Deli refit

Like many women, I periodically edit my wardrobe. And, over the last couple of years I've got a lot more reflective and critical about my clothes - and I've been finding it easier to get rid of things which don't fit, or don't work (anymore). I've been reading some of the advice from Amy Herzog and Ysolda Teague on the fit of knits and this has clearly influenced my thinking about some of the things I have made in the past, and some of the things I am planning to make next...

I had a good hard look at the Deli cardigan the other day (which I finished last year), and didn't really like what I saw. The slightly frilly trim was a bit too much - making it difficult to fasten neatly, creating a flare at the bottom hem, and making the back ride up. I decided to do away with it there and then. Well, it was warm and I was feeling rash and brave. For the record: there was no alcohol involved.  

Cue frogging....

Little bean watched the ripping. He had no idea about the significance of this, given the great endurance required to knit the blinking thing, but when he grows up, I will be able to show him proof that he was there for the great frogging of 2013...

I am happy to say: Deli looks a Whole Lot Better Now. I do need to replace the frill with something else - but actually, it hardly needs anything, so there will be a plain and simple button band in due course that will allow me to button the darn thing up. 

FOs reporting for duty.

Deli is done - finished on Sunday evening while watching the color purple. (We have a Love Film subscription, and I'm trying to fill a few holes in my (our) cinematic education). Here is a bad phone photo of it in action on Monday.

Today I was in Glasgow at a conference. I took some small knitting with me and polished off baby beanie no. 10 before lunch. Then I accidently cast on a sock in the afternoon plenary. All I can say in my defence is: there was yarn, needles and a requirement for me to sit and listen to some people talking for an hour or two.

I'd show you the hat - which is super scrummy, using some Kaffe Fasset striping sock yarn in hot pink - but it has escaped somehow. I suspect it jumped out of my bag at the conference...  If you are in Glasgow and find it wandering about, do send it home!

Deli..cious

I think I mentioned the endless trim on Deli, which I have been knitting for most of the past year month week or two (really, who would attempt to sew that on?!!!)


Well - it's finished - not quite, but the end is almost in sight, and I've managed a sneaky trying-on session to see how it looks. 

I like it. 


It doesn't look anything like the one in the book (which is very long and more like a coat than a cardigan), but it seems to fit me well. 


We'll be away next week on our hols, so expect some Scilliness (we are going to the Isles of Scilly). Haven't decided what knitting to take with me. Something small for sure, but what else?  I could really do with some more cardigans in my wardrobe, but it's so much easier, not to mention quicker, to knit something for a small person. 

Still addicted...

The blanket is still the thing. The socks aren't getting a look in. Neither is the cardigan I should finish (all sewn up and just waiting for 300 miles of edging to be knit onto it). There is an itch to be scratched, and I just need to scratch it.

The ripping and re-doing of the blanket has been a complete success. I am much happier with everything, and now starting to motor along, getting quicker and quicker all the time. It's a good feeling.

The rugby outing yesterday afternoon was fabulous. I have missed going to big matches like that (the last international I went to was the RWC in 2007, when the bean was about 9 months old), and it was so good to be back at Murrayfield for a sell-out match. The atmosphere of Scotland vs. France matches is always very good natured. The french fans play their part well, with  lots of flags and coloured wigs and silly hats. It meant that there was plenty to look at for our two little people - particularly the jelly bean - at her first rugby international. Her brother went to his first international match as a babe in arms, aged only 2 weeks! He's been to a few more games since then, mostly with his dad and other (male) grownups. This was our first outing as a family of 4 - and a rehearsal for attending sporting events with small people in tow, as we are off to the Olympics in the summer...

Too bad that Scotland couldnt get a win yesterday - but the roar that went up when they scored was incredible. And, we were lucky enough to be sitting in the north stand, so saw the first (Hogg) try fairly close up. A great memory for us all.

I've been thinking about stuff lately. There are so many of us trying to cope with having too much stuff. And, the more I think about, the more I think that the motto of the 21st century should be: don't buy stuff; do stuff. Yesterday was a good day for that.

The Cardigan of Doom (again)

On Saturday evening, I was booked to baby sit for a family we know. They had a dinner of spectacular proportion to go to (17 courses or perhaps 29), and I knew that I would have a long evening to entertain myself. The plan was this: to seam the cardigan of doom and continue with the knitted edging which goes on for several hundred yards seemingly. I got my bag ready in good time, and when the time was right, I set off to supervise someone else's children into bed (with an obligatory story or two) and then settle down on someone else's sofa for the evening. After reading the paper and spending some time trying to work out which combination of FOUR remote controls resulted in a tv with both sound AND picture, I picked up my bag to begin. I hauled the sorry nicely blocked pieces out of my knitting bag and set them aside. Then I reached in for my scissors and needle case. And, it was at this point that my plans for the evening broke down. Neither scissors nor needle case were actually in my bag - and I believe scientists have established beyond doubt that those two things are fundamental for sewing up anything you might care to mention. I was stumped. I was flummoxed. I was completely bojangled.

Fortunately, before leaving my own two chiddlers at home for the evening, I had stuffed the boy socks into my knitting bag, just in case.

Just as well. Sock two progressed from just started to more than half done, just like that. I finished it last night, and tried it on my sleeping son to make sure it wasn't too small. Save for one small detail (some blocks of duplicate stitch on the sole to indicate the approximate size of the sock- I'll show you sometime) - they are all done and in the (very smug) Christmas box. And the cardigan of doom still mocks me from the knitting bag...