Photos at last!

After weeks of manic activity, I finally managed to collar Mr.Diviknitty yesterday afternoon, while the weather was holding out, for a bit of a photo session of finished objects. Here is the butterfly sweater that I completed a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, I didn't quite have enough for the polo neck that I really wanted, but this is just fine - I didn't even have yarn for sewing up and had to use embroidery floss instead! It's one thing about Debbie Bliss yarns - they're beautiful to knit with but not very economical. There never seems to much in a ball (this wool cotton was 85m to 50g) and her designs always need about a million balls! But I managed to finish with 11 balls, and will try to gauge amounts properly next time. I always start projects with a "if I have enough yarn, I'll do this..." so perhaps I'm setting myself up for trouble! So the nitty gritty of the object - knit on 4mm needles, moss stitch rib in the usual places, waist shaping on either side of the central butterfly pattern, 3/4 length sleeves with set in shoulders and a regular round neck! After each butterfly was made, I placed 2 short rows which counteracted the problem of the central panel pulling up and distorting the work. Lovely yarn to knit with and very comfortable to wear.

OK, I admit it!

My name's Jayne and I'm a ripple-aholic! As Rosie so rightly noted in the comments, one of my wip's does seem to consist of not 1, but 2 ripple stitches! It just seems to creep up on you unawares, doesn't it? Off to do some knitting now - I've spent the last 2 hours cleaning the oven (yes, it was a mess! Too much rippling methinks!).

The case for dishwashers!

I'm one of those poor unfortunates who doesn't possess a dishwasher. I get along quite happily without one, as long as someone else dries and puts away. In fact, apart from dealing with the mountain of crockery and cutlery that is a part of a family Sunday lunch, I don't ever feel the need to acquire one! Oh, there is one other scenario. I fill the bowl with hot water, add a little fairy liquid for a nice soapy mix, reach for the marigolds to protect the knitting hands, and promptly drop them into said bowl of hot soapy water. I can think of one word to describe this - yuk! - because no matter how hard you try, the inside of that marigold just will not dry!

But I am rippling, as you can see from the photo. Not quite ripplemania yet, as Rosie has become a victim of, but it could happen. The pattern is from Jan Eatons 200 ripple stitches, a fabulous book, and the yarn is Shaeffer "Anne". I love this colourway, it looks like autumn berries, and this will grow up to be a warm scarf ready for winter.

I finished the butterfly sweater in time for my weekend in York - in fact, I wore it for almost the entire time we were there, so it's awaiting a wash, and I promise photos soon.

Lastly, I received my Ravelry invite about a week ago, and have just started putting stuff on there. My user name is "justjayne", please come along and say hi.

I really love..

....that Friday afternoon feeling with the whole weekend ahead. I finish work at lunch time on a Friday and even if I spend the afternoon catching up on housework, there's the satisfaction of knowing that the next two whole days are yours to do with what you please (generally!)

I also love this sweater front that Mr.Diviknitty very kindly photographed for me whilst it was blocking. He's supposed to be a good photographer, but he somehow managed to take this from a very odd angle so it looks a little mis-shapen. I wanted to try and finish the whole thing by next weekend for a planned trip to York, but this week's been crazy busy so I can't see it happening unless I get to knit all day tomorrow and Sunday, and I can't see that happening either! The back will be plain stocking stitch and the sleeves will have a single central panel of butterflies and be 3/4 length, with hopefully enough yarn for a polo neck.

I'm also pretty pleased that there are now officially more people behind me (10,000) than ahead of me (4000) in the Ravelry queue with something like 60% of the list invited. They seem to be getting through the list at the rate of a couple of hundred a day, so I could be there by the end of the month.

Ripping back

I was getting a little concerned about the alternating butterflies sweater front - it seemed that the lifted stitches were distorting the shape of the entire piece but I kept going in the hope that it was my over active imagination. However, facts had to be faced and eventually I had to rip it back. By now, I'm back to where I was and with the addition of a few strategically placed short rows, the problem is no more. Satisfaction! Sometimes you just have to take a few steps back in order to make progress! I also re-knit the rib on one size larger needles; and it hasn't taken that long, really.
Sorry about the lack of pictures - my camera's been commandeered for a few days holiday in Belfast by daughter n°1. I promise a photo of the finished front while it's blocking, which I'm hoping won't be too long.

That stitch pattern...

... posted yesterday, is called Alternating Butterflies and is from "400 stitch patterns" published by Murdoch books. Basically, Rosie, on 3 consecutive wrong side (purl) rows, you slip 5sts purlwise with the yarn at the back so that you get a strand of yarn across the right side of the work. On the next RS row, you put the right hand needle under the 3 slipped strands, then pick up the next stitch on the left hand needle and knit this st and the slipped strands together. I'll bring the book along to the next K2tog (can't make Octobers, unfortunately, but should be able to go to Novembers). I found it in Ely library and liked it so much I ordered from the little book shop on Ely High street; it has some really unusual stitch patterns in it.

I succumbed..

...and cast on for a new project. I'm afraid I needed a bit of instant knitting gratification in the form of actually being able to see a bit of progress after a whole evenings work. The yarn has been languishing in my stash basket for an indecent length of time; one of those that you don't quite know what to do with but keep going back to anyway. A germ of an idea was born a couple of weeks ago and had to be started before being forgotten. I've got 11 balls of Debbie Bliss DK cotton, the colour's a sage green which is poorly represented by my abbysmal photography, and should soon turn into a 3/4 length sleeved polo neck sweater. So far I'm loving knitting with it - being a beautiful smooth cotton, it's showing stitch texture really well - and it's growing quickly, so knitting boredom has hopefully been averted! I am still knitting my laceweight jacket - I'm about halfway up the first sleeve, but it is taking a tedious time to grow!

By the way Rosie, I was midnight too! Oh, and there's about 10,000 ahead of me now in the Ravelry queue, so you were right when you said how quickly they're sending out the invites now.