Something new...

Actually this is not a new project but I don't believe I blogged about it when I started it (whenever that might have been as I didn't log it on Ravelry either!) but it is a new technique for me. Stranded colourwork. I have been wittering on about having a proper go at this for ages (I've knit mini Christmas stockings in the past but so tiny they hardly even count) and I think it has been on my knitting resolutions list since I started knitting. Still I've avoided it until now. I had two balls of K1 Yarns Scappa purchased when we were in Edinburgh in March 2011 purchased with colourwork in mind and at some point I purchased the Manzanita Tam pattern as it allegedly uses the amount of yarn I have, we'll see! I don't expect it to be fabulous and it's slow going but I'm doing it and I will get there. I made yet another yarny purchase, I know I know...supposed to be banned. Lovely squishy hand dyed BFL yarn from the lovely Kirsty at Wharefdale Woolworks this is to make a winter hat for the lovely mini monkey girl. I haven't forgotten her cardigan by the way...just got temporarily distracted by other things! I'll finish it I promise. The little monkey has been doing her own creating as Mr.Monkey bought her an Aquadoodle on a very cheap offer from Amazon. She does use pens and paints but it's nice to have something mess free as well, particularly for visiting family who may be less impressed by her drawing on things other than paper (she's pretty good but we have had some pen on the carpet, it all washed off though) My mum has been continuing excellent grandma duties and churning out cardigans at an enviable rate, the latest was worn on a recent trip to visit Mr.Monkey's Nain in North Wales, mini monkey is a big fan of the garden but not so great at cardigan modelling (well I think she looks great but it doesn't exactly show off the knitting!) That's about it from me. I've had a miserable ear infection recently that has kept me off work but I think I'm just about on the mend all be it with vastly reduced hearing in one ear...supposed to be going to a concert on Saturday which is going to be interesting if I can't hear in one ear but never mind. I'm just glad to not be in the horrible pain I was in with it initially. I am trying to plan some holiday knitting for a trip away we have coming up but perhaps I should only take the cardigan and focus for a bit. See you soon :)

A woolly purchase

Today I made my first woolly purchase in nearly two years! Yep I've not bought yarn (for me, I bought some as a gift for my mum) since late 2011, unbelievable. I couldn't resist today though. It was not so much the wool as it's nothing fancy but a pattern that has gotten itself into my head and I just can't shake it. 

Lovely green King Cole merino blend DK. I really rare this range of yarns. They're budget friendly but still natural fibres and they wash really well and come in a huge range of colours. Budget friendly and machine washable are key at the moment though as this is for a garment for the always mucky and rapidly growing Abigail. I'm not saying she's not worth expensive hand wash only yarn, she totally is, I'd just rather wait until I have time for hand washing (so never then) and when covered in food, mud and paint aren't a constant probability.

I'll keep the pattern itself under my hat for now but I am excited...just have to finish my current knitting project first.

The current project is progressing, slowly but progressing. I do expect to finish it before she outgrows it. I have a back, a front and very nearly a second front. Only sleeves, button bands and making up to do.

One thing I will tell you about the pattern that drove me to a yarny purchase...it's knit in one piece to the underarms then sleeves in the round and all joined together. Making up can bite me, I'm already dreading it for this cardi :-/

I do have a few days off work coming up with little miss still going to nursery so I can catch up on a few jobs round the house so I am hoping to fit in some crafting between jobs...fingers crossed.

Have a lovely week everyone x

Bonus cute baby pic, the cardigan is a grandma special, this nap is to thank for my nearly finished second front :-)

She sews too...

So I am generally the world's worst blogger and have been for two years now as this Friday marks two years since I found out I was pregnant and my brain instantly turned to mush! I read a lot of parenting blogs or blogs by parents of babies and toddlers, plenty of them younger than mine, some with multiple babies and toddlers and I can't help wondering how they do it and where they find the time. It's possible (likely) they got the type of child who sleeps though meaning they may be able to grab moments to knit/sew/blog. I got the type of child who still strongly believes that sleep is for the weak and is to be fought tooth and nail and all other wakeing moments are to be spent on the go meaning the times she is asleep I am far too tired to even consider crafting or blogging. Sigh.

I do however have some crafts to share. It's not knitting but it is something I have made, hurrah!

As I'm sure you're aware these little monkeys come with quite a bit of added stuff to carry around. Nappies, snacks, drinks, spare clothes, toys...all that. For my shame as someone who tries not to overload on "stuff" I have had two changing bags (plus one that came free with joining the Boots parenting club) and neither really fit the bill. Both were/are good in their own way but both were very definitely made for hanging off the back of a buggy which is fine...if you use a buggy. However this is my little monkey's preferred mode of transport (by the way rocking another lovingly handknit cardigan from grandma - my mum)

So I turned to the internet and this tutorial from Geeky Sweetheart and got my sewing machine out. This was serious stuff. A bag with lining...and a zip! So far my sewing machine adventures have been limited to a laundry bag, a skirt made from two rectangles, a very basic curtain and a little stuffed toy for a friend.  It was fine though. I managed to follow the pattern, I bossed using that zipper foot and now I have a bag with straps that can be worn either across the body or threaded through little hoops to make a backpack. It's great.

I mostly use it if I'm out alone and it's big enough for all her essentials (no mean feat as we use cloth nappies that do take up a fair bit more room than the disposable ones) plus my purse and phone. It's comfortable to carry as a backpack or if I'm carrying her on my back the strap is soft and lies flat with no buckles so it can be tied over her with no issue (understandably she doesn't like heavy or buckled straps being over her!) If Mr NM is with me we take his manbag and just throw the baby related stuff in there and one of us carries that whilst the other carries baby monkey. It works for us anyway. Also most yarn shops and little trinket shops (my favourite type of shops) really aren't pram/pushchair/buggy friendly so carrying works well for us. She's walking now though...scary stuff!

OK so obligatory cute baby picture with her sitting on another handmade item, not by me though! My great-uncle made me this chair when I was little. It's lovely that now she's getting to use it (and she's very fond of her special chair)

And finally...some crafting by the little monkey herself! A painting she did at nursery...ahhh! She loves painting and drawing and I'm rather excited to start collecting all her little pieces of artwork though I know long term I probably can't keep all of them. For now though I will get very excited over them and display them proudly on our boiler (the highest metal object we can attach them to with magnets, our fridge and freezer are both under counter so if I put it on there she'd pull it off).

I am going to try to blog more (I know I've said that before!) and I think the answer for me is to worry less about whether I have craft projects and knitting to show off and to blog more about all the other things we do. It will be nice to have some record.



When mummy can't knit ask grandma...

Various life events have rather gotten in the way of my knitting time, boo hiss and all that. The cardigan is progressing oh so slowly and we are a front and a half and two sleeves from an FO post. Oh dear.

It's ok though, Abigail is not going cold and handknit-less. Oh no. Never in this family! We are good Yorkshire women, we all knit and where I have failed Grandma stepped in. Another gorgeous little cardigan using Sirdar Crofter Snuggly...you wouldn't think this was an acrylic/nylon yarn, it's sooooo soft and as the name suggests snuggly. The bonus is being acrylic/nylon it washes well and can take a beating, essential where babies are concerned...especially babies rapidly turning into toddlers who are into everything and making messes! This is the third of this cardigan Abigail has had, the first was in a pink, yellow and cream Crofter, the second in the lilac, white and blue and this in my most favourite (and my mum's!) GREEN (with some blue, cream and brown) Hurrah! Also green is just gorgeous with her beautiful ginger hair. I must steam iron that bottom edging so it lies flat but my mum handed it over today and I couldn't wait to get it on her.

 Ahh cute baby pics...my lack of posts and my own knitting is forgiven with cute baby pics surely? 

I'm back!

So a little someone has rather got in the way of my knitting over the last nearly 12 months. I've knit practically nothing, shocking when I have an adorable little person to knit for but there you go.

I am not sure how often I'll be blogging or how many WIPs will be turning into FOs but I am going to give it a bash, especially as I am back at work and can attempt to knit in my lunch breaks.

My current WIP is for my little monkey. A new cardigan that I'm really hoping to finish for her birthday in two weeks...hopefully it won't go the way of the cardigan I was knitting this time lady year and be finished in about July! I am almost done with the back and it's a quick and simple pattern to ease me back to my needles.

Also a gratuitous baby picture showing how she tries to thwart my knitting attempts with acts of terror such as chewing on tape measures! (Cardigan by grandma who has been stepping in with knitting whilst my brain has been steeped in baby fog)

Anyway I will try to blog and knit and get back in the swing of it, she has to see me knitting if I want her to take it up right?! :-)

Wow...a finished project!

As I'm sure you can imagine I don't get much knitting time these days and even less time to write about it! Still the magic of technology and the blogger app mean I've managed to get a picture of my latest FO and can make a quick post about it.

This took forever to knit as I kept picking it up and putting it down again and then when I'd planned to finish it on my maternity leave I had only the sleeve, button bands and making up to go and it was the night before my due date...well Abigail decided to scupper my plans and be one of 5% of babies born on her due date.

It has taken me the last 16 weeks to find the time to finish it off! Still it was done and fortunately it does still fit and will for a little while.

I may not have much knitting time but I have an adorable model!

5 weeks

Abigail is now 5 weeks old, in those five weeks I've knit one row...she's worth it though and my knitting family and friends are making up for my lack of knitting time by knitting for her in my place! It has been a bit warm for woollens lately though!

The best laid plans

My knitting & crochet blog week plans were interrupted by the most amazing thing ever, I don't regret that I didn't get any further than day one.

Welcome to the world Abigail Emily and well done for showing remarkable punctuality and joining me in being one of the 5%ish of babies born on their due date.

She arrived Tuesday evening weighing 7lbs 9oz and is the most perfect and precious little thing ever. I wonder if I'll find time to finish her cabled cardi before she's too big for it!

3KCBWDAY1 - Colour Lovers

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

Anyone who knows me or who has read my blog before will know I am rather a lover of one colour in particular, I just can't get enough green. Pretty much any shade will do, I love it. It's not just in my knitting, my wardrobe also contains more than it's fair share of green and it's the colour we chose to paint the baby's room (fortunately my husband shares a fondness for the colour though perhaps not such a strong one as me). I did have to think if there were other colours that I tended to be drawn towards so I got out my sock and laceweight stash. Sock and laceweight yarn purchases tend to be my impulse buys so it's here where any clear preference for one colour would show the most. It did and it's not just green. It's a combination of green, purple and shades of blue that are tinged with green and purple.



It's there on my ravelry project page as well. Even where the dominant colours in the yarn are not green or purple there is almost always some of one or the other hiding in there as well.  Also looking through my projects those not in shades of green and purple are almost always things I've knit as gifts!  I need to start branching out more, I do appreciate other colours, honest :)

Clearly I am obsessed with green and purple!  They do look rather lovely together though, don't you think?  Now it's off to google 3KCBWDAY1 to see what other bloggers have to say about their love of colour.

The race against the clock

I'm very much on the home stretch where the baby is concerned now. Officially Baby NM is due on Tuesday so we'll see whether they follow my very punctual and unusual lead and arrive on that date (which seems unlikely but my darling mother keeps saying "well you were born on your due date so your baby will be" I'm not sure it works like that!) or if it takes after daddy and decides to give it another two weeks. Somewhere in between those would suit me just fine!

I want somewhere in between because I am still racing to get things finished before he or she does arrive. You'd think two weeks of maternity leave would mean all my knitting is finished up but it turns out that even when I'm not at work I still seem to have eleventy million things to do and knitting it still largely reserved for the evenings. Also my attention span hasn't made a reappearance so my knitting concentration levels just aren't there. Still, I'm getting there. First, the little plain stockinette cardigan knit in some Regia sock yarn is finished. Buttons were purchased and I'm very pleased with how it has turned out.

Gentle blocking before sewing did make that easier and I used mattress stitch but it's still a bit wonky in places where in spite of counting and measuring things didn't quite seem to go together. Still it's definitely cardigan shaped and I'm pretty sure the baby wont care about my wonky sewing!

I also have one finished sock to match but have yet to cast on the second.

Also less finished but definitely getting there is the cabled cardigan. Whilst the back seemed to take an age to finish I actually flew through the left front and the first sleeve. I am hoping to finish the right front tomorrow and then knit the other sleeve and do the button bands. The pattern is for either a hooded or a collared cardigan, I'm going to go for a collar as I can't imagine the hood being that useful or staying up particularly well. Also I have higher chances of finishing the collared version!

This cardigan is actually 0-6 months size so I'm hoping will fit a little longer than the first two I knit which are both 0-3 but we'll see. I still have lots of baby yarn in my stash which I may donate to my mother along with some patterns and beg of some pretty little knits whilst I don't have time to knit any! We'll see though.

I have other good news, I found my button tin!

Hurrah! This means I have a choice of buttons for the little cabled cardigan when it's finished. I don't have a lot of choice as my button tin isn't exactly overflowing with buttons that go with the yarn I'm using but I do have two choices to go with. I am very fond of the little wooden buttons but at the same time think if I don't use the little white ducks I'm not sure what else I would use them on. Also Mr.NM is a great fan of the little white ducks so perhaps I'll use those because they're his favourite and as supportive as he is of my knitting habit he rarely expresses much of an opinion one way or another on my yarn and button choices! Decisions decisions...

So I'm racing to get the cardigan and second sock done, I expect to win so had better get cracking! I'm also going to give Knitting and Crochet Blog week a good go. I think that having something to focus on daily that is unrelated to wondering if the baby will come or not can only be a good thing and will be a distraction for me. I just need to attempt to engage my brain and be a bit creative which I'm not entirely sure I'm capable of! I'll give it my best shot though :)

Almost but not quite

So the little cardigan is almost finished, but not quite. I do like to block the pieces before sewing together garments, it makes the edges straighter and not curled up so makes the sewing easier. I'm really pleased with how this has turned out and the yarn has gone lovely and soft after it's gentle wash. It's machine washable as well so baby friendly I hope!

Why is it not quite finished you ask? I mean it looks quite finished, the seams are all sewn, the neckband knit but something is missing. Something important.

Remember I moved house recently? Well my button tin (which I can't find a picture of, annoying as I was sure I had one, it's red with white polka dots on and came from Cath Kidston) has done a disappearing act in the move. All the boxes are unpacked, my yarn stash is all together, I have my WIP basket as well but no button tin. It's nowhere to be seen. ARGH. In an attempt to encourage a reappearance I ordered some more buttons from ebay but I am rather annoyed that I can't find my button in. So...no FO post yet, sorry.

The end is in sight

For the first time in ages (since late January according to my Ravelry project page, oh dear!) the end is in sight on a project and I'm definitely going to get it finished. Wow! Pregnancy really has not agreed with my knitting mojo I must say. I've been tired and easily distracted and really haven't been able to focus on knitting. Terrible when there are so many adorable baby things to be knit but that's the way it has been. Obviously throwing a house move in there didn't help much either! That said, I can see the finishing line on the striped baby cardigan, hurrah! I finished most of the knitting last night (the neckband still needs knitting) and gave it a little rinse and pin out to make it easier to sew together. I'm just waiting for it to finish drying now so I can do the making up. I didn't make much effort to get the stripes to match up but it's pretty close in places which is nice, I suppose I'll see how it looks when it's finished. Whilst waiting for the pieces of cardigan to dry I decided to cast on a little pair of matching socks because every baby needs their socks and cardigan to match! Also I still had lots of yarn left and the baby already has a lot of hats thanks to knitting and crocheting friends so I didn't plan to do another (though might if I still have yarn left after the socks) I do still have that cabled baby cardigan to knit on but have fallen out of love with the knitting. I'm hoping that being on maternity leave with lots of time to fill I'll get back on track with it. The baby is technically due in two weeks but I expect I'll have longer than that to entertain myself before motherhood takes over. In the meantime I'm resting as much as possible, knitting as much as my fuzzy brain allows and eating toast with jam!

An enjoyable weekend

I actually took pictures of some of my activities this weekend, amazing! OK so I took them with my phone and not my proper camera but it’s better than nothing and means I actually have something to blog about…with pictures!

I had a lovely weekend actually. I had expected the weather to be rubbish but the sun held on for two more days even if it was cooler than it had been during the week. I didn’t really get out and about but just having the sun streaming through the window and washing on the line was enough to please me.
We’re settling in to our new house now. All the furniture is in the right place and most of the boxes are unpacked apart from a couple in Mr NM’s office.

We’ve been quite fortunate as the house we bought has quite neutral decoration and so whilst there are things we might like to change over the next few years it’s nothing we can’t live with. The only room that really wasn’t neutral and that we wanted to change anyway was what is going to be the baby’s room. When we moved in it was painted lilac and as pretty as it was we didn’t want the baby’s room in lilac. For starters as much as I protest the idea that colours go with certain genders there is no denying the fact that lilac is a tad girly and we still don’t know whether baby monkey is a boy or a girl. More importantly than that though I’m not really big on pastel colours and wanted a bright and cheery baby’s room. This meant painting. There are still things to do with the room (the cot has yet to be delivered!) so I don’t have a full finished room picture to share, it remains a work in progress! I can share the colour we chose though…unsurprisingly we went with bright green!


 
I absolutely love it! It’s only on the one wall with the other three walls left white but I think if we’d done it all green it would have been a bit over the top. As it is it’s just enough colour and I’m delighted with it. We just need to finish sorting furniture, get my mum to adjust the curtains (they’re too long) and get all the things ready in there.

On Saturday evening our good friends came over which was lovely, we never really entertained in our old house. It was small and cramped and I hated the kitchen which was pretty much a cupboard and did not enthuse me to make much effort in the culinary department. We now have a much bigger kitchen (which I must take a picture of as I’m very pleased with it!) and a proper separate dining room to eat in. Anyway our friends visited, the brought beautiful flowers for me


 
and beer for Mr NM (no picture of that but it was bottles of real ale from Yorkshire based breweries) and in return I made a lasagne.


 
It was fantastic to have visitors. After dinner we played Settlers of Catan which I highly recommend if you’re a board game fan though important to note that it needs at least 3 players, sadly this means we have to rely on having visitors if we want to play it! (we’ve also got it on ipad though where the computer will fill in if you don’t have enough friends!) and then they went home very late.

Sunday involved a lie in to recover from the late night with friends and boring household tasks that had been ignored on Saturday. We also went to the supermarket where I picked up one of their little magazines which have recipes in. This inspired me to do some baking, my first attempt at baking with our new (to us, it was in the house when we bought it) electric fan oven…a bit of a change from the old gas cooker we had before! It went well though and I achieved mini egg cookies without burning them!

 

 

They’re a bit crispy at the edges but soft and squidgy in the middle, just the way cookies should be. Also they have mini eggs in them, mini eggs make most things better!

 

As this is supposed to be a knitting blog I’d best also share that I have been doing a little bit of knitting. Not much I must confess, in the last few weeks I’ve been hit pretty hard by what I’ve been told is third trimester insomnia, apparently my body is preparing me for the broken sleep of new motherhood by not letting me get to sleep now. It’s not much fun and as I’m still working full time (but finish on Thursday, yay!) I’m rather zombie-esque most of the time! Knitting has just felt like far too much for my brain to handle and has done for much of my pregnancy, frustrating when there are adorable tiny baby things to be knitted! I’m saving the cabled cardigan I was working on for when I’m on maternity leave and am not juggling work with lack of sleep. Instead I’m currently working on a plain stockinette cardigan, much more within my current brain abilities! It’s growing quickly and using up a bit of my sock yarn stash in the process.

 

 

I’ve knit the back and right front and am currently working on the left front. Purely by chance the two fronts almost match as they were started not far off each other in the colour repeat which is nice but I hadn’t made any effort to force that. I’m hoping it shouldn’t take too much longer to get it finished then I can sew it up and add it to the baby’s clothes.

 

I’m still trying to decide whether or not to take part in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week this year. The baby is actually due that week but I know lots of babies are late so don’t really expect an appearance then, it’s just whether I can get my brain into gear for it! I’d recommend others sign up though because it’s good fun and it gives me lots to read if you do!

 

Maybe for my next post I’ll have actually finished a project…maybe…but probably not!

 

Q and A session

I've been tagged by the lovely Josiekitten to take part in a Q and A so now I'm a little more settled in to my new home and actually have internet access other than via my mobile phone I thought I'd answer the questions she asked!

1. What's your greatest knitting achievement to date?
Hmmm...I'm not really sure. I'm pleased enough with myself for actually teaching myself to knit again years after my grandma first taught me as a little girl. Other than just being able to knit full stop I think my first adult garment was a big one. It took me ages but I did it and I think that's the moment when I felt like a real knitter...even if in reality there were probably more stitches in some of the socks I knit than in the cardigan!




2. Is there a knitting skill that you'd like to learn? I always say the same thing to this questions, it's always the same goal! I want to learn to knit colourwork. I've never done more than a tiny Christmas decoration and I really want to just get on with it. I have got a project started that involves colourwork but I'm still anxious about it. Silly really as I know I've done other knitting that a lot of people find more complicated such as lace.

3. Who is your favourite knitting designer?
I don't really have one. I've knit so many different things by all different designers and see merit in all of them. I think perhaps because I knit so many different things I may like what a designer does with hats but be less keen on their designs for shawls when they do both and as I don't focus on one type of knitting I don't find myself knitting all the patterns by one designer as a lot do either garments or socks or shawls. I like to keep it varied and try out patterns by all different designers.

4. What's your favourite 'easy knit' to make as a gift?
I'm a selfish knitter, I don't do knitted gifts! OK that's not entirely true but I don't have a go to pattern. If I am knitting a gift I try to make something I know the recipient will like and don't really worry about whether it's easy or not. I have given up knitting gifts for people who aren't suitably appreciative...they get something from a shop and I'm not ashamed of that! It's not worth my time and skill to knit for someone who wont love what I have knit.

5. What's your favourite film?
Just like with favourite knitting designers I don't have a favourite film as such. Mr.NM is an absolute film buff so we watch quite a lot of films but what I want to watch will depend on my mood. I do always enjoy watching Die Hard though, ridiculous action films are something I am very fond of!

6. What's your favourite season and why?
I love Spring. My favourite flowers are out (daffodils and tulips) and everything feels fresh and new. I enjoy the days getting progressively longer and the hope that the weather is going to get better. Everything feels like it has such great potential in the spring. Also it's our wedding anniversary (third one today in fact!) so that's also pretty special.

7. What's your number one tip for new bloggers?
Just have fun with it, it should be an enjoyable activity not one you get stressed over if you've gone a week and have nothing to write about. Also read other blogs for ideas if you're not sure what to blog about, they may give you some inspiration. I suppose that's two tips...I'm not very good at tips, I'm rather a rubbish blogger these days so not sure my advice is worth taking!

8. What was the first thing you ever knitted?
A neon orange acrylic garter stitch rectangle. I think it was intended to be a scarf but I had the attention span of a...well of a five year old (I think I was about 5) and I didn't get that far. I think I wanted to just be able to knit and to knit proper things without all the faff of having to learn!

9. What's your favourite 'comfort' meal?
Yorkshire puddings filled with thick beef stew and dumplings just like my grandma used to make for me, can't beat it! Actually Yorkshire puddings generally are pretty solid on the comfort food front.

10. Do you prefer circular needles or dpns?
It depends on what I'm knitting. I've started using magic loop a lot more for socks, particularly plain stockinette ones as I avoid ladders and can just shove them in my knitting bag with less fear they'll slip off the needles. I do still like dpns though and sometimes they're a better choice so I use them. I use circular needles instead of straights even for flat knitting though, I find them a lot easier to handle.

11. What posters did you have on your bedroom wall when you were a teenager?!
I didn't have posters on my wall until I went away to university when I was 18 and I had two, one was an Oscar Wilde quote (and for my shame I can't remember which one!) and the other was a Pulp poster (as in the band) which I believe is still on the wall in my old room at my mum's house as I put it up there when I moved back after university.

12. Bubble bath or shower?

Probably a bubble bath with a good book but I do like a nice hot shower, particularly if it's really powerful and leaves you feeling scrubbed thoroughly clean.

I wont tag anyone as I can't think of any questions to ask! If you have any more for me though pop them in the comments and I'll answer them.

I'm hoping that I will be back soon as we are now in our new house and I've finally taken up my needles again as knitting was very neglected during the move! Also our little family addition is due in 5 weeks and has already received some gorgeous knitted gifts so I'd like to share those.

Disruption in service

Please excuse my absence from the blog of late. We're currently in the process of moving house and are without internet, all my knitting is packed away and there is so much stuff to do and so little time to do it in!

I hope to be back soon to tell you all about our lovely new home though probably without any knitting to show.

Winter came, let's hope it goes again soon!

My goodness has the temperature dropped around here lately. After having a mild winter so far it came as rather a shock! It was just bitter on Saturday morning and at about lunchtime the snow started, it then went on and on and on for the rest of the day. I'd rather hoped it would stop in the evening as I'd been invited to a party but it didn't. I had to give up on the party (as it was at the other side of the city and my car is not made for such conditions) and stay at home where it was warm.

On Sunday Mr.NM went out and took a picture of the snow in on our driveway, I once again stayed in where it was warm and snow-free!



Oh well, the wintery weather is excellent for boosting my urge to knit. Admittedly this urge has been to cast on new warming things for myself but I have resisted! I am continuing with finish or frog it, I'm determined. Another project that went on to the "finish it" pile was a little cardigan for Baby Monkey.



It's a Sirdar pattern knit in Sirdar Snuggly 4ply. My general preference for natural fibres doesn't necessarily go that well with baby things so this one will be machine washable. Also Sirdar Snuggly is rather lovely and soft anyway so it doesn't feel like squeaky acrylic. The only thing I didn't really think through with this pattern was the 4ply and all those cables, I decided my baby was worth it (of course!) but that's the back and it's knit over 88 stitches! If this was a heavier yarn and bigger needles 88 stitches would make a cardigan back for me never mind a baby! No wonder it seems to be going a bit slowly. Still, my baby is totally worth it. Also the smallest size is 0-6 months and I can already see it's going to be bigger than the baby cardigan I made at Christmas so it should fit for a little while. I do prefer bright colours on babies but did think that the light colour went well with the cable pattern for this.

Also some progress, the first of the socks for Mr.NM is finished, hurrah! As is always the case with plain stockinette socks once I picked it up again it whizzed along and was finished in no time at all.

Finish or frog it February 2

Another one for the "to finish" pile, my Lilac Leaf Shawl, started way back in September when everyone else was tempting me with their beautiful lace projects.  Unfortunately the beginning of September was also when baby NM was making his or her presence known by sapping me of all energy and enthusiasm to achieve anything more than constant napping and drinking orange juice!  Needless to say I got as far as knitting one of the lace borders then starting on the second before shoving the project in my knitting basket. 

Last night whilst MrNM was out playing 5-a-side football I picked it up again to see if I could make a bit more progress.  Being lace knitting and in rather lovely laceweight yarn it does require a lot of attention (it also required the purchase of wooden tips after the pains of knitting the first border section with my usual metal knitpros!) and when MrNM is around we usually sit together chatting, possibly watching a film or TV episode and I have to stick to very simple knitting (like the socks for him, the first is finished and I didn't run out of the carefully weighed out 50g ball of yarn!).  In his absence I could focus.


  

I needed to focus.  After this picture was taken (and promise me it will look better when it's blocked!) I got to the part with nupps.  At this point the blasted thing almost ended up in the "to frog" pile as I knit, tinked and re-knit the same two rows about four times before the nupps looked even vaguely not awful.  I considered not bothering but told myself I had left them out of the last shawl I knit that included them in the pattern, I would knit the blasted things on this one.  Anyway the nupp section is done for now, there are some more to come but I have about 300 nupp free rows to go before I get to that part!

Yes I am aware of the crochet hook method of knitting nupps and how it's supposed to be easier but I'm not a crocheter and could not for the life of me find a crochet hook anywhere last night!  I own a few but they appear to have hidden in protest as I almost never use them and when I do it's for such degrading business as picking up dropped stitches and untangling yarn instead of actual crochet.  It's a hard life being a crochet hook in my possession!

Finish or Frog It February

I am declaring this month Finish or Frog It February in the NorthernMonkey household. All those WIPs in my basket must be either finished (or well on their way to it) or frogged by the end of the month. I will NOT be casting on anything new unless I finish everything lucky enough to be put into the "to finish" pile. This is highly unlikely as I have rather let my WIPs build up and one of them is lace knitting.

First to survive my decision and make it on to the "to finish" pile, a pair of socks I started for Mr.NM way back in September, got as far as the heel flap and gave up. Oops. They're just simple, plain, no messing around, stockinette socks. OK so they need to be a size 11 but even then the simplicity factor means they shouldn't take too long to finish. I am now a good way down the foot of the first sock and it's whizzing along.



Hopefully I should get some pictures later today of some projects that are not so lucky and are heading for a one way trip to the frog pond.

Podster Mitts - FO

I must apologise again for being a terrible blogger, I really am sorry. Finding the time (and daylight, really failing where daylight is concerned!) to take photographs and get them uploaded has been proving difficult. I should make more of an effort but frankly the times when I am free I find myself putting napping or slumping doing not much at all ahead of blogger! Very naughty I know.

Enough of apologies though, everyone is busy sometimes and that's all there is to it!

What I did achieve at the weekend (between the napping and attempting to relax) was a finished pair of Podster Mitts, huzzah!





I LOVE them. They do the job perfectly, I can use my touch screen phone whilst keeping the rest of my hands warm and whilst we've not had a winter like last year it has been pretty nippy lately so my fingers are grateful.




I am considering a little button to secure the mitten top when wearing them as fingerless gloves, I have some lovely little wooden ones that would go just perfectly. I'm not sure though as they don't flap about particularly so I may just leave them as they are. I do love buttons though...





To my relief I had enough yarn, I even have a little left over but not much. It's lovely yarn and feels like it will be really hardwearing. I bought it at a lovely little shop called Create in Ilkley but for those without access to Ilkley the dyer has an Etsy shop as well.  Not that I'm encouraging stash enhancement you understand, it's just in case you were wondering.

Needle sizes, pattern and all that jazz are on my Ravelry project page.

I am now being a very good girl and have gone back to my WIP pile, details on what I'm knitting from that will come at some point I'm sure.

Also for anyone interested (and I'm not sure whether anyone is) my other WIP is progressing very well and is now two thirds done!