Year of project update- In which there is an owl

Anyone who visited last week might be expecting to see a freshly dyed pile of yarn this week. Unfortunately the dye I ordered didn't arrive in time, so I will be dyeing it up this week and hopefully sharing it next Sunday.

I wanted something to share, so I worked up one of my teeny tiny pattern choices, Oisin owl by Pauline Gallagher is a speedy little project that only uses a tiny bit of yarn. Cabling and Irish moss stitch make two panels that you sew together to give a little 3D owl, he is about 3 inches tall.

I think I need to embroider some eyes on to make it more obvious that he is an owl, rather than a swimming costume for a barbie which was suggested by someone.

Year of projects- In which I have two warm legs and one chilly foot

My year of projects plan is to work through 2kg of Aran undyed yarn that I was gifted. I am working on this between other projects, so at the minute it is not getting huge amounts of attention as I have been focissing on my A-Z sock challenge.

This means that my Sunday posts often don't show a lot of progress; so this weekend I made my second kilt hose sock top of my knitting list so I would have something to show you. I have made it all the way down the leg and am about to start the heel flap.

Maybe by next week I will have a pair of socks and can start picking my next project.

Year of projects- In which there is one sock

My Year of Projects yarn has not really been getting much attention this week, but I took my boot sock to knit night and managed to finish the first one. It is nice and cosy, I put it on in the cafe, so all the non knitters there probably think I am extremely odd.

A not terribly good close up photo of the lace panel at the top.

I will get the second sock started this week, so hopefully I will have a lovely cosy pair for the cold weather.

Year of projects- the post in which we learn about winding yarn and casting on

I spent Friday winding a lot of yarn. I wanted the longest continuous length for the Hemlock ring blanket so started winding from each ball until I hit a fault, usually a knot or a broken ply. I got in quite a tangle and didn't find a perfect length in any ball. I picked the best which just has one knotted ply. I am going to work up to it and see how big the blanket is then decide if I want to make a join so it can be bigger.

This may sound overly picky, but I think it would be hard to hide joins neatly in this project. If I have to do one a Russian join in a stocking stitch section will probably be the neatest option.

Decision made it was time for the cast on:

Pattern: Hemlock ring blanket
Yarn: Wendy undyed Aran

The pattern uses worsted weight and 6.5mm needles. This aran is on the thin side of aran, so close to worsted. I started with 7.0mm needles as I didn't have any 6.5mm, but decided the fabric was too loose for a cosy blanket (see above).

I am trying to teach myself to rip things out right away if I am not happy with them. Otherwise I spend more time on it then rip it out later, wasting more time overall. So rip it was.

I restarted on 6.0mm needles and am much happier. It is progressing nicely.

I have been enjoying this pattern, although I am not sure if it will be overly lacy for my tastes when it is done (I am really not a lacy type). I also know from making a pinwheel cardigan that the start is exciting and works up fast, but as it gets bigger each round takes longer and can get boring, so this will be a long term project. As a bonus there are a lot of plain knit rounds so it will make great TV knitting.

Year of projects- The post in which the plans are made public

The challenge:
I quite enjoy taking part in group challenges and projects through Ravelry, the A-Z sock challenge this year is a lot of fun. I do like to pick my own patterns though rather than follow a specific knit along type thing. Therefore I have an annoucement to make:

I have joined a Ravelry group called Come-blog-along (that sounds a bit like I have just confessed to joining a cult!). It is based on the idea of picking a book of patterns and working through it in a year, blogging about it as you go. Exept you can choose your patterns any way you like, a whole book, or part of one, or just a set of patterns you want to make based on any criteria you set.

For this I blame Tink, I found the group through her blog and thought "that's a good idea".

The pattern choices are being posted on the 1st of July (that's today, hurrah!), but other than that there are not any actual rules.

Choosing patterns left me a little stumped, I never like every pattern in a book, so I decided to choose based on some stash instead.

The yarn:
I was gifted with four of these-

That makes 2kg of aran weight, 100% wool, undyed yarn. It says it is machine washable, but not that it is superwash, so I will have to do a test at some point. It is not too scratchy, jumperable, but not really next to skin soft.

I did a search of the Ravelry pattern database using the terms, aran, knitting, free and have made a list of everything I fancied from what came up. I am going to work my way through, mostly in no particular order until the yarn is gone and I have a pile of knitted goodies. If I get there before the end of the year I will think of something else.

The patterns:

The Hemlock ring blanket, Jared Flood. I am starting with this one and going to make it from one ball to get a continuous yarn length since I don't fancy joining skeins mid lace pattern. I might dye it afterwards and am not yet decided if I should unwind an entire ball to check for knots. The pattern is actually for worsted weight but I don't see why it wouldn't work in aran.

Mr Greenjeans, Amy Swenson. This will probably be the second project. I think it will take an entire ball. It has been in my queue for ages so I decided to add it when I came to the conclusion the yarn is soft enough. I am going to dye the yarn for this one before I knit it so need to decide on a colour.

That is two balls down on projects I am definitely making, the rest will use less than a ball each and I will pick and choose which I fancy as I go.

Stirling Cloche, Cirilia Rose. Only if the yarn felts, I suspect this will be a gift as I look like a muppet in all hats (muppet as in stupid, not actually like a muppet).

Lanesplitter, Tina Whitmore. Not sure about this choice but it is a maybe. The pattern looks great but not sure it would look so great on me. A good cahnce to try some strpey syeing though.

Hoot water bottle cozy, Robyn Wade. Good for gifting, smallish amount of yarn. Might do this in undyed.

Vernal Verde Vest by Ammie Cannon. Cute, but I am undecided if the yarn is soft enough, plus it will need to pass the machine wash test.

Oisin Owl, Pauline Gallagher. Cute, need I say more!

Grebo, Atelier Alfa. This one would use quite a bit of yarn so is quite low down the list. Like the pattern though so it might be one for a different yarn.

Child's play crown, Juile Hunter. Speedy gift for small family members and good for using tiny yarn amounts.

Cascade Christmas Stocking (W104), Marji LaFreniere. If I am in the mood for colourwork (and possibly If I am feeling a tad insane).  

Little seedling soaker, Christine Blyden. Pattern is designed for worsted but bigger needles and yarn would slightly upsize it. Might need to edge with a softer yarn to be sure of no scratchiness.

Stripey Noro messenger bag, Deborah Cooke. Only if the yarn will felt, super patttern, messenger bags are my favourite type of bag.

Clair de Lune, Alice Nissim. Because who doesn't want a hat that means they can run around pretending to be a dictator type/ship captain?! Another that needs felting.

The work it out as you go vest, Jacki Kelly. Workwear for entering the real world (sigh).

All you need- a classic, London Leo. Hot water bottle cover, more gifting.

Soap sweater by Cynthia Hall. I don't quite understand these (I get the principle but am a little lost on the why), but they use tiny amounts of yarn and can be gifted.

Irish Wellington socks, Aileen Cahill. I sort of fancy knitting some knee high socks, but get bored making regular sized socks so am not working and extra 2' in 4 ply. Enter lazy knitter solution- thick yarn!

I suspect I will not get through the list before the yarn runs out. I might not get through the yarn before the time runs out either, but that is ok too. I have lots of other things to keep the knitting variety too, like the second half of the A-Z sock challenge, the tour de fleece and scrap downs. I am going to try to pick a specific day for my year of projects posts, it might be every other Sunday.

Looks like a busy year, but I do love having targets and plans :D