Sewing Up - Uughh!

I like knitting. It can be relaxing, challenging, satisfying and fun. Sewing up however I do not like. It takes me much longer than it should and I’m never happy with the end result. In fact all it does is make my knitting look worse. So over the last couple of days I’ve been sewing up and have done no knitting at all- none. The sewing up in question was on the Cheeky Monkey Jumper and on a pair of lacy fingerless mittens. It astounds me every time how long it takes me to sew up a sweater for a toddler - hours and hours! How is that possible ? I’m just rubbish at sewing obviously. Anyway, it’s being blocked and will be delivered to gorgeous little nephew in a few days (not by post this time).


Proper pictures to follow when dry.


The mittens are purple but are not the crochet Afternoon Tea Gloves mentioned in my last post. They, unfortunately, had to be abandoned due to an inappropriate choice of yarn (damn you inflexible cotton 4 ply). The new gloves are from “Knitting New Mittens and Gloves”(Robin Melanson) , a lovely little book with some unusual patterns. The book arrived a week ago and I started knitting Glaistig the same day, having bought some purple (again) merino 4 ply from McAree brothers (on sale) the day before . They were a great weekend knit, quick and fun.



The cuff is knitted as a strip in K2 P2 ribbing and the “hand” is a lovely lace pattern, knitted on two needles . It was interesting / easy enough to knit during Euro 2008 ( which has been fantastic so far!). There was a problem finding a plastic buckle and I had to make do with a couple of D shaped rings cobbled together. It’s not perfect by any means but I still am very fond of the end result- I am wearing them as I type!



Now that I’m finished sewing up I can get back to knitting. The Jane Austen group on Ravelry is having a read along / knit along of Sense & Sensibility. I’ve chosen the lovely Muir stole as my project and I’m looking forward to working on it (I cast it on before my sewing exploits). Pictures will appear when there is something substantial to photograph!

Purple Patch

Somehow I have ended up working on two projects in purple. They are not designed to match, in fact they are different shades of purple. The first came about after a visit to McAree Brothers in Stirling a couple of weeks ago. I saw their deep purple Anchor Bamboolo and loved it. It is really soft with a slight sheen (70% cotton, 30% bamboo) and I’m hoping it will make a lovely lightweight top. I have started knitting in the round on 6.5mm needles without deciding how I want the top to look. I have copies of EZ’s Knitting Without Tears and Joelle Hoverson’s Favorite Yoke Sweater Pattern and Teva Durham’s Loop d Loop to hand for inspiration but I’m basically going to see how far my 7 skeins takes me and decide what to do as I go along.




The second project is crochet! I was browsing on Ravelry (as you do) and discovered the Fingerless Gloves Fanatics Group. I’m hardly a fanatic but I would say I’m a bit of a convert. I used to think fingerless gloves were a complete waste of time but a pair of Fetching Mittens and Falling Leaves Wristwarmers later I’ve changed my mind. I gave away the Fetching pair as a gift but I love my Falling Leaves. They do make you feel really cosy- it must be the covering of the pulse points. So I find the FGF group and see they are doing a June KAL and CAL. For some reason I go for the Afternoon Tea Gloves CAL. They are very pretty but I cannot think of a situation where I will wear a pair of lacy “Tea Gloves” ! I don’t go to many upmarket garden parties these days. It’s been fun working on the first glove despite a few problems with the pattern so even if I don’t wear them I’ll have enjoyed doing a bit of crochet for a change. The yarn is Rowan 4 ply cotton (1 ball, size 2mm hook) and I also need buttons for the wrists before I can go any further .



All this purple has distracted me but I must finish off the cheeky monkey jumper . There is very little left to be done yet I keep picking up everything but the jumper - poor little cheeky monkey needs a face. I promise I’ll give him one soon.