Cheeky Little Monkey

Here is my little nephew, being held captive for the photo, in his monkey jumper. It is a bit big but I wanted it to fit during the winter.


In this photo he is walking on his dad's feet- the perfect opportunity for a back view shot.

In the last post I promised pictures of my muir stole but that was before I became obsessed by fingerless gloves and wristmarmers! Muir has been cast aside (for the moment) and I have knitted 4 and a half projects from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves instead. I haven't taken any photos yet but will post some soon.

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!

Lost and Found

This is my gorgeous little nephew wearing the cabled cardigan. As you can see he is being held so he can't escape or the picture would just be a blur. Well, I'm just glad he got to try it on at all because for the last fortnight it has been missing. I sent it first class with Royal Mail and it didn't turn up. Now it is not a valuable item but I did put a fair bit of work into it and was so disapointed when I thought it had gone for ever. To give the postal service their due they did deliver it eventually. I thought the cardigan might be too small but his mother thinks it's fine and has plenty of stretch in it. I'm making slow progress on the cheeky monkey jumper (one sleeve still to be knitted) but I'm looking forward to finishing the monkey face. I don't know if I'll trust Royal Mail with it when it's finished- I might just wait until I can deliver it to the little whirlwind myself.

Just as I Suspected.

When I decided to try writing a knitting blog it seemed like a good way of keeping track of all my projects and maybe forcing me to think a bit more about what I knit. I did worry that I wouldn't be very good at keeping it up and it turns out I was right to worry - a whole month with no post! Today's post is designed to account for the last month, knitting wise and show that although I'm rubbish at sitting down to write I do manage to pick up the needles.

The Cabled Cardigan is finished! This one really dragged on towards the end but I'm pleased with it. The problem is I think it is probably a bit on the small side. It's been posted down to my nephew so I'll have to wait till it arrives to see if it does fit.

While the cardigan was waiting to be completed I needed a quick project as a distraction so the net scarf below was knitted in the garden. I like scarves, even in spring and summer, so I knitted up some leftover Jaeger Roma (bought for £1 a ball at the tail end of the John Lewis sale in January) on my favourite wooden 10mm needles. I cast on 20 stitches and every row is [s1, (k2tog, yo) until last stitch, k1]. The fringe is copied from the Lady Elenor stole from Scarf Style and was fun to knot (not knit). This was perfect for knitting in the sunshine - quick and easy and I like the end result.



The last pair of knitted socks for my Dad was at Christmas so he was due a new pair. These are plain toe up socks knitted in Regia sock yarn. I really like the colour and plain socks are great for knitting while watching TV (these were knitted through two Champions League Semis).

I was in Hamilton last week and I picked up a ball off Lang Super Soxx Cotton from Stitching Time. It was a real bargain at £4.95 so my Dad is also getting a bonus pair of socks in a stripy cotton blend. Again, they are toe up, my current method of choice but I'll probably return to cuff down for my next pair for a bit of variety.

After some easy socks it seemed time to try something new. I've never really been a fan of picture knits but thought it might be fun to try a bit of intarsia, at least once. In the 50th issue of Knitting magazine I saw a pattern for a cheeky monkey jumper which would look great on my gorgeous little nephew. The pattern called for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino but as I still had half a bag of Jaeger Matchmaker left over I decided to use this instead.



Finding a nice brown yarn for the monkey wasn't that easy but I settled on Sublime Extra Fine Merino and bought a ball each of brown and cream. The jumper has the word cheeky on the back but I've decided to use duplicate stitch for that rather than intarsia. The front didn't go too badly although having the various strands hanging did get on my nerves but I think it will look good when the monkey gets his eyes, nose and mouth.



So that's my output for the last month with the monkey jumper and cotton socks still on the needles and several more items in the early planning stages.

The football season is almost at an end and I'm looking forward to the Champions League final but so much of this season has been sickening. The Scottish league becomes more of a joke from day to day and the fiasco of the UEFA cup final in Manchester was disappointing and disgraceful. The point is being made all over the internet but it is worth repeating. Scottish fans of all clubs and the national team have been fantastic at away games for years (Celtic fans even have awards from FIFA and UEFA) but repeatedly when Rangers play there is violence and trouble with the police. Please don't judge all Scottish football fans by their example.