Dear Mum...

Happy Mothering Sunday.

I know it's a couple of days ahead of the actual day, but I finished knitting my Mum's Leftie scarf on Wednesday, sewed in some of the ends on Wednesday evening, finished them off on Thursday morning before popping it in the washing machine on a quick, lowish spin cycle (King Cole Merino Blend yarn = superwash) and then pinning it out on mats to block.

Here it is (a bit blurry I'm afraid - Jess kept trying to get in on the action).

A closer-up shot of some of the leaves:

And here it is, rolled up, just waiting to be wrapped up before I give it to my Mum as her Mothering Sunday gift.  I think my siblings and I are all meeting up at our parents' house on Sunday morning at the same time.  It's not very often that we're all in the same place at the same time these days.

So, some statistics.

The pattern is Leftie by Martina Behm.

The yarn I used was King Cole Merino Blend 4ply in Navy, Fuschia and Cream (the same colours from the DK range I used for Mum's crocheted cloche-type hat at Christmas).

Needle was a 2.5mm Addie Turbo.  If I made this again, I'd go up to a 2.75mm or 3mm.  The cord on this particular circular has gone a bit stiff, so I might bin it.

I can now get on with the socks and jumper I was knitting before I decided to concentrate on Leftie - and get some spinning done.

Have a good weekend everyone.  Looking out of the window at the grey, drizzly weather, I don't think it's going to be a weekend for getting out and about though.

Leftie Progress

There is some progress on my mother's Leftie scarf - but not as much as I'd hoped.

I've now done 26 leaves.  30 leaves would just about do it.  32 would be better.  36 would be excellent.

This is why I don't like knitting to a deadline (even if it is self-imposed).  It puts me off, sometimes to the point of resenting the thing I'm knitting, even if it looks very nice indeed.

I've nearly finished the second 50g ball of the navy blue and I've got one more I can use.

I've currently got 180-odd stitches per row.

It's going to be a slog if it's to be finished, ends sewn in, washed and blocked (it's going to need blocking) in a week.

It may be late.  Fortunately, my mother is an understanding kind of woman.

Progress should have been better on Leftie, but I got a bit distracted (of course - I had a knitting deadline).  Having done very little spinning this year, my wheel has seen quite a lot of use in the last week or so.  I bought 5 100g 'bumps' of North Ronaldsay last year.  I started spinning it just before Christmas.  I'd only spun about 5g by the end of January and didn't do a great deal more during the first half of February either.

Things are different now though.  I've spun 150g of it onto 3 bobbins and last night and this morning (when I should really have been knitting Leftie) I plyed two of the singles together into what I hope is going to be a sport-weight or light DK yarn.  It's been so long since I bought this that without referring to the pattern I bought - the fact that I bought it fleece with a clear idea of what I was going to spin it into and make from it is rather unusual for me, it has to be said* - that I think I need to get about 250 metres per 100g.  Something like that.  I need enough to make a cardigan, so that'll be about 1200 metres, I think.

Plyed yarn is on the bottom bobbin (just about - it was a bit of squeeze) and the top bobbin has the third 50g single strand which will be plyed with the next 50g I spin.

It's now lunchtime and I haven't picked up my needles and Leftie at all today.  I've done houseworky things such as putting on the dishwasher, doing a load or two of laundry, walked the dog.  I also wallowed in the bath and read my book while in there, but no knitting.  I've now got to tidy up the lounge and do some ironing before hubby gets home this evening.

I'd better get a move on really!

*usually I end up buying fibre/top/fluffy stuff on an 'ooh, pretty' or 'never spun that sheep breed before' basis - which is what I've done this morning because World of Wool sent an e.mail with an offer on some spring-coloured merino and at £9 for 250g of various colours, I can use it to practice colour blending on my drum carder.  Oh, who am I kidding.  I bought it because OOH, PRETTY!  I also bought 100g of Whitefaced Woodland top and 100g of Manx Loaghtan top - because, erm, I've never spun those sheep breeds.  I'm a hopeless case.

Leftie Scarf

All other knitting projects have been put on hold for now and my spinning wheel lies untouched and neglected.

The reason?

A few weeks ago I started knitting a Leftie scarf.  I picked it up every few days to do another stripe and leaf, but wasn't overly worried about getting on with it.  Then I started thinking.  The scarf's for my mother.  The intention was to give it to her on her birthday - which is 9 May, hence the 'no rush' mentality.  However, a scarf given in May isn't going to get worn much before September or October.  However, Mothering Sunday is 10 March - just over two weeks away.  A scarf given in March is probably going to get a bit of wear before the weather hopefully turns nicer and Spring arrives.

That gives me just over two weeks to get this scarf knitted, sew in the ends and then soak and block it.

That's quite a lot of knitting - it's 4ply yarn (King Cole Merino Blend 4ply) on 2.5mm needles.  All garter stitch - fortunately I like garter stitch.

So far I've done 16 leaves.

I need to do at least another 16 leaves - and the scarf gets wider the more you knit (+7 stitches each stripe & leaf repeat).

I'd better get on with it.  Fortunately, I can knit and read or watch TV at the same time (especially when it's garter stitch) and only need to look when I'm knitting a leaf or doing a kfb increase).

Here it is so far:

And here's photo of the leaves against what's left of the first ball of navy blue - so you can see the cream leaf as well as the pink ones.

It's going to match the Lucy Cloche hat I made for my Mum at Christmas.  This one - King Cole do the same colours in the DK merino as they do in the 4ply:

Mum wore her hat to her reading group last week and got several complimentary comments from the other ladies.  I have to say that it does suit her.

I'm off now to make lunch for DD2 who is badgering me and then I'll be popping out to the shop to get a few bits before making some more soup.  I've made some celery soup this morning and as I've got several red peppers (my veg box seems to have had celery and red peppers for the last couple of weeks) I'm going to roast some with some tomatoes and onion and then soupify them.  But I need more tomatoes to do that - and I forgot to buy garlic the last time I went shopping.

Spring half-term holidays.....

..... and typically, I woke up with a thick head and troublesome sinuses, aka A Cold.  Not really what I wanted when I've got DD2 to keep amused and occupied for a week.

Today has been given over to letting DD2 watch CBeebies (or have it on in the background), draw lots and lots of pictures, not minding when she screws up the paper and drops it on the floor, making and icing some biscuits (she licked off the icing and gave the biscuit to the dog).

I had thought I might get in some spinning, but my eyes are feeling a bit sore, so I haven't done any (yet) today.  I also thought I might get some more of my current pair of socks done, but sore eyes + 2.25mm needles aren't a good match.  Instead, during the times that DD2 has occupied herself, I've read some of my book (hurrah for e-readers meaning you can make the text bigger) and knitted round and round the second sleeve of my cotton sweater with a pause every ten rows to make the required decreases.

I've also managed to deal with the dishwasher and put on a load of laundry - a load which I don't think is going to require any ironing as it's mainly t-shirts which can be smoothed flat.  DD2 did do a second load of laundry for me - but that was clean tea-towels from the drawer in the kitchen.  Oh well!

As the weather's a bit brighter today and there was ok-ish light coming through the glass panel in the front door (our hall's painted white and the carpet's beige so it's quite light there anyway) I took the opportunity of snapping some photos of my finished Sheepheid hat.

Crown:

Brim/bottom part:

The whole hat, modelled over a mixing bowl:

In general, I'm pleased with it.  It's come out a bit bigger than I expected (probably tension-related - I hold up my hands and admit I didn't check it) but DD1 has very thick hair, so it actually fits her quite well.

I've still got yarn left over, but not enough to make another one the same.  I'll weigh the yarn and see if I think I've got enough to use the same pattern, but just do simple stripes instead.  I'll let you know!

Simple Summer Tweed sweater

I've got several WIPs at the moment.  Here's one I started on Saturday:

The pattern is the Simple Summer Tweed V-Neck sweater which as you've probably guessed from the photo is a top-down raglan sweater.  The yarn is some RYC Cotton Jeans in the colour Canvas, which is a neutral greyish-beige.  I bought the yarn from Kemps - for something silly like 99p per balls.  The tension for the pattern said 16 sts per 4 inches which I got with 5mm needles, but thought was a bit floppy, so I've gone down to a 4.5mm needle and am doing the large size instead of the medium.  The thing that's so good about a top-down sweater like this one is that if you need to, you can do a few extra increases (or fewer) and add in some plain rounds before dividing for the sleeves to get a good fit.  I'm hoping this will be one of those casual sweaters that works with a lot of things in my wardrobe through spring and early summer (probably the whole of the summer if this year's weather is anything like that of the last few years).

As this is now just rounds and rounds of knit stitches as I work down the sleeves, with the occasional decrease to taper them slightly, it's good tv or book-reading knitting.

I divided for the sleeves yesterday afternoon and then knitted the body until I'd got to the end of the ball of yarn I was using.  Then I put the body stitches on some waste yarn to hold them, popped it over my head to check the fit and then started on the first sleeve.  By doing the sleeves first, I'll know how much yarn I've got available to do the rest of the body and the neck band.  The sleeves and hem of the sweater don't have any bands - it's just casting off and letting the fabric roll a bit (I think - I haven't read it through properly).

I also finished DD1's Sheep Heid hat on Monday and it was blocked and dried overnight.  I did try to get a decent-looking photo yesterday morning once she'd put it on, but she got a sudden attack of the teenage grumps and this is the best I could do:

I'll get it back from her this afternoon when she gets home from school and see if I can do better.  After all the work I put into it, never mind the many ends that needed to be sewn in, I think some better photos are required.

I do have a couple of other things on the needles, but I'll show you those next time - my camera battery needs charging for a start.

Sheep Heid Hat - a Work in Progress

I loved the Sheep Heid hat the moment I saw it and decided that at some point I would make it.

However, I couldn't justify the cost of buying nine 50g balls of Jamieson & Smith Supreme Jumper Weight yarn at something like £6 a ball, however much I wanted to, and especially when the pattern said that no more than 25 metres of each colour was required (the Supreme Jumper Weight has 172 metres per 50g ball according to Ravelry).

Still, I looked every now and then on the pattern page on Ravelry and at the various versions that other people had made.  Some had used the J&S yarn, others had substituted, using different colours other than natural sheepy shades.  I ummed and ahhed about it for a bit longer and then I spotted a project where the knitter had spun up her own yarn, so I clicked on her project notes and discovered that Katie at Hilltop Cloud was selling packs 15g each of nine different British sheep prepared fleece, in very similar colours to the J&S Sheep Heid colours.  So I bought some and it worked out much cheaper (£8 + P&P).

I got spinning in December and soon I had nine mini-skeins, which sat in a bag until the New Year when they were washed, dried and wound into little balls:

Last Saturday I printed out the pattern, armed myself with appropriately-sized needles and cast on.

The first few rows were awkward, to say the least.  The ribbed cuff changes colour for the first few 'rounds', so I decided that I wouldn't worry about joining the stitches on those rounds until I got to sewing in the ends.

The day before yesterday I finished knitting the sheep and started the next part of the square pattern and am hoping to get onto the next part later today or tomorrow.

Progress pic:

I haven't done fairisle/stranded knitting for ages and ages and I had to tink back a couple of times because my stranding was too tight, even though I've been knitting it with the right side facing me (or dangling down inside the loop of my circular needle/inside-out) and I decided to keep my floats no more than three stitches long to help control the tension.  I think that once it's finished, washed and blocked it's going to look fine and the stitches will even out.

First I've got to finish the knitting and darn in the ends.

There are already a lot of ends:

 Sewing them in might be a job that takes up a whole day's worth of knitting time!

A New Project Bag

A couple of weeks ago I was shopping in Colchester and decided to be naughty and cut through the High St branch of Waterstones (it has two entrances) rather than walk a bit further up the street and cut through the little lane that runs between two blocks of shops.

I was rather glad that I decided to be naughty (I did walk through the shop trying to have the air of one who was browsing the bookshelves whilst walking through the shop) because by the till area I spotted some bags hanging up.  Very soon, I was paying for two of these (one for me, one for DD1):

Isn't it cute?  Its measurements are 25cm wide, 29cm high (body of bag) and has a 5cm gusset down the sides and a 25cm x 5cm base (d'uh - you'd probably worked that out for yourselves!).  There's a different design on the other side of the bag (which is designed by Sir Quentin Blake) but I forgot to take a photo of that side).  It's just the right size for a small to medium-sized project and is already in use.,

The bags cost £2.99 each and support The Book Bus, a charity supporting children in Africa, Asia and South America (although only 10% of the bag price goes to the charity - methinks a higher percentage would probably be possible, but I suppose 10% is better than nothing).

Anyway, it's a very nice bag and if you're on the lookout for a new project bag, then you could do worse than one of these.

This past week I've been knitting like a demon.  Once I've sewn in some ends and done a bit of blocking* and charged my camera battery, I'll be ready to do a show and tell.

*the blocking might be a bit of a problem - steaming may be the way to go - as my boiler's on the blink and I don't have any central heating at the moment which means upstairs in the house isn't really warm enough to get things dry.