Episode 26 - 2012 Round Up

Hi and welcome to the latest Episode of the Knittynatter Podcast.

If you are looking for me on Ravelry I am knittynatterzena and the group is knittynatter podcast group where have a monthly share you Lols thread to enter all of your finished objects whether they be knitting, crochet, spinning, etc.

This time it draw for the winner of the share your LoLs December 2012 thread where we have a total of 217 entries which was fantastic, lots of Christmas knitting happening!.  Drawing made from 2 - 218 and the winner gets a choice of either a set of surprise stitch markers made by me, or any part that can be sent as a gift on Ravelry up to value of $7.

The January thread is already up and running so feel free to go ahead an enter your LoLs there.

Chatter and 2012 round up
Past two weeks have seen the end of 2012 and I spent some time going through my projects on Ravelry  and sorting them into a tab for all those I finished in 2012.  I decided I will keep a track of this and see each year how my knitting habits change / develop.

So a quick review of 2012 in Lols - total of 53 finished projects
6 hats - 2 of which were for me
5 toys - all gifts
9 pairs of socks - 5 of which were for me
7 sweaters - only 1 of which was for me
2 baby garments - both gifts
7 dishcloths - 2 I kept
10 shawls - 6 of which I still have
2 baby log cabin blankets - both commission
3 pairs of mitts - 1 of which was for me
1 snuggle for my kitty
and 1 cowl which I gave to Justin

So I kept 15 of the finished items of 2012 which is less than 30% this year the only thing I definitely want to do more of for me is the sweaters and we will talk about that a in the Nattering away section..

I also spent some time going through and re-organising my stash and craft room and last time when I said I didn't hold much stash of sweater quantities was clearly a huge great big fat fib! I found yarn that I had bought over the past 2/3 years that I have completely forgotten about and so I have enough for at least 7 sweaters.  i am also making an effort to gradually load as much as I can into my Stash on Ravelry so that it will be easier to 'shop' from it when I am looking for a new project.

I have also started to add the proposed yarn the projects in my queue and those that I have yarn for have moved up the queue in an effort for me to use some of the beautiful yarn I already own.

I am still going to buy yarn but only in three situations.
1.  For a project and I do not have the yarn in stash for
2. From a new to me indie dyer I want to try
3. From an event or a new to me Yarn shop I happen to find myself in!

I think that is enough Chatter, lets show you my LOLs:

Lols
I have two LOLs this week:-

The first one is the BFF cowl by Ysolda Teague and Tiny Owl Knits (free pattern from Knitty) .  This is knit in Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran in the Teal Blue and Purple and was for KAL with the CaffeinatedKnitting podcast.  The Purple section was knit up and sent to me by Ashley (Spun2tight) from The Spinners Whirled Podcast and I knit the Teal portion. I used 4.5mm needles which I believe was the recommended size in the pattern.  I have been wearing this alot and it was finished with perfect timing as the weather has gone a little chilly here although we have not had any snow yet :(

The second Lol is a pair of mitts that I knit with the left over Rowan Creative Focus Worsted that I used for the For Good hat you saw last time and these were on 3.25mm needles with a start of 36 stitched which is my standard mitt recipe.  They are called Sunday Leftovers on my project page.  We went to the film of Les Miserables and there were plenty of woollen fingerless mitts it the film which I always love to see.

Nattering Away
In terms of the projects you have seen before:

The Ripple Crochet Blanket has seen a little bit of progress, I finished the white section and have added in the next colour of green.  This is for my son and I asked him how he would like it to look and he said he wanted the white stripes to be half the size of the coloured stripes so that is what I am doing.  I am using a size 5.0mm hook and the yarn all Sirdar Snuggly DK at the moment. There are more detailed notes on the pattern on my project page for the blanket here

Toothless the dragon by Mari Campbell ($6 pattern on Ravelry) or my Dragon Please Now is still on the needles although most of the parts are now knit.  There is some considerable assembly and stitching on of pipe cleaners to do but this can now move forward as I now have the said pipecleaners!  This is being knit in Patons DK FAB on 4.00mm needles .. DPNs!!!

The next project is one that was started last year, but I don't believe that I have ever shown it and that is the Sock Yarn Blanket by Shelly Kang (the pattern is free on her blog ).  I am using slightly smaller needles at 2.25mm as that as all I has available when I started this project so we will go with that!  I have knit three new squares this week and these will be added to the blanket as I make it to the width that I want. I have named this my 'make do and mend' blanket.

Next up are my New Year Firework Socks which were my cast on on New Years Day and I am using Twisted Limone Tangy Sock yarn which is a self striping and the colourway is Fireworks.  Using 2.25mm dpns and I can see over the course of the sock how my gauge has tightened and become closer to my usual gauge.  These have 60 stitches and will have an afterthought heel.  They are for me so I will live with them if there are a little loose on the foot.

So much For Selfish January I cast on a gift for someone outside of my household on 7th January! Broad Street Mittens (free from Knitty) is a request from a friend who it a triathlete coach and spends too many too early morning outside on the track.  She wanted something to keep her hands warm but also needed to be able to write and mark times etc and so these should be perfect.  The yarn is from Easyknits and it was a sock club colourway from last year, 80/10/10 blend in the Dragon Party Colour.
I have used 2.75mm needles for the main mitt and then the cover part is knit on 3.25mm.  I did have to adjust the stitches as pattern goes up to 60 but that was too big for me (she has the same size hands) so I dropped it down to 54 overall which is a much better fit.  I have all the written notes for the alterations I made which I will put onto my project page.
Also you may notice I have a beautifully caked yarn .. I finally got a ball winder and a swift!!!

Finally I decided to cast on a sweater for me.  I went for Inkby Hanna Maciejewska ($6 pattern of Ravelry) and this was given to me as a Birthday Gift by LittleRiaHen.  I am using Rowan pure wool 4 ply which is a superwash wool and the colour is sage but I think it is closer to a duck egg blue.  I swatched with the recommended needles and although my stitch count was on the rows were off so I went up to 3.25mm and 3.75mm.  I am knitting the small which is 34" which bang on for my size.

Whispering to Me
I will be starting a snuggle for the Yarnivore Podcast with Sadie for her FAl Jan / Feb KAl/CAl/SAL and for that I am going to try some tunisian crochet.  I ordered a nook that I can attach to my knit pro cables and that should be here some time this week.

And the Evenstar is starting to whisper to me again, I am on the beaded edging and so that may get a little bit of action soon as it is the only shawl I have on the needles.

Speech Therapy
I already mentioned the ball winder and swift and the pipe cleaners for Toothless but I did get yarn and this is the January try new things purchase from Highland Handmades.  I got two skeins of Sugar Maple Sock in the Fly you Fools and Boardwalk Roses.
I also purchase a pattern book by Kim Hargreaves - Misty as when I looked on Ravelry for pattern ideas for my stash there were a lot than kept popping up in this book which I liked.

Finally I wanted to say that there may be a chance that I go back to a weekly recording schedule, although I may have to miss the odd week when family comes first so you may see me next week :)
Have a good week (or two) and I will catch up soon.

Bye Now

:)