Mmmmmmm Cadbury's!

Well, not quite chocolate but the same colour as the wrapper! I got this far before realising the pattern is wrong:

The stated number of stitches don't equate to the finished measurement they put on the pattern. It was coming out far too big, so I ripped the body back to the ribs & re-knitted the smaller size. (I couldn't face re-doing the ribs too).

Here it is finished, it's Ribby Turtle Sweater from Patons Zhivago Weekend Knits book. (excuse the photographers' shadow!!)

I'm really pleased with how this turned out, it's lovely & warm. I added 1.5" to the length & 1" to the sleeves.

I've emailed Patons about the error & they've sent me their standard 'tell her to check her tension' email, back as a reply. I'm really annoyed as I've explained the problem, even done the maths for them 104 sts at 5st per inch = 20.8" x 2 = 41.5" NOT the 39" in the pattern.

My new knit is Twist from Chic-Knits. I'm using Schoeller & Stahl Zimba Fix which is a lovely 80% wool aran weight. One of those bargainous German eBay purchases. I'm nearly up to the armholes:

I didn't give this a second look the first time I saw it, because of the fringed collar, I think. But when they added the new photos with the hood, I just had to make it.

Recent Stuff!

I am still here, but I've been bitten by the Ravelry bug! I had my invite for over a week before deciding to log-in & see what the fuss was all about. I totally get it now, what a time-sucker it is too. I've started to list my stash & after 118 entries, I'm still not done. It's a bit scary to see it all detailed in one place when it's scattered around my house to make it look smaller, I won't even bother with the single odd balls that aren't sock wool!

I finished my Inca Zip Jacket while Rogue was blocking. I just managed to get it under my zipper foot so I machined the zip in. I wore it at the weekend & it's really cosy. Thanks to Littleberry (have a look at her lacework, it's gorgeous) for coming to my aid with the 2 extra balls I needed.

I wanted a 'mindless' knit after making Rogue, so I dived into the stash & came out with 4 balls of Sublime Angora Merino. This is the Big Wave Scarf from the Sublime Merino book. I made it longer than stated - 68" instead of 58". I wore it yesterday to keep the chill out, it's lovely & warm. It was flippin' snowing ALL DAY here in Brum yesterday, but it's thawed now, much to he kids' disappointment.

I've got a new knit on the go (I'm hopelessly addicted I'm afraid). This one is the Ribby Turtleneck sweater from Patons Weekend Knits. I'm using Patons Zhivago as I seem to have a rather alot of that *blushes*. It's a gorgeous purple, Cadbury's purple is a good description, yum, I love the feel of this yarn.

I've just finished the 9" of 4x2 rib for the front. I love the look of rib, but what a nightmare it is to knit on 3.75mm! Hope to get this finished this week - Ravelry permitting :)

Rogue Hoodie the Finished Object!

Yaaayyyyy, Rogue is finished!!!

I put it on today for the 'photo-shoot' & decided to keep it on :)

I blocked it, sewed on the sleeves then seamed them. The pattern says to sew the sleeve seams then join them on, that sounded fiddly, so I joined & then seamed.

I've decided I like it with the curly hem & have the option of turning it up if I change my mind.

The hood is a little bit short for my swan neck!

The hood needed some surgery (more key-hole than open-heart!) to get it to lie flat. P3tog tbl & SSSK do not give a good look or finish, there must be a neater way (note to self- explore this further before making another!)

The cabley goodness of the hood!

Gratuitous hood graft pic. Thanks to Pumpkin Mama for sharing her Rogue Hoodie Grafting Cheat sheet. It's pure genius BUT don't sit down to start it at 11.30pm whilst watching TV, it needs 110% concentration!

This is nearer to the actual colour, it's darker than those pics shown above

I spent 15 days actually knitting it, then blocking, surgery & finishing took another 3 days. I used Addi 5mm for the main body & bamboo 5mm & 5.5mm for everything else. Using odd pins has prevented it from rowing out & achieved the same tension as the body. Made to the pattern with just 4 extra rows for the sleeves, the body shaping sits nicely on my waist, which is unusual for my long bod! All in all, a very enjoyable knit & I've overcome my fear of cables & charts. I'd iron out the pattern niggles previously mentioned, if I made it again.

Rogue Hoodie Day 10

The last time I knitted with so much excitement (sad, I know) was making my first pair of socks. I really can't put this down. I was up til 1.00am last night catching up as I was out all day & then was wide awake at 6.45am raring to go again while the kids were in bed! I've started the hood today & have managed 20 rows. This is how it looks as of now:

I tried it on & I actually like it with the hem & sleeves curling, I might not turn the hem under. The attaching of the kangaroo pocket is genius, I've never heard of ssk'ing 2 pieces together before :)

I've decided that a better description of the colour is peacock rather than teal.

Close-up of the neck:

There are a few niggles in the pattern that I would change next time. This is what I've found so far:

Page 12 -On the right side of the neck, the pattern has make 2 purlwise, as they're made on the wrong side & purled on the next row, they should be made knitwise.

Page 12 - The centre neck st is left on a holder, the instructions later tell you to just sew it in to get rid of it. I'd knit it in with the last row to make a neater finish.

Page 8 -2nd size, the pattern says to pick up 21 of the 23 cast off sts for the hood & then you have to increase 2 on the first row, so just pick up the 23 to begin with.

It would be nice to have confirmation of final stitch numbers when finishing a process, rather than 'leave remaining sts on holder/bind off' etc.

Some close-up photos of the cables would also be beneficial.

Anyway, they're niggles that can be fixed & I'm still loving it & can't wait to get it finished.

One last thing that just amused me, Hipknits have launched a new range of chunky yarn named after my dd Emilia. My dh will never believe that she was named before the wool !!!!

Diary of a Rogue Hoodie

I've been dying to own one of these since I first saw the pattern. Definitely out of my league knitwise, but I still want one & I'm not going to let a load of wool beat me!! I got the yarn ages ago from Wolle Hartmuth, it's Austermann Revue a pure merino aran weight & machine washable too. It's a turquoisey/teal kind of shade.


I'm officially the world's worst cable chart reader, basically I've only ever done it for CPH, so this is challenging me to say the least! I thought I'd do the sleeves fist to get me used to the cable & charts. Now I know why they call these things a 'dummy run', because I am a DUMMY! I misread the pattern & forgot the increases either side of the cable so it got frogged. I had more success next time, not the neatest cables, I hope they'll be fine:

I've added an inch to the sleeve length, but only on one in case the pattern length of 17" is long enough, I'm sure I'll need the 18", but I'll wait until I can pin them to the body to check before doing any more on the 2nd one.

I've never used circs in my life for anything other than a button-band (see, I told you Rogue was out of my knitterly league didn't I?). I've done a twisted stocking stitch hem , but I've twisted each row the opposite way to avoid the bias effect as the designer suggests here, what she fails to tell you is how the hell you do this. Why write out 2 simple lines of instructions when you can fill a page & still not tell me? I spent 4 hours fiddling & trying to get each row to lie the opposite way to avoid the bias. The only way I found was to knit 1 rnd as normal, then knit 1 rnd tbl BUT wrap the yarn the other way, ie over the top - clockwise. Please tell me if there is an easier & quicker way. It now looks like this:

I whipped it off the circs onto waste yarn to try & measure it (I'm not paranoid -honest) & it measures 38" which suits me better than the 39" for the pattern anyway. I'm not sure if it's really indicative of the final size but I could always block it bigger if needed.

This is as far as I've got for now, but staying up til 1.00am last night didn't help, it just made me a crabby cow today.

I'm seriously wondering if I'll have enough yarn too, 1200m doesn't seem alot for all those cables, a pocket & a hood. I've actually got 1400m. I desperately want the pocket but don't want to run short.

If I ever post up a progress picture with dodgy cables going the wrong way, please tell me about it while there's time to fix them.

Recent Knitterly Activity

I've been having a love/hate relationship with Zipperstop since they told me my zips, ordered in June weren't available unless I wanted 12 of each colour. After many emails across the pond, they refunded my money (all of it, despite me already receiving half of my order!) So the search for a teal zip for my ribby cardi began again. Then, out of the blue came another email off Zipperstop to say they's sent the rest of my order anyway & they hoped I could still use it. So I ened up with 10 YKK separating zips for free. The current status of our relationship is BIG LOVE !!!! I've been dying to get this one finished as it's been knitted since June:



Modifications: I added length to the body as the 19" from the pattern would be like a bolero on my long bod. It's now 24" unworn. I also added a zipper placket (is that the right word?) as it was hard to sew the zip to the curling edge. I just picked up a stitch for every stitch & cast off on the wrong side. It made the job alot easier. I didn't want to hide the zip as this yarn has a bit of a fluff to it & I could see it getting caught.








I love everything about this & I'm thrilled with the zip colour, did I mention how much I love Zipperstop right now?

This bodywarmer is knitted in Sirdar Denim Chunky, it's Sirdar pattern 8458.

You'll have to envisage the buttons for now, I hate sewing buttons on. It must be something to do with involving a needle & thread, I much prefer needles & yarn :)

These are my September socks for the sock-a-month challenge. I've made a pair for every month so far, but not actually during every month. They're Ripple Socks from Sandi Rosner's book. The yarn is Lana Grossa Fantasy #4833.








I've got a thing for zippy cardis now I've overcome my fear of the Z I P. I started the one on the left yesterday:

I'm using Patons Inca & this is progress so far. Just enough cable to ease the boredom of the black.

*** editted for Auntie Noo. the ribby cardi is from Patons book 1252 Weekend Knits in their Zhivago yarn. ***

Sirdar Snowflake

Do you ever have the urge to knit with yarn that is vile to knit, but looks lovely when finished? I have a stash of Sirdar Snowflake Chunky & thought it's time to get ready for Winter. I know, we're experiencing a late Summer, but still, here we go:

My Monsters in their snuggly balaclavas, check out my ds trying to look mean LOL!

This is a better view, I can't believe I sat & made all those scales & even got them sewn on, I mightily proud of myself, my patience must be improving with age!

Not to be left out, (and because this stuff is 59p a ball at Kemps) I've made this hoodie for myself. It's made on 10mm with 2 strands together. I deliberately shifted the colours a little to make the stripes a bit more muted & because it's easier to knit 2 strands in different shades, than 2 in the same shade. If you've ever knit with this stuff, you'll know where I'm coming from with this thinking!!
Here's the 'Dorky' hood-up view!

Talking of yarn that's vile to knit, what were Jaeger thinking when they produced Trinity? I spent ages deciding which top to make, picked out a little Summer vest & cast on. OMG this stuff is horrible. Queen of the Froggers is dead right when she describes little bits of twig in it. I could've lined my bird-box with the contents of my lap after a few rows. I knitted half of the back but then it had to go, off to the frog-pond. Now I've got 20 balls to sell. I'll need to be some saleswoman to describe this stuff nicely!

I was really looking forward to the 'Knitting & Stitching Show at the NEC yesterday. I went through my patterns that are high on the knit-list & wrote down everything I wanted to look at, have a squeeze of & then buy cheaper from ebay.com. To say I was disappointed with the knitterly content is an understatement. Get Knitted, Colinette, Sublime/Sirdar where were you?? I thought is was poor last year, but assumed it would be better each year as knitting continues to grow. It needs to be renamed 'The Stitching with a Hint of Knitting Show'. What a waste of £12.00, next year I'm deffo going to Ally Pally.

On the plus side, I did manage to nab a bargain. I got 9 balls of Lang Mohair Luxe which is 70% superkid mohair/30% silk with 175m/25g to make the Modern Quilt Wrap. The colour choices were limited, but I got these 9 which I love & will be ready to cast on tomorrow :)

I have to say a huge thank you to Debs aka Melody for nominating me for a 'Rockin Girl Blogger Award' (not quite sure what it is, so I'll be back when I do *blushes*)

Gotta Love the Car Booty

I love mooching round car boot sales, but this Summer has been such a wash-out, I've not been to any until last weekend. I'll share my Booty Looty with you...

How many of you remember/had one of these, a Tomy Hobby Girl Knitting Machine?

I never had one, but I've got one now :) all complete & only £1.50. DD is dying to have a go already & she's only 3, patience my dear, you will knit with Mommy!


10 Balls of Jaeger Angora Spun (70% angora/30% lambswool) in the original bag. This was only £2.00. I'm thinking snuggly bedsocks with some of this, it's a bit bright for anything else!

If I ever see knitting needles on the table, I always ask if they've got any patterns as they're usually shoved in a carrier under the table out of sight. This question to a very old chap turned up trumps, he asked his wife who was in their car & sure enough a large carrier of patterns was duly shoved under the table. You can have the lot for £2.00 he said. I nearly tore his hand off! This bag had her whole life's worth of knittlery stuff inside, from the 1940's to to the 1980's.

There were about 150 patterns & a few other bits. I was so excited going through the bag (how sad is that!). Here are some of my favourites...

"Beautifully styled gauchos & knickerbockers". (I've never heard of gauchos!)

"Sambo, Topsy & Gillian" I guess from the 1940's!

I collect dolls knitting patterns & I don't have this one, this made the find well-worthy of my £2.00 outlay :)

How about this ingenious piece of knitting, the cabled band drops down to keep your face warm!!!!

When I saw this 'bed-jacket' in a Beehive book from 1980 it reminded me of a Rowan pattern, I've seen somewhere, hmmm, now which one is it?

Found it - it's Meadow from RY Classic Nature

Is there any such thing as a 'new' knitting pattern?

Let's hope this outfit never makes a comeback

What you do with a 'Betty Ann Knitter' is beyond me, how can you produce anything remotely like knitting with this:

It includes instructions for converting a crochet pattern to a Knitter pattern, so there's hope for me & crochet yet (well maybe!)

On the knitty front, I'll have some FO's for you this week (anyone who's ever knitted with Sirdar Snowflake chunky will undestand the delay!!!!!)

Sirdar Indigo Denim Cotton & other bits!

The Idea:

I've got 7 balls of this denim cotton in Mid-Denim shade idling in my tiny stash & wanted to use it somehow. I've always wanted a denim-look knitted something or other. I found the 2 Twilleys books for their denim cotton. I decided this would be a suitable project, the 'Macy' vest:

The Swatch

OK, I hold my hands up, I NEVER swatch, I grab the pins & knit. (I've only knit one swatch in my life) Thats' a really bad confession to make, but I've done it now. I wanted to know how much the denim would shrink by as I was using a Twilleys (with 15% shrinkage) pattern So, I grabbed the 4 mm, did a swatch, cast off, cut the yarn, picked up the tape... OH crap, it was measuring 19st/26r. OK, it must be the way I'm holding the yran, let's try again, same pins, an extra wrap around my finger... nope 20st/26r. Maybe I need to change pins, let's try 3.75mm that'll be right... nope still 20st/26r. I'm getting rather pee'd off by this point. I dropped to 3.5mm & hooray, I got the required 21s/28r. This took me a whole evening to sort out.

I chucked it in the machine with a white wash on 60C & after washing it was measuring 21s/31r, approx 10% shrinkage, just like it says on the leaflet.

The Knitty

When the maths of converting the pattern got too hard, I decided to bite-the-bullet & just cast on! A moss-stitch project in dk is not the quickest of knits, but I love the feel of it, especially in cotton, all crunchy & lovely. DS kept stroking it as he likes the feel too! You can see the white core showing through:

The Completed Item Pre-wash

I spent nearly a week on this, but at least the cotton is nice to work with & not rough like some other denim cottons can be. I tried it on for a pre-wash fitting:

I hope it doesn't shrink too much, I like it like this! anyway off to the machine it goes. I've left some of the ends loose to sew after they've shrunk in case it puckers.

The Completed item post-wash

It did shrink & fade, but I was able to pin it to the length I wanted, 23" as opposed to the 24.5" pre-wash. I'm sure it got wider, but I fixed that too! Here it is, I used all but a tiny scrap of my 7 balls & still need to put a tiny band around the armholes (just one of those where you pick-up & then cast it straight off) but was reluctant to order any more just for that in case it didn't work. I might use my washed swatch of the cream & see how that looks for the bands & the lace.

I really want a denim jacket in this yarn & there are patterns in the Twilleys books, but I might contact Sirdar & arrange a copy of one of theirs as my maths won't cope with sleeves aswell!

Action-man has blagged himself another sweater & a bag. I wonder if I could enter it for Gilraens' Bag-along on the Craft Threads Forum:

No, I don't think she'd accept it LOL! But this might do instead, made in Sirdar Spree for 49p a ball at Kemps. I'm hoping to use it as a beach-bag, assuiming we get a late deal somewhere.

Don't laugh, look, I even gad a go at lining it. I've had a new sewing machine since April & this is the first time it's been out of the box!!

I'm currently knitting in Sirdar Snowflake Chunky, I'll save that for another day!

Knitterly Update...

I've finally added the buttons to the lacy summer top, I'm really pleased with how this has turned out:

The buttons were in the dregs of the House of Fraser sale... Rowan #389 for 5p each (I love bargains!). Here's the modelled shots:

I used 6 balls of Fantasia dk on 4mm pins. I just made it as per the pattern but added an edge stitch for sewing up as I don't know how to sew holes together LOL & it made the pattern match exactly at the seams, yay!

Here's my contribution to the sock-a-month challenge for August:

Regia Galaxy in shade 1553. I bought all 12 of this set...anyone want to buy a ball or 3 LOL!

Guess Who?????

As if I've not got enough knitting of my own to do, my 5 yr old ds decided Action Man needed some new gear! I learnt a new technique on the lacy top, the one-row buttonhole (thanks Monste Stanley)& it came in handy for the balaclava! What an *rse making that sweater, with its' raglan shapings, back neck opening, I could've made a me-sized one quicker! (**Makes mental note to self, not to send black dk to the charity shop ever again**). I've had to buy a ball of khaki dk to make more stuff, ho-hum, September 4th is just around the corner :)

My brother had loads of Action Men in the 70's, but he never had one like this:

This must be the deluxe or limited edition, he never had a beard or blond hair. This is from a 70's Sirdar pattern book, just part of my over-sized collection of dolls patterns!

I'll leave you with a 'things kids say' moment...

I showed ds Action Mans belly & said "that's his six pack" to which he replied... "is that because that's where his sick comes from?."