FO Friday - For my sisters

I've discovered that I love knitting for other people! Which is fortunate, because so far most of what I have knitted has been for my sisters or friends ;) I guess it seems less selfish to use so much time on it that way... or perhaps I just get a kick out of their reactions. (Or both!)

Anyway, the finished objects this week are for my sisters. I see them next week, so it seemed the right time to get them finished.

For Nina, the Holy Cowl!:


And for Michala, the iPhone Friendly mittens (I so need to make some of these for myself! Or perhaps find the conducting thread that a friend told me about.)


Hope they'll like them!

WIP Wednesday - Various

Most of my knitting this past week has been of the portable variety which means the piano scarf hasn't seen much progress (only another 3 white keys), but I don't mind because I've out and about knitting with friends, which is always a good thing :)

So a few photos of my progress...

The piano scarf (after all, I didn't abandon it completely :) )


iPhone-friendly mittens for my sister

(the left one won't have those holes but will just be a 'regular' mitten.

Aaaand I've gotten a few more puzzle pieces done :)

FO Friday - NO MORE HEXIPUFFS!!!

Three FO again today, but two of those are cheats, as I just want to show off my gorgeous niece and nephew in their outfits :)

My niece in her See-Saw Shrug. Isn't she adorable?

And once again my dangerous dragon! My sister has been out to purchase the fabric for the rest of his costume, so I'm sure I'll post yet another photo of him eventually ;)

Finally, the FO you've all been waiting for... well, the FO I've been waiting for anyway - the Beekeeper's Rug I finished knitting the last hexipuff on September 8th (in fact, it turned out I had miscalculated and knitted 7 too many!!! Don't know how that happened!), and brought them all over to Henni. She spent the next week or so trying out various arrangements of them, and finally found one she liked. Tuesday evening I came over to her place to sew them together (she bribed me with sushi ;) ), but 3+ hours only got me half-way, so I ended up also coming by on Wednesday evening to finish it off.

So without further ado...

According to the pattern it's only necessary to sew the corners together. However, since this was supposed to be a rug and not a quilt I figured I'd better play it safe, so I ended up stitching all the edges togther, which took FOREVER. It was well worth it in the end though :) I loved the finished result, and even more importantly, Henni loves it as well :)

I don't see myself making one of these again in a rush though ;)

WIP Wednesday - Piano Scarf

I have a couple of things on my needles at the moment - mainly because I got started on something rather complicated and needed something portable as well ;)

So for the portable, I'm making the Holy Cowl for my sister. I hope to have this finished by October 6th when I see her next.
It's a fun knit, but I'm having problems finding the best method for casting on the stitches above the holes. So far I've been using the 'reverse loop' but it's not quite as neat as I would like it. I've tried the knitted cast on but can't quite make it work. Do you have any recommendations?

The other project is much more elaborate and MUCH more fiddly - but I'm loving it! Ever since I saw Shadow Byrd's Piano Scarf I knew I HAD to make it! In fact, this was what got me started on my knitting again. Last week I finally got hold of the yarn and was ready to cast on and by yesterday evening I had gotten the first octave done.

I actually love the way the back looks as well!

Buuuuut... it uses 4 skeins at a time (actually the pattern calls for 5, but I decided there was no reason to make it worse ;) ), so this is why I don't bring it anyway... this is the result of just 2 rows knitted...

Knitting this just makes me SO thankful that I've learned the knitting backwards method of purling - it makes it a LOT easier to keep the skeins straight!
I'm using Hjertegarn Woolcott, which is a wool-cotton blend and SO lovely soft. Can't wait to wear it :) I chose an off-white instead of a plain white though, as I think I'll like that more in the long run.

Funny story about buying the yarn (funny to me anyway). I went down to my local yarn shop Thursday before last to get hold of the yarn. It needs quite a lot though, so they only had half the amount of white yarn that I needed. The owner asked if a different dye-lot would be okay, or if I needed to go with another type of yarn instead. I answered that I thought a different dye-lot would be okay, as I was making piano keys, so they had black separating the different colours anyway.
Her: "You're making a piano?"
Me: "Yes, I've got the photo right here" and I showed her the photo on Ravelry (I love my smartphone ;) ).
She oohed and aahed appreciatively, and we arranged that I should give her a call the following week, as they were getting a new shipment of the yarn in.

Life interviened, and I didn't get around to calling her until yesterday.

Me: "Hi, my name is Maria. I'm calling about a shipment of Hjertegarn Woolcott you should have received?"
Her: "Ah yes, the off-white for the piano, right? Yes, we've received some more."

Marvelling at her memory I asked her to set aside 4 skeins for her, and told her that I would be by that afternoon to pick it up, traffic permitting.

I arrived shortly before closing, and another person was behind the counter. She didn't really know what I was talking about, but fortunately the owner came out from the back just at that moment.

Her: "Excellent, you made it! I've got the skeins for you here. Oh, did you bring the pattern? I wanted to show my colleague!"

Fortunately I had brought my iPad with me, so I was able to show off a larger photo of the finished scarf, and they both commented that it would be a lot of fun to knit. I told them that I'd gotten it on Ravelry, so who knows Shadow, you might make some more sales now ;) In any case I have to go by to show off the finished scarf once I'm done... whenever that may be ;)

As usual I'm linking up to Tami's Amis :)

FO Friday - Good Things Happen in Threes

No less than three finished objects today! I know this will probably backfire on me and I should leave some for weeks where I don't finish anything, but I love all of them and am eager to get them posted, so there! ;)

My cousin and his wife had their first child last week - a girl whom they'll name Ida. Fortunately I got the chance to go see her last Monday and wanted to bring something along for her. I didn't get much notice, so time was limited, but in the end I figured out how to make a hexipuffy "I" for her, and don't think it turned out too bad :)
I'm afraid she didn't care too much, but her parents loved it, so that's always something ;)

Since I'll be seeing my sister tonight, I finished the dragon mitts for my nephew.

And finally my favourite - Tuesday evening I bound off the last stitch of the Wingspan. To begin with I'd been unsure about how the colours knitted up, but the further I got, the more I loved it! This will be PERFECT for my friend's birthday! I loved the pattern as well - a lovely fun, quick and easy knit.
I have the exact same yarn in a blue colourway as well, so I'm contemplating making another one after all... ;)

WIP Wednesday - Dragon Mitts

Just a brief post today as there's not much to say about this one.
Almost done with the dragon mitts for my nephew. I just need to sew them up once they've dried :)

FO: See Saw Shrug

Finished this with a week to spare before handing it over to my sister. Just as well - then it'll have time to dry properly :) My sister's buying some purple ribbon for the eye-lets. I would never have thought of purple and red together myself until she suggested it, but my niece has inherited her mothers unerring sense of fashion, and I just know it'll look great!

(Is it just me, or does this look like a cartoon monster of some kind? I can just imagine it with eyes and mouth and arms spread out wide, but can't remember which monster it is that it reminds me of!)

WIP Wednesday - Wingspan

Only another 5.5 hexipuffs to go! I'm really excited about that :) I've recently moved to another location at work, so instead of having a 30 minute bike-commute each way, I now have a 45 minute bus-commute each way, meaning I can knit on the way! I've gotten 1-2 done each day doing that, so now I can definitely see the end of the tunnel!

Fortunately it means I can knit other things at home with a free conscience, so I've started Wingspan for a dear friend of mine. Her birthday isn't until the end of October, so there should be plenty of time to finish :)
The only problem is that while I love the feel of the yarn, I'm not entirely sure I like the way the colours knit up. I change my mind every 5 minutes.

Opinions? Other patterns you think the yarn would be better suited for?


For more WIPs, check out Tami's Amis.