The re-imagining of Lady E

Back in 2008 i knit a lovely stole. Unfortunately i found it too impractical to wear it and for the last six years i have just looked longingly at it. Well, yesterday i began the task of making it into something i know i will love!

I am going to make a snuggly hooded wrap with it for those cooler evenings when i don't quite need a whole blanket but i want something to wrap round me.

The Christmas before last Becky gave me two balls of Marble Chunky in red and reddy-purple shades so i am going to take the plunge and attempt the braided effect that i have always wanted to try. I think the three colour ways will go well together, there is a lovely contrast between the turquoise and red and purple and dark blue colours, we shall see! I am using the Venus Tips Up pattern as a starting point and will add the hood onto the corner after the main body is knit.

Theoretically!!

Shawl progress

Shawl progress
a photo by franneyk on Flickr.

This crumpled heap is Roxanne, I have the Body pt2, then three repeats of the Body pt2 table and then the edging to do, that's 26 more rows til i cast off!
It's looking rather pretty but the rows are getting a bit long now :D

Circle socks

Circle socks
a photo by franneyk on Flickr.

Thought i'd upload a photo just to prove I am actually knitting at the moment!!

These are my Circle Socks using Regia sock yarn
One sock is being knit with 2.25mm Chiagoos and the other with my fancy new "Sock Rockets" - nickel plated sharp tips with lovely flexible cables <3 p="">I thought i'd go fancy and made sure i started each sock in the same place of the colour repeats and so far it's working out just about right!
This pattern has a lovely Eye of Partridge heel which make them squishy and hard wearing and i fancied a change from short rows :D

I has Rockets!

I has Rockets!
a photo by franneyk on Flickr.

Thanks to Meadow Yarns I now have my grubby little mitts on a set of Sock Rockets!
I'm so excited, it's ridiculous! :D

Knitting at last

Knitting at last
Originally uploaded by franneyk

It's been a while to say the least. I've been crocheting but my knitting mojo completely abandoned me again until quite recently but now it's back so i've cast on a shawl and abandoned the crochet (for now) :D
This is Nymphalidea from the current issue of Knitty and i'm using two of the very bargainous "scarves" of Regia Creativ that i bought in one of Kemps amazing sales.
I *think* i've got the pattern straight in my head. There are two sections to remember: the welt in grey and the wedge in autumn leaves. I have missed a P2Tog a couple of times but that's fine, it's only for the shaping and isn't showing up as a glaring error so they're staying! Oh, and no wrap short rows ROCK! :D

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

Garter Stripes

It's my new addiction. I don't know how many projects i have queued lately but it's a few!
I've started a shawl using my Vomitous Koigu that i bought at Stash many moons ago plus the orange Koigu that i bought in a Get Knitted sale. I hadn't realised before how well the two colours go together!!
So, once i'd started the shawl i kept thinking how hard it would be to co-ordinate accessories. Orange and lime green aren't everyone's favourite colours and i think i'd struggle to find any more yarn to go with it. Anyway, my thoughts turned to making some mitts before i used up all the yarn on the shawl and i knew they had to be garter and i knew they had to be sideways and i remembered this pattern by Ysolda that was recommended to me by Steph. I used the modified stripe pattern (sort of) from the shawl pattern and gazed lovingly at the results as they appeared on my needles. I really do love these colours. I'm not even sorry :P

Koigu garter stripe mitts

There are two but i couldn't get a decent photo of one, let alone both!!
Now to plod on with the shawl...

garter stripe shawl

It's an addiction

Cowls. There ought to be a law against 'em! Heheheeee

Tuesday night cowl

This cowl was a bit of an experiment. I've had Rowan Romance in my stash since i bought "a few balls" in one of Kemps big sales and i've always wanted to make something with it but have been a bit wary of it's bulky size. It is however quite lightweight which is nice! I love the look of the cable crossovers on a stocking stitch background and the way it makes the fabric ruched and i am really happy with how this came out. I had to fiddle with the pattern a bit cos of the different weight yarns but it's just the right size and makes a great face warmer when there's a cold wind. The Romance is impenetrable! Best of all? It took two evenings to make it :D

Tattered and Bruised

There's a story behind this shawl. A story of greed and determination. A story of friendship and camaraderie. A story of love.

The story starts with an offer on Facebook of some tangled skeins of yarn which of course i stuck my hand up for. Free yarn? Untangling? Awesome! I find untangling very therapeutic, the challenge of getting each and every knot out of the yarn, the satisfaction of a freshly wound ball at the end of it.The colours in the yarn were gorgeously muted. Dusky burgundy-pink, muddy gold, purple and soft browns teased me as i unwound the skein. I took the skein with me to a craft weekend in Keighley where i spent a glorious weekend with online friends, friends who helped detangle the skein as it hung from a set of antlers above the fire. It seemed every time i went away from the skein someone else would come along and carry on!
This gorgeous skein full of memories made at our special weekend needed a special pattern, but which pattern?! The colours in the yarn reminded us of bruises and i knew a pretty lacey pattern wouldn't feel right and i remembered Tattered, a shawl which is aged prematurely and knew it was right. However, once i started i knew i couldn't knit the whole shawl like that so after a while i put in some rows of garter and then carried on in stocking stitch until i was close to the end of the ball and then i did garter rows to stop the edges from curling. I don't know what it was about the dropped stitches. I like the effect it just didn't "feel" right. It still doesn't feel right if i'm honest but i absolutely love the shawl and it has so many memories attached to it that i'll never change it. Besides, i'm not sure i even know what it wants to be other than draped around my neck!

Tattered and Bruised

Cove Cowl

This is the second installment of the GCKAL - the Cove Cowl.
Very complicated (for me), very time consuming, a little bit tedious (for me) but an utterly lovely cowl at the end of it!
I have discovered that while i don't mind knitting cables, i apparantly don't like different cables in the same project. Some rounds required only one cable to be twisted while other rows required all seven to be twisted and all in different directions. It was HARD work. But hey, look what i got at the end of it :D

Cove Cowl

I used some of my beloved Sublime Yarns Organic Merino that i got in the sale at Get Knitted. It seems to be a recurring theme here but it's gorgeously soft and squishy and so warm and light. I love it :D

Pimpelliese

So a while ago i was playing with my queue on Ravelry and decided to organise some projects and rather than leave them in my queue where i don't see them i have made them ready on my projects page. This way i have a visual reminder of projects i want to make and i don't get too distracted by new shiney things!
This was Shawl #6 in the list - Pimpelliese. It's a sideways knitted scarf, rather like the Baktus but with a lacey leafy edge that is knitted at the same time as the body. It took me a while to get into the rhythm of the pattern and i could never manage to knit it without the pattern but i got there in the end and it was finished and wrapped up for my BFF's birthday :)

Birthday Pimpel

It would appear that i forgot to take a photo of the finished article before i  handed it over!

Do Cowl Again

It's KAL time again, the Great Cowl KAL has been reduced in number this year and we will only be knitting two cowls for the challenge. So, without further ado, here's the first :D

wish i was weaving this cowl

It's the Wish I Was Weaving This Cowl by the very talented Liz Abinante at Feministy and i've used the skein of Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica that i got at Ally Pally and it is very soft and warm but it doesn't seem to have a good memory because it stretched a little when i put it on but didn't shrink back again. I'll have to keep an eye on it or it won't be very warm if it keeps stretching!!

Bereft!

I have finally finished my Marble Ten-Stitch blanket and i am really sad! I loved knitting this even though it's taken over 3 years! It's been my travelling companion, my camping companion and my shopping delight :D
I'm not sure Lisa would agree, it had become something of an obsession to hunt out the Marble at knittingy shows and dither over colours but i loved the whole process. I needed an extra ball of the grey/white for the border and i still have a green square and a ball of purple/blue floating around somewhere but this blanket is done.

Oh yes, it does still need blocking a bit to get the wrinkles out but never mind that, isn't it pretty!!

The Final Cowl - down?!

Dun dun dun deeeeeerrrrrrr... dun dun dundunderrrrrrrrrr.....

It worked in my head! :D

So, as a reward for finishing all of the cowls in the Great Cowl challenge and submitting them all on time we were rewarded with an extra pattern! I present the Like Honey Cowl :D

It's a gorgeous design with smocking and cables and knitted with Nimu Sella it is just warm, soft and luxxurious *love*

Some Socks for a change!

I have kind of gone off sock knitting, i don't know why but as part of my monthly challenges i decided to get my Kiila socks finished. Well, seeing as i started them in 2009 i figured it was about time!

Kiila Socks

It's a great pattern, the gusset increases are just lovely the way they are enclosed in the twisted stitches and cables and the twisted stitch ribbing really grips your foot. The yarn is soft and squishy, possibly not the best choice for socks but definitely warm!

Crow Waltz

I have had my eye on this pattern for some time and after buying some beautiful yarn from Nimu i decided to get stuck in. The edging is knitted first and then the body of the shawl is picked up from the edge and knitted upwards to the shoulders using a slip stitch pattern that creates a lovely dense warm fabric.

Crow Waltz

Lavender Scowl

This is the final installment in the Great Cowl KAL - Blueberry Scowl but as i am using some lovely handspun in silver grey and lavender i have renamed it!
It's really heavy and warm and LONG!

Not the right buttons

I found the perfect buttons in Allders, really pretty Mother of Pearl ones :)

Very Good Mitts Indeed!

I whipped these up out of the leftovers from the Very Good Cowl Indeed using the Alberte's Mitts pattern, i ran out of wool on the thumbs but luckily i had a very similar skein which just had more purple in it!

Posh Mitts

Perfect fit!

The wool is Posh Yarns Lucia in "Scuffle", it makes a lovely soft and warm fabric :)

Orange Hat and Cowl number FourOrange

I have been meaning to knit an orange hat to go with my gorgeous Forest Canopy Shawl that Joy made me in 2008 and i finally got round to it!
I used the Interlude Hat pattern with no mods and used the yummy Colinette DK that i bought on our Welsh holiday in 2009 for this very purpose! I like it when a plan comes together! :D

Orange hat and Cowl Four

The cowl is installment Four in the Great Cowl Challenge over at Feministy's Ravelry group. This one's called Perpertually Persistant and is made with Rowan Big Wool and 10mm needles! It's really thick and squishy and so warm! I'm managing to keep to the schedule and am getting my cowls submitted on time which is great and i am really enjoying the challenge too :)

Great Cowl Challenge - Pt3

Here is the third installment of the Great Cowl Challenge KAL - it's called Weeble Wobble Cowl and is made with my precious skein of Violet Green sock yarn in a beautiful purpleypinkyblue colourway.

Although the rounds were very long i really enjoyed making it and the short row sections added great interest :)

unfortunately it is impossible to photograph well!

A Very Good Cowl Indeed!

I think it is a Very Good Cowl Indeed!

This is the second of the Great Cowl KAL patterns and the deadline is 8pm CST today so i was very happy to finish with 12 hours to spare :oD

I've used more stash yarn as that is also part of my personal challenge, this is Posh Lucia in "Scuffle" and it is SO warm and squishy! I love it!

The next pattern should be out tomorrow so i'll have to go and rummage out some super chunky. I have two different shades of pink Rowan Big Wool that will look nice together and i like the idea of a half and half cowl that i can wear either way round depending how pink i am feeling :oD

Of course, i could always save it as a Christmas or birthday for someone... Maybe! lol