Camille

I have recently cast on quite a large project. It is a coat. I bought the yarn about a year or more ago from John Lewis so I paid full price for the yarn. I know, don't faint.

It is in a Debbie Bliss book called 'Winter Essentials' and it is called Camille. I really love the pattern and was so excited about the yarn. It is such a good colour.

I have to say that now I have started I am a little disappointed with the yarn. I am using Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed. As you can seen, it comes in skeins so I wound it into a ball first. Within the first three rows I got a knot. I really hate this. I don't mind a knot if the yarn is really cheap, but when I have paid a lot of money for it, it really bugs me. This is not my main complaint though.

My main complaint is the way the yarn behaves when you are knitting with it. It twists up. It is really difficult to describe but it seems to twist more than it should so that every couple of rows I have the hang the needles and knitting from the thread for the yarn to unravel it. It is a real pain. I have never had this before, although I don't have an extensive knowledge of different types of yarn. I read on fridica's blog about her Debbie Bliss yarn unravelling but mine is the opposite problem.

Is there anything I could have done wrong with the ball winding? This coat is going to take forever if this is going to happen. Has anyone else had this problem before? It has really put me off of DB yarn and knitting this pattern.

Hat on Head

Here is my beautiful daughter in her hat. As I have explained, it is not the lovely lacy, floppy beret I promised her but it doesn't look too bad.

She says that it sits better if she puts some hairgrips in but she took them out for photographic purposes.

She was also quite happy to have her photograph taken and it was not under duress at all.

Of cabbages and kings

I will launch straight into my progress on my hat or the floppy beret to give it its proper title. Do you remember how I crowed about how it was a piece of cake after I had got past the initial casting on and pattern rows? Wrong.

I think it is probably a good thing to post the disasters as well as the successes so here goes. As you will remember, I struggled to cast on this hat and start the initial pattern. I did it a couple of times and got it wrong, so when a friend's mum offered to start it for me I jumped at the chance. She started it and I took over. It went really well until it came to the decreasing bit. Try as hard as I might I could not get the pattern and decreasing to work. When I counted the stitches I had fourteen extra. How does that work! The pattern had worked out ok up to this point. I ummed and ahhed and decided to do the decreasing in stocking stitch. I got it down to the amount of stitches it should have been then followed the pattern for the decreases. There. A tah-dah moment but no quite the one I would have hoped. Never mind. I put it on my daughters head and it was massive. If I had left a hole in the top, she could have worn it as a dress!

I put it in a 40 degree wash to shrink it just a little. Nothing happened. So I stuck it on 60 just for a short wash. So here you have it. A completely felted hat.

I could have done it all in stocking stitch and it would not have mattered. You cannot see any of the intricate lace pattern that was there. Promise. I suppose the lesson learned has to be to start my own work so that I know exactly what is going on and am more able to deal with any problems, should they arise (who am I kidding). My daughter said that she will wear it anyway (although there seems to be a reluctance on her part to try it on). I don't want a pity wear!

On a more positive note, here is my son in his stripey sweater. It was quite a hot day yesterday but he powered on through and put it on for his photos.

As you can see, it does fit. Just. I am not sure how long it will fit for.

Despite his posture he was actually quite happy for me to take photos of him. I might make him brush his hair next time but I didn't want to push my luck.

I have been jiggling the blog page about a bit so bear with me, it is definitely a work in progress.

Bag and bonnet

Here is a hat I am knitting for my daughter. It came as a kit from and Stitch and Craft Fair. I couldn't get to grips with the pattern at all and it ended up sitting in the bag for about a year. Finally, a friends mum started it for me and did the first pattern set. Since then it has been plain sailing, although the hat seems to be massive. It is called a floppy beret.
It is a beautiful yarn. It is called Silkwood Halo and is 70% angora and 30% wool. It is my first attempt with circular needles and it hasn't been too bad, now I have the hang of it.

You may have heard rumblings from Rowan International members about the free gift this year with the subscription. Normally it is a small project with some yarn. It is always quite exciting when it arrives because it gives you an opportunity to do project you might not normally choose and use a different yarn. This year they changed the free gift to a bag. A project bag. The sock is included for scale.
I think everyone was quite disappointed with the bag and made their feelings known on Ravelry on the Rowan group. I was a little disappointed but as I had not renewed until January this year, it was my second gift in a year, so it seemed churlish to complain. Anyway, Rowan have listened. Yesterday I had an email to say that they will be sending out an extra gift of a Winter Kids pattern book. Yay for Rowan.
I decided that I would take my bag out for an airing at the local knitting group. I went with my socks packed in it because a) it is impossible to knit anything intricate at knitting group as we all talk far too much and b) it is really a rather small bag. I also popped my phone and purse into the bag. On the way there I had to stop for petrol and had also been tasked with buying the milk and biscuits for the group. When I went in to pay it was easier to take the whole bag in rather than pfaffing around trying to find purse and phone. When I got to the counter I put my milk and biscuits on the counter and the assistant asked whether I would like my bag packed. Oh no, my Rowan chic had been reduced to supermarket shopper!

Stripey sweater - FO

The stripey sweater is finished at last. I am actually quite pleased with it although it seems to have taken forever. The stripes at the top didn't match up quite as I would have hoped but it was an adaptation of a pattern for a plain sweater so I am not really surprised.

It took absolutely ages to sew all of the ends in but it did give me a real sense of achievement when I had finished. It is one of those patterns that was really very easy but that didn't stop me going wrong. As I have said before, I think I just relaxed too much with it.

The really silly thing was that I promised my husband a stripey sweater too (obviously before I knitted this one). He has mentioned that he can't wait for his one now. Bother.

PS. You are right fridica, I did omit that vital piece of information. It fits but quite snuggly. Well, quite a bit snuggly. I would have preferred it to be a bit bigger on him but I will make him wear it anyway! But truthfully, he loves it (or says he does). I think the family is just amazed that I finish anything and that it is wearable. I will try to get a photo of him in it.

Chunky cardigan

Here, at last, a finished object. It is a cardigan for my OH. As you can see it is dancing with happiness. Yay.

I hadn't realised that the yarn was so prominently striped. This is truly apparent by the way the stripes are not matched up at all at the front. I think it gives it that rustic informal look.
It is knitted using Sirdar Peru which I bought really cheaply from Kemps. I quite enjoyed knitting this and it grew really quickly. It took me ages to finish it off though because it has been so hot and it is such a big cardigan.
OH took the photos yesterday between the rain showers. Yes, he did lay it on the grass. He actually took loads of photos. It was like 'Chunky cardigan's tour of the garden' so I limited it to these ones. I think I shall have to practice my photography otherwise I am always going to end up with 'artistic' shots of finished objects.
On a different note altogether, we have areas of our house that definitely belong to my OH, the loft being one of them. He becomes decidedly twitchy if I go in the loft. He says it is because only half of it is floored and he is worried I might slip. Well, you've guessed it. Yesterday his foot came through the ceiling. Fortunately it wasn't in our bedroom which has recently been replastered but it was in the ensuite bathroom. I was actually quite pleased because it means that the bathroom moves up the list of rooms to be decorated and we hopefully won't have to put up with the avocado and rust medley much longer. Still, if it was that easy, I would have thrown myself through the ceiling years ago!

And now, the end is near

I mentioned that I had bought some foam squares from the Early Learning Centre to use for blocking the stripey sweater for my son. This project has been hanging around forever. I will definitely be pleased to see the back of it! Anyway, late last night I blocked it and here it is.

Look at my lovely, brightly coloured foam squares. I am not sure if I have blocked it correctly but I did loads of searches online and followed instructions. I wet blocked it by soaking it in water but I wonder whether it would have been better to have pinned it then sprayed it with water. I am actually past caring if it fits him or not. I know that sounds terrible. Have you ever had a knit like that? Look at all of those ends to be sewn in. On second thoughts, I would be quite miffed if it didn't fit.

I had plans to put it outside to dry today but it rained on and off all day so it is in the lounge with me for the moment.

I have also joined in with my first knitalong. I spotted it on Crafty Cripple's blog and fell in love with the Centrique shawl and the 'In my Blood' colour of the yarn. I was easily led astray (it doesn't take a lot). It is also my first ever shawl pattern so I am really excited about it. I am just waiting for the needles to arrive in the post and there will be no stopping me. I hope!