Blogging the unblocked

Warning: the photos in this blog post are a little bit shit.

On Friday evening I finished the knitting on Warriston. On Saturday morning I sewed the ends in and put it on. I wore it until I went out on Saturday night. On Sunday I got up and put it on again. Normally I block my finished items immediately, but I think I'll wait until the weather warms up again. I'm too busy wearing this to block it. Last night the house was 17 degrees. While I normally like the house at 20, wearing Warriston and handknit socks kept me toasty.

I do think it came out a little bit big, which was a shock to me, because my stitch gauge was smaller than the pattern called for. Gauge lies! The only modification I made was to change my rate of decreases, as my row gauge was also out.

It is incredibly comfortable and was such a fast and fun knit that I might make another, smaller one, some time in the future, perhaps with some waist shaping.

After I finished Warriston I wanted to cast on something quick, because the new Cookie A sock club patterns came out four days after, and I'd really like to get them on my needles. I chose the Jewelled cowl, a beaded pattern I got obsessed with the moment I say it. It was very simple, but after 4 days of knitting the same two row repeat I was ready to be finished! The beading was slow, because only about half the beads fit on my tiny 0.75 mm crotchet hook. Also, with tiny beads flying everywhere, this was not really suitable for public knitting, but I didn't let that stop me. I suspect I left a Hansel and Gretel like trail of beads behind me this week.

Why yes, I do wear a name tag at work.

I wore it to work today - also unblocked, and took self portraits, because right now all the people with whom I am friends enough to ask them to take photos are away. I also think it would look better over a black dress.

So there it is, two finished projects, neither of them blocked, both of them illustrated with lazy happy snaps.

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Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises.

Linky Wednesday - the one with the drama

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Mussleburgh musings

I made a Mussleburgh hat earlier in the year, and even though I thought I was following the directions exactly it did not come out quite right. It was a little bit loose. My head is 51 cm, my gauge was 7 stitches, so according to the pattern I knit the right size. It's also a little bit shorter than I would like it. Too long for a beanie, too short for a good turn-up. I couldn't work out why. I still wore it, but it was not quite right. When I decided to knit one for Elise I knew I wanted to make it longer, and tighter. After I finished Elise's (with 24 fewer stitches) I realised something about mine: Now, this is a knit tube. I know how to knit tubes. When I make sleeves or socks, they don't balloon out in the middle. So I decided to reblock it. The instructions actually specifically say to fold it inside each other after blocking, but I probably folded it and dried it on my head, because that's how I block my hats. Not this time: Now it's longer and thinner

What I made, by Sharon

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