Before and after

Well, here goes another project!

A half-finished fisherman’s jumper…

…has now turned into nice balls of wool.

The dark grey wool is from Yllet and the light grey from Kampes.

Jamieson & Smith

Believe it or not, but I still haven’t knit anything with Jamieson & Smith wool. I admit it’s a bit strange since I’m a such a wool snob. I have some J&S yarn in my stash, intended for a Sheep heid hat, but I haven’t actually tried it yet. I’m the kind of person who likes to fondle the yarn in a yarn shop before I buy it. But they have an incredible colour range and I really like the feel of the yarn that I have even though I haven’t actually knit with it.

Well, I’ve finally gotten around to ordering myself all of their shade cards! This will make it a lot easier to choose colours. I won’t have rely on the images on their website.

Jamieson & Smith shade cards

I probably won’t order any yarn just yet. I still have quite a lot of shashed yarn that I want to use before I buy more. This might sound a bit boring, but really, it’s not. I really look forward to starting the projects in my queue, but I don’t want to have too many half-finished projects lying around, I know I’ll just end up being bored with them. I need to get better at figuring out what I actually want and/or need and then focus on that. Which means that I probably won’t buy the yarn before I’ve decimated my stash somewhat.

I’m working on two cardigans and one pair of mittens right now, and I really want to finish them before starting anything new. I’ll always have two things going at the same time, one always needs a small portable project to accompany one’s larger projects; a pair of mittens, a hat, a scarf or a pair of socks, that one can whip out at any time when there are a few minutes to spare on the bus or the tube. But I don’t want to have bags and bags of unfinished things. I’m still unravelling old WIP’s (I don’t want to do them all at once, it takes up too much space and time) and putting away the yarn for later use. It’s actually quite satisfying.

Of course my fingers are itching to try something new, but one can handle this by making swatches. Swatches are allowed. That’s just preparing and planning, not actually knitting.

Well, time to knit!

Birthday presents

I recieved these lovely birthday presents from my husband a few weeks ago.

Knitting book, Harris Tweed headphones by Urbanears and book about Harris Tweed

He knows me so well.

I spy…

…knitting!

Window display at a local hair dresser.

Amongs all the lovely old skis and sleds there were knitted mittens and a…

Knitspotting

…a knitted Binge-cap!

Something warm

I’m still revisiting my old UFO’s. Either unravelling them or (trying to) finish them. I don’t know why these mittens have been left out in the cold. They’re very pretty and very soft. A bit tight, perhaps, but still wearable. You’ll find the pattern in one of my favourite books, Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves by Carol Rasmussen Noble.

Almost finished

I begun this project in 2008 according to my ravelry notes. If I’d started it today I probably wouldn’t use Drops/Garnstudio Alpaca. The colours are lovely and it’s very soft, but it tends to get quite fuzzy after some wear.

I managed to break one of the needles…

D’oh!

Luckily, these were just old bamboo needles. I tossed out the thole lot and switched to my beloved KnitPro’s instead.

Happy knitting!

Make Do and Mend, part 4

Ok, I already know this, but some yarn isn’t suitable some types of garments. The Widdershins socks I finished in September last year turned out really lovely, but they’re already worn thin. I used them perhaps twice in my boots, even though I knew that 100% merino really isn’t suitable for that kind of wear. It only made them slightly fuzzy on the back of the heel, but I decided only to wear them indoors after that. Sans shoes.

I washed them. By hand. They stretched like mad and became too big for my feet. I gave them Stefan who has worn them quite a lot. Indoors. Sans shoes. They’re now worn thin on the bottom of the heels and under the ball of the foot. I noticed the other day that they were dangerously close to developing a hole.

Time for some mending!

I realized that I don’t have enought Koigu left to mend all weak areas. I have to find another yarn with similar thickness. But I managed to prevent a hole where the sock looked really bad.

It looks a bit funny, but they’ll now last a bit longer

I have at least four pairs of hand-knitted socks with holes in them. I really must learn how to darn. And not use Koigu KPPPM for socks.

Happy knitting!

Ribbed socks

Brown, ribbed socks are finished.

Woolly socks

Pattern: Lichen Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Design: Nancy Bush
Yarn: BC Shetlandsuld, 100% wool
Yarn source: Litet nystan
Needles: 2 mm and 2,5 mm dpns
Started: 2 December2012
Finished: 20 January 2013
Modifications: I made them slightly bigger to accomodate Stefan’s feet. Instead of 60 sts, I cast on 68 sts. Because of this I had too many stitches to make the star toe so I made a regular flat toe instead.

To prevent wear on the heel flap, I made some reinforcements.

Reinforcing the inside of the heel flap

Ribbed socks

Detail

Stefan was very happy to recieve warm socks now when we have a really cold winter.

Happy knitting!