Weekend FO

This is from a weekend some time almost a month ago, but it still counts. 

As an aside, I really love these new red shorts I got from Boden. The only sad thing is that Boden seems to have been the victim of its venture capitalists because the quality is just really poor compared to what it once was, so I'm already mourning this gorgeous red colour, which I fear can't last more than this summer. 

This is the Tolsta tank from my last post - square neck version. The only mod is that I went down a size during the body of the top, by decreasing 4 stitches every 6th row until I got to the stitch count for size 4. 

It took about two skeins of the Namolio yarn, so maybe 600m, and I love the glimmer from the secret strand of sparkly linen thread. 

Nothing else has been cast on yet but I have wound the yarn for the niece's unicorn jumper, I just need to look away from my phone for long enough to cast on. Well, if I have to be honest, the blocked is that the pattern is not immediately to hand. I know it cannot be far away, probably it has fallen down the back of the sofa, but mental energy has been somewhat lacking as I mark and mark and mark and then spend much of the rest of my time worrying about the aforementioned university assignments. I did make a start on one them 10 days ago but it made me cry so I have not been back to it since. The very opposite of a sensible, rational reaction. 

Still, school's out now. Today I have seen the dentist, the optician and the beautician. The house is filthy but relatively tidy. The end of marking is in sight. It's two weeks until my first holiday. Time to get cracking. 

Weekend FO

 Presto Chango!

This is my attempt at the Spurs logo, which I charted myself. It is hard to be precise in aran weight over 16 stitches but I don't think I did a terrible job. 

Pattern: Presto Chango, a freebie pattern

Yarn: Rico Essentials Aran, a soft, superwash 100% merino

Needle: a satisfyingly chunky 5mm

Mods: I finished the sleeves with a 3NBO by picking up the cast on stitches to bind off with the live stitches, once the sleeve was finished. I think I did the seam on the wrong row on the second sleeve because the seam looked different, but still very neat, so, meh.

I took the opportunity to try out the bunny cable pattern I've wanted to try for a while now and I am thrilled with how it turned out. I probably prefer it without the colour change as the stitches have a slightly strained look around the edges, but the bunny tail was a particular win. 

The baby's name is Indiana.

This was the original lace panel that came with the pattern. I knitted this one first, to give me a feel for buttonhole placement and number of rows. 

Lovely and quick! 400m out, too. 

Some baby knits

Nephew Z's girlfriend gave birth to what I guess is Great-nephew Z (I'm so old) a while back now, 4 weeks early. She apparently went into hospital with terribly itchy skin and came out with a baby. He was a big'un, as is the way of the Zs (all boys, all huge - I think Mr Z was a 10 pounder and Mother Z gave birth to him at home 😲 ) and weighed 7lb 10oz on birth, a month early, so I knitted my favourite garter stitch jumper pattern in age 3-6 months so that he will get some good wear out of it. 

It's knitted in Rowan All Seasons Cotton, a nice variegated blue that I picked up from someone in a swap years and years ago - whoever I swapped with left me this behind the counter at Get Knitted. I've got two balls left and keep stalking other people's stashes of the lemon yellow colourway, thinking they would look good striped together, but equally I have some red Smoothie that would work not quite as well and I should probably use that up instead. 

This is my fifth whirl with this pattern by Debbie Bliss but I do note that it has been a long time (9 years) since I last wheeled it out. I was musing on the fact that this must mean that all my friends are done with the baby-making and I'm now on to knitting for the next generation....

...BUT THEN (it's hard to be dramatic in print)

My very old (as in, we've been friends for nearly 30 years, not that he has massively old) friend Richard popped up on Facebook last week, tagged in a post that announced the birth of his daughter. Richard doesn't really do social media and we haven't seen each other in about 2 years so this was a complete surprise to me. I immediately jumped at the chance to get knitting a Presto Chango, an insanely cute little baby cardigan with a buttoned-on bib front that is interchangeable. 

I knitted this in about 3 days, it was so easy. I've gone with the lace front for my first try and have, since this picture was taken this afternoon, finished the second panel with a navy capital I on it for her name. I'm adding a panel with a bunny cable on it, which I am going to attempt to knit in navy with a white tail (no projects on Ravelry have done this as a colourwork cable so wish me luck) and then finally one with the Spurs logo picked out in navy. Richard is a gigantic Spurs fan so that's really why I picked this pattern, so I can do a Spurs logo attempt and if it is awful then I still have a jumper to show for it. 

It's all worked in Rico Essentials Soft Merino Aran which is lovely to knit with. I had a bit of it stashed for a knit for Lara that I haven't done yet but naturally not enough, and no navy, so had to order more. I think it will be a handy thing to have in stash though, and I think I might still have a ball of red leftover from a previous project: a red, white and navy striped jumper might be just the thing for my next little knit. 

I do also have a 4 ply jumper on the needles but when a good friend has a baby, what can you do?

A couple of FOs

 These jumpers were both finished in December but I hadn't got round to taking pictures until now. 

Pattern: Cabeladabra (Ravelry link)

Yarn: Mirasol Miski, purchased lovingly a skein at a time from Get Knitted, circa 2008. I had 18 skeins of this wondrous yarn, which looked to be just enough, but turned out to be way too much, so I am left with 4 more skeins for a future project. 
Needle: 5mm
Mods: None, although the choice of yarn means that the FO doesn't look much like the original: it's possible I wasn't getting row gauge (although stitch gauge looked OK) and the yarn is 100% baby llama so it is pretty hefty and drapey. I was concerned, to begin with, that the cable definition wouldn't be good but it is nice and crisp. 

I think it's going to be one of those jumpers that is too warm for me to wear out and about, when any kind of rushing or spending time in warm shops invariably makes me overheat when I've got a coat over the top, so instead it's going to be a cosy, indoors sweater dress. It's long enough to wear over a pair of leggings without worrying about any knicker flashing (as pictured). The neckline is maybe a bit wide; I could always unpick the bind off and add a couple more rows, if it loosens up too much on wearing. 

Pattern: Candy Shop (Ravelry Link)

Yarn: Mr B's Hiddlestone in a one of a kind grey flecked colourway - flecks of purple and green. There was some variegation in the skeins that I didn't really clock until I was knitting with it and like an idiot, of course I didn't knit from two skeins at once, but luckily the skein that was more of a mauve grey was the one that I used for the sleeves. It's got a lovely crisp drape to it and I really love the fleck. I'm not usually a fleck person but they were selling this at a Flock event in 2019 and I could resist. 
Needle: 3.5mm
Mods: Longer sleeves, but other than that, as per the pattern. 

This one was a marvel - it's so clever how the v-neck is just done through paired increases and decreases, and then later evened out with short rows. It got a bit tedious on the sleeves and with the broken rib edgings (it's probably not broken rib, but that's what I'm calling it) which is why it took four months, but I can tell I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it. 4-ply jumpers are (sadly) the way forward. 

Deck the halls with FOs and holly

The pandemic has given me a lot of opportunities for poring over my Ravelry queue this year and I was inspired to get my hands on some Big Softie off ebay and get on with knitting myself a door wreath for the festive period. Then I made the mistake of posting about it on Twitter and got a request for one, but since it takes all of 4 hours to finish and I bought 10 balls of Big Softie, and since the request came from Yul and Me'Julie (if you happened to read this blog back in 2002 you might remember them) and they've had a horrible year of it, being pub landlords, I decided to oblige. 

Pattern: Hampstead Wreath (Rav link)

Yarn: Sirdar Big Softie, now sadly discontinued. 
Needle: 10mm
Mods: On the first one, on the left, I knitted 14 repeats of the cable instead of 13. The result was a bit too oversized for the pipe lagging - Wilko's only had 15mm lagging, so I stuffed one length into another to get the girth. So, on the second one, I cut to 13 repeats, as per the pattern, but narrowed the width by 2 stitches on each side, resulting in a slightly more stretched cover. I believe the third time will be the charm, when I will probably reduce by one stitch each side and knit 14 repeats, but who knows when I will get round to that? I think knitting two in the space of a week is probably enough. 

Now just to decorate, but how? I'm thinking a big glossy red ribbon bow and some fresh holly and mistletoe, and the toy robin that Krupskaya keeps trying to destroy. 

Lockdown FO

I am cheating on this a bit and backdating it to when it was actually FO'd, although I have been waiting for pictures of its recipient wearing it to write about it. 

Such a little cutie, my niece!

Pattern: Crumpets

Yarn: 4 balls of Rowan Calmer - discontinued now; this has been in my destash for ages. 

Needle: 3.75mm - I should have gone up a size to 4mm, it ended up being pretty bullet proof

Mods: Very few. I knitted a beaded bind off instead of crocheting a picot edge because, as we know, crochet = dark art. Likewise, I avoided crochet straps and knitted on icord straps with little beaded ends. 

This pattern had been in my queue for about a decade - it was on the first page. I think I had intended to knit it for Jen's daughter Abi, who is now 10...possibly 11. The beaded bodice came out beautifully but it was pretty fiddly to knit. I was so looking forward to the skirt part, but then that had double the number of stitches and was boring as hell. The Calmer is splitty and feels weird to knit with, being ridiculously stretchy. I spent ages stringing beads for the bind off, only to come across a knot a few rows into the new ball; I cut and restrung, and then decided that the beaded bind off I liked to most was done with a crochet hook, so it was all for nothing.

So yeah, not my favourite thing to knit! - which is a shame, because this pattern goes up to 6 years and I'd love to make her another. Definitely not in Calmer, though. 

This bind off is divine, even if it did make me want to throw the garment across the room in frustration. It took 3 days. I slipped a bead onto a stitch, knitted it, slipped it back to the left hand needle together with the previous stitch, and k2togtbl. It's lucky she looks so cute in it, haha. 

Weekend FO and WIPs

I keep coming across caches of yarn that are not listed in my Ravelry stash. I don't like it when this happens because it means that, when I knit it up, I can't clear something out of stash. Reading that back makes me worry about myself but, there it is. 

This ball of yarn was one such missing. I bought it from Pook online around NY 2018/19, prompted by Jo at knitting group who knows I am a fan of the watermelon. When I saw this Star Trek comm badge inspired pattern by the Yarniad, I knew that it was made for this ball.

Pattern: Engage

Yarn: One 100g ball of Pook Gradient Cake Merino Nylon sock yarn. The pattern called for a yarn that had 100m or so more in the skein, but I just knit to the end of the ball and was happy.

Needle: 3.75mm

Mods: None needed, other than making it a few repeats shorter. This was the easiest pattern I have ever come across, I think, short of a straight st-st scarf. It was done in about a week. 

I keep meaning to take post-blocking photographs. I blocked for length rather than width, so it has become a long, airy wisp, that folds lengthways to become a compact cowlish thing. I love the colours.

Now thinking about that OTHER watermelon gradient I got at Wonderwool and never listed on Ravelry. Sigh. 

Once this was done I got straight onto the baby dress I am knitting for my niece, mainly because I talked Mr Z into stringing the beads for me and I didn't want to look this gift horse in the mouth by putting the yarn back into a bag and not touching it for another year. 

This pattern is called Crumpets and has been in my queue for about 10 years - it was on the first page. The yarn is Rowan Calmer that has been listed on my destash page for ages but nobody was interested. I was surprised, people love Calmer. I'm not loving it, though. It's so stretchy. I think I should have gone for a bigger needle but the gauge seems to be working. I'm knitting the 1 year old size, thinking that my niece will be able to wear it next December when she is visiting her Peruvian family. But I'd like to finish it and get it off to her soon, just in case she outgrows it before then. 

I love, love the beaded effect but, omg, what a hassle. It would help if I learned to cable without a cable needle but it is still a faff, purling two together tbl. I was thinking of making this in a 2yo size too but I think I'd better be honest with myself and go for the 4yo size because I think that is how long it will take me to pluck up the nerve. I've seen some great versions of it with the beaded bodice and a fabric skirt, though, so I'm sure I will have another crack at it - only this time, I will get Mr Z to string way more beads than the pattern calls for. I used about 50% more than were specified. Had to cut the yarn and restart it. Annoying.

And then, there have been some more of these...

I haven't knitted a pinwheel since 2017 so I thought it was high time I started on some of those double skeins I've got stashed. This is a LE I bought out of someone's Ravelry destash. It's a lovely combination of soft blues, very restful. I've smashed out four this weekend. Expect another four by...well, Christmas, maybe. 

Recent FOs

Lockdown continues to do wonders for my knitting productivity. It's getting the point now where I am slightly resentful of having to spend all my weekdays sitting at a computer and working when I would rather be knitting. The very nice thing, though, is that I find I don't have to do any work in the evenings or at weekends, something I mainly attribute to the loss of my exam classes, meaning I'm really only planning for 11 hours of lessons a week (and some of those are double ups). I've certainly been very busy during the day but my leisure time is my own.

Ergo -

Pattern: Climb Every Mountain
Yarn: Triskelion Mona Sport, a lovely blend of silk, alpaca and linen. This took about 4 and a quarter skeins.
Needle: 3mm and 3.5mm
Mods: I knitted an extra pattern repeat at the bottom and 6 extra garter rows on the sleeves. I knitted 5 rounds of ribbing around the bottom edge, instead of the icord bind off.

This is a really comfortable garment to just throw on and feels wonderful against the skin. I can imagine it being a good post-yoga top as well as good for the beach, hence the inspiration for the photo shoot. And I managed to complete the whole garment in under 2 weeks! I was very pleased with myself.

No sooner was that done than I dived straight into this -

Pattern: Flutter Sleeve Cardigan, Interweave Knits Spring 2008
Yarn: John Arbon Knit by Numbers, so long in my stash that the label still says 'a new yarn', just under 4 skeins
Needle: 3.25mm, 3.5mm, 3.75mm
Mods: I knitted it in the round instead of pieced and added a reverse st-st line on either side where the seam would be. I picked up and knitted the button bands instead of knitting separately and sewing on - I used the smallest needle and calculated the stitch count using the same formula applied to the sleeves, which came out ever so slightly bowed on the middle needle, hence using the smallest one. Both of these mods were partly due to not enjoying seaming and partly due to working this pattern in a sproingy merino instead of the drapey silk blend it was meant for - I just didn't think this yarn would have the sag to necessitate the structural details.
I haven't knitted the tabs for the sleeves, yet, but I might add them in if I can find buttons I like for the sleeves.
You can't tell yet, but it will only have one button instead of two.

This garment is the one that has been in my queue for longest - since 2008. I bought this yarn in 2011, specifically for this cardigan, and I had even wound one skein of it ready to begin. I am really pleased I've finally managed to get round to it. It took a little longer - three and a half weeks - but then it was term time by the time I made a start on it.

In both cases, though, I am annoyed by the yarn requirements being so under what the pattern specified. I have more than a whole skein of Knit by Numbers left and most of a skein of Mona, and I was knitting to the correct gauge both times. Where does leftover yarn go to die? At least I could pair the Knit by Numbers with the leftovers from the Wonderwoman jumper for something. Maybe little felted toys or something.

Lockdown knits

Well, this is a weird old world, isn't it?

I went home from work on March 20th, fully expecting to be in on the Monday, only to find a rota drawn up which I appeared on just once before the Easter break. To begin with this was jarring: I can't work a hundred miles a minute and come to a complete stop. However, I have found it actually quite easy to slide into a plateau of idleness. I've lost nearly half my timetable hours now that there is no summer series. I've gained weeks of time in the summer now that there is no summer series. What will I do?

Well, naturally there's been a lot of knitting. I finished this:

Pattern: Ravello by Isabel Kramer in size XXL - last year I was knitting her Westbourne so it seems the year has to always begin with a Kramer 4-ply sweater, because I started this in December.
Yarn: Isager Strik Tweed, bought in Copenhagen in the summer, in Topaz (2 and a half skeins) and Navy (2 and a bit skeins); Freyalyn BFL/Dinegal Nep, bought at Wonderwool in 2014.
Needle: 2.5mm and 3mm.
Mods: Almost none. I didn't even knit a bigger top than bottom. I did stripe the full sleeve instead of just half, however - the Freyalyn is so pretty that I couldn't just save it for the meagre stripes dictated. And the sleeves are a little longer than dictated, on account of my gibbon arms.

It's a lovely fit and I really should put it on for pictures, but there doesn't seem to be as much time as there should be, really.

Wanting something quick and easy, I moved straight on to a big tit.

This was a Sue Stratford kit I bought at Wonderwool in 2016. It was satisfyingly quick - the whole thing knitted up in a day and then I made myself find stuffing for it so the sewing up has begun. It's not yet finished because I'm debating stuffing some catnip in the middle. We're getting kittens later this month (SO exciting) so this might make a good plaything for them, although it is considerably bigger than either of them will be when they arrive.

Then, I cast on Climb Every Mountain using yarn I bought in the Triskelion sale last Wonderwool.

It's not a cape - it's a cape-like jumper. I have been desperately plugging away to get to the division for the sleeves and reached it today, one week after starting. Because the sleeve division is so low, this leaves me with only 62 rows left, plus the sleeve cuffs, which means I'm on course for this to be my second fastest garment ever, a record currently held by Cabo da Roca which took me 24 days but was (a) in a DK weight, not sport, (b) only 840m where this is going to be (my best guess) 1100 and (c) not knitted during a period of enforced sitting. In fact, my fastest garment ever, a camisole I knitted in 6 days, was completed during a period of enforced sitting, so this is obviously a good portent.

That said, I've got a sore shoulder and neck now. It might be from the resurrection of Wii Fit boxing, but it might be from the endless rounds of st-st in front of endless episodes of anything I can find that's good to watch (Tiger King, Grey's Anatomy, Unorthodox, The Crown, Ozark, the repeat of Wolf Hall...).

The colours are nothing like I'd normally choose but they are really glowy. I remember being torn between these two and a delightful spring green, which would have matched the tan quite well, but I'm not sorry about my choice (in fact I probably just wish I'd bought both, this is nice yarn to work with).

I can imagine throwing this on over my swimsuit at the beach and looking like a massive, luscious, custard cream.

Weekend FO

It's finally finished! My thumb joint is pleased. It has been very sore.

Pattern: Beth's Little Star Afghan
Yarn: Paton's Smoothie, about three balls
Hook: 4mm (I probably should have gone up a size or two, it's fairly bullet proof)
Mods: Nothing intentional, but as detailed before, my inexperience with crochet patterns led to the inclusion of an additional DC on every arm for the first 17 or so rounds. It has led to a bit of bunching here and there but I'm not unhappy with it. The colours are vivid, it's really warm and it will be perfect for wrapping my niece and wiping up all her baby vom and other associated fluids as it washes in the machine without any running or shrinking (unsurprising because it's an all-acrylic yarn).

I did 8 rounds of red, 9 of white and 7 of red - I thought I would run out of red if I did another round. The blanket is 35 inches from point to point and 28 inches from dip to point.

Weekend FO

This was finished two weeks ago but I was waiting for the quarterly Flock gathering so that I could get some Mr B pictures for my blog post.

Pattern: Diatom Shawl by Kerin Dimeler-Laurence
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette - 4 balls of red, one each of the other five colours
Needle: 4mm
Mods: I wouldn't have a clue how to modify something of this intricacy, so none, unless you count where I made a mistake and didn't fix it - this happened disturbingly regularly but I can't find any of them in the finished item, thankfully.

This kit has been in my stash since 2013. I think I might have mentioned that already. It was a fairly straightforward knit for the most part, although when each repeat got to around 20 stitches, I did struggle a bit to hold the pattern in my head on complicated rows. Luckily every other round was plain knitting, which helped, and I took it to Copenhagen with me, which allowed for lots of knitting time. I pack a new ball of red and an optimistic ball of orange, and was thrilled when I ended up needing both - that might be the first time that's every happened.

I was going to gift this as a baby blanket but was warned about giving holey things for use with little fingers, and it is handwash only which I don't think SIL should have to manage on top of managing a baby, so I am going to keep it for me. It could probably block a bit bigger but I didn't have enough room on the bed...next time I am staying somewhere with a king sized bed, I might have another go.

Weekend FO

My second Wonderwool kit, finished! With enormous thanks to Kat for doing the Kitchener for me. Feeling quite pleased with myself, especially as knitting almost never gets done in the month of June. I am now well past the total knitted for 2018 and we're only halfway. Go me.

Pattern: Peeky Catsocks (link is to the kit I bought)
Yarn: Coopknits Sock Yeah! DK - the kit came with a skein of each colour and there's probably enough light grey and yellow left for another pair
Needle: 3.75mm - I used DPNs in a fit of nostalgia
Mods: Nothing intentional, but the toes are meant to match the cuffs...oops

These worked up really quickly, in spite of the slightly fiddly colourwork-on-DPNs vibe. I had to rip back the first cuff and thereafter followed the pattern advice to knit them inside out, allowing a bit more room in the floats.

They really need blocking but Mr Z put them on as soon as I gave them to him, so it might be a while yet.

Weekend FO

I finished this about three weeks ago but, yknow, June. Every year the end of it catches me by surprise.

 Pattern: Bee Happy Shawl by Samantha Hinks
Yarn: Unbelieva-wool Sparkly Sock. Most of two skeins (a bit less of the grey)
Needle: 3.75mm
Mods: I knitted the moss stitch sections as moss stitch as I know it, rather than as instructed. I skipped the final two rows of yellow garter stitch and went straight into the cast off. The designer was selling the kit at Wonderwool without the sparkle, and reluctantly swapped them out for me after explaining that she really didn't want me to run out of yarn, so I came up with a couple of contingency plans. My other thought was to knit the bind off in grey, of which there is more left, but in the end I liked the yellow edging with the yellow beads.

Blocking, Wrong side up. Sunny day. I liked the light and shadow but it doesn't make for a great picture, sorry.

I couldn't get on with the picot edging instructions. I couldn't make the yarn overs work - I think I was having brain freeze. Moreover, I couldn't find an instructional video or website that used the same instructions, so in the end I used some others. K1, CO 1, BO 1st knit stitch, CO1, BO 1st CO stitch, place bead, CO 1, BO beaded stitch, K1, BO1, K1, BO1 - each picot bound off 3 shawl stitches together with 3 cast on stitches. It looks good. 

It is just as well that I kept on with this until I'd finished, even when it looked like Naomi wasn't leaving in July - she got a last minute reprieve and is heading back to Northern Ireland at the end of this term. Very sorry to see her go but delighted to get this done in time.

While-ago FO

I forgot that I hadn't posted about Mother Hand's cardigan. Here we are, a scant two months after Mother's Day and it's already finished! (Heavy on the irony). I finally sewed on the buttons last weekend when Mr Z was rewinding the shawl yarn. They're nice horn ones that I got from Brimstone buttons at Wonderwool.

 Sans flash.

Pattern: Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan by Stephanie Japel along with a charted motif based on Sarah Lund's jumper from The Killing. Mother Hand and I are having a Scandinavian holiday this summer, so it seemed apt.
Yarn: Laal Bear, from deep stash. It's been in a hatbox for so long it smells of Lush now, instead of sheep. It took just over 5 skeins of cream and just under 1 skein of brown.
Needle: 5mm
Mods: I knitted it in the round from the neck down and steeked up the front. I started in one size and increased to the next size up after the waist shaping.

Avec flash.

I really hope it is a good fit. In the end, I just oversewed the colourwork edges with the ends when I was weaving them in; the crochet reinforcement held where it was just over the cream rows, so hopefully it will hold. We're off for a little spa break with gin tasting and afternoon tea this week, so I will hopefully be able to add some pictures of her in it to this post after I get back.

Snow Day FO

Pattern: Westbourne by Isabel Kramer.
Yarn: Fivemoons Sinful sock, which is a blend of superwash merino, goat mohair and nylon. It's got a bit of a halo. Plus a gradient kit from Moonlight Yarns.
Needle: 3mm and 3.5mm. I can't believe it has gone as quick as it has.
Mods: I increased to the next size up after the waist, obvs. I knitted the stripes three rows wide instead of two. I edged the bottom and the cuffs with four rows of garter stitch, instead of one purl and three knitted rounds.

I might yet pick up and stitch around the neck a few rounds, to pull it in slightly. It's very wide. I quite like it but I'm not sure if I will continue to feel this way.

It was a nice straightforward pattern and I am really pleased with how the colours come together. And just in case I forget - the Fivemoons label said handwash cold but I took a risk, since 80% of the yarn components were superwash, and put it in the machine on a cold wash wool cycle; it came out fine. Dried really quickly, too. All hail the 4-ply sweater. Maybe they are worth the effort after all (especially since this one was done in a little over a month).

Friday FO

I know I should wait really and do this on Sunday but I really can't! IT'S FINALLY FINISHED!

This is my longest-serving WIP. I cast it on in 2006. I put the final buttons on it tonight and can officially FO it. It's very stimulating.

It's a pattern from a Simply Knitting calendar, knitted in Sirdar Snuggly DK and Sirdar...Funky Fur? Something like that. I think I probably used about a ball of each, though there are odds and ends in the bag with the leftovers so I can't be sure what I used. I found some black buttons from the button tins I brought with me when I moved away from London.

I feel like I should knit the hat to go with it, so expect to see pictures of that in 2030.

Weekend FO

I both completed and felted my trees today.

TO THE TREES!

There's still a bit of stitch definition so I might felt them a second time, but I thought I'd wait until they'd dried and see how well they stand on their own before deciding. This is one quick wash 60 degree cycle.

I've used up two and a half skeins of Cascade on these. 2018 Sally is very irritated at past Sally for not noting down what colours these skeins were before winding them, or at least keeping the labels - I am not sure what exact shades of green I've got here. However, I am happy that these exact shades of green are no longer in my stash.

Onwards. Mother Hand's purple hat next, I think; though my colleague is due a baby around Christmas and I have an almost-finished Santa cardigan for a 0-3mth old that I should maybe break out to work on.

As a complete tangent - I was looking through last year's posts for something today and came across this one where I explained my wish for beautiful, herringbone, wooden floors. Looks like that wish came true.

Weekend FO

It's finished!

Pattern: Alice Starmore's Elizabeth I, from Tudor Roses (2013)
Yarn: fivemoons Comet, 40% merino, 40% angora, 20% nylon - nearly 4 skeins (1600m)
Needle: 3mm, 2.75mm
Mods: I knitted it in the round after I'd shaped the curved hems on the body and sleeves. I added extra length to the body and the sleeves.

I was a bit worried it was going to be way too warm to wear, but weirdly it doesn't seem to be so far. It is really snuggly, but not stifling. I assume that's because it's 4-ply; it's the first 4-ply garment I've knitted that I will be getting wear out of, I think.

Now...to make a start on Catherine Howard...

Weekend FO: Ooo Wonderwoman

It SHOULD have been a weekend FO post three weeks ago, but then I washed it for blocking so I didn't have any pictures, and then, yknow, busy.

Wonderwoman cares nothing about multiple chins!

Pattern: A heavily adapted Julissa (Scoop neck version)
Yarn: John Arbon Knit by Numbers, all half price faulty skeins (except the white which I had to buy full price). I weighed it at the end and it's 425g, so surprisingly economical on the yarn.
Needles: 4mm and 3.75mm
Mods: Well, where to start? Obviously the colourwork is all to my own charts, but even then I didn't exactly follow my own charts and there were various mistakes made that I just fudged my way through.
I modified the design of the sweater with a longer body and a shorter rib; I increased to a larger size after the waist shaping, in what has become my usual pear-shaped practice with top-down sweaters; I basically ignored the sleeve instructions and cast on more stitches than I was meant to, to ensure the drag from the intarsia didn't pinch; I knitted twice as many rows for the neckline as I was meant to, because I wanted to ensure there was no off-the-shoulder slippage.

I am overwhelmingly thrilled with the result. A sweater so long-planned, and it came out as well as I had hoped. There are bits I'd change - maybe I should have tried to intarsia a star on the underside of the sleeves, across the seam; I made a couple of mistakes with the cuffs that I was too lazy to rip back. However, I wore it to Wonderwool and had lots of positive comments, as well as from the lovely cheerleaders at knitting group. So, I think I can chalk it up as a resounding success.

Weekend FO

So excited to finally have a FO post!

Pattern: Serenity by Rachel Booker
Yarn: Fivemoons Luna 4-ply, 5 mini skeins
Needle: 4mm
Mods: This pattern was very easy for modifications and I adjusted the width of my stripes according to how much I had of each colour. I knitted a double wide lace panel in the first colour, then a one and a half times repeat in the next two; then I knitted one lace panel in colour four, followed by a panel and a half (roughly) in the last colour, using a lace bind off.

It needs a bloody good block, but I am pleased with how it looks, and with how quickly it went.