And we're off.....

 

Today is the first day of the Outfit Along (squee) a challenge that I'm going to be a part of over the month of June.   This is a two part challenge in which I have to make a cardigan and then a dress.  I should be able to manage this even though I have lots of other projects on the go.

Now, one thing has changed since last week,  I have made an adjustment to the yarn; I was originally going to use Cascade 220 but decided to opt for Cascade 220 Superwash. Why? There isn't any difference in the texture of the two yarns, just, the colour choices appeared a better match for the material of my dress. I only sat in front of two different computer monitors for half and hour ummming! And ahhing! over what colour of green I should choose and then when push came to shove I hit another button colour instead and bought Candy Pink. It doesn't go with the big star flowers in the design, but it does match the little flowers perfectly. I don't know if you can see the other feature in the pattern, yes, it's  my favourite insect of all time, a ladybird.
Also in my previous post, I mentioned that this material was destined for another dress pattern, which I think is now lost in the wreck of a room where I do my crafting.  If I remember correctly the pattern was a halter neck dress, to be honest,  I'm not really a fan of them (I have wide shoulders and biggish boobs, feels like I have a ready made table in front of me) so I don't know why I bought it.   The new pattern, well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it suits my body image, it should look good  once I have lost a few pounds and stopped eating Jelly Tots (this weeks craving, lol) been dreaming about them all week and yesterday I decided to succumb and bought a bag, well a biggish bag.....ooppp's.

Anyway enjoy the rest of your day peeps,  I'm going back to potter in the garden, then I'll maybe watch some catch-up T.V. and do more rows of my cardigan. 

Bye for now
Shirley xx

Much Madness!

Very excited about the outfit along! I've been following Andi Satterlund for quite some time now and have test knitted quite a few designs for her. The challenge is to complete the outfit (cardigan and dress) within one month starting on the 1st of June. I very much doubt I will finish it in time, with travelling two hours a day and working eight hour shifts, but I will give it my best shot, it will be a good motivator. Unfortunately, I can’t get hold of the specified yarn so I was going to use my favourite and much tested; Cascade 220. I will be using the pattern specified and some fabric that I bought for another project that I didn't quite get round to.
When I do start I plan to knit the cardigan during the day; lunch break permitting and the dress at night, so long as I'm not too tired, then again maybe the weekend would be better.

Wish me luck, because I think I'm going to need it.  Oh! And I promise I will take photographs of the fabric and yarn before the challenge begins.

Test Knit-Hortencia

A few weeks ago I was sent an email from Andi Satterlund of Untangling Knots requesting my skills as a test knitter for a new cardigan pattern. Well who was I to refuse, I just love Andi's patterns so I jumped at the chance to help out. This pattern is called Hortencia  "(a)  sophisticated and simple...easy to knit seamless cardigan"  (Satterlund: 2013) My version is knit in Winter Berry Cascade 220. I still need to finish the left arm and  block the garment, but this is the cardi so far.

Oh! How I've missed you knitting.

After all the studying, writing essays and attending placement for my college course, I have finally found the time to return to some of my hobbies and some much-needed care of my home. Paul and I have spent a lovely couple of very busy weeks on the gardening front, where we have managed to turn our back garden shell into something more respectable, just by laying turf and setting up a slabbed floor (latter all Pauls'doing) for a new craft shed to be erected. With so much time on my hands I have managed to pick up the needles again and cast on 3 different projects, one of which is pictured at the top of this post. This is called Hetty and is a test knit for Andi Satterlund over at Untangling Knots. I'm not sure when the pattern will be available to buy, but I can say it's a wonderful knit and very addictive, it took me no time at all to make. I used the yarn suggested by Andi; Berroco Blackstone Tweed in plum, a yarn I had never used before. I was concerned it was going to be too heavy and hot to knit with, the weather has been extremely clammy, but do you know it has no real weight at all, it's very light and quite deceiving. Anyway, enough wittering, the buttons are my own selection and are from the Rowan range purchased from my local yarn store. The other piece of knitting is part of a swap I'm involved in with the forum Pheonix Knitting.

I'm in a quandary.

Well I just had to go ahead and become ill didn't I.  I won't go into any details let's just say it was stomach orientated and not particularly nice.  Now, I'm feeling pretty restless and my hands are itching to make something, but my brain is so overwhelmed by my Rav Queue that I haven't got a clue what I want to make.  One minute I'm looking at toy patterns; quick and easy to make, the next minute I'm looking at scarf patterns; it's still cold enough for a scarf, right? And then my other choices are two little cardigans; one is free the other is not.  I have the yarn to make one of the cardigans but not both, and I just  love Andi Satterlund's patterns but can't honestly justify the purchase so close to my birthday (I can feel myself sliding and giving in on this one).
The other problem I have is my knitting stash, a couple of years ago I boxed up all my stash into stackable boxes but at the time I just shoved every colour and every weight into any old box, don't ask me why,  not terribly organised am I? Lol!   It's been preying on my mind the past couple of days, and I keep thinking I really need to sort it out, so why don't I ?  I'm embarrassed to say I have no motivation or time even though I'm on a two week holiday from college, most of my days, are spent plinky, plonking on my computer writing and compiling essays.  Can you tell that I'm fed up? So in an effort to make myself feel better on Sunday I decided to  browse the internet.  I'm a member of quite a few forums, but not been on them as of late, so I decided to give myself some rest-spite and go a wandering.  That's when I happened upon Craftsy  I have been a member of this group since it pretty much started but never actually utilised it until today.  After browsing for about half an hour it appears I have managed to book myself not one but six classes -oops.  I honestly don't know when I am going to have the time to view or complete them, but hey-ho.  The classes range over all the hobbies I am interested in; sewing, spinning and weaving,  I didn't select any knitting or crocheting classes as I have Ravelry for that. The ones I'm quite interested in completing first are:

I'm going to keep the other three classes under wraps for now, and I will just suddenly announce the finished products on my blog once I have made and completed them.   And when I'm done, I will have hopefully gained a few more skills!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

I have been so busy as of late, (I have 3 WIP's on the go)  keeping my little head down and ploughing through about one percent of my Ravelry queue.  Does not sound a lot but believe me, it is currently sitting at around the 2100 mark, and forever rising. I thought if I put the total in tiny letters it would deaden the blow, who am I trying to kid.  The rate I'm knitting through my queue I will seriously have to live until about 200 and that is being realistic.
So, without further a do I introduce to you one of my works in progress started at the beginning of this week.

This is number 1260 of my Ravelry queue and is Miette by Andi Satterlund.  I believe I queued this pretty cardigan pattern way back in October 2010, and I have been dying to cast it on since then, but life just got in the way. 

The yarn used is Rico Creative Cotton in colourwave Cardinal. It's not an expensive yarn, but boy knitted up in this pattern it looks fabulous.  I could have gone for a paler colour, but this jewelled, rich purple just accentuates this pattern to a tee.

This is a stunning pattern and an adorable item to make.The eyelet detail swirls around the neckline flows down the center of the cardigan and cascades around the waistline.  The cuff  features a small swirl of eyelets giving an attractive finish to the 3/4 length sleeves.  Very pretty.

So where do I go from here? Well, the item has been blocked and I'm planning on sourcing buttons and photographing the finished article this weekend, with my sister modelling it for me. Fingers crossed she doesn't try to sneak off home still wearing it or there will be a war. So if everything goes to plan the finished piece photos should be ready for my Sunday post.