Lookie What I Did!

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!

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 . . .

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! :)

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!

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

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 . . .

. . . 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!

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!
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Listening to: Lights - The Last Thing On Your Mind
via FoxyTunes

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

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

. . . 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?