February is for Finishing

I'm still mulling over what to do with that recycled yarn; in the mean time I have joined another KAL: February is for Finishing

Basically, during February I have undertaken not to do any knitting until I have done at least half an hour of finishing! So I have three projects that will definitely be finished pretty soon:

1. teddy (for charity)
2. cardigan (for me)
3. wrap/afghan (for charity)

Mum will be so proud of me; she always finishes everything she knits!

Is it a waste of time?

I was going to post today about my excitement at finishing the back of my summer top (see sidebar and footnote) - including a new technique (for me): short row shaping. But...

Twenty rows into the front I realised that I don't have enough yarn to complete the project - and since it was yarn I bought in the early 80s there's no chance of getting any more! I only have 350g from the original project (which I knitted and wore but I'm too old now for sleeveless, baggy, shapeless clothes and the yarn was still too good to throw away).

I frogged it all, and now it is waiting for another moment of inspiration!
The colours are all wrong for a winter garment (eg scarf) but the yarn knits up on 6.00mm (US 10) needles, so any yarn used with it needs to be quite thick too and that makes for a heavy summer garment. It gets really hot here in Sydney (last Sunday was 40C - 109F) so we need cool clothes! So, it's back to the designing process. I'll let you know how it works out! :-(

Copyright and knitting

I just read an interesting article about copyright and knitting. Did you know that

...you can use a free pattern to knit a cozy sweater. You can wear the sweater, or give it as a gift, but you can't sell the sweater or republish a modified version of the pattern. ?

This of course, would also apply to bought patterns. To see the whole article, go to the Red Hat website.

WIP #2 completed

I finished Wrap #1 last night - 6 days ahead of schedule! Woo-hoo!! A great deal of thanks to the Australian Open Tennis Tournament. However, sad to say, my constant presence in front of the tv was not enough to get the Australian players into the finals! ;-)

Here it is - 2007 FO #2:

Here is a close up:

And here is the detail of one diamond which were included to keep me interested with all those rows of garter stitch.

I am building quite a collection for "Wrap with Love" (see sidebar) - when I have finished the other two wraps in my WIP list I will send them off so they can be used by people who really need them!

And... here are my next two projects: one to knit when the family is around, and one that requires concentration.

If you look closely, you can see the diamond pattern on this strip (which shows that it was originally part of the previously mentioned FO)
This is the front (or the back) of the top which I am making from Cotton Kandy, a yarn I first knitted in the 80s.
Needless to say this yarn is not available anymore! The garment I originally made was a sleeveless top on oversized needles. Now I'm older more mature, I want a top with sleeves so I have supplemented my 350g of Cotton Kandy with some 4ply (fingering) cotton - two strands, a soft yellow and a creamy white. These swatch differently so I am knitting two rows CK (size 6.00mm - US 10 - needles) and then 2 rows of the double stranded cotton (Size 4.50mm - US 7 - needles), increasing one stitch in every 15 (and of course decreasing one stitch in every 16 when I return to CK).

I am knitting without a pattern, and am now up to the armhole so I have to decrease at the same time as remembering to swap needles and increase/decrease. Hence the need for concentration. This garment is lovely and soft to knit after months working with acrylic. I think it will be heavy and too hot to wear in summer but we shall see...

WIP #1

I had so much fun adding photos to my blog yesterday that I couldn't wait to add another! LOL This photo was taken by me using DH's SLR digital camera for the first time. The size of the project made taking a photo very difficult(for me).


This photo of my current WIP was taken January 11. When I returned to this WIP on January 1, only the three squares in the front centre of the photo were done, and the four squares beyond that were partially completed. I knitted that first strip by the intarsia method, but got tired of untangling seven yarns so decided to knit a maximum of two colours at a time.
This was originally part of another project which was knitted vertically but didn't work, I couldn't get the pink borders to line up when I tried to sew the two strips together. Deciding to use this piece as a project in itself meant that I had a pink strip where I didn't want it and therefore had to knit one set of squares along the cast on edge (to the left of the photo) and two sets of squares along the right edge.
The subtle diamond pattern in each square is to make the knitting more interesting for me - 74 rows of garter stitch per square is just boring!
The finished work will be 28 squares with a striped edging to make the total work 70in x 40in. I have four and a half squares to go before stitching it up and adding the edging. Estimated finish time: Friday 26 January.

First WIP completed!

I finished Wrap #4 last night - I just had to sew some loose ends in today. Yay!!

This wrap was started on Christmas Eve 2004; the 28 squares knitted up quickly enough but I don't like sewing so I took ages to getting around to putting them together. Because I used yellow as my "kick" colour (a Kaffe Fassett term), I joined the squares using yellow but my stitches were uneven and the yellow stood out like a sore thumb! Of course it took ages to rip the stitches out! Then, naturally, I didn't touch it again for months.

As of 1st January, 16 squares were joined and 12 were waiting for attachment. Yesterday I needed a break from knitting (you know, too much knitting and certain muscles start to ache!)so I decided to work on this project. I was getting a bit tired of it (my stitching has improved but I'm still slow) when I realised that the end was in sight and I was determined to cross that finish line. When it was done, some of the edges looked a little scruffy so I decided to crochet a border. As the wrap is 74in x 41in it took quite a while, but two minutes before midnight I was done!

So here it is, the completed wrap (and my first photograph - thanks WM)


And a close up:
The photography session took nearly as long as some of my projects, but WM did take over 130 photos!

Welcome to my blog

Hi, welcome to this blog coming to you from Australia.

My mother taught me to knit when I was young. The first garment I tried to knit was a cardigan in red fashion/novelty yarn. I didn't know that I should move the yarn from the front to the back alternatively to do the rib, so I ended up with many more stitches per row than I should have! I gave up knitting for several years; then, inspired by a classmate who knitted, I completed my first garment - a vest in 5ply aqua coloured wool. I still have the pattern but the vest is long gone!

I used to knit at least one new garment for myself every year. In 2002 I started a jumper (sweater) with 65 colours - my own design inspired by Kaffe Fassett. I finally completed it in 2005. However, with air-conditioners becoming increasingly common in workplaces and on public transport, I rarely wear jumpers/sweaters, I just get too hot. Pulling the garment over my head while trying to teach is not a good look, not to mention what it does to the hairstyle! LOL

Lately much of my knitting has been for charity, mostly for "Wrap with Love". I am a member of the Blue Mountains Knitting Group and the weblog Stashalong. I have set myself the task of completing all my UFOs (see sidebar and footnotes) before beginning any new projects; I generally spend a lot of my knitting time thinking about forthcoming projects. Sometimes I'm not sure which is the most exciting: the planning, the working or the finishing!

Summer or winter, why don't you join me? Pick up sticks (or needles or pins) and let's knit. Too hot? Never! :-)