WIP Wednesday 03.05.23

Current WIP count: 5

I’m 99% sure that there are no more forgotten projects lying around so I’m going with 5 WIPs at the moment. That’s pretty reasonable for me!

It was down at 4, but then I read this post and remembered that I have a few Heidi Bears patterns which, for some reason, have been sitting in my download folder untouched since 2018. I only started yesterday so there’s not much progress to show, but at least I’ve started.

Further news on my Love Note, and I find myself wondering how much I really want one. The original yarn is so sticky that I could only knit it with my metal needles. The only cable I have left for my metal needles is pretty short, so I’m knitting it scrunched up. It didn’t seem massively squished on there so I thought I was good, but I decided to stick it on some waste yarn and try it on just in case. Turns out I should have done that much sooner because it was enormous. Tent-like. So ridiculously big that strategic decreasing would never be able to fix it.

So I frogged it riiiiiight back to the beginning, cursing the sticky yarn with every stitch, and started again with a smaller size and helical knitting just to see if I could do it. I can! But now there’s a nagging voice in my head saying this size will be too small and I’m wasting my time. Sigh. I’ve decided not to check this time; I’m going to finish it and whatever size it ends up, somebody in the world will be able to wear it and that’s good enough for me.

Hannah

xXx

Advertisement

WIP Wednesday 19.04.23

Current WIP count: unknown?

I’ve been having a sort through my yarn, and in the process found some WIPs that I’d forgotten about. Like my second Beachcombing blanket, which I apparently abandoned mid-square for some reason. I’m still sorting (I have way too much yarn) so it’s entirely possible that even more unfinished projects will turn up and get added back on to my WIP list.

To balance things out a bit, I frogged the jumper I was making with Rico Melange and put the yarn back into stash for another day. I didn’t think the jumper would fit me, plus I wasn’t that keen on the pattern, and I realised I’m actually still set on using that yarn to make a top for myself rather than giving it away to someone else. It will probably need to be a short, lacy kind of top to make the yarn last, but I can work with that.

The other active WIP right now is my Love Note jumper. Oh, the drama.  I had some Yarn Bee Tender Touch in stash for ages and I wasn’t sure I even liked it, until the idea of a Love Note crossed my mind and suddenly, I couldn’t wait to use it. Yes, it’s thicker than the pattern calls for, but I can make that work and the mohair-like fuzz was perfect. However, I wildly overestimated how far each skein would go and by the time it resembled a bralette with sleeves, the yarn ran out.

That’s fine, I thought, I’ll just buy some more and carry on. Nope. There was no Yarn Bee Tender Touch Amber to be found anywhere in the UK, and further digging revealed that it had been discontinued.   There was a shade called Mustard that looked similar (on a screen), but I could only find it on Ebay from sellers in America who were not shipping to the UK.  I sent several begging emails and one seller got back to me and said the shipping was very expensive but if I was willing to pay then they would send it to me. Done!

Then came the weeks of waiting for it to arrive, tracking every stop along the way (including bouncing between Palatine and Elk Grove three times), and finally it arrived on my birthday!  But…

These two yarns are not the same. The Amber yarn is very fuzzy, and it’s matte. The Mustard yarn has a tiny bit of fuzz, and it’s shiny.  I have already knit a few rounds with the Mustard and I can’t decide how much this bothers me; will I carry on and pretend that it’s a subtle form of colour blocking, or will I undo the whole thing and have a go at helical knitting so they blend together? I just don’t know yet.

Hannah

xXx

Stash diving

I always have too many WIPs on the go. Always. One of the reasons for this is my disorganised stash and supplies; I have a dig to look for a particular yarn/hook/circular needles, and various skeins jump out at me as being perfect for X project or just too beautiful to ignore any longer. So I pull them out, get started, and add even more projects to my list.

Bonny gave me an idea to help with this. Yesterday I took out my whole stash mountain and grabbed whatever appealed to me most, then I matched them to relevant patterns, and caked them so they’re ready to go. With labels, because I know my memory.

So now I can wrangle my WIP list down to a more sensible number, then just grab the next ready-to-go project and start. No stash-diving required, so no getting distracted!

The only problem now is resisting the urge to start them all immediately…

Hannah

xXx

Sock it to me Monday 44

I’m on my last two days of ‘freedom’ before starting the new job on Wednesday, and it’s currently not raining, so I decided to get some outdoor knitting done.

Unfortunately, I was just getting ready to start the next colourwork section when I decided to count my stitches and realised that I’d dropped one. About 25 rounds ago.  So now I’m working up the will to go all the way back with my little crochet hook and fix it. Sigh.

The good news is that my shoulder’s all better, so once I fix that stitch I should be able to whizz along to an FO at some point this week! Good times.

Hannah

xXx

Nearly-FO Friday 14.01.22

I can’t believe we’re at the 14th already, nearly halfway through January. Clearly this year is going to blink past like the last two.

Last month I was hoping to rattle through some of my ‘make nine’ list, but then covid (and possibly a cold on top of it) hit me and I didn’t really feel like doing much at all. Plus I ran out of yarn for my super chunky jumper and had to order more, and a sprinkling of snow on the ground meant that Royal Mail didn’t deliver it when they were supposed to. But hey, I did make a colourwork mitten so that’s that crossed off the list at least.

The jumper currently looks like this:

Either my gauge or my measuring tape went wrong somewhere because it’s more like a jumper-dress. Which I don’t entirely mind; I had something similar in alpaca yarn before it accidentally went through a hot wash and came out child-sized and felted to heck.

Now I just need to work out how on earth the sleeves fit onto the top. I’ve tried googling it but that throws up a hundred different ways to do mattress stitch, which I’m already okay with. Maybe it’s my lack of spatial awareness but I really can’t see how the shape of the sleeves is supposed to fit into the shape of the arm holes, and I’m afraid to just have a go and find out because this yarn is like velcro and I could get in an awful mess trying to undo it if I go wrong (speaking from experience here). Any suggestions?

I’m not sure I like making my jumpers in pieces. Although I might be willing to give it another go with a slightly less awkward yarn. We’ll see how this one turns out before I give up on the idea completely.

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 24.11.21

Current WIP count: 9

My charity crafting slowed down a lot last week as I decided to knit a matching hat and cowl set, and I am SUCH a slow knitter. They turned out gorgeous though so I’m not mad (photos to come when I’ve sewn the ends in).

I also thought it was time to get started on some other items and here I ran into a problem. Using Tin Can Knits The World’s Simplest Mittens pattern, I decided to go for the adult (large) size to use up as much yarn as possible. But I ended up with this:

I know ribbing stretches, but there is no way this tiny thing will ever stretch enough to fit a large adult. I refuse to frog and start again so these are now toddler mittens. Thank goodness the charity is accepting donations for all ages. 

Next up I might actually try the smallest size in the pattern and use them as tiny adorable tree decorations. We’ll see how fiddly they turn out to be.

Hannah

xXx

 

WIP Wednesday 10.11.21

Current WIP count: 8 (plus a lot of ends)

So far I’ve cranked out five charity hats in various sizes and one matching scarf, finishing up one ball of mystery rainbow yarn and taking a chunk out of the cream yarn.

Then I did a bit of a stash dive and pulled out these odds and ends.

The blue-green-yellow one was pretty much a whole skein so I decided it could be a hat all by itself, and for the rest I’ll probably stick with the original plan of mixing them with the cream until it runs out.

I have told myself that once I get to ten hats I will sew all the ends in before starting any new ones – who thinks I’ll actually stick to that?

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 20.10.21

Current WIP count: 8

I had a look back through my WIP list this week and I couldn’t remember why I had abandoned the crochet fingerless gloves. The answer, of course, was ends.

180 ends.

Clearly they’re not going to sew themselves in so I had a word with myself and got on with it. So far I’m 5 down, 175 to go.

This might take a while.

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 06.10.21

Current WIP count: 8

The pug progresses, although I’ve already decided that this isn’t the right colour for his wee body (it’s more grey in real life) so I’m definitely making another one when he’s finished.

Let’s call this the practice run because I already have some tweaks to the pattern I want to try, mainly to deal with the massive holes in the tummy and where the legs join the body. I might end up with a pug army by the end of this!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Thursday 30.09.21

Current WIP count: 8

My manager at my new job has had a terrible time for the last three years, and this week her wee pug puppy has been very ill and ended up in the ICU.  She is such a lovely person who doesn’t deserve any of it so I just had to make a wee something to cheer her up.

Obviously I haven’t got very far yet, but it’s going to be a teeny little pug. It’s a free pattern that I found here at Stella’s Yarn Universe if anyone else feels like making an adorable puppy for themselves.

I’m actually not 100% sure about the colour at the moment; I’m struggling to picture the finished puppy so I’ll probably end up making two versions and giving my manager the one that looks most realistic. And I’ll just have to keep the other one for myself, what a shame!

Hannah

xXx

WIP Wednesday 22.09.21

Current WIP count: 7

My mojo has been missing for so long I had to dig through the memos on my phone to find my WIP list, and there are things on there I forgot I’d even started.

I think it might be on the up again though, as the other day I was minding my own business and suddenly got a massive urge to cast on a sock IMMEDIATELY. So I skimmed the top of stash mountain, found two sort-of-coordinating skeins, and started a pair of shortie socks.

The cuffs and toes will be a Blue Raspberry mini skein from Mothy and the Squid, and the main colour is (I think) from Hand Drawn Yarn. Possibly called Thistle.  They’re not as high contrast as I usually go for, but it’s so good actually wanting to knit again after all this time that I’m enjoying it anyway.  Fingers crossed it will last!

Hannah

xXx

Recent happenings

Many things have happened, but I’m just going to focus on a few of them.

Firstly, I got a new job (yes,another one) and I think I might actually like it there, which I wasn’t sure would ever happen again. So yay for that!

Secondly, I feel 1/7th less silly for the last time I had to frog this sock:

I don’t know whether it’s a mistake in the pattern or it just assumes you’re actually paying attention and will adjust, but if you follow it to the letter then the heel flap does end up on the front of the sock rather than the back. It’s all sorted now and I’ll definitely be ready when I eventually get to the second sock. 

And of course I saved the best happening for last. As of last month I have an excuse to make aaaaaaaaaaaaall the tiny pretty things, because my amazing cousin had a little baby girl.

This is Phoebe:

She really is that teeny tiny! I’m definitely going to have to downsize my patterns for a wee while. 

If all goes well I should be meeting my little niece next week, so my hooks and needles are whizzing away trying to get everything finished in time to hand over. This is my first offering because babies always seem to be swamped in pastel shades and I find it terribly boring.

There will be more to come in all sorts of fun colours too. Ooh I can’t wait for some squishy baby snuggles!

Hannah

xXx