Wednesday, March 16, 2016

WIP Wednesday - Blanketpalooza

While I have been knitting some on several different pairs of socks (as well as weaving in a gazillion ends!) this past week, the most significant progress has definitely been on my Cozy Memories Blanket.

I've had a lot of deadline knitting lately, and have therefore neglected it terribly for ages, so I decided to dedicate this past weekend to #BLANKETPALOOZA and knit nothing else from the time I came home from work Friday until I went to bed Sunday. Lars had weekend shifts, and I was planning to binge-watch "House of Cards" anyway, so the timing was perfect.

Obligatory "Before" Photo
Prior to this weekend I had 214 squares on my blanket. Not too shabby, but I still had a looooong way to go (I'm aiming at 481 to start with - 16 rows of 16 + 15 rows of 15).

Depending on the yarn and how many stitches I drop along the way, each square takes me about 35-45 minutes, so by Sunday evening, I'd gotten 23 new squares done, and the blanket is looking decidedly more rectangular!
And now I'm just 4 squares away from being half-way :)

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

WIP Wednesday

Both sets of socks have seen significant progress this past week :-) I'm past the heel of the ankle socks (which might not end up being ankle socks after all. I'd only just used half the yarn when I reached the heel, so have quite a bit remaining still), and only need to kitchener the toe of the first Whirlpool sock :)



I still love the colours of the latter yarn. So bright and cheerful!

This past week I cast on for the Film Reel cardigan for one of my nieces. I'm about half-way through the body. The colours don't blend quite as well as I'd hoped they would, but I still really like the way it's turning out. It'll be awfully cute once I get to the pocketses and sleeves :)
Since it's a small size with 5 different colours, it doesn't use much from each skein, so I'm thinking of using the leftovers for a top for myself. The yarn is wonderfully soft, and I'm quite keen on the colours so far.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

WIP Wednesday - Socks and Slippers

I've been all about the footwear this past week, with progress on no fewer than 4 pairs of socks or slippers.

I finished the February socks with plenty of time to spare :) I'm still debating whether to call them "Green Skies" or "Purple Rainbow" - either way, I love them :)
It's my first attempt at a garter stitch short row heel, and I miscalculated slightly, so the foot is a tad too big. Not enough to matter fortunately, so if only I'd remembered to write down what I did, I might have been able to learn from my mistakes ;)

From too big to too small... I finished the simple garter stitch slippers over the weekend, and discovered that once again my abnormally large big toe foiled my plans! The pattern says to "knit until you reach the little toe and then start toe decreases". Ch!
Ah well. They were quick knits and I actually quite like them despite being too small. I may be able to stretch them a bit when blocking - or I'll find somebody with smaller feet to give them to :) They're 100% cotton so will be nice to use even in summer.

Finally, two works in progress. A pair of ankle socks (knit two at a time, as I don't have much yarn, and want to use every last bit) and my March socks. The challenge for this month is a pair of socks that has been knit fewer than 500 times, so I picked the Whirlpool Socks from "Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn" (115 projects on Ravelry). They're quite fun - it's the first time I've tried a picot edge which turned out to be rather fiddly, but I like the way it looks, so probably worth it :) The original pattern had beads as well, but I decided to leave them out, as I wasn't sure how comfortable that'd be on socks.

The yarn for the latter was bought in New Zealand. I simply couldn't resist the colours :D They're more subdued IRL though... apparently my camera didn't like them much.