Ravelry invitation has arrived

So excuse me while I excitedly add my stash and projects...

(S)watching and waiting

I've put my name down for Mystery Stole 3, and while waiting for the first clue on Friday, I went stashdiving. I hunted high and low to find a mystery angora/wool yarn that I knew I had in there somewhere. I'd bought it as a so called 4 ply, but it was clearly too thin for the intended purpose. After balancing precariously on a stool and rummaging through the overhead cubes, I found the cone, and swatched up. I was delighted to find it was a perfect laceweight and showed off the pattern beautifully. It's a really great feeling to find the perfect yarn in the stash.

I've even managed to get some beads in the right colour. They're smaller than the pattern suggests though, and no way can I get a crochet hook through them. I think I'll try pre-threading and hope for the best.

My first attempt at blocking went well:

It's keeping me busy while I wait for my Ravelry invitation...

Knitting goals for July

1) Finish spree bag

2) Finish the knitting of the adventure bag. I think the finishing will take longer, but I'd like to get the actual knitting done

3) Finish Sahara - still hoping to complete by end of June

4) Make the icords for large tote bag

5) 3 pattern repeats of Charlotte's Web shawl

So much for the WIPs, what about starting something new?
I'd like to make a summer top, and have found several candidates:


1) Fifi for the SKC KAL with Rowan Calmer



2) Lana Grossa Summertime 06 model 6 vest top with garter panel using Binario

3) Berroco Badia in Bonsai



4) Green vest top from Knit Today

Still on tenterhooks

I'm still waiting anxiously to make the grade for Ravelry. According to the correspondance I had a couple of weeks ago, I should have been on yesterday, or earlier if they increased the rate of invitations. So I've been rushing home to check my mail every night (yahoo is banned at work), rising to a crescendo yesterday, when I was checking every hour.... This morning it was the first thought in my mind, and I logged in to check. But no, and I'm sadly still waiting. I was really hoping to get the invitation yesterday, so I could play on the site today when I have some time to myself. It's a damp weekend here, so perfect for raveling.

Candy simple socks

After one last push, I've finished the candy coloured simple socks. I can't say why it's taken so long, except that socks don't really work for me as commuter knitting, and I don't feel like knitting them in the evenings.



I also picked up my neglected Sahara last week and started working on the second sleeve. I didn't pay close enough attention to the pattern though, and ended up working all the short rows incorrectly. Yesterday I bit the bullet and unknit them; it would have been faster to rip but it took me about 10 attempts to pick up the right number of stitches around the armhole, and I couldn't face doing that again.



The adventure bag is coming on, but it was a mistake to plan this as a summer project. I'm 200g through, and already it's too heavy and hot to deal with at this time of year. It's also not particularly portable.



The search for a good commuter project continues...

Cast on for adventure

I know I should be completing those UFOs, but I couldn't resist casting on for a Noni Adventure bag. I vaguely thought this could be my commuter project, but seeing the size and weight of this already, it's not going to work. I'm using Rowan Yorkshire tweed chunky, and gaily cast on with 8mm without bothering to swatch, thinking, gauge doesn't really matter for felting, does it?

Hmm.

After 5 rows, it became apparent that the bag was going to be huge. I took out the tape measure and found my gauge was way off. I frogged. One gauge swatch and two needle size changes later, things looked a lot better.

Moral of the tale? Always swatch. Even when you don't 'need' to.

It's not going to make exciting blog fodder while in progress, but here's the first picture anyway.

Other news - Casey from Ravelry has told me I only have to wait another two weeks for admittance to the hallowed portal, so I'm counting down.

Knitting in public

Knitting in public is something I do nearly every day. Once I overcame my initial shyness to knit on the train, I stopped worrying what people thought. As it was Knitting in Public day this weekend, I thought a slightly greater effort than usual was called for. I did knit on 3 trains, but also managed a bit of knitting in the ballroom (really just the foyer) of the newly re-opened Royal Festival Hall.



There were certainly plenty of people



Just to prove it was the RFH - although if you don't know the building, you'll have to take my word for it that the tree is hiding 'Festival'

Vogue multidirectional wrap

The wrap is finished! I just kept going and didn't allow myself to cast on anything else until it was done.
I used mohair and a cotton boucle, which turned out to be a difficult combination, as the mohair felted and shed, and the boucle tangled. The way I knitted it I ended up with 4 balls of yarn tangling together.
I followed the pattern fairly closely, but ended up with more stitches than the pattern to get the right width, so ended up with a rather long front tie. The shaping is quite strange and you just have to believe it will work out in the end. I couldn't make any sense of the sleeve instructions until I came to do it, and all was well.

Flat finished knitting before sewing sleeve seams

The ties are long enough for me to tie around the back for an alternative styling.

At the end of the day, I quite like it, but am not crazy about it. It's very lightweight, but warm, so I think I'll use it. Mostly I just feel relieved to have finished a project that has been hanging around for a year.