A month in knitting: June 2015

It's been a while, sorry! Being back at work has completely thrown me. I've been doing lots of swatching for submissions, and ploughing on with baby blankets, but once I've spent half a day at a computer for work, and the other half of the day trying to keep the family and house in order I barely have time to breathe, let alone blog. So here, belatedly, is my yarny summary for June.

Finished

Hitchhiker

A very enjoyable project, perfect for a single skein of pretty sock yarn.

 

Dinosaur blanket

A present for a friend's new baby. I finished it about half an hour after the baby arrived. And I've left writing this post so long that I can even show you a picture as I have met the lovely little baby and he has recieved the blanket.

 

WIPs

Hermione's everyday socks

The socks of the broken needles. I cast these on for May's SKA Sockdown challenge and have obviously failed to finish them on time.

Whale blanket

I might be up to about five squares now. The baby is due at the end of July, so I'd better get knitting.

Socks for my husband

They have heels, but the feet are taking ages!

Charity mitred blanket

Using up the leftovers from the dinosaur blanket (I over-bought by a bit. Quite a bit).

A cardigan for my daughter

A new pattern I'm working on. It's looking pretty so far.

Ruffle skirt for a friend's daughter

The second one of these that I've made, it'll be going to a friend's daughter for her third birthday. I thought it was finally time to use up some of the ruffle yarn from the stash.

Yarn in

200g Doctor Who yarn from The Yarn Tree

A little disappointing as yarn parcels go

 

400g sock yarn from eBay

Lovely stripy sock yarn, and it's thicker than usual, so I should be able to make some slightly speedier socks than sometimes

150g 4ply for swatching for a submission

50g more 4ply for a swatching for a submission when I decided the original colour wasn't quite right!

And I ran out of time to make the actual swatch...

100g to swatch another idea

Thicker yarn, so I got this swatch done!

200g ruffle yarn

No, I don't learn!

Yarn out

119g Hitchhiker

564g dinosaur blanket

 

+367g. I don't learn, do I?

Plans for July

Get the WIP list down a bit. Six projects on the go is too many.

A Whovian treat

A few months ago, a friend introduced me to the indie dyer The Yarn Tree. Every month Mel produces a yarn box around a popular theme, like Sherlock, Star Wars, comic book heroes, etc. I was very excited when she announced that her yarn box for June was Doctor Who themed. I ummed and ahhed for ages about it as I don't really need any more sock yarn, but gave in at the last minute and waited patiently for my box to arrive.

I'm always fascinated by themed yarn boxes, as what one person pictures might not be what someone else pictures from the same key words. To me Doctor Who is shades of blue and silvery grey, and that scarf, so I was very excited when my box arrived to see what would be inside. I knew there would be two skeins of yarn, but was surprised by the eventual colourwyas. The purpley greeny one is called The Hath and is inspired by the monsters of the same name; I really like the colours in this skein, and am looking forward to seeing how they knit up, not that I've decided what that skein will become. There's also a matching set of stitch markers (made by Wychwood Dreams), which I do like.

The second skein of yarn is inspired by the inside of the Eleventh Doctor's (Matt Smith) TARDIS and is shades of orange, yellow, beige and turquoise. I am not a fan of orange, yellow, or beige, so I am surprised that I actually quite like it. I'll be turning it into a pair of Bowties are Cool socks - the perfect pattern for this yarn as both the yarn and pattern are inspired by the same Doctor. However, neither skein is what I would think of as obviously Doctor Who themed, and I think I would have preferred it if one of the skeins was in a more obvious colour scheme.

The extras aren't really anything to write home about: I have no need for a hot bead TARDIS keyring (made by Geeky Beads), not my thing at all; the ribbon on the bookmark is cute, but I wouldn't use a paperclip as a bookmark as they can be pretty scratchy on the paper, and I do not like damaging books; the badge is cool, I'm sure I can find a home for that; and Love Hearts just aren't my thing, even if I do like the special wrapper.

Overall I'm a little in two minds about this box. As I said, I'd have preferred at least one skein in a more conventional colour scheme, but the yarn itself is good quality and the dyeing is nice and even. The extras aren't things I would have purchased, so are a little disappointing, but that's always the risk with a surprise. I have ordered The Yarn Tree's August yarn box (My Little Pony themed. For reference, I expect really bright colours, preferably with some pink and turquoise. I still have all my My Little Ponies from when I was little!), but might hold off ordering anything else from her unless I've seen the colours first.

32 things: #1 and #4, a mystery KAL pair of socks

Two things I was keen to do as part of my 32 things were knit a pair of 'non-vanilla' socks and join in on a mystery KAL. Sock knitters will know that non-vanilla socks are socks that are more than just stocking stitch and rib: socks with lace, or cables, or colour work; while a mystery KAL is a knit along where only the designer knows what the finished item will look like, with the pattern being released in instalments to keep the finished object a mystery for as long as possible.

I've been reluctant to join a mystery KAL in the past as all the items I'd previously knitted are things that other people can see - hats, scarves, mitts, etc. - but now I've mastered socks I have a new avenue open to me. No one really looks closely at your socks, so I could risk a mystery KAL, as even if I wasn't that keen on the final pattern, I'd still end up with a functioning item, even if it was one I didn't enthuse about all that much! So for the past couple of months I've been keeping my eye out for mystery sock KALs. 

There are plenty of sock enthusiast groups on Ravelry, and many have mystery KALs every month or so, so I had plenty of opportunity, but nothing grabbed me until I can across the Coexist KAL, May's mystery KAL in the Sock Knitters Anonymous group.* The pattern is inspired by fandoms, with each clue being based around a different set of fandoms, e.g. sci-fi, fantasy, etc. In fact each clue has at least four options to choose from, which means everyone's socks are slightly different and completely personal.

The KAL started on May 1st with the cuff and leg clues being released. The cuff has four options: Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars and Firefly; I chose Doctor Who as I'm a bit of a fan, and I loved the name of the chart (Timey Wimey Wibbly Wobbly). I cast on as soon as I could, although it did take me three attempts to get a yarn/needle/fit combination that worked for me. The chart is more complicated than any sock I've ever done (this is only my fourth pair of socks, so that isn't much of a surprise), but the actual knitting was actual alright, once I'd got used to doing cables with such tiny yarn.

Then onto the leg. Four more options, all on a fantasy theme: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. The decision was much harder for this section as I've either read or watched all the options. I went with Harry Potter, as I liked the chart best, which is as good a reason as any (if I was choosing blind I would probably have gone Narnia or Harry Potter). I've found this section really slow, but not unpleasant. It's been nice to watch the pattern emerging, and I'm really pleased with how the socks look now I've done a couple of repeats. I still have a couple more to go, but repeat two was faster than the first, so these final two should go a little faster.

The heel and gusset patterns have already been released, but I'm concentrating on knitting the first clue for now. I love the concept behind this pattern - it reminds me of the 'choose your own path' books I read when I was younger where there are many different chapter options and you choose an option based on what you want to happen next. I'm also enjoying seeing what other people have chosen, and why, in the associated forum. At the time of writing there are 320 options (assuming you only choose one design per section - several people have chosen to mix and match making fraternal pairs), and that's without including the foot options!

Should you wish to join me on my mystery KAL adventure, the pattern can be found here. All the clues will be released by the end of May.

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And if you want to join in a KAL where you know the outcome, I'm still running my Ronnie the Robot KAL in the Knitting for Boys group on Ravelry, also until the end of May.*

*Note you need to be logged into Ravelry for this link to work. Membership is free.

Daleks vs. Sontarans

A few weeks ago I showed you some excellent Doctor Who biscuit cutters that a friend bought me for my birthday. Now we've actually tried them out and I can show you the results.

We used a basic chocolate shortbread recipe from our trusty Be-Ro cookery book, then my son did an excellent job of cutting out the biscuits. These cutters really are excellent - you use the cutter itself to cut out the biscuit, then plunge it to add the detailing. Even the ones my son did on his own looked great.

And after all the washing up had been done we sat down to enjoy a couple of the biscuits, delicious! I'm looking forward to using the matching K-9 and Cybermen cutters in the next few weeks.

Happy Birthday to me! Part 3, baking things

Only one baking gift for my birthday last month, but it's a good one: Doctor Who biscuit cutters! Don't they look fun. We haven't yet had a chance to use them (I was going to on Friday but we didn't have any butter in the fridge), but I'm hoping we might be able to over the next few days.

That's all from me for today. Hope all of you who having a long weekend enjoy it, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine!