to accommodate the pouring lip. The bottom 3cm is stitched together.

Version I didn't have quite enough length in the button hole flap (only 6 stitches). Version II has 12 stitches which is too long. Version III will have 8.

Now there's one for work and one for home and have to create them for the other sizes and styles of coffee presses in the house. It works really well and the coffee stays at a drinkable temperature for about an hour, even in the arctic reaches of the kitchen.

Cap for Claire

A member of my work team loved the donated yarn so much she demanded I knit her a cap. She also demanded a jumper but that was never going to happen even had there been enough wool.

I used the Mark Thrailkill's Watch Cap pattern again and it worked a treat. The model here is Baby Chrissie. There's about 150g of the donated handspun left. Not sure what it will be yet.

Matinee Idols

The handbag usually contains a matinee jacket or other small and portable item of knitting. These two are the latest versions.

The aqua is sweet and the yellow is really very buttery. There will be more of these in the months to come as they are knitted in one piece from the top down on a circular needle and after the sleeves it's all plain sailing. Also, stash contains an awful lot of 3ply.

Beau's Beanie

Beau is the boy-manager of the Starbucks which is the SnB and BookCrossing venue. He is a lovely man who is very supportive of both groups so I thought he needed a little knitterly gift. This was knitted from the leftover Wedding Hat yarn to Needle Beetle's Sea Cap pattern.

He whipped it out of the bag this afternoon and stuck it straight on. He appeared delighted with it and it fitted quite well. Don't know about you, but I get very nervous giving knitted gifts, so his response was quite a relief.

Several things have been started, unravelled, restarted, unravelled and chucked in a box and some progress. More later.