More Finished Objects :o)

Many thanks for all the kind comments about the stole.... I did enjoy knitting it which does help


Anyway here are a couple of finished items for you.... more socks for the gallery (along with lace I enjoy knitting socks). These are a Christmas gift for my friend Janet.


Kaffe Fassett's Landscape in "Caribbean"

Very nice colours and I quite like stripes that aren't always regular.... I could have lived without the Olive green and brown in there but who am I to criticize Kaffe Fassett's colour sense?????

The only thing I did find with these colours was that sometimes when I was knitting when I was a bit on the tired side I did find the colours a bit 'strong' on the eyes.... I have my eye on the "Fire" colourway for myself at some future date though.....

On the sock knitting front I am on with the 2nd sock of the Trekking pair in the Autumn colours and I am well on with the 1st sock of the Lana Grossa "Magico" pair, quite enjoying doing the pattern as I've never knit it before but not my colours; I'm not keen on greys and browns mixed together....

I finished the baby bolero on Sunday after picking up 333 stitches and knitting for 11 rows and sweating all the way if I had enough yarn...

I had two balls of Patons Fairytale 4ply in Sugar Spun (215m per 50g) and the pattern was for Sirdar Snuggly 4ply (226m per 50g). I was going to do something when Sarah was born back in February and I never quite got the enthusiasm to start but then realised that I had no more of this yarn so would have to make something quick if I was still going to use the yarn.

I found this sirdar pattern in a sale... 2 balls of 4ply for either 6 - 12 months or the 1 - 2 years size... yes you can guess which size I picked can't you? Being ever practical, yes the 1 - 2 years size!!!! so bearing in mind I had 32m less than stated I embarked....

It wasn't until after doing the back and both sleeves together that I realised I may not have enough yarn..... anyway I managed to get the back, 1 sleeve and 1 front out of the 1st ball with ohhh 1m left.... there was hope...

I finished the 2nd front, theoretically I should have enough yarn but when you pick up 333 stitches and every time you knit a row the ball seems to shrink dramatically I sweated a bit and thought well it's a picot edge, push come to shove I can always finish the last couple of rows & cast off in another caolour as you won't see it..... but I didn't need to phew!!!! in fact I think there's about 10m left, what was I worrying about? Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing???....

Anyway here it is...

On the lace knitting front I have done 3.5 repeats of the first pattern of the Honeybee stole... I'll post a photo in a day or too, apart form socks for Christmas that's my only knitting on the needles at the moment I'm being good ;o)

The VLT Sampler Stole

Well here as promised are the final photos of the VLT shawl. I can't quite believe it's finished if truth be known I don't think it has really sunk in yet.

This has been my biggest lace project to date and I've definitely had a love hate relationship with it at times. I know it's been on the needles since 6th April this year but it hasn't taken me all that time to knit. I had a few sessions on it between April and June and it was only then I knew if I was to complete it I would have to set a specific time aside for it so it became my Sunday & Monday knitting, aka my days off!

Once I got into this routine I quite enjoyed knitting the stole. I liked the fact there are 8 different patterns in it so it didn't get monotonous and it did give me my first introduction to Knitted Lace as opposed to Lace knitting. That first pattern repeat of 'D' was horrendous! After awhile I got used to patterning on the WRS and stopped panicing and just made sure I moved my lifeline up every few rows rather than after every pattern repat.

Details:
1550m (6 hanks & 2 skeins) of 1707 'Amarante' from Renaissance Dyeing
3.25mm Addi Lace circ

Finished size after blocking: 2' 9" x 7' 9"




The Close Up's:
Pattern B

Pattern C

Pattern D

Pattern E

Pattern F

Pattern G

Pattern H

Pattern I

Border & Edging

This is not for me but for my mum for Christmas, she chose the pattern and also the colour, she has seen bits of it when I was knitting but she hasn't seen it for awhile so she has no idea how it looks....


I quite liked the yarn once I got used to it. The service was excellent from them, when I ordered the two extra skeins a week last Sunday (from France) they arrived Tuesday. The only downside I have is that in every hank there was at least 1 knot, most hanks having 2 or 3 and in one hank I had 4 knots :o( I have to admit this has put me off using their yarn in the future which is a shame as you can see from their website they have a huge range of colours and the yarn is nice.....


Overall am quite satisfied with my achievement :o)

Not the VLT Shawl....

sorry Fleegle and Soo you will have to wait a little longer I'm hoping to block it later today and then I promise lots of photos.....

Anyway to keep you amused here are some photos of my other knitting just to prove I'm knitting.....

I managed to complete the back of the baby bolero jacket the other day and cast on for both sleeves, which I am about to start increasing for the arm... it's only a simple pattern with an eyelet edging but quite nice to do; a Sirdar pattern using Patons Fairytale 4ply in "Sugar Spun". The reason I am doing this pattern and not something more interesting is that **confession time** that I have had these 2 balls of yarn for ages, OK since March this year to knit my god-daughter something. I started something and pulled it back and I just couldn't muster enthusiasm to knit anything. Anyway she'll be 1 next February so I thought I'd better find something to use these 2 balls on before I need a 3rd ball as I can't get anymore of the same dyelot and most 1-2 year patterns already suggest 3 balls so I was a bit limited to choice, but I do quite like the pattern..... I mean I've knit several shawls including one for her Christening since she was born but I can't get excited over knitting baby stuff, now give me 145 stitches and a lace pattern and that's a different matter!!!!

Next up is the pitiful 5 rows of the Honeybee stole that is meant to be a Christmas present for my SIL.... This is in KP Alapaca Cloud "Tide Pool Heather" on 3.75mm Addi Lace circ. Hopefully there will be more on this soon.... I think I'm trying to finish other bits off to clear my head so I can focus better on this to get it finished for Christmas.... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

On the sock front, steady progress as usual the KF Caribbean socks are progressing nicely and I am halfway through the heel, these will hopefully be finished in a few days....

The 2nd pair has the heel completed and on with the foot and a trip to Manchester later this morning with DH driving means some more knitting time down the motorway....

And finally the other thing that was on the needles but I couldn't show you was "Ene's Scarf" by Nancy Bush.; It was entitled "A Lacy Present" on my "On the Needles" section... Anyway as it was Anita's birthday on Thursday and she only received it yesterday I couldn't put of photos as I didn't want to spoil the surprise....

Here it is completed all 180g of Classic Merino (Fingering wt) in white from Yarn Treehouse worked on 4.5mm KP Options

Bathtime!!!

Sauna time!!!

Blocking!!!

Finshed! I didn't over block it, but even at that it came out 2m across the top and 1.2m down the spine.....

And a close up for Fleegle.....

In conclusion I liked the idea of casting on 375 stitches and working my way down. I enjoyed the edging OK it took me two hours to do the first row as I made an error casting on despite using markers every 50 stitches and double checking the stitch count I cast on 1 too many..... but I have to say I found the body pattern a little tedious to do after awhile... so I probably wouldn't do another of these....

Anyway the recipient was thrilled with the shawl and the colour suits her well so all in all a satisfactory knit :o)

Yipppeeeee

THE VLT STOLE IS FINISHED!!!!

Monday Morning...

lets start with appologies....

sorry I haven't bloged for a while but I haven't really had anything to show and I'm not one of these people able to create interesting discussions on a topic....

sorry to fleegle as it's a photo-less post again!!!!

Just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been knitting I promise.....

I have completed the 1st sock of the Kaffee Fassett Landscape Caribbean pair, I couldn't believe I'd knit the foot so quickly but when you mainly do size 9+ socks doing a size 4 is finished before you know.... I actually rather like the colour combinations although if I was being picky I'd not have bothered putting in the greens and browns, but hey I don't have KF's colour ability or experience so who am I to complain.....

I have also started an Autumnal pair in Trekking 171; this appears to be a random blend of autumnal colours I'm praying to god that it doesn't have any semblence of a pattern or I shall have to try and match it and as the 1st two pairs of socks for my friend have been fraught with problems I could do with a nice easy knit otherwise I'm going to become paranoid about knitting socks for this particular friend!!!!

I have finished the "lacey birthday" present, it has been knit, dyed & blocked (it was finished on Friday and dyed & blocked Saturday) but the recipient's birthday isn't until Thursday and I don't think she'll be getting the present until Saturday and as she reads my blog, you know the rest....

I have almost finished the edging on the VLT stole too ***gasp***, just a 1/4 of one long side and a short edge to go, but I have run out of yarn so I ordered a couple of 25m skeins yesterday so hopefully despatched today and should have it by the end of the week so you never know by this time next week, the VLT stole could all be over!!!!

Today I plan to cast on (it's my day off) a baby bolero cardigan in 4ply for my goddaughter as part of her Christmas present and to cast on for the Bee stole for my SIL's Christmas present, watch this space to see if she get's it for Christmas or next October for her birthday although I am quite looking forward to doing it as the "lacey surprise" and the VLT edging have been a bit tedious and what with doing a 3rd Swallowtail previously I think I'm in need of something different and a little challenging.....