WIP Wednesday - Multnomah

I completely forgot to show off my sister's fabulous work last Friday, so rather than waiting until next Friday, I'm going to include it here. Remember how I knitted her the Stormcloud Shawlette in return for a case for my knitting needles? Well, here it is!

Isn't it gorgeous? I just love it! :-) It's going to make it so much easier to find whatever needle I need. Thanks again, Nina!

WHY hadn't anybody told me how terrific Tami's Candy Skein Yarn is??? I actually find myself not wanting to put down my knitting because the yarn is so lovely to work with. I foresee many Candy Skein purchases in my future... good for Tami, bad for my wallet ;-)

But as a result, my Multnomah is going swimmingly. I'd hope to finish today, but that pesky work interviened. It should definitely be done by Friday though.

I've gotten a few more hexipuffs done too, for my friend's rug. At 41 hexipuffs I'm just over half way. I decided to try knitting two at a time - figuring it would be no different from knitting two socks at a time and might be faster than knitting one at a time. I can't quite figure out whether I find it worth it though. It's certainly a lot more fiddly.



For other WIPs check out Yarn Along and Tami's Amis

FO Friday - Socks

Finished the socks with plenty of time to spare for the Friday FO post :-)


I also decided I'd better start getting ready for the Ravelym... I mean Ravellenic Games and wind my yarn into a ball. Good thing too, as it took me an hour to go from this:

to this:

The yarn is SO soft and lovely to work with :)

Now I'm all ready and eager to start :) I'm a bit worried about my gauge though. If I'm doing this right, the stitch count is spot on, but the row count is off by a factor 2!!! How is that even possible? I think I'm going to assume that I'm not doing it right and am in fact counting two rows every time I should count only one, because in that case the row count would be spot on as well ;) But I'm kerflummuxed...

WIP Wednesday - Socks

I needed a bit of a break from the Hexipuffs, but decided to be sensible, so rather than casting on something new, I picked up my socks again.

Should be able to have these babies done by Friday, no sweat :)

That didn't mean I abandoned the hexipuffs completely though - I think I averaged one a day, which is okay, but quite a decline from last week where I averaged 3 a day ;)

On the other hand, I've embarked on a MUCH larger WIP, which will take much longer to finish. My husband and I put in an offer for a house last Thursday, and Friday morning our bid was accepted :) :) :) We don't actually get the house until November 1st though, so I'm now busy with drawings and plans. I literally can't WAIT to post FO photos of this WIP, even if it won't be for many moons yet :)

WIP Wedensday - More Hexipuffs!

Progress since last week:

I've gotten 31 hexipuffs done now, and need 80 in total, so just under half way. I think I may need to take a break from them soon though. They're quick and fun to do, but I'm ready for a bit of a change... if not before, then next week when the Ravellenics start :)

WIP Wednesday - Sock and Throw

Alas, the sock from last week hasn't come much further. It's gotten a heel, but that's about it:

I decided to go with "just knitting on" and making the socks slightly asymmetrical. I think it'll work out nicely :)

However, the lack of progress isn't due to the "second sock" syndrome, but I've suddenly been commisioned to knit something for a friend! I have joined the hexipuff craze :D

I was visiting a friend Friday evening. She's just been redecorating her place, so of course I had to see how that had turned out (absolutely terrific, btw). She told me that the only thing she was missing now was a mirror for the front hall, and a colour-coordinated throw. She'd found a throw online, which she showed me a picture of, but as it was a "brand" it was INSANELY expensive, so there was no way she would be getting that one... bar winning Lotto obviously ;)

Looking at the picture, I thought it looked awfully familiar, so I borrowed her computer, went to Ravelry and showed her the photos of The Beekeeper's Quilt.
"I know it's not quite the same, but how do you like this one?"
"I love it! It looks really cool!"
"I could knit that for you, if you'd like?" I was half-way joking, but thankfully she loved the idea!! So much so that we immediately went out to purchase the yarn (there's a really neat yarn shop just down the block from where she lives), so I arrived home with 16 skeins of yarn, and 80 hexipuffs to knit :) Since it's for a throw, I'm using a lot thicker yarn than the original pattern calls for, so the finished hexipuffs are almost 10 x 8 cm (I'm using too thin needles to make them symmetrical, but I didn't realize that until I had made 10 and by then I couldn't be bothered starting over again ;) ) and 1cm thick, but for a throw or a rug I think it'll work really well!

I'm not stuffing the hexipuffs though!

Hexipuffs are wonderfully satisfying to knit, because they're so fast! The first took me about an hour, and the time has been slowly decreasing as I'm getting more practise. I've gotten 16 done so far so hopefully she won't have to wait several months for me to finish ;)

And I simply love the way the colours look together :)

FO Fridays - Get Fresh Summer Top

I finally finished this Sunday, tried it on once before blocking, and was thrilled to see that it fit!! Well... mostly, anyway. I think it might be about half a size too large (something blocking didn't change)... either that, or I just do better with negative ease garments. Anyway, I'm waiting to see how it looks after its first wash.

Same with the edge - right now, immediately after blocking - the roll isn't too bad, but I'm wondering if it'll creep up again with use.


Before blocking - quite a noticeable roll to the edge.


After blocking - much better.


From the back.

Pattern: Get Fresh
Yarn: Drops Muskat from Garnstudio - Egyptian mercerized cotton
New technique learned: Three needle cast off, knitting in the round (okay, so not exactly challenging, but it's the first time I've tried it, so new technique!)

WIP Wednesday - Turning My First Heel

This weekend I was in the mood for a smaller, faster project, so rather than working on any of my exísting WIPs, I cast on a new one!

I have a couple of 50g skeins of sock yarn, so wanted to find something I could use that for. At the same time, I was keen on trying some new techniques I've been reading about. I turned to Ravelry's search function and came up with An Anklet a Day.

The pattern was written for knitting on 3 DNP, but I'd found links for magic loop sock knitting, and wanted to give that a try. Fortunately the pattern didn't seem too hard to adapt, so I decided to cast on and just go for it!


Turning the heel was a piece of cake :-) Getting the gusset done a tad more tricky as I had to rearrange the stitches around on the needles. I think I got it sorted though, and it's coming along nicely now. I'm not too sure what I think of the magic loop method. There are definitely benefits to it over DNPs (not as many pointy ends to loose stitches from for one!), but I'm not certain that it's actually faster. And if I ever want to knit anything larger than socks, I'll need larger needles! (I can only find up to 80cm circular in DK - might have to get bigger ones online).

But I can definitely see the advantage to knitting two socks at once! Knowing that even after I finish this one, I have another one to go is a tad daunting... guess my next sock experiment is two at once and/or toe-up. I didn't quite feel up to adapting the pattern that much.

Edit same evening:

I actually managed to finish the first sock during the day. As you can see, it both starts and ends with the yellow. So here's my conundrum... do I knit on, starting the next sock with the next colour (blue), or do I unravel quite a bit of the skein, in order to start the second one with yellow as well? I'd be discarding quite a bit of yarn, which is why I can't make up my mind.