I Just Needed Some Colour

Progress on the Princess continues steadily along.

I'm now on the final chart of the wide border (hurrah!) but still have a long way to go before I can call the shawl done.  Once the wide border is finished, I've got the triangle body to complete and then finally, another round of tedious edging.

I'm actually really enjoying knitting on the Princess at the moment but I went into a bit of a panic a few days ago as I considered the coming weeks (and weeks) of 'antique silver' (GREY) knitting I had ahead of me.

As most knitters would, I turned to Ravelry when the panic hit and catching up on some of the projects of a local knitting group I saw the PERFECT DVD watching colourful project the Lily Crochet Blanket.   Before I knew it I had downloaded the pattern and was ordering mini skeins of yarn from the Knitting Goddess to get started.

This won't be enough yarn to complete the blanket (each skein is about 1/5 of a regular skein) - but should get me started.

(The Natural Dye Studio who have made the pattern available also has mini skeins perfect for this project - but they were sadly out of stock when my 'need it now' mood struck!)

The yarn dropped through the letterbox a few minutes ago and I'm itching to get the colour flowing, but I need to tidy up the glue and glitter and get ready for gorgeous god daughter Genevieve's weekly pizza and gossip session.

Maybe tomorrow.....

Milestones

Thanks for all the blanket/afghan suggestions - keep them coming!  I still haven't settled on one.  I've started 2 so far and both have been abandoned as I haven't hit on the right yarn/pattern combo yet.  I made a trip to the new John Lewis to buy some yarn at the newly opened Westfield Stratford mall on Monday - but was defeated by the other 700 million people who also decided to check it out that day.  It was busier than the last Saturday before Christmas on Oxford St.  Crazy.

In the meantime I continue to make slow and steady progress on the Princess. With projects like this I keep motivated by focusing on small milestones - goodness knows the end seems too far away to be achievable.

I've just finished row 110 - so I'm halfway through the 220 rows of the wide border charts.  For the time being I ignore what's left to do after that!

Counting and Recounting

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has entered the Parkinson's Posh  Yarn draw - your support means so much to all of us. If you haven't entered but would love to win piles of GORGEOUS Posh Yarn (or have no idea what I'm on about) you can read more about it here.

Last week I couldn't muster up much interest in knitting (apart from the little earrings).  I knew in the back of my mind that what was stopping me was the mind numbing task of confirming that I had picked up exactly 865 stitches from the Princess edging onto the my needles and knitting the first row of the wide border pattern.

But in order to get knitting I had to count, so counting I did. Now, I don't know about other knitters but counting hundreds of stitches reduces me to jelly.  Not because I struggle with the basic flow of numbers - it is just that I get a different answer each and every time I count.

Of course that's if I make it to the end without the phone ringing, the doorbell ringing or (more often) losing interest and allowing my mind to wander so that I manage to to forget where the heck I was.  Stitch markers at regular intervals help - but even then I find myself with too many or too few stitches at the end and then have to recount all of the sections and ... well ... it's no fun.

But I did it.  I counted (a few times). And counted again.  And  I eventually decided I had 865 stitches and I started knitting.

And knitting.

And knitting.

It was like I was making up for not knitting for so long, I couldn't stop!

I knit 27,680 stitches. (That's 32 rows, but it sounds better in stitches.)  I am officially on a knitting spree.

If you squint a little when you look at this picture you can almost see how it will look with a bit of blocking.

And with the nasty counting over I think the Princess and I can finally start to become friends.

(I think I've FINALLY found an advantage to the inside out construction of this shawl - it's a little easier to photograph the pattern while it's on the needles!)

(And no, that doesn't make it worth it.)

Knitting - Sort of!

The Princess is making snail-like progress.  Whenever I think about knitting on it - something more important I need to do pops into my mind.  

Like the dishes. 

Or tidying the spare room.  

This would annoy me less if it meant that my house was now a pristine shining show-home.  But it isn't.  It seems I get distracted by something else  (usually paper, ink and glitter) before I actually do the dishes or tidying.

The Princess continues to defy all sensible construction traditions.  Having picked up the 865ish stitches for the wide border I had a moment of optimism when I thought "oh - at least I have the rows getting shorter to look forward to".

Wrong.

 The wide border begins with 865 stitches and 220 rows later it still has 865 stitches. 

Insanity.

I half-heartedly started working on this sock in the hope it'll spark the knitting fires.  So far, it's just resulted in a 3/4 finished sock.

In fact the most  yarn action I've had this week was inspired by some earrings that my friend the Caked Crusader pointed out to me - with the question "How cute are these?" And I had to agree they are darn cute.  (There are a LOT of really cute (and sometimes odd!) things there - the knitted knitting octopus is amazing  and there's a pattern!  The necklaces are sweet too.)

Realising that I had yarn (which at my current knitting rate was never going to be anything but yarn), and beads, I figured I could probably make a pair.  So I did.

Not quite as tidy as the originals -- winding little balls of yarn neatly is way harder than I expected it to be.

Perhaps I should take it as a good sign that while making my second pair, the temptation of little needles and small balls of yarn meant I started making these:

So maybe the knitting drought is ending!

When the End isn't the End

So following the great shrinking fiasco I returned to the Princess edging.

I knit a little each day.

Only a little each day because edging knitting at the beginning of a project is wrong and against the natural order of things.  (That and the fact that I've recently become obsessed with paper and glue and all things inky and glittery. )

But I have been knitting when I manage to get the ink out of my fingers and yesterday I counted my edging points and I had made it to 62.  WooHoo!

I took a look at the pattern to see where that put me in the 'how much longer will this have to go on' stakes.

And this is what I read:

Knit the edging for 85* points.

I glanced down to the * point and saw this:

* 2007 note: For a shorter edging you could make only 62 edging points....

62 points! I have 62 points.  Clearly it is fate that I checked the pattern at this point.





The practical, let's get this edging done side of me is screaming (really, it's screaming) "WooHoo! you are done. Now you can do some real knitting.  Let's go!"

But the masochistic, obsessive compulsive side of me is whispering "Well, you could do the 'easy' alternate edging.  If you aren't up to the project as it was originally designed  then you should stop now - don't push yourself."

Even as I write this I KNOW the practical side of me was right.

No one, not even the Princess' designer Sharon Miller herself would actually notice if I did 62 instead of 85 repeats.

But I probably don't need to tell you that I'm on repeat 68 now.....

It's hard work being a freak.

Knitting as Comfort

Thank you to everyone for the kind comments and messages of sympathy - each one is so appreciated. 

As we sorted through my parents' house we came across many of the knitted gifts I've made for them over the years.  Lyra was still in the tissue paper I originally wrapped it in.  The only wear and tear was on the paper - worn from when my Mom would take it out to show it off to someone - before carefully wrapping it up again. 

Lyra has come home with me and I am clearly my Mother's daughter as it's currently still in the same tissue paper.  I'll be trying to find a home worthy of it over the coming weeks.

I've taken to wearing the Retro Rib socks I made for my Dad (which he did wear a lot!) - they are too big but they feel perfect to me.

My niece Sarah has the cardigan I made for Mom last year, and Dyl has the cardigan I made for Dad in January.  I like knowing that the love I put into the projects is being passed on - and I hope the cardigans bring the girls some comfort.

Current knitting has been slow.  I made a pair of socks which went to Dylann and discovered I need to get cracking on a few more  if I want to  have any chance of filling this year's sock requesst list. 

I can't believe there was a time I was worried that I was knitting socks no one would want!

I picked the Princess back up a couple of weeks ago but progress is slow and a little uninspiring.  I've decided that I'll do at least one edging repeat a day.  That at least gets me to pick it up and I do find myself doing one or two more some days.

I don't know how many repeats I've done -- just that it's 'not enough'.

I figure at some point it'll become a real project and I'll work on it with  a bit of enthusiasm.  Until then - one edging repeat at a time.

I've just cast on a baby jacket for a friend who is due in June - it's fun to be making baby stuff. 

It's a Debbie Bliss pattern from The Baby Knits Book called the Donkey Jacket - and I'm torn on whether or not I'll be making the ears.  Ironic really as it was the ears that drew me to the pattern!  I expect I'll change my mind a few hundred times before I finish it.

It's a lined jacket:- the inside made on 4.5 mm needles, the outside made to the same pattern on larger 5 mm needles.  I've chosen a wintry red for the outside and am making it in 6 month size so it should fit the little one around Christmas.

And to finish it off there are a cute little pair of shoes to co-ordinate!  Better get busy - just set a date to meet the expectant mom next Tuesday.

Well, That was Unexpected....

London (and indeed the rest of the UK) are enjoying a very odd spring holiday season.  First - we get 2 four day weekend IN A ROW.  So office type workers were treated to an 11 day break for the low low one time only cost of 3 vacation days.  Insane.

If that wasn't enough. (And it was.)  We have had the most gorgeous weather for the last week. Sunny and a very warm 26 degrees.  Heaven.  It's cooled down slightly today but the sun is still shining so no complaints from me.

On the knitting front the 6 km of yarn for the Princess has arrived.  It's called antique silver - grey to most of us - and has a lovely sheen.  I dug out the needles and got ready to cast on, and then realised the Princess is built upside down (or inside out) (or something...).

In my experience (which isn't vast - but heh it's all I've got) - shawls like this are generally constructed like this:
1) knit the centre piece (triangle for triangle shawls, square for square shawls)
2) pick up stitches around the centre piece and knit the broad border and then
3) knit the mind numbing never ending narrow edging around the whole thing

Now the ONLY thing that keeps you going on the horror that is step 3 is the sight of the finish line.

So imagine my mood when I realised that the Princess is knit like this:
1) knit the mind numbing never ending edging
2) pick up stitches along the edging and knit the broad border
3) knit the centre triangle, joining it to the border by picking up stitches as you go along

This put me off for a day or two.  I mean - really.  What's all that about?  That means starting with the worst bit.  And to add insult to injury, when you finish that you can't even console yourself with "Oh well, at least that's the boring edging done" because it isn't.  You still have to knit the final edging along the top of the triangle.

Finally though I picked  up the yarn and needles again and cast on.

And then proceeded to make a mistake.

In every single row of the first repeat.

Every.
Single.
Row.

And worst when I finally got to the end of the first repeat, exhausted from the ordeal, I accidentally pulled the needle out of the stitches.  Frogged the repeat and cursed the Princes.  Loudly.

Taking a leaf out of Anne of Green Gable's philosophy - I awoke this morning and decided it was a new day with no mistakes in it and I was ready to try again.

So I cast on again - and here it is - the first of a gazillion edging repeats.

At this rate I expect to be done by June.

June 2099 that is.

The Princess Waits ... But Some Knitting Occurs

So immediately following my last blog post I thought if I'm going to do this Princess thing I'd best start by buying the pattern so I placed an order and waited anxiously.  Three days later the pattern dropped through the letterbox and I was ready to go!

Or so I thought.

I had planned on using some lovely Fleegle gossamer weight yarn I had in the stash.  A gorgeous bluey-greeny peacock colour.  2600m of the stuff.  A beautiful yarn and really, how can 2600m not be enough for anything?

When you've decided to take on the Princess that's when.  Sharon recommends a staggering 5800m - 5.8 km - yarn. 

Not having 5.8km of any single yarn in my stash I was back on to the Heirloom Knitting website and ordered up some 'Antique Silver' CashSilk.  With luck it will arrive this week.

In the meantime I've knit up the lovely green laceweight merino I posted about last time. 

I couldn't find a pattern that sang to me so I just cast on and played around a bit until I came up with this.  I really like the little ruffle and have dubbed it  - Just a Little Bit of Ruff.

It's a simple construction - starts with 11 stitches cast on.  (6 for the main body of the shawl and 5 for the ruffle edge). 

The first row is k1, yo, k2tog, k1, yo, k2tog, knit 5

The ruffle is formed using short rows.
At the beginning of wrong side rows (ie when starting at the ruffle edge)
-  knit 2 stitches, wrap the next stitch and turn (to wrap a stitch and turn - simply slip it to the right hand needle, bring yarn to front then turn knitting)

-  knit 2
-  knit 2, knit next stitch picking up wrap, knit 2, wrap next stitch and turn (picking up the wrap is simply inserting the needle into the wrap and then through the stitch on the needle - easier when you are doing it!)
-  knit 5
-  knit 5, knit next stitch picking up wrap, yo, k2tog, knit to end of row.

I increased on the third and every second row after just before the fagotting until I had 25 stitches in the main body, then every 4th row until there were 35 stitches in the main body and the every 6th row until there were 45 stitches.    Then I knit straight until I used 49 (of my 100) grams of yarn, and the reversed the process to the end.

I'd like to make a larger one in a heavier yarn - perhaps in a yarn with long colour changes - I like the idea of the striped ruffle.