An Almost menage a trois!

Ha! Bet that got your attention.

Well, after that shameless pun, here are the three things I have almost finished :)


One.

An almost monkey. You can see his tail and yet-to-be-attached second ear. Also needs some facial embroidery.

Two.

An turned heel, and almost completed second sock of the "I'm a Three Year Old's Dye Job" socks.

Three.

Know what that is? Hang on, I'll give you a hint..

That. That is ALMOST 7cm of 4ply ribbing on 2.25mm needles. (whew!)

Nearly there. Can't wait to get back onto the waiting circulars!

On the needles (knit projects in progress)

Just a quick aside, wasn't the weather fabulous today! 26 degrees, warm and lovely. We ate fish and chips by the river and played a lot of catch on the grass. Good day.


Okay... I took photos of the blocking scarf, but felt somehow it needed showing off .. at least to show how long the sucker is.

To put it in context, I'm 5'4''. The intended recipient is around 6'. Hence the longish nature. And, I am totally recommending the Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran again. It's fabulously soft etc. Really nice.


Next? Well... here's that sock. You know how often I comment in the blog about how the colours are off, and it's not really that bright (well I think it, if I don't say it.)

Well...


These socks look just like the picture.

They really are that bright.

Thus, here they are "I'm-A-Three-Year-Old's Dye Work" socks. I'm turning the first heel. I gave up on the attempt to alter the Widdershins heel. As I haven't knit it full-sized yet, I couldn't really get my head around what's happening in that yet. Maybe for my next pair.

And .. finally, the first slow attempts at progress on the diamond patterned top from Vintage Knits.

I have ribbing. Not even all of it yet.

This is, of course, what happens when you decide to knit the ribbing as a single piece (so you can join and continue in circular needles.) Yes, I should have done the whole thing on circulars (I can hear my fellow SnB'ers talking in my head), but I didn't have them in the right size and no, I didn't think to borrow some. I'm still getting used to seeing people in person who knits as much as me!

There's... (stops to count rows) 9 rows. One inch. The ribbing is 2.5 inches. That's until I can get it onto circulars and thus on the bus. Of course, I haven't been knitting much of late as my darling man has been dropping me to work a lot the last couple of weeks, which significantly cuts in to pure knitting time. I didn't realise how much time it adds up to until its not been there.

Um... It doesn't want to post the picture of the ribbing. Maybe it's so depressing, even blogger won't deal. Never mind, next post...

Scarf finishedness and Monkey Bits!!

Okay, I've been a tad busy. House sitting, and general stuff keeping my good self occupied.

Hence, I have things to show for it.

Not, now I sit here and think on it, the things I promised I forgot to take pictures of the start I made on the diamond patterned top from Vintage Knits, and no photos of the "I'm a Three-Year-Old's Dye Work" socks.

(Can't you just see skeins of yarn hanging out in a coffee shop or bar, and the embarrassment that little one when she introduces herself? But I digress...)

What I do have is pictures of Fitzwilliam's scarf blocking... thus...

(which was originally on the dining room table. Me, who has done university physics and thus should know better, might have avoided the "it was dripping on my dining chairs" discussion I later had with the owner of the dining table had I thought through the 'what happens when 1 inch of either end of a damp scarf lays off the edge of the table. So now it's zigzagged in the laundry. Nuff said.)


I also have pictures of the blue yarn slowly becoming a ball...






And....

....

.....

(insert loud mock-enthusiastic voice) Monkey bits!

Okay, they may not look like much now, but trust me, there's a monkey in there.

Pattern is from an old Simply Knitting magazine (which I don't really recommend, but it had two patterns I wanted). It's a Monkey by Fiona McTague. You can see a hand sewn on top of the pile. I hate finishing knitting. (That's in the technical sense. I love completing things, it's the blocking/sewing etc bits I hate.)

pictures of the socks (once I have figured out how to down-size the heel from Widdershins (any takers?) and some of the agonising slowness that is the diamond stitch top. 4ply. What was I thinking??

Let's hear it for eBay!

Yes, I have just paid for another eBay purchase. Or, rather, two.

Two Rowan books, both of which I have wanted but balked at price of. Total - just under $48 including postage.

Numbers 37 and 35. I tell you, I'm all about the vintage look at the moment. It's always worked for me. (Ask my mum, I tended firmly towards the Victorian 'dandy' look for a long while there. I still have the tails and top hat to prove it).

I have also purchase some cotton yarn to knit the Diamond patterned top from my Vintage Knits book (Sarah Dallas). It's a very girly pink, to be edged with black.

For work. It's written for Jaeger Matchmaker 4ply (ie wool) but, let's be realistic. I live in Australia. Hence, cotton. Hopefully, it will still work well. I've decided (I think) to knit it in the round to the sleeves. Of course, this may be complicated by I think only having the right size needle for the main body. ... thinks... but I might knit the ribbing as a big long single piece and then join for the the body. That would probably work...

I still have two projects to finish (monkey for friend's bub-to-be-born, and the Fitzwilliam scarf) but they are now both nearly finished and getting to the awkwardly bulky stage. They will stay home until done now.

So, I have my little miss' socks on the traveling needles. I'm hoping they'll be done quick, but I doubt it will be quick enough for her! They are real little-kid-socks... Gaudiness itself. Plus, of course I want to finish them so I can start the top with a clear conscience.

I better get going then, huh?

We dyed some more yarn..

Hello....

sorry about the overall lack of actual knitting stuff, and increase in general whiny stuff.

But, I can make up for it..

Today darling daughter and I dyed her some stripy sock yarn and me some laceweight that I picked up cheap at the Royal Show yesterday with the lovely Clementine.

First, we discussed colour choices and if we wanted stripes or not. "Pink, red, blue and yellow" and "yes" were the decisons here.

Then, we got out crayons and tried out colour orders to decided on our striping order. This led to the dropping of pink and the colour order thus: red/blue/red/yellow/red/blue etc

So we made the big skeins and dyed them thusly..













Which became this..

('scuce the washing - day off ..)

and then this...

I also dyed 200g of 3 ply (soft of heavier than laceweight, lighter than socks) that will become a lace shawl, probably for me. It's still drying out (though now inside) so I can only show you it on the line here:

I was going for sort of 'sky' colours. These were all dyed using the KoolAid stash. The dark blue caused me some problems getting it - I got there in the end, but am faintly worried I may have overcooked the yarn. Time will no doubt tell. :)