Two down, twelve to go....
I've finally finished (more or less) uploading at least basic details of all my projects and stash to Ravelry, and, tormented by those fourteen works in progress on my projects page, have taken advantage of the warm weather and spent some time in the garden with my knitting. A little progress has been made on the seasilk Forest Canopy, but two things have been finished - the Tulip top and the Hipknits mini-clapotis (which was only just a WIP, but looked like a nice quick mindless knit, as indeed it was.)
I finally worked out how to use the self timer on my camera (it wasn't difficult) and spent a while this morning running round the garden pressing buttons and taking up poses. For some reason most of the shots came out very blurry, but this one didn't, and wasn't too hideous.
I'm very glad to have this finished, the knitting of the back and two fronts was very easy, but my thoughts of a nice quick finish due to the lack of sleeves were sadly misplaced. The front edging and sleeve edgings are knitted separately and then knitted on before casting off, and it was one of the fiddliest things I've done - not particularly difficult, but picking up 300+ stitches and knitting them together with the stitches on your needle, whilst keeping things ever is not my idea of fun.
Then the sleeve edgings turned out to be too tight round my arms, so I had to rip them off (easier said than done, I was terrified of cutting the wrong thread and having the whole thing unravel before my eyes) and redo them with an extra twelve stitches, which has worked much better.
The edging had to be pressed fairly firmly to stop it rolling up, but it seems to be lying reasonably well now.
The final annoyance was the loooong ties - they're in k1p1 rib, and the pattern had you casting on seven stitches, so that alternate rows started with a knit or a purl stitch. This sounded like it would need far too much concentration, so I cast on eight stitches instead and started every row with a knit stitch. Then I realised that although the pattern said to make two ties each 100cm long, if they were to tie at the side as both the pattern photos had it, one would need to be whole of my waist measurement plus enough to tie a bow, and the other would need to be half the waist measurement plus bow.
Mollie seems to approve. Although I think she may have spotted that despite much ironing, the bottom edge still rolls up as soon as you look at it.
This is my second mini clapotis in Hipknits silk - the first was a Christmas present, but this one's for me!
Once again the yarn pooled oddly - it was striping up each side of the scarf until an over-enthusiastic tug on my part snapped it at the beginning of a row. So I rejoined, only to see it pool at the opposite sides to those it had started at. For a while, anyway, then it made its way back to the starting configuration. All very odd. But not really noticeable once it's being worn. It took just under 100g of yarn, I increased to 35 stitches, did 15 straight repeats, and it's 50" long.
I finally worked out how to use the self timer on my camera (it wasn't difficult) and spent a while this morning running round the garden pressing buttons and taking up poses. For some reason most of the shots came out very blurry, but this one didn't, and wasn't too hideous.
I'm very glad to have this finished, the knitting of the back and two fronts was very easy, but my thoughts of a nice quick finish due to the lack of sleeves were sadly misplaced. The front edging and sleeve edgings are knitted separately and then knitted on before casting off, and it was one of the fiddliest things I've done - not particularly difficult, but picking up 300+ stitches and knitting them together with the stitches on your needle, whilst keeping things ever is not my idea of fun.
Then the sleeve edgings turned out to be too tight round my arms, so I had to rip them off (easier said than done, I was terrified of cutting the wrong thread and having the whole thing unravel before my eyes) and redo them with an extra twelve stitches, which has worked much better.
The edging had to be pressed fairly firmly to stop it rolling up, but it seems to be lying reasonably well now.
The final annoyance was the loooong ties - they're in k1p1 rib, and the pattern had you casting on seven stitches, so that alternate rows started with a knit or a purl stitch. This sounded like it would need far too much concentration, so I cast on eight stitches instead and started every row with a knit stitch. Then I realised that although the pattern said to make two ties each 100cm long, if they were to tie at the side as both the pattern photos had it, one would need to be whole of my waist measurement plus enough to tie a bow, and the other would need to be half the waist measurement plus bow.
Mollie seems to approve. Although I think she may have spotted that despite much ironing, the bottom edge still rolls up as soon as you look at it.
This is my second mini clapotis in Hipknits silk - the first was a Christmas present, but this one's for me!
Once again the yarn pooled oddly - it was striping up each side of the scarf until an over-enthusiastic tug on my part snapped it at the beginning of a row. So I rejoined, only to see it pool at the opposite sides to those it had started at. For a while, anyway, then it made its way back to the starting configuration. All very odd. But not really noticeable once it's being worn. It took just under 100g of yarn, I increased to 35 stitches, did 15 straight repeats, and it's 50" long.