FO: Progressive Sock Party

Pattern: Progressive Sock Party by Chrissy Gardener

Showing off the stranded heel in pinstripe pattern

Yarn and Needles: 6 yarns used. For full list see my Ravelry page (publicly viewable via this link). Worked two-at-a-time on 2 x 2.75 mm needles.

Dates: 25th July – 30th August 2012

Modifications/notes:

• Socknitter’s Anonymous July 2012 knit-along challenge (Colourwork/colorwork)
• Worked the toe and heel in stranded pattern so the sock will (hopefully) wear at the same rate
• Quite pleased with the finished object but they are a little snug at the calf and I’m really not pleased with the massive gaps up the heel flap (see photo with large circle).

Mind the gap! I didn’t quite get this right (my own fault because I added colourwork to the heel)

• The toe is a little pointier than I would normally have but it fits well enough.

Ten on Tuesday

Been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let’s give it a whirl!
10 Things On Your Mind Right Now.

1. My susceptibility to viruses and infections. I’m tired and fed-up with being ill all the time.
2. Giftmas knitting/crafting/baking – will I get everything done in time? Probable outcome; unlikely!
3. Related to 2; will I manage to finish my mum’s cardigan for NaKniSweMo?
4. Will I ever see my brother again now he’s emigrated?
5. I’d wanted to go into Manchester before Christmas/new year but it doesn’t seem likely. I’m upset about that, but not as upset as I’d thought I’d be.
6. I’m trying to learn to be accepting of situations which I have no control over.
7. Will I ever have a consistently clean and tidy habitat or am I destined to be ruled by clutter? (this is also related to no. 1)
8. Wishing I could be more selfish and do more things for myself instead of others.
9. I wasn’t warming to series 2 of Homeland until the most recent episode. It just got very good again.
10. I’m missing being able to watch/listen to my favourite things; horror, suspense, sci-fi, and fantasy fiction and science/history documentaries because some aspects of all of these things trigger panic in me now.

And to thank you for reading this far, here’s some progress on the SKA Mystery Socks;

Sock 1, Clue 1 complete. Sock 2 started

And Cria;

Ripped out and re-knitting the short rows at the back due to missing yet another instruction. Sigh

And the WoollyWormhead hat;

IT’S A BRIM!

FO: Mystery Shawl 28/Fiona

Mystery Shawl 28 finished

Yet another mystery shawl designed by the inimitable Renee Leverington (Goddess Knits). If you ever want to knit a wonderful shawl, I can highly recommend Renee’s patterns (not affiliated, just a very satisfied customer). She offers several free mystery knit-alongs throughout the year, as well as regular pattern releases, clubs and paid mystery KALs, and the standard of the charts is always very high. If I haven’t finished one of her designs, the blame lies entirely at my own door!

I apologise for the lack of “modelled” shots; I did take some photos of me wearing the shawl, but the light levels weren’t great and I’m too bloody tired to re-take them!

Edging pattern flows from the main pattern and into a crochet cast off

The Posh Yarn lace I used was an “orphan” skein that either had a mistake in the colour or was left over from one of Dee’s updates. There were a couple of spots of blue dye dotted along the skein and you can see them in the finished shawl, but I really don’t think you’d notice from a distance!

A spot of blue dye in the orphan skein (middle and lower right of the photo) doesn’t detract from the overall shawl. (Click to view a larger image)

Pattern: Mystery Shawl 28/Fiona by Renee Leverington (a.k.a Goddess Knits)
Yarn: Posh Yarn Sadie Lace (50% merino wool/50% tencel) – an over-dyed orphan skein 710 yds (650 m) used.
Needles: 4.5 mm circular needle (used to knit flat)
Dates: 2nd of August 2012 to 17th of September 2012
Size: Wingspan = 208 cm/82 inches, Height/drop = 96.5 cm/38 inches.
Modifications:
Crochet cast off with ch5 “points” over the 2-yarn-over columns.

The yarn has a lovely sheen thanks to the tencel fibre and is feather-light when blocked out.

Spoilers?

I realised after I’d posted that I should have given a “spoilers” warning yesterday. Some people get rather animated when it comes to mystery knit alongs. I am not one of those people! So, consider yourselves warned!

The pink tube is the brim for the hat. The two blue-green bits are the (re)start of Cria (hint: I didn’t read the pattern properly) and the green wotsit is the mystery sock.

Hopefully I should have quite a few finished object posts coming up. I just need to edit a metric tonne of photos. Here’s hoping I can keep fighting this cold.

How hard can this be?

I’m just going to jump back in with no explanation or excuses (at least, not yet) and try this whole blogging-every-day-for-a-month-thing. I’m also attempting NaKniSweMo [Knitgrrl.com's NaKniSweMo KAL that runs alongside NaNoWriMo every November] by knitting my mum a Cria cardigan in some scrummy Debbie Bliss yarn.
And knitting the WoollyWormhead mystery hat.
And finishing my dad’s socks that I cast on last year.
And knitting a pair of socks for the Socknitter’s Anonymous November challenge.
And writing that pattern up and selling it to raise money for Movember.
What could go wrong?