WIP Wednesday: A bit of w(h)ine...

I've been doing a bit of knitting on a lot of different things this week, so I'll refrain from spamming you, and just stick to posting the projects that have seen significant process of some kind or another.

First of all I finished an entire hat since last week! Rebekka asked for a Simple Beret like the one I'd knit Nina a few years back, and of course I was happy to oblige. She'd asked if I could add a bit of colour to it, so I played around a bit with pattens and ended up adding three rows of diamonds on the straight part :) I'm rather happy with how it turned out myself, but worry that it might be just a tad too large. We'll see when she gets it (Sunday, hopefully)

I finally, finally, FINALLY got my act together and stopped procrastinating on sewing in the grosgrain ribbon and buttons for my Paradise Cardigan. Once I got the hang of how to sew in the ribbon, I didn't mind that too much (although hand-sewing will never be my favourite), but I am NOT a fan of sewing in buttons :-P It does look a LOT nicer with both things done though!


One day I may even fix the two buttons that ended up a bit crooked compared to the button hole... that day is NOT today though.

My Skew Sock is coming along nicely :) It's a tad too big as I completely ignored gauge (usually not an issue with socks, but due to the unusual construction of this one... I should have known better), so I briefly considered passing them on to somebody else... but they're SO warm and comfy (and knit with NZ wool I'm not likely to get my hands on again), so I'm keeping them for myself after all ;)

WIP Wednesday: What's an Auntie to do?

I finished the HamilKnit Hat last Friday! I absolutely LOVED knitting it, although the star at the top was a bit of a hassle. But now it's done, and looking gooood :-) It gave me a really good introduction to two-handed fair isle. I still think it's faster to just keep both strands in one hand, but this way of doing it certainly made it a LOT easier to wrap the floats and made it look nice and even. I'm still not sure that I'm ready to start a full size fair isle sweater, but a few more of these and I might be ;) Besides, it was a FUN knit, and definitely something I want to do more of.

Saturday I had a good friend over for some "knit and chat" quality time. Always a pleasure to spend time with her, and I got quite a lot done on my Skew sock while she was here. I've been wanting to knit this pattern forever, and finally found the perfect yarn for it :) This is a merino, alpaca, possum nylon blend and will make for SUCH lovely warm socks once they're done.
Unfortunately I had a slight #whenknittingattacks that same evening, as I accidentally broke one of the needles! :-/ Fortunately I have a spare set, but still...

Last week sometime my 7-year-old niece sent me a text message asking me if I'd knit some clothes for her doll! Of course I said yes :) It was actually quite a fun challenge, as I had to design the patterns myself (the doll's an odd size, so I couldn't use any of the patterns I found on ravelry), and I ended up making a skirt, a cardigan, a dress and a pair of socks! The items are currently blocking, so I can get them dry and the ends weaved in by Saturday.

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.)

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.

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!

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 :-)

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 ;)