Icon Update

Just a quick update on my Icon Dress.

It has been sadly neglected in recent weeks in favour of much sock knitting but I am making slow but steady progress.

The front is almost done. I have left the straps on waste yarn just in case I need to do some alteration to the fit before seaming. I'm not sure how low the neckline will be and I wanted to give myself the chance to adjust it slightly if needed.

The back is almost done too and I have just picked up my second -to-last ball of yarn (ball 11 from 13) so I easily have enough to finish - possibly with 1 whole skein leftover.

Perhaps it is the lack of sleeves, but I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly this has knitted up. It is my first time knitting a dress and I truely thought it would take much longer than it has. Still, musn't count my chickens too soon. It isn't finished until it is seamed, blocked and all the ends woven in - and heaven knows I can prevaricate for England when it comes to that.

My first knit-along

It's been all systems go over on the Solstice Yarns Ravelry group, as my first KAL (co-hosted with the lovely Eleanor) has been launched.

I am pleased to say that the Samhain sock KAL is going well so far and as of this morning we have 15 participants all working away on some beautiful socks - some of them going at speeds which put me to shame.

It reminds me of one of the (many) reasons I love Ravelry community. For some participants it is their first toe-up sock, for others it is their first time trying magic loop or cabling without a needle, but it is great to see others happily stepping in to offer advice and support.

As my DH works away from home a lot and I fit my work around looking after my boys I don't get a chance to go to a local 'Knit Night' or craft group so, in effect, Ravelry is my 'Knit Group' - always there - always helpful - and always supportive.

In other knitting news, the Icon dress continues (slowly) and I'm hard at work on another sock pattern - hopefully in time for those of you looking for Holiday Knitting (no mention of the C-word here)

Production line

The socks have been put aside this week in preparation for a class I am teaching this weekend. Designed for adventurous knitting beginners, this class aims to give people the skills they need to tackle their first garment - a baby cardigan knit seamlessly on circular needles.

A simple top-down raglan construction but with different increase options and tips and tricks to get a polished finish that any knitter would be pleased with.

I don't need to extoll the virtues of seamless knitting here I'm sure but it always amazes me how much books aimed at beginners focus on traditional seamed knits. I did the same when I was learning and must have spent longer trying to figure out how to set in a tiny sleeve than I did to knit the garment in the first place.

So much easier to knit a little raglan cardi or sweater, add a few buttons, weave in an end or two and ta-da

One baby sweater: 60g of dk yarn and I estimate about 3-4 hours of work (if that - I wasn't really timing myself - but it took two short evenings of TV knitting).

Now, one more sample to block and weave in the ends and I can get back to the socks :)

Samhain KAL

I am pleased to announce my first ever KAL, co-hosted by the lovely Eleanor from Solstice Yarns.

The pattern is named Samhain, for the forthcoming ancient Samhain festival, also known as Halloween.

All details are over on the Solstice Yarns group on Ravelry and Eleanor is dying up a wonderful range of yarns to complement the pattern-. click here to be tempted by some seriously beautiful yarn.

We start on October 15th when the pattern will be released and using the checkout code of Samhain will get you 50% off the usual price of £2.50.

All are welcome to join. Just pop over to the Ravelry thread and say hi to the lovely chatty bunch of people over there.