Tea and Cakes

I’m working on the adorable Little Sister’s Dress at the moment. Or rather, I’m not working on it. Well, I knit, but then I unpick, and knit again, and unpick again. This is in no way the pattern’s fault. The pattern is excellent and makes perfect sense so far. Or, should make perfect sense.

This is how it’s gone so far:
Knit first 10 rows. Manage this fine.
Next I have to repeat rows 5-10 three more times. A fairly simple instruction, no?
Apparently not.
Instead, I knit rows 1 and 2 again. I realised my mistake, unpicked them, and managed ok for a little while.
Then I decided to just work the repeat two more times, instead of three. For no clear reason.
I joined to work in the round and worked a round before I realised.
So. Unpick a round. Follow pattern closely.
Finish all three repeats.
Join to work in the round. Work 2 rounds. Realise it looks a bit odd.
It would appear that where the pattern very clearly stated that I needed to purl, I decided to knit.
I have more unpicking to do.
Not right now though.
Now I’m going to bed with my book.
I know how to read. It doesn’t matter if I read my book wrong.

Reading this blog recently you’d be forgiven for thinking that I don’t really knit.

I do, and have been, although while we were away I managed 12 rows of a baby dress, two of which I had to unpick. Of course, I’d brought 3 projects with me, and picked up some special needles on the way (more on those in a day or so). My knitting mojo has flown right out of the window.

For the sake of having something round and round and simple to knit I made a cowl from some hipknits cashmere.

I don’t like it. It’s soft and yummy feeling but too big. I may rip it out and remake it as Michael’s lovely Man Cowl. Not sure. For now it’s just going to sit a while.

Before we went away I’d started on the Hemlock Ring Blanket. It’s great. I love this pattern. The rounds are quite big now though, and I don’t feel up to them right at this moment, even though it’s a very handy pattern for knitting a few stitches on and then putting back down.

I’ll come back to it soon.

So, that’s where I am at the moment. I have ideas, and other things to get working on, but I’m lost in books right now. Can’t stop reading.

I seem to have lost it.

My cashmere cozy was looking and feeling lovely, but there was absolutely no way I was going to have enough yarn.

Ripped!

I started a shrug in gorgeous teal wool/bamboo, but it was coming out all wrong size wise.

Ripped!

I started a blanket from cones of chenille from the Avoca sale, but it was yukky.

Ripped!

I do seem to be able to manage a plain sock: round and round and round.

I made it along to knitting group on Saturday for the first time in ages, and had a lovely time. Saturday also marked the beginning of the This is Knit WWKIP scavenger hunt, so I’m charging around the place taking plenty of silly photographs. I don’t want to give my scores away just yet, but here’s a taster:

Wow - thank you for all the lovely comments about the sweater!

I have another finished garment hot on its (it’s? its?) heels. This was almost done when I started the sweater class, and was set aside with just a sleeve to finish.

One finished not so mini mini sweater!

The pattern is the Mini-sweater/boobholder by Stephanie Japel. I sort of followed the pattern, but knit on down on the sleeves and body, decreasing when it felt right and ending with a few rows of garter stitch.

I used 5mm Addi turbos, and the yarn is a 100% wool scottish tweed that came from the Avoca sale last year (thanks Sara and Cheryl!). I’ve used about half the cone, so I reckon I spend about €6 on the yarn. Bargain!

The sleeves are possibly a little too puffy, and I need to get a good button for it, but all in all I can’t wait for the winter!

Of course, now I’ve finished the two items I was making myself finish before I cast on for the hemlock ring blanket I have no interest in starting it at all. In fact, I may even carry on finishing off other items that are on the needles.

Over the weekend I finished the navy sweater, my first fully completed proper adult sized garment.

I have to say I’m very proud of myself.

I love how it looks from the front:

I’m not quite so mad on the back - I’m not convinced I did it right, but maybe I did. Next time I’ll try the shirt yoke variation. I do like that it looks a little bit different from anything shop bought. In a good way.

So, the details:
Seamless Hybrid by Elizabeth Zimmerman, from Knitting Without Tears
Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Blue Ink, 13 balls. Lovely woolly wool this.
4mm needles: Knit Picks metal options and then a shorter harmony wood circular for the neck.
Mods: messed with the percentages a bit to knit it to fit properly.

Big thanks have to go to Aileen, for holding my hand and helping me through during her sweater design classes.

Unfortunately I don’t see the sweater getting much wear at all for a while - It’s really warm, and summer is approaching. Sort of. It’s warm anyway. You know, for Ireland.

Now, I have half a cardigan sleeve to finish and then I can cast on for new and exciting projects!

As you may have gathered from my previous posts, I was up in Belfast this weekend. It was for Sara’s hen party, and little miss smarts here forgot that the location was supposed to be a secret, and posted here on the blog about it for Sara to see. And I think I probably let it slip before then too. Well done, me.

I went up on Friday afternoon by myself, and had a relaxing evening wandering around the city before a swim and an early night at the hotel, which was just what I needed after a long couple of weeks.

I’m still not completely sure what I think of Belfast - it was strange seeing Dunnes Stores right next to BHS, and O’Briens Sandwich Bar right by the City Hall with the statue of Queen Victoria in front of it.

Saturday morning I did much the same - a wander and then a sit for a nice pot of tea in the Linenhall Library. I forgot to document it, but my teapot totally looked like it was the sort to spill tea all over the table, but turned out to be a perfect pourer.

At lunchtime I met up with Diane and then the rest of the group, and we headed out for a delicious lunch, then back to the hotel, off to the Belfast Wheel,

and then on for cocktails, a delicious dinner, and then the rest of the night!

Sunday we went out for breakfast and a quick spot of shopping before heading back down to Dublin.

Sara’s sisters did a wonderful job of organising everything, and it was a lovely weekend.

~~

Side note about knitting:

I picked up the boyfriend sweater again to find that I really don’t have that much more to do, so I’ve been working on it over the last couple of nights. It’s dark here, and it’s not easy to photograph anyway, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it’s looking great, fits well so far, and doesn’t have too much further to go. (The neck looks a bit small here but that’s only because the stitches are all bunched up on a 40cm needle.)

In Belfast I also cast on for Cozy from Knitty in a 4 ply cashmere yarn. I wanted a soft, light, warm wrap that I could use as a sort of small blanket on aeroplanes and also squish up around my neck as a scarf, and I think this is going to do just the job, although it’s hard to tell at the moment:

~~

Now, after a weekend away, preceded by a full weekend of work, 3 weekends of guests, and a different weekend away, I’m quite looking forward to spending the bank holiday weekend at home. Although maybe there are some last minute deals out there…

This weekend Jonny, a friend from New Zealand is visiting. Yesterday we went along to some of knitting group, and then took a bit of a walking tour of Dublin, checked out some bog men (the ones in the museum, not our soon to be prime minister), ate noodles, and enjoyed a few pints.

Lovely.

Anyway, you can’t visit a knitting group without knitting (well, you can, of course, but for the sake of the expression lets let that one go), so Jonny’s making a dishcloth:

Today we’ve been taking it easy at home, baking rock cakes and cookies (me), and carrot cake (Jonny).

Delicious!

The blue sweater is coming along nicely. At the moment I’m joining the sleeves and body together at the yoke. At four points I do a double decrease to make a nice straight line, eating up one stitch from the sleeve and one from the body at each time. It’s looking quite pretty:

I have one decrease round followed by two plain rounds. Nice and simple, right?

No, not right. I missed one. Two rounds back. Two long rounds back.

So, after fortifying myself with an M&S apple and cinnamon hot cross bun I set to work .

I tinked back to the decrease point and dropped 3 stitches down, catching them on a spare needle:

Then I used another needle and a crochet hook to complete the slip-2-tog K1 psso, and pick the remaining stitch back up:

I felt pleased with myself and knit on for a few stitches, feeling smug.

Until I realised that I’d fixed a decrease that didn’t need fixing.

I may have uttered a few choice words at this point.

So, start again.
Eat small chocolate egg.
Tink back to that decrease. Drop down, undo decrease and pick up three stitches back to where they should be.
Tink back around to the place that does need fixing. Double check that it is, in fact, the right place.
Drop stitches down, decrease, work back up.

It’s a bit loose looking, but I’m hoping that when I work the next decrease round it should pull it in again, or I can always pop a stitch in the back if needs be, or hey, it’s very feltable wool - I can just rub it a bit when I wash it.

What do you think?

The long weekend here coincided nicely with other family members’ visits back to the UK too, so we took the chance to head over for a bit of a break. It was super fun, super relaxing, and super busy too.

Friday passed in a blur of pottering and visiting my grandma, who is amazing. Over the summer she had to move from her flat to a nursing home, she was very ill with neuralgia, and there was talk about how much longer she’d be with us. I visited in early September, when the prognosis was a little better, but still grim, and found her confused about a lot of things. She’s 91. It was sad, but that’s the way things go. At christmas she was heaps better and almost back to herself. Still quite frail, and after an hour she asked us to go (which was fine, she’s a short walk away from home so several short visits are easy to make).

This visit she had improved even more, and it was hard to tell that she’d been so ill before. She reads a lot - this time last year it was the Times bestseller list, now it’s whatever the visiting library brings in large print, but The Guardian’s still her newspaper, and she’s in tune with everything that’s going on.

Knitting for her is hard - she knows what she wants, and it’s acrylic, machine washable and soft. A hat had been requested, so I duly provided:



I’d be lying if I said that it was the item I was most proud to have knitted. It’s some form of novelty yarn, and my pretty swirly decreases are lost in it. However. It is the softest yarn I could find, and it’s really cosy and comfy and what she wanted, and that’s what matters most.

Saturday we took a family trip up to London - although despite all starting from and returning to the same station we managed to travel on separate trains quite a lot (lets just say that mum ended up on a train that the rest of us didn’t and it was my fault and I don’t expect to hear the end of it). Anyway, we had a lovely lunch by London Bridge, took the excellent Thames Clipper boat service down the river, under Tower Bridge

to the Millenium Dome O2 Arena, which is very grubby.

We were there to see the Tutenkhamun exhibition. The Dome itself is, well, a giant tent filled with chain restaurants. Meh.
The exhibition was fascinating, and it’s hard to take in how old the pieces are and the exquisite craftsmanship that went into them. I have two howevers though. Firstly, I would have loved a lot more explanations of things - the history, the process of making the pieces, the discovery of the tomb etc. Secondly, and this is an important one. I had the impression that the death mask would be there. It was what I had assumed I was seeing on the website and ads for the exhibition, although I now know that the pictures are of the very small (but exquisite) container that once held his mummified liver. The exhibition sort of gave that impression too - all the rooms told a story, that seemed to be leading up to the death mask, or one of the coffins. When I turned the last corner though, there was just a big screen playing a recording from BBC News 24 and a person asking for my audio guide. It felt a little flat.

However, we had a great family day out in London. I have very fond memories of mum bringing my brother and I up for day trips to various museums, and it was nice to do it again with all our partners there too.

Phew! Tired yet?

Sunday then. Sunday was a lovely family day, notable for getting to spend time with three of my youngest relatives, who are all adorable and good natured and beautiful and lots of fun. It was far too short a visit, but a lovely one. There are many more notable pictures from the day, but the one I’m going to share is this:

My mum and my aunt are both fabulous cooks, and I’ve come back a good few pounds heavier from so many delicious meals. The picture above is Glenys’s chocolate pudding and oh my it was soooooo good. There was lemon meringue pie too, which I know from experience is delicious, but I just couldn’t manage it.

OK, almost done!

Monday was another visit to see my grandma, another giant delicious meal, and then home to Dublin, with a bag full of chocolate from the weekend that was in it. Might take a while to shift those pounds…

Busy busy busy, and haven’t been in a chatty mood much recently, but anyway…

The stockingette is progressing. I missed my deadline of being able to join the body and sleeves by last Tuesday’s class, and instead managed to start that on Sunday night. Tonight’s the last class, but I’m doing ok with it, and I’ve read through the instructions a few times. I’m sure Ravelry can come to my aid if needs be.

Sorry for the not great picture - taken very quickly this morning.

EZ says to leave 5% of the stitches each side for the underarm. However, I had more than the 33% suggested at the top of the sleeve. (I went with what worked instead of sticking to the %). Apparently the EPS system has been updated in later books, but not in Knitting Without Tears, so I’m not unusual in finding that my figures didn’t quite work. 5% would have been 11 stitches, BrooklynTweed mentioned 8%, which would have been 17.8, so I went with 16, which felt right.

Now, I know that’s all I’m supposed to be working on right now, so we’ll just keep this next picture between us:

(again, sorry about the quick and dirty photo)
I was away this weekend, and needed something very portable that I could work on without needing too much thinking. And most definitely not navy stockingette. Small and bright and cute and fun, a baby sock was the perfect choice. Must….not….finish…yet…