Shop News: I have fixed the things that needed fixing, and now I’m just finalising postage and packaging, so that it’s fair and not overcharging. (I hate falling for something that needs to be posted to me, and then seeing the p&p and going ‘how much!?’ Once that’s done I think I’m good to go. So very soon. :)

Last post I threatened to go off and make some Saartje’s Bootees (.pdf) for someone I know who I just found out is probably going to give birth in the next couple of weeks. As promised - obviously, since there is a big honking photo of them - that’s what I did.

They were an utter pleasure to knit too, and took no time at all - well they took about three hours from wool and needles to finished bootees. I made them with some of the Blue Sky Alpaca Silk I had left over from my beret - lovely stuff, and should suit either a boy or girl (since I have no idea what she’s having.)

(Ravelry link for them what can.)

Conclusion: I really love this pattern. I think they are adorable, and quick and they’re a great choice for a last minute extra present, which is everything you need really.

Tatami is coming along. I’m 6 1/2″ into the 8″ needed for the sleeves before the main piece splits in two for the neck and front sections. I’m supposed to knit the front pieces at the same time, but I think - for motivation sake - I’m going to knit the rest of each sleeve down to the sleeve cast off one at a time. 200 stitches really shouldn’t be a big deal but it’s a 20″ length of the stuff in total and I know I’m going to want to start working on something else, and I’m determined to knit this up as soon as I can rather than abandon it in favour of something else.

Firstly, because I could do with another cardigan for winter, secondly because I don’t need another wip staring back at me - two (deadline) ones are bad enough. And thirdly, because it’s actually a good knit, and I knew there would be lulls when I cast on, but I don’t want to walk away from it feeling a sense of ‘meh’ that isn’t particularly fair or true.

And so I knit on.

…but maybe a piece of cake.

I had one of those ideas last sunday which I knew from the start was never going to actually happen.

I thought “I have a number of projects on the go, and some of them need to be finished soon, and some of them should have been finished AGES ago, and therefore need to be finished as soon as possible so that they are late, but not OMG!LATE!.

I know! I will promise to only knit a certain project on a certain day, so that each project gets some knitting time each week, and thus will get finished quicker (than having no knitting time spend on them at all.)”

I even made a table with the days of the week in it, and next to that, the project I should knit each day, and then added the information into my diary.

Then I totally ignored my careful plan, cast on Tatami, and have knit only that so far this week.

Ooops.

Mind you, despite being on 3mm needles Tatami is coming along. The 21st Century 4ply that I originally (bought for a large but ultimately dull shawl that I abandoned) is as lovely as I remembered it being, and apart from my worry that I’m not compensating enough for my slight lack of row gauge, it’s all going pretty well. Even when I add in both sleeves the stitch count only goes up to just over 200st which is totally manageable.

That said, the barbara shawl and the dreaded looks-like-fairisle-kinda-but-is-really-evil-intasia waistcoat still need finishing well before Christmas.

(It’s a nice shawl, but it grows alot, and maybe I’m just not in a shawl mood? - though I hope that’s not the case since I like knitting shawls generally. Anyways I’m having a break…)

(PLEASE NOTE: This is the original - not the one I’m knitting. The one I’m knitting looks like this:

Or even worse - like this! [Turn you face away if you’re fainthearted!].

(Luckily other Bluestockings have offered to maybe help darn some ends in. It has been suggested that it gets passed around the table, one darned in end at a time. As thanks, they all get invited over to my house to watch my hands shake as I cut the steeks for the armholes and neck.)

Yes, I’m slightly in denial about both of those projects at the moment. So tatami it is. Well tatami, and some Saartje’s Bootees (pdf), for our wedding photographer Sarah, who I’ve just found out is about to give birth. *raids sock yarn half balls*

I keep thinking it’s going to be more summer-y that it is. Half the time I’m right, and I’m boiling it jeans and a tee-shirt. However the other half of the time - like today - I get blasted with cold wind and I can’t shake it off. Thus I think I’m going to have to shut down the computer for the day, and have a hot bath while W is out digging up more of the allotment.

Then I plan to get in pajamas, and hand knit socks, and do some more work on the Tea and Biscuit socks,

 …and Tatami.

Ok so firstly *whistles innocently* the shop isn’t going to be open till later this week (I hope) since there are a few last bugs I need to sort out. However it is still moving forwards.

However on a related note, I finished my first item of clothing out of Oxford Kitchen Yarn! I am very excited. :)

Minimalist Cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum (Interweave Knits Fall07)

My Ravelry Post: here
Yarn: Oxford Kitchen Yarns DK in Pumpkin, about 10×50g skeins.
Needles: 4.5mm
Notes: I probably could have make the next smaller size since the shoulders ended up a little wider than I am, which meant that the sleeves originally ended up in that no-mans-land of too long to be 3/4 length but too short to be full length. So I ripped them back a couple of inches, and now they are fine. Also I tweaked the cap shaping because the last part was too long. (I’m not sure if that’s a problem with the pattern of certain sizes or not?)

I was a bit worried about the stocking stitch edge rolling too much, but - while obviously it does roll - the collar construction actually works really well, and i’m really happy with the finished effect. Obviously if you wanted it to sit flat you could always knit it as garter instead or something but then your cardigan would be wider.

Conclusion: I really love this cardigan. I’m really happy with the tweadiness of the semi solid colour way, and it was a fun and relatively quick knit (about 3 weeks from start to finish). Despite my usual loathing of actually knitting moss-stitch I enjoyed this pattern a great deal. I didn’t even mind knitting it in pieces and sewing it up (I’m pretty proud of my finishing too. ;)

I’m wearing it right now as I type.

(In my defence I was in flipflops and the path was very lumpy…)

Sometimes you go to the local farmers market and are overcome with the need to bring home a giant cottage loaf, and fill it full of onions and mushrooms, and tomatoes, and swiss cheese and bake it in the oven for half an hour, and then marvel at the huge sandwich you have created, and then manage to eat half said sandwich over the two remaining meals of the day.

And by you I mean Will (who ate his half in one sitting, because he has hollow legs - and a flat stomach. ;)

And by you I also mean me (who ate it over two meals, and thought it was amazing.)

—

Hopefully the shop will open in the next 24 hours. However in the meantime I’m going to go buy a new housephone, since you have to punch ours to have any hope of hearing the person at the other end, and then I’m dropping in to Felix’s Craftanoons so that I can baby the autumn cold that is threatening to take me over, and finish the first of my minimalist cardie sleeves.