FINALLY! A finished Elspeth!
June 22, 2005
OK the reason this has taken so long is that now I'm at my parents, and the internet is sloooow, and the modem on my laptop is even slower, and it's too much like torture to use the internet. So I might not be posting much or reading many blogs - sorry about that!
Well, firstly my weekend! On friday I went shopping with Kerrie, which was bags of fun as always :) I didn't buy any yarn, because as you may have noticed I have been majorly stashing lately, and then attempting to hide it by saying it's all for secret projects.....
I did buy some fabric - and some of it has already been used! I will try and put a post up about that later this week. Also we went to a lovely make-up/perfume shop and had lots of make up put on, which was ace because neither of us wears make up often. I loved that.
And I got to stay at Kerrie's for her birthday BBQ, and lots of knitting and chatting - it was lovely :)
Right - Elspeth!
Elspeth turned out a size too big - I didn't swatch, because I swatched for Gemma, which is also in Calmer, so didn't think I'd need to for Elspeth. Maybe I should have, oh well! I still like it a lot, it just doesn't sit as well on me as on mum or Kerrie....I'm still going to wear it though, because I think it's really pretty :)
Here she is:
Click to see more!
Well, back soon I hope :)
Posted by jen at 12:26 PM | Comments (21)
The biggest finished project for a while!
June 09, 2005
Haha sorry, I'm talking about my thesis! I handed it in today! This is the result of an entire years work in the lab, and counts for a quarter of my degree - the examiners had better like it!!
But now it's all over (well, I have a 20 minute viva exam in 3 weeks), I can finally get back to my hobbies :)
I am back onto Elspeth, and hope to finish her really soon. She's looking better now I've started doing the picot part of the crochet edging. Here's a close-up:
Pretty! Well I think!
Tomorrow - lots of new yarn!
Posted by jen at 06:11 PM | Comments (14)
Whatever the opposite of zoom is......
June 06, 2005
I've been so busy recently, and this week will be the same, but then not again for ages so hooray for that! I can't remember if I said why or whatever, as it certainly wouldn't be very interesting! But basically I'm writing a thesis on the lab work I did this year, and it has to be in on friday.
So what knitting have I done? Well, I've STILL not finished Elspeth! BUT I have finished the knitting, and have seamed her, and am now doing the crochet edge. It's taking an age - although it might just feel like that because I only fitted in a hours knitting this weekend.
But about the finishing. I like finishing things as neatly as possible. I didn't know how to do this a couple of years ago, but now I have more of an idea, and so I like to use that. But I didn't really think all that hard when I knitted this pattern, I just blindly followed the instructions, cos I was in that kind of a mood, and I think I missed a lot of tricks that would have made things neater and easier.
For a start it really needed selvedges. This didn't bother me TOO much when seaming, I backstitched the seams, and they aren't invisible, but they aren't messy either:
So that's ok. But it made crocheting around the edge really tricky! I kept getting holes, so I'd put the crochet hook in the wrong way and then turn it round (I was trying to achieve the crochet equivalent of knitting into the back loop, if that helps you imagine what I was doing) and that fixed the holes.
The next problem was not short-rowing the shoulder shaping or the shaping at the top of the raglan sleeves, but casting off in groups of sts instead, because now my crochet looks kind of stepped like the shaping!
That BLOB is an unwoven-in end, my crochet isn't that bad!
I didn't have the iron at hand so I sort of pressed it with my fingers, and it looks a bit better, and I think once I've done the picot round this will be less obvious anyway.
So just minor problems I guess.....I know I could have modified the pattern so these problems didn't happen, and I'm annoyed I was too lazy to do so!
I am definitely taking photos of this top outside when it's finished, these photos I've shown today are completely the wrong colour!
Posted by jen at 08:13 AM | Comments (5)
Another post about my little pink bolero
May 30, 2005
Which is Elspeth of course :)
I've finished the knitting and as I'm writing this have just finished one raglan seam.
See:
The colour of this yarn seems to look very different in some of the photos I've taken.....sometimes it's just baby pink, sometimes it's salmony - it is neither of course! I think this photo shows the colour best so far, although I will be really cross I said that when I get into work tomorrow and see that the monitor there makes it look completely different!
So just the seaming and crochet to go. But all I'm really doing at the moment is working, so I have no idea when I'll be able to get photos of it. It might have to wait for a couple of weeks!
Also, gasp, I GOT THE JOB I mentioned I had those interviews for.
HOORAY!
Posted by jen at 08:35 PM | Comments (16)
Zoom
May 25, 2005
Well, I've finished both of Elspeth's fronts! And mighty quick they were too :)
Here they are:
It's weird having progress to show every day at the moment, since I'm busier than I have been for a year, but Elspeth is a very quick knit. I'll start a sleeve either tonight just before bed or tomorrow evening. They should be even quicker since they don't have lacy patterns - just st st.
I'd really love to finish this either for the weekend or at the weekend - me and Adam are going to my parents, and if I'm done in time he can take photos for me in the garden!
And after Elspeth I can concentrate on a Magknits project :)
Posted by jen at 09:13 PM | Comments (12)
Confused
May 24, 2005
All my entries seem really boring now after the dinos! Sorry. If only I could knit and design all the time :( I guess I shouldn't really be apologising, I was probably this boring before the dinos - I suppose we're just back to the regular programming!
Anyway - that's not what I'm confused about, what I'm confused about is yarn quantities. I have so far knitted for Elspeth: the back (by far and away the largest part), the left front, and a little of the right front, and have only used 1 and a bit balls. It's supposed to take 4! And the sleeves are teeny weeny wickle things.
I bought the yarn from John Lewis but threw away the receipt, I wonder if they'll let me exchange what's left? There is still the crochet trim I guess....I bet it takes 3 balls and 1 metre of the 4th ball so I can't return it, grrrrrrrrrrrr.
Oh yes! A photo! I nearly forgot.
Here's the left front, the first 20 rows of the right front, and the unused part of the 2nd ball:
Onward!
Posted by jen at 10:20 PM | Comments (7)
Life-Saving Tips for Knitting Elspeth!
May 23, 2005
Maybe the title is a little melodramatic!!
I had an email from a lady called Julie (no blog) pointing a lot of this out to me, and hooray - painless Elspeth knitting from now on!
The main problem with Elspeth is the chart being for only the first 12 rows, but the stitch count changing a lot throughout each piece, and so it being really hard to see where to start the pattern.
If you look at the pattern, the first eyelet on the pattern repeat sloping the SAME way beneath the one above it lines up with the first leaning stitch in the upper pattern repeat.
Haha that sounds so confusing! I just mean things line up like in this photo:
So knowing this is a good way to check if what you've done so far is correct.
Now comes the useful bit. When you are about to start a new row where the pattern leans to the left, this is how to line up where you place the pattern. Knit along to the stitch directly above the first eyelet in the pattern repeat below - the one marked with a line, knitting that stitch as well:
Then you place an eyelet and carry on, (I don't want to say what you do next because it's not my pattern and I'm not sure it's allowed)!
Now for doing a pattern repeat sloping the other way. Knit until you are at the stitch directly above the last sloping stitch of the previous pattern repeat (and knit that stitch too) - this is the stitch marked with an arrow in the photo:
Then you k2tog and continue, and all is in place!
I'm about half way through my first front (they're TINY), and that was just from knitting a little in a few snatched minutes. Seeing as the sleeves are tiny too I'm tempted just to finish Elspeth before I do any more pieces of Gemma.....I'll see how I go!
Posted by jen at 06:13 PM | Comments (1)
From super speedy to very.....very.....slow.....
April 20, 2005
This pretty much describes my knitting at the moment! I suppose that's what you get when you go from Big Wool or Chunky Print projects to Calmer. I finally finished the back of Elspeth:
Those are my fingers at the bottom! I say I "finally" finished because there was ripping involved.
Someone emailed me a little while ago asking what I thought of the pattern and chart, and I said it was fine so far, but just after I sent the email it suddenly wasn't so fine! There aren't any mistakes that I've noticed, just that the pattern isn't written in a very user friendly manner. Here are my issues with it:
1. The chart is only for the first 12 rows. There is increasing for the chest and then lots of decreasing for the raglan armholes, and in order to see where I should start the eyelet pattern each time, I had to work out how many sts had changed since the first 12 rows, and count in on the chart. I know that doesn't sound so bad, but it is a bit confusing. Somewhere I went wrong and the pattern didn't line up perfectly. I ripped back to before the mistake, and tried again, counting SUPER carefully, and made the same mistake. I HAVE NO IDEA where it crept in. Can you see it? I can't and I'm not ripping again, as I said I can't see where I went wrong, so it would probably just happen again!
2. No selvedges in the pattern, or any instructions on making decreases or increases. I know I could have put them in, but it's nice when a pattern makes provision for neat seams and the like. I mean, raglan armholes are the neatest of all because you can mattress stitch them together, but I won't be able to! I hope they don't look poo.
3. Not enough stitch counts in the pattern.
I guess that's it. I like it though! I love the design and the yarn I'm using. I will wear it loads when it's done.
I started on the back of Gemma now (I am alternating pieces of Elspeth and Gemma), but have done so little it wasn't worth a photo!
Posted by jen at 09:40 PM | Comments (5)
I <3 Laura Long!
April 12, 2005
I just realised that the two designs I'm making from Rowan 37 are both by the same designer, and in the same yarn (Calmer)! The first one is Gemma of course. That one hasn't progressed any further than one sleeve. I also started Elspeth, because I thought I could alternate one piece of Gemma with one of Elspeth - it doesn't quite add up but it does mean I get to work on both at once - hooray!
I'm working on something TOP SECRET at the moment (!) so not much else has been done - but I have done most of Elspeth's back (pitiful really as it's not very big!). Here is a close up of the pattern:
The Top Secret thing will be finished today, and then hopefully I will have lots to show - especially some sewing I've been doing :)
Posted by jen at 08:30 AM | Comments (9)