Finishing or frogging

There has been a sudden burst of energy in the Madmum household and my knitting basket has been included in my decluttering session this morning. I am determined not to fall prey to startitis in my need to finish something quickly and so I have:
FROGGED: SANDS charity blanket. The fact that I didn’t use slip stitches at the beginning of rows meant that any attempts I made to add a knit-on border looked clumsy. I tried to pick up all the stitches and add a feather and fan border but I had to fudge the stitch count and it just looked messy. I’m not normally a perfectionist, but for this project I am. So it is frogged and will be re-started in a happier frame of mind (and with slipped stitches).
FROGGED: Tangled Yoke cardigan. Just went off the pattern halfway through and it sat neglected in a heap. Now I have 7 balls of Rowan felted tweed to turn into something yummy.
FINISHED: Dragonfly socks – taking part in a Ravelry KAL for this pattern:

FROGGED: Sleeve of my Tea-Leaves Cardigan. I knew they were going to be too narrow and I wanted a more relaxed fit. So I have frogged back to the lifeline around the arm-hole, picked the stitches back up and am good to go.

TO FINISH: Sunday Swing socks. No earthly reason why these should still be on the needles. This project has gone into the car for those odd 5mins of knitting I manage to squeeze in during daylight hours.

I know there are still some more WIPs hiding in the cupboard but I’ve made a start for now, and it feels good.

Slipped stitches and heel flaps

Progress on the SANDS baby blanket was scuppered by the fact that I neglected to slip the first stitch of each row – making the knitted on border much more difficult than I had hoped. I did try but ended up with something which looked pretty messy, and frankly, just not good enough for something which would hopefully be destined for somebody’s precious memory box. So I put that to one side and went in search of other projects, of which I have many on the needles (to my shame). I must have at least three pairs of socks (well single socks anyway) which have stalled at the heel flap stage. I have no idea why I have developed such an aversion to heel flaps but it is a bit of a fatal flaw in the grand sock knitting plan. I normally use a 30cm Addi circ for socks and just slip the heel stitches onto DPNs for the heel flap – so the root cause of my aversion is probably my deeply held dislike of DPNs in general.
Still, I need to get on with them and get something … anything …finished.
I need a quick and easy project, and although garter stitch squares are quick and easy they are a means to an end rather than the end itself. I need instant gratification.

Counting my blessings

As a break from knitting garter stitch 8″ squares I have been mostly knitting…bigger garter stitch squares. I came across a request from SANDS, the charity for stillbirth and neonatal deaths, who have an urgent need for small blankets for the memory boxes that they put together. They have a simple pattern to follow, using any soft, white DK wool, to produce a simple garter stitch square, with an optional lace border.

Being inherently lazy, I am attempting to knit the lace border on, rather than doing it separately and then sewing it on. Well, partly laziness and partly because I would hate for my duff sewing skills to ruin the finished item.

This little blanket has been the perfect knitting project for relaxing after my two little boys have finally exhausted every avenue of: “I need a drink of water”, “you have to kiss all my bears goodnight” and “these pyjamas are not the right ones”. Once they are finally, blissfully asleep then I can put my feet up and out comes the knitting.

Working on this blanket has been a way of trying to give something back for the care and love we received when our boys were born. Both needed intensive/SCBU care and it was a scarey and frightening time for us. Particularly in the case of DS2 I think it is fair to say that without the skill and dedication of a great bunch of people, things could have worked out very differently for us. But, we were lucky. They are both with us and they make our family what it is. Life without them is unthinkable and my heart goes out to anyone who wasn’t so lucky. I can’t offer much practical help in person but a blanket is just my way of trying to offer some support and comfort at what must be the worst of times.

Lots of little squares

In reality I have 2 and a half little squares, but many more in my imagination.

I recently came across this organisation (http://www.knit-a-square.com/index.html) which asks knitters to provide 8 inch squares for charity. A dedicated team of local people sew up the squares into blankets of varying sizes which can then be distributed to children in need in Southern Africa. The group are clearly very well organised and in dire need of more squares in order to help them meet their ambitious aim of 105,000 squares in 2010.

With my aim of stash reduction in mind I spent a happy few hours this weekend knitting 8″ squares with some left over Rowan wool cotton, leftovers from several baby blanket projects that I couldn’t bring myself to throw away.

I was particularly pleased with the stripey one – it was ideal for using up some tiny (5-10g) balls.  Just 44 stitches on 4mm needles and knit until each colour ran out. I have been a little under the weather this week and working on a few of these squares was just the thing I needed. I have some Rowan Wool dk as well which I think I can put to good use.

I originally heard about the charity via a thread on the Phoenix knitting forum (http://www.knittingforums.org.uk/charities/topic6102.html) started by Lu86. Apologies by the way but I haven’t figured out how to do hypertext links and it keeps crashing my browser. One thing led to another and before long we had decided to run a little KAL/CAL to see how many squares we can make for the project over the summer.

According to the website 12 squares makes a baby blanket and 35 makes a full sized one and it would be great to send enough to make a Phoenix blanket.

Watch this space…

A new day, a new blog

Something went horribly wrong with my old ‘Blogger’ account so I have jumped ship and started a new blog. It may have been something to do with the fact that I had shamelessly ignored it for 6 months or so – perhaps it was sulking.

Anyway, a fresh start to match some new resolutions I have been working on recently.

1. Tackle WIP mountain lurking in spare bedroom cupboard.
2. Learn to hand spin

These two resolutions are not entirely unrelated. A lovely farmer down the road has given me a whole Zwartbles sheep fleece and I am going to have a go at hand spinning. I have a basic drop spindle and my lovely hand carders are on order. My spinning attempts to date have been less than successful but never mind. I am booked on a spinning course at the forthcoming KnitNation in July so I am optimistic that I will learn (eventually).

And of course, if I’m going to be handspinning I’ll need somewhere to store all my lovely new yarn. Wishful thinking I know but I love the idea of a new project and you never know – I might manage it.

I have made start on my WIP mountain by finishing a Feather and Fan throw for my MIL which has been on the needles for an eternity. Not my favourite colours but hopefully she will like it – and it clears 10 balls of Wendy Fusion our of my stash cupboard

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