Work in Progress - September 2022

A regular update from my coffee table! You can read previous ones here.

The eagle-eyed will have noticed that I've skipped a month. Whilst, covid didn't stop me knitting it did slow everything else down so I'm afraid this is actually a late August update. Hopefully I won't be running a month behind for the rest of the year!

For this update I have finished some projects, made progress on others and started two new ones too.

First up, the finished projects - toe-up socks, my Align fingerless mitts and Kría, a crochet shawl for the shop.

Trusty Toe Up Socks, a free pattern from Tanis Lavallee on Ravelry. 

I learnt to knit socks from the cuff down and it's remained my preferred way to knit socks simply because I can now do it from memory and they fit my feet well.

But in the interest of professional development I'm trying to improve my toe-up skills.

For this pair I used Crazy Zauberball in shade 2429 and Trusty Toe Up Socks, a free pattern from Tanis Lavallee on Ravelry. 

The Trusty pattern gives two options for a heel - short row or afterthought. I opted for the afterthought heel mainly as I was enjoying knitting the tube and I didn't want to stop to think to put a heel in.

An afterthought heel involves placing a piece of waste yarn where you want your heel to go.

When ready to knit a heel you pick up stitches above and below it.

When you pull the waste yarn out you have live stitches on your needle and a hole in the tube to construct a heel.

The remaining stitches are then grafted closed.

It's not as scary as it sounds except the stitches are tiny so I did a lot of counting to make sure I didn't drop any. 

My other finished project are my Align fingerless mitts. Very happy with these. They fit well and I'm glad I knitted the arm longer. Highly recommend for a 4ply mitt.

I used a very special hand dyed yarn from Little Wing Creates. Gorgeous shades of blue and grey on one of my favourite yarn bases - Choufunga 4ply from My Mama Knits.

I also finally looked up how to tidy the last stitch when casting off in the round. This tutorial on YouTube shows the technique clearly.

The pattern is Align Mitts by Courtney Spainhower available for free on Ravelry.

And the final finished project is a new shop sample.

Kría by Tinna Thórudóttir Thorvaldsdóttir (available to buy on Ravelry) is a beginners crochet shawl pattern. It is written in US crochet terms but it only uses one stitch - US Double Crochet/UK Treble Crochet - so it's an easy translation.

I used Crazy Zauberball in 2475 - a range of gorgeous darker shades.

You can read more about Kría in our Gallery here and see it in the Pittenweem shop.

Projects I'm still working on include my first crochet jumper, a stranded colourwork tank top and a big 4ply wrap.

Caveat Crop by Lydia Morrow available to buy on Ravelry .

I've finished a sleeve on my my Caveat Crop crochet jumper and started the 'ribbing' on the body. The end is in sight! I am using an aran weight yarn (Woolcraft Heather Aran) and it is worked in treble stitch, so it's working up quickly but it's a BIG project.

I have learnt so much doing this jumper. It is big (my gauge changed as I was making it) so it is taking a while. But all that crochet, if not improving my technique, has certainly given me more confidence.

CoCo Vest by Bana Kavanagh, available to buy on Ravelry

This stranded colourwork tank top is for the teenager. I'm using Socks Yeah DK in Danubrite and Xenon. 

The pattern is written for a sportweight yarn so I have adjusted my needle size and I am knitting a smaller size as it will come out slightly bigger than the designer intended. It will also be heavier but I really like the socks yeah DK in the stranded colourwork of the Moonwake Cowl so I'm confident it'll be ok.

I have now split the front and back which means I'm doing the stranded colourwork back and forth. I think this will slow me down!

I've finished one side of the Desert Ripple Wrap and I love it!

Desert Ripple Wrap by SweaterFreak (available to buy on Ravelry)

This rectangle wrap starts as a triangle but you knit the sides out to make a rectangle. 

I'm using  Love Your Wallpaper in Don't Talk Back.and undyed Tibetan 4ply

It's going to need a good block when it's finished to smooth out the different stitch patterns.

One new project is a chunky version of our Simple Blanket pattern.

I'm using King Cole Ultra Soft Chunky (now discontinued). So far I've used shades - Vanilla, Suede, Tin, Charcoal and Mustard.

The original blanket used Rowan Baby Cashsoft Merino which is a sportweight yarn. Knitted on a 4mm needle it measures 55 x 65cm and uses 5 colours. You can see the kits here.

The XL version uses a chunky yarn and I'm knitting it with a 6.5mm needle. I will add a sixth colour (Teal) to make it even bigger. I'm aiming for 100 x 110cm.

Once it's all done I'll write up the stripe sequence etc and make it available for download. So far it's very squishy and stretchy!

The second new project is a scarfy wrap in our newest yarn - Rico Melange Aran Wonderball. The yarn comes in BIG balls so it's great for one ball wraps and shawsl. Two balls would give a medium sized sweater.

This scarf pattern is available for free (in the shop only I'm afraid) and uses a straightforward lace pattern with some added garter stitch texture.