One sock down...

Well I finshed the first bedsock last night. It was surprisingly okay to do - I was really nervus about turning the heel, but the instructions were so clear that it didn't feel anywhere near as scary as I imagined.

I took it down to my granny this morning so she could try it on. After the ten minutes it took to convince her that yes I had knitted it in the shrt space of time since I took the measurements, she tried it on and it fit pretty well. To my way of thinking its a little loose around the leg, though the foot part is fine. She's going to try them for a few days once I've made the other and if they're too loose then I'll thread some thin elastic to pull the legs in a little.

I'm feeling quite accomplished :-D

Picture Perfect

I've just been looking at my blog and realised that something vital is missing. The photos!! My housemates have promised photos of them modelling scarves and wristwarmers, but so far they haven't materialised. As for the stuff I've done for myself or family members... well I don't own a digital camera (soon I hope) so I haven't yet been able to photograph anything. However, now I'm home I plan to sweet talk my mom into lending me hers. So hopefully soon I'll have photos too :-D

Its all spiralling...

So much for only having a couple of things on the go at once. My current project count is now at 4, with 2 more waiting purely for one to be completed (I have three rabbits to make) and 3 further waiting for the yarn package to arrive.

I have started making a pair of badsocks for my granny, based on the Fuzzy Feet pattern. She suffers from really poor circulation and swollen ankles so the ones they make in the shops just don't cut it. I'm adapting the pattern as I go, so as soon as I finish the first I'm going to take it for her to try on and keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't need frogging!! I'm using a navy blue unnamed aran weight wool (same as I used for my panta) from my stash that exists in a huge ball (probably was a 750g ball when it started, maybe even bigger).

I'm also knitting Easter Bunnies for my housemates. Instead of doing them in cute pastels however, they're all going to be football / rugby themed!! I'm using James C Brett's DK for them, picked up on Saturday for £1 a ball in a random junk shop in Ross-on-Wye.

When my package arrives I'm going to have the yarn for my adapted Irish Hiking Scarf (just going to do a variation on a theme in charcoal for my dad), Circular Shrug, and Jayne Hat. The fact that Dianne's has a flat rate of postage encouraged me to buy for the next few projects.

Tigger keeps glaring at me, I think he feels a little neglected! Oh well.

How stupid am I?

I've seen the posts on various communities and forums about 'Jayne' hats, and seen all these hats with ear flaps. It was only today that I read somewhere that Jayne is a character from Firefly/Serenity - hence the cult status of the hat.

Ceri's boyfriend is utterly obsessed, so I've spent tonight sourcing yarn that I can use to make one for her. Its been challenging based on cost and availability (I'm starting to get so frustrated that all the yarn I want is only available in America - maybe one day Knitpicks will ship to England!!!)

I think I'm going to go for a slightly strange choice, and use DK (its supposed to be chunky yarn) either doubled or tripled depending on what it takes to get the right guage. Unfortunately it doesn't take much of any colour, and the only chunky yarns I can find that actually do all three colours that I need are horribly expensive. It'll be fun to play with!

Tigger is bouncing!

I would say I cast Tigger on tonight. Technically it's right, but at the same time the piece I cast on I have also cast off. And the next piece too. Like all toys it comes in lots of pieces. Means it'll be good practice at grafting when I'm done.

Knitting complete once more

I finshed knitting my bag today. Its still in pieces as I haven't been to buy the fabric to line it yet. I think it's going to be good once it's done though.

I decided in the end to knit two pockets, and to add a button hole to both of them on the boundary between the stocking stitch and garter stitch. I plan on using one pocket for my mp3 player and one for my car keys (you wouldn't believe how much time I waste searching my bag for them!!)

Unfortunately it's going to have to sit stagnant for a while, I don't have time to go and buy fabric (or anywhere here that I can afford).

Zeeby

I started Zeeby's bag late last night. I had planned on waiting til today, but not long after I'd posted about finishing the Irish Hiking Scarf I was itching to get started on my next project!

Its very simple, just a set of rectangles in stocking stitch and garter stitch all sewn together. I think I'm going to modify the patter and line it - I can be a bit hard on bags especially with keys! If I line it though it's going to make the inside pocket redundant. I'm going to think about moving it to the outside instead.

Irish Hiking Scarf FO

I cast off my Irish Hiking Scarf tonight.

I really like the look and feel of the scarf, but if I were going to make another I'd think carefully about the yarn I used. I used Sirdar's Country Style DK, but after a couple of repeats of the cable pattern I frogged it and started again using the yarn doubled up. I think it would probably have been okay used singly, but it was quite thin and didn't have the slightly chunky feel that I associate with cabling. The pattern itself was easy to follow and I enjoyed making it.