knitwise

Waiting for the new Rowan...

Life is a bit hectic at the moment what with extra work hours to cover colleagues holidays, things to do with the children when at  home, tomorrow early start for a day trip to Devon. Consequently, not as much knitting as I would like to do...

Chicago is progressing when I can steal a few minutes for myself and I have managed to finish the buttonhole band, I have  started the last sleeve and added a few more flowers.

I have decided to wait for the new Rowan magazine for inspiration and as I don't want to start anything which would distract me from finishing Chicago this is just as well.

But I couldn't resist doing a bit of web window- shopping and without hesitation bought this :

10 balls of Coton Glace from Get Knitted on special offer, in a discontinued shade of pink (forgot the name) which I love.

What am I going to do with it? I have absolutely no idea. I have never knitted anything with this yarn and I am quite looking forward to have a go.  If you have any suggestions of patterns using this yarn or one with same gauge, please let me know.

What next?

What a miserable summer's day!... Rain all day long is really bad news for children on holidays... Tonight, mine have gone with their dad to see the War or the Worlds at the cinema. As I have got a splitting headache, I couldn't face more assault on my poor brain and gave it a miss. Well, it will give me a chance to catch up with my blog post.

At least the bad weather wasn't all negative for me and I have made quite some progress on Chicago. I might even say with confidence that it might be ready before my holidays!!!  I have done a lot of sewing this afternoon, because I wanted to take a picture for tonight's post and here is where I am :

Okay, I couldn't even resist to add a few flowers.... So as you can see I have still one sleeve to go, one buttonhole band and a LOT of flowers to do. But the end is very close, I can feel it.

And now my mind wanders on to the next project... which one ?  I can't make up my mind and it drives me crazy.  Should I start on one of the lovely creations from the Calmer Collection ? Should I make something for Summer or Winter? Should I wait for the new Rowan magazine? (When is it coming up by the way?) Decisions, decisions...

Retro Knit

Last week of term is always a busy week.  Monday was Music Evening at the school and we went to see my son perform in the orchestra. Yesterday was Sport Day and a great day it was. My daughter fell flat on her face, after the finishing line ("Thank Goodness!" said the wicked mother) and came home with a badly grazed hip but happy to secure the second place. My son (I discovered on the day, to my horror) had a huge hole in his trainers and you could hear flapping down the race track... He swears this is what slowed him down!

On the knitting front, nothing to show but I haven't been completely idle. I had started the Phildar cardi and nearly finished the back before deciding to frog it. This is one of those patterns you like on the picture but the more you knit the less you feel you're going to wear it.  So I thought I should stop waisting my time and go on to other things.  I can always use the wool (which I like) for another winter project.

I have started Chicago's second front. Only one more sleeve to go... Maybe will I finish it before my holidays and take the little flowers to knit away with me?  Now, that's a nice thought...

I popped in my local bookshop on Monday and I came out with this:

The knitting books for children were second hand and I thought they were a nice addition to my knitting library for when children pop up in my viscinity. There are quite a few original and colourful designs which are not dated.

The Vintage Knit one, which I have wanted for a long time was half price, so now it's MINE. I quite fancy making an evening version of the camisole on the cover (maybe for Christmas?) along with the bolero and the beaded short sleeve top (you would think I would be sick of beads by now...).

I love vintage patterns and I know, from reading other blogs, that I am not the only one... Wouldn't it be nice, one day, to have a "Retro knit"  knitalong? I have been looking at this pattern from Yesterknits for some time because I am intrigued at the way the cross over is made.

I thought, if I changed the sleeves a bit it would be quite an acceptable design for todays world.  What says you?

Chamomile out & about...

Thursday knitting,  Friday blocking,  Saturday sewing and Sunday modelling...  The hardest was to find somebody at home willing enough to take a picture !!! You would think I was asking for the moon...  must be something to do with the hot weather.  Finally,  after a lot of sighing and grunting  Delphine,  my daughter,  agreed to take a shot and voila:

As usual with pictures, the colour did not come out true to life.  It is in fact greener, you will have to take my word for it.

I have enjoyed knitting Chamomile.  It was a quick project (about two weeks) and the pattern was extremely easy to follow. The only change I made was using 41/2mm needles instead of 5mm ones.

Summer Tweed looks rustic and rough to the touch but it is quite soft and very comfortable to wear.

So all in all a very satisfactory week-end with a bonus :

Yes I got my copy this morning and my knitting might suffer for a little while...

Stupid?

I have learned something today which is : don't plan too much ahead because it is bound to go wrong somewhere...

Yesterday evening I started my last hank of  Summer Tweed.  I could see the finishing line as I was knitting a few rows before bedtime,  with a smug smile on my face... As I  put away  my knitting for the night,  I gave it a final glance and my grin got frozen because this is what I saw:

A STRIPE!!!  When I went shopping at John Lewis it never occured to me to check the dye lot number. How more stupid can you be? (don't bother to answer that one ). Anyway, a quick call to John Lewis today and the wool is on its way. They had only one left and I suppose I can call myself lucky. But it taught me a lesson for the future.

So what to do in the meantime? I could have gone onto my Friendship Flower bag for my friend, but then again I got stuck because I am waiting for some mother of pearl buttons a colleague is going to give me. I did manage to sew the flower onto the shell of the bag . But it is all I can do for now.

What was left to do but go back to Chicago who was quite grateful for that!  I must say that I did struggle not to start another project. But I must not be weak when the end is so near.

Plans...

Not much knitting done this week-end...  Yesterday I had to work all day.  I did manage however to knit a few rows on the LAST sleeve of Chamomile in the evening.  The end is near, I can feel it...

Today, the children wanted to go to the beach and to the beach we went. It was, and still is, far too hot to knit Tweed even if Rowan call it a "Summer" one!

I also received yesterday my Sport Laine from Phildar (I have finally managed to get it from Belgium) and it made a great welcome home present after work. Needless to say that my eyes have been wandering towards the Phildar Ribbon Cardi pattern many times over the week-end BUT I have been very strong and stuck to my resolution to finish at least one project before starting something else. How about that for incredible will-power?  Okay, maybe the weather had also something to do with it...  (Sport Laine is also a " Cool day"  yarn) .

So next week's plans are a) finish Chamomile and b) start and hopefully finish my Friendship Flower present for my friend. This should involve quite a bit of sewing, so I'd better go and give the old sewing machine a good dusting...

A sad, sad world...

This is a sad, sad world we live in when in addition to wars, dictatorship regimes and natural disasters a bunch of fanatics take it into their hands to commit mass murders anywhere, anytime in the name of ... what exactly???  Nobody is sure anymore. .. Terrorist acts can only engender anger and hatred, often aimed at the wrong people or communities as the main culprits stay safely in shadow enjoying the mess. The only answer is carry on living as normal as can be. Terrorists have no voice. Their actions will lead them nowhere and the sooner they realise that the better for the future of the human race...

Yesterday, the only action I could take was doing what I love best and made a flower for all those people who died or suffered terrible injuries. This flower will become part of a present to a friend and I will call it thus the Frienship Flower to show that the world is not all hatred and ugliness. People DO care...   

Maybe some of you might join me and make a Frienship flower to pass it on to your loved ones...

Not much time left...

Another two weeks and a half and the children break up for the holidays!!! I have just realised that... Knitting time will seriously suffer, needless to say... Then we are going away for 2 weeks at the end of August and I very much doubt I will take any wool and needles with me. I honestly can't see myself on the beach or by the pool applying suntan lotion to little burning backs and then pick up my knitting with greasy hands... Besides it will probably be far too hot to work with wool (we're off to a gorgeous little Greek island). By the way, do they knit in Greece? I haven't come across a knitting blog from there yet... Have you?

So I haven't got much time left on my own to either finish something or at least make a good progress. This is where I am now:

This is Chicago's back, sleeve and the ribs from one front.

Not bad, and I know that past the ribs I should work a bit faster. I hate ribs and honestly I don't know why two projects on my to-do list include lots of ribbing. I must be insane...

And this is Chamomile's back, front and a partial sleeve.

I can't be sure but I feel that this one has got a serious chance of seeing the light of day before the holidays...

Now, of course, there is this little parcel of wool on its way to my home which hopefully will become one day the short cardi from Phildar. But I WILL NOT let myself be distracted...

Progress report...

I have been working steadily on my knitting .

Chamomile's  front is finished and its back is growing up. Very surprisingly I have no disaster to report!  So far, it has been a very easy and fast knit. The feel of the Summer Tweed was quite weird after the softness and elasticity of Calmer, but I quite like it.

I have also started on one of Chicago's  front, just to be able to say that I am not neglecting it. ... I hope to post some picture(s) sometime next week to show my progress and prove that I am not telling tales...

I have received my copy of the  latest Phildar magazine. Yes more patterns to look at when I should be concentrating and finish what I have started...  I have made the strict resolution to stick to no more than two on-going projects at one time. But I allow myself to look and plan ahead and add to my wish list.

So out of this magazine I have picked up two very strong possibilities :

and                             The fist one is intriguing because , apart from the ribs, it is knitted with two needles of different sizes 5mm and 9mm alternatively to form a loop. The question is where am I going to order the Phildar Sport Laine from?...

The second is a variation on the scarf theme and should be quite quick to knit. And I like the flower!