Fish blanket 1 finished

Well, I just realised I forgot to load the finished fish photo, so here it is. I still have a few ends to sew in, but that won't be done until the other blankets are as near to completion.

Mystic Waters KAL

I need to keep a record of my progress on this one, to keep me knitting it. It is beautiful, but I keep putting it down because I think it will be too big when it is finished & that I am knitting it too loosely. I'm not, this cashmere will bloom when it is washed & look perfect. I hope. Swatch? Of course not.

Finished my stripey Adult Surprise Jacket

MY DH took a photo of me in it which I am so not posting. The jacket looks lovely on, it is the rest of the photo I had a problem with. He must love me very much to think I looked OK in it! Beige curtains as a background makes me look like a zombie. And I have a bad hair day today.
My photography skills aren't much better, the jacket isn't really lop sided either.
I will sew on the buttons tonight so I can wear it tomorrow.

I used Patons Diploma Gold in 16 different colours knitted on 4mm needles in random stripes with a nod to the fibionnacci sequence (I hope my spelling is right) 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 or parts of it repeated. The buttons were a gift from a web friend in the USA who shares my interest in knitting. The colours were chosen to match the buttons. This looks longer when I am wearing it than when it is flat on the floor, and it measures what I intended it to. I followed another suggestion from a lovely lady on Ravelry for shaping the cuffs - knit 2 together all the way along. It is lovely & warm, too. Remains to be seen if my teenagers will be seen with me in it...

The fish blanket stalled again!

My fish knitting had to be put aside to make Millie her school cardigans as she is too little for the smallest size available. She is built like a stick with a 21" chest. They are both desperately trying not to pull a funny face here. Aaah!


I also received my invitation to join Ravelry.

I am gutted that my tesellated fish pattern I unvented my own self with great influence from
knittingarrows.blogspot.com has been hijacked by XRX publications, but as I have never seen that pattern until this evening, I am going to post mine here. I cannot see from photos available how similar our 2 patterns actually are, but it is the third time something I have made ends up as someone else's published design.

I would argue that we are all influenced by the same things & arrive at the same designs at the same time. It does mean that I get to wear the item as it hits the news stands, how cool is that?

First of Three Tesselating Fish blankets

I really, really need to finish these, but I keep doing other stuff instead. To help me concentrate on these, I intend to take a weekly progress photo. Here is last Friday's... a bit more sewing noses together & then crocheting the strips together. I much prefer sewing, but it just doesn't look as nice, however long I look at it.

The bags trying to sneak in to the photo at the top are the other 2 blankets worth of fishes, but you can see them another day.

The wedding

Here is a really bad photo of the wedding present dishcloths. This was the first attempt at arranging them in a witty or artful way, but it is the only photo I have. Looked a lot better with the dishcloth fairy clutching the real present (money) but I think it would be really bad form to do show & tell so everybody could count it!


Well, the guests behaved well except for Millie, who loudly announced how bored she was at the critical moment during the ceremony, so we made a hasty exit out the back door as she kept saying, louder & louder, 'why do you keep shushing me, mummy?'
It was as lovely as a wedding can be. The weather and the hotel were gorgeous.

Any opportunity for a photo of Millie...don't you think the tattoo just sets it all off nicely? It was only supposed to last for 3 weeks 2 months ago, but Murphys Law triumphs again..

The cardigan is knitted from the top down in 100% cotton DK - no pattern, I made it up as I went along after I charted the lace flowers & stems, then used an edging pattern from Knitting Counterpanes Traditional Coverlet Patterns for Contemporary Knitters by Mary Walker Phillips . The lace flowers & leaves echo the design on her dress. She loves it as you can see!

Japanese Feather & Fan Shawl

I first spotted the Japanese feather & fan pattern in Barbara Walkers Treasury. I noticed it again in Vogue Knitting magazine last year, the issue with loads of shawls in it. At the time, I was playing with knitting a pinwheel sweater but the yarn I tried didn't work as it was slightly boucle & the rows to stitches ratio is different. (It is still sitting in time out, waiting to be turned into something else.) I finally got round to making this shawl for a wedding next weekend. I am going to try to put up the pattern in a sidebar...watch this space! I have my DH on the case! He's my hero, should be there now.

Added 16/11/07...The knitting details.

My pink shawl was knitted on 4mm circular needles using 3 ends of 2/28nm laceweight silk from Colourmart UK. It weighs 85 grams. From Colourmarts website, 2300 yards is 150g. Using 3 ends, therefore divide by 3, is 766 yards for 150g...so 85 grams is 766/150x85 = 435 yards. Looks like you have plenty there, then! However, I didn't knit the last repeat of the pattern. Mine measures 15" from the back of the neck to the bottom.

Added 20/07/08

The excel spreadsheets have got a couple of strange things happening on them. I am test knitting it again now, and I will post a revised version -PDF, no less! in a few days. With some more pictures, if my camera will behave.

Added 07/09/08

Finally got it knitted, blocked, photos taken, pattern put in to pdf format & everything. Sorry folks for the delay, I decided to do the edging differently after I knitted it a couple of times. In 3 strands of slippery silk. 'Nuf said.

Added 18/09/08
Errata on pdf JFFshawl20080907
The written instruction for lines 11 to 15 have the K2Tog & SSK instructions swapped with each other. The chart is correct.
Added 19/09/08
The chart for rows 68 to 88 on page 5 should have a comment to repeat the 11 stitch pattern twice in the same place as the last chart shows where to repeat it 3 times.

twisted blocks dishcloth

Twisted blocks dishcloth

Materials

1 ball variegated Sugar N'Creme dishcloth cotton

Set of 5 size 4mm DPNs

suitable crochet hook

Cast on 10 stitches on to 1 needle using a loose cast on - you will have to pick up stitches from the bottom later. I used a loose cable cast on, a knitted cast on would mean you need to knit 1 row less.

Using 2 of your needles, work in Garter stitch (knit every row back & forth) for 10 1/2 ridges. You will have 10 ridges on 1 side & 11 ridges on the other.

Using your crochet hook, pick up 10 stitches on to a 3rd needle from the edge with the working yarn working from top towards cast on. Using the 3rd & 2nd needle,
knit 2 rows over the 10 picked up stitches.
K8, turn & knit back
K6, turn & knit back
K4, turn & knit back
K2, turn & knit back


Using your crochet hook, pick up 5 stitches on to your 4th needle along the straight edge of the triangle you just knitted & 10 stitches along your cast on edge which should be right next to it.

With your 4th & 2nd needle, knit 2 rows over the 15 picked up stitches.
K12, turn & knit back
K9, turn & knit back
K6, turn & knit back
K3, turn & knit back

Using your crochet hook, pick up 5 stitches on to your 5th needle along the straight edge of the triangle you just knitted & 10 stitches from the starting edge (of the square) next to it.

With your 5th & 2nd needle, knit 2 rows over the 15 picked up stitches.
K12, turn & knit back
K9, turn & knit back
K6, turn & knit back
K3, turn & knit back

Using your crochet hook, pick up 5 stitches on to your 1st needle & continue on to the 10 stitches waiting there from the top of the original square.

Knit 2 rows over 15 stitches on needle 1.
K12, turn & knit back
K9, turn & knit back
K6, turn & knit back
K3, turn & knit back

Using your crochet hook, pick up 5 stitches on to your 3rd needle & continue on to the 10 stitches waiting there from the first triangle.

Knit 2 rows over 15 stitches on needle 3.
K12, turn & knit back
K9, turn & knit back
K6, turn & knit back
K3, turn & knit back

Using your crochet hook, pick up 5 stitches on to your 4th needle & continue on to the 15 stitches waiting there from the second triangle.

Knit 2 rows over 20 stitches on needle 4.
K16, turn & knit back
K12, turn & knit back
K8, turn & knit back
K4, turn & knit back

Better late than never

This was a new years resolution, to start a blog. It is only (ha!) May, so I don't win the prize for procrastination. My aim is to update this at least once per week. We shall see how long I manage to stick to that. I intend to keep track of my knitting here. Did you get the clue from the blog title? I hope to publish all photos of my knitting I can find to date. On other blogs, I find it interesting where people post their WIPs on a regular basis, so I am going to do the same.