discodoris

A quick and easy knit whilst I wait for some new circular needles for a bigger project.  These are again in the bamboo viscose/cotton mix, as I had just a little left over.  I improvised a bit with the pattern, starting with a pattern to get the sole and upper, but then added a rib leg, as the original had a cutout and buttoned ankle strap, which I didn't want to include.  Knitted on 3.75mm needles.

I've subscribed online to Knitter magazine and this is the first project from one of those.  It's a simple t-shirt with round neck, but I'm happy with it and will be using it if summer ever gets here.  Knitted in the bamboo/cotton mix again.

I've actually done quite a lot of knitting since my last post, but haven't photographed many of them and have already been given to their recipients.  But just for a change, I've been knitting for myself!  I've used Fiesta DK, manufactured by Hayfield, although the pattern was from Rowan and originally specified a fluffy yarn.  I'm not keen on fluffy, as even when I'm not as chubby as currently, I have a lot of boob, which is not really suitable to be emphasised by looking like a furball.  Anyhow, it was done on relatively fine needles - 3.25mm for the body and 2.25mm for the neck and armhole finishing.I'm moderately pleased with it, although I'm considering putting some ribbon in to gather a waistline into it.

Using up some Women's Institute Soft and Silky 4 ply to make socks to match the baby cardigans that I've done for my colleague.  They've come out nicely I think - knitted on 2.5mm dpn.

This one was knitted and complete quite a while ago, but needed sewing up and a button afixed. However, I misread the instructions and ended up making it in the 12 month size.  I suppose I should hang on to it for a while!  (Although I'm almost getting to the stage of considering an Etsy store - fortunately baby clothes are VAT free, so there's no problem with the cross Europe obligations.)

Yarn is Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle effect DK.  Pattern is from 60 Quick Baby Knits and was knitted on 4.5mm needles.

Well, I haven't been entirely idle, despite there having been a little while since my last post - that's mainly because I needed some buttons to sew on.  I've been learning to make cardigans - one was knitted from the top down and the other from the bottom upwards.  Both have delighted me in terms of learning how to shape with stitches, although there's quite a significant area for improvement.

The first was using yet more of the Women's Institute Soft and Silky Blue Mix - I realise now that I bought rather too much of this in my enthusiasm for a new baby arriving.  The second was using some old season colour and therefore cheap cotton/acrylic mix - Rowan all seasons cotton in Cardboard.  The first was a very old pattern from Patons and has come out beautifully.  The second was from the book "What to knit when you're expecting" which was given to me by thisispoki's pregnant daughter, marked with the patterns she wanted.  It was a less easy to follow pattern in terms of how it was written, so I had to go backwards and forwards a few times to work it out correctly and it has come up huge, certainly much bigger than I was expecting for a supposedly 3-6 month size.  It'll be fine, as baby can grow into it, but might not be an appropriate gift just yet.

Anywho, photos of completed...

Two different items finished this week, on very different scales.  The baby sweater, ordered by my step-daughter, is now finished (along with one baby boot, but I have another to do before posting here).


I slightly messed up the joining at the base of the v-neck, hence the little shell detail button which hides the erratic stitches.  Much easier sewing that on than laboriously frogging back the neckline!  The sweater was knitted on 3mm and 3.25mm needles, using a four ply yarn.  This particular four ply is Women's Institute Soft and Silky in Blue Mix.  The pattern was an alteration to one available free on Ravelry.

For myself, I made a scarf.  It was made out of Aran weight yarn, knitted on 6mm needles and was again, an adaptation from one free on Ravelry.  It's an adaptation, because the one on Ravelry is knitted in chunky yarn, on 8mm needles.  But I didn't have enough chunky weight to do a long enough scarf and I'm trying not to buy too much more yarn before I've knitted up what I already have in stock (which is quite a bit).  Again, I messed up the pattern in odd places, but managed to put it right easiy enough too.  If you look hard, you can find the occasional mistake, but I doubt anyone will notice when I'm wearing it.




Additional to finishing both of these pieces, I've also managed to upholster the back of the back of the rocking chair, so only the seat cushion covering to finish on that now!

After a very long dearth of posting in this journal, I've finally decided to take a leaf out of raeyn's book and maybe start to post about crafting, as she does over at digitalglitch.  I've rediscovered knitting and have joined ravelry but I also do various other handicrafts.  I've started reupholstering a very elderly sprung rocking chair for example and this morning have some fairly sore hands after stapling a large foam sheet to upholster the front of the back, if that makes any sense.

I ordered the foam from an upholstery supplies shop on Amazon and seem to have massively overordered.  I thought I'd only asked for a foam sheet that was 1200mm by 800mm, but what turned up is a massive sheet - maybe two metres square (so four square metres).  However, I think what I might do is make some more foam cushions to go in the summerhouse outside, so that it doesn't go to waste!

The other reason for posting here is that it might also give me a little impetus towards finishing off projects, because I can be quite bad about starting and then leaving them for long periods of time.  It's easy to suggest that this is because I'm often time challenged - a full time job, enough exercise to countermand the sedentary job hours,  plus keeping house often means that I'm not terribly inclined to do much more.  But whatever, I'll see how it works.