Wednesday, October 31, 2012

WIP Wednesday - Whare Nui

Best. WIP. EVER!!!!







Mum and Dad came over to share our first meal with us


And later my uncle, aunt and youngest cousin came by and helped us with our very first bit of rearranging furniture!


*"Whare Nui" is Maori and means "Great house". It probably won't catch on with DH, but I'm trying it out for myself ;)

Thursday, October 25, 2012

FO Friday - Classic Gloves

The gloves are done, and just in time for winter :) It was 0C when I woke up this morning, so perfect timing.
The back of the hands are a bit too big, but according to other knitters, that's pretty common for first-time gloves, and otherwise they fit fine, so I'm just not going to worry about that. Besides, I tend to go through gloves at record speeds, because I'll get warm hands when I bike, take them off and put them in my basket, and eventually arrive at my destination to discover that one has fallen out.

This has happened more often than I care to admit ;)

I made slits in the thumbs so I can use my iPhone without having to take them off. Hopefully that won't leave my thumbs too cold.

Pattern: Classic gloves.
Yarn: 5ply, 100% Acrylic.
Alterations: Slits in thumbs to make them smartphone friendly.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

WIP Wednesday - Piano Scarf

After realizing just how many WIPs I have going, I figured I'd better get a move on some of them, so right now I'm back at knitting the piano scarf. It's slightly slow going, because the way I've decided to do the purl rows (knitting backwards, rather than turning the darn thing back and forth all the time, getting the skeins all twisted) makes both the purling and the knitting go slower than it would otherwise. I'm contemplating just going back to my normal way of purling and then just dealing with the twisted yarn every couple of rows... we'll see.


I love the way it's turning out though, and the yarn is SO nice and soft. It's a wool/cotton blend and will be a treat to wear :-D

Friday, October 19, 2012

FO Friday - $5 in Paris

I finished the $5 in Paris!

And I adore it! I can't believe how well it turned out. The colours, the style, the fit - it couldn't have been better :) I love the way it looks on me :) It was a pretty easy knit - the hardest part was picking up stitches for the sleeves and having it look nice - and FAST! Only took me 10 days to knit. Of course it did help that I hardly touched any of my other projects at all during those ten days ;) What can I say... it was a whirlwind romance ;)


(my apologies about the state of the photo - it was the best I could do at the time).

Binding off did turn out to be a bit of a hassle though. I'd used a 'regular' bind off for the sleeves, and that was fine, so I figured I could do the same for the hem. Not so. It ended up being waaaaay too tight! I could get it on, but it was literally skin tight - I couldn't move at all. Sigh. Nothing to do but to rip it back. Google came to the rescue, and using Jenny's Super-Stretchy Bind Off I tried again - success! This bind off was just as stretchy as the ribbing itself and looked great too :)

Pattern: $5 in Paris
Yarn: Mayflower, Easy Care Big. A tad on the itchy side, but I think it'll be okay.
Modifications: The bottom ribbing was supposed to be 5". That's a LOT of ribbing! After about 3.5" I decided to call it quits. I actually think it looks better that way too.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

WIP Wednesday - KAL

I've only been working on two WIPs this past week. I was supposed to work on the Haruni at the knitting circle Sunday (majorly cozy BtW. I can't remember when I've last laughed so much and had such a great time together with people I know so little ;) ), but managed to leave the chart part of the pattern behind!!!! Yeah, well done there, myself!

Fortunately I had brought my gloves along in case I got tired with the Haruni, or needed something simpler, so I wasn't left without a project entirely and got quite a bit done on the left glove. Good thing too, I'll need them soon! I'll bring them along to Bible study on Thursday and hope to get more done there - perhaps even finish?

But the project that stole both my soul and all my free time this past week has been the $5 in Paris KAL. I honestly don't think I've opened a book since Saturday because I just want to knit this all the time! And anybody who knows me will know how much that is saying! The yarn is a tad on the itchy side, but I think it will be okay, and I adore the way it looks! If this keeps up, I'll have it done in no time!

Friday, October 12, 2012

$5 Paris KAL

I'm loving the $5 Paris KAL I'm doing together with Pandabearofdoom. It's turning out to be such a pleasant knit, I'm enjoying it much more than I had expected. Unfortunately I can see the effects of knitting tired - yesterday I had to rip out two rounds of one sleeve because I had turned it the wrong way around so was purling instead of knitting, and today I had to rip out another two rounds because I had started the ribbing one round too early, and it just looked... strange! Ah well, I'm getting there, and at least I now fear ripping back and fixing mistakes much less than I used to.

I'm about halfway done with the body, but decided to finish the sleeves before I went any further. I want to make it longer than the pattern calls for (I like tunica-like tops), and need to know how much yarn I have available. I'm glad I decided to do it this way, because the sleeves are a LOT more fiddly than the main body, so it'll be nice to have them over and done with. The rest will be a breeze once the sleeves are done.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

WIP Wednesday - On my needles and between the pages

Hmmm.... it would seem that I'm as bad at starting new knitting projects as I am at starting new books! I currently have 10 books on my currently-reading list (yes, still - although a different 10 from last week! ;) ), and while my number of WIPs isn't quite that bad, it's getting up there.

Funnily enough they also fall in the same categories...

The New Romance
The book/knitting project that I only just got my hands on, but which I just couldn't stop myself from starting right away. My parents gave me "The Casual Vacancy" for my birthday, and of course I had to start that very same evening even though I already had a pile of other books on the go. Similarly, I recently started a $5 Paris KAL together with Pandabearofdoom on Ravelry, and now that seems to be the only thing I want to knit! I've come just below the armpits now, although I'm slightly worried it'll turn out to be too small (I'm knitting the medium size which usually fits, but it seems... small). I'm not entirely sure though, so I've added a life line so that I can easily rip back if it turns out to be necessary.

The Long Haul
The book/knitting project that seems to go on forever but which you're sure will be well worth the effort once you're done. "Giants of the Fall" is a great read and the Piano Scarf a delight to knit, but both show so little progress from each sitting that I hardly feel like I'm getting anywhere.

That does not mean I'm about to give up on either though! I'm in for the long haul :)

Almost Done
The book/knitting project that I could really finish if I just sat down and put my mind to it for a couple of hours. I only have 200 pages to go of "Fire Study" and my classic gloves is only missing half of the left glove. I would have been further if I hadn't made a rookie mistake last week. I was happily knitting along for 10 rounds after the cuff when I discovered that, DOH! I was knitting the right-hand glove again rather than switching to the left. I promptly ripped out the 10 rounds, and then started knitting the hand again... only to realize that since the cuff is completely symmetrical, I could just have moved the 'start of the round' 10 stitches to the right, and I'd have been right on track again. You live, you learn... I really should finish it though. It's almost glove-cold in the mornings now.

The Delight
The book/knitting project where I'm deliberately limiting myself to small doses, because I just don't want it to finish! "Happier at Home" is such a book and the Haruni such a project. Both things are doled out as small treats.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

WIP Wednesday - Autumn Knitting

As you can see, I've managed to cast on a number of new things :) But it's autumn, and I love sitting with the warm yarn.

First there's the piano scarf which is still going strong. I've gotten a little over 2 octaves done now. I might end up not doing all eight if I decide the scarf is long enough before then. I'll take that as it comes.

After having knitted the iPhone friendly mittens for Mixi, I decided I really needed some myself too. I don't do too well with knitting the same thing over and over again though, so I figured I'd try to see if I could manage my way around a pair of gloves, and finally found this rather simple design for Classic Gloves. I was slightly worried about the fingers, but it turned out a lot easier than I had feared. The first one just needs the ends weaved in now

and the second one is just getting started

I decided to only make slits on the thumb instead of both thumb and first finger, but I'm contemplating making slits on both thumbs as I tend to use both quite a bit. I've got a while before I need to make that decision though.

Finally I gave in to temptation and cast on for the Haruni... and immediately fell in love. The pattern is fortunately a lot easier than I originally had feared, and after the first 32 rows I found myself able to look at my work and see what came next, which spared me for a lot of counting and a LOT of mistakes to pick up! I still tend to forget the first and last yarn-over of each repeat, but that's easily fixed. I haven't quite memorized the pattern, but it's easy enough that I can memorize one line at a time ;)

And it's turning out more gorgeous than I had ever hoped :)


Close-up of the details

I want to wear this shawl for my sisters wedding in March which should give me plenty of time to get it done :)

The yarn is Grignasco Champagne which is a merino/silk blend. It cost a pretty penny, but is turning out to be WELL worth the expense! It's so soft and yummy to work with :)