My very first pattern

So now that my mother's birthday has finally passed and she has gotten her gift, I can publish my chart! I designed this after seeing the fornicating deer chart. I decided Mom needed cows, what with her motorhome being dubbed the COW (cabin on wheels). They both have horns because they are Highland Cattle (a hardy beef cow from Scotland with shaggy red hair) as they are her favorite. She loved it. Yay! I am just glad I can finally share.

Check out the chart pattern here: Fornicating Cows Chart

Vivian done!

Yay! I finished my Vivian the other day. It was very exciting. It fits perfectly (though the arms are a little too long, so I just rolled them into cuffs). I still need to get a zipper for it (I have been wearing it around anyway) and I am having a hell of a time finding one I like. I want a red, 2-way 22" or 24" zipper. I can find 24" 2-ways but not in red or red 2-way zippers that are 26". Ugh. Internet, you are failing me. I really want to avoid cutting down the zipper if I can as I have no idea how and it sounds like a massive pain. But either way, yay for finished sweater.

I have now moved on to Mary's shawl that I am test knitting. I am on the second chart (which makes up the majority of the shawl). So far it has been nice and easy and it turning out quite well. I just hope my second ball of yarn comes in time! I definitely love handmaiden. I can't imagine knitting it on metal needles as it keeps falling off my wooden ones!

Sock Summit

So my Mom and I headed to the Sock Summit this past weekend. We walked into the trade hall and I just had to stop. I had never seen that much fiber in one place in my life. It was hardcore overload. I gotta say, I was much better than I could have been. I only ended up with only 2 skeins of yarn and about 8 fiber tops. The damned fiber was just so pretty! I am going to spinning until the end of time and still won't be done. Worth it though.

I hadn't heard about the Summit until well after signups for classes had closed so we didn't do any of those (they were hella expensive anyway) but we did do a little hour walk in class. It was a stretchy bind off class. I don't knit socks often, partly because I have such a problem with my cuff being too tight. This should fix that! It was kind of odd and difficult to set up but it was worth it! A very nice, loose bind off based on the Kitchner stitch. I wish I could figure out a way to do it on straight patterns too.

It was amazing. I am super glad I went. I really can't wait for the UK ravelry week next summer now! It is practically next door to Edinburgh in Stirling (less than a half hour train ride). Yeee for knitting.

Sweater number two

So after the success of my Leisl I decided to try my hand at another Ysolda design (I really can't wait to meet her once I get back to Edinburgh), the Vivian sweater. Now she didn't publish this herself and boy can you tell. The pattern is a major pain to read. It just isn't well written. One of the charts is less than clear that it is supposed to be repeated. ALL the charts are ALWAYS read right from left, even though every row is shown. It starts on the wrong side (which I just don't like personally). Ugh. Pain in the butt.

Once I got it going it was ok, but it took me a couple of attempts. Once the pattern was established it is quite nice and mindless. It is going to be a very nice sweater when it is done, but the pattern is a pain.

My very first sweater!

I started Liesl, by Ysolda, a couple days ago as it looked like a nice, easy sweater and was small enough for me to use my bemiji homespun on. I sillily only bought 2 skeins. I have officially fallen in love with top down sweaters! I could try it on as I go, which is really helping me with my sizing worries. I even swatched for the first time in my life. I think I did it right...

I also love Ysolda's stuff because they go up to real sizes! I am not huge, but most of the actual cute stuff has patterns that go to size small. Ugh. I am not even the biggest size in Ysolda's patterns. Yay! I think I am going to make Vivian next (I love how her patterns have names, like Ikea furniture!), it is a very cute hoodie and I am ready for the challenge now. I just have to finish getting liesl to length. I think I'll have to bribe one of my knitting friends with a sewing machine to put the zipper in though. Apparently, that isn't the sort of thing that can be done by hand. Oh well.

Cursed Shawl

Take that, shawl!  I finally finished my Nightsong shawl today.  I swear that thing is cursed!  I decided to put a lifeline in before I started my last repeat as I was freaking out that I might be short on yarn (turned out to be sillily untrue).  I am so glad I did as when I was about to put in a lifeline before I started the trim, my needle snapped!  Right in the middle of the project.  After almost having a minor breakdown, I ripped back to the lifeline, thanking Mary for making me worry about my yarn.  I ended up only losing about 15 rows, but when each row takes me almost a half hour, that is a significant amount of time.

I finally got back into it and had only 2 rows left of the trim.  I got up to put my PJs on before I

 finished up, only to come back and find that a certain fuzzy dog had investigated my knitting and snapped my brand new KnitPicks circular!  I didn't lose any work this time but I was super pissed.  As I said, this shawl is cursed.  I had another pair of 3.25mm needles (which I had gotten after the first one broke, only to find that my KnitPicks one had arrived that day) so I was able to finish yesterday.  I cast off today as quickly as possible trying to save my last set of 3.25mm needles. 

So yay!  Three sets of needles later, it is finally done and blocking on my flatmate's bed (she is out of town).  It is so pretty that all the trauma was worth it.  I can't wait until it is dry and I can wear it to my knitting group on Thursday!

Knitting Events

There was a trunk show at my local yarn shop yesterday (K1 yarns).  Old Maiden Aunt's yarn lady came with all her pretties.  I decided I would go and spin a bit in company, since I hadn't ever been to a Stitch and Bitch before.  It was great fun.  I will definitely be going to the Thursday ones now.  I was bad though.  I wasn't going to buy anything and failed utterly.  I ended up with a new comb top for spinning (which I did go with the intention to buy) and a lovely green lace weight.  I do have a plan for the lace weight, though I might choose to use my current spinning project, which is coming out to a nice fingering weight.  Yay knitting.

Makin' Yarn

Wow, I really love the fibre I got from the Yarn Yard.  It is spinning up beautifully.  I am trying to make it turn out at a fingering or dk weight.  I think I am doing quite well.  I am very pleased with the color.  I will definitely have to try one of her other colors next.  I split the fibre into two halves to make it easier to double ply when the time comes.  It should make life a LOT easier.  Yay yarn!

On niddy noddies and lace

I finally got my niddy noddy that I ordered awhile ago and got my first spun yarn onto it and ready for washing!  As you can see, it is kind of small, but should be big enough for anything I do.  I just need to remember to keep my spinning to around 100g per skein and I should be ok.  I really liked the way it turned out.  A proper lumpy homespun.  I am going to try and be a little thinner and more consistent with my next skein though.  It is a merino and silk blend and is crying out for a dk or fingering weight, which is probably a bit ambitious for only my third drop-spun handspun ever.  But hey, gotta have goals!

I blame Mary for my current lace binge.  My first scarf, which I made for my sister after she dropped some hints that she could really use a non-white scarf (she NEVER wants knitting!), took about 7 tries to get off the ground.  I was about ready to give up, but Mary made me keep to it.  We both bought this LOVELY multicolored silk, but unfortunately is was a very small skein, only 126 yards.  I finished the scarf and it is a little shorter than I would prefer but I think it will turn out all right.  It was very quick!

I just started the Nightsongs shawl on ravelry with my bright orange yarn.  I think it will look lovely with a black dress.  I have already ripped it out once.  The yarn isn't lace weight like I thought it was, it is cobweb weight!  I feel like I am knitting with sewing thread.  The pattern is a bit confusing.  I think I worked out how to increase as I go but I really wish the pattern had one more repeat in the chart so I could get the pattern.  A pattern requires 3 repeats!  2 repeats is just a coincidence.

I was away this weekend for a weekend of gaming 

which included two 4-5 hour bus rides.  I got a ton of knitting done.  I finished that multicolored scarf (which I had barely started) and my second sock from Mary's pattern.  I have a bunch of the yarn from the socks left, which I have decided I am going to knit into a klein bottle dice bag!  One of the guys in my group had a crocheted one and pfft to crochet.  I totally think I can make it quite easily.

Stupid crochet is beating me.  I am trying to teach myself and failing utterly.  I am obviously missing something basic as I cannot keep tension (I need an extra hand) and I keep catching the stitch I am trying to go through.  I think I am going to have to break down and actually take the class at K1 this summer.  Blarg.

One thing I have to say is that all this far more complicated knitting really is slowing me down, which my budget is thanking me for.

A knitting blog is a good thing...

So I decided to start a knitting blog as I often have a lot to say about it but I think my lj friends are a bit tired of reading about it.  I went to John Lewis today (department store) and found that they have a HUGE craft section including quite a few yarns.  It is by no means the biggest selection ever, but it is definitely different than what my local yarn store has.  I wanted to stop by to see if they a needle case I saw online thinking it must be something they just have online since there is no way a department store would have yarn, right?  Boy, I was wrong.  I am kind of excited.  The needle case was a bust (they were hideously ugly) but I was very pleased to find the other stuff.

I also finally bought a crochet hook to fix my sock.  I had it in my purse and half the stitches on one needle fell off.  I failed at picking them back up with just the knitting needles so I needed a crochet hook.  I finally got one today and managed to fix it, huzzah!  I also bought these awesome point protectors that work brilliantly with socks.  They have two holes on each so I can use them really well with doublepointed needles (Pony is the brand if you are interested).  I was excited.  So yay knitting!