Broderie is coming along nicely. As is seen in the picture I’m knitting on the sleeves. First time I tried so I just winged it…had to frog it completely. Second try looks more promising. I’m pondering changing the bottom, add some sort of hemming to not have it curl.
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| From Knitted |
Only a third of the last row left on the shawl.
I just don’t understand how so many knitters can finish shawls so quickly. When I went to France I only had 3 or 4 rows left. Since I got back from France I’ve continued knitting but it’s still not finished. The third to last row, a patterned row, took 1.5 hours to complete. Now on the last row (there’s no cast off row) I’ve only managed to knit about a third. It is very scary because the edging looks a bit too big. Hopefully blocking it will make everything alright.
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| From Knitted |
It was the first time I knitted on a plane. Just fabulous. Broderie is coming along nicely, and it actually fits this time. I’ve started knitting the bottom part after I took this photo.
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| From Knitted |
Now I’m heading up to M’s family’s sommer house to celebrate Midsummer. It is a big event with a very large portion of his relatives. Hopefully the weather won’t suck and that I can knit on Broderie.
I’m in France for a workshop for work. The weather is great. Yesterday was sunny and about 30 degrees C. I got burnt, especially on my forehead and chest. So today I’ll stay in the shade and get some more knitting done.
I brought only one project – Broderie. But I knew it wouldn’t be a problem, I’ve wanted to pick this up for a while now. I’ve soon knitted to where I was before frogging. Hopefully this time it fits (crossing my fingers).
Now I’ll go and see if there is a place in the shade overlooking the sea where I can sit and knit.
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| From Misc |
This image was taken earlier this week from the hotel in Les Issambres between Cannes and St Tropez.
A while back I went to a scrapbook and stamp fair and bought some stuff. Or a lot of stuff (hence the yarn purchase ban). I mainly bought stamps and ink to colour paper. This is what I’ve done so far:
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| papercraft |
It’s not too difficult and quite quick, but I think I’ll need a bit moore practise before going ahead with the scrapbook project which it is intended for.
I finally decided to dye my silk hankies prior to spinning. Unfortunately I forgot that silk could be dyed with food colouring. Well well, so I bought some silk dye from Panduro. The batteries were completely drained in my camera so there are only after pictures available.
I soaked about 50 g of the hankies in water with some citric acid in a big glass jar for maybe 1 hour. After draining the water I simply sprinkled the dye over the hankies. However, the dye did not dilute in the fibres so I poured on some water. I used mainly a turquoise dye with some sprinkles of navy blue. When I felt satisfied with the dyeing I put the jar with the hankies in the microwave oven. The description was for 3-4 minutes at 350 W. Which I more than doubled with rest in between. The water was still not clear…Hopefully the dye was set properly. I separated the hankies into smaller piles and hung them up to dry.
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| From Spinning |
Every time I passed them hanging there I felt happy. Hopefully I will like the yarn as much. I intentionally left some parts white and some are darker blue so the yarn will have some nice nuances.
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| From Spinning |
No more yarn purchases. Ever. No I’m kidding. But I’ve decided not to buy any more yarn for the rest of the year. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. The stash will get me through and if by chance my stash will be no more I will allow myself to end this ban.
I’m allowing myself to buy two tickets for the yarn lottery and a maximum of two Triinu patterns at the knit gathering last weekend of May. Should someone feel so inclined as to buy me yarn I shall will accept the offering. Yarn for gift knitting will be allowed if I pay no more then 50%. My fibre stash is quite small so I’m allowing moderate purchases in that area should I run out.
The rules have been set now I just need to follow them. I think it is doable and I definitely must stop constantly consume for the sake of it.
Now some more interesting stuff. I think I will add the Aeolian shawl from spring Knitty. Unfortunately, I just realised I can’t knit it this year since I would like to use beads as described in the pattern. Bummer.
Three more WIPS, but I think that’s it. There might be one or two more in a drawer that I started a long time ago. These three were all started last year.
Miyake:
Pattern and yarn from design-club.dk. This is a long term project. It will be finished sometime, maybe later than sooner. But it will be finished.
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| From Knitted |
Golden chai:
This project is more about the yarn than what I’ve actually started knitting. It is the cone of Artfibers’ Golden chai that I bought last year in San Francisco. I have started knitting a Coachella from Knitty. I do not get the correct gauge and I’ve tried to get it to not be too low in the front. But the too low issue is why I stopped knitting. So, frogging is in this projects future. I’m not sure what to make though. Either try again with Coachella or maybe I’ll try to make Jewel from Wendy Bernard’s Custom knits.
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| From Knitted |
Eiffel:
The last project is also something that will be finished. However, it might be frogged first, because I’m a little hesitant about the size. This is Eiffel from Knitty in Allhemp 6. This is something that’s been on my to-do list ever since I first saw the pattern and that’s why I bought this yarn last year.
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| From Knitted |
Sometime during spring last year I started knitting on Drops 105, 34 in muskat in colour 74 (petrol). As often is the case I was a bit delusional when starting, thinking it would be done in a jiffy. As if. But that is not why I did not finish it. This is why (sorry about the bad photo).
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| From Knitted |
I don’t remember what size I chose to knit but it was definitely too big.
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| From Knitted |
Before frogging it I will check it to see what size because I still like the design and might knit it someday. But this particular yarn is now being knit up as a cardigan. Hopefully I have enough. It should at least be enough for a cardigan with shorter sleeves and i do like 3/4-length.
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| From Knitted |
This is Broderie by Connie Chang Chinchio from the winter issue of Twist Collective. It was love at first sight. I started it last week (on the 12th). The gauge is a little bit off and I’m combining two sizes to fit my body better. It’s a great knit. Nice pattern. The only problem is that there is a few knots in the yarn and that my 3.5 mm knit picks options needle tip is broken. The thread is worn out. Luckily I had a spare lace needle which hopefully won’t change my gauge too much.
My absence from the blog is not due to non-existent knitting. It is because I feel guilty almost ashamed. Why? Quite unnecessary, but I know I’m not the only one dreading the increasing amounts of WIPs (or UFOs if you will). Add a severe case of startitis and the burden is increased even more.
The Finish or frog knit-along may be one route to follow. However, I feel it is not for me, at least not at the moment. Maybe I’m more of a process knitter. Not that I do not care about the product. It is a feeling of great joy when an FO turns out nice. But perhaps with all the stress during the last couple of months I need knitting to relax. There should not be any elements of must and must-not to my knitting. But to have a piece of mind and to not feel guilty about my knitting, I’ve decided to just say no to the guilt. From now on I will share with you what I’m working on and all the projects I started last year and not shown. But I shall try not to buy yarn, except for things for my niece and soon to be nephew.
No more guilt, only joyful knitting!
It’s been difficult to muster the energy to knit on any of my multiple WIPs. However our floor has been very cold and I had a skein of Fabel sock yarn in my stash. Hence this years first finished object is a pair of socks, albeit very short socks.
Pattern: Super Simple Short Sock by Meghann Holcomb
Yarn: Garnstudio Fabel, 1 skein
Needles: 2.0mm Knit picks harmony wood options
Notes: A nice pattern. The socks fits quite nicely. Although I did not check row gauge so the first sock is a tad on the short side, lengthwise that is. As with the jaywalker sock I knitted, I’m not to keen on the grafted toe on top-down-socks. Albeit I have only knit toe-ups once and that was in a heavy-weight yarn. But the next sock I’ll knit will be a toe-up with a sock-weight yarn.
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