Starting on the right foot

For me, this is the perfect start to any day. Give me half an hour with some wool and some strong hot coffee and I'm ready to face the day. If I have to bypass this step and get straight into the morning chaos then nothing ever quite seems to go right and I spend the rest of the day feeling grumpy and out of sorts.

Half an hour of silence, with just the birds going nuts with the dawn chorus outside. Half an hour without being asked to find something, wash something or feed someone. Half an hour to feel the wool in my hands and the rhythmic, soothing making of stitches and all is right with the world. 

I always have my knitting with me obviously  and will happily pick it up and knit at every opportunity but somehow nothing is more important than that first half an hour. Just me and my yarn, making something.

Socks vs sleeves

They are both knit in the round. They both are knit in plain stocking stitch and they both take quite a while to complete. Yet why do socks practically fly off the needles and sleeves take a small eternity? Its the perennial question and I'm sure that I can't be the only knitter that thinks so.

The answer must be in the colours - more specifically in the stripes which cheer you on. Shouting encouragement and brining about the well known 'one more round syndrome'.

Sleeves generally have the disadvantage of being relatively plain - although a fun stripy sweater has long been on my to-do list. In addition if you are starting at the cuff and working up they have the extra disadvantage of growing in circumference as you increase the stitch count.

I have found a few tips that do help me with my sleeve nemesis though and I thought I would share them in case you find them helpful too.

1. Use a small circumference circular needle, even if it means you need to invest in a couple of different cable lengths. For example I started my DK grey sweater sleeve on a 4mm 30cm Addi turbo needle and then moved the stitches onto a 60cm needle as the stitch count grew. Being able to whizz round and round and get into the knitting groove really helps to get odd rounds done here and there.

2. Use some jazzy stitch markers to liven things up. It won't speed the knitting up but it will make it prettier.

3. To save having to stop and count stitches use a clip on marker or bulb pin to mark each increase. Far easier to count a row of markers than to count stitches again and again, each time hoping that you have reached the magic number.

4. Use sleeves as a portable travel project and work them whilst out and about, while your sweater body lives at home. This idea came from the renowned Elizabeth Zimmerman and as with most of her advice, is an excellent tip. Nothing worse than slogging your way through the body of a sweater only to find that the sleeves are yet to happen. Much better to be able to crack on and join them up whilst the motivation is strong and crack on with the yoke.

Right, enough procrastinating for me. One sleeve is almost done so I'm going to get the other one underway to be this week's travel knitting.

Time out

This weekend we are having a bit of a back to basics theme. We have two young boys, who like all young children everywhere love their tablets and electronic devices. It's all too easy to end up with a situation where they are relied on too heavily though and so, with the arrival of warmer spring weather we have declared that electronic gadgets are not to be used during the day.

Obviously this means that DH and myself need to be aware of our screen time too - hmmm- double edged sword possibly. But it does give me more time for knitting and also for taking the opportunity for some family walks.

This blue bell wood near our village is a favourite at this time of the year and it's such a special treat to just sit and take it all in. The sight and scent of so many beautiful bluebells is really heavenly and it was lovely to be able to share it with the boys today.

It may not excite them in quite the same way as Minecraft but I hope that when they grow up the remember it and do the same with their children.

Getting my ducks in a row

After the brightness of yesterday it's back to the grey sweater but I have a cunning plan to liven things up. When doing bottom-up sweater knitting I follow the timeless advice of Elizabeth Zimmerman and start a sleeve (or two) to have as a travel knitting project. That way you don't find yourself in the unenviable position of triumphantly finishing the body only to realise that you have two sleeves to slog through before being able to make more progress.

To help my eyes - this grey is really pretty dark - I am marking the sleeve increases with these fun dinosaur bulb pins. It just helps to be able to see where my last increase was and let's face it, they brighten up the grey too.

I have the house to myself for a precious hour this morning so it's eyes down and powering on through to the armhole for this sleeve - wish me luck.

Rainbows really do knit faster

There are times when you cast off a project so pretty and so happiness inducing that you just want to wave it triumphantly as you parade through the streets. If knitters were in charge this would be totally acceptable social behaviour by the way. Here in out semi rural market town it might well raise some (well plucked) eyebrows so I am parading it here instead.

This shawl started life as a sock yarn blank from The Wool Kitchen and to be truthful I really didn't enjoy the process of knitting with the kinky yarn straight from the blank. I am reliably informed that at a tighter sock tension this is less of an issue but for me, with a garter stitch shawl at a looser gauge I wasn't happy with the fabric. But a quick reskein and took care of that and it was well worth the extra time for the hours of simple knitting pleasure this yarn gave me.

And judging by the time it took me to knit this version of my Fuss Free Festival Shawl I can scientifically confirm that it is indeed true. Rainbow yarn knits up significantly faster than regular yarn. Something about racing to get to the next colour, particularly when you can see it keeping out enticingly from the handwound ball.

So there we have it. A pretty, one skein shawl which knits up at the speed of light. All we need are unicorns and we are pretty much covered. 

Any colour you like.... as long as it's grey

My husband is eminently knitworthy. He appreciates my knitting and is suitably careful with any knitted items that I care to knit for him. A recent tally of my current projects though revealed 3 items destined for him, all of which have stalled at various points. And after careful consideration I think I have pinned down the cause.

They are all grey!

Now, don't get me wrong. I love grey as much as the next person. In fact probably a little more than the average person but there is a limit. Especially when knitting something which is so much larger than I would usually knit for myself. DH is a tall, broad chap who likes his sweaters roomy. A 51" chest sweater in DK yarn is a heck of a lot of knitting whichever way you look at it. Add in the fact that it is plain grey stocking stitch with no pattern or means of entertainment and it's easy to see why I am easily distracted by other projects. 

The challenge is to prevent his WIPs from sinking to the bottom of the pile and by working on them, even a little bit, to prevent stagnation.

My current cunning plan is to keep the giant grey sweater in the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter. That way I can pick it up and plug away at it whilst attending to the usual domestic stuff of cooking and homework. The time when I would normally pick up my phone for a bit of mindless surfing I will now be adding a few more stitches to it. 

Nothing against the pattern itself of course. It is Rift by Jared Flood and it's a great pattern with a hint of ribbing detail at the sides and shoulders. It will be a great sweater tonwear - eventually.