Hallowig mess

As it's Halloween today, here's my Chamber of Horrors...



I've really messed up the decreases. It looks nothing like a sleek parting - more like someone who has been tarred and feathered.



That long piece of thread is supposed to be the slipped stitch. The more I look at this disaster, the more depressed I feel. So it's off to the froggy farm for this Hallowig.

On a happier front, I'm ploughing through the Christmas Surprise.
I don't want to give too much away, but here's a close-up...


I've used a combination of Rowan Linen Drape (shade: Bleached), Berocco Lazer FX and a couple of mystery yarns to add some texture.


I might graft in the odd row of Paton's eyelash yarn.


The ends are curling in, however. To combat this I will either I-cord or crochet the border.

Herman the Hermit

Herman has discovered catnip and he's not sure what to make of it.
I have steered clear of catnip in the past because when I introduced it to Tigs, our other kitty, she just weed in a pot plant.
At first he just sniffed this catnip mouse and gave it a suspicious nudge with his paw...


Then he spent about 15 minutes chasing it...


In typical cat fashion, he has now lost interest in the toy and is back to biting his Dad and screaming for his dinner.

I miss knitting

I'm stuck at work right now, editing a scintillating news story. I've got my scarf in my bag and I'd love to slip away to a quiet corner of the canteen and work on a few rows, but as one of my old teachers used to say, I want doesn't mean I get...

I visited Bunty Wool in Ealing, west London this morning to pick up some more wool for the MIL's scarf. I've added some white Paton's Whisper, which is an eyelash yarn to my stash. Depending on my mood, I might knit the odd row into the scarf. I will have to graft in some to the earlier rows. If nothing else it will be a learning experience!

Hellish Hallowig

As soon as I get home from work I am going to frog my Hallowig. It looks like a dog's breakfast. I have managed to mess up the decreases so much that I've ended up with a roving slip stitch. Rather than a sleek wig, it looks as it it's been dragged through a hedge backwards. Pictures will follow in due course.
It looks so awful that I've lost the will to redo the offending part. I just want it out of my house.

Anyway, I've switched my affections to the Kitty Hat (http://www.kittyville.com/knit/kitty_hat.html). which will be either turquoise or black.

I'm also working on my MIL's Christmas Scarf. For security reasons I'm not going to post a full picture (maybe a close-up) until 26th December. I've used a combination of white Rowan Linen Drape, Berroco Lazer FX in white and a couple of mystery fancy sequinned yarns.

The pattern is from Vogue Knitting On the Go: Scarves Two. It is supposed to use Berroco yarns, which you cannot buy in Britain. I don't like buying yarns online from the USA, as any cost savings tend to be wiped out by international shipping and import duties. But as it is a special Christmas present, I was just about to place an order on Patternworks when I remembered the Linen Drape that had been lying around unloved in my stash for nearly a year. Add that to some fancies that I picked up in Boston and the Knitting and Stitching Show, and you have a gorgeous evening scarf!

And then there were none...

The creeper in the back garden has been finished off by the strong winds over the last weekend. You may think I'm mad for photographing this but ever since I've had a digital camera, I've always promised myself that I would take pictures of this amazing creeper. In the dead of January when there's nothing growing, it cheers me up to see this majestic plant in all its splendour.

At least the sumac tree is still doing its best to cheer me up...


and the grapevine is hanging on for dear life...

Back to the knitting...

My Linen Drape bag is turning out to be a right old plodder.


Here's a close-up of the stitch pattern.

You can find the full pattern in Rowan's It's a Tape Thing pattern book.

Along with the orange River Tape, I've also used a purple and orange mystery ribbon yarn, which I got from Kerrie at Kerrie's Place.


The original pattern, called Karee, was designed to be used with Rowan Cotton Tape which stretches much more.

I should have used larger needles, such as a 10mm rather than a 7mm to make the stitches looser.
I've got some yellow Linen Drape to use up, so I will use a larger needle with those and pretend they are designed to be a matching set.

And from the back...

I think this looks much better than the front!

Good night

Nearly there...

I'm quite pleased with my Hallowig so far. It took a few hours of knitting to get this far. Now I'm onto the tricky bit, where I have to take the plunge and work with double pins, which I usually avoid like the plague because working on more than two needles confuses me.

This was far more cheery....



This is me at the Roller Disco last week.
I managed to stay upright again but this was due to fear rather than confidence!
Any beginner skaters got short shrift from me. Whenever they tried to hang on to me for dear life I had to be brutal and brush them off. Well, it was a case of one or both of us falling down - and it wasn't going to be me!
You never know - I may be able to post pictures of me skating backwards one day (in 2009!)

Hallowig update...




I think this is going to look very nice. It's the first time I've used acrylics in quite a while. I must say that it's nice to knit with an uncomplicated yard that doesn't have loopy bits and twists to catch you out.
Perhaps I have crossed over into the dark side of Acrylics Anonymous!
I have nothing to do but knit tonight, so I hope to post more progress tomorrow.

Sitcom Chic

I knitted this cardigan back in May. Now the temperatures have taken a dive, I find it's great for keeping out the chill. It was a really straightforward pattern from Chicknits, with minimal shaping. I used Rowan's Summer Tweed in turquoise. In fact, I'm loving this cardi so much that I'm going to make another one with some red and green variegated yarn that I bought in Boston.

And here's a close-up of the yarn-over detailing.


I don't think Herman cares too much about my knitting endeavours tonight. He's suddenly appeared from an afternoon of snoozing and is making pitiful miaows while staring at me. This is a sure sign that I should drop whatever I'm doing and feed him straightaway.
His wish is my command!

Hello! Hallowig!

I picked up lots of cheap acrylic from Creations in Turnham Green this afternoon and I am itching to start my Hallowig. I'm using turquoise Hayfield Bonus DK, which was less than £3 for 100g. I'm currently making a swatch with size 5UK needles, so watch this space...

This is how ribbon looks when it's knitted. I don't think I'll knit with it again. It's slippery and because it's quite inflexible, joining in new ends was a pain. I will sew in any loose joins just to make sure it doesn't unravel while on the move.
I didn't realise I'd get the dual-tone effect while knitting - the right side is violet, while the underside looks more blue.

Me and my poncho


I'm pretty proud of it, even if I say so myself! I used Yarn Harlot's free A Very Harlot Poncho pattern, which is a lovely combination of stocking stitch with the odd 'yarn over' to stop you getting too bored.

I used 4 x 100g of Rowan Magpie Aran from (you guessed it!) the Liberty summer sale.
The purples were from my Colinette stash. The ribbon is from VV Rouleaux - reduced from £8 to £2.2o a roll in the Harrods summer sale. I will post close-ups very soon!

Hallowig - we have a problem...

All set to start my wig but due to some overzealous stash reduction - I don't have any brightly-coloured acrylic left. So I'll just have to go to Woolies and hope they have bright pink in stock. Unfortunately my local John Lewis is too posh to stock anything as common as bright pink acrylic!

A warm British welcome to everyone!

The amount of traffic on this blog seems to have shot up in recent days - and it can't just be down to me pressing 'refresh' to admire my HTML handiwork.

So a warm welcome to everyone who has popped in to look at my blog. If I could find a way to give you all a custard cream biscuit and a small sherry, I would!

At last!

I have finally learned how to add buttons to my site!
On the left hand side are links to my favourite knitting sites.
I have applied (again) to join the Knitting Bloggers webring. It's not active yet, but all things willing, I should be accepted soon. And I have worked out how to put their logo on the site!

Good night!

Hallowig knitalong

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

when I have time (ha!)

And by way of contrast

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

This picture was taken around September 8, during the Indian Summer.
It's now cold enough to forget about wearing Birkenstocks and it's uncomfortable to go without a coat or jacket at night.
The car windows have started getting condesation at night, too.

Woolly wonder

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

This is a chunkier version of the Rockstar scarf. I used Kureyon number 40 (2 skeins) and Jaeger Fur (4 skeins). The fur was a bugger to work with until I cottoned on to the fact that it was best to knit loosely. It's best to work slowly - you don't stand a chance of recovering any dropped stitches.

A sad sight

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

...but so beautiful.
Winter is on its way.
Those two pictures were taken about 3 weeks apart.
I was determined to capture the creeper in all its glory this year.

September

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

up close and personal...

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

Next stop -eBay

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

Another Kureyon wonder. This is definitely being sold. This is one of the rare Kureyon mixes that I don't really like. I bought the yarn from the fabulous Yarn-ela in Canada.

This one's a grower

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

The more I look at this, the more I like it.
I made it from some acrylic yarn that I bought from Honor Parry in Battersea.
You'll probably realise that I am a sucker for variegated yarns. I also think they are ideal for new knitters because it's easier to see how a new stitch takes form on the needles.

This one was inspired by Missoni and the pattern is a bog standard wave and shell job.
I have lots of grey oddments at home. I may well do the same pattern with them, rather than a straightfoward stripe.

isn't it lovely?

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

Kureyon is so gorgeous that one has to keep stopping to admire the blend of colours!

Vogue Knitting triumph

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

This was knitted from the Vogue Knitting On the Go Scarves Two. This beauty took a few days to finish. It's currently being flattened under the complete works of 'The World of the Children - Volumes 1-4'.
It's destined for my auntie's Christmas folder.

koigu in close-up

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

Forgot to mention that the pattern is from Knitty. It's called Rockstar. I didn't manage to knit it during a couple of episodes of Six Feet Under (more like five!)

Introducing Koigu!

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Originally uploaded by sisterknitter.

I am love with this yarn!It knits like a dream and I finished this scarf in less than a week. The eyelash is Patons Whisper which I believe costs about two quid a ball. I've got a job lot of it under the bed!

This scarf is staying with me, as is the purple Koigu that I bought at the Knitting and Stitching show on Thursday. I'm going to mix it with the green and red that I picked up at A Good Yarn in Brookline MA. This decision has erased any justification that I had in going back to the show on Sunday. As if I needed any more reason, I just look at the (culled) stash that's under the spare bed, and crawling out of the draws like ectoplasm.

Continental Shift

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do when faced with endless rows of stocking stitch and the odd yarn-over to break up the monotony.
I've embraced Continental knitting. This is where your right hand just holds the needle, and the actual knitting process takes place with the left hand. It is a lot quicker and means that my hands get less tired.

Climb every mountain!

I spent yesterday at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace yesterday and I had a superb day.
I had my shopping list of:
Koigu (Charlotte's Web)
Kureyon (in blue for Vogue Knitting striped scarf)
Greenish Colinette (to finish ponch)

I'm glad to say that I stuck to this pretty faithfully - apart from three balls of variegated acrylic and a ball of fancy wool for MIL's scarf.

And I taught what seemed to be an endless stream of teenage girls how to knit in the cafe area. Lots of them want to learn so that they can make their own ponchos - and it probably beats double maths.