Round Up

So I counted up my FOs for 2009 and I reckon I completed 29 projects, broken down thusly:

Cardigan: 3
Sweater: 2
Scarf/Cowl: 4
Baby: 9
Charity: 4
Dress: 1
Socks: 4
Lace: 1
Afghan: 1
Hat: 1


Out of those FOs, what was knitted for me:
Socks: 4
Scarf/Cowl: 2
Lace: 1
Cardigan: 2

So I think I was a fairly generous knitter last year! I also think I went baby mad for my friends little girl. Not as many FOs as 2008, but not far behind and they did include the Afghan. I'm rather pleased with those stats! Apart from the lack of socks. 4 pairs is not good.



Right, onto my first FO for 2010!

Pattern:Cauchy from Sock Innovation
Yarn: Sirdar Pure Cotton 4ply, one ball
Needles: 2.5mm Addi bamboo dpns

I barely had enough yarn to finish these, check out the leftovers below!

I was very nervous towards the end I can tell you! There must have been only about 12 inches of yarn left. And this yarn has been discontinued, so I was in trouble if I ran out!
Thankfully I didn't and hubby loves them.


I started these on Dec 5th and finished on Jan 5th. Not bad when you consider all the madness that was in between! Hospital waiting rooms are great fodder for sock knitting.



My first project for 2010.
Swallowtail Shawl Take Two!



I decided to make a Swallowtail Shawl from my gorgeous Qiviuk. Behold the loveliness (sigh).
I had to take a picture of it in the recent snow we had. I LURVES it.

So here's the progess so far. I'm actually really proud of this. The first time I tried to make it was a total disaster. I suppose that shows how far I've come since I last tried it. It's going great now, although I still find it difficult to concentrate on it if the tv is on.
I was thinking of using beads instead of nupps, to make it that bit extra special. What do you think? I've nothing suitable at home, all the beads I have are a bit large or the wrong colour. Maybe I should splash out and get sparkly Swarovski beads? After all this is the king of yarn.

If I do decide to get them, I'll have to buy them online, so if anyone knows of a good site or what size beads I should get (laceweight yarn) I'd be very grateful.

I've been trying to come up with knitty resolutions for 2010, but so far I'm drawing a blank.
I shall ruminate on them for my next post.

I'm back to work on Thursday (ick) after a lovely long break. Not long enough, but that's life!
In the meantime we are trying to enjoy the last two days we have off together.
I give you Sprout, the Snow Duck:

It hasn't snowed enough for a proper snowman, so we improvised and made a duck with sprout eyes and a carrot beak. Isn't she great?

Good knitting!

The Cruel Side of Knitting

I'm heartless. Cruel, even.
First I left my poor sock in the cold dark glovebox, where it still resides. Alone, lonely, cold and scared.
Do I care? I thought I did, but apparently I do not, as I cast on another sock on Saturday. Gasp!
I think I may have even said in my last blog post that I would pine for it, and wait for it to be returned to me. I would save myself for it and not cast on any other socks.
Fickle. That's me. Although I am meant to get the socks, I mean car, back tomorrow so hopefully if I spoil the socks they'll forgive me.
Let me explain why I betrayed them. I went to Galway for the night on Saturday to see my friend who lives there. We're friends since school and we hadn't seen each other for ages so I was excited to go. I got the train there and back and it's a journey of approx 2 1/2 hours each way so what else could I do? I could hardly bring the sweater with me, or the Christmas lights so I really was left with no choice. It was socks or be bereft of a project in a prime knitting situation. I couldn't do it.
These are the socks I cast on:

Cauchy Socks from Cookie A's fantastic Sock Innovation book.
These are for hubby as he loves maths and these are kind of based on the mathematical symbol for inequality: <>. I'm knitting them with Sirdar Pure Cotton 4ply as he remains a wool hater. I think he's faking it though as he hasn't taken off the 50% wool Noro scarf and professes his lurve for it all the time. I cast on 70 sts instead of the 60 the pattern calls for so it will fit his manly hairy legs. Hopefully it's not too many!

So, dear abandoned sock, am I forgiven? I'll make it up to you tomorrow, I promise. I'll bring you to the knitting group tomorrow and pet you a lot.

In Seamless Colourwork Yoke Sweater news, there has been progress on the body of the sweater, but not a lot to look at.

Kinda boring looking, isn't it? What can I say - it's grey, 3 inches of ribbing and the rest stocking stitch. That's about as wild as it gets. Perfect tv knitting though!

No progress on the Christmas lights garland, I need to buy some stuffing for the ornaments. I thought I had an old pillow lying around that I was using the inside of for stuffing, but it appears hubby must have had a sly clean up and disposed of it whilst laughing demonically. (I'm guessing about the laughing, but it's not too far of a stretch, believe me.)

Oh! I almost forgot. I'll give you all a laugh. At the end of last week I got a phone call from the guy in the library who looks after the meeting rooms where we meet every week. He gave me the number of a journalist who wanted to write an article about knitting for a local paper. Yay! I thought, some publicity for our fine craft.
I finally got the journalist on the phone today. She told me she would ring me back on Wednesday for the interview, but that she was writing an article to publish next week on saving money for Christmas by making your own Christmas presents, and that knitting would fit it, wouldn't it?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
That was my response. Save money? Have you seen my stash in the spare room wardrobe? Have you any idea how much I've spent??
Oh, and publishing the article next week? How long do you think it takes to knit a pair of socks in time for Christmas?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I wonder will she ring me back now. Probably not. Oops. I did invite her to the group tomorrow night, but I doubt she'll come...

So that's it! I can't believe it's almost a week since I last posted, time sure is flying faster towards Christmas, and not a present bought for anyone or a card written!

Good knitting!