New month, new projects

There is something very special about this time of year. With just a nip of coolness in the morning air and mists on the fields there is a sense of seasons turning and autumn just around the corner. Time to get the chimney swept and winter logs ordered. Time for the kids to go back to school and fresh starts everywhere.

Since the start of this year I have been trying, in an effort to curb my constant cast-on enthusiasm, to limit the number of monthly projects I have. Making a concerted effort to finish that month's projects before starting the next. And should I find myself with bare needles (horror!) I can work on my Sock blankie or Mitered Crosses Blanket.

There is something very satisfying about lining up all my intended projects for the month. Although it seems that in September I will be mostly knitting Green Things. Not all of them will come to fruition but there is a great sense of anticipation as Sep 1st comes around and I can Cast On.

Clockwise from top we have:
West Yorkshire Spinners 4ply sock yarn - not quite sure yet but probably socks for DH
Rico Design Essentials soft aran - a baby blanket in my Where I Live series
Debbie Bliss Rialto DK - a Lush cardigan for my niece
Juno Fibre Arts Buffy Toughie sock yarn - a new cabled sock design.

If anyone wants me, I'll be in my favourite chair...

WIP: Sock Yarn Blankie

Just a quick update on my Sock Yarn blankie which is rumbling on quietly in the background.

Sometimes I don't pick it up for a few day or even a week, but that's fine.

It's always there and it's quite nice to greet it as an old friend and work on it for some peaceful, quiet knitting when I'm need of something calm.

I love looking at the blocks of colour and seeing how they play against each other - I am easily amused, clearly :)

Tour de Sock

I must be mad, I have no idea why on earth I get myself into these things.

I signed up to this years Tour de Sock 2014 challenge. A sort of speed-knitting event which raises money for Doctors without Borders.

You pay your entrance fee, find a few like-minded sould to join you in a team (or go solo) and you're off.

There are 6 stages and each pair of socks must be completed by the time the next stage starts in order for you to progress. If you don't manage to complete, you still get access to the patterns - you are just out of the race.

I love events like this as it allows people to take part at whatever level they are comfortable with. Some just like the fun of a good old-fashioned KAL. Some like to sharpen their competitive edge a little or to challenge themselves to achieve a target. And some like to go all out, in a no holds barred race to the finish.

For the record I probably fall into the middle category - if only because I know I am in no way speedy enough to race to the finish.

The first pattern is the Wye Socks. Now these are relatively complex socks with twisty cables and (what seems to me) an unfeasibly long leg, but some amazing knitters were posting finished pairs within 24hrs of the pattern being published: here and here.

I have no idea how our speedy Finnish cousins knit so quickly but I am in awe of such speed and accomplishment.

As for me, after some determined hard-core knitting time and extensive use of saved freezer meals I have completed 1 sock and have just turned the heel of the next.

Allez....as the French would say!

Impossible ?

Now, I am a sensible person normally and if someone were to tell me of their plans to knit a sweater in a week I would gently remind them of the laws of space and time. But for some reason I don't apply the same advice to myself. 

Surely, normal rules don't apply to me. Even though I am working 4 days this week and the sweater in question has long sleeves and is knit on 3.5mm needles.

Totally realistic to expect to have a finished sweater ready to wear for teaching my toe-up sock class on Saturday.....no?

I suspect this is an exercise in futility. But does it stop me trying? Nooooo...

The sweater is Peasy by the way in some lovely Rowan Felted Tweed that I picked up on sale recently.