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!