I have been very busy on the knitting front for the past few weeks.  However my modem was broken so I have been running up and down to my parent’s house with a laptop to get my email.  As you can imagine this is not very conducive- to writing a relaxing blog post!

The test knitting for Eleanor is moving along well – anyone who is on Ravelry can take a look at the finished cardigan.  It turned out really nicely.

A few weeks ago I got the Fall Vogue magazine and I completely fell for the Hooded Pullover.  Now the last thing I need right now is another project but I just couldn’t resist!  I have tons of Kilcarra Donegal tweed aran weight in my stash here that I have been meaning to use for ages so I tried it out holding the yarn double.  I get exact gauge although the sweater is going to be so warm that I will need a Siberian winter to wear it!  I think I’ll replace the hood with a high collar, I’m not a very big hoodie person usually and the Donegal tweed is probably a bit scratchy around the head.

My designing has been going well for the last few weeks.  It still amazes me how much pleasure I get from designing knitwear.  I really does bring together both the creative and mathematical side of my brain.  And best of all it is something I can actually do in short bursts with children running around (ok, so this doesn’t always work but sometimes!).  I keep knitting and/or paper on the high counter in the kitchen away from little fingers and whenever they are happily occupied I get to work on a few rows.  Having it up high means that if I’m needed I can just put it down where it is and know that it’s safe.  As a added bonus as most of my knitting ends up being done standing up I get to exercise my stomach muscles if I remember to stand straight.  Now if only it didn’t mean that I ended up with an aching lower back I’d really be sorted!

I’ve been so worried about messing up my knitting sample for the book that I am only knitting it at home where I can concentrate when I’m working on it.  With the result that I have actually ended up with a different project on the go for my knitting group.  I have changed the main cable pattern for the Robin Hood Jacket from the Zoe Mellor book and adjusted the sizes slightly but I have finished the back and half one front.  I really love this cable pattern.  – once all this summer knitting is done looking forward to getting back into a little cable work with some cozy yarns.

Yes – those are my lovely harmony needles.  Truly magical for slippy yarns (not quite so critical for this project, but still nice!)

Even though you wouldn’t know it from my blog I’ve been busy knitting – however as most of it has been for submissions I haven’t been able to blog about it!

I finished the project with the top down short row sleeve caps.  I’m very pleased with how it has turned out, I think it is an easier way of doing sleeve caps than trying to sew them in.  I also love to knit sleeves top down as you know that they will be just the right length.  Hopefully I can publish the pattern here or elsewhere in the next few months.

As I can’t show any current projects I thought I’d dig out a few ones that I worked on last year but never put the photos up.

I made this Urchin for my sister last Christmas from Jaeger Natural Fleece.  This yarn was wonderful for the project and I loved this colour.  However I also used this yarn in navy to make a jumper for my husband.  This in itself wasn’t a great idea as he never wears jumpers but it ended up so heavy that it has been renamed his ‘horse-blanket’.  However I think I may borrow it for really, really cold days!

Speaking of the weather, the summer has finally arrived here.  We went to Jamesfort in Kinsale over our long holiday weekend and it was so perfect.

Thanks to the kind help of a fellow knitter on Ravelry I think that I may have figured out how to do those sleeves.  Now the fun part – I need to actually make them!

My problem had been that in order to get the armhole large enough on the body I needed a 18 inch opening.  I had assumed (always a bad idea) that I had to pick up the correct number of stitches for this opening so that I would be at the correct stitch gauge.  This would mean that I needed to pick up 90 stitches.

However – and this is where I started having issues – with the lovely short row shoulder shaping you end up at the bottom of your sleeve cap with the same number of stitches as you started (90) but at that point the width of the arm needed to be 14.5 inches (68 stitches).

What I have been told – and I think that it should work, is that you only pick up the number of stitches that you need for the sleeve width at the end of the cap.  So… it is 68 stitches not 90 stitches that need to be picked up.  A real Eureka moment!  Now my last concern is how picking up that many stitches will look, will the spaces between them be too obvious?  Will keep you posted on progress!

I have used Barbara Walker’s ‘Knitting from the Top’ for top down raglan shaped tops and cardigans before and it works beautifully.

I have been fascinated by the idea of knitting set-in cap sleeves from the top down with short row shaping and in theory it seems like a great idea. I’m working on a cardigan that is knitted from the bottom up and will have cap sleeves. I thought that I’d see if I could design myself some top down sleeves to make sure that the cap sleeve fits nicely.

However I’ve hit a stumbling block with the maths.. unless I misunderstand I can’t make the numbers work.

If I measure around the top of the shoulder to the underarm area I would need 90 stitches, which includes picking up the bound off stitches at the underarm. So far so good – now if I follow the Barbara Walker method you take 1/3 of the stitches centered at the sleeve top and work short row shaping back and forth picking up one stitch each side until you reach the picked up underarm stitches and magic you have your nicely fitted sleeve cap.

Sounds perfect doesn’t it?? Here is my problem … I don’t want 90 stitches at the top of the arm, I want 68. If I have 90 stitches the sleeve would fit a gorilla.

Maybe I need to work a combination of the methods – short row shaping but at the same time decreasing the stitches so that the upper arm diameter will be the size I want it to be by the time the short row shaping is finished and you reach the end of the sleeve cap.

I finished my son’s hoodie yesterday.  He was just delighted with himself!  He likes the Shine yarn so much that he just keeps telling me how soft it is…now hopefully it’ll stay that way.

This was mostly done on the knitting machine but all the edging and the hoodie edging was done by hand.  I have to tell you with this many colour changes I had about 3 hours worth of solid work just to weave the ends of the yarn in.  If he wasn’t standing over me waiting to wear it I probably would have chickened out and left it for weeks.

I am currently working on a piece made from Araucania Patagonia Nature Cotton.  I got a skein from This is Knit several months ago and have been wondering what it will become.  I swatched it a few weeks ago and came up with some lovely results so now you will have to wait for the surprise outcome…I must figure out what to do with the resulting pattern.

I have been a very bad blogger for the last few weeks.  Life became very busy and writing (or actually even thinking) about knitting just didn’t seem to happen.  While knitting itself is the most wonderfully relaxing of activities designing and blogging definately take more brain activity!  I’ve been trying to dredge up some interesting project ideas for new summer tops and I think I’ve got a few that may work.  Now I just need to get them written and knitted!

But I do at least have a finished project that has come out nicely.. My Clapotis in Rowan Tapestry is going to be a very useful addition to my wardrobe.

and for a closer look…

I’ve also started with my version of Monkey in Araucania Ranco Multi sock yarn.  As soon as I get the hang of our new camera I will take a photo of it.  When I wound the skein first of all I though the colours were too muted looking but as I’m working with it they are growing on me!  I am finding the yarn beautiful to knit with, soft but solid feeling and the needle rarely snags it.  I think I’ll be using this yarn again – maybe I’ll go for a brighter yarn next time.

I am also working on a couple of projects on my knitting machine (I got a  Silver Reed LK150 for my birthday a few months ago).  I find it just great for large areas of stocking stitch, that you would use for a children’s jumper (sweater) but it is way to fiddly to use for any detail or ribbing.  I have perfected doing the edging by hand – hook it onto the machine to knit the stocking stitch and then put it back on the needles for the finishing around the neckline.  Unfortuately though my boys really like coloured stripes so I end up with an unimaginable amount of weaving in when I finish!  I’ll post the work in progress later this week.

I’ve been knitting very slowly for the last few weeks.  I have enjoyed and really want the items I’m knitting to be finished but I haven’t been so excited by them that I have been in a crazy rush to finish them.  Life seems so busy right now that knitting is playing a very small role.  However I’m sure that won’t last for too long!

I have finished Wisp for my mother’s birthday next week.  Unfortunately it is not perfect – it took me quite a while to stop dropping stitches at the start and a lace mohair pattern is not too forgiving of that!  They are very carefully concealed for the photo but hopefully she will turn a blind eye….

And I’ve finally settled on what to use my Rowan Tapestry for …. a Clapotis

This was my progress as of last week before my camera died – I have actually just now finished the straight rows so I should be finished but the end of the week.  I am so in love with this – I love the colour, the feel of the yarn and how soft it is.  It will be perfect for the freezing cold spring we are having.  What are the chances though that by the end of the week we will have sun splitting the rocks??

I think that it is knitting so slowly as it isn’t very involved knitting.  Great for in front of the tv!  I think I need to get my teeth into a cable or lace project.

I’ve been playing with a few more knitting designs some summer tops and cardigans, I’ve got a few skiens of Araucania Patagonia that I think that could make a really good summer cardigan for our Irish summer.  Must get thinking and swatching.

I am very happy to say that the eternal socks are finished. The yarn may have been sitting here half knitted for 12 months but they are happy now on their intended feet.

I have started work on my first project in Silken Kydd from Elann.com. It is very, very soft – feels a bit like knitting air! I’ve started work on Wisp from Knitty which should make a great birthday present for my mother. I am not normally prone to dropping stitches but for whatever reason knitting with this lightweight yarn I keep find a floating stitch that got lost somewhere rows back from some of the K2tog. I am finding it getting easier as I’m getting used to the yarn and the lacework is starting to look a little less wobbly!!

I also have a ball of Rowan Kidsilk hiding around in the office somewhere that I may attempt an Ice Queen with now that I’m getting the hang of knitting with floaty hairs!!

I finished the second sock for my toddler last weekend and he really likes them.  I’m happy that they aren’t too thick so I have no problem fitting his shoes over them.  Their feet are so small I was a little worried about the extra thickness of hand-knitted socks causing problems with the shoes.

I am being very good and also finished the second one of my husband’s socks.  I will not allow myself to start on anything new until this is done.  I better finish up fast – there are two many interesting projects sitting waiting for me to get started on them!