One a Day

For the past couple of days, I've been starting a new project every day.

But I've also been finishing a project every day, too, so perhaps it's not as bad as it sounds.

Thursday was the most impressive, I finished the Purple Rainbow pants for Missy.


And I started and very nearly finished the Snazzipants Shorties - the actual knitting was finished on Thursday night but I did the embroidery Friday morning.


The shorties were done in response to a promotion / competition run by Snazzipants at the Parent and Child Show on in Auckland this past weekend. The shorts were a HUGE hit, despite Miss only being semi-cooperative in terms of actually modelling them.

Friday I finished the above shorts, and started the a newborn sized soaker / diaper cover for Meep. Which I then finished on Saturday. The main wool here is hand-dyed stuff I did with food colouring a couple months ago, and hadn't decided what to do with yet.


Saturday I didn't start anything. So sue me.

Sunday, however, seems to have made up for it.
Firstly, I finished the Yarn Eating Poncho. I knew well before I finished it that it was a disaster, and it is. Lessons learnt, I suppose. Or maybe I'm still bitter.
Sunday I also started some socks for hubby. These have been on the going-to-get-around-to list for awhile, but were bumped up this weekend. As I was casting-off (and casting off and casting off and casting off) the gazillion (600) stitches on the cursed poncho, hubby comes out into the room holding one of his woollen socks (store-bought) which he's had for years. And which he absolutely loves to wear in bed, despite the fact they rub up against my legs and drive me absolutely crazy because they are NOT the softest yarn. These said horrid socks have worn through to proper holes in the heels. Hubby comes out with one in his hand, holds it high, and says "I guess I need new socks, unless you want to darn them?" I figure, good riddance to bad rubbish - but as I happened to be casting off, I decided to cast on some socks. The wool is a bad dye lot of The Wool Company "Seaweed" cleverly disguised in the bricks-n-mortar Wool Company shop as "Forest". Anyway, I liked the grey in it (which Seaweed doesn't have) and figured it was close enough to camoflauge colours to please hubby. It's not my choice for sock wool (even for thick boot socks) but it's less scratchy than the horrid things hubby had been wearing, so I figure it's a compromise. I'm so generous.

Started on Sunday afternoon...

... and finished tonight, Monday. Actually, I partially lie - this sock is finished. I still have to make the other. Minor detail.


Also, just to keep in pattern, I started something tonight. And just to make up for Saturday, I started it twice, because I the first time ended up being crappy so I redid it. It's (hopefully) a baby blanket for Meep. I'm designing the pattern myself (apparently I don't actually learn my lessons) although it will probably be fairly basic. I'm sure there's a pattern very similar to what I'm trying to create already out there, but I've looked and can't find one, so I'm doing it myself. I'm hoping for a roughly waffle-like texture to it. We'll see how close I get.


I seem to have a 'green' thing going on at the moment.

Oh, the Shame!

YarnEatingPoncho
Originally uploaded by KiwiWonder

14 balls of wool later, it's finished.

And I hate it.

I guess this is just desserts for assuming I could knit with nothing even resembling a pattern - not a published one, not any calculations to figure out the stitches for my size, just a vague thought that I wanted a poncho.

The amount of things wrong with this yarn-eating blob are numerous... the neck's far too wide and not really long enough, there's far too many increases, and really, who needs 600 stitches per round? Certainly not me.

14 balls of wool and the thing only comes to my bust. Seriously. I did try it on, but didn't take a picture - the shame was simply too much.

I figure this will get frogged (part of the reason I haven't bothered to weave the loose ends in) but probably not for a bit. I don't immediately need / want the wool for anything and I'd really rather not see it - the 'poncho' or the wool - for a long, long time.

Ugh.

The trouble with trying something new

... is that it may well be addicting.

Last week I knit the Boat Neck Sweater, from "Baby Knits for Beginners" by Debbie Bliss. I altered the pattern so that it was mostly done in the round (read: I'm seam-phobic). Plus I knit it in simply devine Sublime yarn, a blend of merino, cashmere and silk. Super soft, silky stuff. (And at $14.50 NZD a ball, it should be!) I am in love with the finished product, and immediately after finishing it I wanted one for me.

So, just two days later, I made the journey down to my almost-local yarn shop and fondled more Sublime. I even talked with the owner (who's wonderful, by the way) and she agreed that I'm regular enough of a customer that I can reserve wool in the same dye lot if I can't afford enough for an adult sized sweater all at once, and just buy a few balls of it at a time. Much nicer on the budget for us skint girls. (On a side note, I'm still trying to figure out if being immediately recognised in that shop is a good thing or not... )

Last night I finished my most recent project - an order (through CSKnits) for shorties for a coming-up-1-year-old girl.

This morning, I woke up full of purpose and excitement. I would start the sweater! I have the yarn picked out, and the first three balls of it bought, and just sitting on the shelf, taunting me (as they do).

Except then it occurred to me that I haven't yet picked a pattern.

I flipped through "Big Girl Knits" and while there's several things in there I love, there's either an element that scares me (not always a bad thing mind you) or they simply won't work with a postnatal figure. And I want something that I can wear while pregnant (albeit probably not ready-to-burst, due to being summer and all) or very recently postnatal. I do love the "Bombshell" pattern from Big Girl Knits, and I reckon it could be fairly easily altered from a t-shirt to a sweater with the simple addition of long sleeves. But it's a bit short for my liking... and there's only so many alterations I'm comfortable making to a pattern...

So then I hit up Knitty and found several patterns I love.

I love the Cherie Amour pattern. It looks stunning. I love the colour, and would probably do it in the Orchard colourway from The Wool Company which is quite similar, and dark enough that it would suit me. But I'm not a fan of knitting lace. (It's slow - I'm lazy.) And also quite concerned that it really needs to be paired with something (i.e., probably not decent to wear all by itself!) Not too sure it'd suit a postnatal belly, either! I do still want to knit this... but probably not right away.

I also really like Roam from the same issue of Knitty. I love the fact that it zips (button-up doesn't suit me). I love the hoodie. I love the variegations - although I don't reckon it would look as cool in the Sublime, and the Wool Company wool wouldn't likely have the same drape without the silk content. Plus there's the postnatal figure to consider.

So I think for now, I've decided on Rosebud. It would flatter my figure - all the parts of it. It's a relatively simple knit, would look fab in the Sublime wool (and I like my Sublime colour much better than the bright red!) and it would suit my figure while postnatal, but also in my normal state. I may even get away with wearing it while pregnant - but if I don't, I won't be heartbroken.

Now... just to cast on! (And sneak the wool - and it's price tag - past my husband!)