2 Finished Objects in March

These were finished before Ivy hit the pins (she is 'otn' on her own, I promise!). First up is a shawl-collared gilet in Sirdar Spree in Faded Denim from Kemps (bought for £1.50, before they reduced it to just 69p a ball!). Pattern is Sirdar 8817, designed for Peru, but I think it works for the Spring weather. I'll probably make this again & would start the ribbing an inch lower to get it to sit better on my waist as I've got a long body! I found the lovely buttons in my LYS. The owner has a strange sales technique & looked at me in amazement when I said I wanted 5..."you want 5, they're 40p each?" Maybe I should have just taken one & had four laid-by for future weeks!!!!

Total project cost - £9.50

Next up is the 'Mommy, don't knit me that' aran bolero for my 3 yr old dd. A nice quick knit on 5mm & used just 2 x 100g balls of wool mix aran from the bargain bin in the LYS! And yes, she has worn it 3 times, without complaint & she looks so sweet in it. I put it with a denim dress, I'll get a photo next time she wears it!

Total project cost - £2.15

My one big gripe about both of these patterns is, why on earth don't they tell you to pick-up the wraps to hide them after working the short rows? I did it, because I know about it, but it would take hardly any extra space in the pattern & produces a much better finish.

And finally, because I think it's worthy of blog-space, is a super little sock bag made by Franny off the Crafty Forum. It's not in use yet, but it will get used alot! My request was anything purple/pink, she got it just right!!

Stocktaking!

I started this task back in January & today I've finished logging my yarns on Craftmemo this afternoon & I'm rather disturbed by the quantity I have. Bearing in mind I've only starting knitting again in the last 2 years. There wasn't a single ball of anything 'knittable' in my house 2.5yrs ago.

Get ready for this... I have the yarn for 100 (yes one hundred) projects, not balls, projects. This is excluding sock wool, part balls, odd balls, left-overs, fluffy & novelty yarns, of which there are also very MANY! Now, there may be 5 balls for a scarf, 250g for a dd sized project or a whopping 1 kilo bag of something or other for a me-sized project. I daren't add up the amount of balls, it's way too scary.

What is equally (or more) disturbing is the fact that the total spend is £1047. Now ,most of my purchases are at sale/bargain price, I could easily treble the price if it was shops' rrp. Why on earth have I amassed such a ridiculous amount of yarn? No, I don't know either. It really is more than I could realistically knit in the next 10 years. So why, oh why, do I spend ages pondering on what to knit next, when I could pick any one of the 100 things? I also spend ages online drooling over the new yarns & patterns out there. If I were to knit it all up, why would I need another 40 sweaters, 5 scarves, 35 jackets & 20 tops?? I only knit for me & my dd! Where on earth would I keep them all. Is it possible for a woman to have too many clothes? A large part of my stash is in the loft, maybe it could become a walk-in wardrobe, as it looks like I'm gonna need one. I think as it's spread out around the house/loft in about 5 different places, it doesn't seem a lot. if I'd been asked, I'd have guessed at yarn for about 30 projects.

I have actually knitted some of up, since I started logging it, but the old yarns have been replaced with new acqisitions, so the count remains the same.

This has been a real wake-up call for me & I think it's time to do some serious de-stashing & re-coup some of that dosh. I might even post up some pics, to spur me into action.

Introducing IVY

Well here 'she' is. This is going to be an almighty challenge for me. Just getting this far has reminded me why I only ever use dk & small pins for my dd! I like my knits to be quick! I've joined Glenna's Ivy Knitalong, so hopefully, that will keep me going at it.
Saturday night update: the back is finished, phew what a marathon!

Completed Central Park Hoodie

At last, I have a completed CPH to offer. What a nightmare trying to source 30mm wooden buttons, this has been waiting for them for 3 weeks. I used all but a few scraps of 500g Sirdar Donegal Tweed in Oatmeal. Added 1" to the body length, shortened the sleeves by 2" (despite my gorillia arms!), lengthened the hood by 1" to accomodate my swan neck. What an unusual creature I am! It's just the fit I was hoping for, I will wear this alot.

Yarn for Ivy (finally!)

I've been dilly-dallying over what to get for my Winter weight Ivy. I'm having a bit of a teal moment & have succombed to its' lure! This is Wendy Mode, I've only seen it on the T.B. Ramsdens website, so had to order it without seeing it anywhere, the shade is called Teal Green. The colour of my wording is my definition of a proper teal, this looks more of a jade green to me, but it's lovely none-the-less. 50/50 merino & acrylic, machine washable. I got this from the lady on my local market who stocks Wendy, but hadn't heard of it (that really confuses me, she can't knit either, but that's another story!!!!)

Hope to cast on soon. I know lots of people have loads of WIP's, but I just know I'll never go back to them if I leave them, so it's one at a time for me.

This weeks S E X (so far)

Those naughty forum members made me go to Lidl today for a bit of stash enhancement. I got 12 balls of cotton/viscose mix in a pretty duck-egg blue for only £7.96. It feels just like Wendy Pearl & it may well become a Summer Ivy. I got 2 packs of dpns for only 99p a set, they're a bit longer than I normally use, but I'm sure I'll be fine with them.

I had a scrummy parcel arrived yesterday too from Kemps. I couldn't resist some of their specials. Patons Essence in plum at just 69p a ball, a lovely wool mix, with a felted texture destined to become this jacket:

And Patons Spritz, I thought would be nice to make to one of the new Sirdar Just Bamboo patterns as it matches the tension exactly. I saw some knitted up in my lys & it feels lovely A snip at just 79p per ball:

No Mommy, don't knit that!

This was the reaction from my 3yr old dd when she saw the bolero pattern I'd bought to make for her. "You look lovely in red", I told her, "but I want a pink one, I don't like red, no Mommy, don't knit that". I have a saying in my house " The tail doesn't wag the dog" she will wear it & learn to like it !!! Never had this trouble with any of the 3 boys!

Bad News from Childrens Hospital...

My 3yr old dd was born with a dislocated hip. This was found on a routine scan at 8 weeks, offered because she was a breach c.section. She had surgery at 3months to put it back in, followed by 12 weeks in a hip spica. She's been x-rayed every 6 months since then. We know that the hip socket is shallow & not forming as it should & a further op may be necessary. We went on the 7th March & actually saw the consultant for the first time in ages. He says the time has come to do the surgery. I can't remember the technical name for it but they've got to cut some bone from her hip & place it in the socket to shape it so it covers the femeral head properly. She'll be in a Hip Spica for 6 weeks, then another GA to remove wires from the bones & the spica.

The op is performed to prevent early arthritis in the hip which would probably lead to a very early hip replacement, possibly in her 20's or 30's, so we know that to put her through this is the only option for her.

We're on the waiting list with surgery expected around July/August this year.

Monkey Socks

Caught by the sock bug again...darn it. I'd been officially sock-free for 5 months until Christmas, annoyingly addictive little blighters they are too!

After seeing some of these completed on the Crafty Threads forum, I've joined the knitalong. Here's progress so far:



Yarn is the very gorgeous Online Bamboo, new for this Spring/Summer 2007. This stuff is fabulous to knit, I'm in love!


All finished, I did 7 repeats of the pattern on the leg as I hate having odd bits of sock wool left, that I can't find a use for. I'm proudly wearing them today!