Thursday, July 27, 2006

What can I do??

To all the experienced knitters out there, I have a small plea for help. What can I do to a top that is looking rather shapeless. I finished my Prairie Tunic which was a fairly easy knit. The problem I have is that it has no waist shaping whatsoever. So I look like I have a big tummy on me. How can I add some shaping to the waist? Can I sew in some shaping? I'm not sure I want to rip out the whole thing. What can I do???

Friday, July 21, 2006

Lotus Blossom is progressing

The weather here in sunny London is not being very conducive for my knitting. Hot and sweaty = not a lot of knitting.

Having said that, I've made a bit of progress on the Lotus Blossom Tank (LBT), knitting in the wee hours of the night. I'm done with the lace part of the knitting. Hurray!!! I'm looking forward to the boring knit every stitch part of the knitting. The lace knitting got a bit easier after the second repeat. It suddenly made sense what the yo, ssk, ss2k2 where supposed to look like. There are one or two "design elements" in lace repeat 3 and 4. I couldn't face any more ripping. So it's going to stay this way.
In other news, I had Kate and her family over to lunch last Saturday. Being the wonderful blogger that I am, I forgot to take any photos of the day. DUH!! But we had a nice time - the kids played together. Hubbies had a chat. Knitters shared current WIPs and finished products and books. We have to organise another time to have a look at the stash because my hubby was around!!! One weekday soon. The only photo I remembered to take was one of the kids. They insisted that they wanted to be tigers for the day. So here they are. Everyone say ROAR!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Knitting, ripping and more ripping

A few days ago, Kim started her Lotus Blossom Tank. I did say that if she started hers, I would start mine too. I do love the design. However, progress has been slow. 4 days ago, this would have been the picture of the progress. 2 days ago, the same picture would have worked too. Yes you guessed it, its been ripped twice. The first time, I didn't notice that I'd messed up some of the lacework. The second time........ never knit when drinking more than 1 glass of wine. That's all I'm going to say. Third time lucky (I hope). I'm progressing past the first repeat. Here's a close up.
On the other knitting, I've finished the knitting portion for my Prairie Tunic. I just need to sew it up. I'm tryng to get my motivation for that. I also haven't bothered taking a photo of my progress on Tempting II. 5 inches of 1x1 ribbing is not very exciting. More about that soon.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

My first PAIR of socks

Another milestone has been achieved in my knitting exploits. I have completed my first pair of socks. Hurray. The second sock didn't suffer as much. In fact, it didn't get ripped back once. Smooth sailing all the way. It took a quarter of the time of sock number one. Here it is in all its glory.

PS - please note, it's only a toddler pair!!!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Update from the week

I am at the moment suffering from a lot of things. Hayfever for one. Streaming eyes and nose. Itchiness. Sore throat.

The other thing I'm suffering from is startitis. Here's my WIP list. I have finished the back of my Prairie Tunic and 75% of the front. I have also started the second sock. I'm now at the heel flap stage. There's another WIP but I can't remember what it is!!!!! Here's the front piece of the Tunic.


But here's what I started in the mean time. I finished the first hexagon of the Baslt Tank from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan. It had to be ripped back halfway because I can't count. Duh!! Not the first time I can't count.

I've also just realised it's July 2. This means the SKC knitalong has begun. I've also just casted on for Tempting II. It's not actually worth photographing. 160 stitches of 1x1 ribbing in dark chocolate brown. I've done 2 rows. So there.

Stash enhancement news. The Liberty sale was disappointing. I don't know what it was like on the preview Wednesday, but on Thursday, there was practically nothing left. Not anything I wanted anyway. But there was some lovely fabric which I bought. But can I sew. No. No yet.

But Kate and I had a lot of fun visiting Stash. Michelle, one of the owners, was really nice and knowledgable. The yarns available were so yummy. I could have spent a lot of money but I was very restrained. Here's what I went away with. 4 balls of Lana Grossa Binario in pink and grey and a bit shiny and the new Knitscene magazine. While we were there, we also met another fellow blogger, Ruth. "Hi. It was nice to meet you." I love meeting new people.