3 posts tagged “holiday knitting”

This evening J and I are leaving for a week in the Lake District and so I have been carefully choosing the contents of my knitting bag.  I have taken most of my Manos Wool Classica in Olive for knitting a vest, some Socks that Rock Mediumweight sockyarn in Kaw Kaw and a skein of laceweight merino, silk and alpaca blend in a berry colour.  So a real range of yarn types and weights to keep me going.

Obviously I am taking all my needles and other notions since you never know what you might need!

The plan is that it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days to finish the two pairs of socks I have on the needles since I am on the second sock in both cases, they are fast knits (historically) and I should get them both finished early in the week.  After all we have several hours of car travelling and at least one sock should get finished in that time.

So I am really looking to start one maybe two projects up in the Lakes.  

There is the Hilja Vest which I really want to be wearing right now at work with a nice white shirt. It has lots of stockinette knitting which should be fast and satisfying.  I think I have been putting it off because I might have to do some conversions with gauge and measuring myself but actually a quiet week away with lots of time to work out the maths is probably perfect.

Next there is the Socks that Rock – I love this colour and I love the base yarn.  I have been looking at completed photos of STR projects on Ravelry for weeks whilst resisting the urge to cast on.  I am taking two different patterns with me that I might use – first the Gullywash socks and secondly the Nutkin socks.  I am considering making a pair for my Mum I think she would love the colour as well and she has already dropped a few hints that in the cold weather my socks are the only things that keep her feet warm. Of the two patterns Nutkin would probably show of the yarn better and isn’t toe up like the other one (I tend to prefer cuff down and yet more than 50% of the socks I have knit so far this year have been toe up!), both of them have a short row heel but this might not bother the recipient as it does me and I do have the technique of creating hole-less wraps pretty much down and perfect now.

Lastly I am taking Victorian Lace today.  Whilst the Melon Stitch Shawl is on hiatus (awaiting the arrival of replacement yarn from Oz) I am not sure I am minded to start another lace shawl project.  However I have two in mind to make for gifts this year and I might discover an urge to get started.  The advantage of starting the gifts now is that a relaxing holiday is a great time to get stuck into the rhythm of a complicated lace project.  Only I will have to be extra careful about the yarn quantities here as I do not want to get stuck again like I did with the Melon Stitch Shawl – running out of yarn mere meters before the finish line.

My second holiday in 3 weeks and this time I did a lot of knitting.  This time the weather was getting on for Autumnal (as I had predicted) so this meant I could wear comfortable jeans, t-shirts and jumpers but the combination of handknitted socks and my crocs meant that my feet were toasty warm.

This was a role-playing convention (with some old friends from Uni) at a complex of converted barns on a resevoir in Stafford and I wouldn't normally knit whilst I role-play as some people find it distracting however this time several people said that didn't mind and Triskellian (knitting partner in crime) positively encouraged me.  This meant I had three days of 6 hour knitting days.  I finished one large ball of wool (the next ball was left at home still in its skein) on the semi solid Clapotis which is now over half done and finished my broadripple socks.  Luckily I had brought some back up knitting with me and so leafing through the Favourite Socks book with a ball of purple trekking in hand led me to the cable rib socks.  I couldn't do the clever needle resizing as I didn't have enough needles with me but I have done a truncated version since the cable twist was attractive enough on its own.

There was a local knitting shop and a trip to the local knitting shop but nothing really floated my boat.  There was some delicious Rowan Tapestry (50% soy silk) which I am very keen to try at some point but very few balls of any one colour and I don't want to be getting into buying single skeins - that way leads madness!  But the most satisfying thing was the number of knitters who crawled out of the woodwork on the holiday.  Evening during the week one person relearnt to knit and another ended up being taught to crochet.  I think we all really surprised our old friends :)

On our day off from role-playing, J and I visited a working farm that did a sort of C19 re-enactment thing.  We were shown how to make cheese, work a watermill and make Quince jam.  There were 3 rare breeds of sheep on the farm which I had a look at  - but I can only remember two of the names Shropshires, Southdowns.  J also excitedly pointed out that the Cook and the Dairy Maid both had their knitting with them.

(obviously the company was amazing, the games were brilliant and we had an amazing time - but this is mainly a knitting blog).

One of the most enjoyable things about knitting is dreaming about what to work on next. I am currently doing a couple of socks – these I am actually working on. However I am partway through another few projects e.g. a sleeve or two done on the Rogue, one rainbow knee high done who needs a mate etc. etc. While I am enjoying the socks (well the Bellatrix) I am beginning to think about getting some of these other projects completed. The Rogue has basically been put on the back burner because I need another set of circular needles to complete it – they days of getting a set of Denise needles seem to be fast approaching. I think that tonight I should order the needles so that when I come back from holiday I can work on Rogue if the mood takes me. The Clapotis which has stalled for the summer of socks I definitely intend to pick up again but probably on holiday when I have a long run at it. Holiday this year is in August and September so well after the Summer of Socks is over. The other problem with the Clapotis is that I am knitting it in sock weight yarn. All this means is that with knitting so many socks at the moment I know when I stop I will want to knit something in a different weight for a while – just to ring the changes and so I need to be prepared for not socks – Rogue fits that perfectly. If I could get the Rogue finished before the September holiday I would be really pleased, but realistically I will aim to be wearing it on my holiday in October in Devon I think.

Ravelry is really good for helping me keep track of my projects and I definitely go through phases of wanting to cast on the wonderful new items which spring up everyday and equally finish the items in my projects file – if for no other reason than so I have some new pictures of new projects to look at.

Speaking of pictures, here is a little more of that pesky Retro Rib

Retro Rib Close Up

Retro Rib, Mars Quake