What I made, by Sharon

It's actually baby jumper 31 in my knitting career, but number 1 of the 3 or 4 I want to knit in the next bit, so the title will have to stand. We went to Ballarat this weekend, which meant a reasonable amount of train knitting, although we were very busy and social (we helped make a short film about a tram crash, and saw some art and went to the sort of pub where you stand up and for a run) so not as much knitting time as I would have wanted - but there is never enough knitting time, is there? I did have time to finish the baby jumper  - partly because I made it 20 stitches smaller than the pattern. Not on purpose, I just can't count. Yes, after 30 baby jumpers, and 400 other projects you would think I'd know how to count. I loved the Chiaogoos that Kris lent me so much that I've ordered my own set, so that was a major win. I've put unblocked photos up here, because I wanted to get these done and documented. sOctober starts tomorrow, and it's go...

Despite life and injury slowing me down, I finished the Parkamoor socks test knit on Tuesday night.  These socks are magnificent. Well designed by Katherine of Fiber and Sustenance they were simple to knit, with an easy to memorise repeat, but not boring. And the result is so nice looking for the effort. I ended up with one slip stitch heel and one eye of partridge, because I don't know how to follow instructions! The yarn is so beautiful and nuanced, and plays so nicely with this pattern. I knit them relatively tall, and between that and the cable / ribbing these used  a little more yarn than the average pair of socks for Leon - 80 grams, rather than the more usual 70 grams. I'm a fan, and a, hoping that Kat continues to design and publish patterns. Parkmoor has not yet been published, but I don't think it will be long, and I recommend knitting these. The pattern looks great in manly colours, but  is strong enough to show even with more variegated y...

Last time I found out someone I have a work relationship with was having a baby, it was very close to her due date, and I had to get my skates on to get the jumper finished in time. After that I planned to knit some baby gifts for the gift box, just in case. Then last week I visited my old workplace, and one of my ex-colleagues is having a baby, due February. Right, I thought, 2 jumpers. And then my brand new workmate in my current role announced that they are expecting.I've wrapped up some yarn - three lots of LOSY, and some left over Pallete. The other thing that is going on for me is that my knitpro needles are really annoying me. I wore out a pair of Karbonz while knitting Strathendrick, the joins aren't always smooth, I can never find a set, they loosen when I knit....I was just going to buy a set of Chiagoos , but I decided to try to be a bit minimalist about it and asked Kris if I could borrow a set to try, rather than just buying stuff because my job is unsatisfyi...

I kept thinking that I would blog when I finished my socks , but they are taking a surprisingly long time, considering I'm at the (plain) foot of the second sock. I haven't had quite as much tie for knitting as I sometimes do - on Saturday we can 34 kilometres, and that rather took it out of me.  Then  this morning I went to Crossfit   and did a workout that involved 90 kipping pullups. I didn't feel it at the time, but I got a blister, and tore the top off it during the workout. Basically there is a hole in my hand. I'll spare you a photo of the actual problem, suffice it to say that holding a small needle hurts a bit. But I've never let a bit of pain get in the way of what I want to do, so hopefully the socks will be finished in the next couple of days.

This was such a n epic knit, and when I finished it, I looked in the mirror, and thought "hmm, not sure". But then we took these photos and I love it. It looks (pretty much) exactly how I wanted it too, although it might be slightly larger than expected. It's definitely a statement piece. In this photo (below) you can see the final row, which was meant to be kitchenered in two colours. i got three stitches in and realised it was going to look like a dog's breakfast. i decided to just use the navy, and duplicate stitch the yellow in later, but now I quite like it the way it is. I wore it on Wednesday to Elise's and, unprompted she said she liked it. I asked if she thought it was a bit big, and she said that it's meant to be. I like to pretend we went to Provence for these photos. The sunshine was so nice - I'm pretty happy to finally be heading into Spring, even if it means my wearing blanket might not have quite as much wear until winter rol ...

I've said it before , I have such talented friends. This time I'm talking about Kat, who blogs as Fibre and Sustenance . She recently got married, and designed a pair of socks for Nick to wear at the wedding. When I saw them I thought "Nice socks, Leon would really like them". So when she asked for test knitters, I couldn't reply fast enough. I'm knitting it with yarn from Little Dipper Yarns , made by my friend Ursula. She has been on hiatus for quite some time, and this is the last skein of her yarn that I have, so it seems fitting to use it on such a great design. 

I finished the sneaker liners I was using to learn Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel. I knit the first one toe up, and the second top down, because I'm quirky like that. I also happened to take the yarn from the outside of the ball for the first sock, and the inside for the second, so the stripe pattern is still basically the same. How nice are the colours like this? The heel makes a lot of sense for short socks. The Fish Lips Kiss Heel, which is very easy to work can leave the back of the sock a tad lower than the front. Because this is 2.5 wedges, rather than just 2, that angle is softened. The only problem I had is that, on just one half of one of the socks, the shortrow method led to odd, elongated stitches. Hopefully I can resolve that, because this is a lovely, smooth, physiologically logical heel.

 I loved knitting this. And then I didn't. First there was a drama with the instructions - they were wrong and had been corrected for size 3 and four, but not for size one and two. 40 people have knit this, and no one else noticed? Kate Davies knit the same size as me, and still wrote it up wrong. Then I had an extra repeat on the back - I have no idea how or why, but it doesn't seem to matter.  Then I did the sleeves, which were frustratingly slow, because I couldn't take them to jury duty with me, and we were running on the weekend, and this project is far to heavy and big to make Leon carry on a 30km run, and then on Sunday night it was time to unzip the provisional cast on on the bottom. Now, by this stage I had realised there was ABSOLUTELY NO REASON this project shouldn't have just been cast on, from the bottom, like every other bottom up jumper. it took me three hours to get the 500 + stitches back on the needles. On Monday, following the instructions,...

Bee was going through her attic storage space and found a cardigan that either her mother or her grandmother had knit for her when she was a child: It's very cute, and now fits her as a cropped, 3/4 sleeve top, which is totally her style.  The only problem is that it has two small holes in it. I guess I'm the premier knitter in her life, so she asked me to fix them. The yarn looked really familiar, and then, when i was at my parents place I had saw my father, wearing a cardigan out the the very same yarn. He wouldn't let me unravel a bit of it to fix Bee's though. How mean. So I took the closest yarn I could find, and patched it up and returned it . Unfortunately , one of  my darns didn't hold, and another hole popped up...so it got returned to me. I begged some yarn off the project Sonia was knittin g, and tried again, focusing less on making a perfect unse eabl e repair, and more on trying to make this jumper sound. But now it's got a t...

I fibbed when I said that I wouldn't be casting on a sock until I finished Strathendrick. Two Sundays ago Leon and I were running and meeting some friends, and they came and picked up changes of clothes for us the day before, and I slipped in this unstarted sock project. After that I've just been knitting on it when its not worth bringing a huge jumper along - so mainly when I have coffee with my manager. Today I went to do jury duty. I knew they might take my knitting, because the info they sent in preparation said "no knitting needles". I don't know what crazy damage they think knitters can do, that you couldn't do with a pen. Anyway, I also brought my turkish spindle, just in case. Due to some oddities - mainly that the security people had no idea what knitting looks like - they decided my spindle was knitting needles and confiscated it, but never questioned my knitting needles. So I knit in the jury waiting room, but only in a fairly circumspect m...

I have finished the colourwork on Strathendrick : Now "all" I have to do is to kitchener the shoulders - in colourwork, and knit the collar, sleeves and bottom hem. Piece of cake.  This has been a really fun knit, except for the bit last night where I found out somehow I have an extra repeat on the back. I'm sure I can sort that out though, it's already meant to be hugely oversized. I'm also enjoying my read - Raising Stony Mayhall , by Daryl Gregory. Every book he writes is innovative and completely different. This one is about zombies - but not really. I recommend. I've got jury duty tomorrow, and there is some discussion about whether I will, or won't be allowed to take my needles into the court. The info they sent said "no knitting needles" but I've been through court security before, with Signature Stilletos , no less. So I think I'll leave the giant jumper at home, and take a pair of socks on 2mm bamboo needles, and see ho...