Moving Along

So, we had a buyer for the house and I found somewhere to move, signed Little One up for school etc and then she pulled out...

But, I have decided that as it's all set up I'm going to move anyway. It will mean paying off credit cards month by month rather than in one go as I would have been able to with the house profit but that's just life really and the school and house both fit us well so it would be silly to loose them and perhaps have to settle for something not as good in the future.

I have 2 weeks to get everything packed and ready to go (we go on the 10th of May) so my knitting and sewing will be pretty slow I'd imagine! I will also be offline for at least a week, if not more, once we've moved due to setting up new Broadband and waiting for the desk the computer is to go on to be moved from my sister's house to mine (she's had it on long term loan).

Anyway, I do intend to finish off the dress I've been working on before I move so I will have that to show you. The Cobblestone Pullover is coming along nicely as well, I have about 3 inches to go until I join on the sleeves and I'm really happy with the way it's looking so far. Besides that I've not picked up any other knitting really but I have started a cross-stitch of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny for the boy's new room. I haven't done cross-stitch since I was a kid but I'm really enjoying it, like I really needed another crafty hobby!

Rib and Cable Socks FO

These socks suffered an unexplained holiday in the middle of being made, I raced through the first one and then raced down to the heel of the second and then put them down for about a month and didn't knit a single stitch. On Saturday I turned the heel and started working on the foot and by Sunday evening they were done and dusted!

I'm really happy with the way they came out, the pattern is from Interweave Knits Fall 2005 and is by Nancy Bush. The pattern is really easy to follow, the toe is a little bit odd though, you purl the decreases and it's a round toe rather than decreasing on each side like I'm used to doing. Anyway, it works and it looks fine, I just found it a little strange to knit but I'm all up for trying new ways of making socks! The yarn is Panda Cotton in Seascape and I used 2 balls. I left out one repeat on the cuff and was glad I did so when I got to the toe of the first sock with only a tiny bit of yarn left. They're knit on 2.25mm needles for a nice firm fabric which should hopefully wear well and the Panda Cotton is so silky, it feels really lovely.

I'm now working on the Fools Rush socks which were abandoned many moons ago. I think I should be able to finish the first sock really soon, hopefully the pattern repeat I'm on will be the last one before the toe on the first sock. Again with these I flew through the first cuff but then just lost interest which is sad as the pattern is pretty easy and looks nice in the yarn I'm using (Maizy in a plain colour).

My Dad's Cobblstone is coming along really well, it's actually the project I've been knitting on the most recently as it's just simple round and round knitting and you only have to pay attention for the garter stitch panels on the side. I am enjoying knitting with Cascade 220, if I used wool for myself I would definitely be stashing more of the yarn.

Besides that everything else is either being ignored or having a row here or there done on it. I'm happy to get another project off the needles though and I'm hoping to have the willpower to finish the Fools Rush socks before casting on for another pair, we'll see how that goes!

Up and Down

My mood changes by the half hour at the moment, I can go from excited and optimistic to staring into space depressed to frettying so much I can't stay still in such a short time it makes my head spin.

At the moment I'm trying to sort out the exchange contracts on the house, sort out our financial stuff through mediation, fill out huge financial declaration forms with tons of details I don't know the answer to, keep hold of the house I want to rent near my parents while we wait for the exchange on the house and later on I have to go and see a solicitor about the separation which I know is going to be upsetting and hard and I'm really not looking forward to it.

I was excited yesterday because we finally had the appointment to have the survey done on the house today which is a big step towards exchange. However, now that he's been I'm worried that he found lots of things wrong with the house which will put the buyer off and the whole sale will fall through. With the housing market here in a nosedive we could be stuck with the house for a very long time if we can't sell it right now to this buyer.... I know I should try and not worry about things until I know for sure what's going on but I am a worrier by nature and can't seem to turn it off, at the moment I jump from one worry to another and emotionally it's wearing me out.

So, while I'm busy worrying and fretting and trying to sort things out I'm not getting to do the things which help to improve my mood and keep me sane, ie knitting and sewing, and that makes it harder. Even when I do get a chance to do either activity I find it hard to stop stressing enough to enjoy what I'm doing, my mind will just not let it go.

I know that all this will pass and things will ease up eventually, but I can't even be certain when that will be. Once we have exchanged on the house then I know I can move on with my life and start sorting out the new life, but until that happens, which could be another month, I'm stuck in this round and round and round of worrying about one thing, sorting out what I can, finding something else that needs to be sorted, worrying about that etc etc etc.

To top all this off I'm also really frustrated because there is so little I can actually *do* right now. I can't buy stuff for the new place as I'm not sure I will get it or when we will move, I can't start packing or find a moving company for the same reason and I am reliant on other people to do all the stuff that can be done right now, the most I can do is ring once a week and bug them. I'm really not good at waiting. When I know what I want I get on and do it and this is one of those times where I can't do that, I just have to wait it out.

Good thing I don't bite my fingernails or I'd be down to my knuckles by now and fingerless before this is all over....

A Couple of FO's

I finished off the Phiaro Scarf before I went to visit my parents for a week but didn't get time to post it before I left.



The pattern is from the newest edition of Knitscene and it was a really easy fun piece to make. Basically you knit a tube and then while you're casting off you drop the stitches. I really love this scarf, the colours, the drape, the pattern, everything about it really and I can see myself making a few more of these in the future. The pattern calls for 3 balls of SWT Soysilk but I had 2 balls of SWT Bamboo in my stash so I used those instead. The only difference is that my scarf is only 17 inches wide as opposed to the 22 inches the pattern says it should be, but I think it's wide enough for wrapping around the neck, 22 inches would make it more like a shawl. The colourway is tequila and the balls I had were two completely different colourways which really showed up when it was knit into a tube but don't stand out after all the dropping of stitches has occurred.

The other thing I finished was the dress that I've been working on for what feels like forever. The pattern is Burda 8075 and the fabric comes from Fabric Shack from a collection called The Roaring 20's, I used 3 yards.



(I couldn't be bothered to adjust the bust of my dressform which is why the dress is hanging on her a little bit!)

I am happy with the way this dress came out, it will fit me for the summer as I made a largish size and it will be pretty comfortable to wear I think (I can get it on now but it's a little too tight around the baby flab stomach I'm sporting). I left off the welt pockets in the end, mainly because I chickened out as I've never done them before and I wasn't in the right frame of mind to try anything new or fiddly. I also only put on 3 buttons instead of 4 as I will never do up the top one so it seemed a bit of a waste of time to put it on. The buttons are vintage from my Great Aunt's collection, I had some lovely ones that were a better match but I only had 3 and broke one trying to sew it on with the machine as it was more fragile than I thought....

I'm making another dress next, a Duro finally, and am looking forward to how it's going to come out. The print I settled on is pretty bright but it will have dark brown for the neckbands, waistband and cuffs so that should tame it a little bit! My Mum bought me the fabric to go with another brown fabric I had but when you compare them in the daylight they're not quite similar enough to work out and they also didn't go with the other brown background fabric I have so the print won in the end. Nice to have a fabric stash to shop in at times like that!

I have cast on for my Dad's Cobblestone pullover and I like the Cascade 220 colourway I picked for it. I'm working on a sleeve first and then will cast on for the body which is going to take forever as I'm making the 51.5" chest! I also am working on the Frontier Blues Jacket, again from the most recent Knitscene, and have finished one sleeve and am a couple of inches into the body of it, simple knitting on all projects at the moment.

In the rest of life the boys and I had a good time at my parents and also got to spend time at my sister's new farm. Little One loved being with the animals (she's lambing at the moment and also has a horse, goats and chickens) and he's asking when we get to go back so he can ride the horse!

While I was away we accepted the offer on the house, the housing market looks like it's about to crash here and so it seemed silly to pass up a half decent offer and risk not being able to sell it for less later. I also found a house I want to rent which is an 8 minute drive from my parents house and overlooking open countryside. So now I'm trying to sort out the house exchange as fast as possible so I can sign the lease on the new house. As soon as we have exchanged contracts I should be able to move which is very exciting as I love moving house and the new place seems great (I actually haven't been inside yet, I looked through the windows as it's empty and my Mother viewed it for me and says it's a good house so I'll trust her as she rented my sister's farm without my sister seeing it until the moment she moved in!). There's also the sorting out the separation which is pretty depressing stuff and hard work emotionally but hopefully it will all be done in the next month or so and I can move on and start the next phase of my life, fingers crossed.

Dawn FO

I finally finished off the seaming of Dawn this morning, I knew it was going to be a real pain to seam which is why I kept putting it off. With the looseness of the fabric I had to make sure that I didn't pull the seam stitches too tightly or the shape of the sweater would go all funny. I got there in the end though, I'm not entirely happy with it but I can't see how I could have done it better so I will leave it alone!

The pattern is from Rowan 35 and I used 7.5 balls of All Seasons Cotton in Fern. It is knit on 6mm and 12mm needles, you knit the 12mm and purled the 6mm. The ribbing is on 4mm needles. The only change I made was to just knit 2 inches on 4mm needles for the neck ribbing rather than switching to larger needles and knitting a longer collar which would fold over. The fold over collar was what put me off making this sweater when I saw it in the book but after seeing one with the changed collar on Ravelry I thought the design was much nicer.

Besides working on Dawn I have been knitting away on the Phairo Scarf, I have about a third of a ball left to go and then I get to the fun of dropping the stitches and making the scarf look like more than a tube. I've also been working on the second Cable and Rib sock, I started the heel flap and then for some reason compared it to the first sock and discovered that I had done one repeat less on the second sock so had to rip back and bit and do that. I'm working slowly on the Green Tree Raglan, a few rows here and a few there. I don't mind moss stitch (seed stitch) but it can get a little dull after a while.

I ordered the yarn for a Cobblestone Pullover for my Dad. I wanted to make it out of nice yarn and the only affordable one was Cascade 220 which has been used on quite a few of them looking at Ravelry. I found it over here but it was going to cost £49 ($97) which was a bit more than I wanted to pay. My younger sister agreed to come in on the yarn purchase with me but I still thought that it was going to be incredibly expensive. I was just about to order it anyway and did one more Google search for the colourway I wanted and found an Ebay shop that was selling it much cheaper and managed to get it for £36 ($72) which I'm much happier about, so now I'm just waiting for it to arrive. His Birthday isn't until August but I want to get going on it not just because I have to knit a 51" chest but because if I have to move before then I won't have as much time for knitting while I pack and unpack etc and I would like to be able to wrap up a finished sweater for him instead of some balls of yarn and some needles!

Sewing wise I'm very slowly working on the Burda dress I mentioned before. I am almost done with the bodice, just need to do the armhole facings and the buttonholes and then I can start on the skirt which has set in pockets, something I've not attempted before. I am liking the way it looks so far though so I'm excited to see it finished this week so I can move onto something else from my pile of waiting projects.

We had an offer on the house last week but it was too low so we had to turn it down. Hopefully we will start getting more viewings as the weather gets nicer, it's incredibly stressful waiting for people to want to view it and waiting to move on with everything. I am not a patient person so it sometimes really gets to me and depresses me which is why I haven't been doing as much sewing and knitting as I would like, I find it hard to motivate myself to do anything when I feel down. Fingers crossed this won't last that much longer though, the housing market has to pick up soon (she says hopefully!).

Got It Finished

This skirt has been hanging around in the sewing room for far too long half finished, so yesterday I forced myself to work on it and actually managed to get it done just before I needed to go and pick up Little One from school.

The pattern is Simplicity 4086, I originally cut the pieces for pockets but I couldn't get the linen to lie properly and they looked terrible so I left them off. The fabric is from Sewing Supply Co-op many moons ago and I've tried about 5 patterns in the past only to discover that I didn't have enough fabric (I had 2 yards) but this pattern worked with that amount.

It wasn't a hard skirt to make, I stalled at the zip. Zips are my sewing hurdle at the moment and I don't know why. I'm not actually that bad at putting them in (saying that it took me 3 goes with this one and I still had to do a little hand stitching inside where I'd not quite caught the seam allowance in) and they prevent me from even starting garments and from working at them when I reach the zip installation point. I really need to get over my block and just sew them before they become a really big deal. There always seems to be something that I don't like doing or am put off doing with my sewing, not sure what causes it, I just seem to loose my confidence now and again.

I went through all my pattern boxes last night and couldn't find a single thing I wanted to make which is a bit worrying. I think it's because I have some Burda patterns on the way from Sewing.com and I know there is a dress pattern in there I'd really like to make with a particular fabric I have if I have enough of it. I have been hoping all week that the package will arrive, if it doesn't come today I will just have to get on with Little One's trousers or perhaps trace some patterns for Tiny and get going on the things I want to make for him. I've got some fabric in the machine dying at the moment for a vintage overalls pattern I found last night in one of the boxes sized 1 year, hopefully it will come out ok.

I discovered that I may actually have enough yarn to finish off the cable sock, I am going to try and do one more pattern repeat and then do the toe, it's going to be close but I might just make it, fingers crossed. Besides that it's same old same old with the knitting, a few rows of the scarf and a few rows of the Green Tea Raglan and avoiding the seaming on Dawn!

Where Was I?

I seem to have wandered aimlessly away from the blog, sorry about that. The sewing has slowed down but I do have two things to show you, the first of which is another Onion 20035 t-shirt for Little One

The fabric is PRR race cars jersey, I think it's dyed Bahama Blue, I really should write down what dye colours I use as I always think I'll remember but I never do. There will be some cord trousers to go with this t-shirt at some point, I've traced the Ottobre pattern I want to use but not cut it out yet.

The second finished garment are these Baby Jeans for Tiny, they are Ottobre 2/03 #5 that I said I'd cut out from the final scraps of the stretch denim. I had thought I would get a 74cm pair from it but in the end it was only just big enough for the 65cm size which is what he's wearing at the moment. To give him a little bit more wear from them I used 3/4 inch elastic rather than 1 inch and did a 1.5cm hem rather than a 2cm one which in total gave me about 1cm more length.




I used light blue thread, it was actually what I had in the sewing machine and then I thought out of laziness that it might look nice and give a bit of contrast on the dark fabric so I tried it out and I think it looks quite good. The applique on the back pocket is from Abakhan as well, I found two packets of ones this size of varying vehicles and snapped them up as I can use them for either of the boys to add a touch of colour to plain garments. It's an iron on one so very easy to apply and it has the added benefit of my being able to say to Tiny 'you got a rocket up your ass? Oh, yes you apparently do!' which adds a small giggle to the day for someone like me with a stupid sense of humour.

Since finishing those jeans I've done nothing sewing wise besides staring at the projects I'd like to work on and getting rid of my mending pile which made me feel good. I sewed buttons on the black cotton cardigan I finished many moons ago, sewed some elastic onto some pj bottoms, put a button on a school shirt for little one and mended the inseams of a pair of my trousers so those items are no longer there to taunt me every time I go into the room.

What is now taunting me are the pieces of Dawn, I finished the knitting about two weeks ago and still haven't managed to do the raglan seams so I can do the neckband. I don't know why I have just abandoned it there but I do intend to pick it up soon.

Knitting that has been grabbing my attention is the Diamond Fantasy Shawl which I've not touched in probably over a year. I have done just over one pattern repeat since Saturday and that includes ripping out 6 rows after dropping a stitch, the first time I've ever used a safety line I put in all my shawls and I was so glad it was there! I have four more pattern repeats and then I will just have some short rows and an attached i-cord to do. Of course as the shawl grows every other row the second half of the shawl knitting will take longer than the first half but I'm excited to be knitting on it again and to have started the second of three balls of yarn.

I finished the second sleeve of the Green Tree Raglan and will now be making very slow progress on the front and backs, miles of moss stitch (seed stitch) which I don't mind for a short while but does get dull. To give me something plain to work on I have cast on for the Phiaro Scarf from Knitscene Winter 07. I'm using SWTC Bamboo rather than more of the Oasis that the pattern calls for (which I'm using for the Green Tree Raglan). I also only have 2 balls instead of 3 so it won't be as wide but I adore the colourway and needed something where it wouldn't matter that the two balls I have are from different dyelots and this should do the trick. Basically you knit a tube until you are almost out of yarn and cast off whilst dropping stitches to make the scarf as long as it is. I remembered halfway through casting on the 195 stitches the first time that I needed to use a long tail cast on rather than my normal knitted cast on or else the whole bottom would unravel when I dropped the stitches. I did have several periods of irritation trying to do the cast on but I got there in the end and have done about five rows today, plenty of plain knitting left for television watching.

So, slow progress on a lot of things (I have abandoned the cable socks for the moment as I'm sure I'm going to run out of yarn and I HATE it when you get an inch from the end of the sock and run out, I am going to try and see if I can figure out how to unravel the cast on and knit some of the yarn from the top and then cast off again should I run out of yarn) but nothing major really. Hopefully I will be able to show you Dawn soon and I ordered some needles today for the Frontier Blues Jacket (which will be the Frontier Pinks Jacket for me) from the same issue of Knitscene as the scarf so I'm sure I'll cast on for that pretty soon as well, more plain stocking stitch, although back and forth in this case with a seed stitch border, for me to enjoy. I feel like I need a colour injection in my knitting at the moment so these projects will balance out the cream of the Green Tea Raglan for me.

I'm rambling horribly so I will disappear again, but hopefully not for as long this time.