New Knits!

Middle of last week I finally finished a deadline design I've been working on for the last couple of weeks. It took me longer than I thought it would to finish it but I was so relieved to post it off. My plan was to finish some existing selfpublishing designs before we go to Norway next week but I had the urge to cast on for some new things.

Last Thursday we decided to go and see the new James Bond film and I always take my knitting to the cinema but it has to be something that's okay to knit on in the dark so not too much patterning or keeping track of rows etc. I had a gorgeous skein of Aracaunia Botany Lace in my stash which I just love so I cast on for a shawlette.

 I didn't have a specific plan. I just cast on and started playing with some ideas. I eventually settled on a shallow, asymmetrical triangular shape and then decided it needed something more so I added some beads.

 I happily knitted on but then suddenly realised beads wasn't good for cinema knitting. I remembered I had a few balls of Alpaca Select pure alpaca in a gorgeous pink colour and I need a new hat for Christmas in Norway. I would normally swatch and do some maths to work out my pattern but i was running out of time so I just cast on at the crown and started the shaping. By the time the film started I put it on top of my head to get a rough idea of size and decided to increase a bit more. I ended up getting half the hat knitted during the film, which was great by the way. 

When we got home I slipped the stitches on to a longer circular needle and tried it on, it was huge. So I had to rip back to the crown shaping and in the process i actually decided to change the pattern slightly. The crown is in stocking stitch but it will have a wide lacy border too. I'm hoping to have enough yarn to knit a cowl and maybe some mittens too. I'd love to do some lined mittens to wear in Norway. Not sure I have enough yarn though. This is my progress so far: 

 This weekend was full of socialising. We had friends coming for a meal on Saturday night and another friend coming for lunch on Sunday. I spent Saturday finishing the toe of a new sock design and the prototype sock for a new workshop: Sideways,Seamless Socks, which I taught for the first time yesterday.

This sock will be published soon, maybe before Christmas or maybe early January. On Sunday after lunch I cast on for the second sock and I knitted the whole second sock minus the toe while our friend was here on Sunday afternoon. I've since started the toe too.

 On Monday I knitted the sample mini sock we'd be knitting in class yesterday. I'd knitted a sample sock months ago but lost the pattern so I decided to re-do it. The sock was finished after I took these photos on Monday and only took a couple of hours to knit.

I love these socks. So quick and easy to knit. I think there will be some more sideways sock patterns in my future.

This week will be all about finishing my pre-Christmas deadlines and making a start on the January ones. I'm waiting for one more design to come back today then that's all my samples done but I do still have some pattern writing to finish. I've also got to organise my January deadlines and write up the patterns for those and get the yarn and patterns out to my knitters and also make some progress on a design I'm knitting for January. And I'll be working on some swatches for some future designs and design submissions. And hopefully I may be able to finish some stuff that's been on my needles for a while.

While doing all this I'm constantly planning my Christmas holiday knitting. This is the knitting I'm taking on holiday with me, not present knitting for other people. Not doing any of that this year. No time! I'm hoping i may have time to knit Simon some socks before we go to Norway but I've got a feeling he'd rather I finish his cardigan I started 3 years ago.