Progress on Lucy

Thank you all for the tips regarding Charlotte. I have shoved her in the back of my wardrobe but I promise I will take a look at her again in a couple of weeks.
The other day I rearranged my winter and summer knits. The winter ones went to the back and the summer ones got moved to the front, amazing how many garments I have knitted the last three years.
Do you all keep on wearing your own handknits? This may make a good topic on one of the discussion forums.
Sometimes I do wonder if I knit for the sake of knitting or if I actually want to wear the garment. With Charlotte I am not to sure, I really, really wanted to knit with Colinette.
About two years ago I knitted a jacket with Rowan Cotton Tape for my mother and I knew I wanted to knit something out of it for myself. Last November I found two packs on sale in Romford (note, I will travel for a good yarn sale). It is a discontinued shade, the shade is a dark greeny navy.
When I saw the pattern in the new Rowan book I knew straight away what to do with my stash. Somebody else had the great idea to start a stash busting knit-a-long. I want to try and keep up with it on my own.

Lucy is making good progress, a big thank you to Dawn, she has contacted Rowan and she got the details in how to do the decreases and increases with keeping the pattern correct.
I love this pattern. Knitting made to look like crochet.

This is a close up, the pattern is over two rows and four stitches per repeat. Nothing to difficult. Last night I was to tired to do any knitting. I did knit during Noor's swimming lesson and I got through about half a ball of yarn. The jacket for Noor is still there, I can start the shoulder and neck shaping. I will have to do some calculations first.
I wish I could go and do this:

Perry is having a lunch time catnap. Of course he had a busy morning, making sure our garden and all sourounding gardens are OK. He brought a feather inside. Thank you Perry, I love a little gift without the bird attached to it. Lloyd is up and about, after all lunch could be happening soon. Lloyd has about 5-6 meals a day. He is bulking up, I do wonder if he is really hungry or just using me.

The start of Lucy

I just had to cast on Lucy. Since I have knitted with Rowan Cotton Tape before I decided to cast straight on. This time I double checked the finished measurements, I do not want to end up with a big cardigan.
I think that is were I went wrong with Charlotte. Her finished measurements in the pattern are on the roomy side. I should have done it in a smaller size. I put Charlotte in my wardrobe and will have a think. Because I have already frogged her once before I do not want to do it again. I may try and sew in the sides to give it some sort of shaping. I have to be careful that the sides do not end up to bulky. I am grateful for Polly's comment about bulky yarn. This Colinette Chenille definitely has a life of its own.
I have been making progress on Bomber, that jacket has the most awful name. I have nearly finished the back. So far I only used about 1 1/2 balls of yarn.
Noor is having a friend here for a play date and they have decided to go and feed their baby born dolls. That can be very messy, like feeding a real baby.

Finished Charlotte

Finally Charlotte is finished. I am not to happy about her, she is to big, I am holding her tucked at the back for the photo.
What shall I do with her?
Colinette yarn is beautyful, I used Fandango in Windfall and Taglitelle in Moss. I love the way the colours are named. Taglitelle is wonderful to knit with and it must be one of the only tape yarns in pure wool.
Fandango is 100% cotton which is the main reason for me using this yarn.
I am sure when I see all the Colinette yarn at the next Knitting and Stitching show I will be tempted again.
Sewing up all the ends on the inside was not easy, it took me longer to finish this sweater than I thought it would.
April has certainly turned into a finishing month for me.

Socks and Bomber

On this nice and sunny day here in London, I made Noor wear her new Wellingtons (just for the photo). I finished the socks earlier today and had to wait until she finished school to take a few pictures. See how Perry had to join in the fun. Maybe he thought I would open the shed for him, there is so much interesting stuff in there.
I knitted the poncho last September with the same Rowan Magpie yarn that I did the socks in. I bought the yarn in the famous Liberty July sale. I actually still have five skeins left. I only needed four for the poncho and just over one for the pair of socks.
Last night I went to the Rowanette meeting inside the Art Bar Cafe inside Liberty's. It was great fun. A journalist from 'The Lady' was there and she interviewed some of us about the group and knitting in general.
At home I finished knitting Charlotte, now all that is left is sewing up. Noor is of to ballet soon and I will start with the sewing.
Of course I already started on my next project. Noor made her choice. She wants the Bomber jacket from Rowan Denim People. She looked through it all on her own and she made up her mind.
I spend a little while with the calculator and I have started. Knitting with Denim is always a surprise how it will look after it gets washed.

Today I spent some time in a coffee shop with Johanne and we had our very own Stitch n' Bitch. She has nearly finished her Martha and we may start our own mini knit-a-long for Lucy in Rowan Cotton Tape from #37. Dawn has already started hers and I think she will finish soon.

New love

Yesterday my friend Johanne and I went on a shopping trip to Bluewater. I think it is the nicest mall around London and the big bonus is John Lewis with its yarn department.
We were both very good and thought about the stashes of yarn we have at home and we both came away with Cathay book and a ball of yarn each.
I love the shrug on the front cover. I just love it. It takes 8 balls of yarn!
My stash does not look like it has shrunk at all.
I have nearly finished knitting Charlotte and I am making good progress on the socks.
Noor has decided what she wants with the denim, she saw something in Rowan Denim people that she likes. All the pattern in that book are for adults, I will have to recalculate the pattern to fit her size. That should not be to much of a problem.
I actually have 10 balls of the Elle True Blue in ecru, 10 balls in a medium blue and 20 balls in the dark blue that I did the swatch in.
I figured out that the ten balls of ecru should be enough for the jacket that Noor wants.
Today is Thursday and the day that Rowanettes meet up in the Art Bar Cafe inside Liberty's. I am getting ready to go soon.

Wellington Boots

Trendy Wellington boots are the latest must have fashion item here in rainy London.
I had to laugh when I saw Polly's blog, she had the same idea. Like her I also thought about making long socks to wear with this new boots.
The ones for Noor were bought in the sales but they are about 1 1/2 sizes to big for her. We also got her a matching rain mac with the boots.
She needs the boots for a school trip to Suntrap, something needed for school is always a good excuse to go shopping.
She likes the mac but was moaning about the boots being to big. I have now bought insoles and I am half way through knitting these for her.

Socks in Rowan Magpie. They knit up really fast. I did a little bit of shaping just on top of the heel. Her legs do not require that much shaping. She has been trying them on as I was knitting them.
But if I knit a pair for myself I will have to shape them to fit my calf.
I remembered these instructions in my school book. The book is called: 'Handarbeit in Schule und Haus' then inside it says, are you ready for this: 'Obligatorisches Lehrmittel fuer den Handarbeitsunterricht des Kantons Luzern'. Roughly translated: 'Compulsory school book for craft lessons in the Canton of Lucerne'.
I use this book inbetween to catch up on something, but mostly the instructions are basic and don't give much clue in how to do things. But I think for long socks they will help me along.

Do these instructions look confusing? I think once I start I should be fine.
But first I will finish Charlotte. I have done one sleeve now there is only one sleeve to do and then to sew the sleeves on to the body. I have given myself a deadline. I want to wear her on Saturday. No reason really, I just think she looks like the ideal weekend sweater.

PS: Have seen the fantastic news on Ann and Kay's blog. I am looking forward to seeing the finished book.

Before and After

Before I put the square in the washing machine. This Elle Treu Blue yarn has a softer feel than the Rowan Denim, a few months ago there was a lot of disscusion on the Rowan board about this yarn. It is slightly thinner than the Rowan but then has longer yardage. Since I knit loose my tension was spot on for Rowan patterns.

After washing the swatch has shrunk the desired lenght. I am definitly going to use this yarn with a Rowan Denim pattern.
Charlotte is coming along nicely. Yesterday I knit about half a sleeve. I am doing the sleeves one after the other and not both at the same time.
I will also start on the Rowan Cotton Tape soon, but having one project after the other on large needles seems to much. I really want to start on something with calbes etc. Something with a bit of a challange. I have Trinity in the Rowan Denim book in my mind. It has bobbles, I have never before tried to knit a bobble. I will have to ask Noor if she would want them? With kids you never know, she may or may not like them.
Since we are on the subject of before and after, here are two picture of my Lloyd. First when he was fat and the second one of today.

Fatcat Lloyd when he was big, people used to tell other people about him. That they had seen this enourmous big cat. He loves to eat. He used to weigh about 8kg that is about 18 pounds.
Now he looks like this:

Thin Lloyd, he is about 12 1/2 years old and has been ill since nearly a year. Nobody knows what has caused his illness. He is unable to digest food. Then being a cat he was very stubborn about taking his medication. I finally found a diffrent product in Durango and he loves it. Two weeks ago when we first got back he was so thin I thought that was the end of him. Now he has started to put on some weight.
Now he is known as the shrinking cat. His collar hangs loosley around his neck. He still loves food, he has started to beg for spicy food, he loves chicken curry. I don't think it is good for him.
I can only hope that with this new medication he has a few more years in him.

Progress on Charlotte

Finally I am back to were I was before. The only diffrence is that now I have finished the collar. I tried it on and I still think it is big. My tesion is right, maybe I should have done a smaller size. But I will leave it as it is.
The colours like nice now that I knitted with allternating balls of yarn.
Now I have to carry on with the sleeves. I am thinking if I should knit both sleeves at the same time or if that would be to much hassle with all the diffrent balls of yarn.
I like knitting with the Tagliatelle yarn, I think it is the most wonderful pure wool tape. But Fandango is not for me, I have tried other chenille yarns and I have not liked them. I will carry on with this and I will finish Charlotte, hopefully some time next week.
Then I will move on to new projects. I will do something with the Rowan Cotton Tape yarn that I have. When my local yarn shop closed down I had splashed out on Elle Denim yarn. This yarn is a bit thinner than Rowan Denim but it also shrinks. I have started to knit a swatch and I will wash it and then check the tesion. If the tension works out to go with Rowan Denim patterns I will have to decide on what pattern and for whom. I am thinking jacket for Noor, but I have just done her a jacket, maybe there is enough yarn for something for me. I knitted Mary for myself a few years ago and it still is one of my favourite cardigans. I actually have to put it in the back of the wardrobe from time to time otherwise I would just be wearing Mary all the time.
I have 20 balls of the Elle denim. Any ideas?

Daydream is ready

It is ready to be wrapped up as a gift for baby Rebecca. I knit it in size 6 - 12 months. Rebecca is now nearly one month young, hopefully she can wear it during the summer in the evenings or in the autumn.
This must be one of the fastest projects I have ever done. I started this on Sunday and today is Thursday.
I think it is also the best I ever knitted and finished a garment. I am glad I went to the Rowan Finishing Techniques course. I have sewn this up the way it was shown to me. But the picking up and knitting stitches still gives me a few problems. It looks very neat, I just haven't adopted the technique to my hands. I am sure it will happen eventually.

View from the back. I love the way the back looks. Baby Cashmerino has to be the softest yarn going. It is a dream to knit with. I used about 2 1/2 balls for this. Now I am still left with another 2 1/2 balls. Maybe somebody else has a little girls or I buy more yarn for the stripey hooded top in the baby cashmerino book. Any excuse to go yarn shopping will do.

Perry had a nap on one of the sleeves. I put it on the armrest after I blocked and ironed it. Then I went to do something else, when I got back to the living room this is the sight that greeted me. He had pulled or pushed the sleeve down and put his head on it to nap. He knows a good yarn when he comes accross it.
At the moment I am very cross with him, he went and climbed into the fireplace! Yes the fireplace, guess what colour he had after he came out. Sooty!
Who does he think he is, Mary Poppins?
Now I am down to one project, I actually want to get on with it, I think the weather is ideal for wearint Charlotte. I spent about half an hour this morning going back to the armhole shaping of the front. So hopefully I will finish the front and back today, the magic of knitting in the round.
I have been going through Rowan 37 and looking at diffrent things. I have 14 balls of Cotton Tape in navy. I am debating about Lucy or about some other projects in the Cotton Tape booklet. I think I will knit a tension swatch with the Lucy pattern to see how it will knit and look.
I also have two packs of Jeager Cadiz in a burnt orange. What shall I start next?

Daydream

I am day dreaming about little Rebecca my new tiny neighbour wearing her new Daydream jacket.
I could not resist to start this, Charlotte has been abonded in her bag. Last night I finished the back while I watched Tiger Woods win the Masters. I actually finished the back way before Tiger won the title. Boy was that nerve racking. We finally got to shut our eyes at 1 am.
Enough about golf, I played a very bad round myself this morning.
Daydream knits like magic. I love it when knitting transforms itself. The wavy edge just happens with the lace pattern. Baby garments are always a treat to knit, no slugging away row after row like for a men's sweater.
The Daydream pattern can be found in Rowan Babies. There it is knitted in Cotton Glace. I am doing it in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I bought ten balls for an earlier project even though I only needed 5 balls for it. I am sure I will still have enough left for yet another garment.

Finally this is on its way to Carol in California. She is the winner of my little competition. Congratulations once more to Carol.Now it all depends on how quick can Royal Mail get it there.
Today has been the most wonderful spring day here in London. I enjoyed my walk up the high street and to the post office.

Little Jacket in Koigu

Koigu KPPPM Jacket for Ashley the doll. My daughter loves this doll and she has been asking me to knit something for her.
I started this on the Journey from Chicago to Denver. I used another doll's jacket as a template and my gloves as a tension square. Noor loves the frilled edging. I have done a number of cardigan for her and most of the time I used this frilled edge. It just takes forever to cast 4 times more stitches than needed.
I based the pattern on Sweet in Rowan's Pipqueaks. I knitted Sweet a few times in different sizes and with different yarns.
Now there is only Charlotte left to do. It is very tempting to cast on something new at this stage. I still haven't frogged the front opening. I keep putting it off.
I started the front opening at the same time as the end of the armhole shaping. I should have knitted three more rows before starting on the opening.
But I do not like deep openings, I was actually thinking of knitting a few more rows to get a higher opening.
I have also planned to knit the front border and collar right away and then do the sleeves. I will also have to hunt though my stash to find a nice matching cotton yarn to do the sewing up with.

Meet Lulu the Sleeping Teddy

It is done. April has turned into a finishing month. In March some fellow Rowanette had declared April the finishing month.
I then said I would finish this Teddy.
Voila, here she is. After a good nights sleep with Noor.
One of my neighbours has just had a baby girl. That calls for some celebration knitting. I will, soon, start Daydream from Rowan Junior, but instead of the Rowan Cotton Glace I will use up some of pale pink Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. This yarn is the most wonderful soft yarn to knit with.
I am writting this with very cold hands. I have had no gas all day and the house is starting to feel very cold. I hope they will turn it back on soon.
I did sit down this afternoon and knit a bit on the Dolls jacket, at one point I had a cat on my lap and one next to me. Thank you guys for keeping me warm.

Lloyd is sitting on one of the many brief cases my husband owns. I quickly had to empty the downstairs hall cupboard for the gas man. He had to take the gas meter off and put a new pipe through - then he left.
Luckly another guy came about 4pm and reconnetcted everything, the house is finally nice and warm again.
Apparantly tomorrow the holes will be filled up. But then there is still the new pavement tar to come. I wonder how long it will take for that to turn up.
Lloyd is looking a lot better. Last week when we came back from the holiday I thought that was it. He was only a skeleton. He had been unable to keep any food and he would not eat his enzymes. But I found diffrent enzymes in Durango. He has been having them now for nearly a week and it looks like he has put on some weight.
I ordered some more of them on the internet and I hope we will get it soon.
Lloyd used to be a big fat cat.

Sleeping Teddy

Teddy in Rabbitsuit. That is what these pieces of knitting should be. I bought the whole kit at the Knitting and Stitching show in Alexandra Place in the year 2003. I started to knit the Teddy there and then. The week after I sewed and stuffed all the pieces. Sometime last year I knitted the pink suit in an evening and did most of the sewing up.
I cannot figure out how to attach the limbs to the body. Recently I got some instructions, via the Rowan disscusion forum, in how to sew up the pieces. But I have already done that. Even though I do not like the way some of the sewing looks. As long as Teddy keeps his, pardon, her suit on, she will look just fine.
Last night while watching 'Desprate Houswives' I got some knitting on Charlotte done. Then before midnight I noticed I made a mistake with the front opening, I will have to frog the left side of the front opening again. How much frogging can this yarn take?

Hole right outside our house, between our drive way and the dropped curve. I moved our car of our drive way just in time. Otherwise we would have been stuck or had to try and squeeze out somehow. I wonder how long we will have this hole there. There is also a whiff of gas in the air.
We are just hoping that they will not have to dig up our drive way.
I escaped to the gym while the heavy drilling was going on.
There was nice sunshine when I took this picture and it was raining while I picked Noor up from school. Of course I left our house without umbrella. I can feel my hair is starting to frizz.
April in England - oh what joy.

Caitlin - Finished

Caitlin is done. Noor's first reaction was: 'It is to big!'. The sleeves are to long. But a bit of rolling up took care of that. Noor choose the heart buttons in the Durango yarn shop. I knit Caitlin with my 4mm Brittany needles. That way my tension was spot on. I know I need loose and usually go down about one or two needle sizes. I knit the contintal way with the yarn twisted around my finger. I tried knitting with more twist around my finger, but that has a funny effect on my blood circulation.
Noor likes the cardigan, lets hope she will wear it a lot. Some of the things I have done for her have been given away to a better home.
In this Junior Book by Debbie Bliss, I really like Mia. But Noor is not keen on it.
Of course I am already thinking what I could start next. There are many options. I have seen all the lovely Birch shawls. Today I bought the new magazine 'Simply knitting' (UK). It has a lovely scarf in it. The scarf is shown in three diffrent yarns.
But I still have three projects on the go, I know, I know.
I said I was thinking about new projects not starting them.
The little jacket for Ashley the doll is going nowhere. I only did a bit of knitting on the plane. Somehow I was not able to knit in the car. I forgot how bendy the roads in mountain areas are. Wearing my ski gear did not inspire me to knit either.
At least Caitlin is finished. Hurrah!

Here a photo before I put the sleeves and the rest of the buttons on.


Button detail

Belle - Finished

Belle is finished. My husband kindly agreed to take one quick picture while he watched Liverpool-Juventus. I just hate these Football on TV evenings, OK I could go and watch some TV in our bedroom but knitting in bed is a pain in the neck, literary. And yes I am wearing PJ bottoms.
I was dreading to finish Belle, mostly because I thought she was not going to fit well. I wore her this morning on the school run and she fits fine and the neckline stays where it has to stay. The sleeves are also a nice lenght. They are totally diffrent to the picture in the book. Usually sleeves run short and I have to lenghten them but these are a perfect lenght.
I also started darning in ends of yarn in Caitlin. Hopefully today I can work on her, that would be great to finish two projects in two days.
Outside in our road they are replacing the gas piping, we have holes in the pavment every 15m or so. Apparantly tomorrow we will have a hole in OUR driveway. I may need to move to the coffeeshop and knit there. Or I could go to the gym and get in shape. That would also keep me away from all the snacks in the house. I am very good in the evenings, knitting and snacking do not go together. But knitting and having a cat on my lap does.
PS: Noor has taken a slightly better photo of me in Belle. I put it in my album of finished objects on Picturetrail.

Scarf by Nancy

Scarf by Nancy
My dear friend Nancy knitted this scarf for me. The Scarf is done in a yarn with the most amazing colours.
This is one of Nancy's first projects, and she has given it to me. I am very honored.
While in Durango on our many visits to the yarn shop I bought the Debbie Bliss book 'Baby knits for beginners' for her. I hope it will give her some inspiration and many lovely hand knitted garments for her one year old son.
I am having a bit of a knitting draught. I still feel very jet lagged. Yesterday I think I knitted about ten rows on Charlotte and today about another six while I watched Noor having her swimming lesson. Thanks to Nancy, Noor has improved a lot with her swimming.
I have finally unpacked everything. The washing machine has been running a lot and most of the laundry has been folded and put away. Now there is this enourmous pile of ironing left.
But with the ironing board and iron running I can block Caitlin a bit. I usually block cotton yarns with my steam iron. After the steaming I lie the pieces flat and let them 'dry' before I start any sewing.
I block lace or pure wool pieces of knitting - otherwise I think the steam iron does a better and faster job.
I better go and get on with it.

Knitting in Durango

Knitting on holiday is the best.
I learned how to knit when I was nearly eight. Every little girl did in Switzerland it was part of school. Girls had 3 hours 'Handarbeit' (handy crafts) and boys went two hours to 'Werken' (craft). Oh the unfairness of it all. I learned how to knit, crochet, sew, embroider, fabric printing and some others. I really only enjoyed the knitting and the machine sewing.
My first project was a little Teddy in Garter stitch and he had little Dungarees which was done in the round on Double Pointed needles. We learned how to knit and how to sew him up and stuff him. That was the knitting for that school year. The next year we did a pin cushion - all in purl.
The year afterwards it was a pair of Mittens. I remember all the calculations that went with the Mittens. I never again knitted another pair - until last year.
When I was 12 we had to design our own Sweater and make up the pattern for it. Designing my own sweater is also something I rarely do nowadays.
I knitted a lot during my teenage years. No pattern was to complicated for me. I once knitted a sweater with an ice bear on the front in Intarsia - something else I rarely do now.
Then I did nearly no knitting when I was newly married until our daughter was two. Then I met another Mum in her school and she made me go and meet other knitters. She is also the one that made me start a STASH. I always only had yarn for one project - now I have to hide the yarn in different places...

I was very good while in Durango, I visited the yarn shop a few times but I only got one ball of Noro Silk Garden for myself. I want to knit a swatch and decide on the famous Butterfly.

The my friends Mum was so impressed with my knitting she bought me some yarn to make something for Noor. It is Lambs Pride in bright red. Noor choose the colour. I am seeing a boxy short jacket. I will try and design something with Noor's help.

Wild West

Wild West
Noor got her serious face on, because people did not smile for the camera in those days.

Competition winnner!

Carol from California won the competition. She guessed right. I am from Lucerne Switzerland and we spent our vacation in Durango CO.
We really enjoyed our time in the Wild West. It was our third visit to Durango, but the first time in winter. We finally got round to have our picture taken. I just wanted to look like Dr. Quinn. Noor wanted to wear a pretty dress and look glam.
We spent a few days ski-ing and I tried snow boarding - not very succesful. I had to visit the ER, I got hit in the head by the chair lift and spent the next day in bed with head ache and feeling sick. Luckely the nice ER doctor thought there was not much wrong with me and gave me some tablets and told me to rest.
The last few days of the vacation I spent on a knitting frenzy, I wanted Noor to wear her new cardigan on the way home.
I failed - I had finished all the pieces and even did the collar but then run out of time for sewing up. We even bought some buttons. Durango has a lovely small yarn shop. We visited the shop a few times.
Now I have three projects that need sewing!
Sadly I rested without getting any knitting done