Comfort knitting

It's cold out, and grey and damp (we had some snow for a day or two, but now it's gone), and I need something to sustain myself through these short January days. So I've got me a bit of comfort knitting, it's very plain and simple. 

I'm going round and round on a circular needle, with 100g of sock yarn. It's meditative and sort of slow, because you can't see it growing.  Before you ask, it's that famous brand can't remember, in the colourway no idea. 

I'm knitting a loooong tube  - and will just keep going until I run out of yarn (I weighed things this morning, there was still 46g of yarn left in the ball). When I do run out, I'll graft the two ends of the tube together to make a soft and purpley cowl. Yum. 

 

FO: Twisted Rib socks

Way back some time early in the spring, I cast on for a new pair of socks. I decided to do something a little different, and unvented a little twisted rib pattern (k2 p2 rib, with a little twist on alt rounds*). I got things set up and started to knit.

I knit the cuff and the leg and the heel flap and the heel and then everything 
s t o p p e d. 

I don't really know what or why, but my sock knitting mojo got up and left. In September I decided to just Get On With It and finish the darn thing. I think I told you about the incident with little bean - you know when I was almost ready to kitchener the toe and then he found it and discovered frogging and how to tangle yarn really effectively. 

I recovered my equilibrium after a few weeks of ignoring the socky mess stuffed into my knitting bag. When I got the first sock finished that seemed to break the spell and the second sock flew off my needles. It was helped enormously by spending a day at a conference, with rail journeys to and from the venue and children at home with their dad (thanks dear). In the morning I was at the heel flap, and on the train home I finished the toe. Job done! 

Pattern: top-down socks with a twisted rib

Yarn: I can't remember (Regia maybe)

Started: Spring 2015  Finished: November 2015

* twist detail was worked as follows: k into back of second stitch on 

LH needle, and then front of first stitch. Slip both stitches onto RH needle at the same time. Work all knit stitches in this way, keeping 2x2 rib pattern correct.

It's such a long time since I had an FO to blog. It feels amazing and I have concluded (wait for it: here comes the profound truth) that the best way of experiencing this is to FINISH some of the WIPs cluttering up my life house knitting basket. I'm on a roll, people. 
On a R O L L

Stripes

Things are pretty stripey here. First there is the never ending blanket, and then there is a toddler Charles. And then there are the dad socks.

 All stripey I tell you.

Progress somehow seems faster when I am making stripes. Maybe it's the 'just one more row/stripe' thing, or just the way in which the completion of a new stripe makes progress palpable in a way that plain knitting is not. Is that just me?


Anyway, the blanket is coming along and gobbling yarn to the extent that I am wondering whether I might have to buy some yarn to make it big enough. But, as is often the case, I am getting ahead of myself, and therein lies danger.

The danger is mostly to do with unecessary stash augmentation. I am getting a whole lot better at putting off yarn (and fabric and clothing) purchases safe in the knowledge that today's bargains will be replaced by tomorrow's bargains. And, over the last couple of years my yarn stash has been slimmed and trimmed.
My fabric stash on the other hand has not. It grows when I'm not looking, fattened up by discarded clothes and linens: a ripped shirt, an old duvet cover, some tired t-shirts... The challenge is finding the time to do some sewing which slims and trims the fabric stash in the same way as the yarn stash.

It's my summer challenge: sew my stash.

Craft In Action

Here's little bean wearing his mama-knitted Charles. And here he is snuggling under the endless blanket in its current form.

The blanket is coming on fine - in line with my little and often philosophy I'm trying to manage a row or two every day. Unlike knitting, I can just about manage to crochet while I am feeding the baby. Who knew crochet was amenable like that?

And look at all that wool at midsummer! What on earth? For the sake of balance and accuracy I should point out that yesterday we were all in short sleeves and sandals. It's not always grim up north...

Pink

I have gone and done it: cast on the pink thing which was pulling at my inner knitter the other day.

And, here I am drinking tea in a coffee shop, with a sleeping baby beside me in his pushchair, making a start.

Starting. Again

Maybe it's my hormones. Or the weather. Or the phase of the moon. Or something. It seems I am powerless to resist the siren call of the yarn goddess, and today I pulled yet more yarn from the stash for another project. 

I haven't cast on yet, but that's only because I've been busy feeding a baby, trying to ensure most people in the house have clean pants to wear tomorrow, and make something dinner-like from the dregs left in the fridge. How is it, that a fridge that was respectably full only yesterday now looks as though it belongs to an impoverished student, close to the end of term? 

I digress. The new project is going to be something small, and pink, for a small girl I know who recently had her first birthday. I failed to make her anything when she was born, and I owe her and her big sister BIG time. The blue sparkly Phoebe (which is not quite finished) is for her sister, and I have an idea about making her a bigger and pinker version of the Charles which I made for little bean, and which is proving to be even nicer on a baby than it was on the needles. 

In other news, the crochet blanket is starting to look a bit less like a very long brown wolly bookmark. After two blocks of colour (each block = one small ball of yarn) I've devised a stripe pattern for the next part of the blanket. This is partly because I like stripes, and partly to keep life interesting. There is something more-ish and manageable about knitting just one more stripe, in a project that is likely (if I think about it logically) to take a Very Long Time. It could be a never ending blanket...

As well as the blanket, there is poor old Phoebe to finish off (really, there is not much left to do...) and those man socks which, it turns out, aren't for my husband at all, but for my dad. The Regia jazz stripes are, apparently, well outside the acceptable sock comfort zone for my husband. He was fairly diplomatic about it and while we were talking about the colour thing, he also let me know about some of the fit issues he has with the other socks I have made him. These have all been noted, and no doubt as a result of my wisdom, maturity and age, I managed not to take these comments to heart or run from the room beating my breast and gnashing my teeth. I took it, as knitters do, with grace and good humour (ha). Its hard to say whether he will be getting any more handknit socks in the near future... 

Happy Fathers Day, Dad. There are some socks coming your way. 

Willpower

So, what was I saying about WIPs? Reader, I am weak and couldn't resist any more: I cast on a new project.

This is not just any project; this is a stash battering project that should take care of a good amount of yarn. It's another crochet blanket - big enough for snuggling under on the sofa, or covering our bed. I say this confidently, although I am not following any pattern, and don't really know how much yarn I've got or how much I might need to make a blanket of the size I imagine.

It must be a crochet thing, i'm not usually so blase about knitting projects and yarn amounts. But my fingers were awfully itchy, and I just had to start. Today.

I cast on (do you cast on in crochet?) this morning, managing a few stitches here and there whilst out and about with the children.

Most of today's crochet action happened once the small people were asleep. It is gobbling yarn already, and the end of the first (small) ball is nigh.

I won't bore you with any pictures of this narrow ribbon of dark brown woollyness. Instead I offer this - a picture of little bean enjoying some afternoon sunshine in the garden. (Yes, we do have sun in Scotland, despite rumours to the contrary!)

Arrival

At last, a baby arrived at our house this morning.
He weighs a healthy 9lb 12.5 oz, and was born just over 2 weeks late!
Another WIP.....

Phoebe (WIP)

A new project cast itself on yesterday: Phoebe from Rowan Kids. I'm using some sparkly yarn I bought in the sale a few months ago. It's for a friends daughter, soon to be 5, and much neglected by me on the knitting front in times recent. 

It's just what I need while we wait for this new baby to arrive...

Birthday

It's my husband's birthday today. He left for work early, so the grand presentation of gifts will come this evening.

I'm trying to finish this sock, so he'll have something handcrafted in the pile. We'll just gloss over the fact that this is sock no. 1, and there is no chance of sock no. 2 before then...

Happy Birthday my love.

Charles (WIP)

A new project cast itself on yesterday. Something for a new baby - I was powerless to resist, and couldn't go to bed until the moss st border was done.

This morning 'Charles' has joined me in bed for a few quick rows while I enjoy a cuppa and listen to the radio. The rest of the family are out at mini rugby, braving the wind and rain, so it's just me and the bump.

Hello Dolly

Almost done...

Progress

As is usual at this time of year, my weekly routine is shaped largely by my teaching. I am teaching third year undergraduates, from a range of professional disciplines and the preparation and marking and organising and thinking about what we are going to do in our classes each week takes time: lots of time.

But I'm trying to make time to finish a few projects here and there too. When I'm out in town, at work, on the bus, or at midwife/GP appointments I take a small project with me. It's usually socks, but recently I've switched back into baby beanie mode. 

When I'm at home, I try and concentrate on one of the bigger projects in the WIP pile. At the moment my main focus is the crochet blanket I am making for the bean. 

He's been complaining - rightly - that it didn't take me long to make a blanket for his sister, but his blanket is taking ages. Trouble is, I've almost run out of one of the yarns. Such is my desperation, that I am in the process of weighing the ball before and after completing a stripe in order to work out just how many more stripes I might eke out of the remaining ball, and how much bigger I can make the blanket without having to change the design. It might just be enough... keep your fingers crossed.

WIP

It's about time I 'fessed up. There is another major WIP underway.... 

This is the last one I made, a few hours after her birth... So, yes, there is another baby coming to live with us (all being well). No. 3 is now half-way (roughly) through the cooking process and should be with us early May all being well. 

All the tests and scans have been fine so far, despite the fact that I'm the wrong side of 40. It has been a bit of a surprise, so we are taking time to get used to the idea, and to think about all the (baby) things we need to reacquire, and work out how we will fit into our nice but not terribly big home and car. Maybe I'll just have to move the stash....?

WIP

Things are happening here. Big things. Things that have been planned and thought about and discussed for some time. In fact, I knew I wanted to do some of these things when we first saw the house (7 years ago!)


We have builders in. We have a temporary kitchen (aka the batcave) and many boxes. There are tiles and lights and worktops and all sorts waiting to be unpacked and installed. 


It's an exciting thing. We've just moved beyond the slow structural elements of the build, and into the quicker and more palpable progress of wall finishes and kitchen installation. Yesterday the kitchen arrived in a myriad of boxes, and this morning the joiners arrived to start putting it together: a three dimensional puzzle of components. 


It feels very grown up, although we are not thinking at all about the grown up bill that will also arrive shortly. 

 the jelly bean tidies herself away in the old kitchen

The contractors have been great - tidy, considerate and punctual. The gaffer, is a very likeable man who says things like 'no problem', 'we can do that' and 'its all pretty straightforward'. We like him. 


There is knitting here too, of course. Hat no #9 sprang off the needles yesterday and no #10 is just being cast on. Tonight it's a knitting night, so I'm planning to take Deli for a night with the girls. Hopefully it'll be her last night as a UFO!


In other news, some sunshine and the long jubilee weekend meant a wee bit of time in the garden. The chiddlers helped me plant the rather wizened seed potatoes that had been waiting to be planted. And, the wigwams for our climbing french and runner beans are also up. Must plant the seeds now!

Waving, not drowning

Yesterday, a short session in the gym ended with a knee injury. Nothing to do with technique or pushing the limit, just slipping on a wet floor in the changing room. Grrr. I suspect a medial cruciate ligament strain, so I am resting on the sofa while the others are out.

The view is not too bad (see painting below), and I am making some waves of my own with my blue ripple blanket. I'd rather be on Bryher with the others, but as things go it's not a bad place to put your feet up.

Girl sized

It's not quite finished, but I think she likes it.

Wipping things up...

As usual, Lent is invoking some attempts at self-improvement. The most notable of these is a change in diet - giving up dairy products and gluten as an experiment to see if that helps some low-level health problems. Interestingly the most noticeable benefit has been a returning sense of smell, which all but disappeared after the jelly bean was born. My husband found it incredible that I couldn't detect the different smells of our children. But now I can, and it's nice :)

The crafting self-improvement going on here is all about the WIPs. I'm not casting on anything new, and trying to finish something: anything! There have just been too few FOs this year for my liking (can it really only be one thing that I've finished? Yikes).

The chevron blanket is growing nicely, and has gobbled up oodles and oodles of yarn. Even though the blanket is a bit narrower than I intended (note to self: next time allow for the chevrons/ripples when measuring the foundation chain against the bed), each stripe is one ball of yarn. As there is only one more ball of pink yarn left after the one currently being worked, I am only planning to add another couple of stripes to the length. I may yet put a few rows of DC along the edge of the blanket to finish it off. Or I may not. It has proved to be a nice project - perfect for sitting on the sofa while watching a rugby match, and easy to put down at any moment to soothe a bumped head, supply drinks or snacks to small people or otherwise adjudicate in some filial dispute. The jelly bean already identifies it as her blanket, and likes to snuggle under it on my lap.

The next blanket (oh yes, it is already in the planning) will ripple in blue, and demolish the rest of the cotton yarns in the stash. As for those birthday socks, sock two is crawling towards the toe - I managed a few rounds at the weekend when I was at the hairdresser. If they aren't finished before the blanket, they will be next on the list, and then good old Deli will have to come out of the knitting bag for those three miles of knitted trim to be applied...

Chevron blanket WIP

Here's a quick pic of the blanket....

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.