Knitting Disasters...

There is no feeling like the satisfaction of completing a knitting project. Hours and hours of labour - not to mention the investment in the yarn - coming to fruition and resulting in a beautiful garment that you can proudly show off on Instagram or in your Ravelry group (is that just me?) or, if you are lucky enough to have friends/family who actually appreciate the time and effort that goes into a hand knit, to gift on with love.

But sometimes it all goes a bit pear shaped...

I started my Lush cardigan back in the summer with the intention of having a nice little transitional knit for those cooler Autumn morning school runs - you know, when it's not quite chilly enough for a coat but to cold for just shirt sleeves. I made really good progress and had divided for the sleeves a couple of days before we were due to take the camper down to Devon for a few days. Of course I packed my project bag, anticipating several hours of knitting time on the journey down and in between beach visits. I had a whole body's worth of straight knitting to do and I really wanted to get past that and onto the sleeves.
I didn't get as much knitting time as I would have liked - the weather was awesome and we spent more time on the beach than at the camp site! But a fair chunk of the body was knit over those few days. So far, so good.

Until I got to the waist shaping... (thank goodness I decided to do the optional waist shaping!)
My stitch count wasn't right and I could not for the life of me work out where I had lost 8 stitches. I know the count was correct when I divided for the sleeves all those rows back, and really 8 stitches is a lot of stitches to lose.
I read and re read the pattern before it dawned on me that I had not cast on enough stitches under the arm holes.

So this was not a fudge it job. If I left it as it was there was a real chance that, once finished, I wouldn't actually be able to get my arms through the sleeves...

unravelling is hard to do...

So all my hours (ok not that many, maybe 3 or 4?) of boring stocking stitch had to be unravelled. Right back up to the armhole. I got it sorted and even managed to re-knit a bit of the body but the net result was I returned from holiday with slightly less Lush cardi than I left with.

Now I know that in the grand scheme of things this is no great disaster and, although unravelling all that work was frustrating, I was able to fix the mistake and I will have a Lush to wear sometime soon. I have also learnt a very valuable lesson - ALWAYS check your stitch count after you have done any kind of shaping/dividing for arms/decreasing for neck etc etc. It saves a lot of hassle later!

But what about the disasters that can't be fixed?

This weekend got off to a grand start when I pulled a load of washing out of the machine to hang up to dry and found both my pairs of Blue Skies Sock Club socks, reduced by about a third of their original size and properly felted to boot. They weren't supposed to be in that load. They were supposed to be kept separate and hand washed! This wasn't just any old sock yarn - this was the fabulous Knitting Goddess's equally fabulous Brit Sock.

shrunken socks...

I may have cried.

A lot.

Unfortunately once your hand knit socks have shrunk there's not much you can do with them except hand them to someone with smaller feet. So Roo now has two lovely pairs of cosy felted socks to wear this winter (until he grows out of them, which given his current rate of growth means approximately one season) and my handmade sock drawer is reduced to 2 pairs once again.




On the bright side I suppose this means I have an excuse (if one were needed) to knit more. So Operation Sock Drawer begins anew...


What knitting disasters have you had? Have you ever accidentally ruined a much loved piece in the washing machine? Please tell me about them so I don't feel quite so alone in my despair and we can commiserate together...

Summer knits...

Last week I wrote about how I was not likely to get very much knitting done during the school holidays (you can read about that here). Turns out I needn't have worried too much - last weekend saw the completion of not one but two knitty additions to my handmade wardrobe!*

First up were the Langit Socks that have been lanuishing in my sock knitting project bag since we came home from our little Lake District holiday back in early May and have since been suffering from a bad case of second sock syndrome. These socks were the second instalment of the Blue Skies Sock Club -  a bi-monthly yarn and pattern club from The Knitting Goddess that I signed up to at the beginning of the year with the best of sock knitting intentions. I chose the Britsock option so each hand dyed skein I receive is a thoroughly British product -  grown spun and dyed here in the UK. Each skein comes with a sock pattern exclusively designed by the lovely Clare Devine at KnitSharelove. Two more glorious skeins have since arrived along with their respective patterns but I have fallen so far behind I'm really not sure if these skeins will actually become socks. Mainly because I still want to knit ALL the shawls...

acres of stocking stitch...

Also finished is the lovely Bonny sleeveless top by Emily Wessel of Tin Can Knits. I treated myself to her pattern book Handmade in the UK along with five balls of Jamieson & Smith's 2ply laceweight Shetland and lambswool from BritYarn a couple of months back and thought I really should crack on so that I could actually wear it this year before summer (such as it is ) deserted us for another year...

...and a fair bit of lace!

To be honest the thought of knitting an entire garment in laceweight was a little daunting but Bonny is knitted on needles more usually associated with sportweight or dk (I used 3.75mm needles rather than the 3.5mm suggested) to give the fabric plenty of stretch and drape so it actually grows really fast. Knit in the round from the bottom up meant the first half of Bonny was an easy tv knit and once I got the lace pattern established and separated the front and back it just seemed to fly off the needles. I did make one adjustment, knitting a few rows in garter stitch for the hem rather than the roll hem in the pattern -  I find they just keep on rolling over my belly and another spare tyre is the last thing I need!

If you fancy knitting your own Bonny don't be afraid to follow the suggestions for knitting a couple of sizes smaller than you usually would. My Bonny is knit with 4" of negative ease (ie 4" less than my actual bust measurement) and fits perfectly!

Using the J&S wool made this a suprisingly budget knit, coming in at less than £15 - once again proving that knitting with homegrown yarn needn't be expensive!
I absolutely love it. In fact I love it so much I might even knit another one in something a little more luxurious...

Not one to hang about, I have already cast on my next item from Handmade in the UK, the fabulous Lush cardigan, using more British wool - Wendy Ramsdale DK in the Bedale colourway (also purchased from BritYarn). It's 3/4 length sleeves make it perfect for those cooler September days.

Yes, I am looking forward to Autumn already...





*there is a reason why I had extra knitting time. I went out on Saturday night and danced the night away with friends. On Sunday I literally could not walk... must remember that I am not 18 anymore!

 PS - for those of you who are wondering, I have also made a little progress on my other summer projects as mentioned in the last blog post and hope to have a new pattern or two to share with you very soon!