And the kitchen reorganising goes on. We bought a new wall cabinet yesterday to replace two more shelves. Andy put it up today and it's amazing how much difference it has made. All of our teas and various tea and coffee caddies are now stowed away and the baking tins are in relatively easy reach rather than being buried under a ton of other stuff.

But despite this the kitchen table is cluttered. Some of this "stuff" has been tidied out of the larder but will inevitably have to go back in there.

On the knitting front the Koigu glove just needs the index finger and thumb finished. I will also have to tidy up stitches around the bases of fingers as I have some gaps from picking up stitches. I don't know if it would have looked tidier in heavier yarn but I'm too sure if I'm 100% happy with the glove so far.

So for the moment the glove is stalled and I'm working on a pair of wrist warmers from Rowan's "Next Big Thing" book. They're made from Rowan Chunky Print in a deep purple shade and I'm thinking of adding a furry trim to the ends.

Socks - I'm still deciding how much of a ribbed cuff I want on these. I think it's about 2" so far.
posted by Marie Irshad at 11:20 PM

My back is killing me. Reorganising a kitchen is hard work. I've also been combining it with some early Spring cleaning because while clearing out cupboards some items inevitably need freshening up. Most of the clearing was because of the addition of a large Varde wall cabinet from IKEA. It looks beautiful on the wall and now contains all of our glasses and most of the crockery.

Meanwhile I'm in love with knitting my glove! The Koigu is just amazing. I can't believe just how many colours they manage to fit into one skein. Just gorgeous. After some thought I think the gloves will be fingerless, I don't want to have to keep taking them off to get change out of my purse etc. I may knit a pair of mittens out of some Noro or something to wear over them. I'm thinking of getting some Colinette Skye yarn in Jamboree for that.

Meanwhile I see that Colinette has started offering cushion kits.
posted by Marie Irshad at 11:29 PM

Had a minor panic today when I couldn't find one of my 2mm Addi Turbos. I was all set to start the ribbing on the current Opal sock but could only find one. I really wanted to get it finished and start on the next one.

In the meantime I decided to return to glove making after reading Bonne Marie's latest entry. In the comments several people had written that glove knitting was faster than socks and one revealed that she was knitting a pair from Koigu. That inspired me to get some of my Koigu out - It's shade 122 and is a sort of bright rainbow of colours. After some fiddling with my stitch count to make 2x2 ribbing it picked up speed and I'm currently one and a half inches into the cuff.

Usually I have problems with gloves being too long for me in the fingers so it will be good to have a pair that fits me perfectly.

I did eventually find the other 2mm needle but will probably concentrate on the gloves over the weekend.
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:22 AM

Haven't done a massive amount of knitting since Monday. Yesterday evening I was busy checking out the kitchen brochure on the IKEA site. We really need a new sink and sink unit/cupboard and there is a free standing one that I really like. However I'm not sure if it will fit into the kitchen. Certainly it wouldn't with the double sink top that I liked in the store. Will have to go for a shorter worktop because I really want to fit into the kitchen.

So the gloves are still untouched but the sock cuff is growing slowly. All the rows from the bus and lunchtime are adding up. I'm still knitting slowly but it should be finished fairly soon. Then I'll have to start the next one...
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:33 AM

I sorted out the stitch problem on my socks and have finished the short row heel and am about one and a half inches into the cuff. I knit a fair bit of it on the way to and from Thornbury yesterday when we visited Hetty and Andrew.

We also met the Monkey Cats! Tenzin and Tomas are very cute!

Last year I decided that I would learn to knit socks. I also want to knit gloves and finally cast for a pair tonight. I'm knitting them in an alpaca blend from Lotusblossom on two circs. I'm using a pattern from the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and the cuff of the gloves is done in 1x1 rib. My 1x1 rib looks like crap so I'm going to have a look at the pattern and adjust it for 2x2 or 3x3 rib instead.

I have some yarn from LynnH which would make very nice gloves. LynnH has added new colourways to her yarns for sale. I may have to watch myself there! :-)



posted by Marie Irshad at 11:59 PM

I had a job interview this morning. I'm not really sure how it went. I have a secure job so there are no real worries if don't get it but it would be nice.

After the interview Andy and I visited the new IKEA.It's quite a novelty to not have to drive for miles to reach an IKEA. Andy decided he needed more cd storage, he has a massive CD collection, and so went back again in the evening!

We had planned to visit Hetty and her husband Andrew this evening but the weather was too bad to travel. The wind today was quite scary and we didn't fancy having to drive across one of the Severn Bridges.

My yarn order from Lynn H arrived today which was great! I think that I may use some of the yarn to make socks for a certain relative of mine for Xmas.

I've frogged nearly all of the heel flap of the Opal sock but seem to have a slightly too large stitch count. I'm not sure how that happened. I've been knitting socks for myself with 64 stitches recently but wonder if this one was accidentally made with 72.
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:27 AM

We traveled up to Rhyl yesterday and it took about four hours, we made better time on the journey back home today. We took the borders route both ways avoiding the motorway. In Shropshire I saw a sign for Carding Mill Valley. From the name I suspect a spinning connection but haven't found any info so far as to whether this is correct.

The Knitbloggers Knitting Basket Project sounds like a great idea. I'm sure we can raise enough for at least one basket between us for such a good cause.

The Opal sock is not turning out as well as I'd have hoped. In fact it's a complete mess. I don't know exactly how I managed it but I have an ugly ladder on one side. Ick! I'm going to rip it all back and do a short row heel instead. Even if I have the eyelet problem it'll look a hell of a lot better than this mess.
posted by Marie Irshad at 9:47 PM

Later today I have to travel to North Wales for an outside broadcast tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about it. Although it's good to get out of the studio I will miss Andy tonight. Eleven years since we met and I still miss him when we're part. Plus it's supposed to be a long journey to where we're going and I don't know what time we'll travel up. There's still plenty to be done before we can leave.

I will of course be taking some knitting with me. It'll be the Opal sock since that's quite small and portable. Because I'm still being careful with my wrist I'm not sure how much of it I'll work on but I do like to see it grow.
posted by Marie Irshad at 7:26 PM

Wow! This blog is Chicknit's Aortal Pick! Thanks Bonne Marie!

Saturday was incredibly busy. I hurried down to the CIA (no, not the place where Sydney Bristow works!) in the morning to work on Guild's stall. It started off quiet but got very busy. I hope we got people interested in the Guild and that they'll join and come to the meetings. I am hoping that the knitting renaissance that's happened in the States will take off here. We're starting to see the beginnings of one but it's still a struggle sometimes to get people interested in the craft/art.

I was only at Creative Stitches for a few hours and didn't get to see all of the stalls. There's still not enough fiber related stuff there although I was pleased to see some bead stores present. Since both my time and money was limited I only visited one stall - Glitterati. They're based in London and sell Asian influenced craft items.

I bought a pack with some embroidered elephant fabric patches, a large peacock feather, small bells and some stick on jewel type things. I also picked up two bronzed plastic elephant buttons and a couple of packs of peacock figures made with peacock feathers. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with this stuff. I'm thinking maybe a velvet scarf with some sort of enclosure involving the peacocks and perhaps a little bag with the elephant buttons and patches.

After that I rushed down to A Shot in the Dark for the Stitch'n'Bitch and arrived fifteen minutes early! I'd forgotten just how close City Road is to Cardiff City Centre. Hetty was already there so we chatted until Karen arrived with her daughter Aly followed by Hannah and finally Bid. I had given out some flyers at the Guild stall but we didn't see any new people. It would be nice to see the group grow a bit but I hope it will stay friendly and close knit. You see although there's more bitching than stitching we do have a great time. So despite being worn out by the evening I did have a fab day!

Hetty asked what I took to knit on Saturday - Suzy from Rowan's big Wool book. This is a raglan cardigan which I'm knitting in Big Wool and Kid Silk Haze in black. I've converted the cardigan so that I'm knitting the body in one piece. However I'm now ready to decrease for the armholes and am stuck.

I'm wondering whether to try out Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentage formular for knitting seamlessly - but since the stitch numbers in the Suzy pattern aren't even I don't know if it will work. I'm planning to try and knit the sleeves in the round and then put six stitches - that's how the formular worked out - at each armhole of the body and on the sleeves where they meet the body - on stitch holders to be grafted later and then join the body decreasing one stitch for the raglan decreases every fourth row or so. I don't know how it will work out and I may find that I have to frog the damn thing but there you have it. The trials and stresses of knitting! And you thought it was a simple craft...! :-)

I also took along my Opal sock which had been left since August. I've now finished the heel and am ready to work the gusset decreases. I've really missed knitting socks. Ok I still only have one pair of shoes that I can wear the socks with - knitted socks, even those made from fingering wool, are very thick - and they're a pair Doc Marten shoes that rub my heels but I love hand knitted socks. Plus I have two large plastic tubs filled with sock yarn and more on the way from Lynn H!
posted by Marie Irshad at 5:55 PM

Although I'm interested in knitting more complicated things - that fair isle kit seems to always catch my eye when I'm in the craft room! - I still enjoy making scarves and don't seem to quite have enough! So Scarf Central from Berocco is quite interesting. Most of the patterns are very simple and you could easily adapt them for yarns from other companies.

I'm so looking forward to tomorrow! I will have to watch my spending at Creative Stitches though! And of course the Stitch'n'Bitch tomorrow!
posted by Marie Irshad at 5:33 PM

I've been so busy this week! Hope to have the new yarn pictures up over the weekend as well as some eBay yarn auctions. Course if someone wants to do a yarn swap for Opal jacquard sock yarn let me know.

Stitch'n'Bitch Cardiff now has its own web page! Our next meeting is this Saturday, November 8th and all the info is on the web page.

Before the meeting I'll be helping out at the Knitting and crochet Guild's stall at Creative Stitches & Crafts Alive. That event is at Cardiff International Arena this weekend. I'll be in the Relax and Knit area on Saturday morning before heading up to the S'n'B meeting.

But what will I be knitting on Saturday? Too many choices for take along projects - perhaps I'll look at that sock again or take the Sherlock cardi. Maybe the Sherlock cardi will be finished in time for Xmas? Who knows.


posted by Marie Irshad at 11:21 PM