One FO and some updates

These soft things are made in the same stuff as my calorimetry. It's yukky stuff to knit with, but soft and fluffy all the same. And yellow, of course Ü, which was the whole point at the time.

Everything else is a Work In Progress, though. This bit of ruffle...

is now this long...

Only another inch or two until I separate for the sleeves. And this bit of green...

is my Ishbel scarf. I'm about halfway through the stocking stitch section, and I still love it, but I've been trying to get a bit of stuff done that has a time limit on it first. I'm fascinated by the way I'm knitting the arc edge of a semicircle, and I love the yarn. It's my green birthday yarn from Wired For Fiber. It's cashmerino in "Fate".

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This is also some non-essential knitting that has been put aside for a bit. But I can do a few rows when I feel Autumny Ü. It's just a "Scarfy Come Home" (off Ravelry) in my hand-dyed alpaca.

Since I finished a WIP, and only had 5 WIPs left, I started a crazy lenthways scarf with about 560 stitches on 8mm needles Ü

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hehehehehe

Twisted

Can't believe I've only done 8 rows, yet used a whole 50g ball of Zhivago! 3200 stitches so far.


I held this up for Nathan this evening and told him it was the bottom edge of Jasmine's Birthday jumper. I could tell by his expression that he had serious doubts! lol! After all, the stitches are bunched up, even on this 120cm circular.

Unfortunately, though I was careful, I joined it in a TWIST! Yes, it's a warped little ruffle that will not grow up to be a jumper that would fit a human.

But I am not going to frog it. No, because I am going to find a way to fix it. I'm thinking of... somehow... dropping the center stitches in a rib of 3 purls, twisting the loose joins, and joining it back up. It would be a 2cm blip that looked like a seam right where a seam would have gone anyway if I wasn't knitting in the round, and it will be hidden in the ruffle anyway.

Sigh. I think that will work. No sense doing 3200 stitches again.

Motorbike chick

I chose to make the size 2 Bunnyhop, but there are only 448 stitches in the bottom edge, not over 530, like I said yesterday. As any scientist will tell you, the rules of math are twisted in the early hours of the morning.

Some luxury yarn:

The pink is DK alpaca and the blue is Fingering weight alpaca. Both very soft! But the sock yarn in the middle is my favorite. It looks grey, but it's many shades Ü. I bought the last two (haha). Mainly because it was called "Twilight". Also because it's 40% bamboo, 40% superwash wool and 20% nylon, and I wanted to see how it knitted up. It will be a little while until I get to it, of course.

A bit more Knitting Inspirations stuff. I didn't mean to get metal 10mm tips, but it will be interesting to see how they go. I like the Addi Turbos, so I'm sure it will be fine. A few cables and a few 2.5mm circs. I did Byron's jumper with Magic Loop (much easier than I thought) but I still prefer socks on two circulars. Easier to just chuck aside when Byron pushes Jasmine over or falls off the couch or something. More fold-up-able.

Here is another random non-knitting photo of my girl yesterday, when Uncle Matt came over on his bike. Byron (who loves motorbikes) wouldn't even touch it. hehe.

She started crawling last Friday, and loves her new mobile life. Maybe too much, by the look of that smile...

Eh?

This is a tiny cushion. Accolades to anyone who can guess why I made it Ü

Here are some more Neon socks. The striping will not match up. I believe it is random. But I still love the subtle changes. The old ones felt a bit in the wash, but they're so warm, it's worth it!

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Since I finished them, I have some "space" in the Ravelry queue for WIPs. My goal is to keep it to six. I have the Vivian, the gloves to go with the calorimetry, and my sister's socks (I have started the second sock). I cast off the stupid tube that was an improvised dress and turned it into a felted hot water bottle.

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Having three spaces meant I could cast on the Ishbel scarf from Ysolda's book (with my birthday yarn). I was going to do it in the red (a different colorway I have of the same Wired for Fiber yarn) but I love the green. Besides, I cast on a simple Scarfy Come Home in red and orange, the alpaca yarn I dyed recently. And now that Byron's birthday top is done, it's time to get onto Jasmine's... tonight I cast on most of the stitches.

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I'm doing the Bunnyhop pullover for her, but in the round. The 18m size is 530 stitches at the bottom, and since my eyes were going weird, I had to stop (it's 12:34am, and I got up at 5:20... why? For a bit of time to myself. Worth sacrificing sleep over.) But I'm using DK instead of worsted, so I'm leaning towards the size 2. I don't even want to know how many stitches that will be. It's going to go so slowly after Byron's one. But it will be so cute!

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Also bought some more yarn. Pictures soon. More WFF luxury stuff. Sigh.

Byron's 2nd Birthday jumper

I can't believe my teeny little Byron Joshua...


is nearly 2! His birthday is May 17. I plan to be very Molly Weasleyish about birthdays, and knit my kids a birthday jumper each year. So far they have cold birthdays (here in Australia). I gave myself plenty of time to knit one... but finished it quite quickly! He put it on for me (I will have to fix the tight cast-off neck and do something about the roll-uppy bottom) and then he wouldn't take it off!

I couldn't find a pattern that made me want to cast-on, so I decided to try making my own. How hard could a little jumper be?


Here it is after 200g of yarn. The back is just 10x2 ribbing, like the sleeves and the bottom of the body.

And this is as still as I could get him to sit! He thought it was a great joke that he could run away from the camera and make me frustrated. But it fits him really well, and it looks (and feels) very cosy!

Of course, he can't have it for 5 more weeks Ü

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I used five 50g balls of Jaclyn (or DK weight), knitting with two strands held together on 7mm circular needles.

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Pattern

1. Cast on 96. Join in the round. Do 10 rounds of K10P2 ribbing. Place markers to separate the front and back (the back is all K10P2 ribbing).

2. Knit the front in K4P2 ribbing for 10 rounds.

3. Begin the cable pattern:

rows 2, 8, 14, 20, etc.: P2, K4, P2, CR, P2, K4, P2, CR, P2, CL, P2, K4, P2, CL, P2, K4

rows 5, 11, 17, 23, etc: do the other cables.

That is, of your 8 front ribs, the 4 on the right will have right leaning cables (CR) and the left 4 ribs will have left leaning cables (CL). You do the cable twist every 6 rounds. You alternate the cables so the middle ones and second from the side ones get done in one round, and the other ones (edge and 3rd from edge) get done in the other round.

4. When it's 40-45 rows, separate the front and back.

5. Front: cast off 4 on each edge, and then K2tog on each edge the next two right side rows. You've decreased 6 stitches off each edge.

6. Knit until you're up to about the collar, and just after a round where you twist the center cables, cast off the 10 stitches of those middle cables.

7. There are 13 stitches left on each side. On each right side, K2tog on the neck edge (once on each Right Side Rows) until there are 10 left. Continue until long enough to sit just over to the back of the shoulder. Stop after a cable twist and leave the stitches on a holder.

8. Back: Cast off 4 on each edge, and then K2tog on each edge the next two right side rows. You've decreased 6 stitches off each edge. Carry on until it can meet the front straps. Cast off the middle stitches, leaving 10 on each edge. Kitchener the front and back together.

9. Pick up 40 stitches around the arm. Put two purls at the top and front and back of the sleeve so there is 10 K stitches between them and 14 under the arm. Every 7th row, decrease two from the underarm rib. After 35 rows there should be 4 between the purl pairs under the arm. Start doing K4, P2 rib for 7 rows. Cast off.

10. Pick up about 45 around the neck, knit 7 rows and cast off loosely. (On the third attempt at the neck, I added a stitch every 5th on the 5th round and changed to 8mm needles. Then it was loose enough!)

Birthday yarn

Everybody should get yarn for their birthday. This I bought for myself. It's extremely nice cashmerino from Wired For Fibre . It's more expensive than it used to be, so I couldn't buy two like I wanted to! lol.

And this is some birthday dyeing I did. 200g of alpaca from Bendigo Woolen Mills, done in Autumn colors, as my sister suggested. I'm not a good color mixer, but it was still fun.

Here's some of the bargain Jaclyn I bought, knitted up into the body of Byron's birthday jumper. I'm up to where I divide for the sleeves. I haven't designed a jumper before, so I stopped here to Think. Ü It's like shiny melted chocolate, and so soft!

Since I showed some dyeing already, here is the blue sock yarn I dyed a while ago. I put the two dry balls of wool in the pot with some blue and black dye and a bit of vinegar. The color change is speckley and nice.

Here's the boy (just because). He was very grumpy yesterday, as he didn't get much sleep. Doing this 'project' became tantrum material, because it wasn't working out and he was a bit frustrated. But it was working this morning. Funny thing.

Now they're both awake, so I'd better go check on them. Byron's able to open all the doors now (!!) and Jasmine is commando crawling (like a worm Ü) everywhere.