2014 WIPocalypse - September Full Moon

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?  I can hardly believe that I am writing my September WIPocalypse post - where has the year gone?

Today I learned something new, but I'll work up to that.

 This week was quite a good week for Carnation.  I stitched three blocks and finished row 15 on this page.  I also did quite a bit on block 9 on the next page, which will save me some time later.

On Monday, I washed and blocked my Learning Curve scarf.  It was not quite as successful as I had hoped, partly because the yarn is 100% acrylic and partly because the double ribbing and cable sections were never going to stretch to the width that I wanted.  However some improvement is better than none.  Now I just need to weave the ends in and add a fringe.

Progress on Pink! has been going well.  A few rows here and a few rows there, and as you can see, I am coming to the end of this ball.  I really need to measure up my small people before I come to any decisions about how long this is going to be.

Now for the something new.  I have a birthday later this month and for an early birthday present, my sister and her family bought me a workshop on how to knit socks.  So today I went to Knit Nottingham and learned how to knit socks.  I know that this doesn't look much like a sock, but it has a cuff, a heel and a kitchener stitched toe - there is only so much you can do from scratch in four hours.  I had a great time and now feel a lot more confident about my knitting skills.
  

So much so that when I got home, I cast on for my first sock.  Being a beginner, I am knitting the double ribbed cuff flat before joining to knit in the round.  The idea is that this will stop me from twisting the yarn when I join the two ends and I will sew up the gap when I have finished.  I am really looking forward to wearing my own hand knitted socks, especially as I have already bought so much gorgeous sock yarn.  Thanks, Eleanor, for a really enjoyable workshop.

The WIPocalypse question this month asked who your favourite person is to stitch for or whether you prefer to stitch for yourself.  I would dearly love to be able to stitch just for myself, but counting up, I only have three finished items of my own - my Zebra cushion, Pheasant and Fuchsias.  Everything else has been for someone else.  Admittedly my two biggest WIPs - Carnation and Train - are for me, but they tend to get put on one side so that I can finish a piece for someone else.  Guardian Angels is for Mum, and I have two more pieces in mind for other people - one for Mum and one for my cousin's bump.  On the knitting front, I was quite determined just to knit for me, but Breeze is for my friend and Pink! will probably end up with one of my nieces, which means that I will have to knit something for the other one.  But - socks knitted from special hand-dyed yarn are definitely going to be for me and me alone!!!!

In other news, I put on another lb this week so am 2lb over target and need to be careful in the coming week.  This is always my problem - I get to target and then I get complacent.  Maybe if I concentrate on my craft work, that will keep me from eating non-SW food.

Anyway, all the best to you and yours, and may the frog steer well clear of your needles.