sheldon!

sheldon2
Originally uploaded by cob_web

Yet another finished object! Shledon has been languishing for some time. First the crochet beat me, and he had to have a holiday to mym Mum, which did that bit for me (she even tried to teach me). Then the i-cord join beat me and he sat in a bag for a while. After finishing the socks I got him out again. I tried the i-cord AGAIN but I just don't get it. So I just sewing up up.

I'm glad I did as he is quite happy, and Matt has already adopted him. Here he is in his new home:

Birthday knitting

So, as I posted the other day, the Clapotis was finished! Soph seemed to love it so thats good. I also made her a matching Calorimetry as she uses the other one I made her last year, and everyone likes to match :-)

So, the Clapotis, as I posted, is huge. 220 cm in the end! I did lots more central repeats than the pattern called for. Partly becuase when I took it up at Christmas I was about to start the decrease section, but Soph wanted it longer. I hope it is OK to wear.

The yarn I used was Fleece Artist Organic Wool in Ruby. Picked by Soph. I found a few yarns that would be suitible and let her pick. All were either organic or British (or both!). This one was recommended by the shop (Purlescence) owner via Ravelry. It was really nice to work with, and comes in huge 250g hanks. Thats way too big for my ball winder to cope with, so there was some hand winding that had to be done. I still have a decent amount left, despite the enormous Clapotis and the Calorimetry. It spit-spliced well, but in that sized skein there was only one join! Heaven. The dying was really nice. Subtly variagated.

The Calorimetry was knit with just 100 (I think - check my Ravelry entry) stitches cast on, as the previous one was a bit big, and my family have small heads. It fit me well, and I had a toggle button left from the last one which worked well.



Doesn't really work for me now I've had the hair cut off, but you can get the idea:



I'll have to see if Soph will give me a photo of them in action!

Hooray!

I have finally found a way of transferring this blog to my married email address! No more having to log out and log back in to Google before posting. So now the only issue are all the photos still on Picasa under Lenham.

My Flicca

So, I finally completed Flicca, so I guess I should post about it properly!

The pictures aren't that great, its not the best time of year and every weekend it seems to be raining or I'm simply not at home, so catching the daylight is proving tricky!





So, I used the recommended yarn, Sirdar Click Chunky in merlot, a really nice burgandy colour. I found getting guage really difficult and went up a needle size. I was still too tight, but decided to knit the size bigger than I thought I needed (I have forgotten the size now!) and stick with one the one size up. I'm glad I did as it would have been quite aloose knit fabric if I had gone up again.

The pattern was pretty straight forward. I knit the two front pieces on the same needle so they would match, which was a great plan. I also narrowed the sleeves - they are still quite wide!

Overall I'm happy with the way it came out. I have worn it and had it admired. However, the sizing seems a little off. I find that it is very big around the hips and small across the shoulders. This is odd as I am a definite pear shape - with large hips and a small bust, so I usally find the opposite! If I were to ever tackle this again I would look at making the shoulders wider. As it is the collar is wide so fills in the gap a bit - but that means it isn't doing its job as a collar and ends up lying flat.

The yarn is good. Well priced for a knit this size - can you imagine the cost if it were knit in pure wool?! Should also means it is easier to care for, which is important for something so big. It has wool in it so feels nicer than pure acrylic. I missed being able to spit splice though!!

So there you go, completed flicca.

Finished Clapotis and Flicca

I finished the Clapotis for Soph, but it grew! She wanted it longer than the pattern suggested, but I underestimated both how much the decrease section would add and how much it would grow when I blocked it. Doh!





I also fixed the button issues on my flicca. Sorry for the rubbish photo: