 March 31, 2004
Knitting maths
I don't do maths. Really, you can ask any of my teachers from school. The subjects that I got the lowest grades in were maths and science (interestingly these were the ones that Wayne excelled at so Brooke should be OK with her homework help as she gets older), anything languages, history or arty I could do but maths sent a cold shiver down my spine. I'm the same now. The monthly budget forecasts at work are my most procrastinated task. When that diary invite comes through to meet with the finance team and talk budgets, actuals verses forecasts I instantly want to get my mum to write me a note saying that I'm too sick to talk budgets. I just about get by but did I mention that I DON'T LIKE MATHS. So now I'm doing knitting maths. Its no better or worse than any other kind but at least I'll have something to show at the end of it. I finished the 2 Copa sleeves last night in front of a very violent Samuel L Jackson film called against the wall (or something) about the Attica prison riots. Looking good isn't it?
Only one small problem. I am not going to have enough blue yarn left to finish the front even though I increased the green striping on the sleeves to try and eek it out. I ran out of the first skein a few inches from the end of the first sleeve. The back and the sleeve would have been my half way point. So now for the knitting maths.. I counted the number of stitches that I went over on each sleeve. 828. So that is how many stitches I need to lose from each side of the cardigan front to have enough blue yarn. First, lets look at the neckline. Its a round neck cardigan and the front is 8 rows lower than the back. That should give me about 150 stitches to play with on each side. Now we're down to 678 stitches. The body is 52 stitches wide before the armhole shaping so I could just rip the back down and lose 13 rows there but that would take about 6cm from the length. I don't want a cropped cardigan. Next, lets see what will happen if I add a few stitches of green along the button band edges of the cardigan. There are 55 rows that this would help on and I figured a band of 4 stitches is as wide as I could go without the green stripe being too big. That's 220. Not a lot of help really! So this is what I think I'm going to do. Rip the back out completely. (Or maybe from the bottom up and then knit down?? I've never tried this....) Then reknit an extra 5 rows on the garter stitch border. (520 stitches from the back and the front combined.) Then I could add an extra 4 rows onto the green stripes at the bottom (416 stitches, are you keeping track of all this - total 936 stitches) So far I haven't lost any length, in fact I've added 6 rows. So now if I take out those 6 rows of the blue (624 stitches front and back - total 1560 stitches) Remember I needed to get 678 stitches from each side so that's 1356 in total, so I would be left with around 200 stitches "spare". I think that should be enough for me to comfortably finish the sweater without losing any length or messing about with a stripe at the front. I hope.. Phew. I'm exhausted now. You know there are 2 easier answers. Number 1 is that when I'm in France shopping in the Phildar sales on Saturday I see a skein of Copa in the blue colourway that I snap up. Likelihood - slim as the yarn was discontinued last year. Number 2 is that I give up and make something completely different with the yarn. This far into the cardi I'm reluctant to do that. I had considered shortening the sleeves but young Brooke is not keen on 3/4 lengths and after all this messing around I want her to actually wear it!! Keep your fingers crossed for me, oh - and if you do see a flaw in my logic or maths please quietly point it out in email. I'm still undecided about the whole cardigan v sweater and how to close if I choose cardigan but the maths kind of took over that discussion!
Posted by Kerrie at 09:18 AM
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March 30, 2004
Next 3 way knitalong
I really enjoyed making the Exotic tank, thanks for all the kind comments. In fact, it was so much fun that on Sunday I started the next 3 way knitalong project, its a Phildar copacabana cardigan that is going to use up most of my copa stash (and a little of Silvia's too!!) I'm not using the pink colour in this project, just the blue and green. I found a cute cardigan pattern in one of the Tricotez Calin books from a couple of years ago which I've altered to fit Brooke. The pattern was for a cropped cardigan and only went up to age 2 so I've added nearly 15cm to the length and somewhat less than that to the width so that it will be a long cardigan for a nearly 4 year old. If anyone else has the book, its the one shown in 2 shades of pink yarn. I decided to be wild and stripe the blue and green instead.. This is the completed back.
As the original was 2 different shades of Copa pink, the striping wasn't so obvious. Also, although I added such a lot to the length I left the stripe sequence as written in the pattern. This means that I have a lot more blue at the top than there was dark pink in the pattern. I'm happy with the way it looks though. I have 2 full skeins of blue and probably 1.5 skeins of green in total so more blue on the cardigan makes sense. One feature I'm not sure of in this cardigan is the zip closure. A zip in Copacabana? Doesn't feel right to me. This yarn is so stretchy that I'm worried it will pull out of shape with the zipper. Maybe I'll use snaps or buttons instead. Anyone else that has knit with this yarn have an opionion on how suitable it is for a zip closure?
Posted by Kerrie at 09:16 AM
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March 29, 2004
Exotic little tank..
This is the first item that I've ever knitted as part of 3 knitalongs at the same time! Its a Phildar Filly, Spring Knitup, Spring fling extravaganza here today with the debut of the Exotic tank..
The tank used up 2 skeins of Phildar Exotic which is approx 90 metres to 50g, 100% man made ribbon tape type yarn which feels really soft to work with. I used colour number 3 which is called Coralline. You can see more colours and details on this site. I have posted the pattern here, I'm not sure how easy it is to get hold of this yarn so if you work out any good substitutes let me know so that I can include them in the pattern. Its a simple child's tank which is worked all in one piece. You cast on at the bottom and work up to the armholes before casting off the back. Then the armholes and neck are shaped and the straps knitted to the required length before being crossed over at the back and buttoned in place. You could make the straps shorter and refrain from crossing them if you prefer. I'm not sure that it goes well with the PJ bottoms (or the sideshow Bob hairstyle!!) but that's what you get for taking photos on a Sunday in between hairwash and bedtime. We had loads of fun with the photos as you can see in the more section below. I actually took about 20 of them as she was having such fun! I have no idea what she is doing in most of them, I blame her dad for her crazy streak! Brooke loves it, Wayne is neutral and I think its cute. Not sure what to do with the 3rd and final skein that I have of this. I'll donate it to a good cause if anyone wants to try it out, just mail me and let me know.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:25 AM
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March 26, 2004
Its the weekend!
Have you seen Froggy's tank that she made for her daughter? Doesn't it look great? I hadn't thought about that pattern for a while until I looked on her site the other day and saw that she was working on one. It reminded me to pull out some All Seasons Cotton that I have in pretty pinks and make another one for Brooke this year. I'll be making the plaisance ribby one first and then another mission one afterwards. I got on well with the Exotic creation last night, it should be finished today or tomorrow. I'm not going to tell you what it turned into, but I'll post photos of Brooke modelling it on Monday. The good news is that she tried the 3/4 completed version on last night and pronounced it "cool" Phew.. I'm going to turn people bold in the sidebar when I know that the stashbox has visited them. Polly suggested that we come up with a new name - I liked her suggestions of Steek or Domino. What do you think??
Posted by Kerrie at 07:51 AM
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March 25, 2004
Fickle..
I'm very fickle when it comes to my knitting and also very impatient! I was all excited about the Ribby Cardi (see the lovely sleeves?) and convinced that I was going to concentrate on that for the next few days and see what progress I could make. Until tonight that is... One of my least favourite parts of knitting is casting on. So I groaned my way through the cast on of 167 stitches for the Ribby body, ripped it out and groaned my way through it again when I noticed that some of the middle stitches looked a little baggy and then started on the first pattern row. By the time I had got to the end of the row and realised that I misread the instructions for the first few stitches and had to rip the whole thing out I was in no mood to start again. Entirely my fault - the pattern is perfectly written but I just read it wrong. Not happy. So then I packed away the yarn and needles and sulked for a few minutes. What to start instead? The Copa invention seemed like a good plan but seeing as the lovely Silvia is sending me an extra skein of her leftovers I thought I'd better wait. Then I found 3 skeins of Phildar Exotic that I bought last year to make a fringed tank. I never got the pattern for it in the end but as its lovely shiny yarn on large needles I thought it would be the perfect ribby antidote. Exotic is 100% man made fibres and is a flat tape / ribbon yarn about 1cm wide. The ball band suggested 12mm needles which seemed a little large so I swatched about and finally decided I liked the fabric on 9mms. After knitting for an hour and producing about 4 inches of beautiful fabric I felt much better. Doesn't it look great :
Excuse the black background, I took the photo on top of my laptop. How lazy am I? I'm knitting it in one piece up to the armholes, this way I can decide what its going to be based on how much yarn there is left. I'm hoping I have enough for a short sleeved summery Brooke cardigan. If not it will turn into a tank top and failing that a vest. I'm only about halfway through the first skein and still have a little knitting time before I fall asleep tonight so at the moment its looking good for a cardigan. I'm writing up the pattern as I go so I'll share it when I'm finished.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:27 AM
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March 24, 2004
Sweetly sleeping
aaah, bless. I knew those Zoe Mellor PJs were cute when I bought them but they look extra cute on Brooke don't you think?
She has taken to falling asleep so easily these days, sometimes on the sofa while Wayne and I are washing up in the kitchen. Its always a shock to walk back into the room and find her fast asleep half an hour before bedtime! I think its a combination of very busy at school and also a course of antibiotics that she is on. Bless her.. It doesn't stop the bizarre questions though. On the sofa this morning while I was brushing her hair she asked me "mummy, when God made me did he use spice or puppy dogs tails?" I had to pause for a minute before I realised she was talking about the nursery rhyme Little girls are made of sugar and spice and all things nice and little boys are made of worms and snails and puppy dogs tails. Know that one? Knitwise, I've finished both Ribby sleeves and cast on for the body. I'm also working my way through the 4th strip of the cotton blanket and I sneaked in a couple of lace Koigu rows last night. I just couldn't stop myslef!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:54 AM
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March 23, 2004
Spring Phildar plans
I sorted through my stash at the weekend, packed up a lot of the wools to save on space. It will be fun to unpack them when we've moved house later in the summer and rediscover what I have! I also found some nice summery yarns for my Brooke and Becky knitalong and Phildar Filly projects. Both of these will be started at the end of the month when *hopefully* my ribby will be finished. First is this Copacabana. I have 2 skeins of the blue and about 3/4 of the pink and green. I think I'm going to make a dress for Brooke from one of the Phildar kids catagloues that I have. The skirt of the dress will be in the blue and the sleeveless bodice will be in pink on the front and green at the back. She approves of this idea so now I just need to hope that I have enough of each colour. It should be OK.. Next is this Plaisance and cotton glace to make another sleeveless vest for Brooke. Leigh is making a similar one for Becky (we both made them last year and the girls liked them then so we're hoping for the best this year) The cotton glace will be a short trim around the edge and the majority of the vest will be in the plaisance.. I hope to swatch for both of them and get started in a week or so. PS - the Europe GSRB box is on its way! Sarah received it over the weekend and will be posting it on shortly. Woo Hoo.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:34 AM
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March 22, 2004
Waves and Shells...
Especially for Alison, this is the weekend's progress on my Koigu wave and shell creation.
Its stretching out to be about 18 inches wide (12 when unstretched) and is currently 16 inches long unstretched. I think another skein or so of Koigu onto the length should give me about the size I'm looking for. I made a mistake in about the 4th or 5th pattern repeat but I can only see it if I look closely. I'm not worried enough about it to rip back all that lace! Inspired by Mariko's gorgeous pink and cream 2x2x3x1 ribby that she finished last week, I'm putting down the Koigu and picking up my ribby. I have both arms finished and will be casting on for the body tonight.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:57 AM
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March 19, 2004
Quotes, free patterns and general Friday feelings..
This is my current favourite quote : "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~ Dr. Seuss I found this on Alissa's site. Just right isn't it? Now that I've finished LAST months free pattern from Rowan (the lacy sweater) I couldn't resist a peek at this months one. Its a beanbag made from Rowan denim yarn and 2 pairs of jeans. I think it looks so cool. Its the kind of thing that Brooke would love in her room, especially if I used some of her jeans with Barbie logos on them that she has outgrown. Think I'd need more than 2 pairs though! I've downloaded it and I'll add it to my evergrowing list of things to make one day. I'm sooo glad that its Friday today, this week has seemed neverending. I think its because of the Chicago trip last week. We've got a busy weekend full of children's parties, haircuts, visits to friends houses and a trip to the Country Living Spring fair on Sunday with my mum. What better way to spend Mothers day than at a craft fair with your mum? I'm hoping to make more progress on my wave and shell shawl this weekend. It would be nice to get another skein of Koigu knitted in. I'm not sure how long I'm going to make it, probably fairly small. Its stretching out to be about 20 inches wide at the moment so perhaps 40 inches long will be enough for what I have in mind for it... PS - if you haven't read Dooce's labour story yet, go and read it now! I laughed out loud at some of the entries - its all so true!! I made Wayne read it last night while I put Brooke to bed, as we were reading sleeping beauty in her room we could hear him laughing, Brooke kept saying "what in the world is dad laughing at..."
Posted by Kerrie at 08:53 AM
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March 18, 2004
Knitalong updates
OK, you may have noticed that I've joined a number of knitalongs. I thought I'd give you an update on where I am with each one of them.. If I get organised enough I may even get around to doing this weekly. (don't hold your breath though!) ONDE ALONG - I have the pattern for the cardigan that I want to make which is the one on the left of this picture, in the new Phildar tendances catalogue. I was slightly put off at the small gauge, why did I expect it to be made on something like 5mm needles? Anyway, I now need to order the yarn and then I'll be on my way. PHILDAR FILLY This knitalong stalled when my beloved Giboulees sweater ran away. Since then I keep threatening to turn it into a shrug but havent delivered yet. Leigh and I are going to make next sizes up of these Phildar ribby tanks we made last year so that is now my entry in the Phildar Filly. I'll be starting that at the end of the month. RIBBY KNITALONG - I'm months behind Carolyn and Leigh who started this whole thing off but moving along OK. I have 1.5 sleeves done of the 3 x 2 x 3 x 1 Ribby so far. Woo Hoo. Dont break out the champagne yet though, there's still a long way to go. SPRING FLING / KNIT UP - I'm working on a design of my own which is for a cotton poncho for Brooke. Its Bouton D'or yarn in a lovely purple colour which knits to the same tension as GGH GOA. I hoped that the poncho would make an indent on the 10 skeins that I have but half way through and I'm only on my 3rd skein. That didn't go according to plan. As soon as this is finished I'll be cracking on with the patchwork blanket. I should be able to show you the poncho next week. WAVE & SHELL ALONG - As Emma warned me in yesterday's comments, lace knitting is addictive. I'm loving knitting this - look I've worked 5 pattern repeats now. Note to self : try not to knit lace while watching the season finale of Spooks on DVD for the millionth time. You know it always makes you cry and finding yourself with 6 extra stitches after a row is not good.. I've used up 1 skein of Koigu so far, it goes a lot further than I thought it would.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:20 AM
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March 17, 2004
Shawls
I'm really into shawls at the moment which is strange because I'm not really a shawl wearing kind of person. I think its a result of seeing the gorgeous Charlotte that Jen made and also the Keepsake shawl that Carolyn is making for her mum. You know how yesterday I said that I was going to use that green Koigu to make Charlotte? Well about an hour after posting that I changed my mind!! I remembered that I had signed up for Rachael's Wave and Shell knitalong and I decided that this would be a better pattern for the Koigu. I'm not sure that it will use up all 6 skeins, the shawl showed in the pattern used approx 850 yards and if I'm correct that Koigu has approx 170 yards to the skein I have slightly more than that.
The photo above shows the 16 row pattern repeat. Last night I had a couple of hours in front of the discovery health channel and I've now finished the 3rd repeat. Its a really fun pattern to knit, easier to remember than I thought it was going to be! Especially as this is the first proper lace pattern I've ever knitted. OK, so I made the lacy sweater last month but that wasn't real lace was it? It was more gorgeous eyelets. This shawl makes me feel like a proper knitter! In addition to this, I have plans to make the following shawls this summer : Charlotte's web in some black / purple Koigu that I collected last year An Eros shawl - inspired by one seen in a yarn store in Chicago. I think I have a couple of skeins of Eros that aren't doing anything at the moment A Giotto shawl - inspired by one that I saw and DID NOT LIKE AT ALL in another Chicago yarn store. You know when you get that "I could do better!" feeling? I think I'll start the Eros one next month. Amended - whoops! typo alert. I wish I had 76 skeins of Koigu but in fact I have 6. :(
Posted by Kerrie at 08:24 AM
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March 16, 2004
Shopping therapy
You are going to be surprised at how little I actually bought from Chicago, I know I was. 6 skeins of Koigu in this lovely bright green. This is destined to be a one colour version of Charlotte's web. 1 skein of Manos in gorgeous earthy tones. I have NO IDEA what to use this for but fell head over heels in love with it. Maybe I'll make a hat out of it or use it as the trim on a sweater a la Heidi and her Bannff. hmmm 1 skein of Lambs Pride in a dusky pink. I'm thinking something felted. Maybe another Sophie? 1 skein of Cartoon in purples / greens. Leigh sent me over a little of this once and I loved the feel of the yarn. I already used it to make this quick and easy hat out of last night.
I also inherited this skein of Koigu from Carolyn as the colours were not what she ordered. See the little black spots in the yarn? Looks like someone has left a pen with the lid off and the ink has leaked on the yarn. Not sure what to do with this but Brooke likes the colours so that's a good start! Thanks to Brooke for taking the photos for me. She loves playing with my camera at the moment. Sometimes I flick through the photos that are stored on it and wonder who took all the abstract ones of different places in the house. She wanders around saying "smile for the camera, fridge".. Now, if you were to ask me what I bought for a certain someone else, now that would be a slightly longer shopping list. I'll leave her to tell you all about that when it arrives with her. See, shopping for other people is as much fun as shopping for yourself.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:13 AM
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March 15, 2004
Happy Days
Its good to be home. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my Chicago visit. The work side of it went well, meeting everyone at KIP on Thursday was great. Shopping with Carolyn, Heidi, Lynette and Monica on Saturday was fab. I really had a great time. However, there is no better feeling in the world than walking into the arrivals hall at Heathrow and hearing a familiar little voice shouting "mummy, mummy" and then seeing Brooke running flat out across the floor towards you. Then being jumped on, hugged and kissed (and that was just Wayne!!) Perfect.. Its good to be home, back where I belong with Wayne and Brooke. The downside is that I've bought home a stinking cold / flu bug type thing. Yuck. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you are in 2 timezones and on 2 planes within 5 days of each other.. Now I'm off to look through my yarn purchases (I didn't buy THAT much I promise!) and get some more sleep... PS - I didn't knit either way on the plane. From the UK to US they explicitly said no knitting needles of any kind in hand luggage. On the way home the flight left at 9pm and I planned to sleep for most of it so I didn't even attempt to knit then.
Posted by Kerrie at 07:21 AM
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March 12, 2004
The end is nigh..
Its been a busy week but its nearly over now. I leave the office in about 2 hours to head downtown to pick up Carolyn from work before shopping and going out this evening. What's on the agenda tomorrow before my flight home? Why more shopping, of course! Carolyn , Heidi, Monica and Lynette will be showing me the highlights of the yarn stores in the Chicago area. Woo Hoo. KIP was great last night, it was fun to meet everyone in person after reading their sites for so long. It nearly all went horribly wrong when Carolyn, Heidi and I arrived to find the regular KIIP meeting place closed for renovations. The store was full of workmen who watched with interest while we wrote a note for our fellow KIPs, and attached it to the flowerpot outside the door using a piece of string. (very innovative Carolyn!) Fortunately we found a tea shop over the road who very kindly stayed open late and was happy with the 10 women who took over his store, chatted and knitted for a couple of hours.. I wish I could come back next time..
Posted by Kerrie at 07:15 PM
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March 11, 2004
Guess..
...where I'm going tonight?
I'm meeting Carolyn, Heidi, Monica, Lynette, Bonne Marie, Theresa and I'm sure some others. Can't wait...
Posted by Kerrie at 03:46 PM
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March 10, 2004
I couldn't resist it!
Posted by Kerrie at 09:34 PM
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I'm here!
I arrived safely yesterday afternoon, met up with Carolyn and shopped / gossiped a little last night until my poor body was crying "let me sleep, let me sleep" It was only 7pm... The hotel is OK, I've been in the office since 7am this morning and have a full dya of meetings and a full evening of shopping tonight before joining Carolyn and the crew at KIP tomorrow night. Woo Hoo. Can't wait! Thanks for all the comments about the lacy sweater, I enjoyed looking at the photos again this morning, it seems like ages since I saw Brooke and Wayne, I guess its been about 36 hours now. Or something.. In other news, I can't believe I missed my 2nd anniversary! Last Friday this blog was 2 years old, doesn't time fly when you're having fun? So to celebrate, have a piece of belated cake on me.
Posted by Kerrie at 05:04 PM
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March 09, 2004
Presenting....
....the beautiful lacy sweater :
I'm so pleased with the way that this came out. I made a number of changes to the pattern : 1. I used a picot edge instead of the one called for in the pattern. I love the way this looks with the eyelets above it. 2. I made the body in stocking stitch instead of reverse stocking stitch. 3. I attached an applique butterfly to the front (as per Brooke's request) instead of the flower 4. I added a little length to the sleeves. In hindsight, I should have made the body an inch or 2 longer but I'm not concerned enough about that to alter it now. I'd also have made the neck slightly smaller as it came out a little wide. However, it looks great, fits fine and she loves it. What more could I ask.. I did run out of yarn - lucky I bought the extra skein even though it was a different dye lot. If you look carefully at the neck you'll notice where I had to join the new skein about 2 rows from the end. Its noticable if you squint at it and know what you're looking for but hopefully not to anyone else... Brooke was so funny taking these photos last night, she was clowning around and I couldn't get her to stand still for anything. I've posted some more of the funnier photos in the MORE section so that they dont suck up all your internet connection if you don't want them to. Just in case you were wondering, she is eating cheese in most of the shots and really looks like an alien in the last one. Where did she get that neck?? Now I need to go and get ready for the cab to pick me up for the airport... Chicago, here I come...
Posted by Kerrie at 07:29 AM
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March 08, 2004
Success..
The lacy sweater is a huge success. I know for sure that Leigh will appreciate this and possibly many other out there but when I showed Brooke the completed sweater with butterfly applique this morning she got so excited. Insisted on putting it on over the top of her PJs. Then over the top of her uniform until we got to school when she finally agreed to take it off as long as she could put it back on when she gets in tonight. People, we have a successful project! I'll get photos tonight and show you tomorrow.. Now, here's a question for you. What do you get when you cross a Spring Knit up with a Spring Fling? Why the chance to join in with 2 knitalongs, clear out your stash and make some lovely spring clothes at the same time. Perfect. On my spring fling knit up list at the moment are : Rowan cotton blanket - finish last 2 strips - end April I'm going to start the poncho this week on the way to Chicago! I'm flying out tomorrow lunchtime, working in our Chicago office Wednesday to Friday and then shopping with Carolyn on Saturday before flying home Saturday night. I've got a few shopping lists to work my way through from colleagues, Wayne, Brooke and friends so that should be fun. I can't wait! Brooke and Wayne are looking forward to the daddy / daughter time and I'm looking forward to a little me time. Everyone is happy...
Posted by Kerrie at 09:08 AM
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March 07, 2004
Tales of a perfect day
What do you do when you have a day's vacation from work planned on a Friday and then your hasband announces that he has to go to Brighton for the day with work? You go along with him of course... We dropped Brooke off at nursery and drove down to the coast, the journey was about 1.5 hours long and I knitted more of the lacy sweater en route. Wayne dropped me off in the centre of Brighton at about 10 with a goodbye have fun I'll ring you later and he was off to work. I wandered around the shops for a while, found C & H fabrics where I bought an extra skein of the pink Handknit dk for the lacy sweater, a couple of skeins of an interesting looking yarn (more on that later in the week) and some handles to make a bag. I browsed the main shopping centre until it was lunchtime and accepted the offer from hubby to join him in the pub for lunch. So after lunch, we sat in the pub - me knitting and him writing up his notes from the morning before going our separate ways. I browsed some of Brightons little back streets, full of tiny fun stores and eventually found my way to Toby Tiger, Zoe Mellors store. It is the tiniest shop you have ever seen full of the most beautiful children's clothes and toys. I was in heaven. After browsing for a while I chose a pair of beautiful pyjamas for Brooke and a couple of other things before realising that I had been deep in conversation with Zoe herself all that time. We chatted for a while longer about knitting, children, shopping etc before it was time to pay and get out. What a perfect end to the day, meeting one of my favourite knitting designers in a totally relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. She was really friendly and kind and her shop was gorgeous. If you're ever in Brighton, pop in and see her.. What else has been happening this weekend? I finished the lacy sweater and it looks GORGEOUS. Hindsight being what it is, I may have made it a couple of inches longer but it looks great just the way it is. If I can persuade my model to stand still for longer than 2 minutes I'll be able to show you photos tomorrow.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:08 PM
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March 04, 2004
Long week...
My goodness this week is dragging, are you SURE its only Thursday? I woke up this morning feeling convinced that it should be the weekend. Groan - one more wake up before the weekend. Its still too many.... I finished the back of the lacy sweater in front of ER last night. I love that programme! We missed the episode on satellite last week so caught it on Channel 4 last night which is extra good because it means we can watch this week's tonight - 2 episodes in 2 days. Not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but last night was the one where Romano told the ginger haired med student to go back in side and wait for him when he caught him outside. Those of you who have seen it should recognise it from that... It was fate. So, now I have a little quandry. I mistakenly only bought 6 skeins of Handknit dk for the sweater instead of the 7 called for by the largest size. The sleeves took just over 1 skein each and I finished the back last night with just under 2 skeins left. That's approx 2.3 skeins used up on the sleeves. About 1.75 skeins used on the back and I probably have slightly more than that left for the front and collar. That should be OK without buying more yarn right? Keep your fingers crossed for me, maths was never one of my strong points. We've got forum problems over at MagKnits. Should be resolved this morning. Tonight I'll be uploading lots of little changes to the site as well as starting the front of the sweater. Oh, and watching Friends and ER. Woo Hoo..
Posted by Kerrie at 09:24 AM
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March 03, 2004
Lacy sweater update
Its been so long since I did any proper knitting, I've really enjoyed getting back into this again. The lacy sweater is moving along nicely, even though the official knitalong only started on Monday, I cheated slightly and cast on for mine a couple of weeks ago. Here are the 2 sleeves, all seamed and ready to be attached to the body:
And this is the progress of the back so far (I'm actually up to the armhole shaping since taking this but love the Winnie the Pooh paper in the background so thought I'd post this one) :
I didn't get on with the edging as described in the pattern (go and see Polly's site for more details) and eventually decided to go with a simple picot edging followed by the eyelet pattern and then plain stocking stitch instead of reverse stocking stitch. I really love the flower design on the front of the sweater but Brooke is insisting she wants an applique butterfly on the front. I wonder who will win?? The picot edging was nice and easy, I cast on the required number of stitches, worked 3 rows in stocking stitch and then put in a row of eyelets. Another 3 rows or so of stocking stitch before I turned up the hem so that the eyelets formed this pretty edging and seamed it in place. Nice and neat and girly. Thisi s how it looks from the wrong side.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:31 AM
Posted by Kerrie
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March 02, 2004
Look what I made..
Now that MagKnits is out in the open I can share the 2 patterns that I've already made with you. (editors perk - seeing the patterns early and starting to make them!) First I made Sophie out of a spare skein and a bit of Kureyon that I had left over. I didn't quite twist the straps enough before I attached them to the other side but I still like the way it came out. I think it needs one more trip through the washing machine before I'll be totally happy.
Next up was Sprout - I made the largest size to accomodate Brooke and her big big hair and it actually came out a little large. This is a shot modelled by one of my "girls" It looks even better on Brooke...
Posted by Kerrie at 09:34 AM
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March 01, 2004
So, what else have I been doing?
So apart from MagKnits, what else have I been up to in the last 10 days? * Well, I went away here for a long weekend with mum, dad, Wayne, Brooke and Jenna (my lil sis) You can read about that here. * I discovered what type of needle I am!
* I finished the 2nd sleeve and about 2 inches of the back on the lacy sweater. More about that later in the week. Why don't you go over to Polly's and see how everyone else is doing in the knitalong? * I signed up for another couple of knitalongs (like I need any more encouragement!) and made a little section over on the left for them all * I ignored nearly all of my kerriesplace emails, now I have a few hundred of those to go through. * But mostly I worked feverishly on MagKnits and didn't read enough blogs. Off to put that right now! Thanks for all the comments / emails etc that have been flooding in. I can take the bad with the good (especially when the bad are so few!!) Keep telling me what you think, I can't do this on my own you know? I've made millions of changes to the coding last night, I think you'll agree its looking much tidier now.
Posted by Kerrie at 11:11 AM
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