WIP Wednesday - Wohoo! Done!

I finished Nina's vest!!! Woohoo :) Friday I realized I only had another 20 rows to go, so I decided to just buckle down and finish it :) 1.5 podcasts later, and I was all done! Weaving in the ends turned out to be a challenge though - since the stitches are so open I couldn't find any way to do an invisible weave... even my trusty duplicate stitch BO showed up really blatantly. In the end I just tied the ends together with tight knots and hoped for the best :-P It should be fine, but I should probably warn Nina to use a laundry bag just in case ;)
I see her on Friday, so can hand it over there. Hope she'll like it :-)

But apart from a bit of commute knitting on my socks (too little to show off), I've been pretty much monogamous ever since, which means that the Nostalgia Shawl is coming along very nicely! The yarn (Colour Adventure Dia Light) is SO amazingly soft and squishy that I want to knit nothing else! Still not sure about the colour combination, but it's growing on me, so I think it'll be fine. And the yarn is so yummy that I'll willing to forgive it just about anything ;) Definitely not the last time I've bought yarn from Anadiomena!

WIP Wednesday - Meet Lars!

The Zigzagular socks are done! Still need to weave in ends, but I just have to get that done before Saturday, so no worries there :)

I've made a couple of errors here and there where I apparently couldn't count to 8, but none that are visible to the naked and untrained eye, so I'm not going to worry about that. Hope my sister-in-law likes them!

I've gotten a bit of work done on my sister's vest. I forgot to take a new progress photo, but it doesn't look all that different from last week anyway. Only have another 30 rows to go now, so it's suddenly looking very doable to have it done by next week :)

It's too big to bring on my commute though, so since my visitor from New Zealand professed a love of all things turtle, I decided to make her one! Was quite fiddly at times, but still ended up taking me just 4 hours all together, and I've got to say I think it's ridiculously cute! Fortunately she seemed to like it too, and immediately named it Lars as that was "a nice pronounceable Danish name!"

Finally, I decided I didn't have enough on my needles as it was, so I cast on the Nostalgia Shawl which I've been wanting to knit for ages! No time like the present :) I've only knit 16 rows so far, but I think I'll enjoy it. It reminds me a lot of the Color Affection shawl which I LOVED knitting, and I like the way the two yarns play together. Slightly worried the varigated will become too overpowering after awhile, but I think/hope the purple will downplay it enough.

WIP Wednesday - Tour de Fleece

Amazingly enough, I haven't cast on a single new project this week! I've been too busy working on my existing - and time-sensitive - projects, and fortunately they're coming along nicely :)

I've finished the sock for the testknit! Still want to knit the other one at some point obviously, but the commitment was for one sock, so now the other one can wait until I have more time. After some initial doubts, I actually really like how it turned out :)
As you can see, I've also finished the first Zigzagular sock, and immediately cast on for the second one. Now that I know the pattern off by heart, it moved much faster, so I'm starting to believe I'll be able to finish by the 25th after all :)

... or I'll just give Eva this pair instead! Who needs matching socks anyway?! ;)

Nina's Seabrook vest finally has two armholes!!! I did it wrong the first time, so had to rip back a couple of rows, but I think it looks right this time :) Another 25cm to go, and I'll be all done!
(I didn't notice until too late that the photo is upside down, and I'm too lazy to fix it - so there! ;) ).
Lots and lots and lots of white seed stitch! It looks good on though, so I hope Nina will like it :)

Tour de Fleece started last week (a spinning challenge that runs concurrent with the Tour de France), and while I haven't signed up officially, I did get inspired by all the lovely spinning posts on my Instagram feed, so I sat down at my trusty wheel last Friday. I don't know what happened, but something everything seemed to click in place, and I felt like I finally got the hang of it! I finished the batt I was working on, and transfered it to my Turkish spindle to make a center-pull ball to ply from (I only have 2 working bobbins, so I couldn't think of another way to do it).
After taking it off the spindle and leaving it to rest for a couple of days, I decided to go for broke and ply on the wheel as well. I'm glad I did! It worked like a charm, and I just love the finished product.
Slightly overplied, as you can see ;) But nothing a rest and a good soak couldn't fix. It looks much better now that it's relaxed.

WPI (wraps per inch) came to somewhere between 6-7, so it's a bulky/super bulky weight. Now to figure out what to knit with it! I only have about 21 meters though, so my options are limited. Might just end up making a cup cozy or something like that ;)

WIP Wednesday - More Socks!

I've been knitting surprisingly little this past week - it's just been too HOT even for knitting cotton. So no new finished objects, but I do have a couple that have seen a bit of progress.

The first Zigzagular Sock is almost at the heel! Only another 4-5'ish cm to go. They've been put a bit on the back burner though, in order to allow time for the two next projects, but I would like to finish them by July 25th, as that's when I see the intended recipient next... that may be a tad optimistic though, considering my two other time-sensitive projects.

I'm just over half-way with the vest for Nina. I need another 10-15cm for the back, and then the ~30cm for the other front. Still hope to get it done by the end of July, but must admit that it depends on how many more weekends like this one we get!

Especially as I signed up for a sock test-knit that has to be finished by July 12th! Just one sock fortunately - I don't have to knit a full pair :) It shouldn't be too big a problem, but I've already ripped back once, as the two sets of yarn-overs did not turn out symmetrical. My second attempt is better, so I think I'm on the right track now.
The yarn is Lana Grossa cotton stretch which is a bit hard on the hands to knit with, but I know from experience that it makes SUCH comfortable and durable socks, so I know it'll be worth it :) Besides, I like how the pattern plays with the self-striping yarn, so it's all good :)

End of Year of Projects

Year of Projects is over, and I managed quite nicely :) I wanted to knit 4-6 larger projects knit solely from yarn I already had in my stash as of July 1st, 2014 and 12 pairs of socks knit from any odd yarn :) I managed 14 pairs of socks and 5 "larger" (~700 meters or more) projects, so not too shabby at all :-)

I've decided against participating again next year though. I'm not a fan of planning out my knitting that far in advance, but prefer to just go where the mood takes me. Besides, I already have my yearly goals (knit from stash + knit from my books), and that'll suit me fine for now. I may come back to revisit YoP in January though, so I can let it overlap with my yearly goals.

But it was fun while it lasted, so thank you to my fellow participants for that :)


And now, on to the knitting! I have another FO to show you today :) Like I wrote last week, my Adjoin Socks wouldn't stay WIPs much longer, and I was right :) Saturday evening I could cast off the last stitch and weave in the ends.
Definitely not my last time knitting with Koigu!

But of course I can't NOT have any socks on my needles, so I've cast on a pair for Eva (my 'sister-in-law'). She was very touched that I'd be interested in knitting a pair for her, but as Lars laughingly commented (after we got home!), I'd be knitting the socks anyway, now they just wouldn't take up room in my sock drawer! And he's right, of course, but it's still nice to knit for somebody else on purpose ;)
I've only just started these though, so not too much to see yet.

But speaking of my sock drawer... I am running out of room! So far my homeknit and store-bought socks have shared a drawer, but it's getting awfully crowded in there...
Love it! :D

I've also done a bit of work on both the Seabrook Vest, the slippers for Liz and Miriam's snail, but too little on any of them for it to really show up in photos, so I guess I'll keep this short and sweet for once :)

WIP Wednesday - Knit all the things!

Feels like I've gotten a lot of knitting done this past week, so let's see what it amounts too now that I actually sit down to write it all up.

First of all I've been working on the Seabrook Vest for my sister. It's slooooow going because of all the seed stitch, but I've just finished the first armhole now, so it's coming along nicely. I'm aiming to finish this by the time I see Nina next, which should be end July.

I've also been working on my Adjoin socks, and have just reached the heel of the second one. Still love the yarn, the pattern and the needles (my first Addi Turbo needles - won't be the last!), so I don't see these being WIPs much longer.

Sunday I started on a pair of One Step Ahead slippers for my best friend :) A friend of mine had posted a link with these slippers to my Facebook page, and Liz commented, saying she wished she could knit, as she'd love a pair. Naturally I offered to knit them for her :) They'll make lovely hostess gifts come November ;) And it's a sign of my love for her, that despite SO many of the projects on Ravelry compaining about the pattern, I never hesitated, but sat down to knit them for her straight away ;) And you know what? They were easy! Simplest DROPS pattern yet! Not entirely sure what all those other knitters were complaining about - but of course, the pattern may have been modified since they knit theirs.

Anyway, I finished the knitting of the first one yesterday, and got it all seamed up this morning, so now it's all done but for the buttons. I'll have to go shopping for those soon.

I've started a new crochet project... as you do, when you already have 5 other things on the needles ;) My niece asked if I'd make her a snail, so of course I had to cast that on. Not very far yet though, but at least I've started!

And finally, I have another FO :D Yes, I've been stocking them up, so I could finish all the things for StashDash. This is the Avery Pullover by Nikki Van de Car. I absolutely LOVE the yarn! It is so amazingly soft :) And since this was my second time knitting with it, I knew exactly how much it stretched when wet, so could plan accordingly :) I don't have any special plans for the pullover though. It's size 2-3T, so a lot too big for all the new babies in my family, so I may put it aside for later, or I may just give it to somebody else. We'll see.

WIP Wednesday - To new FOs!

Two new FOs today! :)

One of them you could probably guess. Since my Spot Checked Socks only missed a single toe last week, it would have been weird if I hadn't managed to finish by now :) Blocking helped a lot, and while they're still a bit tight, it's not too bad. And while the toe look weird, it fits nicely when I put it on.

The other FO is my Thirty Valentine's Shawl!!! I got stubborn and pretty much knit on this exclusively all last week! Saturday I finally bound off the last stitch (using a crochet cast off which I haven't tried before, so it took me longer than it would have otherwise), and Sunday I blocked it to within an inch of its life! It never ceases to amaze me what blocking does to lace! It went from this:
to this!
Final measurements are 170cm x 80cm. I ended up with just 10 grams of yarn left over - enough for another ~6 rows, so I'm calling that a succes :) The yarn is still strangely stiff, even after washing (I believe Lars compared it to steel wool!), but since I won't be wearing it next to my skin, I don't mind too much.

With those off the needles, I've managed 3000meters for StashDash! Since my goal is 5K, I should be juuuust fine :D

Since Sunday, I've had time for some other projects, so I've the first Adjoin sock :)
Unfortunately I tried to guess at the placing of the heel, so it's slightly too big. Ah well. C'est la vie.

I've also finally started the Seabrook vest for my sister. It doesn't look like much yet, but since it's knit on size 8mm needles, I'm expecting it to move fast :)