Ribbit ribbit

Instead of knitting, lately I seem to have been mainly frogging!

First up was my Hypernova, which I started in January 2011.  I don't know why, but I just wasn't loving it as I should have, even though I bought a skein of Wollmeise Lacegarn in Rosenrot specially for it.  Perhaps it was making a few mistakes early on, perhaps it was getting sidetracked with other projects, but eventually I looked at it and realised I was never going to finish it.  Since January 2011 I've mysteriously managed to acquire, um, "some" more WM Lacegarn and on a number of occasions have thought how much more I'd like Hypernova in one of the other colours.  Equally, Rosenrot has other potential.  So I frogged - quite liberating!  This was a badly overexposed picture taken with flash, that makes the Rosenrot look neon.

A harder decision was my Glows, started way back in August 2010 with one of my very first skeins of Wollmeise, obtained at Knit Nation.  I "only" bought three skeins, and they were all highly variegated multis.  Having never knitted with multis before, I had no clue about pattern selection and having fallen in love with Julia Mueller's designs that were displayed on the Wollmeise stand, I wanted to knit one of her patterns.  I picked Glows and it was going swimmingly on the cuff section, but when I got to the intricate cables I knew doubt.  A lot of doubt.  I even resorted to asking my OH if he thought the colour was too much for the pattern - I don't think he really understood what I was asking, and I think he felt (bless him) that he was supposed to validate my choices and said that it looked great.  I persevered, with this nagging doubt at the back of my mind, until I got to the start of the thumb, at which point I put it down in favour of other things and never picked it up again.  It seemed clear what needed to be done, but the amount of work that had gone into getting that far put me off.  I agonised for some time and eventually took a deep breath, pulled the needles out and ripripripped - the Johannesbeer und Brennessel will find a happier home in something like one of Martina Behm's lovely patterns, and I can find another, semisolid, yarn for the Glows which will work much better.

Polaris

My first project of the new year, Polaris.  This was made in Wollmeise 100% in Merlot with silver beads.  It was my first ever beaded project, and I'm delighted with the way it turned out.

Knitting for my mother-in-law

We'll gloss over this first one quite quickly, as it must be my most hated project ever - the backstory to this is that I took her to the Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts show in Cardiff last autumn, and she spotted a sample cardigan hanging up in a booth which she wanted to buy.  I explained that it was only for display but then in a moment of selflessness said if she bought the yarn I'd do the knitting (she's not a knitter).  The yarn was really nasty to work with but I managed it in the end!

The second one was because she admired my Hockey scarf and was very impressed with the publication of my pattern, so I decided to reward her good taste by making her one for Christmas (lol)!  I made some modifications to the published pattern as detailed here on my Ravelry project page.

Here's one I made earlier

But no sticky backed plastic was involved at any stage!  This is my first pair of socks since my teens, and my first ever with proper sock yarn.  The pattern is Nasturtium and the yarn is Wollmeise 80/20 Twin in Morchren.  I made these over the course of September 2011, but never got round to posting them.

Sad times

Because for some reason that I can't work out, I've completely lost my knitting mojo.  I finished a shawl on 3 Feb, cast on another one on the 8th, and a glove on the 19th.  In total on those two projects, I've probably managed no more than 50 rows.  I can't think what's wrong with me, normally I can't wait to get home from work and pick up my knitting, and the only thing that stops me from working on a project is the sudden, impossible to ignore need to cast on a new one.

At the moment, when I get home (and finish the chores, obviously!) I sit down and play on my iPad or watch telly, and I can't be bothered to pick up the knitting that is RIGHT BESIDE ME!  It's not like I even have to walk across the room to fetch it or anything like that, it's right there and I still won't touch it.  I haven't knitted a stitch in over a month.  And even though it feels wrong and I miss it, I don't have the urge to actually knit, and not even the thought of starting something new perks me up.

What on earth am I going to do?

Well, while I'm not producing anything new, I think I'll try and catch up a bit here by posting some projects "I made earlier" but never got round to posting.  Hopefully that will help make me want to make more!

After that, maybe I need to go and play with yarn and patterns for a bit and try and find some inspiration that way, and just start something new - perhaps a fresh start is what I need, and if I pick something relatively quick and actually finish it, then maybe I'll be able to go back to my WIPs in a better frame of mind.

Fingers crossed!

Squeeee!!!

Way back last autumn, I entered a competition with Knitting Magazine to design a scarf.  I didn't expect anything to come of it, but although I wasn't the winner or either runner up, I was told that my design had been successful and would be published in a book this autumn.  The book is now out, and my copy arrived the other day.  Imagine my delight when I looked at my pattern page and saw my name!  I'll even be getting my scarf back!  Here are some photos of the book:

Photos, finally!

I finally took some photos of my Spriteling, they're still not great as I had to do them on my own, maybe one day I'll be able to get some better ones but for now these will have to do!

Also, here are some photos of my finished silk and mohair scarf, made from a kit bought from Artisan Yarns at Knit Nation 2010.  The yarns are Colinette Tao and Colinette Parisienne, the pattern is really simple but very effective with the way the yarns are dyed.

Stephen West's Earth and Sky

Now that the KAL is over, I can publicly post the photos of my finished shawl without it being a spoiler, so here they are. It's called Earth and Sky, but there's not much of that in my shawl! More like Berries and Cream, I think. I made the smallest size, the miles stocking stitch involved in the bigger versions was rather offputting!

Symetrie hat

Here is my finished Symetrie hat, I finished the knitting on Saturday, didn't get round to blocking it until Monday and it was dry this morning. I love this pattern, so easy but the way the yarn is dyed really shows up well.

Current projects

Or some of them, anyway!

The story here is that Wollmeise shuts up shop for the month of August, so a few people on the Ravelry Wollmeiseholics Anonymous group decided to set up some KALs under the heading "Wollmeise Withdrawal Madness Month", and I've decided to join in with some of them. We have two months from 1 August to 30 September to finish our projects, so in the spirit of biting off more than I can chew I've signed up for the General Shawl KAL, the Kitchen Sink KAL (for everything that isn't a garment, shawl or socks), the General Sock KAL and the Honeybee Cardigan KAL.

For the shawl KAL, I've decided to double it up with the Stephen West "Earth & Sky" mystery shawl KAL, which is supposed to be all done by the end of August so I'm working on the basis that once that's over I'll have more time for the others. It uses three colours, mine are Wollmeise 100% in Natur, Daisy and Himbeere.

This is all I'm going to show here until the KAL is over, as I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but if you do want to see how it progresses my Ravelry project page is here.

The other KALs aren't mysteries, so I can show you those. The only one I've started apart from the Westknits one is Symetrie by Woolly Wormhead, and this is more or less how it looks now (I've actually got several more rows done):

This is Wollmeise 100% in Rattenscharf.

The others, which I haven't cast on yet, are Nasturtium socks which I'll do in a bright orange Wollmeise twin, and Honeybee cardigan - I'll make the cropped version in Wollmeise 100% in red.  I'll add photos of these when I get started on them.

Some other recent presents

Some other presents I've made this year.  Firstly, a Hitchhiker in Wollmeise 100%, colourway Chim Chim Chimney, for my sister's birthday:

And here is a little teddy I made for my two-year-old nephew's birthday:

The pattern is from Val Pierce's "Twenty to Make: Knitted Bears", but I changed the letter on the front from a B to a D as that's my nephew's initial.

Spriteling

Having just mentioned my Spriteling, I thought I'd post the progress photos, while I wait for good enough weather and a helper to take a proper photo of the finished shawl.

This was clue 1:

After finishing clue 2:

After clue 3:

After the fourth and final clue, before blocking:

While blocking:

The last picture is probably the truest to colour, the others were taken in all sorts of strange lighting conditions because I didn't want to delay starting the next clue just for the sake of taking photos!

Knit Nation - the spoils

Here is my entire haul of goodies from Knit Nation:

At the back is a load of patterns from The Bothered Owl and Natural Dye Studios, some free magazines from Twisted Angle, all three of Ysolda’s books, Jeanette Sloan’s book and Best in Show (also pre-ordered the cat version). On the far left are some bags of fibre and some badges from John Arbon and a bag kit from Debonnaire. There’s more fibre at the front, this time from Krafty Koala. The yarn all piled up all over the sofa includes my lovely bingo prize, Habu mohair, four skeins of Wollmeise lace, three skeins each of WM twin and 100%, the yarn from the London in Stitches set, three skeins of different gorgeousness from Artisan Yarns, ten balls of Camelot from the Little Knitting Company in some lovely new colours, three skeins of Knit Global sock, four skeins of silk from NDS and ten balls of Papiro from LKC. On the far right and mostly hidden under everything else are several project bags acquired over the weekend. It looks pretty obscene laid out like this, but I’d been saving for ages and this was my big treat for the year! And it’s got to keep me going for two years this time, so… And anyway, for once I actually have patterns in mind for most of this, honest!  The yarn is shown below in more detail.

This is Habu's mohair/silk, for Cocoknits' Maria:

Mohair from Artisan Yarns, came as a kit with a cowl pattern:

Silk from Artisan Yarns, this is destined to be Nightsongs:

Artisan Yarns' Teifi Dance, which is likely to become a Damson:

Two skeins each in two different colours of The Natural Dye Studio's Precious silk lace, which will be the patterns shown with the skeins:

Knit Global sock yarn, which is intended for a stole pattern from Jeanette Sloan's Collection One:

The Little Knitting Company's Papiro, for a pretty scoop neck top:

LKC's Camelot, in red and purple, which I haven't quite decided what they'll be yet:

Yet another skein of Wollmeise lace, this time picked up on impulse on the Sunday, in Schwarz:

I have this crazy idea in my head of it being a Shipwreck shawl with red beads, but I know it would drive me insane to knit in black laceweight - what am I thinking?!!

This is the Knitting Goddess "A Path Through London" from the London in Stitches set:

Viola sock in Ghost, part of the bingo prize donated by Loop:

Wollmeise 100% in Campari Piccolo, bingo prize again:

Dye For Yarn in Nightmare of the Blue Sea, also from the bingo prize:

Polyester cord from the Debonnaire bag kit, it's for a string bag type shopping bag:

So, that was my adventures at Knit Nation!  Now I only have to knit all this stuff...

Knit Nation - Saturday

We didn't actually spend much (any) time at Knit Nation during the day, due to other commitments such as seeing a show ("Wicked", which was excellent) and shopping elsewhere.

The elsewhere shopping was mainly Hobbycraft near my sister's flat, they had an offer on kits so I couldn't resist the opportunity to try some new crafts:

Soap, candle and lace making will all be making an appearance in my future!  The stack of little boxes will do very nicely for jewellery findings and so on.

The only visit to KN during the day was a quick stop to deliver and collect swap parcels - this was arranged via Ravelry for members of the Knit Love Club sock club.  My parcel for my swapee included this bookmark and a set of stitch markers I made myself.

I was given a parcel by a lovely lady called Mel, which included some very pretty yarn she'd dyed herself.

That night, we went to the KN bingo party in aid of Refuge.  I'd never played bingo before, but somehow I managed to win a prize!

So, at the end of a very long and busy day, we made our way to our posh hotel (below) where we were staying for the night, ate sandwiches purchased at Earl's Court tube station, and collapsed into bed.