Little Pebbles

blue pebbles
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

I think I love this project. It's fantastically quick and super cute. Although the photo has no buttons on it, I went to Ards knitting yesterday and visited the wool shop there and after much deliberation it was decided that bright green with white stripes would be the buttons of the day. Just have to sew them on now.

Good news on the Clapotis front... Nicky has started to pick the dropped stitches up and I've to have that finished by Wednesday and the knitted rows ripped back to the dropped one so that it can be repaired... all without frogging back rows and rows. Guess I live up to my ravelry name now, lol.

Started a new project yesterday too. A girl in work saw this pattern in my magazine in September and has wanted me to knit it ever since. Lot of learing in this one cardigan - mock cable, reading a chart and knitting with more than one colour! But its really cute and I'm just about finished with the bottom heart. Bit of a break with rows of stocking stitch and back to the colours again

Another sock completed

Nicky, Jolene and I went to Ards to join the SnB there. The girls were really lovely, had gorgeous yarn and a yarn shop nearby! So 4 hours later I had a good bit of the leg done (the other pic is where it was before I left yesterday morning) and we went for a wee drive towards Portaferry where the sock was completed



For this one I attempted a picot cast off. I don't know if I like it or not - the picot rolls down and sorts folds in on itself, its a bit weird. On the plus size, there was no rib to do and no cast off so tight it would cut off circulation. I'll knit the other one and do the picot edging there too and see how I feel after a few wears.

More socks done!

prisma socks
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

Look what I finished last night, and you can probably tell from the picture where they were finished.

These ones are for my little sister, and I'mglad she has small feet - I can use up those pesky part balls of sock yarn to make her socks, lol.

Because today is a really good day here in good ole N.Ireland, Nicky and I are heading to Belfast Castle for a bit of a walk and a knit. I shall not be starting new socks (they would have used the other part ball of tofutsies) but instead I shall continue with the back of the Paton's Vintage Cardigan.

Enjoy your weekend!

New project!

CIMG4903
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

I finished my socks at the weekend in Donegal... and Nicky fixed Emerald for me (although technically I didn't touch it at all) I don't like the socks very much, I got bored with the pattern and therefore made the legs too short, lol, I'll wear them though.

I started a new project last night (do I hear cries of "why don't you just finish Emerald and get it over and done with?!") and its this cardigan. I bought lots of Paton's Vintage in February or March I believe, and I'm hoping to get this cardigan out of the 14 balls I have... it might be a close call though. I even have the buttons purchased!!!

As you may be able to tell from the bad photo, there's the patterned bit on the front and on the sleeves. Well, its there o the back too, so I'm going to omit ALL the pattern bit, except for the fronts.

I have one further thing to add about this cardigan. If my mother, its intended recipient, doesn't wear it, she's NEVER getting a hand knitted item again (the zebra socks still haven't been worn you know.)

As for Emerald, I'll get there eventually :)

grrrr...

So after my determination to get the 3.25mm dpn's, I decided to cast on the broadripples yesterday. After 6 rounds, i decided i didn't like the looseness of the dpn's and this morning, I resumed the hunt for a 3.25mm addi.

I found them at www.thisisknit.ie and they are on their way to me now. I also got a 3mm addi and a 3.25 for Nicky who didn't know they came in that size.

Now that the broadripples are on hold, I'm going to knit some bedsocks in sirdar hug to keep up the sock momentum and as its snowing hard right now, they might be useful shortly!

New Year's Resolutions!

I know its a tad early for the resolution business, but I'm going to throw these ideas that Nicky and I came up with out into the ether.

Socks
We're going to do our own sock club, and some of the patterns will be coming from the Simply Knitting calander that came with an issue a couple of months ago... since all I can do is plain socks, this is going to be a challenge. I'm asking my mum to bring home lunch bags from Washington next week - if I can see the yarn, I'll not want to knit it so its best to hide these things, lol.

Stash
We're also going to try the Stash Knit Down 2009 ravelry groups "Knit 100 balls in 2009" challenge. I know I have more than enough stash to keep me going to for a while and I'm going to not buy any yarn. However, there is a clause here. Nicky and I are hoping to go to Toronto at some stage, so it is my plan to not buy yarn until I go, I can buy when I'm there and then when I get back, its no yarn again. Unless I need a ball or two to finish a project, thats allowed.

Our challenges/knitalongs!
To make 2009 slightly interesting, Nicky and I came up with a list of 13 challenges/knitalongs for us to do over the year. One challenge starts whenever the last one ends, so it could take 18 months but on the other hand it could take 9 months!

So we have, in no particular order:

1. fairisle and steaking in the one project, we're nothing if not crazy, lol.
2. the pi shawl
3. crocheted starghan (I can't crochet so should be interesting for me)
4. baby suprise jacket
5. Dream swatch headwrap
6. Clapotis
7. Endpaper mittens
8. Hoodie time! We both have hoodies we want to knit, just different ones
9. Emerald cardigan
10. More cardigans!!! (it gets cold here you know, lol)
11. Gift challenge - knit gifts for birthdays/Christmas
12. WIP finishing marathon
13. Pinwheel blanket

So there we have it, the 2009 crazy train!

If we add all the yarn from the 13 knitalongs AND the socks then I think I'm well over the 100 ball mark and therefore have succeeded in knitting down the stash in 2009, knitted some pretty nifty things AND learnt some new knitting skills as well as how to crochet! Win/win I'd say.

Current WIP's
I have a few wip's on the go now that are starting to take over my life, lol. I have 2 different socks on the go, trying to knit a Christmas present and have a birthday present to start. Then, once those are done, I've a few things to knit for the ones I work with (which they demanded I should add) Although the socks aren't desperately needed by a deadline, they see m to be the only thing I want to knit. I think I need to hide them until Christmas is over, or at least until I get everything else knitted!

Its total time!

Once again, its the end of the month and time for the totals!

Bought: 100g
Used: 600g!
Completed: 4

Hooray! The stash is heading in the right direction! I did a bit of a yearly total and there's somewhere in the region of about 500g difference in the incoming and outgoing stash. Seems I bought too much this year after all, and if by some miracle I manage to knit that 500g in December, I'll have knit all that I bought this year and made absolutely no headway in the whole destashing thing.

But there are plans for 2009, lots of destashing plans and knitalongs with Nicky. We hatched a plan on Friday night in Starbucks, and I'll post that next week!

I bought yarn

Yesterday Nicky and I went for a drive and ended up in the yarn shop in Coleraine. I had made a deal with myself that I could buy yarn I already had in order to make an actual project and I got this:

I already had one ball but one is never enough so I now have two AND a project in mind for it, so all in all a decent enough purchase.













We went round the WHOLE shop and then, we spotted these and after much deliberation, took them home:
Here we have some King Cole Zig Zig in a lovely blue and white combo and then we have,

Wendy Happy is a lovely soft bamboo yarn and the colourways are zodiac names - this is pisces (I've seen pics of the capricorn and think its a tad bright, might be a whole lot different in person)

I needed more sock yarn like a hole in the head (if I were to knit a pair a month, I'd still be knitting come 2011!) but its lovely and couldn't stay there, lol.

Socks or slippers??

I started mary jane's during the week - quick and easy AND more importantly helps me destash 2 50g balls of paton's moonglow. I got one done on Friday night in starbucks with Nicky and started the second.

However, I was watching Supernatural on Friday when I got home and for some reason had an urge to cast on socks. I haven't knitted socks since the start of the summer where I finished 2 pairs in rapid (for me) succession and put myself right off them.

So now I have a dilema. I'm over 3 wip's now (blanket, jumper, mary jane's and the socks) and I would like to have 3 again. Do I finish the MJ now and work on the sock OR do I just let the MJ lie there for MONTHS before finishing it and therefore miss out on using another ball of yarn?

Oh yes, and when do I finish the jumper? Time is running out on this one!