Hello internet! We have a problem. We, here at Casa Del Random.
We need to do something about our Broadband account. Every month we use up all our bandwidth, and every month it happens earlier and earlier. We are in the process of doing something about it, but apparently none of the various telecommunications/broadband companies want our money.
But that’s why I fell off the internet. I have not been eaten by TAFE, but that’s another hardship I’m trying hard to endure.
You’re all here for the knitting though, not for my whining, so where was I?

The cap shawl is progressing nicely. Have I mentioned how much I’m loving these gradual colour changes? Seriously, they’re awesome.
I’ve now finished the boring bit in the middle, and there’s a little bit of action happening where the “Print of the Wave” pattern is beginning. You can’t really see it yet, but it’s there!

The Firestarter socks are half done. I really, really enjoy knitting this pattern, and the Wollmeise is just perfect for it.
Because I was a little absorbed in my shawl and sock knitting, Sophie got to work on finishing Elijah’s ear for me.

I’m hoping she’ll pick up some colourwork next!
And I’ve been trying really hard to be good, but I got a tipoff last week that there was a rare Monday Wollmeise update.

Turkis, 2 x Hortensie, and Ballerina, all in 80/20 Superwash/Nylon. And it was a miracle that I stopped there. Although it appears that I’m currently going through a blue/purple phase.

So I finally finished the cabled hoodie for Em.

I was a bit surprised to see on Ravelry that this project only took from June 1 until July 26. It felt like it had been hanging around here forever!

Specs:
Pattern: Sirdar 8427, Cabled Jacket
Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Silk DK, 14 balls.
Needles: 3.25 and 3.5mm Knitpicks Options
Mods: Many, many modifications!
The pattern is written to be knit in the traditional way – Back, two fronts, two sleeves, then all seamed up before you knit the hood and the bands.
I managed to knit the whole thing so that the only time I needed to pull out a sewing needle was to graft the underarms and weave in ends.
To start with, I knit the back and both front as one piece to the armholes. I then set the body aside and knit the two sleeves at once on two circs, also up to the armholes. I then left all the underarm stitches live, and worked the sleeves and body in one piece to the neck. The pattern has different rates of decrease for the fronts, sleeves and back, so I had to work it all out and write it down before I started.
Once I got up to the neck, I didn’t cast off then pick up stitches for the hood, I just used the stitches I had and kept going. But to prevent the neck and hood from stretching out, I used a rochet stabilising seam across the neckline to keep it all in place, which I’d read about here on the Yarn Harlot’s blog.

The pattern shapes the hood by casting off a number of stitches on each side, and knitting a strip down the middle and seaming the sides to the strip. I’m too lazy for that, so I just did short rows on the strip until the side stitches had all been incorporated.

To do the bands I picked up the stitches on the left band, then cast them off, using the same yarn to continue across the neck, picking up 5 stitches for the edges of the hood band, then doing the crochet stabilising seam across the neckline to the other side, then picking up five stitches for the other side of the hood band, and finally completing the right band.
Finally, I picked up stitches around the hood for the band. As I did each row, I did a K2tog at the end to incorporate the live stitches, and to save me having to sew it down at the end!
I used kitchener to graft the live underarm stitches closed.
Then the fun part (not!), the zip. I pinned it in first.

Then I tacked it in by hand.

I’m far too lazy (I think that’s been pretty much established by now!) to sew it in properly by hand, so I ran it through the machine to finish it.
All in all, she must be happy with it, she’s worn it for three days running now.

I know that some people don’t like hoods shaped this way, but I prefer this one to the pointy ones, and Em does too.
Overall, it was a great pattern and I could see myself using it again, with the modifications.
The yarn, not so much. The silk in the Country Silk is there in the form of slubs. Most of the time they’re fine, but every now and then you get a huge ugly slub. I picked them out, because I didn’t like them. And I don’t know if it’s just this colour, but I think it tends to look a little bit ball-y and worn before it’s even finished. I have used the yarn before, in a different colour, and it didn’t seem so bad then. It might not be just me though, because I see that Cleckheaton has discontinued this colour.
Overall I’m pretty happy with it, and Em seems to be enjoying it. She’s even been wearing it!

So I still haven’t finished the hoodie.But it is blocked and I have a zip, so it’s imminent, I swear. Maybe!
TAFE was boring. No other way to put it. Tuesday was just orientation, Wednesday and Thursday were tutorials to “see what we could do”. First tutorial was 3 hours long, and had us logging into the TAFE network. For 3 hours. In the afternoon we learned to delete a file and restore it (!!) Thursday morning was email for morons, and in the afternoon we killed time until it was time to go home.
I’m hoping things will improve exponentially this week. They’d better!
I worked on a sock at every opportunity. I didn’t pull it out in class. Yet.

It’s a Firestarter sock, in Granatapfal Wollmeise. Great pattern, gorgeous yarn! Not much more to say on that one.
The next garment I’m going to knit is Venezia by Eunny Jang – David and Emily bought me the yarn for my birthday. I’m not quite ready to start it yet, I want to finish the hoodie and a few other little things, but I tripped over something on eBay that I just had to buy for the project.

I don’t remember how I found it, but it’s actually supposed to be a cup storage thingy. And it cost less than $AU12, posted! (You can find it here)
It only has 16 compartments, and I have 18 balls of yarn, other than that, it’s perfect!

It’s also collapsible, so you can fold it up and put it away if you’re not using it. It’s made out of the same sort of fabric the green bags at the supermarket are made out of.
I love a find like this!
Now I’m off to work on a bunny.

One that doesn’t shed!

So I finished something else, but still not the hoodie. Sorry.
I finished David’s One Row Scarf.

Specs:
Pattern: One Row Scarf by the Yarn Harlot.
Needles: 5.5mm
Yarn: Less than one skein of Dream In Color Classy in Black Parade, from The Loopy Ewe.
Mods: None to make!

David didn’t want it too long, so I didn’t use the whole skein of Classy. It was 145cm long when I stopped knitting, and I’m glad I stopped, because after blocking, it grew to 160cm long.
It has been dubbed a success, and has been worn every day.
My stylist was (as always) on hand to supervise the photo shoot.

In other knitting news, I finally picked up the cap shawl again after a few weeks of neglect.

I’m loving this yarn, The Yarn Place’s Graceful. I find myself thinking “Just one more round!” so that I can see the subtle colour changes.
I’m not how knitting and/or blogging is going to go for the near future. Hopefully there won’t be too much of a disruption, but I’m starting a full time course at TAFE (like a US community college, I think) tomorrow, in Library Services. I’m a little bit nervous, I don’t deal well with change, but I’m thinking positively!
And finally, a kind of special bear. This one is one of my favourites.

This is Max and Monty, designed by an Australian Bear Artist named Gerry Warlow. The minute I saw this kit, I knew I had to make it. Here’s a close up of Max’s head.

You can see his nose and ear ring better up close!

So, having nothing but the hood to go on Emily’s hoodie, I got stuck into the Rick socks. (Who didn’t see that coming?)
And late last night, I finished the second sock.

Watched over by yet another teddy bear.
Specs:
Pattern: Rick Socks by CookieA from her awesome book, Sock Innovation.
Yarn: The Plucky Knitter Merino Cashmere Nylon Fingering in “Riverview Drive”, which was a sock club offering.
Needles: Kollage Square DPNS, 2.25mm, 5″ length.
Mods: I like my toes rounder than Cookie designs, so I changed the decrease rate. And I only did 16 pattern repeats in the leg, rather than the 18 recommended in the pattern.
The pattern is fun! It’s not hard at all, although it looks daunting. It’s a four row repeat in the leg, and it’s pretty intuitive. The top of the foot is harder, but not horrendously so. I did have a problem in the second sock, where I ended up with extra stitches in the pattern, and I still don’t know how. But I ripped out a few rows and had no problems when I redid it.
This sock is not very stretchy in the leg!!
I only did 16 pattern repeats in the leg, because if it were any longer, it wouldn’t have gone round my calf. I have cankles, and these are borderline too-tight. I probably wouldn’t knit them for myself again, but they’d be fantastic on someone with nice slim ankles.
I really like the MCN fingering yarn. I have a couple more skeins in the stash. It’s nice and soft, but has a nice twist, so I think it will wear nicely.
And I love my square DPNS! Kylie had some at Knit Camp, which she’d bought in London. My sister-in-law was still in London at the time, so she popped in to I Knit London for me and grabbed me a set.
They’re a very lightweight aluminium, they almost feel like bamboo needles to use. I got the short length (5″), which is perfect for me. They really do feel nice to use.
There was a minor drama a few days ago, where I’d lost one at the library. Fortunately I realised pretty quickly and went back to find it in time!
Overall, I give the project an A!
Em picked out the next sock club bag.

Wollmeise! In Granatapfel. I’m going to make Firestarters with this. But I’m going to try to finish the hoodie first.

It’s the rows and rows of stocking stitch that are doing me in!