Ears

 

I am knitting Beat now for a couple of weeks and yes progress is very very slow. I do like the result, a fluffy cloud of alpaca, kid mohair and silk, in a very neat texture but it is so slow to knit and frankly I needed a fix…. I do also feel however that starting another project would make the progress on that sweater even slower and probably drag it out to never-ending, so I was very hesitant to start another project. Yes I low if I want it to get finished it will be, but still….

However when I finished my first sleeve of Beat, I got stuck….. I was already afraid that I would run out of yarn, so I had ordered extra and that had come in already, but I have mislaid , my 2.75 mm needle that I need for the cuff…. And I have looked everywhere, in the silliest places and still it is "gone". I have now ordered a new needle but that will come maybe half-way next week, so now I got a very good reason to cast on or? Idle hands an all that...

So hats, hats are quick, a real fix and especially when on demand… So wanted a kitty hat, could be real simple according to her. So a kitty hat it is, simple and quick and I only wanted a bit more pronounced ears (as S wanted ears…).  I used Owl from Quince & co for this hat in one of the new colours "bog". Perfect yarn for a hat, very warm and rustic. It doesn't feel alpaca soft in the skein, but knitted up it makes a real nice soft fabric. There is just the slightest difference in colour between the fibres which make that it has a lively appearance. I have some more in my stash for a cardigan for M, look already forward for when I make that...

It is a dreary autumn day here, dark and wet, good day for a warm hat with ears…. 

 

 

 

 

Lucky, lucky

Sometimes one has to have a bit of luck. I knitted a March Beret, cables and bobbles and interesting knitting. The brim was quite all right in size but after the increase round, I had this feeling that it would give an awfully big hat. The tension was right, and a short look at other projects for this pattern on Ravelry taught me that it was kind of a common problem. When I realised it would be huge I could have done two things, either continue and hope for the best (sometimes things appear bigger than they actually are) or frog and reknit with another yarn on smaller needles. I choose  the first option, but no looks sometimes don't deceive, so it was huge.

 

But I have used chickadee before and I know you can felt it…so I thought, well why not try and see what happens… So I wahed the hat with some other small items on the not roughest cycle. That did the trick:

And lo and behold, now it is a proper size, good stiff beret too and we are all happy with this bit of real good luck...

 

Update

 

I am still around, somewhere….just a bit too busy to sit still and write a post. So just this one picture… a small shawl for the autumn which has really started here….

Stripes and such...

 

Autumn term has started and life is getting back in its routine. Schooldays are here again and in a way everybody was kind of looking forward to it. It is funny that, at the start of the holidays everyone loves it, at the end, everyone want to go back to routine…. Well everybody is back into a routine, except me that is. I was in the UK last week and next week of to Germany. I don't think I will be able to knit much the coming weeks, but I do have a little project finished.

When in Tokyo, I did buy a little yarn. A nice cotton spoke to me, so I bought it. It was very hot that day, and wool just didn't appeal, but a crisp cotton, oh yes. It was DMC Natura Just cotton, in an off-white and navy blue colour so I thought "stripes". And so this little cardigan was born, an easy stripe pattern, a round yoke and no shaping. Easy to wear and good for the late summer/early autumn… It is a nice cotton, maybe slightly finicky since it was quite a loose twist and thus a bit splitty. Not too bad though and the colours are crisp and fresh. 

Summer is not yet over...

 

Just before the end of the summer (normally there is already a chance in September to cooler weather), a nice cotton top. I thought it would be a quickie, it was indeed so. I had to change the decreases and increases a bit, I did one more decrease and the increases come at a smaller distance from each other as I had a slight difference in row gauge. It worked out neatly, now just hope for some warm weeks to come...

Watsonesque

 

As Joan proves in Elementary, Watson can be female…. 

I am actually very pleased with this sweater. The cables pop, the fit is good and S is very very pleased with it. It was fun to knit too and the cotton I used was a nice find. It is Tahki classic cotton, I do think I will use it again some day, since it was nice to knit with and it does have a good stitch definition. A good sweater for the Autumn… I didn't make any notes though…I do feel that this one is really a modified sweater and not my "own" so to speak, so I never took real notes. Not that I have time for pattern writing these days anyways….

 

Adapting

 

I am not really back to work yet. I am doing some work , writing and reading but on purpose only 50%. As D is away (really working, doing an experiment in France), S is visiting friends about 400 km from here, I am alone with M at home. So I do bits and pieces but not yet full scheduled work. And that feels just fine. August and September will be very very busy (4 conferences, two of which I am partly involved with organisation), so a bit of an easy period is just good. But it also gives me some time to do a bit of knitting and a bit of fiddling around. I finished Umeko (japanese for plum blossom) and it is a good small easy to pull on cardigan. According to M it is very soft, it is, lovely soft. I am still thinking of attaching some I-cords to it to have a fastener, but for now I think it is fine.

Since I am not full speed with work I also started some other biggish project. S is really into COS-play these days. She can plan months in advance, tinker with shirts and getting me to make "Dave Strider" capes. So while in Japan she said one day, could you knit a cotton Dr. Watson sweater… It shouldn't be exactly like the Dr Watson one, but just a nice sweater with cables like that in that  colour and in cotton. So yes I do like to knit for good recipients (S does wear her sweaters a lot) and a cable sweater is a nice thing to make. So I checked out Dr. Watson sweater and an adaptation on Ravelry and I am now doing my own version:

Here the cables are symmetric, some different motives at the side and it will have set-in sleeves. I do like set-in sleeves so much more, I just cannot make a drop shoulder sweater anymore it seems….