Big Lace Scarf (FO)

I'm not a lace knitter - not yet anyway(!) - I've knit some lace in the past, but haven't yet cast on any glorious shawls in gossamer fine yarn. But something lacey caught my eye in the More Last-minute knitted gifts book, and I just had to do it.

Pattern: big lace scarf from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts (Joelle Hoverson)

Yarn: chunky, unravelled from charity shop jumper

time taken: a day or two last week

mods: I subbed the yarn and knit with 15mm needles

The photos haven't come out terribly well, but you get the idea. It's big and chunky and involves a simple 4 row pattern, which I managed to screw up several times. Who knew that counting to 4 could be so tricky? After dithering a little, I decided to keep this as a scarf and not transform into a cowl, and this is also stashed in my box of things (along with its sister), waiting for the right person or right occasion to come along.

In other news, I am now without a sock project. But, as I can't seem to manage without a small project I can take with me to meetings, work, conferences etc, I have cast on something else small and portable worked in the round using sock yarn: some wrist warmers. I'm using the purl bee's long striped handwarmer pattern for my first pair. Watch this space...

Making Monday (on Tuesday): dribble bibs

I'm a bit late with this week's making monday (oooops!), but if a things worth doing....

The last couple of weeks have been studded with birthdays - first dear wee Elias, then my dad, then my cousin's twins and yesterday, a little friend of ours who has got to the very grand age of three! Happy birthday to you all.

Wherever possible, I prefer to give home made gifts, so my dad got socks, and the twins - who were 1 at the weekend - got a variety of things, including a few cute dribble bibs (tutorial here).

These were upcycled from some old terry squares and some of the jelly beans old clothes. She really wears her clothes, and not all of them are in a fit state to pass on when she has grown out of them! Some days it is hard to keep track of the clothes she gets through - such is her capacity for attracting dirt and soaking herself with any/all available liquids. Not that we'd have her any other way...

Troosers...

A week or so ago, I made use of a child-free day at home to sort out my stash of fabric. It was a rather sobering experience - I hadn't really realised just how much I had accumulated over the years, nor how many half-finished projects and things for mending there were languishing in various trunks and baskets and drawers. 

First on my hit list were some old trousers of mine, set aside to make new trousers for the bean - and a pair of trousers of his that needed mending.

Then, I got to work on some trousers for the jelly bean. When you are in the throes of potty training, dungarees are a bit of an impediment, so I turned this cute pair into some trousers. Trouble is, the jelly bean herself has a different view point - in the way that two year olds do - and won't actually put them on...  humph. But I live in hope...

October Fest

I am officially designating October as a FO Fest. While September has been quiet in terms of blogging, it has been anything but in terms of crafting, and there is a lot of catching up to do.

First up, socks. I've been a bit of a sock addict lately, and two more pairs have sprung off the needles.

Pattern: Java (from Knitty)

Yarn: twinkle toes, by Jenny Cook

time taken: 28 August - 19 September 2011

I also finished a pair of brown stripey socks for my dad's birthday (happy birthday dad!). I used my favourite striping technique to make best use of some sock yarn odds and ends.

Pattern: generic top-down with grumperina stripe

yarn: Plymouth Yarn co. sock yarn plus some unknown sock yarn (charity shop)

Making Monday: making, baking and being at home

As is always the case, a week was simply not long enough to accomplish everything on my list, but it was good to get some things finished, and some things started, and to have a few days where work interruptions were minimal and the priorities were unashamedly domestic.There was...

: : knitting - two socks finished (but not a pair)

: : sewing - one small t-shirt refashioned and two pairs of trousers cut out ready for stitching (both repurposed from my old trousers)

: : baking - a lemon drizzle cake (from Nigella's domestic goddess book) and a delicious quiche (mushroom and leek) and home-made pizzas and a jumble fruit crumble

and playing, and meeting friends, and some trips out, including one to see this: the Tour of Britain, which started yesterday in Peebles.

And there was a wee bit of gardening (in between the showers) and paperwork and sorting and decluttering (three big bags for the charity shop), but a bit less sleep than we hoped for on account of a small person with a tickly cough but, all in all, it was a good week.

Don't forget to check out other making mondays to see what everyone else has been doing...

Making Lists

No work for me this week, so my making monday is all about lists: planning the week ahead to make the most of my time at home, some of it without children(!)

: : read/finish reading the lovely books that are cluttering up my side of the bed
: : convert as many WIPs as possible to FOs
: : sort and rationalise the fabric stash (see item above)
: : bake and cook good things
: : weed, deadhead and tidy up the garden
: : attend to personal grooming (pedicure and haircut both booked)
: : catch up on paperwork/tax affairs
: : sleep
: : eat
: : play
: : blog

I hope there'll some more of these:

And plenty more of this:

Powerless

I have been taken over by an inner sock knitting demon. I am powerless to resist. My husband thinks I am addicted.

So, with Java on the needles and coming on nicely (now at the heel of sock one), a pair of stripey scrappy socks cast themselves on early on Tuesday so that I could knit them while I read and marked 4 student dissertations (cables and charts are not conducive to knitting while reading, so it was imperative to have something plain to knit). It was a day well spent - and by bedtime I had done my marking and kitchenered the toe of sock 1 (here's the yarn I chose). 

The second sock has taken two days (rather than one) to knit, and I will shortly kitchener the toe. With this in mind, I found myself rummaging in the stash this morning for some more sock yarn, as you do: get up, have breakfast, wake and feed children, get work and nursery bags ready, get everyone dressed, select and weigh sock yarn.

As my sock drawer is quite full these days, I'm trying to get ahead with gift/birthday/christmas knitting. The almost finished green/grey socks knit this week are for my mum (christmas) and as my dad's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, the next ones will be for him.