Race update - and the winner is....

A pretty close run thing, but Andrew's jumper has won. Last ends woven in today and after a little bit of a light blocking I declare it the winner.

We had our friend Mina to visit last week along with her son Theodor, who's about 8 months old. She asked if I could help her develop her rudimentary knitting skills - I'm not sure if I was that much help, but she went home with some yarn and needles that she was encouraged to buy and a pattern for a baby hat that she practice cast on for while she was visiting. She's since set up a ravelry account, so hopefully she'll keep going. I cast on for the same baby hat and have nearly finished it - it just needs some i-cord making for ties.

Now we just need the baby.

Race progress

The jumper vs baby race is really hotting up:

Baby is at about 8 months.

And as far as the jumper is concerned, the sleeves are done and I'm onto the yoke. Another inch or so and I can start doing some decreases. I'm looking forward to the decreases as it's an awful long way around at the moment.

So, the race is hotting up and it's all to play for.

Still growing

Nothing much new to report going on here - just continued progress on ongoing projects.

Andrew's cobblestone now has 5 balls of felted tweed on it and is about 21" long - so probably one more ball and then I can get on with the sleeves.


The weather here has been nice over the last little while, and the veg garden is growing with varying success. We harvested our first broad beans during the week and after a few hints to the chef that these needed to be showcased in something, he made a nice risotto. We also have one surviving sweetcorn plant, some florence fennel, leeks and brocolli plants doing their thing, so hopefully they'll continue to make progress. Our soft fruit is also doing well. We have a few blackcurrents and gooseberries and also some strawberries - the field fares have been eyeing them up, but despite some attacks on the netting they haven't managed to get in there yet.

My bump is also growing - I'm about 7 months now.

I'm starting to feel a bit as if there's a race between Andrew's cobblestone and the baby - I would really like Andrew's jumper to win as I'm sure knitting will take a bit of a hiatus once the baby gets here.

The rain will do the garden good

Anyone would think we were back in winter again with the darkness of the photos I'm posting - in fact it looks like it's about to rain, big heavy laden sky. We have had some good sunshine and hot weather recently, so the phrase, "The rain will do the garden good" is more true than annoying. Hopefully it'll help to swell the gooseberries and encourage the rhubarb to put up a few more stalks for us to harvest, and maybe encourage the strawberries to fruit (the field fares are certainly keeping their beady little eyes on the plants despite them being securely caged - the strawberries, not the birds).


So, back to the photos - just a couple of progress shots again. The first is another shot of Andrew's cobblestone sweater. One more ball of yarn down and it's definitely getting longer - I think I've got about 11" to go before I get to the armpits (I had thought I only had 4" to do, but my maths isn't very good at the moment so when I checked I found it was more). We're off to the UK next week so I'll take it with me to try to get those 11" done while sitting in the garden relaxing and while David's off walking with my Dad. I still like knitting with felted tweed, there's something about it that pleases me - not sure if it's the tweediness, or the soft but not fluffy soft texture, or how even it knits up - or maybe all three and some other reasons that haven't been verbalised right now.

The other progress shot is the pile of nappies that I'm making.

I had a bit of a slow start as I decided I didn't like how they looked when I overlocked the edges, and I was having some problems with the soaker pad bunching when I washed them. But after taking a couple of the first ones apart and putting them back together so that they're sewn and then turned and with a better constructed soaker pad, I'm starting to make progress. These are going to be too big for a newborn, but I'm hoping will be a good average size that the baby will be able to get some good use out of. I think we're going to try these nappies from mothercare for when the baby's very little.

Count down

Some things I seem to be doing at the moment involve counting down - here are three of them:

Firstly, and probably needing the least amount of counting down is our rhubarb. This has come back nicely after the winter. I'll probably cut the first stalks this weekend. The plan is to make a rhubarb baked cheesecake - I don't really have a recipe to follow, but will adapt and experiment with my usual baked cheesecake recipe and see what happens.

Secondly, Andrew's jumper is still making progress. I've now knit 3 balls and I think I'm nearly half way to the arm pits. The felted tweed is knitting up nicely (as ever). I hope it fits him when it's finished.

And thirdly, the counting down of the bump... this is the progress at 25 weeks. It looks like a baby bump rather than a pie bump now.

finished

I seem to be getting behind with my blogging.

I finished the deep V argyle vest - as I've said before I was meant to be knitting this along with Quinn, but the knitting gods were against her and so she ended up taking it back to the US with her to finish.

I'm pleased with how mine turned out. I made some alterations in the upper part to accommodate my row gauge, basically by shortening the pattern - the alterations have worked out and it fits pretty well. The scary steeking part was scary as predicted, but the good directions kept me on course and it worked fine.

I also finished the arch shaped socks I started on my trip back to the UK before Christmas. Despite my gusset/decrease numbers not working out they came out fine. They're comfortable and a bit different.


Next project started is the cobblestone pullover for my friend Andrew - I'm about 2" in. Man-sized sweater's are pretty big.

are the days getting longer?

Since I last blogged about the snow etc all that snow has melted, there's been a little bit since, but nothing really to talk about. It's made it seem pretty dark and grimy as the days have continued to shorten. We've reached the turning point now though. Hoorah.

I've been busy/pre-occupied over the last month with some changes to my work, which included a quick trip back to the UK. Apart from the work-related stuff I had a good time visiting Jo and Andrew, who were kind enough to put me up at short notice. They were very good hosts and made sure I had the opportunity to drink proper beer, do some shopping, post Christmas cards, buy some really interesting cheese and eat some very good food including a treacle sponge. I didn't get the opportunity to visit any yarn shops, but I did come home with some more felted tweed - Andrew has asked me to knit him a jumper as he's tired of not finding what he wants that fits in the shops - he's decided on the cobblestone pullover by Jared Flood and managed to get the yarn in time for me to bring it back with me.

I have one project that I want to get finished before I cast on Andrew's cobblestone. And that is the deep V Argyle Vest that I've been working on. Knitting this along with Quinn hasn't happened as she's had some real problems with gauge and sizing etc so she's giving her version a time out. I've finished the knitting of the body and am now preparing myself mentally for doing the crochet steeks and cutting the arms and neck openings. I'm feeling pretty positive about it, but I'm sure it'll be pretty nerve racking.

And finally in knitting news I started a sock at Helsinki airport last weekend on my way to UK. I risked taking knitting needles in my hand luggage and was very surprised, especially on the return leg out of Heathrow, to have no problems at all. I'm sure it's very hit or miss and am not sure I'd risk trying to take larger needles or a project that would be a real disaster to restart if the needles were confiscated - I guess that's where life lines come in.

So, anyway the sock is the arch-shaped sock by Jen Showalter, although I'm trying to do them in 3 x 2 rib as I've seen others on ravely do them. My numbers/gusset decreases haven't worked out quite right, but I'm keeping going to see what happens.