Month: November 2014

Yarn Along – Swatching

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Welcome to another week of Yarn Along! Check out Ginny’s blog to see what everyone else is up to this week.

After completing my Istanbul socks this week, I was officially left with just one thing on the needles err… hook. That is my/our Noro hexagon blanket.

So I started looking around, as you do. Come-on you don’t expect me to finish an entire blanket before starting a new project do you?!

I looked at my projects page and more specifically my Use It, Or Lose It projects. Officially they’re on my projects page, but technically they have not been cast-on. They’re there to be more of a forceful reminder of the unloved yarn lurking in my stash.

I thought perhaps doing a little bit of swatching, might get me in the mood to take things further. That’s the nice thing about swatching, there’s no commitment and you can still walk away.

I thought about combining 2 of my UIOLI entries by combining the yarn, genius right? …

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Well that was short lived. Whilst it’s pretty combining the two yarns, it made it thick like iron. If I went up a needle size I wouldn’t get the gauge close to any of my intended cardigans. I might just use the Louisa Harding yarn on it’s own as a little cropped summer cardigan to wear over dresses. And the hand-dyed Shiloh optim/silk… is still up in the air…

Then I thought I would have a crack at my Habu silk tape that I’ve had in my stash for quite some time. Every time I see Steven from Dairing yarns, he asks me if I’ve used it, and I’ve had to say ‘no’. I kind of would like to go back and visit and say that I have!

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I got gauge for what I wanted. And I’ve cast-on Julie Hoover’s Garance. The texture and feel of the Habu tape is unlike anything I’ve ever knit with. ‘Frightened’, only begins to describe how I feel about making a sweater out of something that feels so foreign to wool. I hope it’s a success and not a disaster, I think the only way to find out is to knit the whole thing. Oh fun.

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Meanwhile, I’ve decided to whip up a pair of fingerless gloves for Damian. They’ve been on my to-do pile since winter. At least I’ll be taking all the pressure off myself next winter…

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I’m making them out of my hand-spun. It’s a merino/silk blend. The fibre was blended up on Sharon’s drum carder and spun long ago. Knitting with my hand-spun is wonderful, there should be more of it.

There’s not much to report on the reading front I’m afraid, I’ve been frantically knitting/crocheting in my down time and unsuccessfully shopping for Christmas gifts in my lunchtimes. There’s been more Outlander listening… but my reading has been almost non-existent. Am I still allowed to participate in Yarn-along?!

Peek-a-boo: It’s a Chickadee!

| Sonia Knits

If you recall a few weeks ago, I gave you a snippet of a photo which showed some secret knitting?

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Well I’ve presented Louisa with my surprise knitting gift so now I can do the big reveal, I’ve made her a Chickadee!

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DSC_5350It was pretty fun to make. The pattern comes from Ysolda’s Wee ones collection. It has so many cute patterns in it, they are miniature versions of some of her adult garments.

Louisa was surprised! and I was thrilled, aren’t knitters the best people to make for?

 

 

Istanbul socks

| Sonia Knits

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I’m ashamed to admit to how long these took to knit according to my Ravelry page. They were a very enjoyable knit once I got down to it. They began well, then somehow I was side-tracked.

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I now have just 2 lots of yarn left from my year of knitting along with the Cookie A sock club in 2013. I think I would like to cast on for Arrow next and then Vamp. And then maybe (if I’m lucky enough to get a spot), I’ll be ready to start knitting along in next year’s club.

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Thanks to my dear husband for taking these great photos for me. There are no filters on these photos, they were shot on film. I’m a very lucky knitter and wife.

Yarn Along – The things we tell ourselves

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I became an aunty again last week for the eighth time. And it’s still exciting.

I told myself before she was born, I wouldn’t knit any sweaters or such for her ‘right away’, she is a Summer baby after all. There’s no need, it would be silly. I don’t want to lose my head and knit all the things for a baby that grows rather quickly.

And then ‘she’ was born and she was given my name as a second name. All I can say is, that was very well-played. I didn’t see that coming. And now all I want to do is to knit for this baby.

I want to make her a ‘wee Cria’, very sweet and very girly (I had no idea if she was to be a boy or girl, but knitting-wise gosh, I’m glad she’s a girl!).

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I think I even know the yarn I want to use.

Then I get this photo from my sister…

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My new niece fits into the snug I made for her sister. And it fits now. And how amazing does it look? How happy am I about hand-me-downs? How this would not have worked had she been a boy!

I think I can give myself a week’s reprieve. Finish my Istanbul socks which I’m loving to bits and catch-up on some other knitting… before I lose my head and knit for this baby… but then again I might need to make something for her sister at the same time, that’s fair right?

Much to Damian’s disgust I’ve been openly listening to Outlander for hours and hours. I think I’m almost ready to start watching the TV series as I’m nearing the end of the first book.

Go see what everyone else is knitting and crafting this week by visiting Ginny’s blog.

 

Yarn Along – Crafty weekend away

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Last weekend I attended a crafty weekend away with girlfriends who like to quilt:

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Friends who like to knit and crochet:

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Sew:

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and Spin (well that was just me):

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The house was very accommodating, with a new quilt on the wall and a quilt on my bed…

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It’s quite amazing I haven’t caught ‘quilting’ yet.

I can’t wait to do it all again with knitting friends next year 🙂

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Yarn Along – 30 and counting

| Sonia Knits

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I was a little concerned after recently completing my two project deadlines for babies, that I would loose my crafting mojo; after all if there isn’t a deadline, what’s the hurry?

Then I picked up the Noro hexagon blanket project I began a while ago which had very little progress. And now I have a new obsession. This hexagon blanket is going to be different to all my other ill-fated attempts at making hexagons ::hexipuffs::cough::patchwork quilt::cough:: 

Hexagons and I have a love/hate relationship.

But there is no Hex when it comes to this project. For one thing, I’m going to begin sewing the patches together as I go. I was thinking of placing the patches all mixed up from different balls together. But then when I stood back, I realised the layout of colours would look much better if the patches of one ball were placed together as rosettes, then pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle. It gives it a painterly, water colour feel to the overall blanket.

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I did my sums after completing the first 2 balls of Noro Taiyo (which made 20 patches). In order to get a blanket the size of a single bed doona, I need 24 balls. I considered making a cover for our bed for a time, but 36 balls seemed a bit extreme to me and I don’t hate myself that much… or do I?

I’m reading Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement and still listening to Outlander. The hexagon obsession has affected my reading this week. I hope to pick up my pace next week!

You can see what everyone else is reading and making this week by visiting Ginny’s blog.