Nearly there

Fuelled entirely by caffeine and a desire to meet my revised stash dash goals. 

This morning I am determined that the body of the Windswept sweater will be off the needles and then I can dig out my trusty short circulars for the sleeves. I have learnt long ago that sleeve knitting and I can never really be firm friends and the only way that I can battle though them is to treat them like a plain vanilla sock and knit them on small circulars.

It's very strange when you think about it. Give me a lovely sock yarn and small circs and I'll merrily knit on them until the cows come home. Give me a sleeve on small circs and I hate and loathe knitting on it. I think it's the twisting and the untangling that comes along with having a sweater body attached to it. No matter what I try to I always seem to end up wrestling the rest of the garment as I try to knit.

A while ago I heard the Knitmore Girls talking about sweater knitting and I'm pretty sure that Jasmine mentioned that she knits the sleeves of sweaters right after the yoke and sleeve separation has happened. At that point there is hardly any sweater body to get in the way so you can knit the sleeves unencumbered and then go back and do the body,

That sounds like a fine plan and one that I wished I had remembered at the time. 

Next time... next time.

Stash dash: Or the quiet revaluation of goals

Windswept sweater in progress. Yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed, colourway Scree

As you may remember from the blog last week I have been quietly contemplating my rather rash 10K goal for stash dash, after the somewhat depressing discovery that my crocheted, stripe blanket was rather smaller than I remembered it being.

As a result I took to rootling under the bed for some (very) long-neglected WIPs and came up trumps with this one. It is a Windswept sweater - pattern by Tin Can Knits which I started well over a year ago. All was going swimmingly with it as I recall. I had done the yoke, which is worked flat, separated for the sleeves and even sorted out the tricky overlap section to start working the body in the round.

Then, for reasons best known to my past self I had set the project aside without noting where I was on the lace panel chart (because of course I'm normally so good at doing that - not). When the time came for me to pick it up again, of course I couldn't remember what line was I up to so I did what I normally do and hope for the best. That didn't work, obviously and after another round I realised that I had totally messed it up.

I did what every normal, sane knitter would do with such a project. I stuffed it under the bed and went to cast on a shawl instead.

I'm pleased to report that this has a happy ending anyway. To my shame it really only took about 10 minutes to tink back, fix the lace panel and work out where I was - once I had a strong cup of coffee under my belt.

So, now I'm firmly back on track, steaming my way down the body and contemplating devious means of knitting the sleeves two at a time (to avoid my usual bout of sleeve paralysis). It may not get me to my 10K goal but it might help me to a respectable 7K with a bit of luck and a following wind.

BOB Sock - The Toe

With huge apologies for the delay. This 4th and final installment of the BOB Sock KAL should have been up here yesterday but my blog site and my phone have decided to stop talking to each other. I have had to bring in my laptop big guns and given them dire warnings to sort out their communication difficulties.

So, without further ado - may I present the instructions for completing your BOB Socks - by working a rounded toe.

*K6, k2tog, rep from * to end

K6 rnds

*K5, k2tog, rep from * to end

K5 rnds

*K4, k2tog, rep from * to end

K4 rnds

*K3, k2tog, rep from * to end

K3 rnds

*K2, k2tog, rep from * to end

K2 rnds

*K1, k2tog, rep from * to end

K1 rnd

K2tog to end

Break yarn and thread back through rem 8st using a tapestry needle. Pull tight and weave in end.

I would normally at this point say that your socks should be gently blocked but I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to pull them on triumphantly parade about in them.

Or maybe it is just me....

Miracles take a little longer...

There used to be a sign over an office desk where I worked a temporary job. "The impossible we can do right away, miracles take a little longer".

I was reminded of this yesterday as I surveyed my Attic24 Granny Stripe blanket which has been in hibernation (aka under the bed) for an embarrassingly long time. In my head I was merrily thinking that this blanket could be finished this summer and would happily boost my stash dash total and help me on my way to my 10k goal.

The only problem seems to be that my blanket has shrunk while it was in storage. I was quite sure that I had done more than this. But the cold hard reality is that I have maybe done 8 or 9 inches on what is a double bed sized Afghan. Never one to give in without a fight I entertained the thought of doing a stripe per day and getting it done that way. Conveniently ignoring the fact that stash dash ends in mid August and we have a foreign holiday booked between then and now.

Out of interest I timed myself - and found one colour stripe (2 rows) takes an hour. 

At this point it is pretty obvious that this blanket might be fine in time for stash dash - but it will be in 2018!

If anyone wants me I will be drinking coffee and quietly evaluating whether to scale back my 10k goal to something slightly more achievable.

Sock knitting and stash diving

This month, the Everyday Knitter Facebook group is all about stash diving. Even those of us with slightly more modest stashes than my own yarn mountain have a few precious skeins. You know the ones. The ones we keep squirreled away in case of dire knitting emergencies. The ones that we bring out to pet every now and again, to sniff, to ruminate over it's endless possibilities -  and then we tuck it back neatly away out of sight.

So, this month we are celebrating the joy of untapped potential hidden in our stash. Pick a glorious skein of yarn and show it off. Pair it with a beautiful pattern and you're all set. For extra brownie points this should be an item for yourself. I refuse to use the term selfish knitting when discussing knitting for oneself. Instead I prefer to use the word indulgent. Our crafting time is precious and it's only right that we should enjoy it. What could be better than working on something you love, in yarn you love and knowing that you'll get great pleasure in wearing or using the finished object as well.

Sounds like a win, win to me.

Not just pretty nails

To the casual observer this is just a pretty shot of some yarn and a frivolous and fun manicure, but to me it's so much more. To me it represents everything I love about our wonderful and warm online community.

The Jamberry nails were bought from an online friend - Natasha (@coxabey on IG) who I've never met (yet) in real life but we share a love of yarn, fibre and funky nails. The bag was bought from another friend - Gem of Little Grey Girl - who I got to know online and then in real life and who now is a partner in crime when it comes to yarn shopping and hanging out in hipster bars.

Vykky of West Green Loft Yarns - is a newly discovered indie dyer for me and I've yet to meet her in person but as with so many people in the knitting community I just know that we would get on like the proverbial house on fire. 

We all have a shared love of fibre and crafts and in these peculiar and rather stressful times there is something rather lovely about being able to seek refuge in my little woolly corner of the internet. The online knitting community is a warm and wonderful place and just occasionally I wonder at how my life has changed since I first picked up knitting needles and discovered online knitting forums, and then of course Ravelry when it first started. It's certainly a lot more colourful and a lot more fun and every day I'm grateful for it and the yarny friends I've met there.