“Ares hates those…”

“…who hesitate.”

I’ve finished knitting my usual “welcome to the world tiny baby” outfit of a cardigan and hat for my nephew due in April. I’m worried his parents will think it’s a little girly, but hopefully they won’t. It’s one of those things that should matter, but it does to some people and it’s difficult to tell who.

The jumper is Hundreds, by Kelly van Niekerk (Ravelry link here), and the hat is Child’s Ear Hat, by Good Knit (Ravelry link here). Both patterns were free (we love free patterns) and used up a good ol’ chunk of stash wool. The green is Hayfield DK and is surprising soft for a cheap acrylic. Would buy again.

Both patterns were well written and I like the end result. Would definitely knit both again.

Not much else to say. Badda bing badda boom.

*Quote from Euripides.

“End, begin, all the same…”

“…Big change. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.”

Okay. I’ve finished. I have completed CB’s Navigate jumper.

In summary? 

I would not knit this again. Not without a lot of deviations from the pattern.

The low down? 

I hate a lot of the finishes.

I hate the stupid cast on and how it’s made the cuffs look all stretched out. I hate that I didn’t use the fancy bind off (because I hated the cast on) and that now looks a bit severe.

I hate that the neckline is too wide, even though I knitted it narrower than the pattern specified.

I hate that it’s a bit see-through (though that’s down to my choice of wool and desire for a thin jumper for a warm-blooded man).

I hate that I’m convinced on the first day he tries to wear it, it’ll snag on something or a seam will unravel.

BUT I love some things about it too though.

I love that it fits him like a glove.

I love that the sleeves are the perfect length.

I love the cable detailing on the front and back.

I love how soft it is.

I love how much CB loves it.

I love that I knitted a man-sized jumper in fingering-weight wool as a testament to how much I love this man.

*Quote from The Dark Crystal.

“Shabby indeed, and small and poorly furnished, and yet his…”

“…the home he had made for himself, the home he had been so happy to get back to after his day's work.”

House-hunting is stressful. I thought it would be fun – and at times it is – but it’s mostly stressful.

The more you look the more you realise how picky you are. And how little your budget can buy you (even though it’s all the money you’ll ever have in the world). And how little you know about how much renovations cost. And how little confidence in your ability to barter and secure a bargain.

I know you’re supposed to just know when you walk into a house that you want to buy it. You’re supposed to get a magical feeling that flutters up and down you, filling you with warmth and a happy glowing warm-happy-glow. I imagine you feel like Harry Potter does when grasping his wand in Ollivander’s wand shop. Oh err. “Grasping his wand” doesn’t sound quite right….Moving on!

I have looked round a good handful of houses so far and have yet to get anything like that. The only strong feelings I get are “this place is so gross”.

I get caught up with all the bollocks you shouldn’t – the décor, the cleanliness, the nicks and marks and loose floorboards and all that jazz. I want to look and see the space, the lines of sight, the potential a house might have.

We have set ourselves the goal to buy a house sometime this year. We have decided to look thoroughly where we currently live. We like it there. It’s quiet. You can also get more house for your money owing to the proximity to a thing which people don’t like to live near but we think we can live with (forgive the vagueness, I just don’t want to advertise where I live).

But we are picky little pandas. Although our current two-doubles-and-a-box-room rental is way too big for us, we are only looking at houses with a bigger footprint. We want to buy a forever home (because we hate searching and looking round houses) so we want to make sure it has the room to host us, any potential little ones, and have a guest sleep over (preferably in a real bed). Plus a decent garden. And not feeling too overlooked or crammed in.

Like I said, picky, picky, little pandas.

The fun bit is when you see a house online you like the look of. Imagining what you’d do with each room, where you’d put bits of your own furniture (essentially, where the kettle will go). But that in itself is dangerous – falling in love with a house purely based on online photos. I know houses can’t catfish, but they can do something not far off. Rooms that look spacious turn out to be boxes. Gardens that look rolling and lush run parallel with main roads. And did I mention I’m not good at looking past what’s in front of me to see the potential?

I know we have the next 10 months to achieve our goal – and there are no consequences if we don’t – but I can’t help but long for my own home. Somewhere I can make changes without having to ask a landlord for permission. Somewhere I can give out my address without warning people that it’ll probably be out of date in a year or two.

Not to mention not paying rent. That one won’t be so bad either, I imagine!


*Quote from Kenneth Grahame

“And that was when it hit me. Like an anvil falling out of the sky…”

“… directly on my skull.”

Wow this jumper is big! I’m used to seaming me-sized jumpers before blocking them, but as I want this one to be perfect I decided to block the pieces separately before seaming them together. Luckily I started with only doing the back and one sleeve because, wow this jumper is big!

I originally decided to only block half as I was worried I wouldn’t have enough blocking pins (a theory in which I was 100% correct by the way!) but I barely had enough space for these pieces let alone double.

Sleeve didn’t need much stretching, which worries me, and I’m nervous about overstretching the cuffs and waistband as these seem quite loose in some of the project pictures in Ravelry. I wonder if it’s  because of the horrible and needlessly complicated cast on. On my penultimate cast-on with it I think I finally got it right as I didn’t have unwelcome loops I had to gather up afterwards, but I wonder if that’s reduced the elasticity of the ribbing edge. If that is the case I can always feed some elastic in later, if CB wants.

The cabling has blocked out nicely. I worry it is too flat now, but you can still see all the movement so I think I’m worrying over nothing.

Seaming is next!

*Quote from Ernest Cline

"It was the best of times..."

"...it was the worst of times."

I wanted to be able to write this week with a finished object but unfortunately I can’t.

I am very close to finishing CB’s Navigate jumper. I’m knitting the second sleeve and then I have to sew up and block (not necessarily in that order). I have run into a couple of difficulties with the pattern (and my own idiocy) but I’ll save those for when I can show off the whole thing.

In other knitting news, I took advantage of an online sale and purchased the wool for another two big projects.

Lots and lots of Cascade 220! It is squishy and lovely and I can’t wait to cast on.

I’m planning on using the Red Wine Heather:

to knit CB Ranger by Jared Flood (Ravelry link here)

© Brooklyn Tweed

And the Shire:

to knit myself Tinder, also by Jared Flood (Ravelry link here)

© Brooklyn Tweed/Jared Flood

I don’t think I’ll cast them on straight away as I’m aware that the birth of my nephew is fast approaching, so I’ll probably knit some baby clothes first.

I like the look of Hundreds by Kelly van Niekerk (Ravelry link here)

© sallyravels

But there’s always the possibility of something simple and colourful like Fuss Free Baby Cardigan by Louise Tilbrook (Ravelry link here)

© LouiseTilbrookDesigns

Despite an early focus on jumpers, I still think my aim of completing 12 projects this year is achievable. I’m still not sure how to use up some of my stash – and I really do want to use up some of my stash – but hopefully completing some baby stuff will help at least!

*Quote from Charles Dickens.

“Always something happening…”

“…And nothing going on.”

Something that knitters on Ravelry seem to do is “Flash their Stash”, I’m not sure why exactly but I really enjoy seeing everyone’s yarn hoards.

And boy howdy are some of them big! I mean, taking up the whole floor of a room kinda big. I wish I had the time to knit all of that, or the money to buy it! But I know that even if I did, knowing I had such a huge quantity of unused yarn would make me anxious. I like using things up, I like keeping my possessions down at a sensible amount (based on storage space and need).

As I already feel my stash is a little high, I thought I would “flash” it here once a year so I can keep tracks on whether it seems to be growing and to see whether I have any repeat offenders (yarn that is in the stash year after year without ever getting used) that I can donate/repurpose/throw away.

So here it is:

(Not pictured: half a ball of sock yarn)

Which then gets bagged up:

Which all fits into stored in a medium sized box.

It looks like quite a lot there…Compared with some other knitters, it’s really not, but to me it looks like an unreasonable amount.

I worry about the six on the top left in the first picture (bottom right in second) as they are horrid acrylic and should probably be burnt, but they are usful in a pinch or to use a string, so I always shy away from the bin.

I am currently knitting a jumper with the dark blue skeins on the right in picture one (left in picture two) and have some rough plans for a few other balls…

Not much else to say, I guess we’ll see where we are in a year’s time!

*Quote from John Lennon

“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early…”

“…He arrives precisely when he means to.”

I have to be honest, the main reason I decided to knit these mitten is the pattern name.

I mean. Wizard Warmers. Is there anything better than that?

The pattern is by Maire Martin who has generously made it available for free on Ravelry (link here)

I blogged previously about my disastrous first attempt where the needles snapped, so although I had to wait for new needles to arrive, I think it was worth it. CB certainly thinks so!

You can also wear them to cover your fingers in cold weather:

They can also be worn on either hand and (thanks to some only marginally messed up finishing) can be worn either side out as well!

I still struggle to knit with DPNs without creating ladders – only small ones, it’s true, but ladders nonetheless. I do not understand how other people do it. Or how I’ve done it in the past. I pull my stiches really tight when I move from one needle to another but I’m still left with an extra few mms of wool each time. SIGH.

*Quote from Peter Jackson