Weekend Knitting

Is it just me or do you like to have a special project set aside for some quality 'weekend knitting' time? For me, weekend knitting means 'no work knitting' unless I have a deadline looming and I like to pick something from my WIP basket to work on during those long uninterrupted Sunday mornings in bed (OK, I must confess that I have drifled off into fantasy land at this point).

Fantasy weekends aside though, I do find it really helpful to have 1 fun project on the needles that I know I can focus on and make some serious progress on, whenever we are doing family stuff or if we are out and about.

This weekend I will be mostly knitting on my current obsession. It isn't a Find Your Fade - although I love some of the versions I'm seeing. But it is my interpretation of playing with some of the speckled yarns from my stash.

It's quite addictive knitting so far so I'm hoping that this weekend will see some serious speckled growth.

A finished object for Friday

It's a happy feeling when a finished object, ready to wear coincides with an FO Friday.

My persistence and the principle of keeping this project active all week paid off and I'm tried to be able to wear my Foolproof Cowl today. I can't remember the last time I had such fun with a project and I absolutely loved the unusual construction which kept me guessing until the end. The pattern was originally released as a mystery KAL so I deliberately didn't read ahead and just worked each clue as it was presented to me

The finished cowl - knit in two shades of fabulous Countess Ablaze yarn is wonderfully light and squishy. I did the shorter of the two versions but there is still plenty of length- enough to wrap comfortably twice around my neck.

We may not have any snow here - despite dire weather warnings of Snow! but I have a new cowl to keep me warm as I scrape the ice off my car this morning.

I can resist anything..except temptation

As Oscar Wilde once said, I can resist anything except temptation

For weeks now I've been seeing fabulous shawls being planned on Instagram for the Find Your Fade pattern. An elongated asymmetrical shawl which uses a number of fabulous speckled yarns which play against each other to great effect. There has been lots of plotting and planning about colours especially since several of the colours at the beginning call for less than 40g of yarn - making it an ideal stash buster project. 

So I have resisted and resisted as I have Far Too much On...but then of course I caved. But, me being me I decided to change things up a little. I decided that I wanted an all garter stitch version  (the Find Your Fade pattern has textured panels that I didn't care for). Also I'm not a fan of working the type of decrease the pattern calls for.

So in the end I cast on for a different shape- I'm aiming for an asymmetric crescent - but I will still be using some beautiful speckled-ish yarns from my stash which I hope will work really well together. By necessity this will be a longer term project because of the aforementioned Work but it should be a nice relaxing garter stitch project to pull out whenever the going gets tough over the next few weeks.

I'll keep you posted.

The best bits.

One of the best bits about designing is neatly summed up in this photo. Delightful, squishy garter stitch on its way to becoming a lovely, warm shawl in a fabulously soft shade of grey. And a beautifully bright yarn waiting patiently to be added into it. 

I am knitting with the Fibre Company's Cumbria yarn which is a DK weight and I'm aiming for a shawl which is light and squishy but also warmly substantial too. The kind of thing you could fling over your shoulders whilst you enjoy your morning coffee in peace. OK, it's wishful thinking on that last point I must admit. There is never any shortage of coffee around here but as for peace and quiet...That's another thing altogether.

Normally when designing I make numerous swatches beforehand and I know in advance how the colour placement and stripes will work out. With this one though I am just going with the flow and will add in the colour when it feels right. This beautiful buttery yellow/grey yarn is crying out to be included but I want it to be an accent to the grey rather than the main focus. 

A few more rows I think, and then it's time will come

Little by little

Now, the snippet I am about to share with you is hardly ground breaking in any way. It is not some super clever tip or incredibly nifty short cut. It is simple common sense, but yet for some reason it has been a revelation to me this week.

If you pick a given project and actively work on it for at least 15 minutes a day - you make progress on it. Who would have thought?

Now I know you are probably rolling your eyes at me and thinking 'doh'!!! but bear with me. As a chronic multitasker and self confessed cast-on addict I often have multiple WIPs scattered around the house in various states of being unfinished. In addition I have a number of commissions on the go which mean that my personal knitting time is in increasingly short supply. When I do get some downtime I tend to grab the WIP that is closest and the end result is that each WIP gets a little bit of attention during the week but not enough to make a visible difference. Some WIPs, especially those where a crucial stage has been reached (such as needing a different needle) have a habit of falling through the cracks completely and sitting unnoticed and unloved for weeks at a time.

This week I opted for a different approach and used my Foolproof Cowl as my go-to WIP. Every day I carted it around the house with me (or threw it in the back of the car) and every time I had a bit of free time I whipped it out and did a few rows. This required a bit of dedication to the cause I have to admit as, due to the nature of the stripes (and my unwillingess to cut the yarn and sew in the ends) some untangling was usually required.

But, I made considerable progress just during those odd moments and by Friday this week I hope to be triumphantly casting off.

If you wanted to adopt the same principle this would make a great 31 day challenge. My blog post on my own 31 day challenge contains the link to a free printable download - in case you wanted to play along at home. If you do decide to give it a go do let me know how you get on - I'd love to know.

A way to show appreciation

For the past few years it has been my practice to have a series of sales promotions and discounts on patterns over the New Year period. This year however I chose not to for a variety of reasons but chiefly among these has been the realisation that I want to be able to target my special offers and discounts to those loyal followers.

Certainly mass promotions can have their place and the past several years has seen some of my older patterns pop back into the Ravelry Hot Right Now charts, but that has been at a price. The proliferation of (largely overseas) pattern sharing websites means that any patterns - particularly those offered for free - are vulnerable to copyright abuse and fraud and sadly last year that happened with a number of my patterns that I offered free for a limited time.

So, moving things in a more positive direction I would like to make better use of my email newsletter in order to be able to send special offers directly to those who follow me and who are interested in my designs.

In 2017 I am planning some changes to my email subscription service and this is just one of them. If you are reading this, the chances are that you are already subscribed but if not you might want to consider signing up for regular (non-spammy) updates, snippets and top tios.