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… from all of the boxes that still need packing.

So, we went to Iceland last month! Want to see all that Monkey saw?

From Monkey’s Iceland Adventure

Link to album

Many more exciting things are afoot chez nous, but I’ll save all that for a later post when things have settled down a bit first. That includes editing all of the photos I took in Iceland not featuring Monkey!

Monkey, the TT team’s mascot, accompanied me to Finland for Christmas this year. Click the photo to see everything he saw!

Monkey’s Christmas Adventure

And tomorrow? He’s off to New York City with my co-worker L. Lucky thing.

Both from Stitches N Rows:

Killjoy - Definitive Soles sock yarn (100% superwash BFL) Minty - Luxe Soles sock yarn (80% merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon)

No clue what they want to be yet, but I’m sure I’ll find out eventually.

Winner announced! Congrats HeavensJoy!

My designer friend Erica Jackofsky has graciously sent me her Mythos Collection (Ravelry link) for reviewing.

The collection consists of seven shawlettes each using only one skein of fingering weight. They are all based on Greek and Roman myths and each pattern has a little blurb at the beginning giving a bit of background on how the myth inspired the shawl. Both written and charted directions are given and the collection does say that the skill level needed is intermediate. There’s a nice mix of bottom up, top down and even sideways knits.

One thing I have noticed about all of the patterns that offer both written and charted directions, it isn’t indicated when to start the chart. I assume it’ll be clearer when you’re actually about to start knitting the patterns and can match up the charts with the directions, but just reading through nothing jumps out at me saying “Do x, then start chart.”

Onto the patterns!

Harvest is the first shawlette and is based on Demeter and Ceres. The cast on is massive (over 800 sts!), so be prepared to do a lot of stitch counting before working the first row. I know I wouldn’t want to rip that beast out because I mis-counted the cast on.

Bacchus/Dionysus is the inspiration for the second shawlette Merriment and has beads. The beads are optional (as they pretty much always are) and this one is worked from the top down. I also thought it was a cute idea to give the section of the pattern their own name: Cluster of Grape, Merriment and Madness.

The next shawlette (Underworld) also has beads, but it also has dropped stitches! The beads rest on the bottom edge of the shawlette where the dropped stitches are. It looks really interesting and is definitely going in my queue. Just note that this pattern doesn’t have a chart, it’s all written directions.

Allure, knit sideways, is the fourth pattern. The lace pattern looks interesting but simple enough to be TV knitting for me. It is patterned on both sides though, so be careful if you’re new to lace knitting. I’ll say it right up front, this one is my favourite. I haven’t knit it yet, but I was planning on knitting it even before I received the collection for reviewing. I think it also helps that the sample is knit in a shade of pink/purple. I’m always drawn to patterns in those colours (and red). That and it’s lace. Lace is my thing.

Next up is Wrought. Directions are provided for two sizes, and it’s worked from the bottom up. The nice thing about bottom up patterns is that the rows get shorter as you go. The shawlette isn’t a triangle, it’s got a nice curve but it’s not really a semi-circle either (as far as I can tell from the photos). And no pointy ends.

Then again, if you want pointy ends and a semi-circle, there’s Solar Flare! It’s top down with eyelet rows and looks like rays of sunshine. If I were to knit this, I might add beads down the centre of the eyelet columns. Because I like bling apparently. (My last two shawls/neck things have been beaded.)

Last, but not least, is Wandering Waves. This is knit sideways on the bias and you decrease as you go. As the lace pattern isn’t too complicated, I think a slightly more variegated yarn might work for this one, but don’t go overboard. Subtle and/or light coloured yarn would be the way to go. Oh and this one is offered as a free Ravelry download.

You can either buy patterns individually (most are 6.00 USD each, but I think one or two may be 5.00 USD) or get the whole collection for 20.00 USD.

You can find Erica on Plurk, Ravelry and Twitter as FiddleKnits and she blogs at fiddleknits.blogspot.com. She sells her patterns on Ravelry and on her website Fiddleknits.com. I’m sure there’s a Facebook page/group/whatever too, but I’m not really on Facebook myself, so I haven’t looked for it.

And now the giveaway! Since I was going to knit Allure most likely anyway, I’m going to gift one pattern from this collection to someone through Ravelry. Just leave a comment saying which pattern you’d like (and why would be nice, but not mandatory) and your Ravelry name. I’ll do the drawing on November 4th (Sunday) at about 9pm my time (London time! GMT.) with the help of the random number generator.

Happy knitting and good luck!

From Blog photos

Pattern: Kelsey Mitts by Silka Burgoyne, Knitscene Fall 2012 Yarn: Natural Dye Studio BFL/Exmoor Blueface (Great British Wool Club January 2012 shipment)

They’re done! My Smurf mitts are done. I’ve nicknamed them that because of the yarn. Whenever I knit on them, I got this stripe of blue on the my left index finger and the tips of my fingers were tinged blue after a few rounds. I understand that because of the way the yarn is dyed, the transference is to be expected, but it’s still slightly annoying to have tinted hands. I believe (and hope really really hard) that giving these beauties a good gentle wash will take care of the excess blue coming off on my hands when I wear them.

I mostly knit these as written, mostly. I used the smaller needles throughout for the ribbing and the larger ones only for the cabled section. I lengthened the top ribbing section by a little bit. I just kept going until the ribbing came up to the middle knuckles of my index fingers. Also, I thought it was a bit weird to do the thumb first and then the rest of the hand. Working the thumb while I kept the other sts on hold (left them on the dpns) felt like I was wrestling with a porcupine. It also made it fiddly around the join when working the rest of the hand because the thumb kept getting in the way. But, there are no gaps in the join when done this way, so… *shrug*

For a few years now, I’ve thought about making an advent calendar out of fabric that I can fill up myself. Mainly because I really dislike the advent calendar chocolate in the ones you buy from the stores, but I do like the idea of a countdown to Christmas. My friend Lucy and I decided to just do it this year. We bought the front fabric bit online, then yesterday we went to a fabric shop to get wadding and the backing fabric. Now, the front bit comes with instructions that are fairly straightforward. Cut here, tack here, topseam these bits. Then it says: “Back the calendar with fabric. We recommend you use wadding to give more body.”

Bwuh?

As Lucy said, that’s like one of the technical challenges from the Great British Bake Off (which we both watch): “Make the jam.”

We thought it best to leave it for now and to Google a lot while we regroup. I have an idea of how to try it out, but I don’t actually know if it’ll work or not. At least with sewing (just like with knitting) it can always be ripped out if the mistakes really bother me. And my calendar has a few wonky seams. I’m calling it special. It’s my first one and I feel having a reminder of how far I’ve come in sewing will be a good thing. This is assuming that I’ll keep sewing of course. ;)

As for knitting, my Agnes sweater is finally done! No photos yet as I just finished seaming it five minutes before I started writing this. Haven’t even tried it on yet. Well, not the completely finished sweater anyway. I did try on the body of the sweater after I’d seamed it up to double-check that it was fine before I started knitting the sleeves. All I’ve got OTN is the Kelsey Mitts from Knitscene Fall 2012. I really like this issue. Too bad it’s not possible to subscribe to it. That would be the one magazine I’d seriously consider subscribing to.

One of my favourite designs to date (shh, don’t tell the others!), the Tea Rose Shawlette is now available as a Ravelry download. It first made its debut in the Smell the Roses club run by The Unique Sheep back in April. It uses just under 150g of yarn and is worked from the top down. Two sections of the lace have patterning on both sides, so this does require some attention, but there are simpler sections in between for a bit of a breather. The garter stitch edging is then knit on so there are no tight bind-offs to worry about. Stretch it to your heart’s content!

It is being modelled by one of my oldest friends (we’ve been best friends since we were like 10 years old!). We finally decided to just do this thing and actually meet up instead of always missing each other by about a month when visiting Finland. She lives in Ireland now so it’s fairly easy for us to travel to see each other. So she and another friend of ours came over for the weekend. I think it’s been about four years since we got together. But it didn’t feel like it at all when we got together. We’re just so comfortable around each other that instead of waiting to be offered food or drink, we just wander into the kitchen and make it ourselves. Even if we’ve never been in that particular house before. It’s rare to find that nowadays I think. We spent the weekend watching movies, shopping, eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts and feeding ducks at the park. The ducks can be a bit unnerving. They come right up to you if they’re hungry and before you realize it, you’re surrounded by ducks and geese. I’ve never been attacked (*knocks on wood*), but I wouldn’t put it past them.

My dress for my co-worker’s wedding came today! I took a risk and went one size down from what I’d usually get. I’ve been losing weight recently and most of my current clothes are fairly baggy. But it came today and I tried it on and it fits! Thrilled to bits. I might even buy another from that shop in a different colour and print.

I don’t really talk about my weight online. I’ve always been on the heavy/chubby side. Yes, I exercise but it’s never really resulted in weight loss. I actually gained weight when I did the 30 Day Shred the first time. I don’t know if that was muscle or what, but the numbers on the scale went up a bit. Back in June my knee really started to hurt whenever I ran. Sometimes even when I was just walking to work. So I had to stop running to give it a rest. I don’t have a gym membership. I don’t like working out with others around me. I prefer to go for hikes and runs by myself with only my iPod as company. But my knee put a halt to that three months ago. For the first time, I decided to start counting calories. I figured that it couldn’t hurt and I needed to figure out a way to maintain my weight while being more sedentary. After a month of resting my knee, I can finally go on short runs again. Not running the full distance I used to, but it’s still better than not running at all. I love the feeling of flying I get on the final stretch of sprinting that I do. It helps that it’s a slight downhill. ;) Three months later, I’ve lost over 20 lbs. And I fit into a dress size I didn’t think I’d ever wear.

From Blog photos

I’ve been wanting to knit a sweater for awhile now. The thrill from the shrug wore off fairly quickly. So, a few weeks ago I decided to buy Interweave Knits Fall 2012 and Knitscene Fall 2012 because of the sweater patterns. I also bought Knitscene Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 since they were on sale (20% off if KS Fall 2012 was bought at the same time). Again, mainly because of the sweaters.

And I’ve cast on! The first sweater is the Agnes sweater by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud from Knitscene Fall 2012. (It’s the cover sweater.) I’m using Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk DK in the color Tease on 4.5mm Signature circs. The back is almost ready for the armhole shaping and I only cast on two days ago. I love how fast DK knits up. I keep forgetting because I’m so used to working with 4-ply and laceweight.

Once Agnes is done, the next sweater will be either Petit Four by Heather Zoppetti from IK Fall 2012 or Lepidoptera by Anne Kuo Lukito from KS Fall 2011. It really depends on what I feel like knitting and if I can find the right yarn. I’ve already got three skeins of Malabrigo lace that could work for the Lepidoptera cardigan, but I think I need one more skein. Then there’s also the fact that Malabrigo is a single ply yarn and the yarn used in the pattern is a two-ply so I don’t know how well Malabrigo would wear. Slightly concerned with pilling.

The Citrus Cusp socks are done (photos will be going on Ravelry soon)! The colorway is just so happy that it makes me smile whenever I see them. When it gets slightly cooler I can start wearing them. I want to be sockless for as long as I can, because when I start to wear socks again, it means summer is officially over. And I don’t want it to be over just yet.

I’m still working on the mystery shawl by Janine Le Cras. The final clue came out last Friday and I’m two rounds into it so far. I have come across some issues with the pattern so far. Nothing major, but for instance where it says to transition don’t work for me. I delayed the first two transitions as much as I dared and I still had to start the final transition early. And I ran out of #3 before the transition was complete. I do believe I have enough yarn to complete the shawl so it’s not a major deal. Another was a mistake in the chart key. Again, not major but I’m glad the written instructions were there to double-check it against. I’m slightly concerned about the size too. So far it seems a bit on the small side. Hopefully blocking will do its magic and make it grow to a decent size. I’d be further along I think if I wasn’t so distracted by the sweater. And if I loved the yarn more. The colours are fabulous and I’m really happy I went with the colourway I picked. It’s not too busy that the lace pattern gets obscured. But Ling (70/30 merino/silk) isn’t as soft as Eos (50/50 merino/silk). It’s just not calling to me.

Onto cooking! I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I got The Skinny French Kitchen by Harry Eastwood as a birthday present from O. Almost everything I’ve tried so far has been fabulous. The ones that weren’t fabulous were good, but not mind-blowing. If you’re interested in photos of my meals, I try to remember to post them to Twitter. The plan is to try at least one new recipe a week. I’ve already made Turkey Cordon-Bleu, French Onion Soup, and Emmental Gougeres among others. Tonight, it’ll be Sole Meuniere. Well, almost. Asda didn’t have any sole available when we did our weekly shop this morning, so I’m having haddock instead. Next week, I’m going to try Confit de Canard. Hopefully.

From Blog photos

I finally have photos of my GLS. I took the Safire pattern by Hilary Smith Callis (free Ravelry download btw), modified it to suit my gauge and then added patterning to the sleeves. Even though it’s a teeny tiny sweater/cardigan (I’m planning on wearing it over strappy tops to work), it took me over a month to knit it. I think a part of it was because of all the mods I made and that I kept trying it on to see when it’ll fit. I also tried to use up as much of the yarn as possible so I had to keep weighing the remainder to see when to stop knitting the body and when to start the sleeves. There are more detailed photos on my Ravelry project page.

I can’t remember what I was knitting the last time I talked about it on here. So to recap from June: - Summer Solstice Mystery Shawl KAL by Wendy Johnson (WendyKnits) out of some pretty purple-y merino/silk yarn I bought from Chicago. - Knit a pair of mittens which will be a free download eventually; need to get it tested first. - Then there’s the shrug I just talked about. - I cast on a pair of Cusp socks (Cookie A) in some really happy orange yarn (luxe soles base, Citrus colorway) from Stitches’N’Rows. One sock done, second sock has about two inches done? It’s so nice to be knitting socks again. It’s been about nine months since the last time I knit socks! But my sock bin is overflowing, so I feel like I should wear some down before knitting more. - And finally, I’ve got the Spirit of Guernsey mystery KAL going right now. It’s a laceweight circular shawl. I’m using Ling (wool/silk) in Black Day Lily (black-ish purple to pinkish-yellow) and I decided to go with the beads too. They’re a pretty pale pink. I started out with #1, which is the darkest skein. Clue 4 came out on Friday. I’ve done eight rounds of the first repeat. These rounds take a really long time! I think we’re at over 700 sts per round now. So I seriously doubt that I’ll be done with the clue before the next one comes out.

I’ve also got some secret knitting going on and planning some more. Watch this space. ;)