On the Needles: November edition

On the needles

Nothing has changed since the start of the week - Strathendrick is still sulking at the bottom of the pile!

The sleeves and the neck are done, so all that's left is the tiny matter (!!) of separating off the bottom ribbing and adding three inches of length to the body. I'm hoping that my schedule frees up a bit towards the end of the month, but right now I just can't deal with it! I did try it on the other day, and I'm not so happy with the fit of the neckband - I think I've made it too long and it sits a little funny but I want to see if it settles down after blocking before I take any drastic action.

The mustard stashdive socks have just been bimbling along in the background. The first sock is finished and I'm about an inch away from the heel flap on the second. I've been working on a few designs lately, and these socks have turned into a bit of therapy knit for the moments when my fingers and my brain need something simple and soothing to work on. I'm not expecting a tremendous amount of progress for these this month, but that's ok because I'm in no big hurry to finish them!

For once, it's actually been a pretty ok month for the logalong blanket scarf . I've started keeping it next to my desk so that I can pick it up and work a few stitches here and there during downtimes at work, and it's been working pretty well - I'm up to the sixth square now. Just barely.

I am starting to feel like my target of five finished squares a month was too ambitious because I'm yet to make that many in a single month! I think I'll have to rethink that plan soon, but I have a feeling that this project is going be pushed down the list for the next couple of months because there is a lot going on up until the end of the year.

One thing that I definitely need to get off the needles soon is this hat sample. I started designing it late last year, wrote up the pattern, and then tied myself in knots as I realised I hadn't written the gauge and needle size down properly. Designing patterns is definitely a learning curve! I sat down and worked up a brand new gauge swatch at the weekend, and since it had been so long since I knit the original I decided to knit up a new sample to double check everything. So far, so good! The aim is to finish this by early next week.

Off the needles

During a bit of tidy up I unearthed this hot water bottle cover that has been languishing at the bottom of the WIP basket for far too long. I managed to finish it and liberate the needles last week! 

It feels good to get this one off the needles. I cast on back in January 2017 as a gift for my Mum, but set it aside when it came time to figure out the decreases for the top of the bottle. Since it was my Mum's birthday at the start of November I thought it'd be lovely to finish it off so that I could finally gift it to her.

The rubber in the original water bottle had perished so I had to buy a new one, and it's shaped slightly differently at the bottom - it's a little wider and not as curved. Since the cover was custom made to fit the original bottle the new bottle is making the fabric pull a bit at the base, but it's not too bad. And the decreases at the top were actually pretty painless, which leaves me wondering why I left it for so long! Still, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I love how the blue and white look together.  It's a great classic combination and digging this project back out has me itching to work on some colourwork again!

Plans

• Two of Graeme's friends have babies due next month so I have a couple of baby hats planned. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but there'll definitely be some colourwork involved. I really want to get these done before the end of this month so we can get them in the post without having to stress about the last posting dates for Christmas! Thankfully baby hats don't take too long to make.
• Lengthen Strathendrick and buttons on Carbeth (still!). Honestly, I'm not sure if either of these will happen this month but I'm aiming high! 
• I have a couple of designs in the works so I'm going to push myself to get them finished this month. I've already mentioned the hat sample above, but I have another sample that has been dragging on for far too long so I'm aiming for some progress there!
• Warriston. Am I ever going to cast this on?! I'm almost tempted to knock this back until closer to spring because we're definitely into coat weather and this will be too bulky to wear under most of my coats. But actually, the more I think about it, Warriston would be a lovely, cosy thing to throw on over pyjamas when I get up to write my morning pages. It's getting darker and colder now, which is always makes it harder to leave the warmth of bed, but having something cosy and handmade to wear while I write would feel really special! If I get everything else on my knit list done this month it will feel like such a treat to sit down and finally start swatching.