Giddy with excitement

Oh happy day, joyous day. 

The fates have aligned and I have 2 completed deadline knits, I have new yarn to cast on and I have time on my hands - after the usual domestic bliss obviously.

Giddy with excitement I am fully intending to cast on All The Things and drink a lot of coffee.

First up is this fabulous skein from Countess Ablaze via The Classics Society which is destined to be something spectacular and shawl-like.

I also have new stripy sock yarn to cast on for a gift for a friend and I'm also contemplating casting on for a new sweater - I know - someone slap me. But 10 skeins of Blacker Yarns Illustrious DK have recently come into my possession and I'd love to make something spring-like and gorgeous to wear with jeans.

Right, putting the phone away now and settling in with the needles. If anyone want me I'll be right here - just bring fresh coffee in a couple of hours.

Tips for a straight-edged sock yarn blanket

Since sharing photos of my sock yarn blanket I had a few questions asking how I was constructing it. Some patterns have you create a baseline strip of squares to start with. This is a good way to do it but it does mean you have to decide on the width of your blanket right at the very start.

Some patterns also have the squares worked in such a way that the edges of the blanket aren't straight - leaving a zig zag appearance. This can look really lovely but it does leave you the dilemma of whether to leave the edge as it is or work a series of 'infill' shapes to straighten things out.

I decided to work my blanket outwards from a corner, turning the 1st square on the diagonal to pick up stitches along the top right side for square 2 and the top left side for square 3. By continuing in this way you end up with a lovely straight edged blanket and you can keep going until the blanket is as large as you like. Or by continuing to work on one side and not the other you can create more of a rectangle than a square.

However you work your blanket though one thing is for certain. It's nothing if not addictive.

OTHER MITERED SQUARE BLOG POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:

Two different mitered square decreases

How much yarn do you need for a mitered square?

How to Knit a Mitered Square Blanket

£7.50

With friends like these

With friends like these - a girl will go far. 

Knitty friends really are the best. Knowing that I would be having a double whammy of missing a fibre festival and having the stress of DH's surgery, they picked out a skein of yarn they knew I would like as a gift. Such a thoughtful and kind thing to do and it really brought a smile to my face. It's from an indie dyer I haven't yet discovered West Green Loft Yarns which is doubly exciting.

At first glance I thought it was a self stripe but the dyer - Vikki - tells me it is a variegated so I'm really excited to get this wound and examine it a little more closely. This might work really well as a long, garter stitch shawl - of which a girl can never have too many - so this might also make it on my weekend agenda to Cast on All The Things.

Watch this space ...

A square a day...

Today, as the 1st March marks the start of our new challenge over on the Everyday Knitter Facebook group and also a bit of a turning over of a new leaf for me too.

The past few weeks have left me pretty knackered and running on empty and so I've decided to carve out 30 minutes for myself every day. I've removed some of the time wasting apps on my phone and now in that weird half an hour between getting dinner started and sitting down as a family I will be lighting a candle and putting my feet up. Conveniently, 30 minutes is also the amount of time it takes to knit a square on my long-term sock yarn blanket.

This neatly fits in with the #modularmarch challenge - so for 30 minutes every day after school,  shall be unavailable for all but the most urgent of domestic crises. We are talking fire and flood here rather than lost school books. 

The great thing about the challenge is that everyone picks their own level of committtment and works towards a goal of their own. Whether it be a stripe per day on a crochet blanket or a full on "how many squares can I knit in a month" we will be cheering each other on and I daresay getting some inspiration for some future projects too.

If you would like to join just pop over to the Facebook group - we'd love to see you there.

Too little time

I’m sure it can’t just be me that seems to suffer from TLT syndrome - or Too Little Time. More specifically too little time to knit what I want. No day feels complete without a little knitting at some point but a series of particularly busy weeks and a lot of domestic upheaval have seen my knitting time drastically curtailed.

Now, the logical response would be to spend the available knitting time that I do have, knuckling down and getting some progress on my current WIPs. Instead, my default response seems to be to spend an inordinate amount of time rootling through my stash in search of beautiful skeins to knit with “when I have the time”. When I’m not doing that I’m browsing Ravelry in search of inspirational projects or surfing indie dyers shop updates for that perfect, elusive OOAK (one of a kind).

So, this week I have given myself a stern talking too and bribed myself with cake. By Friday I will have finished 2 longer term WIPs and will reward myself with a mammoth cast on session in which I will start many gorgeous projects-to-be. So far on my mahoosive cast on list I have:

1. A new login cabin style blanket

2. A new sweater using some Illustrious DK I recently bought

3. Cast on something using the glorious yarn club yarn (pictured above)

4. Some new socks ....just because...well why not.

Whether any or all of these projects will come to fruition is another matter. But for now, my virtual knitting plans are keeping me sane in a pretty chaotic week. 

Sock yarn scraps

As knitters and more specifically as sock knitters we instinctively hoard our precious, jewel-like scraps of yarn. I don't know about you but I have no problem with merrily chucking a part used ball of dk into the 'charity shop' bag and I don't feel compelled to save oddments of other weights but give me 2g of hand dyed sock yarn and I will treasure it for all eternity.

Partly it's the fact that the vast majority of my sock yarn is hand dyed. Lovingly created with thought and care by fabulous fibre artists. When so much work has gone into the yarn I feel almost duty bound to care for it and make sure it is well looked after.

Currently my sock yarn leftovers are divided into those destined for the sock yarn blanket and those which aren't. Aso I have kept my sock yarn blanket to the more muted end of my stash - with mainly solid and semi solid shades I find myself with an increased large amount of bright self striping leftovers to use up.

I was thinking about starting a more wildly coloured blanket or whether to maybe combine a part skein of self stripe with a neutral grey for stripey socks or fingerless mitts - of which I seem to have absolutely none at the moment.

Either way, if you come across some uses for leftover self stripe yarn for let me know. My stash drawer will be eternally grateful.