34 Knitting Days until Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is so near now. Every time I think I've nearly finished all my Christmas knitting I think 'maybe I should knit something for so-and-so'. I'll never get done at this rate.

I finished my Chevron Socks last night and am really pleased with them. I'm going to use the same pattern for my dad's socks and expect I will eventually use it for myself with my Harry Potter sock yarn, although when will get around to that is anyone's guess.

I promised my mum that I would knit her some Christmas decorations for the shop as she's been too busy to do anything herself. A little foolish, I know but they're only little and shouldn't take up too much time. I should have plenty of opportunity to knit over the weekend if we get the snow we're forecast, although I won't hold my breathe, we didn't really get any in town last year. It's meant to snow Saturday through to Monday, which I am looking forward to, although I'll probably be staying indoors as I'm really rubbish at walking in the snow and I'm sure my ability won't be improved with my ever expanding belly - I seem to have lost my centre of gravity!

Anyway, so, I actually made a quick start on the Christmas decorations last night and knit up a six-pointed star. It took me about an hour to knit. I used Martifil Diva on 4mm needles. I had received the yarn from my Secret Knitting Pal on Swap-Bot. I think it looks really pretty, especially with the silver sparkles. I will knit up a few more. There are some other patterns that I'm planning on knitting, including some baubles and some knitted fairy lights, should be interesting!

Catching Up

Wow, it seems like ages since my last post. Well, I was sick, then I was in Rome (still sick) and then I've just been generally lethargic since I got home.

Rome was really cool, except that I was sick (Crohn's complications - I won't go into the painful detail), so between that and Mr H having a bad back we didn't really get around as much as we would have liked but we still managed to take in plenty. The weather was really great most of the time too, which was a relief as rain was forecast for our whole stay, it only rained twice, the rest of the time we didn't even need our coats during the day.

We also got around to taking some much awaited (so I'm told) "Sarena with Bump" photos. Yes, there is certainly a bump there now and it's not entirely made of chocolate and cake! I seem to be cooking a little acrobat and he's been kicking like mad; I actually saw my belly moving yesterday from the kicks, which was really freaky, I don't know how I hadn't noticed it before! We had the 25 week scan yesterday and everything is looking perfect, so around the 15th February 2009 there will be a baby H coming into the world, eek! I still can't believe that I have an actual person living and growing inside me, that's just so weird.

I have been getting on well with the knitting, despite a very irritating holdup with my Pinwheel Blanket. I decided to do a pointed cast off, like the one on my unfinished Debbie Bliss Circular Cardigan but I managed to run out of yarn for the very last triangle on the cast off, can you believe it?! I was livid! Luckily one of my fellow Stitch 'n' Bitchers has come up trumps and will be donating me a metre or so of the required yarn so I can actually finish it. I love my fellow knitters, I think knitters are generally a lovely bunch of people.

I'm actually really pleased with how the blanket's turned out. I love the colours and think they're a lovely combination and will look lovely draped over little bubs in the pram. I can't wait!

I have also been getting on with my Christmas knitting but it is still far from being finished. I knit Fetching from Knitty.com for my step-mother, using some Grignasco Australia that I had kicking about in my stash. I might knit another pair for a friend of mine but using a lighter coulour as I think the cabling will show up better and there is some reasonably priced Gringasco with an angora mix in the Coop in town.

I am also working on a pair of Chevron Socks for my mother's partner. My only concern is that he is rather colour-blind and so might not actually be able to see the pattern and the colours, hey ho, at least I'll know they're pretty! I will post pictures later when there's more to see.

So, just left is 2 hats, on for Mr H and a friend of mine, something else for my mother that Ican't mention in case she reads this and possibly a pair of socks for my dad. Then I think I'm done. Probably...

Baby stuff and another Christmas FO

I just knit my dad's Christmas present - Skull & Crossbone wrist warmers! Cool hey? The pattern is Skull & Crossbone Wristwarmers by Kara Lyon. I knit them using some yarn from Manor department store (Yukon and Jasmine) on 3.5mm needles. They took me two evenings to knit.

I knit them for my dad because he plays guitar and often wears sweat bands on stage to stop the sweat dripping onto his guitar (nice) so I thought he could do with some funky bands. I'm not sure they will be particularly practical and will probably just go all droopy when they start to get wet but I still think they make a fun gift for him. I might make him something else too, maybe a scarf or some socks or some gloves, not sure yet.

I think I must be getting on well with my Christmas knitting, just my step-mother, Mr H and another gift for my mum for the main gifts (although I might knit up some beanies for my half and step brothers) and if I have time I might add a coulpe of other people to that list. The next project will be Fetching from Knitty.com for my step-mother, just need to choose some yarn, I'm sure I will have something suitable in my stash.

I have nearly finished my baby hoodie, all that's left to do is to sew on the pocket lining, which I'm going to do on the sewing machine (which means it will probably take me forever to get around to doing as I don't really have anywhere to keep my machine at the moment) and then I have to choose and sew on some buttons. It's really cute but the hood is a bit of a funny shape, I think that's a fault in the pattern rather than my knitting. I also didn't do a very good job of sewing up the raglans for some reason but it's mainly the back that's a little messy and I'm not going to undo it now, which is pretty good and relaxed for me, pregnancy must be having a positive effect on me and chilling me out a little. If you said that to Mr H, he would probably start laughing manically, he certainly hasn't been seeing a more chilled me, bless him.

I'm currently on call to go and babysit for a friend of mine who's due to give birth at any moment, she was actually due yesterday and thought she was going to be early so she's pretty fed up at the moment. I really think I should quickly knit up a little gift for the new baby. I think I might make a pair of booties. My friend Annelis made a load of really cute ones and I think I should make a few too...

She knit hers in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino but the pattern calls for 4-ply yarn and I have a load of Lang Bebe in turquoise, so I think I shall use that.

Need buttons

I finished the knitting on my February Lady Sweater. Best. Sweater. Ever. I love it, love it! I've never been so happy with something I knitted. All I need now is some pretty buttons to finish it off, that and for it to get chilly so I can actually wear it! I'm not sure what colour to go for, I was thinking green, brown or maybe even mother of pearl if I can get away with it. It requires quite large buttons so I will have to make sure I choose wisely, I don't want to ruin it.

I have already started my Christmas knitting! I cast on my first gift last night. I can't disclose any information though as it's a gift for my mum and I know she does read my blog from time to time so no news on that project until after Christmas. I know it seems like Christmas is ages away but I don't want a repeat of last year when I was up first thing Christmas morning grafting sock toes! Plus, I only completed half the gifts I planned on last year so some family members ended up gift-less (I figure it's OK as they live in Germany and I didn't see them anyway). I'm already over halfway through my first gift so I think everyone on my list will get their gift this year...

Mr H and I spent the day in Lausanne yesterday, I'm afraid I didn't take any pictures though. I can't believe we were there for four hours and I failed to find any of the yarn shops. I know they exist there as I went there with my mum around Christmas time and we found two without even looking. Maybe it's a sign that I need to be knitting from my stash and not buying new yarn. I do have in the region of ten miles of yarn in my stash. I find that quite satisfying.

Lots of Stitches

My Debbie Bliss Bolero is coming along nicely. I did think that I was almost finished until I realised that I have to pick up 408 stitches around the entire edge and knit 34 rounds of ribbing, that could take me a while *sigh*. I'm determined to get it finished within the next couple of days. The cast off is also really fiddly as I have to cast off with a crochet hook and crochet at the same time (I'm not the best with a crochet hook) to create a picot edge. It does look pretty and I'm glad I've done it as I did consider doing a normal cast off but I think it looks much better this way. I'm just not looking forward to casting off all 408 stitches of the body!

I have some pictures of some of my Christmas presents. Having a mother who works in a yarn store means I always get spoiled with knitting goodies for birthdays and Christmas!

I got this really cute cupcake tape measure. I just hope I don't lose it as I have a habit of losing them all the time, either that or my cat eats them, which is why I have to have retractable ones. There are lots of different types of these. She gave me a sheep one to pass on to the owner of my LYS, Tricolaine, as she loves all things sheep.

Something I got which is more cool than cute are these fantastic Knitlite knitting needles that light up, how cool is that??! I imagine they will actually be quite useful when working with dark coloured yarn. They are surprisingly light but are a bit bendy. I haven't used them yet, they're 5.5mm, which isn't a size that I use that often but I will have to find something as I want to give them a go!

I went off to my Stitch 'n' Bitch group last night, all ready to show off my goodies but I arrived to find that Starbucks was closed, grr. If I had been on time, I probably would have been able to see if they went elsewhere but never mind, there's always next week and by then I should have finished my bolero, yay!

Christmas is Over

Well, Christmas is over and I managed to get all of my Christmas knitting finished. I was particularly pleased with the Snowflake Slippers. I only finished them yesterday, but they are going back to england with my mum for my brother. I can't remember the yarn I used as I lost the ball band, but it was an aran weight wool from Manor. I used an aran weight on 5mm needles as the pattern was only sized for children or women. The thicker yarn and larger needles worked perfectly. I just hope he likes them!

I was also pleased with the socks I made for my mum's partner, which I designed myself as I sent along. It's the first time I have ever knitted cables and I was pleased with how they turned out and I managed to get them finished first thing Christmas morning after having to undo my toe grafting the night before because I had grafted them vertically instead of horizontally! I guess I must have been pretty tired!

Lastly there were my mum's Synesthesia Socks. They turned out OK but I did make quite a few mistakes on them. I knitted the heel wrong and there seem to be some extra holes in the pattern. Mum mum still loved them and has worn them about 3 times already! I've been trying to teach her to knit socks but she just doesn't seem to have the patience. I know that she can do it but she doesn't seem to see the point to it all! I have to say that I have gone off knitting socks for just a little while!

Now that my Christmas knitting is over I can finally do some knitting for myself. I have started to make good progress with my Debbie Bliss Rialto bolero and I hope to have that finished in a week or so. Also, I finally got my Rowan Cocoon in Shale so I can knit the Iceland jumper from Rowan magazine #42! I have been waiting since before my birthday for this yarn but neither my mum or the knitting shop in Carouge have been able to get hold of it. As soon as I finish my bolero I will be casting that on.

I have a little more time on my hands to knit now as I lost my job a couple of days ago, I was working on a temporary contract and they have decided not to renew it, which is a bit of the pain as I could do with the money but I didn't like it there too much and I have been a bit poorly lately too, so at least now I have some time to get better. If I can get my confidence up enough I will go and teach English for a while as the hours are flexible so I can look after my health and by bank balance at the same time!

Knitting Pal and Knitting Socks

I got *the* most beautiful parcel yesterday from my Swap Bot Secret Knitting Pal. It came from Italy and contained 17 (yes, *17*!) balls of Italian yarns, a pattern book and some other little things that my partner knew I would adore from reading my profile, I am so lucky! I can't believe she sent me so much yarn! I will have lots of fun trying to think of new projects!

It was so nice to get the package yesterday as I was feeling a little down in the dumps, not to mention a little hungover but I managed to drag myself out of the apartment in the rain to go and collect it from the post office. I was really surprised when I saw how big the box was, so I knew that I was in for a treat.

I also got a good response to the package that I sent out as part of the swap, I'm so glad she liked what I sent her.

I can't believe it's only 2 weeks until Christmas now. I'm still not doing too well with my Christmas presents. I've only done a small part of Nigel's socks, I just hope that I can get them done in time and I still need to finish off my mum's gift. I'm making up the pattern for Nigel's socks as I go along. If they turn out well, I will post the pattern. It's just a simple cable and rib pattern. At least I have the hot-water bottle cover finished so hope to get that in the post next week.

One sock, one slipper

Well, I'm not sure I'm doing so good with my Christmas knitting. I now have one sock, one slipper and a hot-water bottle cover. I wonder how useful one sock or one slipper could be to someone with two feet....

On the plus side, the slipper looks fantastic, even if I do say so myself! It's from Knit: Handmade Style and it't the Snowflake Slippers. The pattern only accommodates a woman or a child's size, so since I am making them for my brother, I used aran weight yarn on 5mm needles and it seems to have worked out perfectly. The other change I made (which was actually an accident) was that I knitted the top of the slipper in stockinette stitch instead of garter, I just didn't read the pattern properly, but I think it makes the slippers look more manly! I will post some pictures soon, I'm at work at the moment. The slipper knitted up really quickly, I started it on Tuesday night and finished it last night (minus the sewing up), so at least I know I will be able to have the pair finished in plenty of time for Christmas. I wonder if I could get away with knitting these for everyone this year? Probably not!

Christmas Knitting Progress

I don't seem to be doing too well with knitting all my Christmas presents. There are only 29 days left and so far I haven't finished a single gift. I've nearly finished the hot-water bottle cover that I'm knitting from Knit: Handmade Style , I just need to sew it up, which I have just started this morning, but got bored very quickly, which is why I am writing this post - sometimes I think that I have procrastination down to a fine art!

Sorry the picture isn't very good, I was being lazy with lighting, but you get the idea (that's the hot-water bottle cover, in case you weren't sure!). As you can probably see, I am only following the pattern for the actual structure, the colour combination and design is just what I felt like doing at the time. I just hope my friend is fond of green!

I am about 25% into my mum's present, but can't talk about that because she does read my blog from time to time. I will have to take it off my Ravelry project list once her invite comes through, I have been checking the waiting list regularly to make sure I get it off before she's on! I have mad a fairly large mistake with her present, but I am hoping to get away with it as I have neither the time nor the inclination to rip it out, it might just be a bit wonky, I will have to wait and see.

I still need to knit presents for my brother, husband, mum's partner and possibly my dad, but since I don't tend to see him often, that one isn't really urgent, but I figure if I am making him something, I probably should knit my step-mother something too, grr, how these lists grow. I guess I should be thankful that I have such a small family! How I long to be more organised, then I would have made a start on my Christmas knitting in August and would now be sitting knitting my own Debbie Bliss Bolero so I would have that for myself in time for Christmas.

Pictures of Progress

Before I get on with my post, I'd just like to make a comment about the picture at the top of my blog. Some of you may have seen a new knitting magazine this month called Let's Knit and you may have noticed that the picture they use for their feature 'Ask Maggie' is the same picture on my blog. I'd just like you to know that I have not stolen this picture from them and that I bought it from istockphoto just so you know!

Anyway, moving on, I have just taken some pictures like I promised. So, let's begin...

First of all, my birthday. Like I have said before, my mum owns her own knitting shop in the UK, so I was bound to get some lovely knitting goodies, and that I did! My mum bought me two balls of Regia bamboo sock yarn, one skein of Collinette sock yarn and one skein of Artesano Jitterbug DK sock yarn. I cannot wait to try them, especially the Jitterbug, I love the autumnal colours and have never knitted DK socks before. I have also never knitted with bamboo yarn before, so that's another thing that I am really looking forward to. Unfortunately, I have barely made any progress on the socks that I promised my hubby, so will not allow myself to knit another pair until they are finished, unless I am knitting them as a gift.

My mum also came through for me on the Debbie Bliss bolero from Rialto that I have been so desperate to knit. She gave me the Rialto book, and a pack of Rialto yarn in red, I was delighted! if you have read my earlier post from last week, you will know that I have already started knitting this (also evident in the photo), despite promising myself that I would finish off all my current WIPs, but you know how it is, plus, I really needed a break from my circular cardigan, and I only have the sleeves left to do (as you will see later).

I also got some lovely books from my mum: Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation; Naughty Needles: Sexy, saucy knits for the bedroom & beyond by Nikol Lohr; It's my Party and I'll Knit if I Want to by Sharon Aris and Louisa Harding'sVenezia.

I think that was everything from her. So, all in all, I think I was a very lucky girl! It's so great to have a mother who owns her own yarn store!

S0, enough about my birthday and how spoiled I am!

My knitting is coming on fairly well at the moment, although I have hardly done any over the weekend as I just haven't really felt like it, although I'm sure that I will be doing some later in the day...

As mentioned earlier, my Debbie Bliss circular cardigan is almost finished, with just the sleeves left to do, but I am putting that off at the moment as I just got a bit bored of knitting it and wanted to do something new.

That edging really took me a long time to do, I think that's another reason why I feel that I need a break from it before getting on with the sleeves, but I am hoping that they wont take too long to do as it's all just knit stitch until I get down to the cuffs, when I have to do that pointy edge again, but at least it won't be over 544 stitches!

I'm pretty pleased with it, but I'm just not sure of how good it looks on me. I might have said this before, but I'm a little concerned that it makes be look a little bit like a snail when I put it on because of the way that it hangs! It doesn't sit too well on my rather ample bottom! I'm just hoping that with a little pressing it will hang better, fingers crossed after all that work, otherwise I may have to find someone with a smaller bum than mine to give it to as a Christmas present!

I never did get around to knitting that pumpkin hat for my friend who has her birthday on Halloween, oops, but I did get her carrot knitted, although I still haven't posted it to her, so I guess she won't be getting it in time for her birthday, double oops. I hope she will forgive me when she does finally receive it, along with a little Smurf sitting at a computer, which I said I was going to buy her last year, but never did (gosh, I'm starting to sound like a complete flake). The carrot looks a little pregnant in this picture, but I think I just need to prod the stuffing about a bit to get it more even. Apart from that, I think it's a very good knitted carrot!

Moving away from knitting a little. I got my partners for my Swap-Bot swaps early yesterday and then went straight into town to get my supplies and managed to get them all sent off yesterday afternoon (hopefully I'm not sounding like such a flake now!). I won't go into detail about what I sent just in case my partner reads this, I don't want to spoil the surprise for her, I just hope that she likes what I sent. I had a look at her profile and blog and tried to send things that I thought she would like. The other swap was an autumn post card swap, where we send autumn themed postcards to 5 different people and write an autumn memory on the back, which was quite sweet. Hopefully I will be able to get my rating up so I can take part in some of the knitting and yarn swaps and maybe even host my own knitting themed swap.

One last photo for you, and of course, Trinny had to get into the picture, she is such a photo hogger! I don't know if it's just because she's so curious or if it's because she genuinely loves having her picture taken! It took me quite a while to be able to get a picture of the circular cardigan as she plonked herself on it and looked at me expectantly as soon as I had laid it on the floor ready for the camera!

Anyway, I bought this yarn at one of the yarn shops in Carouge (not my favourite, but the other one,which I'm not really so keen on). It was only 5CHF (about £2.00) per ball. I have no idea what I am going to do with it, I'm not even sure how much I like the Plassard! I think that it might make a nice cushion and was thinking about making a drop-stitch scarf with the Gedifra, but nothing is set in stone.

I really need to get on and knit some Christmas presents, there are only 58 days left until the day, pretty scary. I finally started one gift today, but I'm not going to say anything about it, just in case the friend who it's for happens to read this. She is coming over to stay for a few days, arriving on Thursday this week, I am so excited. I have the feeling she may have some repairs for me to make to her knitting, I think I need to teach her how to do these things for herself so she doesn't have to stop every time something bad happens so she doesn't have to wait until she sees me or my mum to get it fixed again!