February Round-up

Yet again, the last day of the month falls on a blogging day. Plus, since it’s a Sunday and therefore a Sunday Miscellany-themed post a round-up of the month is in order:

• 4 F.O. – Ishbel, Blackberry Socks (see below); 2 Charity Squares
• 4 WIPs frogged – Meters of Miter Scarf; Pebble Argosy; Origami Hat; Frou-Frou Swatch (not over the finish line yet but the green alapaca mess has been tamed!)
• 3 WIPs-not-whupped – GlenvarAgin Cardigan; Not-so Frou-Frou (maybe later this evening); Hat for Co-worker
• 12 Ravelympics medals – 8 for the two charity squares; 3 Aerial Unwind Events (maybe another later this evening); 1 WIPs Dancing (maybe another later this evening)
• 2 Meet-ups with others that I’ve only previously “met” online – City Centre SnB at Café Bell and February Spin-in at Powerscourt
• 2 U.S.A. – Schoppel-Wolle Admiral Ombré from Fourboys; Rotex Metalic Novelty Yarn from Clarabel
• 1 S.E.X. – Malabrigo Lace in Blue Emerald
• 1 Major House Task started: Architect hired to develop necessary drawings and documents for demolition of garage and building of deck (yay!)
• 1 Little lad now no-longer using a pacifier at all (double-yay!)
• 2 funerals (boo!)

And… don’t forget:

• 1 Give-away launched

Blackberries in February?

F.O. Blackberry Socks

I only finished these this morning, just in time to wear them to the Spin-in Meet-up at Powerscourt Townhouse this afternoon.

These are so comfy to wear and they generated a very satisfying “Oooh” from everyone at the meet-up. I’m thrilled with the matchy-ness; which I only discovered by accident.

Full-on F.O.

I know I blogged only two weeks ago about my Ishbel being an F.O. but I never showed you it in its entirety.

Besides, the photo I showed two weeks ago was before it was blocked. The transformation post-blocking is extraordinary.

I liked the squishy-ness of it pre-blocking but I have to say that the blocking makes the lacework just sing.

Before

After

I have Clarabel’s patience and skill to thank for how well this turned out.

WIPs Dancing Skein

My WIPs Dancing Partner: Blackberry Socks

Crochet Socks

Originally uploaded by UnderMeOxter

I don’t know what it is about crochet socks but they fly along much more quickly than knitting.

After a false start on the second sock, which I recognised and frogged on Tuesday of last week, I cast on again last Saturday and had the leg done as far as the heel flap by Sunday evening. The gusset was complete by Monday evening. I’m only inches away from starting the toe; so I’m very confident of having these done and dusted before the weekend starts.

This gives me plenty of time to crack on to three more medals before Ravelympics finishes on Sunday.

Oh, and a quick note about what I learned about Zauberball from having to frog the start of the second sock: I started the first sock from the yarn-end I pulled from the centre of the skein. When I re-started the second sock I used the yarn-end from the outer end of the skein.

By chance, I discovered how to make matchy-matchy socks with Schoppel Wolle Zauberball: the overall skein must be dyed to be symetrical around its mid-way-point, so start each sock from either end.

Also: these are my February Socks in the Dublin Knit Collective Sock Club. The theme this month is “Labour of Love” and, even though they’re a WIP, no post-rationalisation is needed this month to get them to fit the theme: I love working on them.

And another thing: (!!!) see… I’m using my stitch dots! Viola gave them to me for my Irish Knitters Swap and they’re working a treat. On the first sock – which really was a swatch! – I made a mess of the gusset decreases because I kept losing track of where I was as I changed from the instep pattern to the sole pattern. Not so this time, thanks to my trusty stich-dots. Yeay!

Bit-of-a Give-away!

I finally got my act together – and my niddy-noddy into gear – and finished three of the four Aerial Unwind events that I had planned.

From left to right: Argosy, Meters of Miter and Origami Hat are no more:

I still haven’t tackled the truly challenging one. I’m hoping that when I finally over-come inertia and open that fateful bag of alpaca-mess that it won’t seem as bad as my mental block tells me it is. Starting is half the battle – isn’t it? Tell me it is…

As I mentioned last Saturday, I have a cunning plan on how to keep my my overall stash levels under control, despite the boost that the Aerial Unwind events bring: I’m going to run another give-away on my blog. Similar to the Ban-zai Bonanza, you’ve got to write some poetry in the comments of this post and the winner will be selected by random number generator – or names out of a hat.

A bit-of-a Birthday Give-away:

I’m launching this give-away tonight in honour of the fact that tomorrow – thirty-nine years ago – I was born in a hospital in Limerick. And in honour of the fact that the give-away will run until St. Patrick’s Day – 17th March 2010, the prizes have an Irish theme.  I will make the draw at 12 noon GMT on St. Patrick’s Day.

The Prize:

• One Skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sockyarn Fingering in a forty-shades-of-green colourway
• One Skein of Cushendale DK / Worsted in “Gorm”
• One Skein of Cushendale DK / Worsted in “Rust”
• Knitting notions: needle-case, row-counters, stitch markers, bodkins
• Book of Irish Humour
• CD compilation of Irish Music (not shown)

How to Win:

Have you guessed yet? In honour of my being born in Limerick, to be in with a chance to win you must write a Limerick in the comments below. Your theme can be anything or anyone you like (though I reserve the right not to publish any I don’t consider appropriate!).

This is open to everyone: you don’t have to be a knitter or crochetier (though you might like the prize better if you are!); you don’t have to be living in Ireland – I will ship internationally; you do have to write a Limerick, however; and they have a very fixed format.

To start the ball rolling, and to give those of you unfamiliar with the “genre” an idea of what we’re talking about, I’ll go first:

A canny old knitter in Swords
swore Fair-isle was for the birds.
So when she got stranded,
she knit double-handed
and flew off to see the Fjords.

More or Less Stash

In her 10 for ’10 plan, Wyvernfriend has set herself an interesting challenge for this year:

5. Buy/obtain less yarn than I use.

Just thinking in this way has made me a lot more conscious about how much stash I acquire vs how much knitting I get done.

I’ve four F.O.s already under my belt; albeit in one case – the Ziggy socks – the bulk of the knitting was done last year. Plus I’ve knit up a good few balls of Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed for GlenvarAgin.

The only yarn I’ve purchased so far this year was one skein of Malabrigo Lace. However, I’ve also acquired one skein of Schoppel Wolle Admiral Ombré via Mairead, and one skein of a mystery yarn, via Viola, which I think might be Tilli Tomas Disco Lights. I guess I also have to count a ball of metalic novelty yarn that Clarabel gave me – as a joke – last Tuesday (you’re messing with my totals, Claire!).

Kinda like a Profit & Loss a/c, I’ve done my tot for the year to date for Stash (and we’re nearly finished week 7). 

Yarn IN:

• 206m = one skein of Tilli Tomas Disco Lights
• 420m = one skein of Schoppel Wolle Admiral Ombré 
• 430m = one skein of Malabrigo Lace
• 140m = one ball of Rotex metalic handicraft yarn
• 1,056m = Total Yarn Acquired to date (Can we just ignore the Balance Carried Forward bit? mOKThx!!)

Yarn OUT:

• 120m = 60% of one ball of Adriafil New Zealand Print in Gerkin Mittens
• 440m = 5 balls of Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed into DH’s GlenvarAgin Cardigan
• 75m = 1/2 of one ball of Tivoli New Celtic Aran for Two Hoots
• 300m = 70% of The Natural Dye Studio Dazzle BFL sock yarn for Ishbel
• 180m = 40% of King Cole Zig Zag for Ziggy Socks
• 1,115m = Total Yarn Used to date

Aerial Unwind - a stretch after a soak

So  I’m ahead – but only just!

And this is not even mentioning the anticipated yarn-gain through the Aerial Unwind Events.

Here you can see a pic of the Rowan Colourscape Chunky by Kaffe Fassett that is drying out after a soak. I thought I had only two skeins of this. It turns out, now that I’ve frogged it, that I have three in total. The yarn that you can see getting a bit of a stretch on my swift, appears to be two skeins that I spliced together. So this is another 480m of yarn. I’m refusing to include in my totals. Either I’m in denial…

… or I have a plan!

Following the success of my Ban-Zai Bonanza giveaway – in which entrants wrote a Haiku and I gave away yarn as part of the prize – I’m planning something similar for the comming weeks. Tune in on Monday for details…

My Tour de Force

My Ravelympics medal haul is up to eight already – the two squares I made for the “Knit a Square to Show You Care” charity event last weekend earned me a medal each for Junior Olympics, Charity Curling and Stash Compulsory Dance. One earned a medal for Nordic Colourwork and the other for Single Skein Speed Skate. My Knitting buddies were less than impressed by my medal winners, however, when I showed them the squares last night. Words like “disparaging” and “scathing” come to mind. They even went so far as to accuse me of cheating! There I am, knitting for charity, for babies, for Haiti, no less! How can they cast such callous accusations at this kind-hearted soul? I’ve one word for you, ladies: Jealousy!

It seems that Karma has taken their side, however, and has started messing with the rest of my medal hopes:

1. My Hat Halfpipe / Designer Biathlon attempt – to which I was aiming to add Stash Compulsory Dance and Nordic Colourwork – has not progressed so well and I may revert to my original plan of using the King Cole Merino I bought at Knit ‘nd Make last December. I may abandon the Designer event altogether – why do I procrastinate so much about writing down my designs in pattern form?
2. My WIPs Dancing partner, Blackberry Socks, developed a gammy leg injury. I was working away happily on the leg of the second sock last night when I realised the cuff was a lot smaller than on the first sock I made last October. My best guess is that I may have been working with 3.5mm hook when I put these away, whereas I picked up a 3mm hook when I started up again. I’ve ripped back and started sock two all over again.
3. My other WIPs Dancing partner, Not-so Frou-Frou, is just not calling to me. I have to focus on 1. and 2. above first. If there’s time I’ll give this an afternoon towards the end.
4. I’ve started one of my three Aerial Unwind events and for some reason I’m a bit “meh!” about carrying on. I want to give them a nice soak and a stretch before really saying I’m over the finishing line, so I may feel more like tackling these this weekend.
5. I toyed with dyeing some cotton for a Downhill Dyeing event but I haven’t got so far as to procure the correct Procion Mix Dyes. All it will take is a phonecall to Helen Deighen in Crossways Patch (http://www.crosswayspatch.co.uk/) but I’ve been hit by a sudden bout of reticence and shyness.

In the meantime, I am the proud recipient of a bi-medal winner! Claire, a.k.a. Clarabel, made a Quincy Hat, by Jared Flood, while she was on holidays. For it she earned a medal in the Hat Halfpipe event and Stash Compulsory Dance (I think). She gave it to me last night as an early birthday present. I’ve worn it proudly all day. And when my camera decides to behave itself I’ll take a few snaps so that you all can enjoy it too.

 

Choose Charity

I like the idea of knitting for Charity. Then project after project calls to me, or skeins whisper what they want to be; suddenly my knitting plan for the year is chock-full of non-charity knits.

Then there are so many charities to choose from:

Knitting Event at Pavillions, Swords

• ISANDS – been there, done that, should do more;
• Of Troys Hat Count;
• The Uthando Project: Handmade dolls for the children of KwaZulu-Natal, whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS;
• Project Night Night: blankets and soft toys for Homeless Children – featured in Interweave Crochet Winter 2009;
• Hat Box Foundation: hats for those with cancer or other illness that cause them to lose their hair – featured in Interweave Crochet Fall 2009.

The list is endless!

But… give me a knitting event, with the potential for meeting other knitters, and I’m there – the choice is made for me.

There was a great turn-out of knitters and crochetiers. People were dropping in all the time: some contributing a few rows, others a square or two. I was very impressed by the blankets on display:
 

Impressive Totals

I could only stay for about 50 minutes myself. In that time I managed to start a square and advance a few rows in Tunisian Crochet. Meanwhile the lady sitting beside me made a whole square in garter stitch on what I think were 8mm needles. This was the tally when I was leaving:

I’ve definately bit the bug. I made two squares – took me two days to do it, however. I definately want to make a whole blanket – or at least one for a new born / cradle size.

Two down - 23 to go!

Have a Heart

I’m just on my way out the door to join in a Charity Knitting Event and I’ve just about enough time to write a quick post about it.

Knit a Square and Show You Care on Valentine’s Day

Fund Raising Drive for Haiti and Heart Children Ireland
A unique fund raising drive is taking place on Sunday February 14th at the Pavilions Shopping Centre in Swords. Knitters, Crocheters and Stitchers from all over Dublin are coming together to create handmade blankets for children undergoing heart surgery.

And as each square created will be sponsored, the event will also support the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. All money raised with go directly to Partners in Health, the international charity headed up in Haiti by Dublin doctor Louise Ivers.

Anyone can take part by sponsoring a participant or by generating some sponsorship and then knitting, crocheting or sewing a square – any colour, any design – measuring 6 inches by 6 inches, either at the event or in advance. The squares will be joined into blankets and donated directly to Heart Children Ireland, who gift them to cardiac patients as comfort blankets in the intensive care unit of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin following heart surgery.

The event will run all day from 10am to 6pm at the Pavilions Shopping Centre, and everyone is welcome. Some wool and knitting needles/crochet hooks will be available for use at the event. Odds and ends of wool and completed squares will be gratefully received.

Partners in Health is a global charity focused on bringing medical care to poor communities around the world. Dr Louise Ivers, from Whitehall in Dublin, has been working on the ground in Haiti for 7 years and is Clinical Director of Partners in Health in Haiti. She is currently working to alleviate the suffering of the earthquake survivors and treat the many thousands of sick and wounded Haitians.

Heart Children Ireland is a support group for parents and families of children with a Congenital Heart Disorder. Founded in 1990, it is a nationwide organisation with over 1,000 member families, and a registered charity. Over the last 19 years the group has supported countless families faced with the challenges of CHD, and has raised over
€2m for the cardiac unit in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.

I’m bringing some of those oddments that I inherited from my Granny, via my Mum, a few weeks ago. I’m planning on making the squares in Tunisian Crochet. This is also so a Ravelympics event for me where each sqaure will earn me a medal in

• Compulsory Stash Dance – use of stash over a year old
• Charity Curling – projects for Charity; and
• Junior Olympics – anything knit for babies & kids
• Nordic Colourwork combined – for those I make in a few colours or
• Single Skein Speed Skate – for squares worked in only one skein

If I get enough squares made to make up an actual blanket then I’ll put the total together as a project for a medal in Giant Slalom-ghan – the event for Afghans, Blankets, Throws. Can I claim a medal for doing them in Tunisian Crochet – Snow Cross? …”projects that combine knitting and crochet … minimum of 2 crafts combined together”. Nah! I think that’s pushing it.

Oh, I should mention – lest I give the impression that my motivation is all about the Ravelympics Medals – my nephew was born with a Congenital Heart defect and had open heart surgery within a few days of being born. He left Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin not only a healthy, happy baby; but with one of those Heart Children Blankets. I’m thrilled to have a chance to pay this kindness back to whoever it was crocheted that blanket by paying it forward today.

An Epilogue and an F.O.

You’ll remember last Saturday that I said I’d tell you more today about the lovely parcel that Fourboys got for me.

Karmic Cycle

Clockwise from the top we have:

• Schoppel Wolle Admiral Ombré sock wool, with accompanying gift card depicting a crochet octopus because “knitting on DPNs can be like wrestling a squid”;
• 3 Creme Eggs – in the accompanying crocheted Chick card Fourboys asks: “How do you each yours… Share or scoff?” Not share, anyway!
• 1 pack of printed tissues “just cos they’re cute” – I quite agree and these will not be used on any old – or young – nose, let me tell you!
• 1 manicure set: hand cream, cuticle cream and nail board so that I can “give myself a mini-manicure before I sit back on the couch to scoff some eggs and knit socks”. Though we’ve never met, Fourboys seems to know me very well.

I don’t know where Fourboys got the cards depicting a cute crocheted toys. One was attached to each individual item, as well as one for the parcel as a whole:

Cute!

•  Centre: Bella, Morella and Fin are bees who love to perform. They have just started up their own singing trio, The Bee Flats. They’ve already lined up their first concert at the local nightclub, The Hive. The word on the street is that the night is set to be buzzing!
• Top right: Squiddly Dudley is a whizz in the kitchen. He discovered his natural talent when he joined the navy and was put to work in the galley. His eight hands allow him to work at lightning speeds when he is cooking up the most amazing fish dishes.
• Bottom right: Cheryl the Snail is a relaxed kind of girl. She doesn’t get why these days everyone is always in such a hurry. Her motto is to relax and take your time in life. If you don’t take a look at what’s around you every now and again, you may miss something important… like a tasty lettuce leaf to munch on for dinner! – as Fourboys says: “my kind of girl. Go Cheryl!”
• Bottom left: Mrs Mittens has known Bubbles the Rabbit since she was a little bunny attemptng to take her first hops around the garden. They’ve been friends ever since. Their favourite weekend outing is to the fancy cafes it the city to sip herbal tea and eat huge slices of carrot cake.
• Top right: Joaquim is a intelectual chick. He likes nothing more than burying his beak in a good book or discussing philosophy with his five brothers and sisters Their usual topic of discussion revolves around that age-old quiestion – what came first? The chicken or the egg?

This parcel is something of an epilogue to the Irish Knitters Swap. It was originally intended as part of an angel parcel that the swap organiser tried to put together when my original present went AWOL. I had always considered an angel parcel to be token-gesture; a small consolation prize for the main event going awol. On this occasion, the organiser opted to include six other people who’d been in the swap to make up an angel parcel to beat all swap parcels! Each person was allocated one of the seven sins and Fourboys had “Sloth”. It must have been a logistical night-mare, as the seven people cover – literally – the length and breadth of Ireland: Belfast and Cork, Galway and Dublin, Cavan and Kildare. 

After my parcel showed up – and I had got an angel parcel from my knitting buddies in the meantime – Fourboys insisted the organiser forward her presents on to me, rather than have them returned to her. The timing all coincided with me sending her a present for her birthday; so there was a lovely cycle of Karma flowing to-and-fro there.

Before I go, I have a Knitting F.O. to present:

Ishbel by Ysolda Teague in Dazzle BFL from The Natural Dye Studio

This was a perfect filler project in the run-up to the Ravelympics – though a little too addictive as I tended to favour it over poor GlenvarAgin! I have to get more of the Dazzle in a matchy colour from The Natural Dye Studio to make a matching beret. And I have to make this pattern again. Though, I think if I do, I’ll change the double decrease in the lace section from the [sl1, k2tog, psso] as written to [sl2- kwise, k1, p2sso] so that the double-decreases form a centralised spine.

WIPs for a-Whuppin’

The start of Ravelympics is only days away and the tension among the Ravlethes is palpable (pun not intended!). I wonder has there been less knitting/crochet done over the past few weeks, as people put off starting things in anticipation of the great cast-on; or more, as Ravlethes swatch endlessly to keep the crafting- bug assuaged.

Today, my WIP-Pawade for Wednesday is all about the WIPs that are going to get a seeing-to in the Aerial Unwind event:

Pebble Argosy

Pebble Argosy: Flies like a stone

Events: Aerial Unwind

Pattern: Argosy by Vyvyan Neel, Knitty Winter 2006

Yarn: ShiBuiKnits Sock, Pebble Colourway

I bought the yarn in Stash, Putney, during our trip to London last February. I enjoyed knitting the pattern, and I love the yarn, but didn’t like the way the pooling was coming out. Just not a marriage made in heaven; and I couldn’t imagine knitting another two skeins like this.

I’m contemplating giving these three skeins away as a prize in a competition I’m planning for Easter – do you think people would mind receiving three skeins of yarn if most of one was previously worked up?

Mitered Squares Scarf

Can you show me a Miter?

Events: Aerial Unwind

Pattern: Mitered Squares Scarf, by Annette Petavy, Interweave Crochet Winter 2008

Yarn: Rowan Colourscape Chunky by Kaffe Fassett

This was my in-flight / holiday project while we were on family holiday in London last Easter (as opposed to my stash-buying trip to London a month earlier with knitting buddies).

As an in-flight / holiday project served its function very well. It was too “Doctor Who”-esque to actually wear, however. My own fault – I had made it a few stitches wider than the pattern called for; and I should have probably made it a hook-size smaller.

Out of the hibernation cave and into the frog-pond, it goes!

Frou Frou Swatch

What a mess?

Events: Aerial Unwind

Pattern: Swatch for Frou Frou by Suzanne Kats from The Happy Hooker

Yarn: Artesano Inca Cloud

When we went on family holiday last Christmas I foolishly ran out of time to pack properly for my craft-project. Rashly, while the taxi was being loaded outside, I grabbed The Happy Hooker, a 7mm hook and 10 skeins of Artesano 100% Alpaca. 

About 20mins into the four-hour flight I realised that 7mm into 12wpi just wasn’t going to go. I opted to try a swatch double-stranded. This went a little better but then I realised that my 10skeins of yarn would not a Frou-Frou make. Meanwhile, I discovered what might be the only yarn shop on Lanzerote (disguised as a lingere-shop in Acerife) so Christmas was – quite literally – saved!

When we returned home I tried to reclaim the yarn from the swatch and made a complete “haimes” of it! I stuffed it all in a bag and waiting for divine intervention; or at the very least, motivation like Ravelympics to help me sort it all out. I expect this to be the most challenging of all my Aerial Unwind events.

Origami Hat

Origami Hat

Events: Aerial Unwind

Pattern: Origami Chart in own hat pattern

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Worsted, Lakeview Colourway

When I went to dig out the WIPs for photographing for their project page – a before and after photo is required for the Aerial Unwind event – I found this anomaly lurking. I started it last Christmas, think I could get a hat made out of 1/3rd a skein of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Worsted – Bwahahah!

I ran out of yarn and even went as far as buying two balls of two different colours to see if I could finish it off. It was all going to involve too much mental effort to re-design; so when I lost track of where I was in my lace pattern I parked it. It might as well get reclaimed in some way, at this point.

I should be guarenteed at least four medals, at least!