135 Days

Okay. The dress is off the needles. I've blocked the skirt and fed some elastic thread through the waistband in order to try it on for size.....and it fits!!! It's exactly the right length, although it may change once I've attached it to the waistband. The bodice is blocking. I'm nervous about this because the front doesn't look wide enough to cover my boobs. Some of the reviewers on Ravelry say that the crochet armsceye finishing pulls it all together, so I'm relying a little on their experience to carry me through this bit.

Time to start thinking about the slip to go under the dress. I bought a cheap polyester slip from M&S just for the try out period and it works okay apart from the fact that it is completely see through and you can see my big knickers through it. I then thought about a white swimsuit to both 'hold me in' and give me a sleek line under the dress. I ordered this. It isn't staying. The front hardly covers by boobs - in fact there is serious side boobage and I'm not even very big. Back to the drawing board. I have a swimsuit pattern that I can make a test from and then tweak. Alternatively a trip to Manchester may be in order to try on every slip, negligee, skimpy summer dress and swimming cozzie until I find the right one.

I've been collecting yarn for my cardigan/shawl/bolero for a few weeks and have whittled the selection down to these. I want vintage green - my shoes are a lovely apple green and I want something that matches them.

From L to R: King Cole Merino Blend 4 ply in 854, Cascade 220 Fingering in 9430, Fyberspates Scrumptious 4 ply in Jen's Green, Scheepjes Invicta Extra in 1466 and Jamieson and Smith 2 ply Jumperweight in 118.

I love, love, love these colours. All I have to do is pick one to knit with. I want to make this. 

This is Belmont by Gudrun Johnston, taken from her book 'The Shetland Trader Book Two'. I love the shape, the colour and the lace pattern and I think it will work well as a cover up over the dress. I'm not sure if the lace on the cardi will be overkill - I may make it plain at the front and add a crochet buttonhole to jazz it up a little. This one is made using Jamieson and Smith Spindrift. I have some J&S jumperweight (see above) in the same shade, but I find it scratchy and I don't want to wear it next to my skin. The Fyberspates is glorious, but it's silk and I'm not sure how it will knit up in this style. It's down to the King Cole, Scheepjes, and the Cascade. There's a lovely example of this cardi on Ravelry in Cascade, so I'm slightly erring towards this, but the Scheepjes is such a beautiful shade of green that I'm a little torn. I think swatching maybe the answer. To be continued...

The sock is still an only child (and an unfinished one at that), but I hope to finish it and start on its sibling next week. Second sock syndrome looms large. I see lots of late nights in my immediate future. 

138 Days

I finished knitting the bodice last night; all I have to do now is a 3 needle bind off on the shoulders and then I can try it on for size. Then I'll probably have to go on a crash diet 'cause there's no way I'm ripping all of this back if it's too small. Some of the projects listed on Ravelry for this pattern are rather 'snug'. I'm all for fitted, but snug at my time of life is not a wildly exciting option, either for me or the wedding guests. I'm just a step away from elasticated waists; I'll do Spanx if I have to, but I'd rather be comfy than constrained.

I washed the swatch this morning and it came out sparkly, smelling of flowers and most importantly, the same size. The pattern says to block the bodice before seaming the shoulders, but I have lots of live stitches so I'm reluctant to wash it before it's seamed. I figure I'll block it, seam it, do the crochet armholes and buttonholes, drink a glass of whisky, down a Tramadol and then finally wash the bodice. I need sedation in case it goes pear shaped.

I had a rough plan to finish the dress by the end of January. I'm more or less there, but I still need to crochet, buy and sew on buttons and block. If it's not quite right it will give me breathing space before the big day. The plan is still on schedule - for now!

The sock? It'll do. I'm not ripping it back. FM is a knitting muggle - he'll never know the difference. I just have to remember to make the same mistakes on the second sock now.

139 Days

Saturday is not a good day for knitting white dresses. Too many small boys with 5 second attention spans and dubiously sticky fingers. Today has been about household chores, bracing fresh air and the sock.

We headed up to Hampsfell, the local vantage spot over Morecambe bay. The building at the top is called the Hospice; I'm not entirely sure why, presumably because it gave respite to walkers in all weathers. Our ninja and the ninja next door ran themselves ragged and were knackered pleasantly subdued for the rest of the afternoon.

I forgot to take the sock on the walk with us and it has repaid me by being a pain in the arse this afternoon. I'm kind of freelancing on the pattern - FM has very wide feet so I'm trying to grade up the pattern, but not doing it very well. I always knit my socks on circulars - I used to use dpn's until FM pointed out that using them in the car could pop the airbag if we were ever in a collision. I'd have been more concerned about my heart/lungs/spleen, but he loves his car. So I switched to circulars and haven't looked back. This makes it tricky when reading a pattern written for dpn's. Anyway, I have 74 stitches on the needles and have ended up with 42 on the top of the sock and 32 underneath after knitting the heel and instep decreases. Do I rip it back? Do I have the time? Would FM know or care? I'll have to sleep on it.

140 Days

Ever since starting this project I've become paranoid about getting the dress grubby; it's snow white and our house is rather 'dusty'. I've always been of the opinion that this is good for your health, but it ain't good for my frock. Paper cuts are a no-no too. Pre Christmas, I was chewing my fingers with seasonal stress so I had to abandon the dress for a couple of months. Sock knitting was my saviour.

So, I managed to finish the right hand back bodice of the dress last night. All I need to do to this side now is a 3 needle bind off with the shoulder of the front bodice.. I've never done one of those before so I'll have to traipse off to YouTube to learn.

My sofa. Note the optional sunbeam. 

I keep the dress in a freezer bag on the sofa. Ninja and his ninja friends are barred from my sofa on pain of circular needle or pin injury. Despite this, the dress doesn't look clean. I've worked and reworked some of the parts, and as much as I wash my hands it still seems to have picked up a sheen of 'use'. Because it's cotton I'm a little fearful of washing it in case it looks like a dishcloth when it's done. I'll ponder this one for a while. Maybe knit a swatch and wash it to see.

Despite the magnitude of the task I've set myself, all I really want to do right now is knit socks. I had to go to a training meeting yesterday afternoon and I took my current sock knitting to pass the time during the tea break. These will be the socks for FM's birthday in mid February. I have no idea what the yarn is - the label dissolved into the bowels of my knitting bag years ago, but I have a feeling it's Opal. I started knitting during the tea and biscuits at the beginning and by the end of the meeting I had this. Suffice to say it wasn't a vastly interesting meeting.

This came in the post today, all the way from Germany. It's so exciting to get parcels; especially ones from Germany which are packaged in a environmentally friendly way, with a reusable box (yay!),pretty pink tissue paper and yarn inside. I saw these socks here last week and I knew I had to have this yarn. Alas they will not be for me, but for my friend Cate who loves these colours almost as much as me. I've knitted a fair amount of socks in my time, but none have ever ended up on my feet. Once the wedding is over, the house will be covered in socks for me. I am stashing already.

141 Days

I've started this blog so many times, then either deleted because of embarrassment or lost the will to wrestle with our ancient laptop. Blogger is a pain in the arse too, but that's probably down to me because no-one else seems to moan about it. (AArghh!! It's centred this paragraph and I can't change it. Why!!!) 

So here we go again. 320th time lucky.

141 days is the amount of time we have between today and our wedding day. Sounds like half a year (if I squint at it) but in reality it's just 19 weeks and I'm slightly panicking. You see, I've decided to 'craft' our wedding and I think I've done a Yarn Harlot at Christmas and given myself too much to do.
The list is thus:

1. Knit my wedding dress from this pattern
2. Knit a cardigan/shawl/bolero to go with it (it's a June wedding in Northumberland - I'd be a fool not to)
3. Knit/crochet my bouquet
4. Make a slip to go under my very lacy revealing dress
5. Knit a tie for FM, my intended
6. Knit a matching tie for the Ninja
7. Make invites (this should probably be number 1 but hey, we can text)
8. Make bunting, place settings, table decs etc.....
9. Make bouttonieres for the top brass

Do-able? No, I didn't think so. I've almost made the dress, but I'm sure it has a few black holes left to suck me in to.