Gnomes done!

Yup, I've finished the gnomes. All in all a fairly quick knit! Just goes to show what you can do when you really like the pattern.

Here's the back:



And the front:



Cuteness overload.
Pattern: Gnome Mittens by SpillyJane
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, various colours from stash
Needles: 2.75mm Harmony dpns

No mods, although if I were to make them again I think I'd jiggle the pattern a bit to avoid the ridiculously long 7 stitch floats. I'd change the decrease method at the top too, as it's unusual and I think I prefer standard ssk & k2tog decreases. Also I'd make the thumb larger as it is very narrow.

So Alice has nabbed them for school. They're too big, but she loves them so what the hey. I had figured she'd rob them anyway. Plus she's great for showing off "Mammys knitting" so you never know, I might gain some kudos. :)

A lot has been happening over the last day or so. A couple of us Dublin knitters were talking about our mutual love & adoration for EZ recently. We ruminated on how great it would be if we had a blog for knitting EZ patterns and unventions. Well, last night, sheknitupthatball took the initiative and created a blog for just that!
It's called KnittingElizabeth and so far there's 5 of us set up to contribute. My good self, sheknitupthatball, teaandcakes, Currantine and Léan. A few others have been invited too, so it looks like it's going to be a fun project!
I couldn't wait to get started so last night I wrote a catch up post on the blog of all the EZ things I've made so far, along with much gushing about how much I love her. Check it out!

So, now that the gnome mittens are done, I'm going to selectively ignore the other WIPS that are crying with loneliness & neglect in the basket beside me and cast on a new EZ project.

I'm going to attempt the Pi shawl again. Remember I said I wanted to make one as a lap blanket for snuggling on the sofa watching tv in winter? I even bought yarn specially for it:



The real McCoy, unspun Icelandic just like EZ and Meg used for theirs.
I can't wait to get started! Although I think this may be a longish project as it is a large item, I know it's going to be fun. I'll be blogging about it here as well as on Knitting Elizabeth.

So that's yer lot!

Good knitting!

Photo Update

I'm a little bit delicate this morning let me tell you. Not too bad, but a little bit rough around the edges. Had a great night last night, but was ultra sensible and got the bus before the last one home! I don't think my husband quite knew what was going on, I normally stumble in the door sometime after 2am from a taxi, so I think he was secretly a bit pleased I was home so early. (He made me toast. A dead giveaway.)
Hence I'm up at 8am, putting up my progress pictures from yesterdays post! It's a nice sunny morning (uber surprise). My living room is like a little patch of heaven early in the morning when the sun shines. It bathes the room with light and I love it.

My Pi tablecloth:

At the 288 stitch stage, so it's become a blob on the circs and will remain so until finshed and blocked. But, I think it's coming along great!

My daughters crosshatch socks

She's delighted with these, especially because they are the same yarn as my Embossed Leaves. She thinks it'll be "really cool" for us to wear them at the same time. Em no.

This is how much Smooshy was left over:

I wasn't kidding when I said it was down to the wire!

This is my second Druid mitten. Nothing exciting here, just on the cuff.

And this is the beginnings of my Dad's Christmas present socks. I found the name of the pattern:
Garter Rib Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks (Rav link). Nice and boring mens pattern that won't require any independent thought.


Thanks for the pattern and yarn suggestions so far, keep 'em coming!

Sunday morning blues

I'm listening to some pretty psychedelic Eric Clapton suff as I type this, very Apocalypse now sort of music. Groovy man...

Look! my Druid Mittens progress, and I lurve them.


The chart is messy enough to follow, but clever ickle me sneaked into the photocopy room in work and blew it up onto an A3 page *snicker* much easier now with some post its to mark the spot.

Lace news:
Using the wonders of magic loop, here's my progress so far on my Pi Shawl that's going to be a tablecloth.
Before stretching:

After stretching:

I'm on the 144 stitch round. Still not enough to fit fully round my circs. Next increase should do it. See my ladders though? I was doing so well up until those. I guess that's the problem with magic looping laceweight. I can't pull any tighter for fear of snapping the yarn and there's no way I can do this sucker on dpns so I figure it'll have to be a "design element" or I'll make a doily type thing to sit on top of it....

I've also cast on for a pair of socks for my daughter with my left over smooshy.
Crosshatch Socks from More Sensational Knitted Socks (ravelry links)
I'm on my third attempt at these. I measured her foot and cast on according to the directions. there was no way these were going to fit her, they would have barely fit a newborn, so I increased one pattern repeat and tried again. Nope. Increased again now to 48 stitches and it seems okay so far. I'll try them on again in a bit and see. She's the original big foot.

In other great news, one of the schools in my area has announced its Autumn evening courses. And Look! Loads of crafty things! I can't believe it! Here's the list of courses. They include knitting for beginners and improvers, sewing, patchwork/quilting, card making, beaded jewellery and crochet! I have been looking to learn crochet for a while now, and here comes a 10 week course!! woohoo! Only problem is it's on Tuesday evenings, the same night as my beloved SnB. But, it is only for 10 weeks, so I think I should still do the course.

I'm thrilled to bits! Plus, there's Asian/Indian cooking on Wednesday nights that hubby wants to do so yummy new dinners heading my way!!