Cobblestone progress

We're off to Riga tomorrow for a long weekend to explore another of the Baltic cities. The weather's meant to be good, and hopefully it'll be a good weekend all round.

I promised myself that I would finish two balls of yarn on Andrew's cobblestone sweater before I went to Riga and before I blogged about it - so here it is:

Progress so far. Progress is slow, but it's progress nevertheless.

spring at last?

Finally, the first snowdrops have been spotted in our garden:

Breaking the silence

It's time to break blogging silence... I haven't been feeling particularly energetic recently and the crafting has been suffering. (Sorry Andrew, your jumper is only 2" further along). I think I'm getting a bit more energy now and so thought it was time to break the silence.

I couldn't ignore, and had to share, the display Mr Amaryllis is giving this year. I've pretty much ignored him all year and only occasionally given him a drop of water and he's rewarded my neglect with this beautiful bloom. I've spotted a second bud coming from the same bulb, which is very exciting.

My Mum came to visit last week and helped me plant a few veg seeds.... it didn't take long, but a few have already germinated. The line of seedlings closest are broccoli, there's also some leeks that have germinated and one sweet corn plant (so far). It all bodes well for this years vegetable garden, we just need things to warm up and the snow to go and then we can really get things going.

I have started (again with the help of my Mum, and Dylan as model) a new crafty project. I've decided to make nappies. Dylan claims he doesn't need a nappy, but I'm not so sure! The plan is to make 20 before the beginning of September.

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.

looking forward

2008 has been a good year, with lots of positive things happening, but I prefer to look forward to 2009 than back at a summary of 2008. I've been thinking about 2009 and things that I would like to achieve this year - not really resolutions - but more goals and aims. David and I have been thinking about places we'd like to visit and experiences we would like to have, but I thought it was worth having a think on a more personal level. Some of these are craft related, so I thought I'd write them down here (in no particular order):

Learn to knit continental style - I did teach myself to do it last year, but I would like to actually knit something this way around so that the method sticks properly in my head.
Continue with my City and Guilds (which seems to be paused at the moment).
Make a really concerted effort with my quilt.
Continue using stuff I already have, and generally reducing the amount of "stuff" I have.
Sew more clothes.
Design something myself.

Some of these will overlap and hopefully lead into each other, which gives me a nice feeling of continuity.

Deep breath

I cut the steeks on the deep V vest today. They didn't immediately unravel, which is a good sign, although I'll be happier once it's all finished and the facing edges secured down.

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.