So I was bored, and I sought instant gratification.  The result?  A knitted bib.  It needs a button, but probably won't ever get one because I won't remember to buy a button any time I'm in a place where buttons are sold, mainly because I don't think I'll ever need to use this bib.

But, now I know how I would knit a bib, if I had reason to knit one.  In actual fact I think I might find myself some (more) Coton-A (cotton/acrylic knitting yarn, rather good for these sorts of things - certainly much better than dodgy old acrylic yarn) and knit some for some friends.  I need to buy more Coton-A anyway, as I'm currently knitting the Dumpling a jumper out of some and I underestimated amounts.

I haven't knitted much lately.  I've had trouble finding the time to just sit down and knit.  I still have a purple sock to finish for Melly, along with a few other hibernating projects.  Naturally, this meant I needed to start a new project!

Quick and easy, just a few days worth of knitting here.  It's a little turtleneck for the Dumpling, knitted in the round on 4mm/size 6 and 3.75mm/size 5 needles.  Lincraft DK again - I really like being able to simply bung things in the washing machine, and the colours are great.  The photo's a bit odd because my camera's on the blink, necessitating use of my phone camera instead.

The Dumpling's asleep, but when he wakes up I'm going to put this on him, and we'll go out.  =)

So I'm making Melly a pair of socks, pretty much exactly like my purple magic loop socks though a little smaller.  But just for shits and giggles, I'm adding some detail up the back - a simple cable twist.  The rib pattern is k2 p1, and the sock is 40 stitches around.  For my socks, I just decreased a stitch at the middle of the back once I got to the ankle so the pattern worked properly (39 being a multiple of 3).  For Melly's socks, instead of doing that I've kept two purl stitches in the middle, and I'm crossing the ribs either side.

I've never actually knit cables before, so I feel mildly clever.  I'm even doing it without cable needles, and that makes me feel slightly more clever.

I started making a hoodie for my friend's daughter maybe a couple of months ago.  I just couldn't get into it - I decided I didn't like the colourway, and I didn't like the crocheted edging I'd started.  So I frogged it and went yarn shopping.

I'm quite a fan of Lincraft DK.  It's dirt cheap acrylic, but personally I think they're really good words when buying yarn for toddler projects.  I quite like their colourways, too - the  yarns really don't look as nasty as the price would lead you to expect.  ($1.49/100g)

So this is (obviously) Lincraft DK, and edged with Patons Feathers.  It's a good fun yarn to work with - much easier to knit with than I expected.  Fancy yarns are always tricky, but this one's pretty smooth.

Anyway, I'm just doing the second sleeve now, so I hope to have photos of the finished object up soon.  Like, I'm hoping to finish it today, but I have a feeling it will take me longer to actually photograph it and post images.  Maybe I'll get the Dumpling to model it?  I can tease him with photos of him wearing a fluffy pink hoodie at his 21st...

Here they are. Short'n'sweet. Please excuse the leg hair: it's hard keeping up to date with things with a toddler. ;)

I'm seriously pleased with how this sock has turned out. I'll type up the pattern in detail as I knit the second sock.

I've got the heel thing down pat. Turns out I was having a few minor technical issues (twisted stitches when slipping the picked up wrapped stitches - wow, that does sound technical *grin*) and a few minor tension issues (not pulling stitches tight enough when turning after picking up wrapped stitches). All that seems to be solved, now, and I'm really happy with the mitred heel.

Only took me three goes. I'm getting really persistent.

I'm a little bit irritated with this yarn, actually. My fault, really, for not reading the label properly. I was hoping for a self-striping/self-fair isling yarn. Instead, it's just variegated. Still, it's ridiculously fine knitting (for me, at least), being on the 2mm bamboo circular.

Magic loop knitting ftw, incidentally.




The Spousal Unit loves his Ginormous Bedsocks. They're 'light and toasty', apparently.
4mm needles, switching to 3.75 for the ribbing, and cast off using a 6mm needle.

Again, I say, magic loop knitting ftw. I'm never using double points again. At least, not for socks.

Given how quickly these socks knitted up (I had them done in a couple of days), I'm making a similar, more fitted pair in royal purple for myself. I have worked out why my heels are a bit rough (the socks, I mean, not my skin), so this pair I'm knitting now should be about perfect. I figure I'll type up the pattern and share it when they're done.

The Spousal Unit doesn't like his grey socks. Well, he likes them, but he's more of a thick and chunky socks man, not a fine and delicate socks man. So I'm knitting him another pair of socks.

There are two fun things about his new pair: the first is that they're thick and chunky, which is to say I'm knitting them with DK wool rather than fingering (8ply and 4ply respectively, for those of us here in Australia). This means they knit up very quickly. This is fun: it's always fun to feel like a lightning speed knitter. The other fun thing is that I'm knitting them toe up, without a pattern. It's very like me to knit my first ever pair of toe up socks without a pattern, just to see if I can. Being me, I also have enough invested in them that if they turn out wrong, I'll be very upset. Luckily, sock patterns are simply a matter of mathematics. I'm good at maths, so the outcome is looking pretty good already.

Anyway, an easy afternoon of knitting yesterday has a foot and a heel and a little bit of ankle completed.

As an aside, given that I'm using DK weight yarn, I am using 4mm needles, which means I can use one of my Denise circular needles. I've been knitting the socks using 'magic loop' knitting on one circular, instead of using double points. I have to say, I'm quite a fan of the ol' 'magic loop'. Although every half round I have to stop and pull the work along the cable, it's really quite a smooth motion and doesn't seem to interrupt my knitting. The ease of handling a single needle also beats dealing with four double points; and I also find it easier to maintain an even gauge the whole way round.


Given that I was yarn shopping yesterday anyway... I also bought some other yarn. I succumbed, and bought some Sullivan's sock yarn. These socks are at the other end of the spectrum, and not just colour-wise. These ones, I'm knitting on 2mm needles, which is the smallest needle size I've ever used. Buoyed by my 'magic loop' success, I'm testing out a bamboo circular. I'm not really a bamboo needles kind of person, but when you get down to 2mm, things are getting slippery. I also have a set of metal double points, for if I decide the bamboo circular's not really my thing.

I imagine this sock project will take me some time, but that's okay. This pair of socks is actually for me. It occurred to me yesterday that in all my sock adventures so far, I still haven't made myself a pair to wear - and it is getting into Winter here, you know.

Other yarn purchases were more banal. I bought some acrylic DK for kiddy projects. I rashly promised a hoodie to a friend of mine for her daughter recently, and I ran out of steam on the one I started for her because I didn't like the colour of the yarn after all, and I didn't like the edging I'd done. So I bought some different yarn in pinks and purples, and picked up a ball of bright pink 'Feathers' yarn to knit the edging with. Pink fluff is fun. I also bought some grass green and some blue-green-aqua yarn for Dumpling-projects.

Anyway.

Today is another misty-moisty day, good for curling up with sockses. In a moment, I shall go and knit for a bit.

See, I've been squirreling away my pennies for an Eee PC.  Now they're highly nifty little devices, and I'd really like one.  But now I'm faced with a dilemma: I'm about halfway to an Eee PC, and I really want to buy an interchangeable needle set.  I could just go ahead and buy the set, but that's a fairly significant setback given that it will cost me a little under $US80 for the set, an extra bit or two, and postage.

Eee PC
Pros:

• They're nifty and I really want one.
• It would be handy to be able to move around with it instead of having to sit at my desk to work play work.
• In a few years time I could hand it down to Vincent.

Cons:

• I need to save $425, which requires self discipline.
• I don't really need an Eee PC.

Denise Interchangeable Knitting Set
Pros:

• It's a one off cost that would cover most of the knitting needles I'm ever likely to need in my life.  Given that needles are roughly $6/pair, it's extremely cost effective: I easily have spent at least $80 on needles for projects so far, and yet only have half a dozen needle sizes.  Actually, I've probably spent more.
• With the extra long cord, I can easily finish the project that's sitting on the table glaring at me: it's on hiatus because frankly it's a PITA to work with FIVE circular needles (it's really big, and I can't find any super crazy long circular needles locally), and I'd really like to finish it.  These needles would make it easy to finish, and then I could actually wear it.
• I love circular needles in general because they're so versatile; interchangeable needles are exponentially more so.
  

Cons:

• It sets me back on my Eee PC fund significantly.
• Technically I don't need these needles, as knitting is a hobby and you don't need hobby things; but I definitely need knitting needles more than I need an Eee PC.
• $80 seems like a lot of money to outlay to make knitting a $30 project easier; but on the other hand if I don't get around to actually finishing the project at all that's still $30 down the tubes.  So maybe that's both pro and con.
• There is another set for similar cost that I think I'd prefer.  (They don't ship to Australia, though; nor do they have the option of a stupidly long cable.  So I guess that's a moot point).
  

I'm thinking the choice is obvious.  My Eee PC fund will recover...

I found some cheap yarn the other day.  It was on sale.  Patons Powderpuff, and it's as soft as that.  As I knitted, I kept scrunching it up and rubbing it on my face.  It's lovely.

Anyway, I knitted this for Mr V.  I think it's cute.  My mother in law thinks I'm pretty awesome for having knitted it without a pattern, but really there's no shape to it.  I just kept knitting, and turned corners as I needed to.

Mr V is wearing it to bed tonight.  =)

Again, I make socks.  These socks are for sycophantasm.

The yarn is nifty.  I bought two colours:

I'm using the brown/burgundy/olive/cream/etc yarn.  Here is a picture of her socks so far - it's about a quarter of one sock, near enough.

Nifty, huh?

Here is my first ever pair of knitted socks.  They're for captainflux, but those shapely feet modelling them in this photo belong to me.  I'm quite pleased with them.

I'm getting much faster at knitting, incidentally.  The second sock only took me a couple of days (obviously not full days, I mean two days worth of snatched knitting time while Dumpling Baby naps).

Well, I'm getting into knitting again.  As the weather gradually cools, knitting becomes a more pleasant pastime.  Also, knitting is more interesting when I'm learning how to do something, and at the moment I'm learning two things: how to knit in the round with four needles (turns out it's quite easy, it's just a matter of getting used to where my hands and the needles go because it's knitting with corners); and how to knit socks.  I have a nice easy beginner sock pattern on the go. 

captainflux's mother gave me a bag of wool she'd cleared out last year - it actually is wool, which is nice.  It's all black, too - I have quite a bag of it.  Being very old it's not all in great nick: there are a couple of breaks in the thread in the first ball I'm using, but I haven't seen a break in a while now so I'm assuming it's just the outside of the ball which has been knocked around a bit.  Anyway, for my first pair of socks, I don't care if the yarn isn't perfect.  If I were to buy yarn to try this out, I'd buy cheap and nasty acrylic - so given that socks are for feet, I'll take the old merino with a couple of joins in the thread over acrylic in a flash.

I'm so cheap.  But then for me it's more about the knitting and less about the finished product.  I make myself feel better by telling myself that cheap and nasty acrylic is cruelty-free... well, to animals, anyway. ;)

I decided to make the socks for captainflux, as he really wears a lot of thick chunky socks.  But although this is the 'extra large' size I'm making, it seems likely that they're not going to be quite big enough for his feet.  This doesn't bother me, as they'll be equally awesome socks for me.


Oh yes.  That's what prompted this post.  I'm on Ravelry.  Same username as I use everywhere.

Well, technically it's not finished.  There are at least eleventy hundred loose threads I need to sew in to the fabric, but I'll do that tomorrow (or whenever I feel like it).  However, the knitting (and crocheting!) is all done.  My son can now watch his first season of football dressed in appropriate attire.

( We're a happy team at Hawthorn, we're the mighty fighting Hawks... we love our club and we play to win, riding the bumps with a grin (at Hawthorn)...Come what may, you'll find us striving, teamwork is the thing that talks... one for all and all for one is the way we play at Hawthorn, we are the mighty fighting Hawks! )
I am never knitting anything like that again.

...a Hawthorn guernsey.

I started it while pregnant, then it got hot, and besides it was really difficult to knit because although the pattern is simple I had to use seven balls of wool at once so I got discouraged.

Then it got cool again, but I had a baby, and I had no time to knit.

It's hot again, but the baby lets me have my hands free sometimes, and besides, when it gets cool again it will be football season so I need this guernsey finished, or it won't fit Vincent when I'm done.  So I took it out again, and started knitting fervently.  I found a way to stop my seven strands of yarn getting tangled, and that expedited the process immeasurably.  I'm nearly finished the front, which is the difficult bit - the back piece will just be yellow, so the only thing remotely taxing about it will be comparing it with the front piece to remember where I tapered in the arm holes.  (I'm not actually using a pattern, you see, just kind of winging it).  Though of course, the relative ease of a single colour back piece has me thinking about working a number into the pattern...

Anyway.  Having nearly completed the front of the guernsey, I present it here for your edification.  Feel free to encourage me to finish it... although I'm down to two balls of wool (just a few more rows on the shoulder to go) I can feel my enthusiasm flagging again.

I am insane, clearly, because I am knitting this:


It's going to be a toddler-sized Hawthorn guernsey (Hawthorn being my husband's AFL team of choice).  It all looks simple enough, doesn't it?  In theory, it's not terribly difficult - seven stripes, using intarsia method knitting.  However, seven stripes in intarsia knitting means seven balls of yarn.

Oh yes.  I am currently knitting with seven balls of yarn.  See them all there in the icecream container?  Keeping track of that many threads is an absolute nightmare.  Fortunately the back of the guernsey is all yellow: it's just the front that will kill me.

I'm making up the pattern as I go.  I figure I know enough about basic jumper knitting to do that.  It requires a V-neck, which is easy enough to do, but it's pretty much a straight piece - no shaping or tapering.  Obviously I'll have to shape the armholes, but I think even that will be easy enough to work out.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do sleeves - an AFL guernsey doesn't have them these days, but older versions did so sleeves wouldn't be a travesty.

But yes.  As I mentioned - insane.  Certifiable.

The good news is that if I totally screw it up, it's cost me a grand total of $4 in yarn.  Yay for acrylic!


PS: don't mind the music underneath the container.  I don't really spend my afternoons playing Carey Landry to myself: I've been learning a few chords for the upcoming Rosies Mass.  Which reminds me, I haven't updated about that - let's just say, the liturgist is worse than I imagined.  *gah*