Wenchfaery Knits

Still Knitting (or is that knitting again?)

2011-06-28T01:47:00.004-04:00

Well, apparently I lost my mojo for a while there, but I'm back on the craftual wagon, so to speak. Since Christmas, I've finished a \'whopping' total of 11 projects (in 6 months, not the best track record), a bunch of which were small, quick stuffed creatures (more on those later). I did finish the Kristi socks I'd been knitting forEVER, but after a few wears (DESPITE the 25% nylon content of the Arucania Ranco I used) accidentally felted them down too small to wear. It made me a sad faery as it took me almost a year to knit them. :( I still have them in my sock drawer - not quite sure why, nostalgia I guess.

I've also completed another test-knit for Patti of Patti's Patterns - the Dragon Wing shawl from Knitty First Fall 2011! Congrats on Patti for getting into Knitty - I highly recommend this pattern, it's a pretty straightforward knit and you end up with a very unique finished object.

However, the thing that's been my obsession as of late is this book right here:

I absolutely LOVE Rebecca Danger's patterns - I have five of the PDF patterns available through her website in addition to this book, and I've made four of the monsters in the 2 months since I bought the book and patterns - Frances, Albert, Toothy Joe, and Petunia. I'm also a member of the Dangercrafts group on Ravelry, which is a super-fun place, let me tell you. :) The next one on my needles will probably be Olivia - I LOVE her tutu.

As of right now, I have 3 WIPS, only 1 that's being actively worked on. I've got the Landon sweater STILL in progress (it's been a year and a half, no joke, but it's hard to work on a sweater in worsted weight wool on 40 degree C/104 degree F days), another test/sample knit for Patti that got pushed to the backburner to knit the Dragon Wing shawl, and Clockwork by Stephen West. I am so in love with the shawl right now - it's knit in two colours, and I'm using a natural undyed yarn (Knitpicks Bare Fingering Weight Merino) and a SUPER-BRIGHT rainbow gradient yarn (Lang Jawoll Magic Dégradé in colourway 50). I've been watching a lot of movies lately, and the back and forth garter stitch is just mindless enough that I can watch, but the increases/slipped stitches keep it interesting enough that I don't want to gouge my eyes out. I finished the only other active WIP I had - the Springtime Seaweed socks, check 'em out on my Rav page - so the Clockwork is going to get most of my knitting time for the next little while.

There's also been some spinning lately - I spun 4oz of a 70% merino/30% seacell blend into 436m of a fingering weight yarn that I've been trying to decide what to do with. It is GORGEOUS, and easily my best spinning job to date (yes, I am still working on a drop spindle - as much as I'd like a wheel, it's just not doable right now). I also spun 4oz of 100% BFL into approx 200yds of worsted for Petunia, one of the Dangercrafts monsters I made (for the Rav group's June KAL), and I'm currently working on the first batt I've ever spun from, a pretty white and lavender one with glitz called "Fairy Wings", but I will show you those at a later date.

Sorry for the lack of pictures - a lot of my recent FOs need pictures (or better, not-webcam pictures) and it's 2am, not the best lighting right now. Hopefully I will actually take said pictures and be back soon to share them! :D

Merry Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T14:16:00.001-05:00

Yes, this is the same Christmas tree from last year’s Christmas post – yes, I am at my husband’s grandmother’s house again, but this time I’ve been awake for 21 hours thanks to my overnights at Walmart. I just wanted to pop in and say Merry Christmas to everyone, and good luck to anyone that’s still working on their Christmas knitting. All of mine is DONE, thank goodness, so I’ll be spending the afternoon working on my Podster gloves, or possibly starting a stockinette sock (not sure I have the brain power to follow a pattern right now). I hope everyone is having a happy holiday!

Christmas Knitting Update!

2010-12-15T02:54:00.001-05:00

ATTENTION ABBY AND SARAH! THERE ARE SPOILERS FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS IN THIS POST!

Okay, now that’s out of the way I can show off some pics! First of all, a FINISHED (if unblocked) scarf for Sister #2 (the aforementioned Abby):

(obviously only one end, but you get the idea). The green is Red Heart Super Saver in Medium Thyme, and the grey is Red Heart Soft in Light Grey Heather. All in all a pretty easy knit – even putting on the fringe, which I thought would be SUPER tedious, only really took me 45 minutes or so. I did have to modify the pattern, which is the Year 3-4 Scarf from Charmed Knits – as written it makes a HUGE scarf, and Sister #2 would have been swimming in the thing. Instead of casting on 57 sts, I only did 33, and knit till it was ~46 inches long, instead of 57 (and that was for the SMALL size). So yeah, Christmas knitting is 50% complete! :D

And now for the other 50%, I started Elf’s hat today:

Doesn’t look like much right now, but I’ve just started. No details on the yarn or pattern for now – want most of that to be a surprise for when she gets it. :)

I’m also test-knitting another pattern – this time a cabled stole – for the wonderful Patti Waters of Patti's Patterns (which are also on Ravelry). The sample is already partially knit; I’ll just be finishing it (it’s in Dream in Colour Smooshy, which I LOVE)

I’m on overnights now at the Mart of Wal, and having a GREAT time. You know when you’re overtired and everything is suddenly HILARIOUS? Imagine being in a near-deserted Walmart with people who are equally as slap-happy as you are for seven hours at a time, reading gossip magazines, playing with the musical Christmas stuffed animals, and restocking shelves. We’re very silly.

Okay, time for me to fire up the teakettle and settle in for some Glee and knitting – I’ve got my fingerless gloves on, a lap blanket (actually my Evenstar) and a pair of knitted socks, so I am cozy warm and ready to relax.

In which we actually have progress

2010-12-07T00:56:00.001-05:00

So this is my life as of late (not pictured: crazy-insane hours at Wal-Mart). I’m gearing up to go on overnights (11:30pm-6:30am) the two weeks before Christmas, so my free time is spent sitting at this table, knitting, chatting online, and listening to music. I had a much-needed day off today in which, after going out for lunch with Elfie, I watched seven episodes of Glee (hello, my name is Wenchfaery, and I am a Gleek!) and knit on my podster gloves. I’ve finished the 2nd finger on the first glove after re-starting them so they should be done pretty soon. I’ve also made ZERO progress on my Christmas knitting. (Well, that’s not entirely true, I’ve made mental progress: I decided that the green yarn in the Slytherin scarf has to go, and I will pick up something more suitable on payday, and I picked out the yarn for the only other project I have to make)

I also had a good mail day today:

A few weeks ago I won a prize in The KnitGirllls 30th Episode/500 Ravelry Group members celebration: a copy of Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter, one of the few of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s books that I didn’t already own, so yay for that! On a related note, if you’re looking for some really awesome knitting videocasts to watch, I highly recommend both The KnitGirllls and Round the Twist with Carin – both very informative and entertaining.

I’ve been trying to write this post since 11am, it’s now 12:55am and I’m tapped out. Time to hit post! :D

Hello!

2010-11-30T00:26:00.004-05:00

So I've officially, finally, started knitting Christmas gifts - and I think I'm going to frog the darn thing. Sister #2 requested a Slytherin scarf (yes, I know I said Gryffindor in the last post, but she's since changed her mind), and I thought I had the perfect green yarn. Turns out I don't really like the texture of the yarn in the 1x1 ribbing, so I'm trying to decide whether or not to a) pick a new green yarn entirely, or b) start the thing again in stockinette, knit in the round. Dilemma dilemma. I don't have the yarn for the one other gift I have to knit, but I figure one mini-Sister-sized scarf and a hat for the Elf isn't too bad (I've already picked out the pattern for the hat, and I could probably make it in a day, *and* it doesn't need to be finished until AFTER Christmas). I've also finished two socks, each from a different pair, which completely finishes one pair and leaves another half-done. I'm going on overnights at work for Christmas (1130pm-630am) so I've been trying to flip my sleep schedule, leaving me dopier and stranger than normal with not enough brain power left over for much knitting. I also proofread five books on natural disasters in the past week, so between work, sleep, and proofreading I haven't had time for ANYTHING.

To be honest, every time I sit down to knit I just want to cast on something new - the big thing lately is the Podster Gloves by the lovely Glenna C. I'm a big texter, and my phone has a touch screen-although I love my Totoro mitts, pulling my ENTIRE mitt off to check a text is just not feasible, especially when I'm walking to/from work. I haven't picked out the yarn yet, but I have a few ideas in mind.

I also want to make the Moso Netbook Sock from Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders-I picked up the book from BarnesandNoble.com for THREE DOLLARS (US, but still an AMAZING deal). I'd love to make this in Malabrigo sock, but I want it to be matchy-matchy with my black and blue computer so I'll have to hold off until I have the fundage for yarns again.

Ahh, yarn fundage. I was thinking about it a few days ago, and I've been on an involuntary yarn diet since AUGUST. I've been so broke that buying yarn has been the last thing on my mind, and now I'm actually starting to RUN OUT OF SOCK YARN.

I KNOW. It scares me too.

I've asked for some yarn store gift certificates for Christmas, so hopefully the yarn famine ends soon. :D

Sorry, no pics this time - I have to actually think about posting when it's light outside to get good pics, and as it's 12:41am, that's not going to happen.

All right, I'm going to do some more knitting and stay up super-late again (the record so far has been 630am). Ciao!

Testing

2010-11-11T01:13:00.001-05:00

Testing blogging from my phone. Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3 . . .

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

I'm here, I promise!

2010-11-04T01:16:00.002-04:00

So what's new in the land of Wenchfaery? Well, the biggest news is that I have a new job! Wooooo! :D I'm working at Wal-Mart - and before you say anything, I absolutely LOVE IT there. I work at the Courtesy Desk (Customer Service/returns) and it's 1,000,000x better than my old job. More money, more respect, and I simply enjoy the work more than the old job. So yay!

However, a downside of starting a new job (started the day after Labour Day) is that I'm a little worn out - I'm walking to and from work (2km each way) and it's a go-go-go kind of job, so I don't have a lot of energy left at the end of the day. Knitting has fallen by the wayside a bit - in the last month, I've made two socks (two different socks, each from a different pair) and a hat. But I'm finally settling into the groove of things at the Mart of Wal, so I'm hoping to have more energy to knit in the coming weeks (especially since Sister #2 has requested a Gryffindor scarf for Christmas this year *gulp*). I'm also hoping to get Sister #3's surprise gift finished before the 9th of November (she's going in for surgery, and I want to send something along with her), but that's crochet, so a different part of my craft-brain.

Tomorrow is - thankfully - my daaaay oofffff, wooo! I'm hoping to work on my long-abandonded Kristi socks which, according to Rav I started in March - at least I'm on the second sock? I only have four projects on the needles right now (which is pretty low for me) - Kristi, a pair of plain stockinette socks, socks that I'm testknitting for Welshmillie, and Landon, the Jordana Paige sweater I started in FEBRUARY (why yes, I let things languish, how did you know?) Do you think I can get it done to wear this winter?

Back from the Dead . . . with a knitting meme!

2010-09-22T11:21:00.002-04:00

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street – possibly ninja knitting. Or pirate knitting.
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Blog Silence . . .

2010-06-05T13:49:00.001-04:00

. . . should be broken soon, when I have stuff to show you. :)

Hello all!

2010-03-25T15:55:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the blog silence as of late - ever since the Knitting Olympics I've kind of lost my knitting mojo. I'm still working on Evenstar, I cast on for a sweater (Landon - more details on my Rav page, and I'm knitting a pair of socks for Patti, one of her new patterns she needed test-knit. To be honest, I've mostly been playing Final Fantasy XIII - which is AMAZING, btw - and spinning on my little Ashford drop-spindle. It's really fun,and I'm actually starting to get better at it. Right now I'm spinning a half-pound of undyed Coopworth - I'm attempting an approximation of fingering weight so I can knit myself a little shawlette out of it, but

Lookie What I Did!

2010-01-30T20:45:00.002-05:00

I have re-dyed the yarn I (briefly) mentioned in my last post, wound it up, and ta-da! I have a finished swatch for the Evenstar KAL! ( Ravelry Shawl Link | Ravelry Swatch Link ) The colours aren’t quite right up there – it’s definitely more green than that, but all of the colour-correct pictures turned out TERRIBLE. For example:

See? The colours are pretty much spot-on, but you can’t tell what the F it is. So, now that the swatch is done (on 3.5mm needles, or US 4s), I’m just kind of killing knitting time until the 12th of February, when the first clue comes out. I’ve been working on a pair of plain stockinette socks out of Noro Silk Garden Sock, and I frogged the Vampire Boyfriend socks (waaaaay too much purling) – I kind of want to start the Haruni shawl ( Ravelry Link ), but that’s two shawls on the needles once we hit Feb 12th. Unless I can start and finish it before then . . .

I’ve been a busy little faery!

2010-01-24T02:43:00.001-05:00

Okay, I have a confession to make. I normally have waaaaay too many projects on the needles – a couple of pairs of socks, a shawl, something long-languishing, but since Christmas I’ve buckled down and for about a day, I had NOTHING on the needles. I finished a TON, so I’ve come to share my works! :)

To start off, I frogged the cowl I mentioned last post – ironically enough, for a pattern called the Impatience Cowl, I got bored with it and tore it out, so I have a skein of Dream in Colour Starry, colour Black Parade, to work with.

I also joined a Crochet-Along. I made the mistake of crocheting one of the Christmas gifts this year, which clearly demonstrated that my crochet skills are weak. It’s a crochet block a month, and after the 12 months, you sew ‘em all together and you get an afghan! There are technically 3 going at the same time – one made out of 12” squares from Ravelry, one from 6” squares from Ravelry, and one from 12” squares from Craftster.

January Ravelry Square ( Ravelry Link | Off-Rav Link )

January Craftster Square ( Ravelry Link | Off-Rav Link )

I haven’t done the 6'” square yet – a little more difficult than the other two, so I’m having a bit of an issue. But, I’ll be trying again soon.

Next up was a pair of socks, out of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight, in Green-Eyed Monster. The pattern is Mystery Sock ‘09 ( Ravelry Link )

The pattern was SO FUN to knit up – the patterning is around the top of the cuff, down either side of the leg, and on top of the foot, so it’s a little different from most sock patterns, and in the mediumweight it knit up really fast. I’m probably going to make these ones again.

Next up was my mitten project for the year – I had a green scarf (the Icarus), a greet hat (Baroness Beret), and a white hat (Raisin Beret – a failed Christmas gift I ended up keeping for myself), so I figured I needed green and white mitts to balance out the set, as it were.

Enter, the Totoro Mitten! ( Ravelry Link )

My first successful, completed fair-isle project – okay, it’s a little wonky, but the second one was much better, I promise. I’m officially in love with fair-isle, as fiddly as it was. Here’s a shot of the palm:

Then I had a crazy-productive finishing weekend, and made/finished the following three items.

Gaenor, in STR Lightweight, colour Storey-time ( Ravelry Link | Off-Rav Link )

Aquaphobia Socks, in CJ Kopec Creations’ Pandamonium, color Hello Kitty ( Ravelry Link | Off-Rav Link )

5-Hour Baby Sweater in Cascade 220, colour 9863 ( Ravelry Link | Off-Rav Link )

And then, a few days later, I finished these socks:

Fawkes in Handmaiden Casbah Sock, colour Sangria ( Ravelry Link )

Aaaand that’s all so far. Phew! Thanks for bearing with me there. So after all of this finishing, what am I working on now? I’ve just cast on the My Vampire Boyfriend socks in Fibranatura Yummy, a red-brown-purple colour that kind of looks like bruises and dried blood (I figured that was fitting). I’m also going to be casting on for the Evenstar Mystery Shawl Knitalong – the first clue doesn’t come out til February 12th, but I have to re-dye my yarn and knit the swatch before then, so I’ll be working on it soon.

Okay, it’s almost 3am, and I’m all tapped out. Happy knitting everyone! :)

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas . . .

2009-12-25T09:35:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I am currently at my husband’s grandmother’s house for Christmas Eve dinner (okay, it’s only noon, but I am assured there will be actual dinner at some point). All of my Christmas gift knitting and crocheting is officially DONE – I have one last present to assemble, but the fibre part of it is done and stuffed and embroidered. I hope to bring you pictures of all of the finished items with their intended recipients – one has already been given out, the pair of wristwarmers I made for the Elf, so I’ll need to harass her for a picture, but everyone else gets their stuff tomorrow. Oh, I forgot, one gift needs to be felted still, but as it’s meant to be felted to fit, I will be doing it tomorrow after I give the unfelted gift.

Now that the gift making is finished, I feel kind of at loose ends. I brought the only two portable WIPs I have – a pair of socks and a cowl – but I’ve fallen out of love with both projects, despite loving the yarn. I would just tear ‘em out and start new projects, but I am without internet access for the moment so I only have the patterns on my computer to choose from, and of course I don’t want to make any of them. I was going to bring the yarn and needles to cast on a pair of mittens for myself, but figured I already had enough knitting – yeah right, like you can ever have *enough* knitting with you.

Oh! In other news, I finished the Icarus shawl!

(Pictured with a DVD case for size comparison). It took me almost 6 months to the day (July 14 – December 13), but it is DONE. This shawl was my first large-scale lace-weight project, and although the knitting was tedious at times, I am head over heels in love with the finished shawl and I wear it every day. I even knit a beret in a similar shade of green to match. The yarn is Misti Alpaca Lace in Carbon Teal – the name is a little misleading, as the colour is a dark forest green and not really teal at all. Apparently there is an error in the pattern with regards to the amount of yarn required – the pattern says 800yds, and most people have needed anywhere from 850yds to 1200. As I only had two skeins (that Patti and Alex brought me back from their trip to the US earlier this year) I was VERY concerned, but I ended up with a ball of leftover yarn about the size of one of those tealight candles.

Here, have a puppy! :)

2009-11-26T00:33:00.001-05:00

Just testing out Windows Live Writer for my blog posts – this way I’ll be able to write my posts when I don’t necessarily have an internet connection, and then post them when I do (up until now, I’ve been using Blogger’s standard online client). It’s also letting me center the pictures, which I haven’t been able to do myself (HTML FAIL). I’m also hoping that this Twitter widget I’ve installed works properly, so it automatically posts a tweet when I publish a blog entry. Fingers crossed that it all works!

Woohoo! An Accomplishment!

2009-11-25T11:35:00.003-05:00

That, ladies and gents, is one half of one Christmas Knitting project, completed! I know, it might not seem like much, but it is real, measurable progress, and that's what matters. That is the Handschmeichler pattern ( on Rav | off Rav ) done in Estelle Arequipa. I've lost the ballband, but the colourway is light pink, green, and blue (when they're done, I'll take a colour-correct, non webcam pic so you can see the colours better). I'm not going to cast on the second one quite yet, as I will see the recipient (ie, the Elf) later today, and I want her to try it on to make sure it fits. So next on the docket is either Sister #1's hat, or Mom's skate guards - yes, you read that right, I am knitting (and felting) skate guards. She just got a new bag to carry her skates in (my mother is big into ice skating), but she's afraid her blades will cut up the bag, and apparently the rubber/plastic guards aren't good for your skates because they trap moisture and will cause the blade to dull and rust. I'll be using Patons Classic Merino, and Babe from the Winter '06 Knitty ( on Rav | off Rav ) I've also frogged and re-started last post's "super-sekrit-can't-knit-at-home-'cause-it's-for-my-husband-for-Christmas" - I had the bright idea to actually it on him, and it totally did not fit, so they're a)not so super-sekrit anymore, and b)on larger needles now. So I'm knitting the Herringbone Rib socks ( on Rav | off Rav-need an account at Knitting Daily ) in Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock, colourway Edgewater. Pictures when there's some appreciable amount of knitting done on them - I just re-cast on yesterday at work.

Okay, it's almost noon, and even though it's my day off I should probably peel myself away from the computer. Ciao! :)

More Christmas Knitting

2009-11-18T12:51:00.002-05:00

Finished another poinsettia - and I realized I didn't link to where I'm getting these ornament patterns. The poinsettia and the snowflake (take 2 of that is coming today) are from the pattern collection A Little Something Special from Knitting Daily/Interweave Press (free patterns, but need account on the KD site to download).

The Santa Hat and the infamous Christmas Pickle are both free patterns from Knitpicks.com; here's the pickle, and here's the santa hat. Last, but not least, the Tiny Mitten pattern is something I dug up by searching "ornament" on Ravelry, but it's also available off-Rav here

Today is a Christmas-knitting day for me. Wednesdays are my regular days off of work, and I am over at my mother's house watching the puppies (she has my Kaylee's sister Zoey). I've been working on my super-sekrit-can't-knit-at-home-'cause-it's-for-my-husband-for-Christmas knitting project; I'd show pictures, but I'm sure he'd track them down. :D I have also been working on wristwarmers for the Elf, but I don't have them with me, so no good pictures of those. I'll take some tonight and post them sometime in the next few days.

Okay, so that didn't go as planned . . .

2009-11-12T23:40:00.003-05:00

. . . yeah, tinkering with the layout didn't work the way I wanted it to - all of the Blogger layouts are really narrow, like this one, and my internets skillz aren't quite l33t enough to do it myself. So I've returned with a slew of pictures of my recent knitting obsession - mini Christmas ornaments. Please excuse the blurriness in a lot of these - they are all webcam pictures. :)

Christmas Pickles - don't ask

Tiny Poinsettia

Santa Hat (on Hellboy)

Tiny Mitten

Snowflake

Okay, so I know the last pic doesn't have any knitting content, but that's my puppy Kaylee. Isn't she precious? :) I'm working on the second Tiny Mitten right now, and after that is a cabled ball, and then we'll see! I have a pattern for a tiny socks and a tiny hat and miniature knitting bags, so I might go on to those next. I'm totally enamoured with the miniature knitting - it's challenging enough not to be mindless, and it goes so darn fast you can make 6 ornaments in just a few days. :D I was going to take a picture of the Impatience Cowl but in this light (it is almost midnight) it just looks like a black blob, so that'll have to wait for better light. I also have a picture of the socks I have OTN:

Again, that's the Aquaphobia pattern in CJ Kopec Creations' Pandamonium, colourway Hello Kitty.

Well, that's all for now - back to knitting Tiny Mitten #2!

Blog!

2009-11-12T01:57:00.002-05:00

I'm baack! Okay, so waay too much has gone on in the past year for me to sum everything up, so here's the quick version.

1) New apartment. Nicer, but smaller.
2) Same job, but part-time now (selling Avon on the side)
3) Have a dog - Shih Tzu/Toy Poodle cross named Kaylee
4) Have a new computer - Acer Aspire One (netbook) so I can blog more easily
5) Still knitting, which is why I'm back. :D

I'll be posting some WIP and FO pics in the next little while - I'm going to tinker around with the layout here first to try and get them to display properly, but I am currently knitting . . .
-the Impatience Cowl from Simply Socks Yarn Company out of Dream in Color Starry, colourway Black Parade
-the Aquaphobia socks (on Ravelry) out of CJ Kopec Creations' Pandamonium, colourway Hello Kitty
-the Icarus Shawl from the Summer '06 Interweave Knits from Misti Alpaca Laceweight in dark green
-and lastly, the Green Gable Hoodie from the Winter 08 (I think) Vogue Knitting in Phentex Monster Ball (yes, acrylic) in dark green
-various assorted Christmas ornaments

Notice something missing from before? Yes, that's right, about a year ago I FINISHED THE SNAPPING TURTLE SKIRT! *happy dance* So now I have another giant green project on the needles that I am less than enamoured with (the hoodie) - I have been working on it since Christmas of last year, but both sleeves are done and set into the body, and I'm just doing placket shaping now before I hit the hood. So, progress is being made, and I would like to wear it to Christmas this year, as my in-laws bought me the yarn as a gift.

So, yeah. Pics coming as soon as I get the layout right!
----------------
Listening to: Lights - The Last Thing On Your Mind
via FoxyTunes

Oh, hey, that's right! I have a blog, don't I?

2008-10-28T19:56:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone! Long time no see, eh? Well, I'm back, and as would be expected after not blogging in so long, I have a LOT of information to share! In no particular order, here's what I've been up to since the end of August:

1) Learning to spin. I've finally managed to gather the courage to try spinning up the roving that my good friend Knitwit got me for my birthday back in July. Not so great at it yet, but even in the little bit I've done I've noticed a marked improvement. I just have to remember that I'm not going to be able to spin sock yarn right away - since I realized that, I've been doing much better. She gave me a few lessons at our weekly Knit Night, and I figured out what I've been doing wrong now. :)

2) For the past month or so, I've been teaching a Beginning Sock Knitting class at Stitch, the yarn store in Grimsby, ON that I mentioned before. I think it's going pretty good - we're following a pattern called "Odd Socks", and it's a fairly basic top-down two-colour stripe sock, and we've done two of three classes so far. The first one was the casting on and the cuff, the second was the heel flap and turn, and the third (next week) is the foot and toe. The pattern itself has a 'star toe', and it isn't Kitchenered together, so that's a lot simpler there as well - and very pretty. :)

3) I have done what feels like a boatload of knitting! I've not been feeling particularly healthy as of late, so I spend a lot of time curled up on my couch, needles in hand. According to my Ravelry projects, since my last post on August 31st, I've finished four pairs of socks (including the pink Jaywalkers from my last post, another pair of Monkeys, Embossed Leaves from the Interweave Favourite Socks book, and a pair of Nine to Five socks), a pair of Bella's Fingerless Gloves (yes, I read Twilight, so sue me), the Calorimetry I mentioned in my last post (and it's HUGE), yet another Anthropologie-inspired Capelet for Sister #2 (she wanted one in black to compliment the blue one I had previously made), and I've frogged two socks, a hat, and a scarf, mostly languishing projects that I have no desire to ever finish. Right now, I'm working on another pair of socks, dubbed the Vanilla Viking socks because they are a) for Viking, b) a vanilla-y brown colour, and c) kinda plain (1x1 garter rib), and STILL my Albatross, the Snapping Turtle Skirt. HOWEVER, I am now only three hexagons away from the END, and I cast on the first of those three last night. After them, I need to buy a zipper for the skirt so I can so the waistband, put in the zipper, and do the bottom edging (if necessary), and then I will be DONE with the darn thing. There is a light at the end of the tunnel! The end is near! Hopefully I'll have enough yarn!

4) I'm packing again - I know, not very yarn-related, but I mention it here to partially explain my recent absence. The people who owned my apartment building (really two apartments over a store) sold it, and the new owners want the apartments ~~of less than liveable quality~~ for themselves, so Viking, the Photographer, and I are all being evicted. Most of the apartments we've been looking at have turned up either unacceptable or already rented, but we have an appointment for tomorrow (Hallowe'en! Woo!) to go see one that's farther away from work, and more money, but much larger, and hopefully somewhere we can stay for a while - we've not even been in the current place a year yet.

5) Working. I'm working 10-hour days in my call center job now, so when I'm not at work (which is rare), I'm either asleep or knitting - which means that I don't have any pictures to compliment this post, as it's still kinda dark when I leave in the morning, and completely dark when I get home at night. There are a few pictures on My Ravelry Project Page, but I haven't finished taking up-to-date pics of my now-completed projects. Hopefully that will come soon, if I am home during daylight hours!

That's what's been going on around here for the past two months - I'm going to be doing National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo) starting Saturday, so I will be in the writing mode for most of November - expect to hear from me again soon (hopefully with a finished skirt!)

Rumours of my Death have been Greatly Exaggerated

2008-08-31T12:30:00.009-04:00

. . . hey guys, miss me? I know, it's been forEVER since I posted - I've got a myriad of excuses, all of them perfectly reasonable, but that's not what this blog is about: ostensibly, you come here for knitting content, so it is knitting content you shall receive!

I've finished a lot of things since I last posted, so I'll get right into it here; first, chronologically, was the Red Monkeys I was making for myself - I am officially a top-down convert, I find it much easier for my attention-span to have the sock broken down into smaller sections (the ribbing, the leg, heel flap & turn, gusset, foot, and toe).

I can't for the life of me remember the exact yarn name - Lana Grossa something - but this red colourway is VERY pretty, lots of purplie bits. I'd originally picked it up for an installment in my Inheritance Sockology, which has not been abandoned, I promise you, just needed a break between making a third pair off of the same pattern. My LYS has another skein in the same colourway, but I'm thinking of trying to find a more dragony red elsewhere.

Once I finished my Red Monkeys, I went right into another pair of the same, with one slight difference:

They're HUGE. I went from my normal 2.5mm-2.75mm needles up to 3.5mm, to make them large enough for the Viking's huge-mungous feet, and they fit just fine. :) A note about the yarn - normally, I avoid self-patterning yarn, heck even self-striping, like the plague, but I bought this for the Viking waaay back when I first wanted to try knitting socks, and I figured it was high time I used it. I found a pair of Monkeys done in self-patterning on Ravelry, and they looked neat, so I thought "why not?" and gave it a try. I think they turned out pretty cool, myself.

Oh, and I also picked up an antique sock blocker for pics - it's in two of the pictures above, but here it is in all it's naked glory:

I've had to sand it down a bit on the edges, but it's definitely serving it's purpose.

Once I finished those, I hunkered down on the Woodland Shawl I'd just started last post. Well, it's finished, blocked, and already given to my Mom (who I think has decided to keep it). Voila:

(Yes, I took the picture from to top of the shawl, so the pattern is upside-down. Whoops. :P)

I ran out of yarn two rows from the end, but in the exchange learned the Yarn Harlot's Crocheted Cast Off (detailed in this post), which is GLORIOUS and requires NO EXTRA YARN. I hate wasting yarn, so I try to knit as close to the end of the skein as possible, and am always running out of yarn for the bind off. This is INSANELY useful - thank you to Patti for pointing me in this direction.

I have also been working on my Albatross, the Snapping Turtle Skirt:

I know it doesn't look like much, but I have finished four hexagons in the last month or so (there's one more, the first in the third row, that hadn't been knitted when I took that picture). I've been knitting this skirt for something silly like two years - however, it's supposed to have four rows of hexagons, and I think it might be long enough with three. I'll have to check that WHEN ELF COMES HOME WHICH IS THIS WEEK I'M NOT EXCITED AT ALL, CAN YOU TELL?! :D

After all of this knitting, I had a short crochet-interlude:

Yes, that is a crocheted Cthulu. It's from the book Creepy Cute Crochet, which is ADORABLE - I made it in a night for Viking's friend Ren (go check out her website and art blog - cool stuff!)

So, what am I working on now? I've cast on for a Calorimetry in Patons SWS Natural Plum - it's very soft and pretty, but really freakin' slippery on metal and wood, so even though I cast it on for mindless knitting, it is not. No pictures of that - my father-in-law borrowed my camera. I also made my first attempt at Magic Loop by starting a pair of Jaywalkers from the now-defunct Magknits (pattern available on Ravelry here) in Patons Stretch Sock, colourway Sugar. It's now transferred onto DPNs, as the needle I was using for the ML was AWFUL. I see some Knitpicks fixed circs in my future!

I'm much farther than this now - only 1/2" away from the toe - but I haven't uploaded the newest pictures to Flickr, and I'm posting from work shhhhhhh.

I really want to knit a sweater, but lack the fundage right now (but I get paid this week, so that may change!). I'm thinking either Terra by Jacquelyn Landry, or the Green Gable hoodie (Rav link) from the Fall 2008 Vogue Knitting.

On the knitting-related front, I received 2oz of some VERY pretty roving dyed by Capistrano Fiber Arts and a spindle from my friend KnitWit. I can't wait to try and spin it up (I had a less-than-successful attempt with a homemade spindle and some Clover needle-felting roving a few weeks back), but I need to have a good length of time to sit down and try my hand at it.

Isn't it pretty? Greens and browns and blues - my favourite! In other acquisitions, I went on a sock-yarn-buying-bonanza in the past few weeks. I bought the Patons Stretch Socks, a skein of Cadenza by Estelle in a pretty brown-and-tan colour, and I ordered two skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock, one in Little Bunny Foo Foo (pink, brown, white), and one in Love In Idleness (mostly blues and purples). That broke my yarn diet, which stretched from May 25th to August 13th. I was very proud of myself - and then I fell down. :D The STR should be here this week (it's in Mississauga right now, about an hour and a half away from here, so I have high hopes.

Okay, I've officially been writing this for three hours. I'm pretty sure I've covered everythingI wanted to cover - sorry about the extra-long post, I had to make up for lost time. :D Hopefully I won't leave it so long between posts this time, eh?

Confessions of a Broke-A$$ Faery

2008-07-06T13:08:00.005-04:00

Forgive me, knitters, for I have sinned. It has been exactly one month, eleven days since I last bought yarn, and I am DYING. Everywhere I look there are new patterns I want to knit, or new yarn lines (have you SEEN the new Knitpicks sock yarn?!), but I'm trying to save up for big things. Mostly rent and bills - Viking is going to Peru for five weeks in September, which mean he conveniently misses two months of rent, and a month of gas, hydro, cable, internet, and home phone. I'm probably going to buy myself some yarn for my birthday (18 days until I'm 25), but I've gotta be careful because I have to support myself entirely for a month.

To try and quash the desparate need to buy yarn, I've been working on knitting from stash (I know, what a novel idea). I'm working on my Monkey socks still (almost at the heel flap of the second one), and on Friday I cast on for the Woodland Shawl (Ravelry Link). It's designed to be knit out of one skein of sock yarn, and I've got a LOT of those, so I grabbed the colorway that immediately came to mind when I saw the pattern:

That is Mountain Color's Bearfoot in Yellowstone - I used the Olive for the Green Dragon socks, and I bought this one just 'cause I wanted another skein of this AWESOME yarn (sooooo soft). It's totally not my colours - I love autumny colors, don't get me wrong, but I've got a reddish complexion (some would even say ruddy), so I look like a tomato in red. But, my mom and my aunt both really like the colors, so if my mom wants it, she can have it - if not, we're wrapping it up for my aunt for her birthday in November. Here's a detail shot of the leaf pattern:

I'm only done one repeat, but it's already turning out really well. I've had to restart the darn thing FIVE TIMES, just because I didn't check what SK2P meant. I assumed it was Slip 1, Knit 2, Pass Slipped Stitch Over. Nuh-uh. It's actually Slip 1, KNIT 2 TOGETHER, Pass Slipped Stich Over. If I had just read the freakin' instructions first . . . *shakes head*. At least this yarn is very forgiving when it comes to frogging - it's got a little bit of mohair in it, but just enough to give it a halo, not enough to stop it from unraveling easily.

That's really all that's going on in my knitting world - I might be going to the Stitch 'n Pitch at the ~~Rogers Center~~ Skydome with a few knitters from around here, but that's not until mid-August. I'll post pics of the shawl as I get farther in, so you can see the loveliness that is the pattern/yarn combo. Ciao!

Hai U Guyzz!

2008-06-24T22:50:00.005-04:00

Hello everyone - remember me? I remember you, I promise! My time has just been eaten up lately by a variety of things.

1) I got a wicked sunburn two weeks ago tomorrow that I am *still* peeling from. Lots of pain. I spent most of my time whining about how much pain I was in.

2) Plurk. It's a micro-blogging site, like Twitter, but it's set up more like a bunch of miniature IM conversations. A lot of the knitting peoples from the LnV Ravelry board are over there now, and there are dancing bananas.

3) Reading Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen series (link is to the first book; I'm on book three, Memories of Ice). Gritty, epic fantasy. Very good - re-reading in anticipation of the 7th(?) book this September.

4) Playing Pokemon Diamond on my DS. I know, it's a sickness, but I *like* it. :D I bought an Action Replay (think: cheating on videogames) expressly for Pokemon. I've caught almost all of the legendaries (missing two, Arceus and Heatran).

5) Work. 'Nuff said.

6) Spending time with my little sisters. They're out of school now, so there will be much quality time (and much swimming, and much Pokemon) :D

Buut, even in light of all of that, I have pictures! I listened to three episodes of Lime and Violet in one sitting (oh how I love work sometimes), and I came away from them with a strange, irrepressible urge to knit a pair of Monkey socks.

As you can see, I've written out the stages of the pattern on index cards, so I can tuck the pattern into my knitting bag and take it places. I've been knitting by the pool (the pic above is on my mother's poolside lounger), knitting at my sister's grad, knitting at the bar . . . you understand. This is where I am now:

I don't like purling back when knitting on DPNs, so the 30 rows of the heel flap are taking me forever, but tomorrow is another day at the pool/my Mom's, and tomorrow night is Knit Night at Fine Grind, so hopefully I'll get the heel turned, and maybe get into the gusset a little.

Oh, by the way, just to let you know, Knit Picks is having a BIG book sale. If I can scrounge up the cash, I'm going to get this, or this, or maybe this. I also want some of their Options fixed circulars, if I'm gonna learn Magic Loop. Must . . . work . . . overtime . . . for . . . yarn money . . .

A few weeks ago I checked a few books out of the local library, most notably Amigurumi: Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth Doherty. I haven't crocheted anything out of it yet, but the patterns are ADORABLE. There's a ~~knitted~~ crocheted deer that looks like Deery-Lou that I just HAVE to make, along with some of the crocheted fruit, and one of the crocheted Humanoids for a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless in case they read this blog). It seems like a well-written book, but I'll get back to you once I've actually tried to crochet something from it. My crochet skills are fair-to-middling, so I'm no expert by any means. I also checked out Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. The sock patterns look neat, but I have a hard time following the way things are set-up. The Monkey yarn was originally destined for one of the patterns from that book, but I just couldn't follow the pattern. I think I'm going to give it another try, but write out the pattern on my little cards first so I don't have to worry about getting numbers confused. I also took out Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off, as it was the only Yarn Harlot book I hadn't read, and Wrap Style, because I have 450yds of DK weight merino-silk (Malabrigo Silky Wool) that I want to make a wrap or stole out of, but I found the book less than inspiring. There are maybe three things in the whole book I want to knit: Wandering Aran Fields (Norah Gaughan), Twisty Turns (also Norah Gaughan), and Enchante (Leigh Radford), although I would never wear the last one. Mohair sleeves? *shudder* Itch-city.

OH! I finally finished the @#$%^&* Claw Socks! I asked the Viking to take pictures, but he failed, so when I get my camera back (*grumblegrumblelentouttosomeonegrumble*), I'll get him to model them. The Fair Isle socks are on hiatus - mostly because parts of the leg are STILL TOO TIGHT. *angry sigh* I'll finish the one and use it as a stocking or something.

Okay, this is epic. Time to sign off, and go catch up on my Plurks (9 unread as of now), and work on the heel flap of the Monkey sock. Ciao!

Knitting PicSpam Alert!

2008-06-01T01:26:00.002-04:00

I think I owe you guys some pictures - I've been promising them for a while. So, here you go! They all link to Flickr, where I've written little descriptions about them, and they get bigger, too. Oooooh. :D Enjoy!

Knitting Update

2008-05-16T16:17:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone, I'm still here. I've just been taking a mini-hiatus from the internets (lots of knitting, gaming, and partying, as we sent Elfie off to Germany in true St. Catharines nerd style). I'm gonna start from my last post before the Knitter's Frolic. Well, the TTC was on strike, so Elfie and I didn't get to go. Boo. :( However, we had a grand adventure driving around the Niagara Peninsula looking for yarn. For those of you who may know the area, we went to St. Catharines, Welland, Fonthill, Beamsville, Grimsby, Port Colbourne, Wainfleet, West Lincoln, Pelham, Fort Erie... Elfie, did I miss any? We tried Rose's Fine Yarns in Fonthill, but they were closed for Webkinz Day, so we hung out there for a bit ~~we're not 5 year olds, I swear~~, and then we drove around and tried to find a wool farm that ended up being a HUGE disappointment (empty barn, anyone?). Eventually, we made our way to Stitch, a knitting/quilting/embroidery store in Grimsby, the place I reviewed below. I bought Lantern Moon's Ebony Sox Stix, and a skein of Noro's sock yarn (self-striping wool single, so we'll see how it holds up), and some of my fave Clover stitch markers. All in all, it turned into a really fun weekend, even if we didn't get to go to Toronto.

What else? Let's see, I made the pompoms for the ties on Mosey (they look MUCH cuter with them, but it's starting to get too warm to wear them, so hopefully I can get another pic before I have to put them away for the summer), I'm still working on the &$%#*$&%) Claw Socks for Viking, and I'm working on the May Mystery Sock from Sock Knitters Anonymous (Ravelry Link). It's Fair Isle, which I have never done before, so I figured, "why not?" I knit the cuff on the 2.75mm Sox Stix, but because FI has so little give, they were too small, and I had to rip them out. I restarted them this morning on 3.5mm needles, and hopefully these will fit a little better. The FI is too labour-intensive to do on the move, so that's strictly a home-time project, and I bring the Claw Socks to work.

Oh, speaking of bringing knitting to work, I bought two new knitting bags at Michael's last week. One is a larger, purse-like bag, and the other is closer to those Go-Knit pouches, but it is clear vinyl and has a pretty solid base, so it just stands there while I knit from it. I'll take some pictures so you can see them - I would do it now, but work = no camera. This is the big bag in the same pattern I bought. It is HUGELY roomy, like, surprisingly so. This is the little bag, but I got mine in the Sage Green solid. The only problem with this little bag is that the carabiner is WAY too small. It won't even clip onto the strap of the bigger bag. I might go buy a bigger one and swap it out - the big selling points for me were that they matched, and that they were intended to use together. I'll take some pics of them full of stuff so you can see how much they hold.

Other than that, I don't really have a whole lot going on. With Elfie in Germany for the summer, I'm spending a lot more time knitting - which isn't a bad thing, as maybe I'll start finishing things for once. I'll be getting back to the Mystery Sock tonight, at least for a little while (I work nights during the weeks, and days on the weekends, so no late-night knitting tonight). I took a few pictures before I ripped it out. so I'll upload them tonight and hopefully have them up here in the next few days. Ciao!

LYS Review: Stitch

2008-05-16T15:30:00.008-04:00

The weekend of the ~~failed trip to the~~ Knitter's Frolic (more about that later), the Elf and I drove out to Grimsby to check out Stitch in Grimsby, Ontario, that bills itself as "A Sanctuary for Knitters, Quilters, & Needle Artists". It has a vine-ball sculpture of yarn and knitting needles out front of the cute little house the store is in. If you're looking for it, be careful - it's at the end of a dead-end street, and easy to miss if you're the one driving (luckily, Eagle-Eyes Faery was navigating).

The store is pretty small - just one little room of yarn - but they focus on the expensive specialty fibers that you can't get many other places. For example, they have the Handmaiden Sea Silk at $37 CDN/skein, and the Noro Sock Yarn at $18.95 CDN/skein. They have all of the luxury lines - Rowan, Debbie Bliss, etc. They also carry notions, including my favourite company, Clover (I just love those green and orange locking stitch markers), lampwork beads, little bags of roving for needle-felting, silk embroidery floss, and quilting material. They've got two cats there (I can't for the life of me remember the names), so if you're allergic, you might want to medicate before you go. I'm not, so I don't really know if the caution is warranted, but better safe than sorry.

Having said that the stock is small, there are two rooms of couches and comfy chairs where people can sit and knit - when Elf and I were there, they were actually doing a class on Prayer Shawls and there was a Massage Therapist doing the rounds as well. It's a very friendly, cosy little place, and the lady who was working there (I forgot to get her name - I believe she's the owner) was one of the nicest ladies I've ever met. They will wind your yarn into balls for you - the ball winder and swift are on opposite sides of a doorway, so it's kind of funny to see people try to get in and out of the room while they're winding two skeins of Sea Silk. All in all, it is a lovely little place that I would love to go back to in the future - maybe even take that Prayer Shawl class (you know I'm in it for the massage, right?).

My haul for the day was the aforementioned stitch markers, a skein of Noro Sock Yarn, and . . . . Lantern Moon Sox Stix! *dies* They are LOVELY - short, at only 5" long, and I made my first Fair Isle attempt on them this past week (more about that in another post). They make sock knitting much, MUCH easier. I have yet to try out the sock yarn, but I'll tell you what it's like when I try it. It's a single (it's not plied with anything else) and the thickness looks a little inconsistent, so I'm not sure how the socks are going to turn out. It's self-striping as well, something I normally avoid like the plague, but a boring stockinette sock every once in a while never hurt anyone.

FO: Mosey

2008-04-21T12:24:00.002-04:00

FO: Mosey
Originally uploaded by wenchfaery

See - I have been knitting! Just finished these yesterday, and wore them to work; I've gotta come up with a way to stop them from sliding down as I walk. But they're great - the pattern is from this Spring's Knitty and I didn't change anything - recommended needles, recommended yarn. The only thing that's missing in the pic are the pompoms - I'm going to pick up a pompom maker today at Kismet (corner of Queenston and St. Paul) and hopefully not fail at making them.

In other news, the Elf and I are going to the Knitter's Frolic on Saturday! I'm so excited! *squee* We're going to have an epic public-transit adventure (the two of us have a tendency to get lost) and we're spending the day in TO. I'm hoping to get a drop spindle and some roving, some stitch markers, ~~lots and lots of sock yarns~~ and that's about it, unless I see something that I just HAVE to have. I keep meaning to order a ball-winder from The Knitter.com, as they have free shipping to Canada. Maybe if I see one on Sat, I'll get it there instead.

I've been meaning to start photographing my stash for Ravelry - it's the only part of it I'm not using. I just know it will take FOREVER - I don't have as much yarn as most people, but I'm not so good at the photography yet, so it'll be a lot of trial and error. Well, I have tomorrow of, as ~~as far as I know~~ no plans for the day, so maybe I'll drag out a drawer or two onto the porch and get started. In fact, if I go get ready for work, I can start today . . . okay, I'm off!

I swear, this is knitting related.

2008-04-07T18:40:00.003-04:00

I can't stand how some workplaces selectively enforce the rules - certain things are generally prohibited, but allowed as long as they do not interfere with a person's work. I understand that - and I don't let knitting at my desk affect my job performance. So why, on one of the slowest days we've had lately, when I am over half an hour between contacts, can't I knit? They're looking the other way with regards to my blogging, my being on Livejournal and other not-approved websites, and my making little origami kimono, but I can't knit, because "the Director is here". Shouldn't they be enforcing all of the rules on everyone, if they're that concerned about what the Director thinks? I know, it's their prerogative to enforce the rules or not, but the favouritism just gets me.

On a lighter note, I finished the first Claw Sock for Viking, and am taking a bit of a break from socks to make myself Mosey, which is a LOVELY cabled legwarmer pattern. I'm using the recc'd yarn, Patons Classic Merino in Leaf Green (my LYS didn't have the recc'd colour, and I just LOVE green), and it is so fun and FAST! It's nice to be working with worsted weight again, after so long with fingering weight and 2.75mm needles. I'll hopefully have the first one done today (if I can sneak in some knitting) or tomorrow, and I'll make sure to post pics when I do.

Also: any other old-school videogame geeks, go to PixelatedCreation's Etsy Shop. I don't know this person, but they work at the same place I do (found the site from a notice on the work messageboard), and the stuff is PRETTY. I'm going to order a few pieces from her - Viking is the real-life version of Edgar Figaro from FFVI, he even plays him at Moksa University, a Livejournal RP where we're both co-moderators (I play Tsukino Chibiusa from Sailormoon and Fujibayashi Sheena from Tales of Symphonia), so I just HAVE to get him one. And I like Moogles. (^-^)

Still plugging away.

2008-03-30T17:14:00.002-04:00

YES, this is still the FIRST SOCK. *dies* The huge swaths of purling were a baaaad idea - the damn thing is taking FOREVER knit. But I'm only an inch or so away from the ribbing at the top of the cuff. The Snapping Turtle Skirt isn't coming along much faster - I'm on hexagon 10/24, although I learned that I can knit one in a night, if so inclined. I've fallen out of love with both projects, and they are the only ones I have on the needles right now. I need a quick fix, something for ME that will get me more motivated. Any suggestions?

I don't have a whole lot more to report on, so here are some more pictures to tide you over:

This last picture is the hat I made for my mother for Christmas - I was at her house for Easter, and happened to see it sitting on a doll in the back porch on my way out, so I snapped a quick picture.

Okay, I'm off to my Ravelry page to see what I've got queued and favourited - maybe I'll get some inspiration from there.

She is so going to kill me.

2008-03-06T22:08:00.003-05:00

WIP: Snapping Turtle Skirt
Originally uploaded by wenchfaery

Not the kind of WIP shot you were expecting, I'm sure. This is the Snapping Turtle Skirt I'm making for the Elf - and the model is the Elf herself. (Hey, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!). I'm on hexagon 8/24, so I'm getting there! I spent most of today working on The Photographer's Koolhaas hat - until I ran out of yarn SEVEN ROWS FROM THE END. *headdesk* If anyone has some Manos del Uruguay in the colourway Granite (No. 108), I don't need a lot. Please help!

...i feel fantastic and i'm still alive...

2008-02-26T20:28:00.004-05:00

...and believe me I am still alive....

Please excuse the Portal reference - I thought it was fitting as I haven't updated in almost two weeks. There hasn't been a whole lot of progress on the knitting front - still working on Viking's Claw socks and Elfie's Snapping Turtle skirt - or the crocheting front either (just making the dishcloths for my co-worker). I've only been knitting at work - something that will be remedied tomorrow, as I spend most of the day home alone, and then go to the Niagara Knitters (a ravelry group) meeting at the Fine Grind. I'm on the second-to-last hexagon on the first row of the skirt, and I am slowly approaching the heel on the first sock, so no pictures yet. I'm sorry about the lack of updating lately - really, nothing's been going on.

One World One Heart Giveaway Announcement!

2008-02-14T00:45:00.004-05:00

131 comments! Wow, thank you everyone for visiting my little blog and entering my giveaway. It's 12:46am EST on February 14th, 2008 - so it's time to announce the winner! The lucky recipient of my little bunny rabbit is....

LADYBUG!

Go take a look at her blog - she's a quilter, and her work is BEAUTIFUL! Congratulations, Ladybug, on winning the giveaway! Email me your shipping address at emily(dot)m(dot)green(at)gmail(dot)com, and I'll get bunny out to you ASAP!

Everyone else, don't be discouraged - because of the success of this little giveaway, I've decided to run one every month! Check back at the end of Feb/beginning of March for the next prize!

Oh, and HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE! *muah*

The Promised Pictures

2008-02-12T12:44:00.000-05:00

(Still don't have the Snapping Turtle Skirt pics - these were taken in a hurry before I went to work)

The aformentioned Love Octis Commission:

A'Tuin Cake (the turtle that carries the elephants that carry the Discworld through space)

Wow!

2008-02-11T12:28:00.002-05:00

As of this posting, I have 100 Comments on my OWOH entry! Thank you to everyone for entering - and remember, you do have until MIDNIGHT EST ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH to enter. Just scroll on down to the entry below this one!

In other news, I've been working on a crocheted octopi commission the past few days - the recipient wants to give them to her man for Valentine's Day, so I've got to get them to her ASAP. I'm just sewing the little legs on, and they'll be done. I've also been working on the Snapping Turtle skirt - on hexagon 4! Only 2 more to go and I will be done the first row! Elfie saw it for the first time last night, and she loves it - good thing, after all of the waiting and how long it will take me to knit the thing. I also made a fancy turtle-shaped cake for Elfie's birthday last week - pictures to come later tonight (I wanna get the octis done and do all of my picture uploading at once). I'm doing almost all of my knitting and crocheting when I'm at work, which is kind of sad. I really need to start it at home again.

A question - I'm thinking of getting into making sets of stitch markers, and I want to make them themed. So far, my ideas are fairy tale things, sheep and other fiber-producing animals, flowers, and a 'geek flag' series inspired by Lime and Violet (and Alcariel). Do these sound interesting at all to anyone?

FO Shots - and a giveaway!

2008-02-04T10:41:00.000-05:00

Done! Wooo! I LOVE working Super Bowl day in a call center - we had NO customers after game time, and I got the entire cuff knit on the second sock. Here is a details shot of the pattern:

I did take the pictures of the Snapping Turtle Skirt, but I had been messing around with the settings on my camera and the shots are at too high a resolution to upgrade on my free Flickr account. So there will be pics forthcoming when I finish the third hexagon and re-take the pics.

Now, for the giveaway I mentioned in the subject line!

This year I am participating in One World, One Heart - it is basically a blog giveaway. Participants post a giveaway on their blog in the beginning of February, and the end date for entries is the 13th, so the winners can be notified on Valentine's Day. Awww. :D So, in honour of this event, I am giving away one of these:

In order to enter, all you have to do is comment here with your name, and I will make a random drawing after MIDNIGHT EASTERN STANDARD TIME on February 13th. Good luck everyone!

I am a convert.

2008-01-30T12:12:00.000-05:00

I love texture in knitting - I'm not as big on stripe, or colourwork, but give me cables, and I am in heaven. I LOVE cables. And I'd heard about this "cabling without a cable needle" thing, but I've mostly done large things (like Josephine, which is ALL cables), so I was okay with using cable needles. But I'm working on the Koolhaas hat, and it has two-stitch cables on every other round. And I just designed a new sock pattern for my DH, which has a thirteen-stitch claw cable (c6f, k1, c6f, I believe). If there's any time I *don't* like using the cable needle, it's with DPNs. So, I figured there was no time like the present to try cabling without the needle. Armed with Grumperina's tutorial, I gave it a shot.

And I will never use a cable needle again (unless it is a giant cable. Like, 10 sts or more.)

I'll have pictures later of the progress on the hat and the Snapping Turtle Skirt - I promised Elf I'd put pictures of her skirt up once I finish the second hexagon. :D

Hey everyone!

2008-01-27T23:56:00.000-05:00

I haven't done a lot of knitting lately, but I have a few pictures to share with all of you!

I started off last week (Monday) getting these two boxes in the mail. A friend of mine - bustix2000 on LJ and her icon community - sent me these two boxes of yarn and vintage needles. I've already picked out a pattern to make with all of the yarn:

This cardigan, from the book Knitorama. It is made out of 30 gauge swatches. I've been wanting to make it for a while, and now I have the yarn to do so. :D

I also learned to crochet last week, and made this:

An amigurumi octopus! It is a prototype for a request by a friend of mine. Here is a shot for scale:

I've also cast on for the Koolhaas Hat in Manos del Uruguay for my Photographer friend, and I've been working on The Snapping Turtle Skirt from Norah Gaughan's book Knitting Nature. And, of course, I am working on my Green Dragon socks.

So, I guess I have been doing a lot of knitting lately. :P I'm off to bed for the night, but I will leave you with a picture of my latest objet d'art

What? I needed someplace to keep my needles! :P

Knitting Update

2008-01-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! Sorry I've been so absent lately - not a lot of knitting time. But I am here, and I have pictures!

Here is my Fibertrends felted sheep, pre-felting. This pattern is SO EASY. It has a little bit of short-rowing, but any knitter would be able to do it. Just trust the instructions - really. Do what they say, no matter how weird you think it sounds.

And here is Sheepie post-felting, complete with stuffing and seaming and a little i-cord bown (made from my LnV sock yarn). SOOO CUUUTE!

And I leave you today with an update on my Inheritance Sockology.

I've already written a mini-treatise on this photo, so I'm just going to copy and paste the notes to the picture on Flickr:

"One of my favourite places to knit - The Golden Pheasant (aka The Duck) in downtown St. Catharines, listening to one of my favourite bands (Groovy Food). Still plugging away on my as-yet-unnamed green dragon socks (the 3rd Inheritance book was supposed to have a green dragon on the front, but after I started knitting the second sock I found out that Glaedr, the gold dragon, will be on the front of the now-titled Brisingr)."

Catch ya later!

EDIT: I entered Sheepie in the Plushies are Our Friends contests in the dAknitters group over on deviantART - and tied for second! Woohoo! :D

Bad Blogger! No Cookie!

2008-01-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

So, with all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas, I forgot to mention one important fact - I got to go to Lettuce Knit a while back! It was GLORIOUS! If it wasn't for having to buy Christmas presents, I would have come home with a bag full of BMFA Socks that Rock (I've never seen it in person before, and it was SO PRETTY). I bought some new bamboo DPNS, a row counter, and a few trial-sized thingies of Soak, a wool-wash that I just LOVE and am going to order a larger bottle of from The Sweet Sheep once I get paid. I have to go back there again - they had VERY pretty stuff. My only problem with it is that it's damn small - like, smaller than Serendipity used to be. Mind you, I was there on a Saturday afternoon, so the store was full of people, and the girl working was unpacking TONS of boxes of yarn, so it probably seemed smaller than it really is. Next time I go to the inlaws, I am SO going again!

I'm still here, honest!

2008-01-01T23:12:00.002-05:00

Christmas is a lot of work, that's all. I actually come bearing progress! I finished all of my Christmas knitting (and stenciling) on time, thank GOODNESS. Right after I finish my Mom's Secret Garden Tam, I started the next pair of socks in my Inheritance Sockology which will still hopefully be relevant. Book 3 was supposed to have an emerald-green dragon on the front, but now there are going to be four books, so who knows what will have changed. I was DYING to use the yarn (Mountain Yarns Bearfoot in Olive, which is superwash wool and mohair and nylon and YUMMY) so I just went ahead and knitted anyways.

The colour isn't quite accurate, a much deeper green, but the fact that I am slowly becoming nocturnal does not help in getting good shots.

In other knitting news, for Christmas my in-laws got me enough acrylic to knit a sweater - with the pattern and appropriately-sized needles.

O.o

Their hearts are in the right place, and I will knit that sweater, just because they actually got me something I (kind of) asked for this year.

Aaaaand, my darling, wonderful, thoughtful Viking got me.....

AAAAAHHH! A SWIFT! It is SO lovely, and apparently there are rumours of a ball-winder to come as well. Now I just need some undyed yarn and some dyes, and away I go!

Also - Viktor died. :( I got a new hamster, and named him Boo. This is he:

He's so active and curious and loves to run around. Very different from my sedentary Viktor.

FO: Kitty's Twinkletoes in Japan!

2007-12-04T09:49:00.001-05:00

FO: Kitty's Twinkletoes in Japan!
Originally uploaded by wenchfaery

Finally, I got off of my butt and posted this pic. Kitty sent it to me a while back and I just kept forgetting to upload it here. So, here you are, an action shot of Kitty's Twinkletoes, knit from Rowan Calmer, in Kitty's apartment in Ishigaki, Japan.

Also, this is me trying out the "Blog This" function in Flickr.

I've Been Knitting, I Swear!

2007-12-03T00:04:00.001-05:00

It's just been slow-going, so I don't have a lot of progress to report. Just one sock:

And the next is in progress. These are Sister 1's Slytherin Socks for Christmas. Now, I know, the green isn't right. I ordered the yarn from Etsy, and definitely didn't end up with the colour I expected. Sister 1 was there when I opened the yarn and she said she liked the colours, so here's hoping. Worse comes to worst, she and I have the same size feet, so I know they'll fit me. :D

I also tried my hand at making felt things.

And for scale:

I like it, and it doesn't scratch my screen all to hell like my last case did. I also really like acorns. :D

The only other interesting thing going on right now is this:

My new baby, Viktor the hamster. Isn't he precious?!

TA DA!!!!

2007-11-22T00:30:00.000-05:00

THEY'RE DONE! THEY'RE DONE!

(don't mind the beer bottle in the back - it's been a rough few weeks)

Yes, ladies and gents, I am FINALLY finished the Shiny socks, also known as my Kaylees, also known as The Sock Project Of DOOOM. I bound off less than 1/2 hour ago, and I'm wearing them to work tomorrow. I really needed to get the needles free so I can start Sister 1's Slytherin Socks (once the yarn comes), so I finally buckled down and did the last 2 pattern repeats.

In other news, Viking and I are in our new place - yaay! I'm just getting things unpacked, so there's not a lot of crafting, but I have started knitting again now that we have TV for me to use as background noise. I'm knitting a modified Circle Shrug for Sister 2, and will be stenciling a shirt for Sister 3, and knitting a beret for my mother, so there will be some hardcore crafting in the next few weeks. I've also started cross-stitching again (it is ALMOST as addicting as knitting for me, but harder on the eyes). Plus, I got a really cute idea for an iPod cozy, so I'll be trying my hand at making cutesy things out of felt soon. Viking and I are going out tomorrow, and we may stop at Michaels. For his birthday in October, I told him I would teach him to knit, including buying any supplies he needed to start up. He hasn't decided what to knit yet, so maybe going there will inspire him. Also - I want to fondle more yarn. :D

I am *so* glad my crafty mojo has come back - look for more here very soon!

My Hallowe'en Masterpiece!

2007-10-30T23:08:00.000-04:00

Carved with all of the following: battery-operated pumpkin carving knife, traditional pumpkin carving knife, and a Dremel tool. Yes, a Dremel tool. My mom's boyfriend lent it to me for this reason alone. I'm so happy with it-maybe I can get more fake pumpkins after Hallowe'en on for cheap and do some more fancy designs. I <3 fake pumpkins!

Regular

Lit from within (by my iPod of all things)

BTW, still ever so slowly knitting along.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled knitting blog with this completely unrelated post

2007-10-15T01:19:00.000-04:00

No news on the knitting front today-I think I did 2 rounds on my socks-but some other crafty stuff to share-this time on the more seasonal side of things. I went out with my mom and all 3 sisters today to pick out Hallowe'en costumes (my mom has always made all of our costumes from scratch. This is where I got my love of crafting). Sister 2 is going to be The Corpse Bride, and Sister 3 will be Hannah Montana. I, naturally, was browsing through the pattern books, seeing if there were any Renaissance dress patterns that I *didn't* own, when I came across the best set of costumes ever. I'm hoping to have the time and money to make these for Viking and I.

Mine-the one on the right (edit:the more I look at it, the more I like the left one as well. any one else have an opinion?)

Viking's-also the one on the right.

And apparently my Fabricland just got in a new shipment of tartan! We've narrowed it down to this one:

Or this one:

But of course, this all depends on us having money. I do have something else to wear-I just have to go dig through our storage unit to find it (all of my costumes got packed away in anticipation of the Iceland move).

One more fun Hallowe'en craft before I go. After we all got back from costume shopping, Sister 2 and I went back out to Michael's, where I bought the yarn for her cap-sleeved shrug, some colouring stuff for Sister 3, and a fun-foam Hallowe'en craft kit, which Sister 2 and I proceeded to put together ASAP. Here's a shot of it-the kit was only $5.99 and it kept us busy for over an hour.

A funny thing happened to me at the bar...

2007-10-14T00:56:00.000-04:00

I know, not the way most normal knitting blogs start out. But, a funny thing *did* happen to me at the bar, and it was completely knitting-related.

So, tonight Viking, Photographer, Elf and I went to go see Groovy Food an AWESOME local band. I, as usual, brought some knitting with me to keep my hands busy-like a good girl, it was my Kaylees. So I'm sitting there, rocking out and powering my way through the short-row heel, when a lady sitting at the table next to us leans over and says something to Elf. I see both of them look towards me, and then Elf says something and the lady smiles. Naturally, I wanna know what they're talking about. Apparently the lady and the other 3 people at her table were trying to figure out what I was knitting. So I told (shouted at) them that I was making socks, then proceeded to pull the finished first sock out of my purse and hand it to them. They passed it around, all marveling at my awesome sock knitting skills.

Or so I thought.

They were amazed at how big it was. *dies* Now, they were also impressed by the sock, but when someone hands you a sock made for a Ladies Sz 12 foot, the sheer magnitude of the sock tends to overwhelm them.

Then, on the way out, another lady asked Elf what I had been knitting. Neat, but why do people feel like they have to go through someone else to ask about my knitting? Ask ME, gorramit!

As for my progress, I'm working on the cuff-yay! Almost there! I bought the yarn for Sister 1's Slytherin socks today-I've never knit socks out of 100% acrylic, so we'll see how it goes. It had to be easy-to-care-for, unnatural fibre because of my mother's propensity to not watch out for special-care garments in the wash. If anyone's interested, it's Vanna's Choice (I know, gag me) in Olive and some silvery colour (edit:the colourway is called 'linen') . Hopefully I'll have FINISHED Kaylee pics tomorrow and starter picks of the Slytherin socks. Cross your fingers for me!

FINALLY! A Picture Post!

2007-10-12T02:33:00.001-04:00

I did it! I'm knitting again! Yaaay~! And I have the pictures to prove it this time!

First-Wisp. This is the nice end-if anyone is thinking about knitting this, do it, but PAY ATTENTION. Apparently yos and k2togs were a little much for me. :S But I still like it. Kidsilk Haze is sooooo yummy. :D

Next-Yes, you see right. I am *still* not done the Shiny socks. *sighs* But at least I'm knitting them again, right? I need the needles free, so I've gotta get them done soon. I've taken to knitting on my breaks and lunches (instead of reading about Claire and Jamie Fraser *sob*), but I'm very slowly getting into them again.

And finally-my fuzzy blue mittens! These were knit from that Fleece Artist kit I got at the Needle Emporium-honestly, maybe a day's worth of knitting, no more. Great fast knit on 5mm needles with double-stranded wool and mohair. If anyone's interested in the gauge, I'll measure it so you can make your own. Dead easy. :D These are part of my "Winter Blues" ensemble. I have a blue novelty scarf (Bernat Boa) that I knitted last year, and I picked up the kit to match it. Then, I'm going to knit a tam/beret thing in blue as well to wear with my black coat. Gonna look snazzy. :D

I still haven't started my Christmas knitting, but I'm not knitting for everyone this year-just for Viking, my sisters, and my mom. And I'm sticking to fairly simple projects for the most part. I'm hoping to have time to knit a pair of socks for my aunt-in-law. She DESPERATELY wants a pair.

I'm just glad to be knitting again. I have yet to go to Michaels since I've been back in Canada-and now that I've resumed my lovely hobby, I want to buy knitting stuff. :D Maybe I'll just order from Knitpicks-I can get the yarn for Sisters 2 and 3 that way at least (shrug and felted backpack, respectively).

Oh, and I'm probably gonna rip out the Snow Devil hat that I've been knitting since January. The pattern is...well, incomprehensible. I just don't have a clue what it's asking me to do. Hopefully the intended recipient won't mind a devil-horned toque instead.

Argh.

2007-09-24T00:19:00.000-04:00

I've hardly been knitting at all lately. I've been a little stressed out because of my living arrangements, and for some reason I'm not turning to knitting as a stress reliever (mostly because I don't have the energy to knit after 11+ hours out of the house everyday). I have almost finished knitting a pair of lovely double-stranded mittens (from the Fleece Artist kit I bought at the Needle Emporium), but I just cannot get motivated to work on my Kaylee socks. I don't know why. I want to knit a new pair of socks SO BAD, but the only 2.75mm dpns I have are in those damn socks. And I'd have to order new ones, as there is no longer a decent yarn shop around here, and my Michaels doesn't stock dpns that small. I've been slowly compiling a Christmas knitting list-Sister #2 was very explicit in her need for a 3/4-length sleeve black shrug, so maybe I'll start on that. But then I need to buy yarn for it, so I have to a)find the money and b)find the time to go to Michaels. I'm just gonna get Wool-Ease or something like that-something easy to take care of so my mom doesn't melt or felt it.

*sighs* I should go finish the last mitten. It will take all of 15 minutes to finish the darn thing-maybe then I'll be a little more motivated. I promise I will update with pictures one of these days-I've been having a hard time logging into my Flickr account.

I'm still here, I swear!

2007-09-10T23:41:00.000-04:00

I just haven't been knitting much. I know, bad blogger, no cookie. But before we left Iceland I finished the first Kaylee sock *and* Wisp. I'm going to be knitting another Wisp, because, to be honest, I screwed it up major. Apparently I'd been decreasing too much, because one end is WAAAY narrower than the other. But I still have another entire ball of Kidsilk Haze left, so I'm set for that. And I bound off a little too tightly on the cuff of Kaylee #1, but it's already relaxed a little, so I'm not so concerned about it. I started my new job today, and I was hoping to be able to get some knitting in once I get on the phones (call center work again), but this campaign is A)sales (not customer service like I'm used to) and B) VERBATIM. Yes, Wenchfaery, the mistress of conversational customer service, is being forced to read a poorly written, grammatically incorrect script to who-knows-how-many poor Canadians. (by the way, if you live in Canada and have a Sears Account, expect your phone to be a-ringing!).

I've been really on the fence lately about buying a drop spindle. I *really* want to learn to spin, and The Sweet Sheep has some spindles on sale until TOMORROW, so I've gotta decide soon. My ultimate goal is to make my knitting and spinning self-sustainable; I always feel so guilty buying yarn and knitting-related accessories, especially when I have bills to pay.

A question for all the spinners out there: Is it difficult to spin fingering weight yarn on a top-whorl spindle? I ask because that is the weight that I work with the most, and it makes for lovely sock yarn. :D

Okay, I'd better get going to bed. It's almost midnight (EST-yay for having my time zone back!), and I do have to *shudder* work tomorrow. An upside of the crappy job-I finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha today, and I start the second book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (Dragonfly in Amber) tomorrow. Funny, the Outlander series is one I picked up due to a knitting-related recommendation. Kelley Petkun, the CEO(?) of Knit Picks has a lovely podcast that I listen to religiously, and one week she was talking about audiobooks. Now, at that point I had yet to be given all seven Harry Potter books in audio format and therefore had yet to discover the wonders of listening to a good book. (How do you think I got so much knitting done in Iceland-in ONE sitting??) Kelley mentioned that she really liked the Outlander series, and I'd mentioned it to the Viking, so when he was bored at the Deathly Hallows book release and browsing the shelves, he picked it up for me. My reading schedule had been filled with borrowed books before we left for Iceland, but when I got down to the book it only took me a day to read it. And, as the book is set in the Scottish Highlands, it talks about places I went on my honeymoon-makes me feel that much more involved in the story.

Didn't I say I was going for the night? :P I'd better do that now before I go off on a tangent again.

Ciao!

Blogging from Iceland

2007-08-30T18:03:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am. This is my first-and probably my last-post from Iceland. Due to circumstances beyond my control, Viking and I will be heading back to Canada this weekend. I'll get into the gritty details another time, when I'm not posting from a common computer in a shared living room. But, the upside of being here and not being able to do anything due to the cost of coming home is that the Viking and I have been spending a lot of quality time together watching Firefly again-and that means quality knitting time! We've watched 5 or so eps (up to and including "Our Mrs. Reynolds" for anyone who knows the series) and I've been plugging away on both Wisp and my Kaylees. I'm just trying to decide if the leg on the first Kaylee sock is long enough-I was going to try and do the proportions that Wendy Knits uses(fold the sock in half and make the leg as long as the foot) but I think I might be too impatient for that. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures before we leave-but I'll have a few good occasions for posting "sock on holiday" pictures. The flight back takes us to a few different airports-first Keflavik, here in Iceland, then to Logan International in Boston, then to the Halifax airport (I've totally blanked on it's name) and then to Mount Hope in Hamilton. It'll take 2 days for us to get back to Canada, but it's definitely worth it-I've been missing home SO MUCH these past few days. And I realized today that when I get back to Canada and get a job I can order yarn for the sweaters I've been designing (keeping in mind that I've never finished a sweater before...maybe I should get the book about sweater finishing that was mentioned on this week's Lime and Violet). Viking and I will be staying with my mother and sisters for a while in my dear little hometown, so I might not post as often as I have been, but I will be here in spirit, knitting my little heart out!

You'll hear from me again soon, I promise! Ciao!

yaaaawn

2007-08-20T10:00:00.000-04:00

If anyone tells you that moving to a new country isn't hard work, SMACK THEM.

Having said that, I have gotten a lot of knitting done in the past few days. Viking and I went to his cousin's wedding about 3 hours away from here (Kitchener, for all my fellow Ontarians), stayed at his parents' house Saturday night, and then went to Hamilton (about 2 hours away from his parents' house) for a going away party thrown by his grandmother. All in all, an exhausting weekend, but lots of car time = lots of knitting time! :D I've got some pictures of my Kaylee socks, but unfortunately they're a bit out of date - I'm past the heel now. But they still show off the pattern nicely. :D

Slightly blurry, but the colours are true and the pattern shows up nicely. Apparently, taking pictures in natural lighting works wonders-who knew? :P

Here's a detail shot of the pattern. I just love the way it's turning out. I've also decided to alter the pattern a little - I'm ribbing the back of the calf so they have a better chance of staying up. :D

Also, last week was The Needle Emporium'sTent Sale! :D Of course, Elf and I went, and I took some pictures.

Yaay Needle Emporium! The store is in an area of Ancaster that looks like it's very historic - all sorts of old stone buildings and olde-tyme pubs and the like. The store itself is in an awesome-looking stone building.

Here's the Tent Sale itself. What they were doing is bags-o-yarn. A small back was $45, etc. and you had to be able to hold the bag closed with one hand. UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't plan in advance very well-Viking wants a cabled fisherman's sweater, and I neglected to look up the yardage for the one he wants, so I couldn't pick up the yarn at the crazy discount. Other than that, I was kinda underwhelmed. There was a *lot* of novelty stuff, and I'm not so into the novelty yarn, so I passed on the tent sale itself but bought regular-priced yarn from inside the store proper. *facepalm*

Isn't this *preeety*? You might remember the autumn-coloured skein of sock yarn I picked up the first time Elf and I went to the Needle Emporium. Well, this is the display of that brand of yarn-Bearfoot by Mountain Colours. See that emerald-green skein on top of the pile? MINE. :D I just recently found out that the cover of the last Inheritance Trilogy book has an emerald-green dragon, so that is destined to become part of my Sockology (which I have not abandoned - I just needed a break from the dragon scales).

I also saw this - Claudia Handpainted Yarn - that I've only ever heard about on Lime and Violet. Unfortunately there weren't any colourways that particularly grabbed me, so I didn't get any.

So the sum total of yarn purchases for the trip was around $80 Cdn. I got the Bearfoot and a wool/mohair mitten kit by Fibretrends, and Elf bought a ball of Kidsilk Spray in this pretty gray colourway.

So that was my last yarn-shopping trip in Canada. I'm hoping to hit Michaels before I leave so I can pick up some Lion Brand Thick n' Quick - I have a shrug I've been dying to knit, and I'll need the warmth in Iceland. I'll hopefully have a finished Kaylee in a few days, so I'll post again with updated pics once I do. :D

Bad Blogger. No Cookie.

2007-08-13T10:48:00.000-04:00

I've been a baaaad faery, not updating as I should. I move to Iceland 2 weeks TODAY *dies* and so we've started packing and getting everything we need together.I have, however, still been knitting. Of course, I've been working on my Wisp, but I've also recently cast on for Kaylee socks. My friends and I-mostly me, Elf, and Viking, but The Photographer and Dutch were there for some of it-just finished watching Firefly, the sci-fi cowboy series by Joss Whedon. And 2 days later I see that there's a sock pattern named after Kaylee, the Serenity's mechanic. I'm knitting them from my Lime and Violet Sasquatch Superwash - I've got a picture of it back a few posts from when it came in the mail. It's in the Organ Grinder colourway, and I think it suits Kaylee to a T-it's all pink and pretty, but with a lot of black, which I like to think of as Serenity's engine grease. :D I've already had to cast on 4 times, all due to stupid mistakes that were entirely my fault. Hopefully the fourth time is the charm.

Okay, I've gotta go get ready for work. I'm hoping to update this post with pictures later in the day, maybe when I have more on my Kaylees done (I've taken to knitting at work :D)

Ciao! :D

Featured Blog! (and other stuff)

2007-08-05T23:20:00.000-04:00

I haven't been doing a whole heck of a lot of knitting lately, just plugging away at Wisp, but I feel like this place needed a new post, so I've decided to feature a fancy-new knitting site ran by my personal favourite podcasters - Lime & Violet's Daily Chum! They've got yarn reviews, charities you can knit for, tutorials, patterns, store links, anything you can possibly need (plus they tell you when their own yarn shop updates-can't get much better than that!) So go and check it out - and if you're not listening to their podcast, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?! GO!! (It's awesome, I promise.)

There will be a real update with knitting pictures soon. I've just gotta get my Wisp all laid out pretty so I can take new pics.

Ooh! Ooh! Has everyone heard about the Mystery Stole? The theme was revealed, and it's gonna be an asymmetrical stole, and soooo pretty! I'm glad I tore mine out - now I'll be able to get a fresh start knowing what I'm working towards! :D

Yay! Finished!

2007-08-01T22:56:00.000-04:00

Hooray! I'm done the socks for Viking! (took me long enough, sheesh) I just finished them about 5 minutes ago - he's been chomping at the bit to put them on ever since I finished the first one. I let him try that one on once, and then took it away - I was using it to judge the size of the second, and I couldn't have him stretch it all out, now could I? Here's a bit better of a shot:

Of course, in both of these pics the socks are modeled by Viking, my darling husband. I enjoyed knitting them, but I'm happy to get them off of the needles - I want to start something out of the Favorite Socks book, but I swore to myself that I wouldn't until I'd finished the damn brown socks. So, they're done.

Yay!

WHHHHEEEEEEEEEE!

2007-07-28T17:01:00.001-04:00

YAAAY! I don't know what I want to cast on first! So many pretty patterns! :D Thank you Elfie!

WIP - Wisp

2007-07-28T13:37:00.000-04:00

In order to keep my mind off of the failure that was the Mystery Stole (when I restart it I'm gonna use actual laceweight) I've cast on for something else.

Wisp, from the latest Knitty. It's sooo pretty. :D And it's pretty easy to knit, so long as I PAY ATTENTION which, of course, I don't always do. That picture (taken in front of my precious Laptop) is of Wisp only 2/3 of the way through the second of sixteen pattern repeats. I hope it'll be a decent size - I want to wear it like a hood, like they show on the pattern. Now I've gotta find some buttons . . . gosh darn, I just *hate* buttons. :P Yay for an excuse to buy buttons!

2007-07-24T00:01:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to Me!

Siiiiigh.

2007-07-23T19:20:00.000-04:00

I suck. :(

I have to frog my Mystery Stole. Like, to the point where I will be starting all over again. I must have lost track of the rows somewhere in the middle, and so the whole design is off kilter.

Can you spot the error?

How about there? :(

So, I have to start again. Before I do, though, I've gotta come up with a better way of keeping track of rows. I am using a row counter, but I have to track my charts better. The problem is that they are two 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper wide. Any suggestions would be wonderful. I've been working on this:

to keep myself busy and to put off frogging the shawl. What I think I'm going to do is re-print Clues 1 and 2 of the Stole, but not start until I've figured out my little chart problem. I will probably cast-on for Wisp from this Summer's Knitty. I've got the 2 balls of Kidsilk Haze just waiting for me, and it will be a quick lace knit.

Speaking of Kidsilk, did everyone but me and the Elf know that there is a Kidsilk Night? It's sooo beeeoootiful! It's just like KSH, but with a metallic thread plied in.

Well, that's enough for now, I think. I'm getting ready for a relatively underwhelming birthday (tomorrow - the first time in my entire life that I've had to work or go to school on my birthday), so I've been sitting at home, watching CSI, and knitting.

Ciao!

Yarn Porn! And Progress! Wheee!

2007-07-15T12:59:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! :D

So I did, in fact, go to The Needle Emporium in Ancaster, ON with the Elf yesterday.

Oh.

My.

Gods.

This was the first time that I've been to what I would consider a *real* yarn store and they had so many things that I've only heard about online - so many pretty yarns! I had about 8 different kinds of sock yarn in my hands at one time or another- it was SO hard to choose, but choose I did!

It's SOOOOO PRETTTY . . . *drools* :D Sock yarn, of course. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. :D

I also bought this:

I'm thinking of knitting myself a house tie or scarf or something (I had actually meant to buy the yarn for it at the Needle Emporium, but they don't carry Cascade 220. I still have yet to see it in person. Boo.).

Aaaand, guess what *I* did?

Okay, I know that's not the *best* picture ever, but I finished Kitty's Twinkletoes! Yaaay! I'll get a better picture when I give them to her - an action shot, hopefully, because as a friend of mine pointed out when he saw the picture, they look like sleds. :P

That's about it for now - I'm still working on the Mystery Stole (Actually, I haven't gotten any farther - I had a bit of a row mix-up, but I think I've straightened it out now). More to come when I get a little farther on the stole. And I am still knitting the Viking Socks - I'll post again with them. :D

I'd forgotten how exhausting training is.

2007-07-11T19:23:00.000-04:00

I started a new job on Monday, and I am EXHAUSTED. I have knitted exactly 40 sts (actually, I've cast on 40 sts) since Sunday, and those were about an hour ago. However, I did take some knitting-related pictures.

This is about how far I am on the Mystery Stole. I'm actually 10 rows farther than this but I didn't want to block it out all pretty again for such little progress.

And this is how far I am on Kitty's Twinkletoes. I don't know if you can tell, but I'm about halfway through casting on the 66 sts for the first tie. Maaaan, I love knitting these slippers, but I *HATE* casting on and off for the ties. You cast on 66 with the Cable cast-on, and then use the Decrease bind-off to go back down the other way. I don't even get to knit those stitches! :(

In other news, I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night (another reason I am so tired). IT. WAS. SO. AWESOME!!! I won't spoil anything for those who haven't seen it or read the book, but to my fellow HP fans - this is the BEST book-to-movie translation in the series. SO. GOOD.

But yeah. That's all I have to post about for now - lack of sleep is severely addling my brain. But on Saturday Elf and I are going to The Needle Emporium in Ancaster, so I will *hopefully* have yarn pron on the weekend or early next week. I'm DYING to at least feel Lorna's Laces, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

So, I did the unthinkable.

2007-07-05T23:39:00.000-04:00

I just frogged my almost half-done Clementine Shawlette. Why? Well, a few reasons:

1)I was knitting it to wear with my wedding dress. My wedding has now come and gone, ergo no reason for the shawl.
2)It's been at least a month since I touched the thing. Obviously, no motivation for the shawl.

But the real reason?

3)I wanted to use the yarn for my Mystery Stole. I know, I know, baaad Faery. But I'm already almost 20 rows in. I think the idea that I won't know what this shawl is gonna look like until I'm almost done is SO cool. Plus, I love to knit lace. Perfect fit for me, right? I was worried I'd have 'frogger's remorse', but I don't miss that cursed shawl at all. It was SO. BORING. TO. KNIT. I'm better off with this fancy lace pattern. :D

Pictures will be forthcoming of my MS progress, plus the half-finished Viking Socks and Twinkletoes (I have one of each done, and the toe of the second Viking Sock). I'm tired and need to go to bed, so no piccies tonight.

I'm getting there!

2007-07-03T10:56:00.000-04:00

Just turning the heel on the first sock. It would be going faster if it weren't for these:

I love these things. This is Twinkletoes from the Winter 06 Knitty - I'm making them for my friend Kitty - she's going to Japan to teach english for a year, and these will be her going away present. This is the second time I've knit these - my junior bridesmaid (Sister #2) wore these to my wedding. One important note - if you're going to make these in the adult size, MAKE THEM LONGER. I tried to knit a pair for myself and they ended up WAAAY small (mind you, I have size 12W feet), and so I added an extra 5 rows of plain stockinette to Kitty's and they are fitting her just fine. So, yeah. Check and double-check to make sure they're the right size - I had done the heel on mine before I had to rip them out. :(

Ehn.

2007-06-30T09:25:00.001-04:00

I haven't been knitting a whole lot lately - there's been some drama in my house, but I think we're past it now so I can get my knit on once more. To quickly sum up - my husband found out that he was accepted to do his Master's Degree . . . in Iceland. So I'm probably moving there mid-August. But fear not, blogeteers! The knitting will continue - I will be in the home of Icelandic wool, after all. And there won't be much else for me to do while Viking (my husband) is at school.

But enough of that. I shall reward your patience at my blog-absenteeism with a few pictures (some knitting-related and some not!)

Guess who? :D This is me at the Faery Fest I went to last weekend - I absolutely LOVE faeries, and medieval/renaissance costuming, so it was the perfect festival for the Faery (moi) and the Elf (my fae-folk compatriot).

Here is the aforementioned Elf, at a winery near where we live. Beautiful day + beautiful scenery + wine tasting = SCORE. :D

Okay, last non-knitting related shot, I promise.

I just thought this looked cool - my 3 glasses and the Elf's 3 glasses set up for our tasting, awaiting the cheese plate so we could start. I liked the reflection of the wine on the table. :D

Okay, NOW for a knitting-related shot - a WIP shot of my latest pair of socks.

This is the beginning of the Viking Socks - socks for Viking, my DH. They are entirely of my own design (yaay!) - short row toe and 2x2 ribbing so far, with plans for a plain stockinette short-row heel and cables on the cuff. They're knit from Naturally Merino et Soie - which feels WONDERFUL. I got it dirt cheap from the aforementioned store closing sale at my LYS - which reminds me, I wanted some Baby Cashmerino . . .

Action shot of the selfsame socks. They're big on me, so hopefully they'll fit him.

Well, off to go get ready for the day - me, Viking, and Kitty (my Japan-bound friend) are heading off to my mother's house to go swimming today, and I have to make sure I pack my knitting! Ciao!

PS:Elf, if you want your picture taken down, just tell me. I'll replace it with something else. :D

EDIT:OH! I forgot to mention - I think I FINALLY found the yarn for my Glaedr socks (for my Inheritance Sockology!) Cherry Tree Hill's Merino Supersock in Sugar Maple! (link to Ariadne Knits). I was checking out the sock yarn on Ariadne Knits this morning because they're offering a 10% discount to Summer of Socks participants, and I saw that and nearly DIED.

June 21st!

2007-06-21T07:41:00.000-04:00

Not only is today the first day of Summer, but it's the beginning of the Summer of Socks! I've got a least 4 pairs already planned - goal #1 is to finish my Saphira socks! Then I'm going to design my own (not for the design contest, 'cause they're going to be very basic) for my husband, then *something* for my L&V sock yarn, and finally my Thorn socks (pair #2 in my Inheritance Sockology). Wish me luck!

EDIT: Finished my Saphira Socks! Yaaay! Oh, what's that? You'd like pictures? Weel, how's about THIS!

Aaaand THAT!

First Pair DONE! I cast on for the DH's socks tomorrow (well, later today!) I'm going to the local (3 hours away!) Faery Festival this weekend, so I don't expect to get *too* much done, but we'll see. Expect pictures of a knitting Wenchfaery. :D

Yarn Porn!

2007-06-13T21:15:00.000-04:00

I have been waiting and waiting for this package to come - I ordered it almost a month ago - and then yesterday it finally came!

YARN FROM LIME AND VIOLET! *dies* It's from their Sasquatch Sock Yarn Line (wool/nylon), and it's sooo nice and has a little bit of a halo (although that might be from rubbing the skein against my face and petting it like a kitten).

This is what it looks like all balled up and without the flash - the colours are more true in this shot. I can't WAIT to use the yarn - I'm thinking of buying one of Cookie A.'s patterns from The Sweet Sheep - they are sooo intricate and cabley and lacey and I just *have* to knit one. :D

EDIT:Miss Violet commented on my blog! *fangirls, then clears her throat, obviously embarrassed* Hi Miss V!

Pictures! FOs and WIPs! Plus - Stash!

2007-06-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

So I did get that digital camera I was hoping for - about 2 weeks ago. And here I am, just getting around to pictures now. *facepalms*

So I figured a good place to start a knitting blog would be with yarn - specifically, my stash. By most knitters' standards, I don't have that much. By *my* standards, it will never be enough - I am a big fan of the 'just-in-case' yarn: "Well, of *course* I need to buy more sock yarn - I don't have any in this colour. I'm going to buy it just in case I need to knit someone socks." It's a problem, but I'm dealing. The plastic bag full of yarn on the floor there is indicative of this problem (But, wouldn't Silky Wool make BEAUTIFUL socks??)

My first real finished pair of socks.They are knit from the Falling In Love - you can't quite make it out in this picture, but there are indeed cables and lace hearts. I know, not the best yarn choice for lace socks, but I don't care, I like them and they're comfy. Plus the yarn (Austermann Step) had been treated with aloe. Oooooooo.

Here's a better pic - dark, but you can see the pattern better. Again, I LOVE these socks. But if I made them again, I would do the sole in 2x2 ribbing instead of just knitting it plain. Apparently I have weirdly shaped feet, and ribbing helps the socks fit a bit more snugly.

Another of my current WIPs, the Clementine Shawlette from the Spring 07 IK. It was *supposed* to be the shawl I was going to wear over my wedding dress, but as the wedding was now two weeks ago . . . I am horrible with deadlines. (Knitpicks Bare Fingering Weight)

Bit of a better picture of the lace pattern. It will be so pretty if I EVER finish it.

My current pet project - half an FO. This is the first sock of the Saphira pair in my Inheritance Sockology, based on the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini. (Yarn details to come when I find the other ball). Once I finish Saphira, I will be moving onto Thorn (have a lovely red variegated Lana Grossa yarn for those) and then Shruikan and Glaedr. Oh, if anyone has read Eragon and Eldest - is it ever stated what colour Shruikan, Galbatorix' dragon, is? I think black, but I don't know if I read that, or just made it up. I've been using this lovely pattern, with plans to eventually follow up the Saphira pair with a set of these to match.

Sexy side shot - don't mind my dusty floor or the fat ankle. Just wanted to show off the ribbing - from this sock on I will forever knit the plain stockinette portions of my socks in 2x2 ribbing, loathe it as I may. I've already completed the toe on the other sock - I should be done by the end of the week (depending on how brutal work is) and will post the completed pair.

All right, my eyes are getting blurry from the knitting and the picture-taking and the typing. I'm probably going to fall off my yarn-wagon sometime this week (I have a skein of sock yarn from Lime and Violet coming in the mail *dies*, and for me yarn begets yarn) so I'll be back with more pictures. Also, the yarn store by my house is having a 40% off sale - they're closing :( so everything is on. Bought Noro (Kureyon) for the very first time - anyone know what to do with 3 skeins?

First Post!

2007-05-18T10:35:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the first post of Wenchfaery Knits! I am, of course, Wenchfaery (aka Mimi), and I have created this journal to track my knitting - frankly, I wanted somewhere to post my FOs without boring the people on my LJ friends list. (By the way, I'm Wenchfaery over there too!) I love sock and lace knitting - I am currently knitting my way through a series of socks based around the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini (think Eragon and Eldest), the Clementine Shawlette from the Spring Interweave Knits, and the Snow Devil Hat from Domiknitrix. Pictures will come later! (Hopefully getting a new digital camera this weekend) Ciao!

Wenchfaery Knits

Still Knitting (or is that knitting again?)

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Knitting Update!

In which we actually have progress

Hello!

Testing

I'm here, I promise!

Back from the Dead . . . with a knitting meme!

Blog Silence . . .

Hello all!

Lookie What I Did!

I’ve been a busy little faery!

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas . . .

Here, have a puppy! :)

Woohoo! An Accomplishment!

More Christmas Knitting

Okay, so that didn't go as planned . . .

Blog!

Oh, hey, that's right! I have a blog, don't I?

Rumours of my Death have been Greatly Exaggerated

Confessions of a Broke-A$$ Faery

Hai U Guyzz!

Knitting PicSpam Alert!

Knitting Update

LYS Review: Stitch

FO: Mosey

I swear, this *is* knitting related.

Still plugging away.

She is *so* going to kill me.

...i feel fantastic and i'm still alive...

One World One Heart Giveaway Announcement!

The Promised Pictures

Wow!

FO Shots - and a giveaway!

I am a convert.

Hey everyone!

Knitting Update

Bad Blogger! No Cookie!

I'm still here, honest!

FO: Kitty's Twinkletoes in Japan!

I've Been Knitting, I Swear!

TA DA!!!!

My Hallowe'en Masterpiece!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled knitting blog with this completely unrelated post

A funny thing happened to me at the bar...

FINALLY! A Picture Post!

Argh.

I'm still here, I swear!

Blogging from Iceland

*yaaaawn*

Bad Blogger. No Cookie.

Featured Blog! (and other stuff)

Yay! Finished!

WHHHHEEEEEEEEEE!

WIP - Wisp

Siiiiigh.

Yarn Porn! And Progress! Wheee!

I'd forgotten how exhausting training is.

So, I did the unthinkable.

I'm getting there!

Ehn.

June 21st!

Yarn Porn!

Pictures! FOs and WIPs! Plus - Stash!

First Post!

I swear, this is knitting related.

She is so going to kill me.

yaaaawn