A new problem

Those of you who know me well (and possibly people who know me a little) will know how I frequently want to knit ALL the things and cast them on right now.

Now I also want to sew ALL the things right now!

Finished one!

These were so close to finished it's ridiculous! All that was needed was buttons and two button loops.

Extra motivation to finish them off was found in the colder weather and the knowledge that when I'm back to driving to work in the morning, I will need something to keep my hands warm.

Knitting audit

So after yesterday's rough count, I decided to do a complete knitting audit. This has involved going through all my projects and making a list of what's on my needles and - naturally - knitting a bit of most of them.

In total I have 26 WIPs. In February I had 28, so I think I can just about claim that I have reduced the number of started-but-not-finished projects.

The oldest project is a top I think I started in 2010. The newest is either a pair of socks or some fingerless gloves - probably the socks.

The projects can be (loosely in some cases) categorised as:

Cardigans - 7
Jumpers/tops - 7
Blankets/coverings - 5
Gloves/mittens/wristwarmers - 3
Socks - 2
Hat - 1
Scarf - 1

A few items being made for gifts, but there are over 15 potential additions to my wardrobe. I think it's time to develop that potential!

The only problem is to decide which one first!

No, autocorrect, WIPs not whips ;)

A rough-and ready count shows I have at least 25 knitting WIPs. I really ought to try to finish some of them before the end of the year.

New in August

The monthly challenge:

• Read a new author, or just a book I’ve been meaning to for years
• Try a new ingredient/food/recipe
• Explore a new place
• Something knittingly new

My new author for August was Frances Brody, and I have now read four of her detective novels featuring Kate Shackleton. I enjoyed them, although there were a few anachronisms (they are set in the early 1920s) that bothered me a bit. Kate is a widow - possibly, her husband was missing declared dead in the war but she has not yet accepted that he is dead and continues to search for him. She was also adopted as a baby, so as well as having murders to solve, there is the potential for her past family, and maybe her husband, to mix things up.

My new food was smoothies. I have drunk smoothies in the past, but in August I started making myself a fresh smoothie every morning in the hope of improving my basic health level with an intake of lots of nutrients - that way I get the benefits of more fruit than I would manage to eat in the day. There is a huge difference between homemade and what you can buy in the supermarket, and I don't think I'll ever buy a carton of smoothie again! I've found that if I start with a smoothie in the morning, I'm more likely to make better food choices throughout the day. My husband has jumped on board with this and tends to appear in the ktichen when he hears the blender going, so now I have to share them - even telling him I'd put spinach in it wasn't enough to put him off!

My new place wasn't so much fun. A very precious person was admitted to the Teenage Cancer Unit at University Collegel London Hospital towards the end of August and I visited her there.

I didn't manage knittingly newness. I was so tired most of the month (one of the reasons for starting the smoothies) that I couldn't do much more than garter stitch a lot of the time. The beneficiaries of this were my mitred-square blankets, which are coming on nicely.

New in July

(Yes, I do know it's nearly the end of September!)
 
The monthly challenge:

• Read a new author, or just a book I’ve been meaning to for years
• Try a new ingredient/food/recipe
• Explore a new place
• Something knittingly new

In July my new author was Mildred Benson. She also wrote as Mildred A Wirts, but I hadn't heard of either name before. The books I read were from the Penny Parker series - I found a 'megapack' of 15 stories at a very reasonable price in the kindle store. Penny is similar to Nancy Drew, a motherless girl, brought up by her father and devoted housekeeper, who enjoys going around solving mysteries - all in the name of providing stories for her father's newspaper. I found Penny a little irritating at times, but overall the books were an amusing, undemanding read.

My new food in July was samphire, which was part of a salad I had at a pub lunch. Definitely something I'd eat again.

My new place was Alton Towers. I did not visit the theme park, but did stay at the hotel for a night. As I was sitting knitting in the lobby while waiting to leave the following morning, a lady coming to book in came over very excited to see me knitting in public and showed me her crochet. I wished afterwards I'd asked her if she was on Ravelry!

There was no knittingly newness in July. Mostly I knitted mitred blanket squares to try to use up some of the odds and ends of yarn.

New in June

The monthly challenge:

• Read a new author, or just a book I’ve been meaning to for years
• Try a new ingredient/food/recipe
• Explore a new place
• Something knittingly new

My new author for June was Kerry Greenwood. I watched and enjoyed the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries on TV, and then a friend made me aware when three of the books were available on the kindle daily deal (I have several friends who do things like that, they are super!). I had a couple of days off work with a rotten cold last month and entertained myself nicely with the first three books in the series.

My new ingredient was artificial sweetener. Not very exciting, but I had a go at adapting a couple of recipes I’ve used regularly in the past to use sweetener instead of sugar. I didn’t eat the results myself but I’m told they were good (they certainly disappeared quickly).

My new place had the potential to be very interesting and exciting as I was summoned for jury service and visited the Oxford Crown Court for the first time. Sadly, I didn’t even get a sniff at a courtroom as there were not enough trials going on for me to be needed on a jury.

In knittinglyness, I had another go at concentrating on one project at a time and was more successful this time, actually finishing off a few projects. One is a warm jumper so will have to wait a while to be worn!

New in May

Yes, I know we’re nearly halfway through June (and the year for that matter), but anyway …

A quick reminder of the monthly challenge:

• Read a new author, or just a book I’ve been meaning to for years
• Try a new ingredient/food/recipe
• Explore a new place
• Something knittingly new

So in May

·       My new author was James Anderson. I was browsing in the Oxfam bookshop and couldn’t resist the two titles The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy and The Affair of the Mutilated Mink. I started in on the first and was soon hooked. A lovely friend kindly lent me The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks, which finishes off the series.

·       I can’t remember trying a new food in May. There have been some dietary changes in our house over the last couple of months, mostly involving a lot more salads – I like salads, so consider this a good thing.

·       I also failed to explore a new place, although before the end of the month I had June and July’s destinations lined up.

·       Something knittingly new – well I tried knitting monogamy but that didn’t work. Other than that, I expanded this to something craftily new as I attempted to sew myself a top. I might tell you more about that another day.

Cosiness

Chatting with a colleague today

She admired my jumper

 "You are the Queen of cosy jumpers" she said.

"That's because I'm a knitter" I replied.

With our current weather, the more cosy jumpers/cardigans the better!

New in March

A quick reminder of the monthly challenge:

• Read a new author, or just a book I’ve been meaning to for years
• Try a new ingredient/food/recipe
• Explore a new place
• Something knittingly new

So in March I:

• Read some of the Mrs Bradley books by Gladys Mitchell - nearly three of them in fact. Having enjoyed the tv adaptation, I moved on to try the books and found them totally different. I'm glad I didn't go from the books to the tv adaptation because that would have driven me crazy. Even though the tv version had Diana Rigg, which can never be a bad thing!
• New recipe was too cook a ham. I have never cooked a ham before but my husband and I were given a frozen ham for Christmas and Easter with my family seemed the appropriate time to use it. My sister provided me with instructions along the lines of these are your ingredients, dump them all in the saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 2.5 hours. It turned out to be very nice indeed.
• I don't think I explored anywhere new in March, but I did note down somewhere new to explore in April.
• I'm not sure I attained new knittingness either. Unless knitting myself a jumper in just under 4 days counts?

Finished!

Pattern: Patons Ladies Edge to Edge Jacket*
Yarn: Patons Colour Works Aran

This was just waiting to be sewn up, so over a few episodes of House this weekend, I did exactly that. This was a really easy knit - it's nearly all garter stitch and I really like the mitred corners on the front edges.


*I hated typing that with no apostrophe or hyphens, but that is how it appears in the pattern book, so I resisted the temptation to add them!

Finished x 2

Having gone through my WIPs, I identified several from my list that just needed a few hours concentrated work to finish them off and therefore should easily be finishable in a weekend.*

1.     Summer holiday (2012) knitting

3.     Bolero for a young lady

5.     Glittens

7.     Edge-to-edge cardigan

10.   Wristwarmers

20.   Leafy hat

28.   4x4ply jumper

Some of them just need final finishing touches needed, others a little more work but they are all so nearly finished it seems a shame to leave them lying around with their destiny unfulfilled. So as I seem to have finished hardly anything this year, just get projects to nearly finished and then abandon them for some shiny new knitting, I decided to pick one each weekend and finish it off. Starting with the weekend we've just had.

Bolero for a young lady
Pattern: Suzie, Let's Knit Little Angels booklet March 2010
Yarn: Sirdar Calico

This project was a stashbuster - two whole balls used - and by whole balls I mean the last bit of sewing up was done with as closely matching yarn as I could find in my stash because I'd used every last bit of it!

It was also a (late because I didn't see her on her birthday and hence delayed finishing it) gift

I obviously got carried away with this finishing lark because last night I sewed in the last ends on this:

4x4ply jumper
Pattern: Banoffi, Rowan Knitting and Crochet Magazine No. 53
Yarn: Rowan Sienna and Rowan Panama

Please excuse the poor self-photography and the mess in the room behind me!

I really enjoyed knitting this jumper - it doesn't hurt that it knits up really quickly and I'm planning to knit another but with some slight differences - I'm going to have the ordinary stocking stitch, rather than reverse stocking stitch on the outside and I shall make the neckline slightly smaller. It will also be more purple as more purple knitting can only be a good thing - yes?

*Names of projects listed may not be official pattern names. I reserve the right to add more projects to this list as they approach completion and favour them over those already listed.

Stashbusting update

Sadly, my beautiful spreadsheet, with charts, of my yarn stash that kept a record of what came in and what went out was lost in what is known in our house as The Great Computer Woe of 2012. It’s therefore a bit difficult to do a comparison with the beginning of last year, to see how my stash has grown or shrunk since then. I like to think it’s about the same size, but it is possible I am deluding myself.

I have started again with a shiny new spreadsheet. My stash grew in January – Christmas money to spend and sales in yarn shops being an irresistible combination! However, while it might not look like I decreased it from the chart as the gains and increases are in different areas, from the end of January to the end of February, my stash was reduced by the grand total of 1 ball of yarn.

Since then, it has increased again - ooops! I returned home from the yarn shop on Saturday with a bagful of mostly purple yarn. I’m intending to knit up a storm this month though, so am hoping to have balanced that out and more by the end of March.

Knitting WIPs

I have found my mojo

And my mojo is pink.

At least for the moment.


In fact my mojo has returned so well that the top in the first photo (taken a week ago) is now finished apart from weaving in ends and sewing up.

The state of the stash

At the beginning of the year, I followed the example of Dancing through the shadows and catalogued my yarn. Somehow seeing it all written down and added up in a spreadsheet made me realise I had a lot more than I thought I did when it was tucked away in baskets in various places. Or even when the baskets were all gathered together

The yarn stash at the end of November 2011

Even with the evidence of how much yarn I own in actual numbers, I still managed to increase my stash considerably during January - my excuses: nearly everything I bought was for specific projects; I was spending my Christmas money; they were having sale at the yarn shop. Then just before the end of the month I signed up for some stash busting.

So, 1 month later, how is the stash getting on?

The increase in January is quite obvious (51 balls of yarn) and has not yet been balanced out by stash busting, but I think I think a decrease of 22 balls over February is not to be sniffed at!

UFO/Stash Busting Project update

Well, it’s 3 weeks since I signed up for the UFO/Stash busting Project, so how have I been getting on.

The first project I started after signing up for the challenge was niecelet's birthday present. I had to go yarn shopping for this, but decided that as I’d already planned to by the yarn and I went shopping on the very day I signed up, I could just squeeze that in under the wire. I was using a pattern I already owned and planned to use a button from my button collection.

I did finish a UFO before I started it:

 The first hitch came when the shop I went to didn’t have the yarn I wanted. With less than a week to niecelet’s birthday, I didn’t want to have to wait and try somewhere else, so I decided to pick up a couple of alternatives to try out. The deal I made with myself was that whichever yarn didn’t get used would be given away, so it would not increase my stash.

So I came home and cast on with yarn 1. After knitting a few rows, I glanced at the ball band and saw it said the yarn wasn’t machine washable. My sister would not love me for giving niecelet something that wasn't machine washable. So I ripped it back and cast on with yarn 2 – which is machine washable. On later reflection I realised that I have previously bought yarn 1 and the label has said machine washable, so I’m not sure what has changed there! It probably means I could have got away with it, but by that time I was well established with yarn 2.

However, before I got to that well-established point, I knit a few rows then decided that for the pattern I was knitting (a dress), the knit was too loose. So changed my plans. After looking through various patterns with nothing jumping out saying ‘knit me’, I cast on and started knitting from my head. I ended up with this top,

which I am rather pleased with. Apart from the fact that stashbusting rules 1 and 2 ended up being completely broken as I didn’t use anything at all – no button or pattern or anything – from my stash and had bought new yarn. My only consolation, is that the UFO I finished had been totally from stash.

The next project I started without finishing a UFO first, as I cast it on at knit night – I also bought some yarn there, but it matched some in my stash which will contribute to the project, so I’m ok there. And once I was home from knit night, I didn’t pick it up again until I had finished a snood from the UFO collection.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve not managed knitting much at all as I’ve been busy and/or tired a lot of the time and my knitting mojo seems to have vanished. Usually I can lure my it back with one or two tried and tested methods – cast on something new or go yarn shopping. I can’t do the former until I finish something, and as none of my UFOs need yarn that I don’t already have, so I can’t do the second either. I am going to have to discover new tactics.

A year of makes - week 5 - and winner of the mystery prize!

At the beginning of the week, I focused on the top for niecelet, as I wanted it finished in time for her birthday party on Saturday (I ended up not going to that due to tiredness and weather conditions, but at least it would have been ready if I had gone). I finished knitting the sleeves at knit night on Wednesday, so then it was just a case of sewing up and knitting the collar. I didn't have the clips to hold it together for sewing up with me, so put it aside and having flicked through some patterns, bought some yarn that would supplement some in my stash to knit a top. As this happened at knit night, I did not actually finish a UFO before casting on this top, so I have decided I must do so before I take it any further, to try to meet the stash busting rules.

By the end of the week, I had finished the top.

On Saturday husband was worried about the birds going hungry in the cold weather, so I made a birdfeeder having read only the night before how to make one in Kirstie Allsop's Craft. I added the last few crumbs and bits of fruit from the Christmas cake to it, so then he worried about the birds getting tipsy instead ;)

It was just starting to snow when I hung it out. I would have filled up the other feeder as well, but couldn't find the bag of nuts!
I'm now up-to-date with my weeks of makes!

Knitting total so far this year: Finished 12 projects. Cast on 6.

So who won the mystery prize?

The January totals were: Finished 11. Cast on 5.

After initially reading the comments as they came in, I carefully did not look back at the guesses, so I couldn't bias my finishing/casting on towards anyone. Nobody got either number spot on, so I decided to award a prize for the closest guess in each category.

Stephanie was closest for finished projects with a guess of 7. Stephanie can you email me with your address (I think you have my email, but shout if not) and I’ll send you your mystery prize.

london bakes was closest for cast on with a guess of 6 so will also receive a mystery prize.

A year of makes - weeks 3 & 4

Week 3

Sunday

Having been not eating properly for a few days, I had a load of veg in the fridge that needed something doing with it pronto. So I chopped it up and threw it in the slow cooker with a bit of olive oil and about half a bulb of garlic (broken into cloves and peeled), then left it for about 4 hours on low.

The result was yummy and contributed nicely to dinners over the week (particularly good reheated to go with jacket potato, and shoved in an oven dish with a bit of grated cheese on top and heated up). I think I shall do this again as it means I have veg on hand easily for meals in the evenings without having to think about chopping and how to cook. Plus it tastes good.

Most of this week I didn't do much making apart from the odd row or two of blanket square here and there. I was either too tired (I was unexpectedly provided with lunch on a training course on Monday and didn't want to make a fuss, so ate the sandwiches on the grounds that they wouldn't kill me and I have been missing bread over the last few weeks, but I was surprised at how exhausted I was just from a couple of slices– definitely gluten free is good for my energy levels) or busy un-making. We are having our bathroom redone this coming week, so in preparation I've been ripping out the old pine panelling.

Friday

I was getting making withdrawal at this point, so I made up for it on Friday evening. I experimented with a bread in the slow cooker recipe. I think it turned out pretty well ...

... although in the interests of honesty, I should tell you it did stick to the bottom of the slow cooker.

I’m told it tasted good though!

I also made jam and flapjack, and finished this hat for my friend's little girl. It's from this pattern on Ravelry.

Now I just need to finish one for her sister.

Saturday

I went shopping for bathroom accessories. 

Week 4

I didn't get as much done this week as with the bathroom work going on, I had to spend more time being organised! We also spent a couple of evenings at the in-laws so we could use their bathroom facilities (most of the week we had a toilet but no bath or shower) and as I was tired, I didn't take knitting with me – instead I demonstrated that the Kindle they gave me for Christmas was at least getting some use! So only a couple of things for this week.

Tuesday

My stash-shrinking suffered a setback as I had a yarn buying accident. You know, the sort where you go into the shop to buy two balls of yarn and come out with two bags of it. Ooops! Now the spreadsheet needs updating! However, the yarn I intended to buy meant I could continue with this sleeve.

Wednesday

I finished the blue cowl. I almost finished a baby cardigan as well, but decided that sewing the buttons on was a job for proper daylight so apart from the one I managed in my lunch break, put it aside for the weekend. I cast on the first of a pair of wristwarmers to match the snood, and a vest/tank top for a baby.

Saturday

I finally decided on a pattern to knit for my niecelet's birthday. I didn't have the right yarn for it in my stash, but had plans to meet up with a friend for afternoon tea and some yarn and fabric shop browsing, so decided to I could buy suitable yarn then.

After making this decision, I signed up to the UFO/Stash Busting project. However, as I’d already planned the purchase of the yarn, I hoped that would be ok. I already owned the pattern I decided on and planned to use a button from my button collection rather than buy a new one, so maybe it would just squeak within the rules. I also bought some fat quarters as a contribution to my hexagon quilt, a lot of which is made from stash. I cast on niecelet's present that evening. There will be a separate report when this is finished on how this fared as a stash busting project.

Total so far: Finished 12 projects. Cast on 5.

Stash busting gets serious

I have signed up to Miss Katie's UFO/Stash Busting Project over at The Little Red Squirrel. I'm hoping this will motivate me to get projects finished and to reduce my stash - both yarn and fabric. My yarn stash suffered an increase this week after I went to the yarn shop and came out with rather more than the two balls of yarn I went in for. My fabric stash is quite substantial considering that apart from patchwork I've done much in the way of sewing yet and even the patchwork is incomplete!

If I've done things right, there should even be a badge for this at the side of my blog. I've never added a badge before, so this project is already exciting!

The project guidelines given by Miss Katie are:

1. Projects must use at least one item from the stash, for example one pattern or one piece of fabric. A combination of items can of course be used too!
2. New elements may be bought but they must be used with an item from the stash. For example I can buy fabric and notions for a particular pattern in the stash, but I can't just buy fabric all willy nilly!
3. For every new project I start a UFO project must be completed. I added this because I know that personally I get carried away with new projects rather than finishing older ones. This way I'm giving myself a bit of structure and discipline!
4. I will find and/or create projects that use leftovers from the stash. I find very often that I have pieces of material and balls of wool leftover when I have finished a project, that aren't enough to make an item of clothing on their own. I want to find ways of using these leftovers to make useful and beautiful things.

I like these. It means I'm not limited to stash only; if I need something new to contribute to a project I can buy it as long as I'm also using stash. Rule 3 is good, as I have loads of knitting UFOs, particularly after my attack of startitis towards the end of last year. I think in terms of yarn, rule 4 is nicely covered by my blankets and hexagon quilt. In terms of fabric this may require more thought - perhaps more patchwork projects to use up oddments, but this year IS the year I will learn to sew clothes. Yes it is.