knitwise

New Resolutions...

Things have got to change, I have decided...

I have said it before but I don't listen to myself often enough :  I can't cope with too many knitting projects on my needles at the same time.  Sad, maybe, but nevertheless true.

I find myself knitting a bit of this and a bit of that  and the progress end up being painfully slow. I don't want to gather too much dust on my WIPs.

So where am I now ?

• Bianca is on hold because to be honest I am not very happy with the front. I'll pick her up later, it' a promise... (maybe in the spring???)
• The leaf scarf is nearly finished, so I will give it my full attention to hopefully produce an FO by the end of the week.
• Air is next with one sleeve approaching decrease stage.  It will be my next full-time project.  I want to finish it before Christmas.
• The Peace Shawl will have to wait a little while longer.  I am itching to pick it up,  but one has to be ruthless in order to move on.
• I have two very impatient wizards begging for their Hogwart's scarves... I have promised to get started when MY scarf is done.  I can't put it off any longer as I fear they might cast a nasty spell on me...  So once I receive my circular needle, one of those scarves will be in my evening knitting basket...

Who said knitting was relaxing???

Harry Potter fever...

I took the children to see  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night.  Great movie,  we really had a good time.

Coming  home I told them that if I had put my act together on time we could all have gone with HP scarfs and even Ron Weasley sweaters!...   As soon as I opened my mouth, I realised that "I shouldn't have said that...".  The response was over-enthusiastic to say the least and now I have a special double order for the release of the next movie. (Plenty of time then...I hear you say).

So it will be a Gryffindor scarf and sweater for Christian and a Slytherin scarf and sweater for Delphine  (nothing personal, she prefers their colours and she loves Professor Snape...).

If, like me, you have been bombarded by orders go there for lots of links to give you inspiration...

Right now I wish I wasn't muggle born,  I could do with a wand of my own...

Peace Message...

"Men and women join hands outside an evergreen forest on a starry night to celebrate the message of peace..."

I love a shawl pattern with a story to tell...

"The peace shawl"  design by Evelyn A. Clark for Fiber Trends.

White,  being the symbol of peace had to be my color choice.

Jaggerspun Zephyr wool-silk.

The first stars in the night sky.

The postman rang twice...

We  are still caughing a lot over here but feeling much better thanks to a pile of Harry Potter DVDs  and ... a box of chocolate truffles.  The children are back to school  and everything is more or less back to normal.

I have managed to finish Air's  second front and I have started the first sleeve .  

I am also half-way through the leaf scarf.  Things are growing smoothly on the knitting front.

I do love my Postman at the moment... First he brought me some Jaggerspun Zephyr from Fiddlesticks.

I can't tell you how much I am struggling to keep my hands off this wonderful stuff...  This is for the Peace shawl and I promised myself not to start before at least... next week!...

Then, the next day, I received this:

Inspired by all the "sock knitting" going on at the moment, I thought it was time I had  a go myself...  I ordered a "Rainforest Sock it to "Em" starter kit" from Get Knitted.  This one is the Zebra kit.  I had a disastrous attempt, in the past, at sock making.  Basically I had enormous trouble dealing with 4 needles at a time.  But I am not easily defeated and I will have to try again. 

So lots of knitting plans for the future (and I am not revealing all of them...) but unfortunately the same amount of time.

Sunday news...

It has been a week without any post because I have spent most of it trying to give my homepage a facelift.   A very grateful  "thank you!"  to  Kathy   and  Tracy  for their technical help...   Without  both of them,  I would probably be still  trying to work out everything.

I have finally come out of the Dark Ages.   21st Century,   here  I  come!...  Now that I am  "in the know" ,  I anticipate  a few more hours of fun when I feel like a change.

But I haven't spent the whole week glued to the Computer.  I have made some progress in my knitting:

This is the start of the Leaf   Scarf.  It is exclusively my evening knitting project when everybody is talking to me and I can safely answer without fear of dropping a stitch...   I know I said I would stick to two projects at one time but does a scarf count???

The back and left front of Air are completed and hopefully I will cast on the right front tomorrow.  I say hopefully because our household have been hit by colds over the week-end.  Only husband and cat are not caughing and sneezing all over the place!!!  It looks as if the twins might miss school tomorrow and we will  watch probably Harry Potter 1, 2 and 3 again in preparation for no4...

Knitting meme

Thanks Blossom for this meme.  I don't think I am the ideal person to pass it on to as I don't consider myself  an experienced knitter...  But I'll have a go nevertheless,  knowing I'll get stuck on some questions.

What is your all time favourite yarn to knit with?

Right now,  I'll say without hesitation : Calmer.  It is the second time I knit with this yarn and the magic hasn't disappeared.  Having saying that,  I haven't knitted with many yarns yet and my knowledge is limited.

Your favourite needles?

I grab what is available here on my little island (not much...),  but I would love to try bamboo needles one day to see what all the fuss is about.

The worst thing you've ever knitted?

I usually stop if I don't like something I am knitting...  In retrospect the very first items I knitted when I first learned must have been awful...

Your most favourite knit pattern (maybe you don't like wearing it... but it was the most fun to knit

The Flower Basket Shawl I have just finished.  Lace knitting has got this kind of magic for me, especially at the beginning of the project : you haven't got the faintest idea of what you're doing and suddenly a leaf appears amongst all those yo's, ssk, k2tog, etc...

Most valuable knitting technique?

All finishing techniques are especially valuable as they can make or kill a garment quicker than you have knitted it.

Best knit book or magazine?

Usually I like Rowan and Phildar knitting magazines best, but as in all mags, sometimes you only find one pattern you like or you could knit everything in it.  As for books, my favourites at the moment are Denim People, Vintage Style and A Gathering of Lace.

Your favourite knit-along?

I have never joined a Knit-along before, as being a slow knitter, I am afraid to get to the finishing line  years after people have moved on to other things... But one day I know I will join when the time is ripe and the KAL is a bit unusual or challenging.

Your favourite knit blogs?

Tricky and unfair question.  My sidebar list a few of my regular reads, I also visit others.  Some I like because they are truly inspirational  or very informative or  funny or nicely presented or interesting, etc... I visit them all for different reasons.  Listing my favourite would be an impossible task and there are also hundreds out there that I have to discover yet...

Your favourite knitwear designer?

Must be Kim Hargreaves (although I have to say I don't like her latest collection. My opinion only...)

Your knit item you wear the most? (how a picture of it)

Chicago (not now, it's too cold!...)

This meme has been around quite a few blogs.  If you haven't yet done it, consider yourself tagged...

In the queue...

I do it every time :  I pick a main project I really like but slow down in the middle of it to wander off onto other things,  hence the main project takes ages....  It happened with Chicago and it is now happening with poor Bianca...

My sister-in-law swapped some Calmer with me because she doesn't like it (???).   Well,  I couldn't leave it alone to  lay around,  so I started  Air from the Calmer collection (I have just enough wool to make it)  and I have been purring ever since...

I must confess that I started it just before going to France and this is where I am now:

I do love this pattern !  The wool is not grey as the picture suggests but Khaki.  There are enough different stitches to keep me awake.  The sleeves might be a different story,   but I am so keen to wear this that I am ready to race through them with a grin on my face...

But this is not all !...   I have finally received my GGH Soft Kid which I had planned to use for the Valenciennes cardigan mentionned previously.

But I am not going to cast on straight away.  After all I have made a promise: no more than 2 projects on the go for me...

There is also this:

which is for a Leaf scarf as seen on Caro's blog.  Hers is lovely (see her gallery) and I want one too!!!

And there is this:

I have ordered the pattern for the Peace shawl.  Is this too ambitious after the FBS ?  I have enjoyed knitting the last so much that I want to make another lace project.  I haven't got the yarn yet but this one will definitively be on my needles pretty soon...

5 things...

I thought  I would seat down 5 minutes today and bore you with a questionnaire that Dorothee kindly passed over to me...   Here we go...

5 things I would like to do before I die :

• Visit Scandinavia
• See my children happily settled in their adult lives
• Learn to be patient
• Make a sponge cake as light and fluffly as my sister-in-law does
• Win something once in my life!!!

5 things I can do :

• Knit
• Sew
• Enjoy my own company
• Dream wide awake
• Keep a secret

5 things I can't do :

• Resist temptation
• Count in my head in English
• Read with the TV or radio on
• Do the house work without complaining
• Wink with my left eye

5 things I say most often :

• Wait a minute (mostly to my children)
• Take your shoes off (again to my children)
• Where have you been ? (to the cat)
• You can't be hungry again ! (to everybody at home)
• Where are my glasses ? (to nobody in particular)

5 things I like in the opposite sex (or same) :

• A sense of humour
• An open mind
• Generosity
• Curiosity
• Enthusiasm

5 celebrities I admire most :

• Oscar Wilde for his wit
• Jacques Brel for his songs
• Karl Larsson for his paintings
• John Irving for his writing
• Ernest Shackleton for his leadership

And this,  my friends,  concludes  this post.  Take up this questionnaire if you dare...