Pattern: Plain and Simple by Veera Valimaki

Yarn: Wollmeise 4ply Twin, 2.75 skeins.

Needle size: 2.25mm (yes, that small)

Project time: 10 months approx. a real mojo killer

Buttons: Buttonmania

Alterations: I did some custom side shaping, as the pattern is written with none. Side shaping rocks.

Near disasters: Running out of yarn. I was very lucky to track down the 3rd skein on Ravelry and for it to be a perfect match nonetheless. A very close call.

Learnings: It’s going to be a long time before I knit another sweater in sock gauge. I do enjoy wearing 4 ply garments, but next time I’ll pay closer attention to the gauge needed.

Finally: I love it. It was worth the time and effort and the fit is great.

The cat garden is growing with some interest from Purl. We have lots of ‘cat grass’ or spew grass as I like to call it growing now. The cat nip is finally also making a start. I’m keeping it protected from Purl until it really gets going. There have not been any more instances of hairballs, but I feel a little more prepared just having some cat grass growing.

Purl is also growing. Some days she’s sweet and most others, she’s naughty! Now that footy is over for the year, we’ve switched over our Foxtel package to include the channel ‘Animal Planet’, so ‘I’ can watch my favourite show, ‘My cat from Hell’. It makes Purl look like an absolute angel in comparison. Mind you if I did something ‘silly’ like bring home another kitty or puppy, I’m sure we’d have ‘issues’ on our hands. The host ‘Jackson Galaxy’ does a wonderful job of turning stressed out upset kitty’s into agreeable members of the family.

I guess this is a knitting blog and not a cat blog, so I’ll talk about my project progress. The never-ending ‘Plain and Simple’ top is finished and is currently blocking. The reports of it being worn in public pre-blocking are true. It was only once I left the house that perhaps I realised my mistake. The ribbing and bands really needed a good wash and dry to settle down the curling and to make it sit right. FO photos to come.

I’m now focussing my attentions on my mum’s socks for Christmas. I’ve never knit my mum a pair of socks, I can’t wait for them to go on her (larger than mine) feet. I’m using my orange Sweet Georgia yarn from the Cookie A sock club shipment of June, and I’m making ‘Artemis’ socks from the August patterns. I am once again behind in my sock club knitting and I’m trying not to beat myself up about it. It’s kind of killing the fun of the club knit-along for me. I have pretty yarn and pretty patterns, I’m just not knitting them at the exact same time as everyone else. It feels like I’m running a race and I’m coming last (which physically is what happens if I ran a race). It’s that draining.

Next in my sights is my sisters baby crochet granny square blanket, but I want to get a fair way through my second sock before picking up this project. Even though they are both due around the same time, I find I’m more successful when I concentrate my attentions on one project at a time. But this is no fun. I want to knit all the things. I want to start cardigans, shawls, stripey socks…

Last night after a lovely evening out with my husband, I felt ‘inspired’ to write about my cat adventures of last week. Sadly, the internet ate my blog post, Damian blames me, but I’m sticking to my story. So here goes my attempt at re-writing it as well the second time around.

If it wasn’t Damian getting me up early recently, last Wednesday morning I was awoken by the most awful sound I’ve EVER heard. At 5:30 am on Wednesday 11th September, Purl harked up her first fur-ball. It wasn’t so much a fur-ball, more of a fur-mouse. To that noise Damian said, ‘she’s your cat’.

I was one of those cat owners who said, ‘my cat never gets fur balls, aren’t I lucky’… She just hadn’t done it yet. 10 months worth of incessant grooming was laying in a pile somewhere in my house. There was a chance I would walk into it before reaching the light switch, so I put my slippers on.

I did miss it, but the sight of what I saw will be forever etched in my memory. It did look like she had given birth to a mouse, or at least regurgitated one.

Suddenly there is a desperate need to grow some cat grass (and maybe some cat nip, Purl does get spoiled). I found a great pet store right next to a yarn store, how opportune. I planted my seeds on Sunday and now eagerly await germination. If this doesn’t work, I’m giving gardening away forever.

Isn’t this the most adorable picture? I totally didn’t ‘set’ this shot up. Whilst I was in the middle of packing for my crafty weekend away, I returned to my pile of clothes to find Purl had placed a mouse on my ‘packing’ pile. I don’t know if it was to signify, ‘I’m coming too’, or ‘you’re going to need this whilst you’re away’. Poor Purl, understands the meaning of a suitcase.

On my weekend away in Hepburn Springs, I went away with a whole lot of Quilters. Some of these crafters weren’t always ‘quilters’ though, it seems they’ve been converting one by one, with each subsequent visit to our weekend home. Somehow, I didn’t get the memo.

I was blown away by their projects, several of them brought multiple quilts in various stages of completion. Three of my friends are now also working on Hexagon quilts. These quilts are stitched together by hand, stitch by stitch, patch by patch. I so wish I brought mine…

Because after seeing their’s…

I had to pull mine out as soon as I got home. I’ve set myself a new goal (for my quilt project of 19 years) my quilt top needs to be finished by the next time we get away. That’s 6 months. I had forgotten that Katie and I had a little  wager (?) or was it just a little ‘hexagon-along’ with her Bee Keepers quilt.

Meanwhile, I’ve started a new little project, with patches. Only 32 to go.

 

There are so many ‘good’ things about Ravelry, but I discovered the best thing this weekend.

I went away with my crafting girlfriends on the weekend. When I say crafting, I mean quilting, I was the only one knitting this weekend, but I digress. I took 2 projects, my new pair of socks (for a bit of car knitting) and my ‘plain and simple’ top. That’s all I took. I didn’t give myself options, so that I could maximise my time on this never-ending project. Well on Sunday, this is how much yarn I had left:

Not a lot. With 10cm still to knit of the back, faux button bands, cuffs and a rather large ribbed folded neck, I turned to the only place I had a hope of finding more of said yarn. RAVELRY! Turns out I had about 3 options from Aussie destashers, but 1 that was perfect; funnily enough I found someone who I believe may have purchased the yarn in the same month as me. Incredible! It turns out, I’ve also met this knitter in real life. It was meant to be.

Today the yarn arrived at work, wow how lucky am I? Looks to be a great match too.

 

 

I’m not a big copier of what my friends are knitting. I generally find I put myself under too much pressure when I’m knitting the same things my friends are. Most of them are far faster knitters than me. You hear the phrase, ‘it’s not a race Sonia’, well it is for me!

When Sharon said she was doing the Romi y4 of 7 small shawls, something inside of me said ‘I want to do that too’. Sharon’s already knit the first project, which is a bonus project. It’s an aran weight cowl. I’ve gotten so much wear out of my alpaca cowl this year, I’m going to make one too out of this hand spun. I haven’t cast-on yet, but I’ve tried the yarn on for colour. Now if I wave my magic wand …

Ever get the feeling you’re going to run out of yarn for a project? I actually cannot ever recall this happening to me. This is something that happens to other people, not me.

So I’d cast on ‘plain and simple’ late last year, believing it was only going to take me 2 skeins of Wollmeise, because that’s how much I had in my stash. Never mind the actual amount the pattern specifies. Sure I’ve made a few alterations to include some waist shaping, that’s gotta be less yarn, but probably not enough to compensate.

So nine months ago in my wisdom I cast on a 4 ply top, it’s knit to sock gauge on sock sized needles. I’m never going to do that again, you can quote me on that.

The upside is, I only have this much yarn left. Which means, I only have this much knitting left. I guess it will be a boat neck rather than the ribbed fold-down bib. I’m ok with that.

Or I can get another skein of wollmeise… and try to blend it in… and knit for another 6 months…

I love surprises, especially when I’m making the surprise. There’s the whole ‘don’t let the cat out of the bag’ part. The planning, the deciding, the satisfaction of making something special for a special person.

So when ‘someone’ in my knitting group announced she was having a baby and then very graciously said, you don’t have to make me a group blanket because I’ve got several already made… it only made the surprise more of a surprise! Challenge accepted.

“Ok (insert name here), you don’t need a baby blanket, but have you made the Monster pants yet?!”, was the thought I had in my head, of course I didn’t say it out loud, that would ruin the surprise…

I made the monster pants once again for a most awesome gal. In colours I know she’ll love, I made one improvement on my last pair. The pants have a waist band. Poor Marilyn’s pants have started sliding down now that she crawls. The band can be adjusted as well, with a bit of unpicking.

I can’t wait to give them to her tomorrow, after which this blog entry will be published, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.

There will also be several other surprises given tomorrow by other members of the group. It’s going to be a squee fest.