Knitting monogamy works. Who’da thunk it?
Since my last post, I’ve been working furiously and monogamously (apart from a coffee date!) on Em’s cabled hoodie.

And I’ve managed to complete the entire raglan shapings! I’m up to the hood now – 26cm of solid straight stocking stitch lies ahead of me, and I’ve suddenly lost interest in it.
I’m not 100% happy with the raglan decreases, I wish I’d gone with something a little less obvious, but it’s not bothering me enough to rip it out and start over.
I’m pretty sure at this point that I’m going to be able to finish the whole thing without one single seam. I’m going to kitchener graft the underarm seams. The pattern called for me to cast off at the neck and pick up stitches for the hood. I’m not going to do that, I’m going to use the live stitches. But to counteract any stretchiness at the neckline, I’m going to do a crochet chain seam to stabilise it.
The pattern also says to work straight for the hood, then cast off stitches at each side, then work a long strip down the middle, seaming it up at the end. I think I’m going to incorporate some short row shaping and avoid a seam again.
It works in theory!
Twinkie likes to remind us that she’d like some attention when we’re watching TV at night.

So she takes up prime position.

Well that was an unexpected little break, wasn’t it? Nothing dramatic, bandwidth issues, internet provider throttling, a bad cold that I’m now getting over, that sort of stuff.
However, while I was absent from here, there was plenty going on. Including the new sock package from the Needlefood sock club!
A winner, again.

The theme for this shipment was “Mid WInter Survival Kit”. There were winter warming essentials – hot chocolate, marshmallows, and chocolate to eat!

Stitch markers in the same colour theme, and a little zippered purse for them

And the yarn is yummy.

The colour is “Red Hot Chocolate” I’m really enjoying the parcels from this sock club!
There has also been knitting.
The hoodie.

Sleeves are finished now, and we have joinage!
David’s new scarf, the One Row Scarf.

Growing nicely, and I finished the first “Rick” sock.

A few issues with this. The pattern is great, but not really very stretchy, which caused a problem or two with my cankles. I only did 16 repeats of the leg pattern rather than 18, and they’re a little tight, but still wearable.
And the other thing I worked on was a February Teddy Sweater.

The picture is a little deceptive, she’s much smaller than she looks – around 6″, I think. I made her for a friend’s special birthday, and she went off to celebrate and live with missfee.
I fudged up the February Baby Sweater pattern on 2mm needles with the leftover Mama Blue silk laceweight from my Aeolian Shawl, and found some teeny tiny buttons at Spotlight. It grew a little when I blocked it, so it’s a little larger than I’d planned, but she looks very sweet, doesn’t she?

I finished my June Personal Sock Club socks. Actually, I finished them before I started David’s Urbanista, then promptly forgot all about them!

They’re nice and squishy!
Specs:
Pattern: BFF socks by CookieA (Rav link)
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in “Wildflower” from The Loopy Ewe
Needles: 2mm.
Mods: None!
I love this yarn! I did use it one other time, a few years ago, but I didn’t hand wash the socks, so they felted. This time I’ll be more careful. The wool/mohair/nylon combination is soft without being scratchy, and nice and warm!
So I got to start some new socks. On new needles – at knitting camp, Kylie had a new set of needles, Kollage Square DPNS. Square needles! She told me she’d got them on a recent trip to London, so when my sister-in-law asked if there was anything I wanted while she was in London, I placed an order, and got a set of my own.

So armed with this month’s selection (The Plucky Knitter MCN Fingering – yum!), and the new needles, I began a new pair of socks.
The pattern I had chosen was “A Step Above”, a pair of entrelac socks. I’ve never done entrelac before, but they were coming along wonderfully.

Then I decided (possibly for the first time ever) that this pattern would be better in a yarn with more variegation. So I pulled out my new CookieA book and picked a new pattern – Rick.

So far, so good.
Today’s bear is a happy little guy.

In fact, his name is Happy Harry. Look at that face!

Very cute, but it was a total pain in the butt to make!

What a great knit Urbanista turned out to be! I cast on last Friday, June 18. I finished it on Saturday, June 19!

Doesn’t it look great?! I didn’t do much else on the Friday, so it wasn’t super speedy, but it wasn’t a long, drawn out project, either. And sometimes a two day project is exactly what I need.

In the end we went with the stockinette side out, it just looks neater, I think.
Specs:
Pattern: Urbanista from Knitty, Summer 2009, by Woolly Wormhead
Needles: 3.75mm Knitpicks Options
Yarn: Spotlight Basics 8ply Pure Wool
Mods: Apart from turning it inside out, none!

David’s worn it every day this week, so I think this is a success!
Because he is the most appreciative recipient of my knitwear, I started a scarf for him this week, too.

It’s just the Yarn Harlot’s “One Row Handspun Scarf” in some Dream In Color Classy from The Loopy Ewe.
Two weeks ago, I finally caught a Wollmeise update, which contained Pfefferminz Prinz in the 100% Merino Superwash base. I have been trying to score this colourway for what seems like forever. I’d even come across updates in progress which didn’t have this colour so I didn’t buy anything. At All. Anyway, my beloved Pfefferminz Prinz showed up this week, and I’m not disappointed, it’s gorgeous!
Marina asked to see the PP next to the Needlefood sock club shipment when it arrived. It hadn’t occurred to me how to similar the colours were until Marina asked, but she’s right!

The Needlefood yarn is lighter in colour, but definitely in the same colour family and they’re both beautiful!
Today’s bear is a little one, and is actually the first bear I ever made.

The ears are a little big, giving her a bit of a mouse-y appearance, but I’m still proud of her. It’s a very easy pattern, there’s no paw pads or anything, making it an ideal first bear. I still have the pattern somewhere, maybe I should give it another go!

The Cabled Hoodie has not been forgotten. It does get put down a lot, in favour of other knitting, but it’s seen some action.

Not too far to go, and I’ll be putting it down to start the sleeves. I worked on it a little at WWKIP day, and again while sitting at the Knitters Guild Stall at the craft fair. As a consequence, there are some errors.

There were some miscrossed cables that have been rectified. But those red circles are marking two missing bobbles. I thought about it for a while, but recreating bobbles from two or three rows above is too fiddly for my liking. (Is it even possible?) And I don’t really want to rip it back, so I’ve decided to live with it. After all, I don’t have to wear it, and Emily hasn’t noticed it yet, so who am I to get all perfectionist about it?
Today’s bear is a little Polar Bear. I’m betting that no-one is really surprised to see a Polar Bear pop up in the collection, huh?

Isn’t he cute? Let me know if they’re getting boring.