Selfish Knitting + A New Addition

For the last couple of weeks I've been working mainly on test knits, which I really enjoy, but last night I decided I wanted to do some selfish knitting. Something just for me, preferably thoroughly enjoyable and using something luxurious. My Hitchhiker was born. the merino silk yarn, and the simple, but not mindless pattern are perfect.

I didn't get a whole lot of knitting done yesterday though, because I was slightly distracted by something:

Her name is Kara

Yes indeedy, I got my first wheel. I took my Alomst-Grandmother, who is a wealth of spinning knowledge, along to a second hand dealers where I'd seen Kara weeks before, she was still there, and after an hour or so of set up, she was pronounced a good first wheel, which was lucky since I'd already fallen in love. I got her for a song, and with some blue fleece from Peg, I started the long journey that is learning to spin.

I've already got two bobbins full, and no fleece left, and while the first bobbin (above) mostly looks like fluff, the outermost singles on the last bobbin are identifiably that, singles. 

Lazy Weekend

So, it turns out I didn't get much done yesterday on the knitting front. I knitted in the car (even got to claim the front seat and make dad sit in the back so I didn't stab the dog) but didn't have a chance until that evening, and by that point I was so exhausted I just slept.

I did get the ribbing done

And earlier in the week I made myself a little bag to put it all in

Also on the needles (the same needles actually, which is why the sock is on waste yarn) is a fun wee knit that I'm testing, using this

I'm hoping that if I power through the rest of today, I can get the first part of the knit done and blocking before the week starts and classes with it, they do have a habit of sucking up lots of time and energy.

A Lake in Geneva

I'm just about to burst with excitement, I have some lovely FOs to show, but they're test knits, and since the patterns haven't gone live yet, I'm going to have to hold my horses for a little while.

Test knitting and I seem to get along well, the little bit of pressure is really helpful for staying on task, and I'm learning many a thing. One of the things I'm learning very quickly os the art of ripping back.

For a long time, when I noticed I'd made a mistake in my knitting, I would studiously avoid looking at it and mutter 'she'll be right' under my breath. I blame my Kiwi upbringing. I didn't know how to tink, or pick up dropped stitches, or really how to fix any problems, which led to me fudging the instructions and making something I wasn't all that proud of. With test knitting though, I have to get it right, I have to make sure that I follow the instructions. So I learnt the art of going backward, and it is good.

It might also have something to do with the fact I did my first steek last week. Nothing's scary after chopping your knitting down the middle.

Tomorrow's quite exciting; I'm going out to a little lake with the family and the boat to swim and kneeboard and relax. They've gone out a few times over the summer, but it tends to be on a Sunday, when I'm working. With this in mind, my auntie shifted things around so that we can go tomorrow and I can join in, it's going to be a great day.

I do of course, have to pick what knitting I'm taking with me. I have a hat on the needles that has a really neat construction, though, perhaps too neat for lazy lakeside knitting. I also have a mitt on the needles (did I mention I conquered DPNs? Did I?), but that's have gauge issues, so I'm going to lifeline it and run off with the needles and my Christmas yarn (the sunny yellow stuff that was hiding in the haul post) and see if I can't join in the Business Casual KAL.

I best go get sorted!

Hat, hat, hooray!

What did I tell you about hats? I told you I could finish them, and I did. My brambles beret is done. Has been for a few days actually, however, when I blocked it first, I didn't cinch the brim tight enough, so it needs to be done again. I'll block it tonight and see if I can get Rebekah to model it next time I see her.

No pictures, and nothing really interesting to say, but I thought this blog needed a bit more in the way of FO news.

Zero Displacement

This last week has resulted in absolutely no progress. I've knitted a lot, that's for sure, but I've also jumped from project to project, ripping back behind me.

I realised last night that my problem may be that it's been so long since I finished something (not all my fault, did I mention my dog sat on and broke some of my needles?) that I feel like I can't. So I looked at the last thing I did finish, which was a hat. Hats are easy. There's only one of them, no casting off to speak of, and your stitch count decreases as you continue. Makes the home stretch much more manageable.

I cast on a hat. The Brambles Beret to be exact. It's designed for worsted weight yarns, but, being in NZ, I have none of those about. I do, however, have some magenta 4ply merino that I'm going to try doubled. It doesn't work, well, I'll deal with that then.

So I cast on the hat. I've cast on a fair few hats, and a lot of socks. I'm no expert but I'm pretty familiar with casting on in the round, which means there really isn't a reason why I didn't notice until seven rows of 1x1 ribbing later that I was knitting a mobius strip.

I ripped. I swore. I fondled some delicious silk-merino to soothe my soul, drank coffee to steel myself, and I'm casting on again.

Wish me luck?

From Not Quite Sunday

I have an image for you. An image I like to call 'joy'

Why 'joy'? Because that is an image of the stitch count matching the pattern at the end of a stockingette section, that is an image of the first row of lace falling into place perfectly. 

After two day of fighting with patterns and stitch counts, this is definitely joy.

Add to that the fact that it's an hour early than I thought, and yeah, things are looking good.

ETA: I may have spoken to soon. Things went awry. But it's okay, I did some quick mental maths and got myself back on my track. It'll mean that the first few lace rows will be a bit skew-if, but it's my first shawl. I can cope. It can be quirky.

Just a little touch of fate

Sometimes, life takes you it. It comes at you full force and sideways and sends you flying and all you can do is hold on for dear life and hope that when you land you'll be some semblance of okay. Sometimes it happens.

Truth is though, it's much easier for life to knock you down when you're standing on one foot with your arms full of homework, unfinished knitting and dirty washing.

I have five days at work starting tomorrow, which is more than I've done in a long time, and I have decided to make sure that my feet are firmly on the ground and that I have done everything I can to stop things going wrong. I have clean clothes, put in their own special drawer to stop that awful early morning rush for pants. I know where my shoes are. I'm going to make a stirfry to take for lunch. Most stunningly, my room is tidy. Spotless.

With all that sorted, I can happily potter about with my yarn and show off my recent additions. I warn you now, they are numerous.

Some of this arrived in the mail, but most of it's from the yarn sale I fell into.

These two have buddied up and decided to be a shawl. I'm quite happy with that plan.

This is a truly delicious yarn from AppleTreeKnits. Merino/Silk fingering in 'New Growth'.

Rebekah and I also found a hank of Merino/Cashmere that we plan to dye.

There's also some blue-green scrummyness that you can see is already on it's way to being a shawl, but I can't seem to upload the closeup of that, so more when I've made some progress.