End of January check

My knitting a mile has ground to a halt!

Since I have trouble with the stresses of tying shoes, I don't think knitting is a good idea. I'm certainly not knitting anything more this month, so here is my January summary:

1) Poor Arthur has but one Jaywalker sock.

Getting somewhere. Stalled at present...



2) The big ol' Lopi masterpiece has to be totally done soon. And it will be!

I sewed in a billion ends; now I just have to sew on buttons, sew down pockets, wash. Sorry, no picture, but you'll learn all about it in a short while.

3) I'm on the third hexagon of the Basalt tank. When I finish this one, I will move the 4 mm circular needle to the blanket border...

Ah, nothing.

4) ... because I've got all the squares knitted, mostly sewn together. I actually keep changing my mind about this border.

More nothing on the blanket, but now that I realise that this and the big Lopi are both still hanging around from November 2005, I'll be getting 'er done!

5) I once told you I was going to frog the grey lacy glove, but I couldn't bring myself to do it! I ripped out the wee bit of finger I had done and made a mitten. Number Two to follow.

Nope.

6, 7) I have a couple of baby blankets on the go for a charity knitting project.

Some progress made on one of these, and I must finish that one to get the long needles to use on the other!

8) Right now I am toying with that blue Yorkshire Tweed Chunky.

Done!

And also this year, I mean to make a shawl or two, some birthday socks for a few people, and the Felted Tweed stash will be used for, I think, a cardigan.

The Felted Tweed will be my next cast-on, I think, when I am returned to my proper knitting life. I was somewhat alarmed to see that my collection is not browns, but overwhelmingly green and blue! Never mind.

Oh, and I want to knit up that sock yarn stash, lickety-split.


Oh, yeah, started another pair of socks. Kaffe Fassett sock yarn, blue pooling stuff, rather than the plain stripes, which I found uninspiring.

I make no promises for February! My doctor very reasonably said, about my wrist, "That'll probably hurt for a week or two." Grr, no magic solution?? I did get it X-rayed, and since I've heard nothing, presume that it is not actually broken. So, I shall peruse my whole supply of old Vogue Knittings and take every knitting book out of the library, but rest my hand till it stops hurting.

Hmm, better stop typing for today, too!

Ow

Skates + ice + person who hasn't skated for 20 years = fall down go boom!

I fell and landed hard on my wrist -- so hard that I got bruises in the shape of purl bumps from my knitted mitts on the heel of my hand -- and no, I can't take a picture of them. Can't take a picture, can't knit, can't really type, can't spread jam on my toast...

But we can have a cheery sunflower from last August to bring some warmth.

Nipples and a sonnet

First, I must tell you about the Nipple Project. It's art, m'dears, and a friend of mine is contributing stuff and she says they need more knitted, crocheted, braided, etc nipples. You have a couple of months.

Then, I must tell you that I'm pretty well done with Tom Jones (though his Danny Boy is unbeatable!) and now prefer Alan Rickman.



Can you wonder?

Snug and warm

Gee, the sun is rather low in the sky on a January morning, isn't it?! Nice shadows on the chin(s)....

But, the good news is, my vest is finito!

I ended up cutting the bottom inch off and reknitting it downward to make the bottom ribbing work. Picking up from the cast-on edge was no good, because of that darn row with the purls that I so cleverly worked right at the beginning. It made the fabric bend slightly, casting a nasty shadow and attracting undue attention!

I used a bit less than 5 balls of the Yorkshire Tweed Chunky, counting, let's say, 475 meters towards my Knit-A-Mile goal. The yarn is really lovely, sturdy yet soft, warm but not too bulky; just good nice pretty soft wool!

Since I started out with 10 balls, that means I have another vest's worth of yarn in the closet! Something more adventurous next time? The giant lace is still under consideration.

But first, finish the Jaywalkers? Or the blanket??

Oh, monogamy

If I'm just knitting on one thing, I don't seem to have anything to blog about! Tuesday's knitting looks much like last Sunday's knitting. Time to finish this and move on!

What I've been knitting away on is The Blue Thing. I've now done the whole body (about 400 meters knitted up) -- now I just have to think of edgings. I'm quite pleased that the armholes don't gape too much; we'll see what happens when I get a bit of ribbing around them. I had a border around the bottom for a while but it looked like a very bad, very short tutu, so I took it off! (Almost 100 more meters of knitting, ripped!) I don't like the curl, so I shall make a not-very-pulling-in rib, knit downwards. I have to get a needle... 7 mm circ, long. A trip to the yarn shop is in order.

I also need to buy a pair of skates, but I doubt I can get both things on the same trip!

And, an arty picture of some tree bark, just for fun.

Pondering the blue thing

This is two balls of Yorkshire Tweed Chunky knit up. The body seems a bit looser than I had planned, but it's really about the same size as a fleece vest I have which I really like. It's clear I have enough yarn (10 balls total) to make sleeves, but I started out to make a vest, so that's what I shall do!

I wonder if I should put something around the bottom, or just let it roll that bit and make the whole thing plain. I could pick up stitches around the cast-on edge and knit something downward. Hmmm. I think I should decide about that before making the body any longer.

On a completely unrelated note, the weather here has been crazy. The last couple of days have been 12 or 14C, extraordinarily warm for January. All the mounds of ice and snow have mostly melted away, leaving all the coins which have been lost over the past month, as well as much frozen dog poo, now thawing. I found a dime and a 20p piece yesterday! And a subway token, which is worth over $2! But now, the wind is howling and the temperature is dropping steadily. At least it rained a lot last night, washing the worst of the muck off the sidewalks.

Winter weather will return soon, and I must get my cosy vest done!

Added later:

Look! A flower! In my back yard in January!!

My weekend away

Ah, the kids are back in school!

We went for a quick jaunt to see my brother and his family on the weekend. Walk in the woods, take down their tree, ride the train....


Knitting-wise, I got a good start on the second Jaywalker, which will be a fraternal, rather than identical, mate for the first. I just used the end of the first ball to start this one, and although it would have been easy to check and start the second sock the same as the first.... I didn't. They may even end up different lengths, to ensure cool colour-use at the heel.


I also continued a bit on the green/purple baby blanket. It's alarming to see how these colours criss-cross and make themselves look like everything that's ever been made of this sort of yarn. I was a bit embarrassed to be seen in public knitting this!

I also, I'm sorry to say, bought more yarn.


Or, should I say... I DON'T NEED ANY MORE YARN... but the Kaffe Fassett sock yarn at Needles and Pins reached out and grabbed me and I was forced to buy 3 balls of it. (Truly, I would have bought another red if I could have found one!)

Surfing around this morning, I learned about Knit a Mile, (that link will take you to Ravelry) which means, knit up a mile of yarn (1600 m, approximately) by mid-February. Not wanting to be a joiner of such things, I'll just quietly keep track myself. I'm thinking 4 or 5 balls of my Yorkshire Tweed Chunky, a couple of pairs of socks... oh, my.... well, umm... I'll try!

A bit of blue

After swatching a bit of lace (I love the look of giant lace, but perhaps not for this project) and a cable or two (tension issues, tweedy issues) I decided that what this yarn wants to be is plain.

Round and round, knit knit knit knit. I added a few purls in one round to stop the thing curling up too much!

The yarn is rather greyer than it appears here and the turquoise bits are more subtle. It's quite somber!

And at this stage -- ooh, I have 2 inches, or is it three, and I've used, maybe, half a ball, or a third -- I start the calculations. I'm not worried about running out of yarn, but I get to wondering if I could perhaps have sleeves, and then this would be a whole different ballgame, wouldn't it?

I thought I'd also note that I started the second mitt. It's a bit fiddly, especially the rather unusual ribbed thumb gusset, so I am doing this when I can pay attention, which is not right now, because going round and round on 8 mm needles is so much more fun!

But, it's started, at any rate.

I'm going away this weekend, and have two 2-hour train rides, so I'm being good and packing Arthur's second sock. I hope I'll have some thrilling stripes to show you on Monday!

January list

It seems it's time for a list.

What shall I knit next, and in the next 12 months?

Poor Arthur has but one Jaywalker sock.


The first one was interesting, but I have no real interest in making a second. Alas, I guess I'd better do it anyways.

The big ol' Lopi masterpiece has to be totally done soon. And it will be! It needs front fastenings (zipper or buttons?) and pockets dealt with and ends sewn in. No problemo, right?

I'm on the third hexagon of the Basalt tank. When I finish this one, I will move the 4 mm circular needle to the blanket border...

... because I've got all the squares knitted, mostly sewn together. I actually keep changing my mind about this border. I could pick up a huge number of stitches on each side and knit a border outwards; I could knit a sideways border and sew it on, or knit it on; I could crochet a border. Well, keep reading, coz sooner or later I'll decide. Maybe I won't need that circ after all.

I once told you I was going to frog the grey lacy glove, but I couldn't bring myself to do it!


I ripped out the wee bit of finger I had done and made a mitten. Number Two to follow.

I have a couple of baby blankets on the go for a charity knitting project. Hmm, must set up date to do that with the gang some weekend soon.

Right now I am toying with that blue Yorkshire Tweed Chunky. It'll be for me, and it'll be sleeveless, and it might have a cable up the front or it might not. Since I think this might just get preferential treatment, you should hear more about this soon.

And also this year, I mean to make a shawl or two, some birthday socks for a few people, and the Felted Tweed stash will be used for, I think, a cardigan. Oh, and I want to knit up that sock yarn stash, lickety-split.

Many of these things should be crossed off the list pretty soon. I must remember that the shotgun approach doesn't get things done very fast, and steady work on one project is really the way to go! Must... remember... that!

One more Christmassy post

I meant to blog this before now. I saw it out in the Beaches at a little antiques store, and hemmed and hawed about it, and then went back a couple of weeks later, being careful to take my friend who always buys more than me, just to make me feel better. (She did indeed buy more than me, yet again!) I gave it to Stephen for Christmas, but maybe it was really for me...


It's an eye chart, but all backwards and with big letters at the bottom! Why? Any ancient optometrists in the audience? A nice conversation piece for the front room, non?