Wednesday, November 30, 2016

WIP Wednesday: Why do I knit like I'm running out of time?

Only two things this week. I've weaved in the ends of my Paradise Cardigan (and worn it twice!), but though I bought the grosgrain ribbon and buttons yesterday, I haven't had time to sew it on yet, so that'll have to wait for another week.

I finished my Christmas socks though :-) Almost don't want to give them away, as I love the way they turned out :-) Hopefully my sister-in-law will like them too.

Ever since finishing those (which happened over the weekend), I've been knitting pretty much #non-stop on the HamilKnit hat by Emily Straw. It's so clever! And thanks to a link to Philosopher's Wool in the pattern, I'm now learning two-handed fair-isle knitting! I still find one-handed knitting a lot faster, but this way certainly makes it a lot easier to manage the floats! Also, I love that the two yarns don't tangle.
I didn't swatch ahead of time, so I have no clue if it'll fit, but I don't actually care too much - I'm having fun knitting it, and learning a new technique as I go (not to mention getting each song firmly stuck on my mind while knitting it! Thanks for the ear-worms!). I've already picked up a few things I'd do different next time (including changing some of the words - in particular swapping "1776" out with "Burr", which would make it say "Burr, sir"... it would fit perfectly! But I didn't realize until three rows later, and I was NOT about to drop stitches that far down.)

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

WIP Wednesday - Lots of FOs

I finished my Paradise Cardigan! Weeeee!!! And I love it! The colours really work together and suit me exactly as well as I'd hoped when I started knitting it. As usual with such a heavy garment, it grew quite a bit while blocking. I don't think it too bad... and probably actually not very noticable unless I button it up, which I'm not very likely to do anyway (I hardly ever wear my cardigans closed). The only problem is, we're having unseasonably warm weather (not that I'm about to complain!), so it's actually too warm to wear! I'm sure that'll change soon enough though.


Still need to weave in a bazillion ends, so I'll try to get a better photo once I've done that. I also need to buy backing ribbon and buttons for it. I usually don't bother with the ribbon, but I think this one might need it in order for the button bands not to sag... Let's see how long I go about procrastinating on that!

Last I saw Isabella, she told me she'd misplaced one of the mitts I knit her 3 years ago (I'm impressed it didn't happen until now!) and sweetly asked if I'd knit her a new one. She specifically said I only had to knit one, as she still had the other one, but considering how old and obviously well-used it is, I decided to just knit her the pair :)
It's a really quick knit - they were all done in ~3hrs.

I'm still working on my Christmas socks. I've finished one, and am just past the ribbing on the other.

Finally, Mixi asked if I'd knit some more tube socks for Nora. As I needed some mindless knitting for a meeting last Thursday anyway, I got right on that and have finished the first one there too.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

WIP Wednesday - I love it!

I haven't been knitting all that much this past week, and the knitting I did get done was all on my Paradise Cardigan. This past weekend, it was finally big enough for me to try on and get a proper idea of what it'd look like, and fortunately I love it! :-) The colours work much better together than I'd feared.
Unfortunately it turns out that I've seriously miscalculated the amount of yarn I need! As in, I need somewhere around 2-3 skeins extra of each colour! Good thing I know where to get them online!

Friday, November 11, 2016

WIP Friday

I was going to post this Wednesday, but I got too wrapped up in following the news and forgot to post photos. So here goes, a bit late.

Still knitting on the Christmas socks for my SIL, although I haven't gotten much further. I'm in the process of turning the heel, and doing a heel-flap and gusset always slows me down a bit, as I haven't learned that technique off by heart yet (much prefer the fish-lips-kiss heel, but this looks more stylish, and as it's a present, that's what I'm going for).

I've picked my Paradise Cardigan back up and have finished the first sleeve! Still not entirely sure about the colour choice - it could go either way - but I don't actually think I'll make up my mind until it's done, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I'm almost done with the second sleeve, so I'll be able to return to the body soon :) Am starting to think I may not have enough yarn though, but we'll see how far this gets me - otherwise I know where I can purchase more :)

Finally, I've added a few more squares to my cozy memories blanket. I don't think you can see much progress since last week, but I'm loving working on it :-)

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

WIP Wednesday - Finally some finished objects...

After a long drought I finally have some FINISHED objects to show you!

I finished my October socks - they were just a plain 3-by-1 rib and SO boring to knit! Definitely not something I'll attempt again anytime soon. I hadn't thought it'd be so bad as I love knitting vanilla (=plain stockinette) socks, but there you have it... Ah well, they're done and currently winging their way to the US. Hopefully the recipient will like them.

I've also finished the scarf for Liz! Actually it turned out more like a stole... I got less bored with knitting it as I went along. The colours are gorgeous, and I just loved seeing it grow. Still not a huge fan of knitting scarves, but gorgeous glittering self-striping yarn certainly helps! :)

And now I'm DONE with obligation knitting for the time being... well, sort of... I do still have my November socks, but I'm totally in love with both the yarn and the pattern for those, so I don't see that being a hardship at all :-) They'll make an awesome Christmas present for my sister-in-law (who recently mentioned that the other pair of socks I knit her were her very favourite socks ever... that kind of compliment gets you another pair of socks! :) )

Finally I've done what I always do when I'm FINALLY done with some obligation knitting that almost turned into a chore and picked my Cozy Memories blanket back up. It's actually big enough now, that I can fall asleep under it. Still want to add a few more rows though :) I love it - it's definitely my guilty pleasure knitting. Won't finish it this year - possibly not even next - but a deadline of 2018 should be doable ;)