Yuk

I don't want to be pregnant anymore, OK? I'm tired all the time. I'm huge. The baby has dropped so my pubic bone hurts like anything. I waddle. And I'm alone with the kids this week and the next (only at daytime though)
Whine, whine.

I have been knitting though. The baby trousers are done.


Pattern: Baby Bell Bottoms by Alison Hansel, without the bell
Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton 1,5 balls or so, in Faded Jeans.
Needle: 3 mm Addi Turbo, magic loop.
Mods:

• My gauge was slightly smaller than in the pattern, so I use the stitch count for the second size and the lengths and row counts of the smallest size to make the smallest size.
• Knit 3 ridges of garter stitch instead of 15 rows at the lower leg.
• Knit legs in the round (except for the garter stiitch edge)
• Knit the upper part slightly longer.
• I don't bother with the elastic now, see if it's needed on the baby.

I'm finished with the second clue of MS3


The fourth clue arrived today so I am a bit behind... I like the results though. The Zephyr yarn is very soft and has a nice drape.

I started a pair of socks for my FIL, from the yarn I got from MIL's stash.


It's Regia Mini Ringel Color in blues, I really like the way it stripes. The pattern is Wendelin socks. It's a plain toe-up sock with ribbing on the sides. Perfect when you don't know the exact foot size of the recipient! Which I don't.

Endings and beginnings

Today was my last day at work. Now I'm officially on vacation until the baby arrives and then there's maternity leave for a year or so. It felt both great and strange to pack all my things and leave today. I work as a consultant so I probably won't come back to the same assignment.

The latest Harry Potter movie premiers today here in Sweden so we're going to see it tonight. Fun, fun. And I'm looking forward to the last book next week. M reads much more slowly than I do, so I get to read it first :-)

I've been starting way too many projects lately, so now I have to finish something before I start any more. Here's something that I *have* finished:


OK, so they are rather small (but not newborn sized) and I finished them two days after I started but it *is* an FO :-)

Pattern: Mim's Baby to Toddler socks
Yarn: Opal Rainbow (leftovers from my Sidewinders) The socks weigh about 17 g
Needle: 2,5 mm Addi Turbo, magic loop
Size: The foot is about 12 cm/4,5" long and the circumference is about the same. Good for a six-month old perhaps?
Mods: I continued the ribbing down the instep for a more forgiving fit. Though I forgot to center the rib on the first sock so it looks a bit weird.

I have been feeling the urge to knit baby things (nesting for knitters?) so I ripped a baby sweater I started long ago and didn't like and started a new one with the yarn.


I don't have a pattern per se, but I'm aiming for a plain sweater with a placket at the neck. Seed stitch edges. Knit in the round as much as possible. I hope I have enough yarn. If not, the sleeves will be in some other colour. I have a few solid Opal sthat may suit.

Then I ripped a sock toe in Panda Cotton that I started ages ago and wasn't really happy with and started on Alisons cute baby pants. I've got almost a whole leg already.


My gauge is off (7 sts/in instead of 5,75) so I'm using the stitch counts for the second size and the length from the smallest size. I also got rid of the bell bottoms, don't like that. And made the garter edging thinner. The yarn is very nice and soft, I think these will turn out great!

I finally managed to talke a photo of my Highland Triangle shawl.


I have barely stared and I ahven't worked on it for a while, but I think it will be great. If you stretch it a bit you see circles in the pattern. And the yarn is a beautiful indigo blue :-)

After searching high and low I managed to find a tiny crochet hook that fits almost all of my beads for Myster Stole 3! So I have finally started it.


This is how it looks a little bit into chart B, so I'm still on the first clue. Clue three has just been released, we'll see when (and if) I get caught up! I like it and the pattern isn't too hard to follow. The beads are a bit fiddly though, but I expect it gets better with a bit of practice.
I'm using Zephyr laceweight in white with transparent rainbow seed beads in size 9. 3,5 mm Addi Lace needle and a size 12 crochet hook. It doesn't fit all the beads but I may have a smaller one in the mail next week. A very nice lady on one of my Swedish mailing lists offered it too me when I asked where to find such small hooks. I don't even want to think about trying to crochet with it! Sewing thread...

Almost vacation

The kids have summer vacation from daycare now. I however work another week, and M another three weeks. Luckily my parents are off next week and staying at the forest cottage so we delivered E and H to them today. Somehow nature seems to have forgotten that it's summer, there has been heavy rains and flooding for the last week or so, it feels more like October than July. I hope it gets better next week, otherwise my parents will probably go nuts coping with two restless kids...

Of course I'll miss them but I'm looking forward to sleeping whole nights without H waking me up, sleeping in on Saturday and probably Sunday too, *and* going to the movies twice (Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter!) After this leisurely week I have vacation alone with the little darlings for two weeks before M starts his. Not very restfull, I imagine. Fingers crossed for better weather!!!

I spent most of the day knitting so I finished the Mata Hari socks:


This morning I had just the toe of the second sock and now they are done! The wonder of sport weight yarn:-)
Pattern: Mata Hari Note that this is just a stitch pattern, not a full sock pattern.
Yarn: Claudia Handpainted Sport in Caribbean Blue.
Needles: 3.25 mm Brittany Birch dpn's
Made for: Well, me, but they turned out too big. Mum tried the finished on today and said they fit and she liked them so they are hers.
Verdict: I like the stitch pattern but I messed up the rest. I tried Wendy's gusset heel for the first time and I started it too late for it to fit properly. Also the socks are a bit too wide.
I love the yarn, the colours are amazing with absolutely no pooling.

I managed to take a (not very good) picture of the Pomatomus too:

You can't see it in this crappy picture but I shortened the leg to two pattern repeats instead of three as there didn't seem to be enough yarn otherwise. The *bad* thing about top-down socks!

Cable Rib socks done

I finished these a couple of days ago, but then the camera battery was flat so I couldn't document them then. These are my July socks for SAM3 and my first pair for Summer of Socks all in one!


Pattern: Cable Rib socks from Favorite Socks by Interweave.
Yarn: Trekking XXL in colour 184 (navy and green)
Needle: 2,5 mm Addi Turbo, magic loop
Mods:
- The pattern says to make the leg 10 cable crossings long = about 8". I made 7 crossings.
- I did all cable crossings with cable needle held in front, beacuse I'm lazy ;-)
- Decreased toe down to 2x10 sts instead of 2x8 (oops, forgot that on the second sock, but you can't tell the difference really)
Made for: These are for Dad. Very handy that he has the same size feet as I do, no guesswork.


Verdict: I'm very very pleased with these socks. I may make a pair for myself too. The pattern is really easy, just a simple rib with two cable crossings every ten rows. Now that I know how the pattern works I can modify them for toe-up too!
The yarn feels sturdy and the colour changes are subtle and non-repeating.

With this sock out of the way I have picked up the Pomatomus again. I forgot to take a picture of them but I'm maybe an inch past the gusset.

The Swallowtail shawl is now at 13 repeats of the second chart out of a supposed 14. I can stretch the upper edge to about 80 cm/30" and about half of that from top to bottom. Isn't that very small? It seems tiny to me, so 19 repeats it is! I have finally learnt the pattern almost by heart so it is much faster going now than when I started it.

Talking about starting... I finally fell and signed up for Mystery Stole 3. I wasn't planning to beacuse I didn't feel that stole where my thing really, but then I saw the the results of the first clue... I had white Zephyr in my stash and I got beads today, tiny little transparent size 9 seed beads with a bit of a rainbow touch to them. And I ordered a crochet hook that I hope will fit through them.

This means that I will soon have three lace shawls on the needles. Just as I managed to get down from four to two socks on the go. Do I have a problem?!

Of scarves and socks

I finished an old WIP today, because I wanted the needle it was on... It's the Harlot scarf I started in December.


Pattern: One Row Handspun scarf from the Yarn Harlot.
Yarn: Noro Kureion, three skeins.
Needle: 5 mm circ
Size: about 15 cm by 2 m.
Verdict: Very nice stitch pattern, and you can knit it in your sleep. The yarn is a bit scratchy and (mostly) very loosely spun with thick parts and thin parts. I'm not entirely happy with that but it does add interest to the fabric. And the colour transitions are cool:


I wanted that needle for the Highland Trangle shawl from Folk Shawls. I have done the first 25 rows or so and it is very pretty! No pic yet though.

I also have two finished single socks, both cast on for Summer of Socks. Here's the first Cable Rib sock:


I'm very happy with this one! The second one is at half the foot already, but I'm getting slightly worried that the yarn will run out :-/ but on the other hand I'm knitting size 39 and the yarn label states that one ball is enough for a pair of socks in size 46, which is way bigger. So I have good hope. And I'm knitting fast, because then I will finish before the yarn runs out, right?

And here's the first Claudia Mata Hari sock:

I'm not as happy with this one. I'm not used to knitting socks with sport weight yarn and this is the first time that I have tried Wendy's new gusset heel so they feel a bit big. But I think I'll keep them. If I decide that they are to big after all I can always give them to Mum :-)

We spent the weekend at my FIL's house. On Saturday we went to Liseberg, a large amusement park in Gothenburg. A great time were had by all! And the kids went on rides I never thought they would dare. Even E, who normally is rather cautious. We where totally exhausted afterwards.

On Sunday FIL asked me what to do with MIL's craft stash, one tightly packed closet. She passed away recently and I'm the only one interested in crafting in the family. I just took a quick look now but promised to do more later. I'm afraid most of the yarn is acrylic, which I don't like, but I know that there are some wool in there. We'll see. Now I just came away with two balls of Regia sock yarn.

This is a Mini Ringel, which I think means thin stripes. At least there are thin stripes on the picture! I think I'll turn these into socks for FIL, either for his birthday in September or for Christmas. I'm not entirely sure of his foot size so I want to find a stretchy pattern that suits the striped yarn. Of course I could do just a plain rib but I'd rather find someting more interesting. Maybe Broadripple? Or is that too feminine? I don't like Jaywalkers (sorry) and they apparently aren't very elastic either. Hmm, I'll have to think about this.