Well, crap.

I ran out. 26 stinking rows before the end of the shawl. See?

And for an idea of how close I actually got:

Fortunately, a couple of Ravellers answered my desperate plea on the Posh forum. I've got two skeins of similar colourways being sent to me tomorrow, so (postal service permitting) I should be able to finish this week.

Thank goodness for Ravelry.

My current shawl project is Ene's Scarf, a Nancy Bush pattern originally written for laceweight yarn and tiny needles. I decided to knit it up in a fingering weight for added warmth. First point for Ravelry - lots of other people have made a similar decision, so I could easily browse through other project and estimate the amount of yarn I needed. All good, I had a lovely pair of Posh skeins equalling that amount. Lovely grey-green-slate cashmere, mmmmmm.

I started knitting. The first chart was eating yarn, since the pattern is a bottom-up triangle. I was worried about running out, but no worries - there's a support group on Ravelry for this very shawl, and one clever lady had worked out the row-by-row completion percentages for the whole thing. Chart One is a full quarter of the knitting, so I stopped worrying. Then the worrying started again, because I got halfway through my yarn but not halfway through the knitting.

Running out of yarn would be a real problem with this shawl. Unlike top-down triangles, the triangle shape doesn't exist until the whole thing is finished. Running out would leave me with a weird wedge-shaped gap at the back of my neck. And because I'm using Posh yarn, which is all one-off batches in limited numbers, there was no way I was ever going to be able to get more.

Or so I thought. Third point for Ravelry - I was able to search through other people's stashes of this yarn by the colourway name and locate two other ladies with skeins from the same batch! I contacted one, who had used hers up, to see whether she'd any scraps left over that I could have. She did, and I've now got an extra 2 grams of yarn on my knitting table. (Thanks, C!) I'm waiting to hear from the other, who had a whole skein, to see whether she'd be willing to trade me.

In the meantime I'm knitting away, crossing my fingers that the extra two grams will be enough to get me to the end. I should know by the end of the weekend - I'm at 80% knitted!

Wait for it...

...I knit another pair of Monkey socks. I know, shocking, isn't it? My sixth completed pair, and all but one mineminemine!

Colinette Jitterbug in the colourway 'Popsicle', although it reminds me of birds of paradise. I love the bright reds and oranges, and the green is perfectly loud and garish for such a grey and dismal time of year. I went with three repeats on the cuff, although I could easily have managed one more, if not two with the leftovers. Ah well, I can always make more sock yarn squares.

I also ripped out two projects this weekend. The bronze scarf and orange shrug are no more. I'm now down to four WIPs - the Franken-Mei socks, the sage green shawl, the blue Malabrigo Shetland Triangle and the sock yarn pillow. I'm feeling a pressing need to cast on for something new. Possibly a stripey hat, or maybe some mittens?

State of the WIPs, January 2010 edition

So, now that I've gotten a major piece of coursework and an SCA event out of the way for the month, I can actually sit down and think about knitting again!

The mad rush at Christmas to finish gifts left me with a pleasingly low number of outstanding unfinished projects to think about this year. And only one of them was a gift that never got finished! Fortunately, the recipient is happy to wait until 2011 for me to finish it.

So, oldest first. A lace scarf, made in the sadly discontinued Rowan Lurex Shimmer. This might actually be the first yarn I ever bought. I started in way back in July last year, but put it down after cutting millions of pieces of fringe and working the first few rows. I pulled it out of hibernation last night. It's simple enough, just a feather-and-fan pattern, so I'm planning to work one repeat per day until it's finished.

Next up is the orange shrug I started with the lovely cotton 4-ply my best friend gave me. This one is in a time-out at the moment. It's mindless and goes quickly, but I'm not sure I'll actually ever wear it. Going to leave it while I ponder its future.

My Franken-Mei socks are going well. I decided to work both at once to avoid Second Sock Syndrome, and it seems to be working. I've finished the first cuff and am nearly done with the cuff of the second! 65 rounds of 3x3 ribbing, ugh. It'll be comfortable when finished, but right now I'm going a bit mad with it. Still, nearly to the heel flaps, and then I can start the interesting lacy stuff on the foot.

My green/grey Ene's Scarf is also fine. I'm not working on it much at the moment because the rows are long and require chart consultation, and I've just not had the mental energy to deal with them recently. I'm partway through the first repeat of chart three.

Sock yarn granny squares - I've a second uncovered pillowform for the couch. Since I've already done one in big granny squares, it makes sense to use up my sock yarn scraps for a matching one. This is my bedside table project for when I'm waiting for the Spouse to come to bed.

One lace shawl hibernating until next year, because it's not for me!

And finally, a new project. This is my first cast-on of 2010 - another Shetland Triangle Shawl. This time I'm using Malabrigo Lace, and it is incredibly soft. I started it because I was having a bad day and wanted to play with a kitten. Since we live on the 3rd floor and can't have pets, the blue laceweight is the next best thing.

And sew it goes...

There are two main schools of thought* when it comes to weaving in ends. The first says not to weave until the project is totally finished in case you have to pick something out. The second says weave as you go, just in case you look at the finish project and discover a sudden need for strong drink as you are confronted with a mess of loose ends all over your nice project.

I have no criticism to make of either school, but I have to wonder if those ends at the end people have ever made a granny square afghan of 225 squares and seen the hundreds of ends such a project generates. Just sayin'. ;)

I sew two strips together, sew in all the ends on that section. Add another strip, sew in more ends. And so on, and sew forth. Someday I'll finish, but I'm feeling pretty mellow about it. And I can actually see real progress, which is a good thing!

*There's actually a third school of thought that looks at the ends, says "Screw this!" and throws the whole thing in a dark closet, but I like to think I have more fortitude than that...

Huzzah - progress!

This has been a fabulous weekend! Despite working yesterday, I've managed to get tons of things done. The flat is clean and getting ready for cooler weather, everything's tidy, and I've been doing a bit of finishing! Another gift is totally done, and the one batch of Christmas handspun I had planned is soaking in the basin ready to drip-dry overnight. I'm at a bit of a loss to know what to work on next! Sewing more blanket squares, I suppose. Off to go assemble my project bag for the week. :D

Hip to be square*

A weekend of meetings and being out and about on the Tube gave me lots of time for end-weaving. I've nearly caught up with all the ends on my completed squares - just a dozen or so that still need doing. And I've made and washed all the coloured squares. As of this moment, I only need to make 57 more white squares and sew in the ends. Then I can finally assemble the afghan!

*I'd better finish making these squares quickly, as I'm running out of new titles pertaining to squares.

More squares

I fished out all of the squares I've finished for the blanket and played around with arrangements. I'm about 2/3 done with square-making! I've also rejigged my planned layout so that there are more white squares and fewer coloured than I'd originally planned. First because I'm running low on scraps, and second because the white are quicker to make and finish. I still really like the way it looks, not too plain or boring.

In fact, thanks to the rejig, I've only got 13 coloured squares left to make! Lots and lots of white squares, but I can make about 6 an hour if I'm concentrating on it. Hoping to make 40 or so by the end of the weekend, including all the coloured ones. Then I need to wash this last batch of coloured squares, sew in millions of ends and finish the white ones next week. Then on with the sewing up!

The great post of numbers

225 - the number of squares I need to make the blanket I'm working on

72 - the number of multicoloured squares

153 - the number of plain white squares

15 - the number of squares in a single strip

15 - the number of strips

108 - the number of squares I've finished

738 - the number of ends resulting from making the all the squares

Shawl love

I've abandoned pretty much everything I'm working on right now in favour of my sage green shawl. I love it. It's a less common construction, made by casting on the two bottom edges of the triangle and decreasing on every right-side row until there's nothing left. As I suspected, this construction goes very quickly. With a top-down triangle, the longest rows occur at the point where one is tiring of the project. Done this way, the longest rows are done while it's still a new and exciting project, so by the time it's getting boring most of the knitting is done anyway!

Some clever person on Ravelry worked out the completion percentages for each row of the shawl - I've only finished the first chart and the first row of chart two, and I'm 26% finished with the shawl. Hopefully I'll get a good-sized chunk of it done over the weekend, since it looks like it's going to be wet and gross again.

State of the WIPs, August edition

July was a marvellous month for clearing the decks. I finished big things, little things and in-between things, as well as making good progress on those things I didn't finish. I even got around to cutting out the lining for a hood I'm making!
Of course, it's hard for me to refrain from starting new projects when I finish old ones. I cast on for a few in the last couple of weeks. Here's where I currently stand on all my yarn WIPs.
First up - a pair of Broadripple Socks I'm making for mum. Very quick, lots of fun. I'm paused in the middle of the first gusset because my needles are a little bit too short for the number of stitches I've got on. I'm working on it at home, but they slip off too easily to cart them around at the moment.


Next, a pair of socks for me from Cookie A's new sock book. These are my current take-everywhere project, since they're just 3x3 ribbing for miles and miles! I'm experimenting with a new tactic on these socks. I've got two sets of 2.25mm sock needles, both of which were conveniently empty when I cast on. I've got both socks on the go at once. I'm working the cuff of the first then the second, then both heel flaps, etc. Hopefully this will ward off the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome.

A large pile of granny squares is up next. This one is designed to use up all of my remaining acrylic worsted as well as the three 400g balls of acrylic/wool I got at the Knitting and Stitching Show two years ago. Now that the bedspread is done I actually know how much I have in the way of scraps and can plan appropriately.


Of course, I have to finish the Totoro amigurumi I'm working on for my friend. It also uses acrylic worsted, so will generate more scraps. Once it's done, though, I'll be free of a big pile of toy stuffing!

I cast on for a simple lace scarf in my very oldest stash yarn. It's the discontinued Rowan Lurex Shimmer, a sparkly metallic fingering-weight. One of my old knitting page-a-day calendars had a pattern that called for exactly four balls of the stuff, conveniently. Basic feather-and-fan pattern, but it's nice.


I also started a shrug using the orange cotton my best friend gave me. It's a single row of two stitches, repeated over and over to make an enormous rectangle. Once the rectangle's done, you pick up stitches at each end and knit a ribbed cuff. Pretty and mindless, perfect for tv knitting.


This, although it doesn't look like much right now, is going to be a sweater for my husband. I've been promising him a sweater for ages, and we finally found a pattern that he likes, I'm happy to knit and uses the yarn I have in appropriate amounts. I'll get stuck in properly once I get the correct sizes of circular needles. For now I'm working on the sleeves, since they use DPNs.


And finally, my current lace shawl. You may have noticed that it's neither pink nor laceweight. That's because I ripped out the Aeolian Shawl I was working on. It wasn't making me jump for joy, and something that's going to take that many hours of knitting really should. So my precious pink Cecilia is hibernating, and I've cast on for a new shawl with some Posh Yarn (of course!) to make a heavier winter shawl to keep at work. This colourway is called 'Drift', and although I'm not usually fond of these greens, the Laura 4-ply just leapt off the screen at me. It's 100% merino and incredibly soft and squishy. I'm knitting it up with 4.5mm needles, but I could almost go up to a 5mm and have the lace be just as lovely.

Goodness!

Back at work after two delicious weeks of vacation. After a weekend of a summer cold, films and a mitten, I decided that the mitten would be a good handbag project for my lunch hours. After all, it was halfway done, so even though I wouldn't finish it for WIPs Wrestling all progress is good. Just finished lunch. I'm two rounds away from starting the decreases at the fingertips. I'll probably finish the hand by the end of tomorrow and the thumb on Wednesday. It's amazing what a couple of rounds squeezed into a baking marathon will add up to!

So close...

I'm off on holiday early tomorrow morning, which means taking the last train to the airport tonight and sleeping on a bench. And I'm so close to being finished with my second Monkey sock! I've only got 10 rounds of the toe and then the grafting left to do, then it's done. And the rows get shorter as I go.

Of course, I've also got to get home from work, shower, eat dinner, finish the last tiny bits of packing, put away all my knitting stuff and have quality time with the husband. Can she do it? Watch this space!

Garters and FOs, oh my!

Hubs was out at a wargaming club last night, so I settled in with a pizza, Civ IV, the Phantom of the Opera and went at it. The garters are finished, and I'll be delivering them to mum at the end of the month when I visit. And I managed to finish spinning all the powder-blue fiber into singles! I'm letting them rest on the bobbins for a couple of days. Then I plan to do the plying on Friday evening, followed by a wash-and-whack session on Saturday morning. Photo update on Sunday, if all goes well!

I'm thrilled at finishing the garters. They were my second oldest yarn WIP, beaten only by the ripple afghan. I now only have 3 projects that date from before 2009 - the afghan, the mittens and the crochet Totoro that's hibernating. With any luck, the mittens will be finished this month, along with a goodly chunk of the afghan. And then I'll hopefully finish the afghan in July!

Once the current Monkeys and the mittens are done, I'll cast on for another pair of practical socks. After that, Totoro will live in my bag until he's done. I'm really feeling pleased about all my needlework right now. It's great.

One down, one to go

Had a surprisingly productive weekend, given how busy it was. After work on Friday I'd planned to do a load of knitting, but after ending up doing a bunch of housework in my wheel's corner I got out Roy and did about three hours of spinning! The bag of fiber I thought would never end is looking decidedly depleted, so with any luck I'll finish the singles this week and get the plying done next weekend.

Various trips around London on Saturday gave me the chance to get a couple more inches of garter done. Who knows, I might finish that this week too. And although I went into Loop, I managed to not buy any yarn! I went for a second 100cm circular needle for Mum's shawl, and left with only that. Now I'll be able to actually finish it.

And thanks to an afternoon celebrating Swedish National Day with my half-Swedish best friend and long train journeys on Sunday, I finished the first Monkey sock and got halfway through the cuff of the second! The purpose of the trip was to give hub's Granny her birthday shawl. It fit perfectly, and I think she likes it. My in-laws seem to think I'm a bit mad for loving knitting. Ah well. I think they're all a bit mad too, so it balances out. :D

Ravelry consensus says...

...that June and July are months for tackling WIPs. Not to be confused with 'Februarys are for Finishing', which is an entirely different task. One of my stash reduction groups is having WIP reduction as this month's challenge, and then July is the WIPs Wrestling Smackdown. Having ended May on a high note of finishing three projects over a single weekend and then making surprise progress on the garters, I've decided to go for it.
In June, I hope to get through the following:

• The green/purple/blue Monkey socks I've currently got going
• Mum's garters, about 3/4 done after last weekend!
• The mittens that went into hibernation after post-test-knitting frogging
• The big batch of powder-blue spinning fiber I've been working on for the last couple of months
• One granny square a day for my granny-ghan
• As much progress as possible on the bedspread

I plan to devote July to shawls and a pair of not-yet-cast-on simple socks, since I have two shawls on the go right now, desperately need more socks, and have committed to knitting 4 pairs this year for Mission:Possible.

Finishing all of the above would take me down to 4 WIPs. And depending on my energy levels and free time, I might even get through the bedspread - leaving me with 3!

Small increments of progress

I really should not have compared Granny's shawl to my black shawl. I've basically stopped knitting on it. Oh, I do a small chunk here and there, but not much at a time. I'm honestly not worried about it - given how much time I have before needing to gift it and how quickly it goes, it'll be fine. So instead, I'm working on the things that actually tempt me.

The fluffy scarf that I was finding so boring the other day is utterly appealing right now. I've knitted up about half of the first ball of yarn, putting me a quarter of the way there. And I got out the bigger needles and redid the crown of the purple hat last nights while watching Numbers. A few rows of heel flap here, a row of shawl there, and eventually it all adds up to real progress.

Onwards and upwards

Onto the first big stripe of the ripple bedspread now - 33.5 rows remaining! Each row does take a while though, and I'm still not supposed to be doing much crochet. Darned elbow.

I'm partway through the 6th repeat of the shawl right now. Still motoring on, though I've started having flashbacks to the black dropstitch shawl I finished in May last year. I seem to remembering whining about hating dropstitch patterns and swearing I'd never make another shawl using them. Turns out, though, that the black shawl I made so unwillingly has become one of my favourite garments. And hub's Granny is worth it.

Busy weekend

It was a rather productive 3-day weekend too, especially since it rained and I stayed in! Granny's birthday shawl is well and truly started, despite a complete change of plans. The yarn/pattern combination just didn't work, so hub's granny will be getting a lovely burgundy drop-stitch number instead of the cerulean I'd planned. Ah well. The family tell me she'll like it, so on I go. If I do one repeat a day I'll finish it in a fortnight - and I managed 3 repeats yesterday!

I did do some 'work' on the purple hat over the weekend, inasmuch as I looked at it, decided the fabric was too stiff and ripped it out to restart on bigger needles. I'll pick that up again once the birthday shawl is done.

I did a little spinning and finished preparing the lump of fiber I'm working on. It's coming up as a fairly fine single, so I've got at least 5 hours of spinning left, probably more. And then it all needs to be plied!

The real progress of the weekend, though, was the work I did on the ripple bedspread and mum's heavy shawl. I've all but finished another stripe, which leaves me with only three left. Admittedly two of those stripes are great honking wide stripes, but still. I might even manage to finish the whole thing this month, just in time for summer! And I've finished the plain garter stitch section of mum's shawl, leaving the wide lace border.

I've run into an amusing snag with the shawl. It's currently on a circular needle that's 100cm long - and it's too short! I've run out of room for stitches! I think I've found a solution, though. While digging through my circular collection, I found another 100cm needle in the same size. I'm using it for granny's shawl right now, but once that's done I can stick point protectors on one end of each needle and use them as uber-long straights. That'll save me having to order a 150cm needle from Germany, at least to start with!

Lovely, lovely lace

Yesterday evening I got home after an abortive evening out (friend flaked at the last minute) and found myself seated on the couch with nothing but my Aeolian Shawl in arm's reach. I was highly amused to realize that I'd picked it up and worked a few rows without consulting the pattern. Guess I really am a Knitter now - I can memorize lace!

Finishing the scarf yesterday has done me a world of good. It was a bit like having some yarny sorbet to cleanse my palate. I still remember the dress, but fondly and without sympathetic muscle spasms in my arm. And now I'm looking forward to really getting my teeth into the shawl! For the time being, though, I'm determined to finish hubby's socks and the fluffy mauve scarf I'm working on.