August update

Thought I'd better write something, it's been so long. As usual, I've been busy with Molly and life in general. Should be working my socks off to try to get my course finished but that's not been happening and I haven't been doing a lot of knitting either. In fact, I'm not sure what I actually do with all my time.

I do have a FO to show off, after months of cursing and listening to Molly cry every time I worked on it, I finally finished her Bergere de France cardigan. It has lots of mistake but I'm happy enough with it, especially since it still fits her despite it supposedly being for up to three months (she's now seven, would you believe?!). Of course, it's been way to hot here for her to wear it, it's been in the 30's lately, phew, too hot for me, I can tell you. Bring on the autumn I say.

I can't believe we're over half-way through August already and I haven't touched any Christmas knitting yet. I think I have it all planned but I think I'm going to keep it down this year. I did have a helping hand keeping the costs down though, I usually say I will only knit from my stash but that never happens as all the yarn I buy, I buy because I like it and I want to knit it for me! So, luckily a lady in Annemasse, just over the boarder in France, had lots of Garnstudio yarn for sale after she had gone out of business and she's moving and needed to get rid of it, 2CHF (£1.15) a ball, wow, that's cheap! I bought 25 balls for various Christmas projects. I would have bought more but only had 60CHF on me and didn't want to go overboard as my stash is big enough as it is at the moment and I really need to stop adding to it. I was very impressed with my self-control!

I am off to the UK tomorrow with Molly for a month and really looking forward to it, although I will miss Mr H. He will hopefully be coming over for the last week of my visit as it will be my birthday. Again, I will have to try to control my yarn urges as my mum keeps getting beautiful new stock in the shop and I always want it. Maybe I can get Mr H to bring an empty suitcase over for me...

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...

Cutie Booties

I knit up the booties for my friend's overdue baby yesterday. Very cute. Knit from Christine's Baby Booties using Lang Bébé on 2.5mm dpns (set of 5).

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.

A quick birthday gift

It's my friend's birthday on Halloween, so I thought, what more appropriate thrifty gift than a knitted pumpkin and here it is...

It was a really quick knit, I knocked it up today. The pattern is Pumpkin by Marnie Ann Joyce. I knit it using some left over orange yarn I bought in Manor last year (used for my knitted carrot for the same friend, I guess I think she has a thing for orange fruit and vegetables!) knit double on 4mm dpns.

I think I might knit another one tomorrow for another friend who's birthday it was yesterday as I know she'll like it.

I have almost finished knitting my Wendy hooded top for baby, I just need to knit the button band and hood ribbing and finish sewing it up. After that, I think I will move onto the Pinwheel Baby Blanket by Genia Planck as I really need to knit some nice baby blankets to fill the lovely pram we bought on Monday to make it nice and warm and comfortable.

We also had our 20 week scan on Wednesday. Baby is doing absolutely fine and seems to be developing perfectly. We're still holding out on waiting until the birth to find out the sex, which is actually quite difficult but we will try our best not to give in! I have no idea myself, when I first found out I was pregnant, I was convinced it's a girl but then for a while I thought, no, it's a boy and now I try not to think about it too much otherwise I'm sure it will drive me insane!

So, I will leave you with our future bundle-of-joy at 20 weeks...

Productive

Ohh, another two finished items, aren't I productive? I finished my baby beanie hat. It's knit in Laines du Nord Baby Star on 3.25mm dps. I think it's really cute and I have plenty of yarn left over so I will knit a matching pair of booties.

I also knit myself a pair of fingerless mittens. These were a really quick knit, I did them in two evenings. It was really nice as my mum has been here so we have been spending out evenings hanging out watching trashy tv and films and knitting, it's been very relaxing. She's leaving this afternoon, which I'm quite miserable about and have been trying to convince her to stay but I don't think that's going to happen, she's not happy about leaving the shop for so long. She'll have to get used to it once baby arrives!

Anyway, mitts. The pattern I used was Axel Mittens by Blue Garter. I used one ball of Lang Maxi Tosca on 5.5mm dpns. I'm quite pleased with them, although if I did them again I would make the rib on the cuff a little longer. They're very warm and I love the yarn, especially the colour.

Back to baby talk, baby has been very energetic lately and the movements have been getting bigger. Mr H felt a kick for the first time last night, it was all very exciting. I think bubs is a little dancer. I also have a proper bump now, I was hiding it a bit too much, thinking it was mostly chocolate but I have come to realise that is is actually baby as it's the wrong shape to be pure fat! Ohh, I'm nearly half way through already!

Finally an FO

You may (or may not) have noticed that at the bottom of my WIP list there have been a pair of Wendy Fusion socks which have been there forever. Not anymore. Today has been rainy and horrible and I refused to leave the apartment but didn't feel like working on my regular projects, so I decided to dig out these long forgotten socks and work on them. Now, I have a pair of warm, chunky socks, yay!

I must have started working on these about a year ago. I originally knit a pair for my friend who was going back to Canada for college but ended up having to knit two pairs so they would match better as the colour changes are really long, so I ended up with one green sock and one purple sock. I got my friend's pair finished but never finished mine. I'm fairly pleased with them, although one is a bit longer than the other, but who's going to notice?

FYI, they are knit in Wendy Fusion on 5.5mm dpns over 32 stitches.

Have buttons, will travel

So, my February Lady Sweater finally has buttons. Actually, it's had buttons for a week, it's just taken until today to be able to get Mr H to take a photo of me wearing it.

I'm really pleased with it (have I mentioned that already, I think I have but I mean really pleased with it!). It was fun to knit and I love that it's all done in one piece - I hate seaming and I'm not particularly good at it either and I don't really go in for the old 'practice makes perfect', my ironing contradicts that.

The sweater took me exactly 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. There are a few less rows of garter stitch at the bottom than there should be as I ran out of yarn and wasn't about to go and buy another ball for the sake of a few rows. If I'd done one less pattern repeats on the body or the sleeves I'm sure it would have worked out fine but I can't predict the future. (FYI, I did 25 repeats on the body and 18 on the sleeves).

I also have a photo of my sock yarn blanket, although it's not a particularly good one. It's coming along very slowly, as I've said, due to an actual lack of sock yarn. It will be even slower now that I have frogged my Froot Loop socks due to a mistake I couldn't fix or ignore, grr.

I know it looks a bit of a mess at the moment but I'm sure that it will start to look better as it grows. I will be raiding my mum's leftover sock yarn when I'm in the UK next week, ohh, actually, it's this week I go, very exciting, apart from the bit where I have to spend two weeks in a youth hostel in York, I'm not really looking forward to that. Oh how I wish I was rich and could afford to stay in a hotel for two weeks. I am cursing not doing the London workshop, which then leads me to curse my old boss, but let's not think about him or I might scream!

Cat Mouse Mat

It just occurred to me that I never posted a picture of my Cat Mouse Mat that I knit for Trinny. I have it down as a finished object although, strictly speaking, that's not true as technically it still needs whiskers and eyes but I came to the conclusion that Trinny would be more than likely to chew both off and she seems perfectly content (if not a little over defensive) of the mat as it is!

I used Baruffa Club yarn for this, which I received in a Swap Bot swap from Diamanterosa (Secret Knitting Pal). It took approx. 4 skeins.

While I'm here, I can quickly say that I have already finished the knitting of my first Christmas present of the year, it now just needs buttons, yay. Now I can cast on my brother's scarf. I'm knitting him the Elongated Cables Scarf by Jean Nevitt in Patons Zhivago. Should be a nice one...

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.

A general lack of motivation

I have no motivation to do anything at the moment, which is made worse by Mr H deciding to have a clear out today. I can't be bothered to knit, study, tidy or sew and I have been in a foul mood all day for no apparent reason. I decided I should at least post on my blog so I've at least done something creative today.

I finished my string shopping bag a few days ago. It's OK, nothing special but what could I expect from a black string bag? I expect I will knit some more but will make them more colourful, I just have a lot of black cotton that needs using up and I don't really like knitting with it so a quick-knit shopping bag seemed like a perfect project to use some of it up.

I think next time I make this bag I will make it a little deeper as I don't think it will hold too much but it is good as I can just pop it in my handbag or pocket and pull it out at the supermarket.

I don't know what to knit at the moment. I have to restart my Noro socks as I changed my mind about the stitch pattern, but a few repeats into the new pattern I realised that it's really not showing up so I have to choose yet another. I have lots of socks on my list to knit but just don't feel like doing them. I'm really uninspired. There are a few more summer things I'd like to knit but I don't have any appropriate yarn in my stash and am seriously lacking the cash to buy anymore. I keep browsing through patterns on Ravelry that people have knitted with yarns that I have in my stash but I just don't have enough of anything for a whole, decent project.

Euro 2008 started yesterday so Geneva was full of Portuguese and Turkish football fans, all very noisy. I'm pretty glad I wasn't in town and was off in Veyrier babysitting an adorable two year old boy, much better than watching the footie I think! When I got home, Mr H and I decided to venture out into town to see if anything was still going on, we figured that there would be since it was about 1am and the bars are open at least until 2am, so we thought there'd still be a lively atmosphere in town and that we'd go and join some Portuguese fans in a celebratory beer. We were wrong. The fanzone was closed and everyone who was left in town was waiting at tram stops, the bars were empty. We decided this was typically Swiss and that we shouldn't really have expected anything else. Personally, I think it's a good thing that England didn't make it through as I'm not sure the Swiss would be able to handle all the English football fans!

Evening Shrug FO

I finished my Evening Shrug yesterday. I'm really pleased with it, despite Mr H asking if it was actually finished when I put it on to show him, charming! I love the colour, I just hope it doesn't run in the wash as the yarn has dyed my bamboo needles green.

I am now knitting (and have almost finished) knitting a cotton shopping bag called 'Pippa' from Let's Knit magazine, but I'm afraid I don't know which issue it is as I pulled the page out of someone's magazine. It's a really easy and quick knit and will be much better to use than having to remember to take my old paper bags with me when I go to the supermarket.