Tuesday Ten

Ten things I'd like to knit by the end of the year

1. A tea cosy. The new deputy head requires one, and I like her, and I have lots of leftover red and purple wool (her favourite colours) and a handy pattern from the Debblie Bliss A/W08 magazine. I don't reckon it'll take me longer than a weekend.

2. A cabled beret. I like this one by Ysolda Teague, but there is a similar one in the aforementioned Debbie Bliss mag, which I have already paid for, so I might try my hand at that one instead. I have some teal Knitpicks Andean Silk, which I got in a swap, all ready for it.

3. Colourwork mittens. Something using the purple Andean Silk from the same swap, and the skein of Noro Silk Garden I will have leftover from the Candy cardigan I'm knitting right now. There are a few patterns out there I like, especially the Bird in Hand mitts, but I'll probably try and come up with my own design.

4. Thrummed slippers. I have some red roving for thrums and some chunky purple Sirdar softee. I want my feet to be as toasty as my hands.

5. WIP - Candy cardigan. It's knitting up quickly - I am proud to say that, at the weekend, I picked up and knit the bottom ribbed edge AND picked up for the top portion as well. I picked up 400 odd stitches, with only a little complaining. In fact, Mr Z complained more, because I required something mindless to watch whilst doing the second picking up, and made him sit through three episodes of Housewives of New Jersey, back to back.
Anyway, I intend to have that cardigan put to bed before October half term, but we'll see.
And yes, that big chunk of grass on the right of the picture DID end up caught up in the knitting - and yes, I will pay more attention to where I lay it down in future.

6. WIP - Jo's lace scarf. After getting the hang of it and adding several inches in just a couple of days, I have now cast it aside in favour of Candy, which makes me a promiscuous knitter, as well as a bad friend. I am on a deadline for this since I want Parpy Jo to have it as the weather turns cold, so I am going to set Candy on the back burner and get on with this. At the end of the week.
Maybe the start of next week.

7. WIP - Bamboo wrap top - aka "half term finisher". This is the project that I intend to concentrate on during my break, as it's a summer top and will be useful for my impending trip to Malaysia. I need to get over my fear that it will be too big - it's a WRAP top, it hardly matters.

8. WIP - red cardigan. I started the red cardigan for a June wedding and knitted the whole back in just one day, whereupon (regular readers might remember) I discovered my gauge was off, and threw it aside in a fit of pique.
The time has come for the red cardigan to come back out of the wilderness. I have on at least three occasions wished the red cardigan were in a wearble state since I started back in September, as it would make an excellent little cover up for a number of my summer dresses.

(I should here insert two more WIPs which are crying out for my attention, but I'm not going to lie to you - I probably won't get them off the needles by the end of the year).

9. Mr Z's Binary scarf. I have had the yarn for TWO YEARS and now I've done a colourwork workshop, I have absolutely no excuses. I have earmarked this as a Christmas holiday project...probably the Christmas holiday project.

10. A self-designed navy jacket, to incorporate the dichroic glass buttons I bought at Fibrefest. I have a picture in my head of how I want it to look; I just need to find some suitable yarn (something quite stiff and jackety) and put some numbers down on paper.

It's hard to pick just ten, really, especially since I quite urgently want to start a bag soon, and I haven't even thought about Christmas gift projects. It feels weird not to be knitting hats, since last autumn was consumed by them. I am starting to get a bit twitchy about all the projects I have OTNs - I can't look at them on my Rav page for too long before I start to want them to disappear - but I don't want to have another month where I can't start anything, like April was.

That said, I have one day left of September. If I cast on for a couple of things tonight and tomorrow, I can make October a no-starting month and still have plenty to play with.

You're a sneaky one, Mrs T.