FO: Cwtch Shawl

Last summer I was given a gorgeous skein of Natural Dye Studio Scheherazade in the colourway Wisteria, as part of a swap package.

Such a hard colour to capture. It's pink, not lilac!

About a month later - during Wimbledon I think, so pretty much exactly a year ago - I decided it was destined to become the Cwtch Shawl. I worked on it irregularly, and it was the end of October before I had finally finished.

This is more like the colour

Unfortunately, the bind off suggested in the pattern was nowhere near stretch enough, and I couldn't block it. At the time, I wasn't up to the challenge of unpicking the bind off and finding a stretchier one. Fastforward to now, and I've got a few more shawls under my belt and a lot more understanding/experience in knitting generally. So I decided it was time I did something about it.

I had to go back to the pattern to remind myself how I had bound off (on a purl row, p2tog, pass stitch back to left needle, repeat) and what stitches I should have on the needle when I was done. Once I'd got my head around it, the rest was easy.

I re-did the bind off with a crochet hook, adding a chain stitch between each bound off stitch. Lazy Katy uses a similar bind off and the results were amazing, so I was confident I'd get the bind off I was looking for.

Isn't that better? And for some reason, it looks purple again.

As soon as it was bound off, it was in the sink and onto the blocking boards. The end result is beautiful.

I increased the size to include two more hearts in the border, but screwed up the maths as the pattern has a mistake in the stitch counts. So my centre point is a little off on the border and I had to fudge it a bit. I suppose I could have tinked back to add more stitches but I really couldn't be bothered. It's barely noticeable anyway.

The heart pattern is adorable! And in this yarn (a camel/silk blend) it is a dream to wear. It's so floaty.

There is a part of me that is kind of sad I didn't get around to doing this sooner, as I think it would have been a lovely shawl to wear on my wedding day. Given the temperatures on the day (and the rain!), I'm glad I didn't though, as the shop-bought pashmina I ended up with was a lot bigger than this!

Year of Projects 2 - an early roundup

The second Year of Projects comes to an end on the 30th June. Immediately afterwards, we will plunge recklessly into a third year! I'm rounding off my second year a few weeks early, as I want to have some time to carefully consider what to do with my list this time around. In the first year, I focused on a list of patterns that would push and challenge me, teaching me new techniques and skills to broaden my knowledge and experience as both a knitter and crocheter.

In my second year, I took a different strategy. I went through my stash, and put together a list of yarns I wanted to use. Now the year draws to a close, so it's time to see what that approach yielded.

These are the yarns that made it onto my list. A mix of fibres and weights, gifts and self purchases. A slightly broader colour palette perhaps than I am used to, but pinks and purples still dominate. I seem to be developing a taste for blue as well!

I think when I put the list together I was being very optimistic. My hope was, with so much to choose from, I'd never get bored of it. This is what I turned it into over the course of the last eleven months (well, more like eight months or so, as I've not got much crafting done in the last few months between the house move and the wedding!).

Nineteen finished projects, using eleven of the yarns I added to the list. In addition to these finished items, I have three projects still listed as WIPs in my project page which come from the list: Starlight, a beaded lace shrug using the gorgeously purple Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace, which is nowhere near finished, the Cwtch Shawl in the Natural Dye Studio Scheherazade, which needs to have its bind off undone and re-done in a stretchier stitch, and Peerie Flooers, in the Rowan Fine Tweed, which has been finished since Christmas but needs the ends weaving in and blocking. I hope to get that done by the time winter knocks on our doors again!

The other projects not displayed here represent my failed efforts. I tried to make a start on the Ishbel shawl once I'd finished the hat, but didn't get anywhere with it. I picked up the Artesano 100% Alpaca DK and tried to knit the Baskerville hat, but obviously wasn't concentrating well enough on it as I went wrong so many times I gave up in disgust. I still want to knit them though, so they might find their way onto the list for year three!

Nineteen beats my eleven from the previous year, although I think I was less distracted this year because of the way I designed the challenge for myself. Last year's list has so much revision, so many patterns crossed off and added, whereas this year I felt far less guilty about doing something else. A quick look at my Ravelry page shows thirteen finished projects alongside the above, completed since this second Year of Projects started, but most are small, quick distractions. The only things I did that weren't were the sofa bed afghan and our Christmas stockings, but that was ok because I'd planned for both of those to take time away from the list.

I'm not sure which is my favourite project from the year. I wore Phannie and Ishbel beret alternately almost every day through the winter and early spring. I can't choose between the three shawls I knit this year, as they are all fabulous, but I think the Lazy Katy just might win, on the basis that I knit it so quickly and it's such a quirky shape. I'm proud of knitting my first toe up socks, and the hot water bottle platypus was the difference between a good night's sleep and hypothermia when I went camping last November.

What I do know is that it would be a lot harder to stick to the challenge without all the other wonderful people who are challenging themselves right alongside me. Year two saw a lot of new folks joining the group and getting involved, and it's been great to share this journey with you all again. Looking forward to seeing you all back for round three!

Year of Projects Update May 5th

It's been an absolute age since I last did an update for the Year of Projects! Pretty much because I haven't been doing any knitting or crochet since before we moved house several weeks ago, and even when I have, my current WIPs haven't been from my list of stash yarn.

However, I have made something this week which qualifies! As I said earlier in the week I needed simple projects to get me back in the groove.

Meet the newest addition to my 'nest'. This storage box has been haunting my house for years, always shoved in a corner, filled with useless crap. I've emptied it out, and crocheted a cover for it to match the sofa bed afghan I made last year.

I pretty much just winged it after I got to the last row of the afghan motif. I added an extra row of black, then switched back to purple for the sides. The last two rows and the chain that holds it in place I did in brown.

As I said, I was kind of making it up as I went, so the attaching it to the lid part was a bit sloppy, but I figure nobody will see that part really.

I'm not sure what I'm going to use it for, so for now I have put it next to my sofa. I might store my needles in it. Or just fill it full of yarn. Secret yarn...

In other news, we have finally started letting Fidget out without his harness and lead. He's been very good, and although he's been off over the fence exploring the neighbouring gardens, he's not stayed out too long and has come back when called every time. He's getting used to coming and going through the window and not the door, and seems an awful lot happier for it. As it's a long weekend this weekend, I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm home all day today and tomorrow to leave the window open and just let him come and go when he pleases, as I want him to be completed comfortable before we swan off to get married on Saturday and abandon him for two weeks while we fly to America.

Year of Projects Update 24th February

I wanted to make a concerted effort this week, to work through my blocking pile and get long-finished projects finally completed and able to be worn. Of the four projects awaiting blocking, only one has so far made it onto the boards and into my wardrobe (the Baktus, which I shared on Friday). Eleonora and Peerie Flooers require a more complicated approach, which is why they are still languishing in the basket.

Cwtch Shawl in Natural Dye Studio Scheherezade

My Cwtch Shawl made it out of the basket, but after playing with it for a bit I have come to the conclusion that yes, my bind off is too tight and it won't block effectively. This means finding the time to sit down and undo the bind off without dropping any stitches, before finding an alternative bind off that will have more give in it. Luckily, I have a small ball of leftover yarn remaining, so will have the extra yardage required when I get to the end again. I can't remember which bind off I used when I did it the first time, but I'm sure I will figure it out as I unpick it!

In it's place, however, and jumping to the front of the blocking queue is my latest finish - Lazy Katy. I am amazed, as it has only taken me a week to knit this shawl. By far, my quickest finish to date.

Here it is in all it's unblocked, wrinkly glory. I am absolutely in love with it. I love that the colour changed back to the bright blue for the bind off row. I still have a fair bit of the Zauberball left as well, just over 180 yards, so if anyone has any ideas about what I could use that up with, I'd be grateful!

It was actually surprisingly easy to block, because once you've got the corner in place and have started pinning out the points of the lace edging, the natural curve forms itself and you don't have to pin the non-lace edge at all. It was a bit hard on the back, as I spent a lot of time leant over the table tweaking a pin here and a pin there to make sure it was even. I will try and get Jamie to take a decent picture of it in action to show you next week.

This leaves me with only one YoP Project currently on the go, the Light of Earendil Shrug. While I will try and add a few rows to it here and there, I will still need to cast on something else for those evenings when I am just too tired for laceweight and beads. Eskimimi's new pattern, the Mrs Tumnus shawl, is my current favourite, especially as she is hosting a KAL over in her Ravelry group starting on March 1st. As I have no yarn on my YoP list that is suitable, it won't count towards this years list, but as I've stuck pretty religiously to my list so far this year (well, with the exception of the Christmas Stockings) I don't mind veering off it for a little while.

FO: Crazy Wave Baktus

I eventually got around to blocking my Baktus this week, so am finally able to show off my crazy, colourful rainbow stripes.

Pattern: Crest of a Wave Baktus by Jan Henley

Yarn: Skein Queen Squash in Baubles

Needle: 4mm

The yarn was a Christmas present in 2011, from my lovely friend Emmylou. It sat in my stash for months, with no real idea what it was going to become.

I had no idea how to deal with yarn that changed colour so often, and in such a bright combination! It wasn't until I knit my Momijigari that I realised that a simple garter stitch pattern might make the most of this yarn.

I loved this project. It was a complete joy from start to finish. The fact that you knit the pointy bits as you go along makes for a much quicker finish as well; one of the things that really slowed down Momijigari was the endless rows after picking up all the stitches for the border, but with the Baktus, this just didn't happen.

I failed utterly to measure it before and after, but trust me, it grew a lot during blocking. The end result is a light and airy shawl that is super warm thanks to its 100% merino content.

It's a bit creased in this pic because I'd worn it twice between blocking
and photographing outside in the daylight!

I think this shows the colours a bit better. At a certain width, you get the whole rainbow in the length of a row, and at other places the points on the border show a whole rainbow in their stripes. The odd pooling I noticed in the first half of the shawl repeated itself as I decreased, which appeals to my love of symmetry! I had been planning on wearing Momijigari to Unravel tomorrow, but now this is finished and blocked I think I might wear this one instead.

Head on over to Tami's to see more FO's today.

Another new project

When I cast off my socks last week, I was left with a choice of three current WIPs to pick back up: the Light of Earendil shrug, my Baskerville hat or the scarf I started as an antidote to the laceweight and beads. I was too ill to concentrate on the shrug, so that has stayed put on my shelves. Baskerville had caused me some problems, as I think I went wrong a few rows back from where I'd put it down. I was too ill to concentrate on that either, so rather than leave it and try to figure out what I'd done wrong later, I have frogged it for now and will start again when I have more brainpower.

That left me with the scarf, which after being left for a few days has lost its appeal. I love the pattern, but think it will work much better in a lovely squishy merino yarn, rather than the acrylic/wool blend I had to hand at the time. So that too has drowned in the frog pond!

I needed a new project. I turned to my YoP list and looked to see what yarns I had in my stash that had already been matched to patterns. I briefly considered casting on one of the other Sherlock Holmes inspired patterns I've earmarked for my Artesano 100% alpaca dk, but as the shawl and mitts are designed for different yarn weights it would involve too much thinking right now to figure out if they need modifying. Next to catch my eye was Ishbel in the gorgeous pink Knit Picks Capretta; I enthused about this long enough to get the yarn down from the shelf and start looking for the right needle, but fell short of casting on when I realised the needle I needed to knit it was in use already for the shrug!

This left me one last choice.

Zauberball in shade Deine Blaue

I bought this at Unravel last year, which means it has been sat in my stash for almost twelve months. I've always known what this yarn will be: Lazy Katy.

The ball started quite dark, alternating between navy and black, but without even noticing at first it suddenly changed to a rather startling bright blue. The body of the shawl is pretty quick to knit up; just a couple of evenings work had me at row 100 and ready to start the border! Finding the yarn a little odd at the moment; it's fairly uneven in thickness and the colour changes are surprising. But I think I'm going to love the finished shawl.

Year of Projects update February 17th

Nothing like finishing a project to get your knitting mojo back! I've been horrendously ill for the last two weeks, on top of everything else, so all I've really been able to do is basic, simple stocking stitch. Just as well Sarah hosted a sock KAL which encouraged me to try out toe up socks.

Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock by Wendy D Johnson

Yarn: King Cole Zig Zag

Needles: 2.5mm

I have to say, I am converted to sock knitting after this. I wasn't convinced by it when I knit my last pair of socks, which were knit cuff down. While the socks themselves have seen a lot of use, I find the toes on them ugly and pointy, and dislike having the seam (or at the very least, the feeling of a seam) across my toes. Toe-up socks seemed like a good idea.

It took me 9 days to knit these socks. It took me 18 last time, so toe-up seems to be quicker as well. These socks are slightly longer than the other ones, but I still got bored well before the yarn ran out. I have just under 30g left of it (it seems never ending! I had 4 balls originally, and have made one shawl and three pairs of socks out of it so far!) which I plan to turn into baby socks.

I am quite overwhelmed by the pattern choice for socks on Ravelry though, so any suggestions you have for socks I can knit from my gorgeous Candy Skein yarn would be welcome!

Something more interesting than plain vanilla socks this time I think.....

Borrowing time

I don't quite know what has happened to the last two weeks; they have passed by in a blur. I do know it's been two weeks since I last posted, which is Just Not Right. A variety of reasons for my absence, most notably the fact that the end of January was the end of our financial year in work, which as you may gather is the busiest time for us accountants. As such, I have been beavering away in the office and not had many evenings free for crafting (which then leaves me with nothing to share here!).

I'd like to say work was the only thing keeping me away, but towards the end of January we also received some rather sad news on the house front. Our landlords want to move back in, so once again we are moving house! We have to be out by the 12th April, so the hunt is now on to find somewhere else to live.

As if all that wasn't enough, the wedding is now only three months away! Fortunately, everything is ticking along nicely with the preparations, so of the three, this one is causing me the least amount of stress. I had hoped I'd have been able to share with you my adventures into proper jewellery making, but I haven't yet had the time to sit down with all my new tools and have a go.

I haven't abandoned my crafting altogether, though. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen my late entry into the Next Step Sock KAL hosted by Sarah over at Crafts From The Cwtch. Everything I had on the needles already was far too complicated for the state my mind was in when I had the time to knit last week, so I decided to jump in and start knitting another pair of socks.

As the purpose of the KAL is to challenge yourself to take the next step in sock knitting, for me that means knitting them toe-up instead of cuff-down. They are, after all, only my second pair of knit socks! I am using the same yarn as my last pair because I have enough for another pair of socks and I want to make sure I know what I am doing before I break out the Candy Skein Yummy Fingering for my first patterned pair!

I'm following Wendy Johnson's instructions for a basic short row toe and heel sock, because I tried to do Judy's magic cast on once and hated it. I had some issues with the crochet cast on Wendy suggests, but apart from that the short row toe really worked for me.

I have to say, I think I much prefer knitting socks toe up. They fit perfectly, and the toe in particular is a vast improvement on the first pair I knit in terms of comfort. Also, my first project using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which as expected, is surprisingly stretchy.

Not to be outdone by second sock syndrome, I have already started on sock number two, and have high hopes that between all the real-life drama I will have time to finish it off before the KAL ends at the end of the month.

Year of Projects update 27th January

Last week I shared some pictures of my progress on the Crest of a Wave Baktus I've been knitting. Here's it's current state:

I've finished!! I cast off yesterday morning, with 9 grams of yarn left to spare. Charly has suggested it would be perfect for hexipuffs, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready to dive into that scale of project! I know a few other knitters who have already fallen down that particular rabbit hole, so when I get a chance I might send these leftovers in one of their directions - I think this yarn would look gorgeous as hexis!

Of course, I've not had a chance to block it yet - I was busy yesterday out shopping for bridesmaid dresses. So perhaps next week, although I'm not promising anything as next week is set to be the busiest week of the year so far work-wise; I may not have any spare evening to craft in at all.

Which would be a shame, as I have cast on another project from the list, using up another of my gorgeous stash yarns.

1000 yards of heaven

Once again, I am combining gifts to create a fabulous project. The yarn was a birthday present from two of my friends and the pattern is from the book Jamie got me for Christmas. It's the Light of Earendil shrug, and it presents me with some new challenges!

For starters, it's got a provisional cast on. I am not getting on well with provisional cast ons in fine yarns. When I did it with chunky yarn, it was ok, but I've struggled to do it with 4ply and now lace. I managed to get this one done ok and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything will be fine when I come to start sleeve 2!

Secondly, it's knitting with laceweight yarn. I tried this before with the Easy Lace Stole at the start of our first Year of Projects. I really didn't get on with knitting such fine yarn. I had more success crocheting with it, when I made my Jane Austen Shawl, so when I was given this skein of Fyberspates for my birthday I thought it would be fine, I would just find a crochet pattern to use it for. I didn't think I'd end up falling in love with a knit pattern that calls for laceweight!

Thirdly, it involves beads. I've not used beads in my knitting before, and this project was almost stopped before it even started when I realised I just didn't own a crochet hook tiny enough to get through the holes in my beads.

1 kilo of seed beads

I flailed around in the house yesterday evening until I hit upon a workable solution - I'm using one of those cheap needle threaders you get in sewing kits. I'm four rows in and so far haven't had any problems getting the beads in position.

This is going to be a frustrating knit, especially once I reach the sleeves proper and have to start knitting in the round as well! Juggling DPNs as well as the beading could be too much for me. But the finished object is going to be so pretty it's got to be worth it!

Year of Projects update 20th January

No more finished objects for me this week! I haven't had time to get my Cwtch Shawl on the blocking mats, and they have now been tidied away to make room for wedding invitation preparation, so it's unlikely to happen this week either.

What I have done, is lots of lovely garter stitch in beautiful rainbow colours.

I am almost at the halfway point of my Baktus, and am keen to get on to the decreases so I can start taking it with me everywhere again. I've been chained to my weighing scales with this one as I approach the halfway point, as I want to use as much of the yarn as possible and have to keep weighing to see if I can stretch to another repeat. I think I shall manage the 19 specified in the pattern with ease, but not 20.

I think it will be big enough though, as at 19 repeats it is a decent length and a decent width too. It's so interesting to see the way the colour changes react to the different length rows. I started out with lovely regular striping, before hitting a section of serious colour pooling in the middle.

At first I wasn't sure about it, but now it's gone back to regular striping again I quite like this section of pooling. Hopefully it will be repeated as I reach this width again on the decrease half.

I'm already thinking ahead to what I shall cast on next once this is off the needles. Sarah's sock KAL is making me think of my Candy Skein Yummy Fingering, and whether or not now would be a good time to strike out into a new challenge there. I've knit one pair of plain vanilla socks (cuff down) so far; should I branch out into patterned socks or try plain vanilla toe-up this time around? I have looked on Ravelry for a pattern, but I really don't know. That said, I may not have much time for sock knitting in February, so doubt I'd be able to keep up with the KAL anyway!

Year of Projects update 13th January

I shared my finished Ishbel beret on Friday; today it is the turn of Momijigari!

Project: Sunshine Shawl

Pattern: Momijigari by Beth Kling

Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin in Sonne WD

Needles: In a fit of uselessness, I don't appear to have recorded what size needle I used on Ravelry. I think they were 4mm.

I've had this Wollmeise in my stash for ages, over a year in fact. I bought the skein from a friend who was having a destash, having already fallen in love with the other skein I had previously bought on eBay. It needed the right pattern, as I wasn't sure how the colours would work once knitted up.

Then I found Momijigari. The samples are knit in a similar colourway to my Wollmeise, and I thought they would go together well.

I felt sure I'd made a good decision once I wound the skein and saw for the first time the length of the colour changes. Once I'd started knitting, I knew garter stitch was the right choice.

I flew through the main section, but hit a stumbling block when I realised I had to pick up and knit 195 stitches to start the border! Once the increases were done. I had nearly 400 stitches on my needles! The border was only 20 rows, but it took forever.

I was so pleased when I finished! It then sat in my basket for a week or so, before I finally decided to get the blocking boards out and start working through my pile of finished projects. This shawl was the obvious choice to be done first.

I cleared the dining table, and set up my alphabet blocks. I only just had enough to create the space needed for this shawl - it is a shade longer than my dining table which is five feet long. Two days later, and it was ready to unpin and weave in the ends.

I love the finished article. Such a warm, bright colour; perfect for cheering me up through the dull grey winter months ahead. The Wollmeise is a lovely yarn to wear around your neck too. I'm also really pleased I found the white balance setting on my camera (all thanks to the lovely Eskimimi and her photography tutorial) as it meant I could take decent photos of it despite it being late and dark.

FO: Fairy Tale Beret

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I finally got around to blocking my pile of finished projects. I've got two to share so far, one to show you now, and one for my YoP update on Sunday.

Forgive my appearance, I had just been for a swim!

Project: Fairy Tale Beret

Pattern: Ishbel Beret by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Knit Picks Capretta in Fairy Tale

Needles: 3mm and 4mm circs, 4mm dpns

This beret has caused me an awful lot of trouble. I told you some of my troubles last Sunday... provisional cast on nightmares, misreading charts leading to increasing too much and then forgetting to move a stitch marker one critical stitch to the right.... fortunately, since making that last mistake I didn't make any others, and raced through the rest of the hat with joyful alacrity.

I cast off on Monday night, and as I had already set up the dining table for blocking, decided there was nothing else for it but to chuck it straight in the sink and get it blocking too. I wanted to wear it at once! It didn't actually look too bad unblocked:

but I wanted to get it to drape more effectively. It took me three goes before I found a plate that was probably the right size - in fact, I could have used a slightly bigger one, except that it was in the dishwasher!

I have nothing but love for this hat. It is a culmination of several people's generosity. You see, the pattern itself was gifted to me by the lovely Mattymouse, who I got chatting to after getting involved in a UK Swap group that she helps to run on Ravelry. She gave me the PDF for Whimsical Little Knits, as I really wanted to knit the Ishbel shawl.

The yarn was included in a swap parcel I received from Paula as part of the Blog Hub Swap on Ravelry. It was, I believe, a relatively new yarn in the Knit Picks line up at the time, and as such completely unavailable here in the UK. In fact, I've just checked, and the UK's only stockist of Knit Picks, Great British Yarns, still doesn't have it. Paula chose this gorgeous pink colourway called Fairy Tale, and it is perfect. It knits beautifully and blocked like a dream. The merino/cashmere makes it oh so soft, but the nylon should also make it fairly durable. I know this hat is going to get a lot of wear!

The great thing is, there is enough left over from the three balls I was given to knit an Ishbel shawl to match!