Monday 15 September 2014

Day off today...

...so a chance to photograph a couple of home-based WIPs.
This first is a sample garment in the new Roam sock yarn, and what I'm making is a simple 4 ply baby jumper.
 There are five different colourways combining self-striping and heathered effects, and they're all named for countryside features - this one is Cairn. I'm a big fan already.

And second, we have a little scarf that's been languishing, altho' having dug it out to photograph, I'm wondering whether my day off would also be a good time to take up the needles again on this particular project. It's made with two balls of Crystal Palace Kid Merino, knitted together to make a supersoft fabric. The pattern is just stocking stitch, with a garter stitch border to minimise the roll at the edge, and a lacy panel from a stitch directory worked in at each end. Very easy. We sell the Kid Merino at £4.75 a 25 g ball - both solid and variegated colourways. It's similar to the Debbie Bliss Angel, although it costs less as it's a less luxurious mix (no silk in it!).
Okay now, back to the knitting...

Wednesday 10 September 2014

The WIPs are running away with me

Here I am, allegedly recording the WIPs and some of them are managing to get themselves finished before I've even taken the photograph. Totally out of control. So, here's one that I made earlier, as they say:
The wool's Knitcol - a couple of orphan balls, the last of a dyelot - and the pattern's from the new UKHKA booklet 1000:
This next one certainly won't be running away with me. I thought it'd be a fab idea to have a gansey all knitted up as a shop sample. So I allocated a few balls of the cream Wendy 5 ply and found a pattern and, well, I didn't expect to have to start with 21 rows of garter stitch on 2.25mm needles... It'll be fine. Really. I just need to do a couple of rows a day and then in a week or so I can swop to the 3mm needles and I'll just be racing through it from then on, won't I?

Many, many more on the needles - a present for later in the year, a hat for Christmas, the vintage jumper which I threatened to un-needle and then changed my mind because most of the tiresome knitting into the back of the stitches bit is nearly over now, the lacy scarf, the mohair scarf, the Bergere jumper I've been knitting forever, the cushion, the wristwarmers...

Feeling quite tired now.