Knitting

The socks I shared last week have only grown a cm since then, so I thought I would share one of the other projects I mentioned which has received more attention.  When I was knitting this jumper for my youngest, my eldest had a look through the book the pattern was from and asked me if I could knit him something for him.  That made me one happy mama, I do so love it when my children request me to make things for them.  The pattern is one I have knitted before, this time I am making it in the largest size, when hunting for suitable yarn I realised that it was going to cost quite a lot and fortuitously someone on a forum I visit was selling a bag of yarn (10 balls) at a really good price it will be more than I need but I am sure I can make something with the leftovers!  This project is my easy knit, one I can do whilst watching stuff, the downside is it is knitted in pieces which you then sew up, the upside is the pieces knit up really quick, I have finished the back and one and half front pieces all knitted in the evening.  I am using a cotton yarn as I find this makes a garment that can be worn all year round always a bonus when knitting for fast growing children.

I am still reading Gossip from the Forest which I shared last week and I am also reading a book I picked up at the library on my last visit.  I am always looking for ways to make maths interesting and thought this book, Mathematics Minus Fear, might fit the bill.  I have read a couple of chapters and it is a good read so far.  If anyone can recommend any other maths books, websites or resources I would love to have them!

Joining in with Tami and Ginny for a sharing of yarny projects head over and see what others have been up to this week.

Finished

I finally got round to finishing off two knitting projects that had been languishing in a drawer needing some attention.  It is so much easier to cast on a new one and exciting than to weave in ends, block and sew up seams.  After taking stock of how many Christmas projects I still had on my to do list I realised that if I did not pay some attention to my two large projects that I had finished knitting they would be ignored until January.  If I left them that long then, in the case of the jumper for my youngest, it wouldn't fit anymore!

Both these projects were my first attempt at cables.  I have long loved the patterns you can create with cabling one of my favourite jumpers is one that my granny knitted me for my eighteenth birthday, a traditional aran jumper.  I had always thought that knitting cables would be too difficult for me, that I would never reach those heady heights how wrong I was.

The purple jumper is taken from the book Easy Kids Knits by Claire Montgomerie and is my sixth project from this book.  As with all knitting patterns they are a matter of personal taste and this book is one I love.  I had to adapt the pattern slightly to get it to fit.  The body and sleeves are knitted to the wearers length but at the raglan opening you are meant to sew the buttons straight onto the raglan shaping on the sleeves without making a button band.  When I tried this garment on for size there was a gap between the buttonhole band and the top of the sleeve.  I had blocked it quite hard as I was worried it would not fit in this area but despite being a good fit everywhere else it was to small around the shoulders.  Luckily for me the addition of a button band on the edge of each sleeve fixed that and it now fits.  I am hoping that my daughter does no grow any wider in this area over the coming months as it won't fit her, if she doesn't then it may even fit her next autumn and winter too as the sleeves and the body have some growing room!  You can read my Ravelry notes here.

The green cardigan is a pattern from Tin Can Knits which you can buy on Ravelry.  The cables on this project were more complicated as was the structure.  The jumper was knitted as pieces which were sewn together, this cardigan was knitted in the round joining the sleeves in and then completing the cabled yoke.  This was not a portable project especially towards the end!  I love the way the cables create a beautiful yoke, this is defiantly a shape which suits me and a style I like.  The sizing of this pattern means that I could make them for my children too which I would love to one day.  Again this pattern was written so that you knit the sleeves and body to fit the wearer, I find that garments I buy are too long in the body and too short in the arms it is great to have a cardigan that covers my wrists!  I bought some beautiful blue yarn in the same sale that I bought the purple yarn used to knit the jumper I am really tempted to use it to knit another one of these for myself!  You can read my Ravelry notes here.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Knitting

I have been knitting various projects recently.  I have finished my first Christmas knit which I will share another time.  I have also been trying to knit a pair of slippers, I say trying because I am struggling with the gauge.  I have bought a variety of yarns to knit these and cast on to make a small pair having done a gauge swatch.  I was unsure of the construction so when I got to the stage where I could see the size I realised they were far going to be far too small, even allowing for a small amount of stretch and blocking.  I tried again with a different yarn, again doing a gauge swatch before hand on larger needles and still they are too small.  I am going to try going up one more needle size and if that doesn't work going up a size on the pattern, this means that I will have to write a bigger size!  I have read through other notes in Ravelry and was amazed at how many knitted these and found them too big, I must be a very tight knitter!

One project that is progressing and staying on the needles is a jumper which I shared a couple of weeks ago, I have reached the stage of the front cables.  I was happily knitting this whilst watching a DVD last night when I realisd that I had gone past the stage of shaping the armholes, I had to rip it all  out!  This is not mindless DVD knitting anymore, I have now written out the shaping rows so that I can do these without having to concentrate quite so hard.  I am likely to have some knitting time this weekend so I hope I can get this piece finished and maybe one of the arms.

I started a reading great book this week, I have read a few books by this author and whilst in the library picked up another of his.  The Elephant Keepers' Children by Peter Høeg (he also wrote Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow or Sense of Snow in the US) is set in the authors native country,
Denmark and is written from the perspective of a fourteen year old boy.  It tells of three siblings and their life alongside their eccentric parents on a fictitious Island.  The parents have gone missing and the children set out to find them, with some madcap adventures on the way.  Some of the characters names are wonderful and add to the charm of the story.  I am enjoying reading this book!

Joining in with Tami for this weeks work in progress.