Progress! Finished hat for me (no. 3 on the priority list)

I love chunky knitting. It's taken me just over an hour to make and finish a chunky hat for me :o)



I've made it in Sirdar Bigga, using a pattern I've knit before. I've also made it in green...as I thought it would be a good contrast to my dark purple coat. I'm not used to wearing coloured hats - I'm a black hat kind of person, that's if I wear a hat at all. Where does my common sense/normal taste go when I knit myself something like this... I hope I'm going to wear it!

Frogging thoughts...

Proof of me not getting on with bamboo dpns and cotton-rich yarn. At least, I'm hoping it's the bamboo...and not just me not being good with dpns...

The yarn doesn't flow well over these needles and, as you can see in the photo, the stitches are really loose on the needle change over at the cable bits. I didn't get this kind of really loose stitch when I made the hat.

I think I'm going to frog it, ready to start again when my new Brittany birch dpns arrive. At least I didn't get very far with it. I just can't believe how much I don't want to re-do it when I frogged and experimented far more when making the hat - this is nothing!

Update: I frogged it. I've started it again. I'm not overly confident that it was the bamboo dpns who were at fault. Hmm.

Priorities

There's so much I want to do knitting-wise, I thought I should make some kind of list to make sure I don't forget anything! So...this is what I'm doing...and the order that I'm doing it in...

1. Poncho for me! Our house is rubbish (rented) and although it's got double glazing, there is absolutely *no* insulation in the roof. In the winter we seem to heat the sky as no heat seems to stay in the house at all! My knitting habit will have to help me keep warm. This is the pattern I'm using: Bear Cub Poncho.
2. Pink girlie leg warmers to match the pink girlie hat I made. I need to get these finished as they are supposed to be a gift (a belated birthday pressie). I'm having a bit of a crap time using the cotton yarn on bamboo double pointed needles - I might post about this at some point soon. I've ordered some Brittany birch needles which I'm hoping will be better (I'm very fond of wood).
3. Hat and scarf for me. I have the pattern and the yarn...just need the time. I'm going to use Sirdar Bigga so it won't take long! This is another priority project as it's been a chilly week, very autumnal.
4. Two boys hats. My boyfriends kids have requested a hat each, and I feel I should get these done as I put them both through the trauma of trying on the pink girlie hat to make sure I'd made it about the right size!
5. A Christmas gift for my two nieces - not sure what this will be yet, may a bag or a hat. I don't want them to be massive projects. I might make my sister-in-law something too for her birthday in December).
6. Three Pay It Forward (PIF) gifts. I'll be posting about this soon, but I signed up for this on Sarah's All Fingers and Thumbs blog. I'm really excited about taking part - it's just a shame its number 6 on my list :o( I have idea's about the kind of things I'd like to make too!
7. Poor orange jumper, last on the list (at least, on the list I'm admitting to). I'm not sure about the colour anymore, and I'm beginning to wish I'd chosen a machine washable yarn. My hands don't like hand washing. I try and avoid it. My other half managed to dye a whole wash purple today because he unintentionally washed a purple dress that's been at the bottom of the laundry basket for months, waiting to be hand washed...it had been there since we got back from Glastonbury! I'm going to finish the jumper though! I'm more than half way through it.

All this and ravelry too! What a fabulous website! I've worked out how to get around - just not had time to add everything to it. I think I'll just have to chip away and add stuff when I can. It's probably for the best (she says, trying desperately not to become completely obsessed with it).

I'm in!!!

Yey! Finally got my ravelry invite! Whoo!!

I'm von and I'm off to ravel :oD

(I may be some time)

Ravelry.com ...I'm almost in!

There are only 1500 people in front of me in the Ravelry invite queue...I can't wait! If they keep up the increased speed of invites I'll be in by the end of the week! I predict a lost weekend of knitting goodness :o)

A finished item - Pink Girlie hat

I’m really chuffed with myself for finishing the hat. All I need to do is finish off the loose ends, but that won’t take long. So here it is...


...I like it, it looks good…but it’s just crying out for these...


...much better :)

I’ve really enjoyed making this, I’m so pleased it’s worked out as well as it has.

As I said in my previous post, I’ve had to master two thing to make this, three if you count using circular needles for anything other than messsing around and seeing how they work, but I’m not going to count that.

1. Cables

I decided to have a go at doing cables because I wanted the hat to be quite ribby, and cables were an ideal way of making it a little bit more interesting. I did what any modern knitter does when faced with having to learn something new, I Googled it. I found lots of sites that gave instructions for plain twisted cables, but I wanted to keep the rib space between the twists. It took a while to find a site that covered what I needed and was easy to understand, in the end two sites gave me the most help, this one http://www.eunnyjang.com/knit/2005/11/technickety_how_to_unvent_a_si.html and another one which I haven’t bookmarked and can’t seem to lay my hands on just now. These, together with some time spent just trying things out and seeing what happened...

…helped me get to grips and understand how it all worked. I knew exactly what I wanted the hat to look like, and luckly, it looks *exactly* like the picture I had in my head.

2. Three needle cast-off (or bind-off as some seem to say)

I have to admit that this seemed like quite a daunting term but I knew I wanted to try it as it saved sewing, and reports said that it makes a neat seam. Perfect. Again I Googled and found lots of people keen to share how to do this technique, and more than that, they said it was easy. I found this site to be very clear and understandable http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2005/12/one_bassackward.php, it has great pictures and commentary.

It turns out that three needle cast-off *is* really easy! Not only is this method neat from the right-side, but from the wrong side too...

I still need to do the matching leg warmers but I’m going to give my hands a break and work on my orange jumper for a bit which is on 12mm needles. Thinking about, I couldn’t start them even if I wanted to because I’m waiting for the double pointed needles I need for them to arrive.

Works in progress

I have two main projects on the go at the moment (and several more minor ones).

Firstly I have this...

which I’m making in orange Twilleys Freedom. So far I’ve finished the back and half a sleeve...

I’m a fairly rubbish photographer which is why this one is so fuzzy :o(

I’m fairly happy with the way it’s turning out although I wish I’d chosen the dark red instead of the orange. It seemed like a good idea at the time though. Secondly, it’s quite squishy and I think it would work a bit better as a more solid fabric, so using the correct yarn may have been a better idea. Ah well, not to worry.

I’m also desperately trying to finish a hat and leg warmers for a friends little girl. I’m enjoying using my new Denise needles, but not at all enjoying knitting on small (6.5mm) needles. I also took it upon myself to learn how to do cables for it, which are a bit fiddly for my hands, as well not actually following a pattern but make one up myself. I’ve already had to unpick half of it because my cable design wasn’t working, but I now seem to be on track. I’ve made it more simple, which I think I should have done in the first place! Talk about trying to run before you can walk. I don’t plan to do any shaping, but pince it along the top edge with a three needle cast-off - another technique that I’ve read about but not actually done before!! Anyway, this is my progress so far…

Experiment

Being a new knitter, keen to explore, with the newly acquired understanding of gauge…I decided to do an experiment. I took a pattern that I quite liked, and used a *completely* different yarn that I was desperate to use for something. After knitting a few sample squares to work out the right size needles to use…this is what happened:

I took this...

and this...

and made this...

Although I do quite like it, it’s a tad bulky to wear. I keep picking it up and trying it on, then putting it down again to think about what I’m going to do about it some more. I’m chuffed that I managed to make it…but maybe I should unravel and make something else :o(

Think pink (Denise interchangeable needles)

I gave in. After coming across interchangeable knitting needles on the web a while back, reading various blogs, and spending months telling myself they were an extravagance that should really put on my Christmas list and hope for the best…I crumpled, closed my eyes, and bought some.

I really preferred the look of the Boye ones, the colours, and the colour-coding made them *very* tempting but I was put off by the stories of the screw in connectors coming loose - although this only seemed to happen to a minority of people. Also the fact that the needles went down to smaller sizes than the Denise ones was a bit of a put-off - I just can’t use small needles, my hands would hate me. I was also generally put off getting *any* type as I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to use the connectors, again due to my stupid arthritic hands - I’m making this sound worse than it is…well, no, I’m not, I do struggle with small things. Gah.

I decided that if I was going to do it (and I was), it was going to be the Denise ones. I wasn’t too keen on the blue ones so went for the pink.

They’re fab! I love them. They’re so smooth to knit with (although I’m going from using my current cotton-rich yarn on bamboo needles, to using the same stuff on these fellas). They just work really well.

Unfortunately my concern about the connectors was justified though, I almost did myself an injury when initially playing with them, although once I had a look at the instruction sheet I was thrilled to see there was an answer. They’ve thoughtfully put a little hole through the connector which you can fit a paperclip through for more leverage. Bingo. Pain-free needle changes!

I’m so happy with them I’ve already cast on a hat for a friends daughter. Knitting 6.5mm which I’m finding a little on the small side for my hands. I’ll persevere though and then go back to 8mm plus…

Hand painted, super chunky, 100% wool

I bought this on eBay yesterday and it arrived this morning.Yey! The colours are lovely. I’ve started knitting with it already :o)

Quantity: 525g (including cardboard tube -approx 53g)
Bought: eBay
Price: £17 (paid more than I wanted…but I had to have it)

Sirdar - Bigga - Chamois - 686

I love this wool…not so keen on the colour though. I’ve got so much of this wool in various colours for various projects (mainly chunky hats and scarves for relatives…but don’t tell them). I initially bought some of this to make a peg bag for myself, and it all worked out really well - especially considering that I made the pattern up as I went along! Last week my Mam mentioned needing a peg bag - so I got some more of this as it’s **really** cheap at Kemps.

Quantity: 2 x 100g
Bought: Kemps Wool Shop
Price: £0.59 each (absolute bargain!)

Hand spun, hand dyed - no make

I love this wool! I don’t know much about it, or what I’m going to do with it, but it’s fab! It feels nice and is lovely and chunky. I bought it last week at Durham indoor market, it was the only one they had or I would have bought another one…

Quantity: 200g
Bought: Durham Indoor Market
Price: £6.00

Sirdar - Denim Chunky - Slate Blue - 503

Just bought 10 balls of this stuff in the hope that I could use it with a pattern for a different type of wool. Having knit a few tension squares this evening on different size needles, it’s not going to work out. I’d need to use too large a size needle for the wool. Curses.

I bought the wool via the internet without ever seeing it in ‘real life’. It wasn’t what I was expecting when I first saw it, although I’ve quickly come round to liking it. It feels gorgeous, especially when knit, so I need to find a pattern that it will work with as I’m itching to get going with it.

Quantity: 10 x 100g
Bought: Kemps Wool Shop
Price: £1.20 each