Waffle and a Project Wish List Update!

It's a busy time for us all here at the moment - The Curly Girl is fast approaching her 10th birthday and her main birthday present (apart from the piles of books) is an Iron Fist Rucksack which she coveted in our local Asylum Industries shop...I have to say I am quite jealous!

That said, I have had a new lovely bag of my own - another belated pressie from Lee.  I've been lusting after a Dr Martens Slouch Leather Backpack for the last year but seriously cannot in any way, shape or form, warrant (or afford!) a £200 bag!  I was therefore super excited to find the small slouch at more than half price and in reality it's a much better everyday size!  I gave it a fabulous first outing to the Harry Potter convention in Nottingham the other weekend, where I had a lovely day mooching around the shops with Carla, a nice pub lunch and a rather large amount of Pokemon Go-ing!

Right, on to much more important and less materialistic things - knitting!

I'm currently trying to finish my Semele Shawl which I'm now more than halfway through and should be able to finish by next week (I average a chart repeat a day - it's very much need to concentrate knitting!)

I'm already very much in love!  Fingers crossed my calculations are correct and I don't have to play yarn chicken - although I do have another skein of the Wollmeise Wasabi Pure stashed.

Once that's finished I'm going to work on my abandoned Aisling - again, I average a chart repeat a day and only have ten to do (I think!) 

After that I think a new hat and gloves are in order, whilst working on my Doodler (which is an ideal Friday project)  I'm really hoping to cast on a new sweater too as I love my Avalanche!

I'm still attempting to sell all the things to ensure I have lots of spending money for Yarndale which means I am starting the hideous task of clearing the hoarded clothes etc in the garage.  After playing with Carla's drop spindle, I have caught the bug (I never enjoyed spinning on mine!) so am thinking I need a new one from Spin City!  My Yarndale wish list is actually rather none existent still so I should probably have a think what I need/want before I go!

Aptly named!

Today is really rather grey, drizzly and miserable.  I have one of those dull headaches that can only be blamed on the weather (and also slightly on the bickering children and very severe lack of sleep!) 

As such, today is very much fuelled by coffee and yarn cakes...

This has become my new easy knitting project and is the fabulous Westknits Doodler in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light.  

I've also been knitting away on my Yarndale shawl - Semele in Wollmeise Pure "Wasabi" - and am on the last increase repeat (about halfway!)   No pictures though as the lace looks as ridiculously naff as all unblocked lace does!!  

On a completely none knitting related post, I received this gorgeousness in the post today.

It's a belated gift from the husbeast as, after what is now 6 months waiting, it seems like I am not going to be getting the yarn winder I ordered for my birthday/anniversary/mothers day gift.  I have been lusting after some Mary Greenwell perfume for ages and actually went and got some for myself last month.  I have had a bit of a thing for scents since I met DH, who started it all by buying me my first expensive perfumes!  My tastes have changed significantly since the 90's though and nowadays I tend to stick to just a few different scents and like my winged eye liner, I wear perfume every day.  I initially really wanted the Mary Greenwell Lemon but was really underwhelmed when I tested it - I wanted in your face citrus but didn't get it.  Cherry however was love at first sniff!  Plum was a close second so I'm so pleased to add this to my collection! 

FO Friday

It counts if they have been finished for a while but I just haven't got round to photographing them, right?!

My Pebble Beach Shawl (by Helen Stewart/Curious Handmade) was complete ages ago, however, I have yet to find anywhere in this garden to use for photographs so it's sadly been sat here, loved but undocumented!  That and the fact that the Merino/Silk 50/50 blend I dyed in HOT HOT pink is a complete arse to photograph!

This is the medium size and took 488m of fingering weight yarn.  It's such a simple yet stunning shawl which really works well to showcase beautiful skeins of yarn!

I also FINALLY completed my Avalanche Sweater!!  I rather aptly renamed this the Friday Sweater as it became my "knit whilst talking/drinking/socialising" project and was generally only worked on on a Friday.  After completing the body with an icord finish I was really worried that the rolling would reduce the length too much as I had adapted the pattern to an a-line body with a straight hem that hit at the belly button/hip.  Thankfully blocking has eliminated the severe roll it was exhibiting and I have to say I LOVE IT!!  Even in my current fatter size it still fits perfectly and the knitted fabric feels divine - I could do with an entire wardrobe of these!  No action shots as yet (although I already have the most perfect full circle black skirt to wear with it) so these very poor hanger shots in the garden will have to do - I think I need pretty wooden hangers if I'm going to make any more garments...or a dress form!

Hmm, what else have I been up to?  Very little yarn buying as I am still on my Pre-Yarndale Yarn Diet.  I did succumb to buying a gorgeous skein of Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Jelly from a Ravelry Destash last week but otherwise I have been very good on the yarn buying front!

At the beginning of the month I finally got my nose pierced - something I've wanted to have done since I was 17!  I was always very much restricted by work though and whilst I have had numerous other piercings and tattoos, I haven't had anything done since I was 21.  I have to say I was more nervous of being completely out of place, getting a piercing at my age than anything else and it was, as my other piercings all have been, a piece of cake (now what else can I get done?!)

Back to the knitting front, having cast off my Avalanche, I started on my Semele Shawl which is also for wearing at Yarndale.  I've made a Semele previously as a 60th birthday present for my mother-in-law, so knew how stunning the pattern was.  I've gone for Wollmeise Pure in Wasabi which should contrast nicely with the colour of the Avalanche - and I also oddly, have no other green shawls!  I've completed two repeats of the leaf increase chart so far and will be aiming for 4-5 increase repeats I think before the centre repeat and then an equal number of decrease repeats. I did three repeats last time and used around 80g of a 400m skein of sock yarn so have significantly more yardage to play with this time.

I was also hit with a spot of castonitis and in need of a simple project for Friday's again - so cast on my Westknits Doodler in a combination of stunning neons and black skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light (Fluro Rose, Edison Bulb and a skein of Twig I overdyed black) Excuse the rather washed out phone photo!

Right - I think that's me up to date!  I'm off to do a bit more knitting whilst avoiding the fact I need to drag a super king size mattress down two flights of stairs - our new mattress was delivered this morning and I'm looking forward to a much better nights sleep - from exhaustion if nothing else!

Still Sweater - ing*

*in that I am still knitting a sweater - not to be confused with sweating!

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged - time really does just disappear, generally in this house at the moment in a haze of snot and rain!  It really does feel like we're all passing around one cold after another this year and I spent a vast amount of last week with a rather miserable sinusitis/chest infection combination that I'm still suffering the after effects of.  If only mucus production counted as weight loss!

Whilst binge watching iZombie on Netflix, I have slowly but steadily been working on the very mindless knitting that is my Avalanche sweater.  With Yarndale creeping closer, I'm determined to both finish this and a new shawl especially for the occasion.

After deciding to opt for a hip length straight hem, I worked the body until I had completed 9 increases (increasing every 15 rows from the initial point indicated in the pattern)

I finished the body with an i-cord bind off.  However, I am slightly concerned that there is a significant rolling of the hem which is really reducing the length - so I may well add to the length if, after a wash and a block, I feel it's too short (this is despite constant trying on whilst working on the body)  That said, I am currently a tad (lot!) heavier than I was when I started knitting this so am hoping that losing some of my "no longer breastfeeding" weight gain will also help!

I've also completed the neck, which comprises picking up a gazillion stitches from around the neck and added 1 x 1 rib.  I'm now working on the sleeves - which I'm aiming for just below elbow length as I scrunch all my sleeve up to there anyway!  There was a grand total of 110g (so just over 575m) left of my 324g skein of Wollmeise Lace Garn so I'm really impressed that I can get an entire sweater in my size from one skein.

Fingers crossed I shall be finished soon and then I can continue to work on my Aisling border and decided what to knit as my Yarndale shawl!!  I was originally thinking a Semele in Wollmeise Pure in Wasabi but am very likely to change me mind!!