Monday, December 15, 2014

Year of Projects - Week 24

Quite a bit of progress from last week to today! :-)

As mentioned last week, I finished knitting "Little Pole". I've now also blocked it and weaved in the ends. It's very cute :) I hope my niece will like it.... not to mention, that it will fit!!!

I've also finished the last two pairs of socks!! Well, I still need to kitchener the toe of the last one, but the knitting is done, so I'm going to count it :) That means I managed my goal of 12 pairs of socks in 2014! It was a bit of a push at times though, so I don't think I'll try a similar goal for 2015 ;)

But here they are - in all their glory :)
The January, March and December socks are presents - the rest I'm keeping aaaaaall for myself :D

With those out of the way, I've managed to start my third Stashbuster project - another Elfe. Yes, this is the third Elfe I make in as many years ;) What can I say - I love the pattern, and it's an awesome way to use that gorgeous fingering yarn that's too pretty to use for socks. Besides, in my size it only takes around 100g/400m of each colour, so it's an affordable top :)
I'm only 30-something rows into it, so it still has a long way to go yet. On the other hand, I started it yesterday, so pretty decent progress already :)


Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock (Spring Forward)
December Sock (Newborn tube socks)
Stashbuster #3 (Bubblegum Elfe)
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Christmas Knitting

I've finished all my Christmas knitting! Not quite early enough for me to be able to participate in the "Grinchalong" hosted by the Knitmoregirls, but plenty early enough for it to have been stress-free just the same :) Still need to weave in the ends, but that's it.

The Princess Hitchhiker for my youngest niece is done and blocking :) It turned out just slightly bigger than expected, but hopefully she'll enjoy being able to wrap herself in it :)
Her favourite colours are pink and brown, so I knit this holding a strand of pink, brown and very light purple yarn together. The yarn used is Grignasco Extrafine (100g/1500m), so three strands held together worked perfectly.

I cast off the Little Pole for my oldest niece yesterday! So here it is in all its unblocked glory:
I decided not to do the pompoms for the belt. I'm not really a fan of pompoms, so I think it looks better without them. It's a bit of a weird construction, but I think it'll work out well. Can't wait to see it on her!

My November socks are going well - albeit a tad late ;) I finished the first one a couple of weeks ago (just forgot to take a photo) and am just over half-way on the second (having completed 7 of the 11 repeats).

However, since it IS December, I've also cast on my December socks. I decided I had been such a good girl with respect to sock-knitting, so I'd go a bit easy on myself for December, and finish up the year with a pair of tube socks for my newest niece. I still have almost 30 grams remaining of the Candy Skein Yummy Fingering in the Rainbow colourway, so there should be plenty for a pair of newborn socks.
I can't get over how cute they are! 28 stitches as compared to my usual 56-66sts! I started out with 32sts 2x2 ribbing, decreased to 28sts and 1x1 ribbing after 5 rounds and will probably switch to plain stockinette at some point... haven't decided exactly when yet.


Year of Projects Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock (Spring Forward)
December Sock (Newborn Tube Socks)
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

WIP Wednesday

On the Needles
Almost done with the Little Pole!!! Which is a good thing, since it's supposed to be a Christmas present. I've finished one sleeve, so now I just have the other sleeve and the belt to go. The first sleeve took 2 nights of concentrated knitting, and the belt will probably be something similar, so I should be able to finish with plenty of time to spare :)

Between the Pages
I finished "Landline" by Rainbow Rowell last night. SO GOOD! I just raced through it. It completely deserves all the hype surrounding it. You can find my review here.

Stash Stories
I had my very own "Etsy-incident of 2014" a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to the ridiculously expensive shipping from the US, I didn't do as much damage as I could've, but I did get 4 very gorgeous skeins out of it.

They all arrived last Saturday (so quick!) and as luck would have it, the skein I won from The Fat Squirrel's podcast arrived the same day! So there was lots and lots of yarny goodness to be had :)
I spot a scarf, a cowl and two pairs of socks!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Year of Projects - Week 20

Woohoo! Only one day late, instead of my usual 3 or 5 ;)

The Little Pole has finally seen some significant progress. I've finished knitting the collar and just need to graft it together - then I can get started on the sleeves! I'm slightly worried about how much yarn I have left though. I have another 4 skeins (50g each), which should be enough for the sleeves, but won't leave me much for the belt and pompoms. Ah well, if all else fails, I have some white cotton yarn I should be able to use instead. Or it may turn out that I've grossly overestimated how much yarn the sleeves will take, and I'll have plenty! Wouldn't be the first time ;)

I've managed decent progress on my November Socks as well. These are the "Spring Forward" socks by Linda Welch. I love the pattern, but am not entirely happy with the yarn. It's Mayflower Divine 1 ply, and it's both too thick and too fluffy for socks in my mind. I have one more skein, but think I will use that for something else instead.

It's not all bad though, I love the colours! :) I turned the heel over the weekend (a fish-lips-kiss heel - still my favourite, even though I want to try other short-row heels now) and am just over half-way through the foot, so it's going at a nice speed. Who knows - maybe I'll manage to finish within the month for once! ;)

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock (Spring Forward)
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Friday, November 7, 2014

FO Fridays - Up to date with Year of Socks!

Three finished objects this week! I'm so proud of myself ;)

Those of you who follow my facebook page will always have seen Herbert the Snail. I absolutely adore it! Even if the eyes did get a bit crooked ;)
Isn't he cute? I'm SO thilled with how it turned out! :) The funny thing is that I didn't realize until about halfway through that this was perhaps a tad ambitious for what was only my second crochet project, but when it comes to knitting and crocheting, the skills really do transfer! Once you know the stitches, it's just a matter of being able to read a pattern and taking it one row at a time, without allowing yourself to get overwhelmed by the entire thing. Stacey Trock's pattern are really well written, so I never felt as if I was in over my head (well... except when it came to sewing the things together, but that has less to do with it being a new skill and more to do with my lack of dexterity! ;) ). Most importantly - it was FUN! :)
Pattern: Milton the Snake by Stacey Trock.

Last weekend I finally managed to finish both my September Socks and my October Socks, so now I'm all up to date! ... and just have to get started on the November Socks ;) I'm considering trying two socks at a time to see how that works... Anyway - the socks :)
September Socks: My Cup of Tea by Robin Lynn. Don't think I made any mods to this one.
October Socks: Sunset Scale Socks by Melissa J. Goodale. Substituted the Fish-Lips-Kiss heel and turned them into ankel socks as the yarn was a lot heavier than anticipated so 60 grams didn't get me as far as it usually does.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Year of Projects - Week 17

It's been a while since I did a WIP-post - not because I haven't been knitting, but I keep forgetting to take photos! And a knitting post without photos is slightly dull.

So this will be a joint YoP / WIP post so I can finally update you on all the things I've been working on lately. I'm sure you can't wait! Right? Of course right ;)

September Sock: I've turned the heel of the second sock and am now working on the gusset. Once that is done, the rest shouldn't take long at all, so it's starting to look like I may actually finish this by the end of the month! Of course, that would be more impressive if the month was September still...

October Sock: But fortunately I'm not doing too badly on the second October sock either! So it's actually looking good all around :) When knitting the first sock I discovered that I'd be playing a much more serious game of yarn chicken than first anticipated though! My socks usually weigh around 30g each, but with this one I'd already used 22g when finishing up the heel! So it's more of a ankle sock than I'd anticipated at first. Must be heavier yarn than I'm used to. Never mind - fortunately I don't mind ankle socks :)

But with a bit of luck and a bit of effort I should be able to finish these by the end of the month too! :) Or very early November anyway.

Little Pole hasn't seen that much progress. I would have liked to have finished the body by now, but I got sidetracked by other projects. It is what it is. I should still have plenty of time to finish in time for Christmas :)

Newborn Vertebrae: One of the things that have sidetracked me is the vertebrae KAL hosted by The Fat Squirrel. I'd wanted to knit one for my niece-to-be anyway, so it seemed the perfect opportunity. The KAL ends by the end of October, so I made sure to finish the knitting this weekend. Still needs to be blocked though.

Herbert the Snail: Another distraction is the fact that I finally feel accomplished enough at crochet to tackle one of Stacey's amazing animals! I bought her book, Crocheted Softies almost two years ago, because I knew that I just HAD to learn how to crochet and make some of these! I'd especially fallen in love with "Milton the Slowpoke Snail", so of course I had to start with that one. I would have finished already if it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't find any safety-eyes, so I had to put it on hold for a bit until I figured out what to use instead.

The name comes from a childrens' song we used to sing in church about "Herbert, the very slow snail" :)

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

WIP Wednesday - It's all about the socks!

On the Needles
The second "My Cup of Tea" sock is finally taking off. I'm 4 rows away from the heel and know from experience that once that's done, the foot will feel like it takes no time at all.

However, the heel-flap-gusset heel does not qualify as mindless knitting for me yet - I still have to check the pattern constantly - so when I needed some easy knitting last Monday, I decided to just go ahead and cast on for my October Socks even though the September Socks weren't done. After all it IS October already! ;)
These are the Sunset Scales Socks by Melissa Goodale - I picked them specifically as they looked like they'd be good for variegated yarn... this was before I bought the book you'll see below, or I might have chosen differently ;) Anyway, I'm just over halfway through the foot already, and enjoy the way it knits up :) I'm knitting these toe-up, as I may end up having to play a tiny game of yarn chicken, and it's easier to shorten the cuff this way ;)

(Love the kiwi stitch-marker. Saw it at a yarn shop last week and knew I had to have it :) )

Off the Needles
I finished my third pair of the Magic Slippers Saturday. They're such quick knits, and I've pretty much learned the pattern off by heart. Each slipper takes me between 3-4 hours to knit. I gave them to my niece yesterday, and fortunately she was absolutely delighted :) They're a tad big, but that just means she'll be able to wear them for longer :)

My cousin and his wife had a boy not too long ago, and I finally get to see him on Saturday! When they had their first child I knit her name for her as a present, so of course I have to do the same for this one. I've only managed the first initial so far, but it took me two years to finish the letters for their daughter, so I'm not going to feel bad about only having the 'P' ready for Saturday ;)

Between the Pages
Got two new knitting books for my birthday :)
75 Birds, Butterflies & Little Beasts was a gift from my parents-in-law :)
Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn I bought myself with money Morfar gave me. With all the colourful sock yarn I have in my stash by now, I thought this was the perfect book for me! I even got it at 10% off, as it turned out they only had the display copy left!

Stash Stories
Last year at around this time, I biked past this absolutely GORGEOUS tree, splendid in its fall colours. I immediately stopped and took a photo of it, all the while giggling a bit to myself that the VERY first thought on my mind was "I want yarn in this colourway!!!"
Well, last week I found it... and of course had to buy it!
It's not exactly right. This yarn is variegated instead of a gradient, and I'm actually not sure what it'll look like all knit up (will have to swatch before deciding on a pattern... it might be good for the leaves in Leftie though), but I still had to get it :)

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

WIP Wednesday - Second Sock

On the Needles
I haven't been knitting as much this past week as usual... mostly because I found two awesome books I had to disappear into, and I couldn't read fast enough while knitting to satisfy me, so knitting was put to the wayside for a bit. Almost like old days ;)

So very little progress on very few projects.

I've just finished the cuff for my second September Sock (am about 8 rows into the first pattern repeat). I always tend to procrastinate when it comes to casting on the second sock, but once it's actually on the needles I usually do okay, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm also considering casting on the first October Sock before I finish this one, just to give me some variation ;)

The 12 pairs of socks for 2014 is starting to look a bit iffy at this point, but I'm not about to give up yet! I know I can do it - it's all a matter of priorities!

My Princess Hitchhiker is up to 23 tips now! Each row is starting to take quite a bit longer now, and I still have another 19 tips to go! Glad I started early, so I have plenty of time before Christmas.


Finally I have cast on something new :-P But for some weird reason the photo I took of this never got saved on my iPhone?! Odd. Anyway, apparently I have absolutely NO willpower when it comes to knitting stuff for my nieces and nephews... so when my sister told me that her daughter kept stealing her magic slippers (so called because they look SO weird off the foot, but great on it), and wanted a pair of her own, I knew I had to make them. Especially as I see Isabella again next week - it would be cool if I could have them done already. Each slipper takes me about 3-4 hours to knit, so it's an achievable goal.

... and once they are done, I HAVE to get back to knitting her "Little Pole" :)

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

WIP Wednesday - A Block Away

On the Needles
I actually have surprisingly few things on the needles, as I've managed to cast off a bunch of things this past week. I'm too eager to show them off to wait for Friday, so I'll "cheat" and post them early! :)

I have finally gotten the hang of crochet it seems. I've been playing around with it a bit, and this weekend managed to finish my two first proper crochet items :) However, it is more than a tiny bit confusing that not only are UK and US crochet terms not the same, but sometime the same term means two different things!!!! That will cause some frustration until I get the hang of it, I'm sure :-P

I'm getting pretty fast at doing the stitches themselves, but getting that first row done where I crochet into the chain? GAH! That's still giving me problems. I almost hope I'm doing it wrong, because I'm getting increasingly frustrated by how slow-moving it is, but probably it's just a matter of practise, practise, practise.

During the church luncheon Sunday I managed to finish this bracelet (pattern not on Ravelry yet). I can't really decide whether it's my 'type' or not, but it was a nice way to practise some of my new skills.


This next project, however, I am absolutely THRILLED by how it turned out! It's the Crochet Hook Case by Sally V. George, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out :)
The badge fits it perfectly :)

I added a border and simplified the pocket, but otherwise it is exactly as written. At the time of making it, I hadn't yet decided I wanted to keep my DPNs there too, which is why it isn't quite tall enough, but it's close enough that I don't even mind. I absolutely love it, and may make another one for the rest of my DPNs :)


I haven't completely forsaken my knitting though. I finally cast off Sleeves, and it's currently blocking, waiting to dry so I can weave in the ends.
I love Martina Behm's patterns and didn't even mind knitting this twice! It was just as much fun the second time around. Now I just hope it fits! :-P Things tend to grow when blocking and then snap back into shape when thrown in the wash, so I always fear that it's a tad too big, but then it all comes out right after the first wash.


And finally, while I didn't finish the pair, I did at least manage to finish one September Sock ;) Hopefully I'll do better with my October Socks.
I do enjoy the pattern though, and think it suits the yarn nicely. I also realized that while a gusset/heel-flap heel fits me nicely, it takes FOREVER to execute, compared to the fish-lips-kiss heel! So I think I may just start to substitute that whenever possible.

Monday, September 29, 2014

YOP Week 13

Just a quick post today, as I haven't got a lot of progress done. In fact, I haven't touched the Little Pole at all for almost two weeks, as I got sidetracked by all sorts of other projects.

I did manage to finish the first September Sock though, so while not a complete pair as I'd hoped for, at least I got half way done instead of procrastinating completely as I'd feared. I ended up doing the heel as written and was once again reminded how very much easier the Fish-Lips-Kiss heel is!! But I'm thinking this might fit my foot better? Not sure, I'll have to pay more attention.

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Thursday, September 25, 2014

WIP + FO

A day late and a day early, but since I never got around to posting my WIP Wednesday entry yesterday, I figured I might as well combine it with my FO Friday entry for tomorrow! :)

On the Needles
I've been attacked by startitis this past week, so my WIPs from last week have only seen very little progress (if any!) but instead I've cast on two new ones!!! You can never have too many WIPs, right? Of course right ;)

The Newborn Vertebra - I was going to wait a bit before casting this one on, but The Fat Squirrel started a Vertebrae KAL, so I figured now was as good a time as any! Knitting flat in a solid yarn is making it very obvious that my purling isn't nearly as consistent as my knitting though :-P I even tried going down a needle size for the purl stitches, but to no avail. Nothing to do but practise, I guess.

Love the colour though :)

Earlier this year, Rebekka asked me if I'd knit a scarf for Rosa. I'd been itching to knit another Hitchhiker anyway and figured I'd better cast on now so the winter wouldn't be half over before she could get it. Rosa's favourite colours are brown and pink (at least they were when I asked her last), so I figured this yarn would be perfect for her :) It's 100% merino and SO lovely soft! Right now I can't put it down... but right now I'm also at the really short tips, meaning it's awfully potato-chippy. It will slow down soon enough I'm sure.

Haven't completely abandoned my old projects though. Sleeves has seen quite a bit of progress, and I'm now almost half-way through the back, row-wise. Since these rows keep getting shorter and shorter, this means that I'm more than half-way stitch-wise, so hopefully another week or two and I'll be done! :)

And finally, my socks :) The yarn is still playing nice with the pattern, and I turned the heel on Saturday. Haven't touched it much since then, but it's coming along nicely. I no longer really believe I'll be able to finish by the end of the month though! But that's okay - the goal was more to knit 12 pairs of socks in a year than necessarily one a month. So I'm not worried... yet! ;)

Off the Needles
Part of the reason the socks haven't seen much progress is that I got so caught up in the cowl I started last week. Started Monday, finished Friday. I LOVED the yarn and how it knit up, so it was basically all I wanted to knit all week. And as it made for perfect travel-knitting, it was only too easy to substitute my poor rejected socks for this.

I'd say it was worth it though. Haven't actually worn it yet, as it only came off my blocking mat yesterday, but I love it! The colours are so amazingly beautiful :)

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

WIP Wednesday - Travel Knitting

On the Needles
4 active WIPs this week :) Some of them have seen more progress than others.

In order of cast-on date...
I finished the second sleeve of Martina Behm's "Sleeves", and have now joined for the back! I seem to remember the back being a lot faster than the sleeves, so hopefully K won't have to wait too much longer for it :) It's a nice and mindless knit, but has grown too large for travel knitting, which is why this hasn't seen too much progress.

Same goes for my "Little Pole". Only another 15 rows have been added since my last photo. However, those 15 rows means that I'm now halfway through the collar!

My "Indecisive Socks" of last week are finally cooperating :) The yarn is playing nice with the pattern ("My Cup of Tea") and I'm now further than I ever came with any of the two other patterns! I have one repeat left to go before starting the heel -- am currently trying to make up my mind whether to do the heel as written, or substitute the fish-lips-kiss heel once again.

Finally, I was in the mood for something completely different earlier this week. I bought this yarn in Washington D.C. - originally destined for socks. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to hide such gorgeous yarn away in shoes though, so instead I ended up casting on for a cowl so I could show it off properly :) It's not as soft as I would like my cowls to be usually, because the yarn was meant for socks and so was spun rather tightly, but I'm absolutely loving the way it knits up, and since it's 100% merino, I'll just keep my fingers crossed that it softens nicely with blocking. This is my current go-to pattern as it's both portable and gorgeous :)


Stash Stories
I fell - or should I say dived - into the rabbit hole again earlier this week. I'd been telling myself that I had PLENTY of yarn after my US trip and the 50% off sale earlier this year, but this Monday I discovered another 50% off sale, and as I had recently discovered I have absolutely no worsted weight yarn yet a ton of worsted weight sweaters I want to knit, I figured I would just "go take a look". In my defense, I probably actually wouldn't have bought anything if they hadn't had any worsted left, but they did :D So I now have enough for a gorgous read sweater for myself :-)

(I may also have bought yarn for two other projects since I had my ATM card out anyway, but those don't count, I'm sure ;) )

Events / Challenges / KALs
The 2 Knit Lit Chick's Sweater KAL started this Monday, and the Knitmore Girls and the Knit Girllls have been inspired by Susan B. Anderson and are starting a #projectsweaterchest on September 21st. I kinda want to be part of both, so I'm holding out and haven't cast on my $5 in Paris yet, so I have something that will be eligible for both. Of course, with all this new yarn I bought, I may change my mind and knit something else entirely ;)

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Year of Projects - Week 11

Looks like I finally found a pattern to suit my sock yarn :) If you didn't see my WIP post, my yarn had become very belligerent and decided that Hermione's Everyday Socks was just FAR too boring, so that wouldn't work either. Wednesday morning I finally cast on for My Little Cup of Tea and have now come further than I did with any of the others! So I'll take that as a good sign :)

The Little Pole is still behaving nicely. Have had absolutely no problems with that one, dear thing. I'm still slightly concerned whether I'll have enough yarn, but if worst comes to worst I have some suitable white I can use to pad the sleeves. But more likely than not I'll have plenty, and this is just me being a worrywart as always ;)
(Progress photo from Wednesday, I've added about 15 rows since then).

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)