WIP Wednesday

I've been feeling under the weather this past week, so haven't been knitting as much as I'd thought I would.

I finished the first legwarmer, but it took me several days to cast on the second one. I've done so now though, and am past the ribbing, so the next part should go fast.

Last night I cast on my February socks for the "Just One More Row" KAL. I have several socks on the needles already, but this needs to be a pair started and completed in February in order to be eligible, so I had to start a new pair :)
I'm using three balls of scrap yarn and am REALLY happy with how it's turning out! The colours look awesome together :)

And that's it! I've also added a few squares on my cozy memories blanket, but not enough to warrant a new photo. Hopefully I'll finish the legwarmers soon, so I can get back to all the things I cast on right before Christmas :)

WIP Wednesday

Just a few projects this week.

I finished the hat for my niece, and decided to add a flower for some extra bling :) It's somewhat big though, so she might not be able to wear it until next year. I'm handing it over to her mother on Sunday, so we'll see.

Last week, one of my colleagues started complaining that she couldn't find any suitable black legwarmers that were as long as she'd like. Jokingly I offered to knit her a pair (totally willing to do so, but not wanting to pressure her), and to my happy surprise she thought that was a great idea! We sat down and agreed on a pattern, so when I got the yarn last Friday I could cast on right away :) The pattern (Rosina's legwarmers) is really easy to learn off by heart, so I'm almost done with the first one - just need to have her try it on to make the final check on length and width.
Though black, the yarn is fine to work with - I have no problems at all reading the knitting.

And as always, I needed a pair of socks on the needles. The pattern is Cookie A's Wanida. I haven't gotten that far yet, but I think it'll work well with the varigated yarn, as neither yarn nor pattern is too busy.

WIP Wednesday - Butterfly Shawl DONE!

I didn't post last week as I didn't have many projects that had seen much progress (plus I forgot to take photos... and really, what's the use of a WIP post without photos?!), which means that this week I have a LOT of progress to show!

I finished two pairs of socks last week! Both my vanilla socks out of sparkly New Years Eve yarn and the test-knit socks are DONE :)

The latter pair were a bit of a hassle to knit, as I discovered shortly into the first one that I'm really not a fan of stranded knitting in socks. I did enjoy seeing the pattern emerge though, and like the finished object, so I think at the end of the day it was worth it, and might make others, but I'm going to be very picky with which ones I choose. I think it was mostly the long floats that messed me up. But now they're done, and fit well, so that's the important thing.

I've also - ta da da DAAAAAA - finished the Butterfly Shawl! This weekend I realized I really only had very little left, so I put on one of my favourite series, and just went nuts... and Monday evening, I finished!!!
The contrast in the gradient yarn isn't as obvious as I'd hoped, so you have to view it in the right light for it to be noticeable, but I still absolutely LOVE it!!! And already have another 3 planned :-P So thank you Mum and Dad for that Christmas present! :-) It's a lot easier than it looks, but the rows got LONG near the end! For the last section, each straight row took 15 minutes to knit!
It's currently blocking, so I decided to take an 'up close and personal' photo to show off the colour changes.

I'm still knitting on the "Change of Heart" cowl. It's coming along nicely, but is unfortunately slightly boring to knit. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it may be because the lace repeat is too long to learn off by heart, but short enough that each repeat doesn't show any significant progress, so it's neither mindless knitting (like vanilla socks), nor a project where each repeat comes with a sense of accomplishment... if that makes sense? The yarn is delicious though (a merino, alpaca, cashmere blend), so I'll keep on keeping on. Actually, with a bit of effort I might be able to learn the pattern off by heart - it's only a 14-row repeat - so perhaps I should just work on that to make it easier travel knitting.

Finally, my sister asked me to knit a balcava for my youngest niece, so of course I got right on that :) It's a really quick knit - mostly garter - so most of it goes WHOOSH! Should finish this before too long... possibly even today!

WIP Wednesday - Returning to my roots

I've been extraordinarily monogamous in my knitting this past week. The Butterfly Shawl is pretty much all I want to knit, and the further I get into it, the more I start thinking of other colour combinations I want to try! I think my next version will be a multi-coloured version (i.e. where I pick the colours myself, rather than using gradient yarn), but haven't decided yet just how many colours I want to use. But I'm getting ahead of myself - I'd better finish this one first ;) It's the first time I've been THIS eager to try a second (and third... and fourth) version of the same pattern though. And I don't even wear shawls that often!!!
It's getting too large to photograph easily, but I'm really loving it :) It's not mindless knitting, as I have to do a lot of counting, but it's meditative knitting, as it's all just garter, and thus really easy. Perfect TV knitting, as long as I don't have to pay too much attention ;)

It's really not travel knitting though, so of course I also have a pair of vanilla socks on the needles. I'm loving the yarn, and am trying to make these as identical as possible.

And because I really need a new hobby (or rather, an old one back...) I want to get back into doing cross-stitch. It's not quite as satisfying as knitting (or even crocheting), but it serves its own purposes, and I did make some gorgeous projects through the years. When I visited an old friend of mine (who often motivates me to do cross-stitch... this will be the third time she's resurrected my old interest ;) ) she had this awesome embrodiery stand which looked like it made managing larger projects a LOT easier. As I received some money for Christmas, and found it at a reasonable price on Amazon, I decided to go ahead and get one :)
It makes SUCH a difference! 5'ish years ago, when I stopped doing cross-stitch regularly, I'd just started on a table-runner which was pretty much impossible to handle due to the size. I put it on the stand, and voila! Easy-peasy! Of course, my tastes have changed quite a bit in the intervening years, and I no longer care to finish the table-runner, but I do have other things I want to make, so I can always repurpose both thread and linen :)

WIP Wednesday - Startitis!

My knitting mojo is slowly returning, and with it comes a serious case of cast-itis, so I've cast on no fewer than 3 new projects since last Wednesday! Perfect timing too, as my Christmas vacation starts tomorrow AND the Clean Slate Challenge starts on January 1st!

So! In no particular order... :)

I started a new testknit yesterday. A pair of stranded-knitting socks was put up for testing, and I just couldn't resist :) They'll be really gorgeous once they're done :) Unfortunately, I think I may have knit them a bit too tight, as I'm having slight difficulties getting them over my ankle :-P I'll pay more attention to knit loose from here on, and then keep my fingers crossed that it's not too bad. Once I'm past the heel I'll reassess - I'm too lazy to rip back, but I have plenty of family members with smaller feet than mine ;)

Change of Heart is a beautiful cowl that combines an icord edging, lace, garter stitch and cables. I'm knitting it up in a lovely soft merino-alpaca-cashmere yarn in a dark green colour. The solid colour will show off the patterning beautifully I think. I'm starting to like wearing cowls more - both for warmth and as accessories - so I'm looking forward to seeing how this will be once finished :)

As mentioned last week, the acrylic yarn I swatched will turn into the Professor McGonagall blanket. I started this on Sunday and have already gotten quite far along the cat chart. It's my first real attempt at intarsia, and I'm finding it wonderfully potatochippy :)
(Getting this photo was ridiculous! Because it's just plain stockinette at this point (the edge is picked up and knit at the end) it curls up on itself completely, so I actually had to use pins just to be able to get a photo!)

And finally, the project that (I think) got me out of my knitting slump in the first place - the Symmetry in Motion tee. Confession - I only swatched very superficially for this :-P But I needed something substantial on my needles, and had already done 3 swatches in this yarn previously, so I figured it was relatively safe. And if it doesn't fit me I'm sure I can find somebody else whom it will fit. The yarn (Grignasco Extrafine, 100% Merino) is incredibly soft and a pleasure to work with, but it'll take forever to knit up as even with two strands held double it only just corresponds to a light fingering. In another 40 rows I get to join it in the round though, so that'll speed the progress up significantly, once I won't have to purl as much any longer.

WIP Wednesday - Knitting Issues

Hmmm... is it possible to be allergic to specific types of acrylic yarn? I haven't had any issues earlier, but yesterday I sat to knit a swatch in the most amazingly soft acrylic yarn, and I'd barely cast on before I started feeling pins and needles in my hand. I've never heard of such a thing before, and it might just have been a coincidence, but I'm thinking that my orignal idea of using it for a cardigan for myself should probably just die. Instead I've decided to finally give in to my urges and purchase the pattern for Professor McGonagall's baby blanket :) I've wanted to knit this for ages, and am sure I'll eventually find a suitable recipient for it, who'll enjoy the softness of the yarn - even if it is acrylic.

Of course, if my hands keep itching while knitting it, it probably wasn't just my imagination, and I won't torture myself by forcing myself to finish it. But I have 10 skeins of the yarn and while it was cheap, I'd rather not it went to waste, so I'm going to give it a second chance.

I finished the Orchid Cowl this weekend, and love the way it turned out :)
It's slightly smaller than I would have preferred, so it'll probably be used more for looks than for warmth. But the lace and the beads fit perfectly together, and I'm really happy with my first attempt at bead knitting :) Definitely won't be the last time I do that!

Other than that I've mostly been knitting on my Cozy Memories Blanket. I've been wanting to get on with a new sweater project (see above re. swatch), but haven't really been able to figure out which one I want to knit. I've boiled it down to just a few contenders, but need to do some swatching before I fully make up my mind - and in the meanwhile the CMB makes for lovely mindless TV-knitting :)

WIP Wednesday - Baa-ble Hat

I only have a bit of knitting this week - actually, I've only worked on two different things!

Like so many other knitters, I succumbed to the Baa-ble Hat madness. I started this Wednesday evening, and finished just two days later :) I knit this out of fingering weight yarn held double. It was a bit hard on my hands at times (not to mentioned it tangled like nobody's business during the colourwork section), but it was a fun and satisfying knit.
I gave it to my cousin as an early Christmas present on Saturday. It's a tad big on her, but I still think she looks cute :)

Mum loaned me some small crochet hooks (used to be my grandmother's) Saturday so I could get on with the Orchid Cowl. Oh my goodness! It is SO much easier to add beads with a crochet hook! A lot less fiddly and thus heaps faster. And kinda fun too :) It's oddly satisfying to fit the beads on. Definitely not the last time I'll do beaded knitting.
My gauge is waaay off, so I'm adding a full extra repeat in order to get a cowl as big as I'd like. It's quite a bit thinner than expected too, but oh well - not something I'm going to do anything about at this point.

WIP Wednesday - A Little of Everything

My knitting mojo is still low, so I've been doing a little knitting on a lot of things this past week rather than starting any new larger projects.

I've been wanting to try bead knitting for ages, and finally found some suitable beads while in New Zealand. Finding the right pattern proved to be more difficult than expected, however, so in the end I decided to go with a bead-less pattern and just add beads myself! It's meant some trial and error, but I'm past the first repeat and think I like where this is going.
The pattern is the Orchid Cowl with a few adaptions. I don't plan on making it symmetrical so the beads will go whereever I feel like it. I didn't have any crochet hooks small enough, so am using the dental floss method until I can hopefully borrow one off my Mum this weekend :) It's easy enough, just takes a bit extra time.

I first found this pattern a bit over a year ago, and even bought the yarn back then too, but just never got around to knitting it. Finally I decided just to go for it. It was really fiddly at first, but turned out to be a fun and relatively quick knit. I started out magic looping, then switched to DPNs when it became too tight and finally to two circs when the DPNs got too frustrating! Not a fan of DPNs I'm afraid. One smaller circular would have been easier, but I don't have any 2.5mm / 40cm circs. Will have to remedy that if I plan on making any more of these.

The crocheted edging was fun, and put me in the mood to do some more crochet, so I searched Ravelry for some small, Christmasy projects, and ended up with these two flowers.
Confession: The smallest one was supposed to be a star, but once I got to the final step I realized I couldn't understand the instructions! So I just gave up and left it as-is ;) Guess I still have quite a long way to go when it comes to following crochet patterns. Didn't help that it was in Danish, and I'm not completely sure of the exact translations. US/UK crochet terms are confusing enough, without adding in another language! Even if it is my mother tongue.

Finally I've added an extra 10-15 squares to my Cozy Memories blanket. It's a nice, mindless project for lazy evenings at home on the couch. I'll go ages without touching it, and then suddenly add a bunch of squares at once. I can't wait to see how it turns out... even if it probably won't be for another couple of years yet.

WIP Wednesday - 4 finished objects!

Still mostly socks on my needles - I'm trying to work my way through the started pairs so I can free up the needles for something else. I also feel like my mojo has taken a bit of a hit, so I'm hoping that the sense of accomplishment in finishing stuff will help with that too.

So with that said, here are my finished objects :)
Gummy Bear Pullover. All done, just needs to be blocked :) Still have no clue who it's for, but I'm sure I'll find a suitable recipient eventually. It was a fun and quick knit and I LOVED the yarn (Knit Picks Felici) - so incredibly soft.

Tube socks for my niece. I needed something quick and easy over the weekend, and these fit the bill perfectly

Swirl.E socks for Liz. I still need to block these and weave in the ends, but the knitting is all done :)

Hundred Acre Woods. Also just need blocking and weaving in ends. I'll have to have a blocking party over the weekend ;) I was glad to get these off the needles. The lace pattern was easy enough to learn off by heart, but a bit too involved to be completely mindless knitting.

Still on the needles...
My flight socks. Finished the first one, haven't yet cast on the second one. I don't know what I was thinking when I made up this pattern - there's far too much purling! I do like the finished result though, so I guess it's worth it ;)

WIP Wednesday - Sock Knitting

Surprisingly enough, I didn't do nearly as much knitting while in New Zealand as I had expected to. Most of the time I ended up sitting and reading instead, so I only have one single finished object - although quite a bunch of WIPs.

I'd brought a bunch of socks along for the trip and nothing else. I figured they were small, portable, easily memorizable patterns... the perfect travel knitting. Indeed it was, even if I did end up knitting on 5 different pairs instead of finishing more than one! ;)

Finished object first - a pair of tube socks for my kiwi niece. She's only 17 months and absolutely loves socks! Will wear them even in the height of summer. So when she saw these (very colourful ones) she immediately took off her shoes and reached out for them. Awfully satisfying for a knitty aunt ;)
The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in the Gummy Bear colourway. Amazingly soft and yummy :)

As for the socks in progress...
The second "Hundred Acre Wood" sock.
Reason for stopping: Hadn't brought the first sock along, and realized I'd obviously made a mistake in my notes, as the number of repeats on the leg was clearly wrong. No way to finish until I came home and could compare to the first one.

Another pair of tube socks - this one for my Danish niece :)
Reason for stopping: Ran out of yarn, and couldn't get to the second skein until the Hundred Acre Wood sock was done.

Swirl E. socks knit out of Trekking XXL for Liz.
Reason for stopping: Had reached the heel of the second sock, and as I'm actually doing the pattern as written for once, rather than substituting the FLK-heel, I couldn't finish it on the plane, as I'd misplaced the pattern.

So instead I cast on...
My so-called Flight Socks! The pattern is inspired by Cookie A's Xeroscope, but is my own invention.
Reason for stopping: I arrived back in Denmark, and had to put it down.

But have I finished any of these socks since getting back? Of course not! After having knit nothing but socks for 2 weeks, I was desperate for something else, and as I'd fallen in love with the softness of the Knit Picks Felici (and thought the colourway perhaps a bit too twee for socks for myself) I decided to cast on for a baby cardigan instead. Not that I know anybody with or about to have a newborn girl, but it's bound to come eventually, and I'll be prepared. The pattern is inspired by "Jeudi" but with a ton of modifications.
Mods:
- Changed to a jumper knit in the round, rather than a cardigan knit flat.
- Added length to body and sleeves.
- Substituted another cable.

I'm loving this knit and have basically knit nothing else since I arrived home. I would have finished by today too, if I hadn't battled jetlag and had to have daily naps.

WIP: When Knitting Attacks

On and Off the Needles
I've finally finished my Stitch Surfers. I'd accidentally misplaced t at the bottom of a multi-project project bag (never again...) and had thus gotten behind. Fortunately I was missing less than I thought, so I still managed to finish it before the end of October.

My first Hundred Acre Wood sock is also close to being done. As I am already a tad uncertain about the sizing, I decided to go ahead and knit a well-known FLK-heel instead of trying to heel flap and gusset described in the pattern. I hope to finish this by tomorrow, but as we're having company over tonight, that might not happen. We'll see.

Finally, I've been working on my second pair of "One Step Ahead" boots. This pair will also be a gift for a friend of mine, and as she's crafty herself, she offered to seam them up herself, so I just had to do the knitting. Easy-peasy :) Again, I hope to get this off in the mail tomorrow, provided I have a suitable envelope around. Otherwise it'll have to wait until next month.

When Knitting Attacks
Unfortunately I'm having serious doubts about my $5 in Paris. I loved the first one I knit so much, but this second one just didn't quite come out right.

First of all, I'm not sure about the colours on me. I might be too pale to pull off grey and white together.

Secondly, and more important, the sweater stretched waaaaay out when washed and now feels like it fits about as well as a sack of potatoes. It is slightly possible that I'm projecting here, and that it's not quite that bad, but it's definitely too big for me, and has to be pulled back into place constantly. I accidentally knit the body of the sweater at too large a gauge. It didn't matter too much before washing, but washing it caused the drape to change significantly, and now... I just don't know. I've tried running it through the dryer to see if that got it to snap back into place, but without success.
I haven't made any decisions yet, but am seriously considering frogging this and reknitting it in a smaller size... or just use the yarn for something completely different, since I already have enough yarn in other (and better) colours for another two versions of this one ;)

WIP Wednesday - Blanketpalooza

On the Needles
I decided to dedicate the weekend to my Cozy Memories Blanket and really put a dent into this. The result being that I got an extra 18 squares knit, and it now almost covers the seat of our couch!


I still have a loooooong way to go, so don't expect to finish it neither this year nor the next, but I'm loving the way it's turning out, and it's a nice and relaxing knit, so I don't mind. It'll get done when it gets done - no rush.

I haven't really touched the Stitch Surfer socks at all this past week, but instead decided to work on my "Hundred Mile Woods" socks... with the result that I ended up knitting way past the point where I had to start the heel. *Sigh* I was planning on doing the pattern heel for once, instead of (as usual) substituting the fish-lips-kiss heel. Guess habit took over, and since I absolutely cannot be bothered ripping back, I'll just stick with the FLK-heel once again ;)

Off the Needles
After not having touched it for MONTHS, I finally finished my Nostalgia Shawl! I'm SO pleased with how it turned out. It's huge, and looks totally awesome :)