Poor clapotis

As you may recall, I dropped the wrong stitch on the clapotis. On Saturday, Nicky showed me how to pick up all the stitches and set me the task of having them all picked up for Snb on Wednesday. My task is complete and I've tinked back a few rows to the next dropped stitch. Alas, I'm afraid to tink back any further so shall leave it in her capable hands.

On the cardigan front, I took it into work today to show Ann. She loves it. I've 1cm to knit before I start on the sleeves. Still really quite proud of myself for (a) mock cabling (b) reading a chart, and (c) knitting with more than one colour.

I think a quick knit next... I've a DS lite cozy queued on ravelry and have one ball of SWTC Karaoke and think I'll knit it out of that. It'll keep the DS warm and toasty and decrease the threat of it ending up broken at the botton of my bag, lol.

Question: Whats the chances I'll be able to keep my knitting, and knit at Wednesdays Metallica concert???

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

An actual photo!

Yes its been a while since a photo of something other than a box of sock yarn has graced my blog, but one can't show the world secret knitting projects!

This little cardigan is for Bump, who is due to make is grand entrance at the beginning of March. I really like this cardigan, so much so that I may churn a few more out to have handy.

Finishing this cardigan means that I've used 0.50 miles this month which is an ok start to the year, lets see how we progress next month shall we! Its Ravelympics after all.

My current knitting

pisces socks
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

So as I changed the knitting rota, I've been chugging away on these socks. I finished the cuff on Wednesday night at SnB and cast on the second one. I managed to get the foot and the heel finished last night, with a bit of the leg too.

But, as today is Sunday I thought I'd start something else for the coming week (as per the on a week, off a week scheme) so I settled on a cardigan for a 2 year old. The one I'm doing is the one on the top left but without the stripes. (see how I tried to cover everything else on the page, lol) I'm hoping it won't take too long, but come Sunday its back to the sock!

It's done!!!

green emerald
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

Look what I finished now 10 minutes ago?!?!? I worked on it all weekend and little emerald is now in the conservatory, lying on foam boards, soaking up the summer sun to dry out!

Thats one cardigan down, another to go!

madness takes its toll!

because I am slightly mad (it will seem apparent why I'm mad momentarily) I have decided that before I drive off on holiday next Friday, I must have finished the following two items:

1. Patons Vintage Cardigan - this is currently in a bag thinking about what it did wrong! I was knitting away on it last weekend and realised I was running out of allocated yarn for that part. I measaured the front against the back and the front is currently approximately 4 inches too long!!! And it's not even finished yet!!!! So it's going to have to be ripped back, or frogged. I haven't decided yet.

2. Emerald -this is the project thats being worked on. The sleeves are attached, the raglan decreased and being slowly worked and its getting there. Blessed be the chunky yarn though. Unfortunately, due to the stitch count and the weight of the thing, I can only do a few rows at a time before I need to put it down. I have a long way to go on this one too.

So you see, trying to finish two cardigans in various states of completedness by Thursday is just pure madness!

Totals, totals everywhere

Its the beginning of the month, and so I bring forth the monthly total for June;

Used 549g
Bought 0g
Gifted to me 50g
Mileage 0.56miles.

Mileage is fairly erratic, especially when I'm just kniting socks and cardigan bits. Maybe I'll get back up to the high miles when I get a few consecutive days off!

cardigan front is a go!!!

cardigan front
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

Finally cast on the Patons Vintage last night, and this is the result of last nights effort.

The colour isn't that great becaue my camera sucks but the pattern is ok... not great but ok. I don't think I care that much to be honest. I'll see how it turns out once its a bit further along.

regia socks are done!

regia socks
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

I knitted the second sock yesterday , in one day!!!! it was the one on the left by the way, and once again I could have made them sightly longer - it is my fear that I will knit them so long that I won't have enough yarn for the rib at the top. I'll get there eventually,lol.

Also yesterday I finished both sleeves of the vintage cardigan. Just the two fronts to do now, and i might start those later... I am swayed to finish the toe of the new sock I cast on last night, but we'll see.

Evil knotty yarn!

I've half the sleeves for this cardigan finished - I'm knitting them both at the same time so that if I make a mistake on one sleeve, I make it on both, lol.

I'm not loving the yarn though, in every ball I've knitted there's a big knot somewhere where they've tied two ends together to make the ball. Its seriously a pain. But on the bright side, I'm halfway through the cardigan and therefore halfway through the yarn - only 6 more balls left for the cardigan leaving me with a grand total of 2 balls left and no idea what to do with them!

My new mantra for this project shall be "only 6 balls left to go, only 5 balls left to go" etc. Hoping I get the sleeves finished today and then the mantra shall commence, lol.

footie regia socks -halfway there!

footie regtia socks
Originally uploaded by ropeadope_ie

Last weekend I split a partial ball of Regia Stretch to make some footies for my sister (she's only 10 and therefore has small feet)

I cast on the toe on Tuesday while watching Angels and Demons in the cinema, and finished it last night.

I have been knitting the back of the paton's vintage cardigan at the same time, so this is a bit of a shock that its done already - I do have to thank an emergency dentist appointment on friday morning who made me wait for nearly 3 hours before seeing me ( that got me WELL up the foot I can tell ya!)

So now to move onto sock 2

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 :)

I am determined

to come home from Donegal on Sunday night with some totals to put on the "I knitted this month" board. I've been knitting those stupid socks forever now and I'm fed up of them not being done! But by jove, I will have those suckers off the needles this weekend.

I'm also determined to get SOMETHING done on Emerald. Yes, poor emerald is still hibernating away, but since I'm going to Donegal where nothing but knitting takes place, I'm hopeful that progress will be made on it.

If, on the off chance, I come home and emerald hasn't been touched, feel free to send evil nasty things my general direction :)

Guh!

Well, despite the low mileage total for April, I have knitted a lot. I finished socks, a baby blanket and a cardigan thing and I can't believe the total wasn't higher!

So this month (so far) I've been knitting away on a new pair of socks and am now onto the leg of sock #1. These ones may take a while since they're fully patterned but I have until the end of May to finish them... I've to try and fit a quick pair in somewhere to bring me back to my regularly scheduled pair per month thing. Might knit a pair for Siobhan out of the leftover tofutsies.

I've also knitted a few rows of a new cardigan for my mum out of the rest of the Patons Vintage I have... this is the stuff I already had but bought more to do the garter swing cardi and then I bought EVEN MORE of the stuff for this cardigan. I think I'm defeating the 100 ball knit down challenge here, lol. But I'm getting there, especially if I knit the stuff I've bought which I plan to do.

As for the Emerald... still hasn't been touched and I'm a bad knitter for leaving it languishing in its bag. It's the bank holiday weekend though, so miracles may yet happen and the sleeves may be attached after all.

lets wait and see, lol

blah

Currently trying to knit a top down cardigan for Siobhan out of yarn I had a few balls of but bought more... its my first attempt at a top down item and needless to say its not going well. I've already ripped it once and I tried it on Siobhan and its too tight across the back. Blah. I tried it on her friend Chloe and it seems to fit her ok so I'm going to finish it and give it to her.

it sucks that I'm going to have to reknit it AGAIN! The year of the reknits continues it seems :(

socks galore!

On wednesday at SnB I started a sock. This was the second time this particular sock had been cast on... I tell a lie. it was the third. The yarn is King Cole ZigZag in Cloudy and it was my intention to turn it from a ball of yarn into a pair of broadripples. After sourcing the DPN's I proceeded to cast on, cuff down. I didn't like that so went online to thisisknit and bought a 3.25mm addi. Once it arrived I cast on again, toe up. After a few pattern repeats, I realised that you couldn't actually SEE the pattern, so ripped it out.

Attempt number 3 was a plain sock. I'd had enough messing about with patterns and just decided to go for a plain attempt. I cast on Wednesday, took Thursday off work sick and turned the heel. Then I decided that I could maybe possibly do an easy pattern on the leg. Enter the Glacier Lake toe up socks! Nice simple pattern that even I can't get wrong... and for my first pattern it's going rather well I think.

Hopefully my first pair of patterned socks will be done by mid March... but I'm also knitting Emerald at the same time so who know if the socks will be done at all!

thank goodness for that!

This, my knitting friends, is a baby cardigan. The colour is the photo is dodgy, there were 100 million ends to be woven in as well as buttons to put on. It's also been taunting me since November 2008 to knit it.

However, this little cardigan has no home to go to now that its out of the Wip basket. it is donating £1 to the "use ball of yarn" fund and 50p because its now a FO - as for where the actual cardigan will end up, who knows!

I believe this little pain will have a fulfilling life once it travels in a plastic bag collected by charity workers... a fulfilling life if my seaming holds up that is!

Happy New Year!

I know I'm a day or 5 late, but I took myself off to Donegal for the New Year with some knitting friends, and knitted.

I was slightly deluded as to what I could actually accomplish up there (I brought stuff to knit a jumper, shawl, socks and finish a baby cardigan) Needless to say, those 4 items were not completed. I did cast on the shawl and knit through 100g of Sirdar Blur which helps with the 100 ball knitdown challenge (there's a list on the side so I can keep track of what I've used) Unfortunately, the shawl wasn't necessary, at the top of the list or urgent. It was a distraction, a procrastination tool. I didn't want to seam the cardigan and I didn't want to do 14 inches of 2x2 rib over 230+ stitches.

I'll get the cardigan finished this week, same goes for the shawl (hopefully) The socks will be cast on and so will the jumper.... a few evil rows at a time, but it'll get done.

As for mysock club, I'm not starting that until the Trekking socks are done. So I suppose these socks are unofficially the first of the year (although they kicked my butt last year and should have been done then)

Off to get cracking on this shawl then!

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!