Getting things in some sort of order...

I love baskets, but I gave up on putting my many WIPs into baskets because they take up too much space. And then I started piling old carriers, filled with more and more woolly projects, on top of the whole shebang and it really wasn't pretty. Well, to be honest, it was unsightly. Unsightly, I tell you.

So, we took home the coat stand that we used to have in the shop and we filled its hooks with a variety of bags, each containing a separate WIP. Sorted. And not visually offensive. I think I love a solution to a messy storage problem more than almost anything.

And these are what I have in progress just at the moment. Of course, these are just the ones at home; there are several more at work. Maybe I should get another coat stand for those.

The red at the side is a cushion cover I'm making in mohair boucle. I'm finding it a bit tricky to knit with on this scale, but very forgiving of mistakes and a lovely colour. On top of it lies part of an attempted vintage bootee - I'd like to decipher the rest of the very old and brief (cursory even) pattern sometime before I retire. (I'm guessing I now have to pick up stitches all around and work up towards the toe end, but nothing in the pattern suggests that's the case. Confused of Halifax needs help.) Then comes the cream 4 ply One Row Lace Scarf - nice, little, free pattern on ravelry; the socks in Sausalito that I've been knitting for more than twelve months and which I'd like to wear on Christmas Day; a pair of 4ply wristwarmers which were going to be a shop sample but I took too long finishing them so now - oh dear! - I'll have to keep them myself; a chunky green cowl in Cygnet Seriously Chunky and one of many squares for a charity blanket.

So, seven items at home and probably the same number at the shop. Seems reasonable to me. Certainly explains why I struggle to get on the same wavelength as those customers who can't plan another project before they've finished the last one...

 

 

 

WIPs

Every time I resolve to finish a few things and reduce my pile of stuff that's in progress, someone shows me a new yarn, or offers me a sample ball or I realise we have something fab in the shop that I've never knitted with. It's a hard and confusing life.

Here's a couple of things I'm working on at present:

This is going to be a new cardigan for the wire lady in the lovely Wendy Ramsdale, a 100% British wool. It feels really lush in the knitting, as though it'll be cosy and warm through the coldest Old Bank winter. I'm using a very simple pattern from August's Knit Today but any DK pattern would be great.

And then there's this:

This is two balls of Debbie Bliss Angel knitted together in a simple lacy pattern from a stitch directory with a garter stitch edging. Prettier in the flesh.

So, that was all very straight and sensible, wasn't it? Anyone know any jokes?

Just lately I've mostly been...

...making and re-purposing squares.

The knitted ones are for the Nepal blankets that we're making out of donated yarn. I'm not a fan of garter stitch, but if I switch to the much faster stocking stitch they'll be a different size and shape so I'm sticking with it. Each one takes me 2 hours, which seems like a long time to knit a plain square. Then I realised that a while ago I'd taken apart an old afghan, that I crocheted in the 70s, and rescued the squares that the rabbit hadn't wrecked with her teeth and claws. They were all washed and ready for edging, which I was working my way through slowly, slowly, very very slowly, as the advert doesn't say. Anyway, however slow it might be to edge them and sew back together it's going to be much faster than knitting garter stitch squares, so at the moment I'm doing both. (Plus a child's bolero, plus a toggled neckwarmer, plus my never ending vintage jumper, plus...you know how it is.)

Basket case

We have many, many baskets in our house...baskets of all shapes and sizes for not only laundry and the usual stuff, but for underwear and toiletries, for miscellaneous materials and assorted items.  So I thought it would be a splendid idea to fill the old pine tv stand we have with a neat line of rectangular baskets, each holding a separate WIP. How organised and appealing would that be? Very, was my thought. And it looked lovely for about a week until the number of WIPs crept up and my neat rows of baskets became hidden under a pile of excess-WIP-storing carriers and odd balls of wool, needles without partners and the knitting mill which doesn't have a home of its own.

So I needed more storage and it couldn't be in basket format unless I was going to pile them two or three deep, which I could've done, but then the basket above would likely snag the knitting in the basket below. So I indulged in these. Well, I say 'indulged', but they cost £3.95 full price and I got them in a sale, so there wasn't much indulging going on. Children's lunch boxes, but so just the right size for a small project, plus

they're easy to carry about or shove in your bag, and they zip up, and when they're not in use they'll fold flat for storage. I have no idea when they might not be in use. I have two spare, which means that anytime now I'm going to start two new projects.

I got these online from dotcomgiftshop, but I'm sure other lunchbox vendors are available.

I heart hearts

In between the lacy scarf and the vintage jumper and the baby blanket and any number of other projects, I've mostly been making these lately. I fear they're becoming addictive - any small amount of leftover yarn becomes half a heart; any even tinier scrap becomes lettering. I'm thinking maybe loveheart bunting?

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...

Gotta love self-striping

A WIP with a difference. well, a couple of differences. For one thing this is going to be a pair of mittens for me. Yay! Mine, all mine. And for another well, just look at those colours...
This was an orphan ball of discontinued Noro Aya (not esp suitable for mitts) in shades of lilac, blue, pink, green... oh, every colour of the rainbow really. And all interestingly arranged in the ball so that while the first mitten has come out in various shades of lilac, the second one looks like it's going to be vibrant spring green with touches of blue and scarlet,
and maybe just a smidgeon of purple to pull the whole thing together.
I can at least be sure no on else will have a pair like them.

Pair of mittens, a baby dress, cuddly toy...

Okay, there's no cuddly toy, but among my many other WIPs, there is a pair of mittens (lately, there's always a pair of mittens):

 The pattern's mine and the yarn is Louisa Harding Handbeaded Grace (now discontinued) and Grace, but you could use any DK. That bit of beadedness around the bottom makes them a bit more special, say, for a present, but you could use a sparkly yarn or a sequinned one or whatever you like.

And then there's a baby dress, which just qualifies as a WIP as the bottom is curling up so it needs - aargh! - blocking. Well, what I mean is I'll run a cool, gentle iron over it - nothing scientific or complicated enough to require a technical term.

(In case you're wondering, yes, I'm already regretting photographing it on top of the kitchen tablecloth.)
This pattern's out of the current Love Knitting for Baby magazine. I'm trying to find out if it's available elsewhere, but no luck so far. The mag doesn't give either a pattern number or a designer's name, so no help there. I used three balls of Peter Pan Merino Baby which is a very soft and lovely baby wool which we sell for £3.55 per 50g ball. You'd need four for anything bigger than the 0-6 months size, but still a very cute dress for a reasonable price and a lovely quick knit.

WIPs

I said I'd record my WIPs on the blog so, belatedly, here are the first three:

Believe it or not, the wool's not blue; it's a gorgeous deep green in Fyberspates's multi-tonal Vivacious DK. Must admit I'm only knitting this scarf for the sheer thrill of using this fantastic 100% superwash merino. The stitch definition is second to none. Yes, obviously we sell it...£14.50 for 115g. (Don't ask me why it's in hanks of 115g - makes it seem more expensive than it actually is which is a shame.)

And then we have another scarf which I'm thinking of as a craft fair type item.

It looks a bit crinkly, doesn't it? But I've made one already in a similar pattern (pattern taken from a stitch directory, with a garter stitch edge added) and did the unthinkable, actually blocked it!, and it came out beautifully. This is in the Debbie Bliss Rialto DK Print, which is gorgeous wool but for some reason never really took off at Three Bags Full, despite my many hours of knitting a sample hoodie. Anyway, it's reduced to £4.20 in the shop if you'd care to try it. (RRP £5.95)

And finally, something a bit different for me, a baby blanket in 100% acrylic:

Very simple feather and fan type pattern which seems pretty forgiving as I keep losing stitches but the pattern doesn't mind. A sneaky kfb here and there and we're back on track. I really am a very sloppy knitter. (Especially when I'm knitting through a 10pm edition of Big Brother - doesn't help my concentration one bit.) This is a present and needs to be finished for November - better pull my socks up, have already been knitting it for several months. And what's with the acrylic? Well, I make a point of not selling anything I wouldn't knit with myself so I had to try this one out to make sure it was up to my exacting standards! And it is. Very soft and lovely. It's the Designer Yarns Baby Joy - not the cheapest acrylic at £2.60 per 50g ball but definitely one of the nicest. (RRP £2.95)

Only about a dozen more to photograph and fess up to...

Three little...

Three little pigs...maids...dresses! I didn't get round to photographing my many WIPs, mainly as I can't be sure at the moment exactly where they all are. I'll start that this week - but, in the meantime, here are three little dresses I've made for craft fairs.

The green one's knitted in a cotton/acrylic mix from Cygnet, called Cottony DK. Nice yarn. I bought just one pack to try out and will buy more when our stock of cotton's diminished a bit. So many have been discontinued this summer, it'll be lovely to stock up on something new that should stick around for a while. It'll retail at just under £2.00 for 50g. (Let me know if you have an urgent need for some and I can add that to our next Cygnet order.)

The red one is in some Cygnet acrylic DK, which we don't normally stock. I special ordered it for a customer and the remainder is now in the bargain basement basket if anyone would like it. (300g for £4.75.) Acrylic's not usually my first choice, but this was good quality and knitted up well. And it's a gorgeous colour!

And the yellow one - well, that's another cotton/acrylic mix altho' I've lost track of what exactly it is. Not something we sell, so you really don't want to know...

An interview with me!

at: http://libroediting.com/2014/06/21/kath-kilburn/

And in the meantime, I've started several new WIPs. This blog is, I think, going to turn into a record of knittery stuff started, finished and languishing. Actually that sounds okay; it might enable me to keep things a little more under control. Trouble is, you spot some pretty wool, you see an ace pattern and, before you know it, you're searching for the right size needles (which are, because of your serial startitis, at present in use for something you haven't touch since 2009) and then away you go. It could probably be classified as a psychological condition.

Newest starter for me currently is a very pretty scarf in Crystal Palace Kid Merino, which I think has been discontinued and which people seem to overlook in their eagerness to get at the similar, but softer and more luxurious, Debbie Bliss Angel. Anyway, I was feeling sorry for it - such pretty colours and so neglected, so I picked up a couple of balls of pink and away I went.

And, any minute now, I'm going to start a baby boy tank top in my last hank of West Yorkshire Spinners's owl print Blue Faced Leicester. They decided to start producing this in balls a while ago instead of the hanks (which I preferred) and I have just one hank left so, rather than have it sitting there all pathetic, I'm going to knit it into something cute and practical.

Pictures next time!

The undisciplined knitter

I start many, many projects; most of them end up completed, but it might be some months - years even - down the line. This weekend I gave myself a stern talking to and ended up with:

a child's pretty bag in lovely Noro Aya, and...

a toddler's cardigan which looks grey, but is actually pistachio green, and...

a baby hat in the new Debbie Bliss cotton mix yarn, Juliet. It was a sample ball and I'm not sure I'll be buying the yarn but still, it looks pretty cool knitted up and the patterns for it are mighty fine too. Decisions...I'm no good at decisions...but I'm getting better at finishing stuff.

WIPs revisited

Have just posted this picture:

 

on facebook as 'my current work in progress. In reality, of course, there are many WIPs - the vintage jumper, the dinosaur (where is that now?), the wristwarmers, the bobbly cushion, I could go on - but this is my favourite. It's a 4ply knit from one of the two new Bergere magazines.

 

The exciting thing for me is that we still have two even newer Bergere mags to come. But then, I'm sad like that.

 

Italics. How did that happen?

Time for a WIP post

 

Clearly this isn't a picture of all my current WIPS - just off the top of my head, there's also the cotton pink jumper, the red aran, the dinosaur, the lacy scarf, the socks... - but obviously when I got down to half a dozen items on the needles, it was time to cast on a couple more.

 

So, here we have the beginnings of a gorgeous Debbie Bliss Paloma cardigan - it's soft and squishy and I'm really looking forward to wearing it in the shop as a walking, talking Paloma sample. Sadly, though the yarn's lovely, it's been poorly supported with patterns and isn't an easy substitute for other yarns, so tends to get neglected. No more will it sit at the back of the shop and be ignored!

 

And the other one is the first pattern repeat of a One-Ball Wavy Gravy Hat - a free online pattern from Iconoclastknit. And very nice it's looking too . Should take a single ball of Noro Kureyon. I might have to make one in each of our colourways. That's okay, isn't it? We all need lots of hats. Maybe not for another few months, but longterm. Lots of hats is good.

The girl can't help it

A few more new starts!

Hot on the heels of the ice-creamy chevron scarf and the blue chevron scarf, we now have...

a browny one, and...

a mixed greys one.

Oh, and there's now also this:

I can't tell you how much better this looks in the flesh than it does on this flash-ruined photo.  It's mostly different shades of sludge - blue sludge, red sludge, plain old grey sludge. And yes, it's going to be a shawl! I've never made a shawl before and, while loving to gaze at other people's gorgeous lacey creations, I'd never seriously wear one, so this is very much a sling-round-your-shoulders-without-feeling-pretentious kind of thing.

I haven't even photographed the dress I'm making as a shop sample but I will tell you the pattern is called Meredith, it's knit in the round and it's available for free at present on the Let's Knit website here. You can find more of designer Ruth Maddock's lovely creations on ravelry.