Sunday, September 30, 2007

My warped reality

I just completed another square - the Reverse Stocking Stitch Ridge Square:


I must be living in a whole different world, because when I finished it, it looked great! The square is actually square, and flat and straight and it feels wonderfully stretchy: (this is me stretching it)


...but when I saw the pictures, it looked like a really boring and wonky square. If the camera doesn't lie, then I must be seeing my knitting through rose-coloured...eyes. I don't wear glasses. I could only take three pictures, because my camera batteries died, but I think I will try again, once I have some battery power, and daylight. I'll also block the other squares that I haven't gotten round to, so that they will all look neat and square-like. I'll do my squares proud, I will!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

The mustard is growing on me

While I appreciate the beauty in all colours, there are a few that really disagree with me. I don't think anyone should wear orange, and yet they do. I like orange on pumpkins, flowers, sunsets. Just not on clothing. Look, in some instances, it looks good. A fellow knitter on KnittingHelp made some Halloween hats for her children, they were mostly black with some orange accents. She chose a pretty orange and it looked really good. But for the most part, I tend to stay away from that side of the colour spectrum.

I can't wear yellow, although I think it's a lovely colour. It makes me look ill.

The yarn I got with The Art of Knitting for the next square I made, chose to combine a touch of orange with yellow to get MUSTARD. Initially I disliked it a lot, but I have to say, now that I've knitted the square, it's really grown on me. Looking at the yarn that is left over, I would even go as far as saying it's quite pretty. I still couldn't wear that colour though. Probably.

Reverse Stocking Stitch and Star square:


Friday, September 28, 2007

Another Throw Square

Seed Stitch Square:


This was a very quick knit, even though I had to frog three or four rows, because I was paying more attention to the tv. I noticed, even while knitting it, that the pattern isn't very obvious, especially in the light pink colour. I hoped it would be clearer once done, but it's still not very easy to spot. I haven't blocked it yet, I'll do that tomorrow. I just pinned it to a cushion to take a photo. I couldn't find enough pins, so I used needles, including a darning needle. That's why the whole thing looks terribly skew. This square rolls up more than any other square I've done, I hope I can curb that with some steam tomorrow.

The First Square

Here it is, finally:
The square has been done for ages now, but I never finished the embroidered heart on it. I started, but left it after a couple of stitches and it has been bugging me ever since. This is the first square you get to knit in The Art of Knitting, and will join all the others, eventually, to become this throw:


I'm going to go knit the next square now. Thank goodness this one is done! It's really been weighing heavily on my mind. Dear Carlien did hers a long time ago and we agreed that her heart resembled an apple a bit more than a heart, so I was nervous about doing mine. I marked it out with basting stitches first, and then blanket stitched along the lines. It's still not perfect, but heck, it's close enough!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Yes, There Are Sharp Items In My Luggage

I've been unable to post to my blog for a while, since I've been travelling. I've been hauling my knitting with me, which is not so easy nowadays. I would love to be able to knit while I fly, but oh well.

The floor cushion is coming along fine, if slowly. I'm not spending as much time on it as I'd like to, so my initial goal of finishing it in three weeks is long gone. Now I am pleased if I can knit a row now and then. So far, I have the bottom part done, and three of the sides.

I am busy with the top panel now, which consists of 93 stitches, knitted in a rib pattern. At the end, I am going to use smocking stitch and pull the ribs into a honeycomb pattern. Against the bright blue of the cushion I used as a background, the yarn looks faded and grey, but it's actually a very nice denim blue. Because there are so many stitches on my needle, the knitting is bunched up. I can't wait for the final result, I'm sure it's going to be lovely. And the cats will love it too.



Knitting the little squares for my throw has been a pleasure. I find that I can't wait for my next issue of The Art of Knitting. The magazines are in great demand and aren't even displayed in stores anymore. There simply aren't enough copies, so you have to put your name on a list and even then it's first come, first served. So apparently many people are knitting. I suppose even seasoned knitters would appreciate the magazines, because of the pretty patterns and the stitch library in each issue.

Here is my Mock Rib with Garter Stitch Ridges square:


And this is my Little Ladders square - curling up a bit, but it will behave once I'm done with it.


A close-up of the Little Ladders pattern.

My final piece of knitting news is that my boyfriend has also started knitting. He's using a chunky yarn on 10mm needles and is knitting a scarf in garter stitch. He's knitting 20 stitches, but regularly splits the yarn to end up with 21. Then I have to fix it, for some reason, and then I also tend to knit one or three rows - "just to get him started". This way every fourth row will be his and the rest will be mine. Next time I'll show him how to fix it himself.

I'm going on a rowing trip this weekend and I definitely can't take my knitting along on that one! I also want to sew a dress this week, so I'll likely only get back to knitting next week. As much as I enjoy the act of knitting, I can hardly wait to see my final results. But before I get there, I'll have to fly all my knitting back to Cape Town, yet again. Oh, and I'm also going to be moving house...hopefully by then my floor cushion will be ready for use, because I absolutely refuse to take my old couch into my new apartment! Until I can afford a new one, I guess I'll be sitting on the floor.