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 :)

Year of Projects - Startitis again

Sooo... I kinda got startitis this past week. That often happens up to a vacation as I cast on ALL THE THINGS because I can't decide what I want to bring. So also this time, and I'm currently wavering between 4 WIPs... I'm honestly considering just bringing all of them :-P Yes, I'm ridiculous.

I won't be bringing the test knit though. I've come too far for it to be all that portable, but not far enough that I have any real confidence that I'll be able to finish it while away... in which case, it's really not worth it.

I've finished both sleeves, and now have a really cropped top. I'm not 15 any longer, so that won't do ;) I LOVE the way it fits though, and can't wait to finish it.
I decided to go ahead and block the body while I'm away. The wrinkle across the chest really bugged me, and if it couldn't be blocked out, I'd want to know sooner rather than later. I really, really, really hope I won't have to rip back and redo all that knitting, but it'll be worth it in the end to get something I'm really happy with. But first - I'm keeping all fingers crossed that the blocking will do the trick. This is where the vacation comes in handy - it'll be all nice and dry by the time I get back home.


Aaanyway, I finally cast on for the Conjunction Cowl yesterday, as that was supposed to be my main London knitting. I wanted to get it started to get a good feel for the pattern before I left. It's super easy and a breeze to memorize, so perfect travel knitting :)
Not much to see yet. Unfortunately I realized I'd miscalculated and gotten fingering weight yarn instead of sport, and as the handspun yarn is a really heavy sport, I'm a tad worried the contrast will be too big... Ah well, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. If it's totally off, I'll rip back and just knit it completely in these two colours, and then save my handspun for something else.


Finally - since I didn't already have enough on my needles - I've cast on another baby blanket. My youngest sister wrote me yesterday to say that "I should just let her know if I didn't know what to knit next" ;) When pushed, it turned out that she could really use another baby blanket for Nora, and since I knit her the first one, I was rather keen to knit this one as well :) Blankets take awhile though, so I did warn her that I had no idea when I'd be able to finish... Didn't stop me from casting on right away though, and I've so far knit 3 squares out of the probably 64 I'll need.
It's another cozy memories blanket, but this time in sport/DK on 4.5mm needles and with 49sts to start with to make the squares larger.


... And of course, I still have my handspun hitchhiker and the ever-present socks. Didn't take any photos of those, but they're also contenders for travel projects.

I'll probably keep re-making up my mind until the very last moment... and then just bring all four of them after all! ;)

YOP: Rye Field Pullover

I've been almost entirely monogamous this past week! And weirdly enough, not on the project I showed you last time - in fact, I haven't touched that at all, expect to blog the last three squares.

Because, as it would happen, Tuesday evening I found an absolutely gorgeous test-knit I knew I just had to sign up for! It's the Rye Field Pullover, and I had the perfect yarn for it in my stash!
Fortunately I was approved, so I did my gauge swatch (once again being reminded very forcefully at how DIFFERENT my gauge is in the round vs. when knitting flat!) and cast on Wednesday afternoon. I've been working on it pretty much monogamously (with the exception of a square or two on my cozy memories blanket, when I needed something more mindless) and the body is coming along very nicely. The yarn is SO amazingly soft I just can't keep my hands of it :)
It has a weird stripe where I had to rip back and reknit with crinkled yarn, but I'm hoping it will even out with blocking. I've tried it on a couple of times, and it fits me just right :)

Year of Projects - Overdue Update

It's amazing how big a difference the right yarn makes! I've been working on the "Snakes on a Plane" socks for a couple of months by now, and just can't keep the interest long enough to get some real progress going. I think I'm about 1/3 of the way through sock 2 and have been knitting on it for 3 weeks or so.

Then yesterday I discovered I had enough left-over yarn of two skeins to make some striped socks which I really, really, really wanted to cast on right away. I decided to go with some plain vanilla socks (though with the vanilla bean variation just to spice them up a bit) and did them toe-up in order to ensure that I'd have enough yarn.

3 hours later I could take this photo. That's right, 3 hours of knitting on these socks got me as far as 3 weeks on "Socks on a Plane". Go figure!
And since yesterday was a lazy Sunday, and I had nothing better to do with my time than sit and knit while watching TV, I was able to cast off that same night! First time EVER I've managed to knit an adult sized fingering weight sock in a day!
The yarn is Candy Skein's Yummy Fingering (green) and Posh Yarn's Pamela Sock (brown). Complete adore both yarns!

It's weird - I've always thought I didn't like self-striping yarn, but I love these "manually striped" (or whatever...) socks, so I may just stand corrected...

Saturday was another lazy day - I didn't feel like knitting any of my ongoing projects (this was before I cast on the above socks), but found an interesting pattern for a mini neckwarmer that seemed appropriate. Turned out to be a really quick knit, and I like the result.
Next time I think I may make it slightly bigger though... and definitely use softer yarn. This has a tad too high nylon content to be all that soft. But it's not scratchy, so I'll take it (and it did make me realize I wanted to use the rest for socks ;) )

I've also been working on my $5 in Paris and discovered I did NOT take sufficient notes last time - not even listing the needles I used! So part of knitting it this second time is deconstructing the old one (not literally!) and taking copious notes as I go. It's coming along nicely though :)

Finally I finished the baby cardigan last weekend, and it's been blocking ever since - slow going in winter time. It turned out rather big though! The original pattern said this was a 3-6mo size... that got changed to 6-9mo along the way, and I think the end result is closer to 12-18mo! But that's what test-knitting is for, because I did get gauge, and the measurements are spot on. Ah well - it'll be a birthday present instead of a baptism present I guess ;) Still need to sew on buttons and weave in ends, but I'm calling it done for all intents and purposes.

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock (Spring Forward)
December Sock (Newborn tube socks)
Stashbuster #3 (Bubblegum Elfe)
Stashbuster #4 ($5 in Paris)
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Year of Projects - Week... I've Lost Count

I've been neglecting my knitting posts (but not my knitting!) over the Christmas holiday, so this one will be looooong with everything that's been on my needles and off my needles since I last posted.

On the Needles
I have four active WIPs at the moment... some more actively active than others though ;)
Despite me not repeating my "12 Socks in 12 Months" challenge in 2015 I still find myself with socks on the needles. But socks make for perfect travel knitting, and I'm sure I can find people to gift them too, when I run out of space in my sock drawer ;) ... in fact, I've already promised these to Nina :)

I have it as a stated goal to finish these puzzle pieces this year - even better if I can do so as part of the Clean Slate Challenge that the Just One More Row podcast is hosting for January-February. Not terribly likely, as I'm still missing more than 30 pieces, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

Another stated goal was to finish the 30 Valentines shawl this year, so I figured I'd better get started early. I managed 10 rows in one night, so not too shabby at all!

Finally the only WIP I've actually cast on this year. I've wanted to knit Martina Behm's Leftie for ages, and finally found the yarn I want to use for it. I'm looking forward to seeing how it will turn out. So far I'm loving it! :)


Off the Needles
A LOT of stuff, fortunately! But most of this will also be to show off my gorgeous nieblings in their Christmas knitwear :)

I promised photos of how the "Little Pole" turned out, and I couldn't be happier with how it looks! It fits my niece perfectly, and I am very chuffed that she didn't take it off all night :)

Rosa loved her Princess shawl, fortunately :) It was a bit of a gamble, as she hadn't actually asked for it, but according to my sister it was very popular :) I'm glad!

And of course, there's my newest niece - born on Christmas Day. I got to visit her a couple of days later, and saw her both wearing the socks I knit her, and snuggled under her blanket :)

A pair of cozy socks for my sister. I saw this yarn in the shop and it just screamed "Nina" - so of course I had to buy it and knit her some socks :) This is the first pair of socks I've knit in DK/worsted weight yarn, and it's amazing how much faster it knits up! I did mess up the heel slightly though, so they're a tad too big, but as they're supposed to be used on top of other socks, I'm not too worried.

Finally, another Elfe for myself :) Yes, this is the third Elfe I've knit in as many years :) I just love the way it knits up and the way it fits me. Besides, it uses less than 750 meters at my size, so it's the perfect way to use up gorgeous yarn without going broke ;) This is made from CandySkein yarn in the Tardis Tart and Bubblegum Ice Cream colourways.


Stash Stories
I've been bitten by a mad spinner ;) I'd been getting increasingly frustrated by my spinning, until I happened upon some youtube videos and discovered I was drafting all wrong! Or rather - I was drafted woolen instead of worsted (or perhaps the other way round? I was letting the spin get too far into the fiber in either case). Once I got that sorted out, the spinning went a LOT better. I soon realized that the spindle I'd bought in the US was far too heavy though - my yarn kept breaking more often than I thought it ought to. So on December 23rd I decided to purchase a Christmas present for myself, and went on Etsy to get two knew spindles and a LOT of extra fiber! :D

Spindles from Turtle Made, fiber from Wool Finch Studio.Despite Christmas and New Years, shipping was surprisingly fast! The spindles arrived between Christmas and New Years, and the fiber on January 2nd! So now I have lots of stuff to practise with :) I'm considering joining Kristin Voolenvine (of the Yarngasm Podcast) in her D-SPAKAL (spinning enough yarn for a shawl), but am thinking that might be a taaad too optimistic. But a girl can dream, right? :)

Year of Projects - Week 24

Quite a bit of progress from last week to today! :-)

As mentioned last week, I finished knitting "Little Pole". I've now also blocked it and weaved in the ends. It's very cute :) I hope my niece will like it.... not to mention, that it will fit!!!

I've also finished the last two pairs of socks!! Well, I still need to kitchener the toe of the last one, but the knitting is done, so I'm going to count it :) That means I managed my goal of 12 pairs of socks in 2014! It was a bit of a push at times though, so I don't think I'll try a similar goal for 2015 ;)

But here they are - in all their glory :)
The January, March and December socks are presents - the rest I'm keeping aaaaaall for myself :D

With those out of the way, I've managed to start my third Stashbuster project - another Elfe. Yes, this is the third Elfe I make in as many years ;) What can I say - I love the pattern, and it's an awesome way to use that gorgeous fingering yarn that's too pretty to use for socks. Besides, in my size it only takes around 100g/400m of each colour, so it's an affordable top :)
I'm only 30-something rows into it, so it still has a long way to go yet. On the other hand, I started it yesterday, so pretty decent progress already :)


Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock (Spring Forward)
December Sock (Newborn tube socks)
Stashbuster #3 (Bubblegum Elfe)
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Year of Projects - Week 20

Woohoo! Only one day late, instead of my usual 3 or 5 ;)

The Little Pole has finally seen some significant progress. I've finished knitting the collar and just need to graft it together - then I can get started on the sleeves! I'm slightly worried about how much yarn I have left though. I have another 4 skeins (50g each), which should be enough for the sleeves, but won't leave me much for the belt and pompoms. Ah well, if all else fails, I have some white cotton yarn I should be able to use instead. Or it may turn out that I've grossly overestimated how much yarn the sleeves will take, and I'll have plenty! Wouldn't be the first time ;)

I've managed decent progress on my November Socks as well. These are the "Spring Forward" socks by Linda Welch. I love the pattern, but am not entirely happy with the yarn. It's Mayflower Divine 1 ply, and it's both too thick and too fluffy for socks in my mind. I have one more skein, but think I will use that for something else instead.

It's not all bad though, I love the colours! :) I turned the heel over the weekend (a fish-lips-kiss heel - still my favourite, even though I want to try other short-row heels now) and am just over half-way through the foot, so it's going at a nice speed. Who knows - maybe I'll manage to finish within the month for once! ;)

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock (Spring Forward)
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Year of Projects - Week 17

It's been a while since I did a WIP-post - not because I haven't been knitting, but I keep forgetting to take photos! And a knitting post without photos is slightly dull.

So this will be a joint YoP / WIP post so I can finally update you on all the things I've been working on lately. I'm sure you can't wait! Right? Of course right ;)

September Sock: I've turned the heel of the second sock and am now working on the gusset. Once that is done, the rest shouldn't take long at all, so it's starting to look like I may actually finish this by the end of the month! Of course, that would be more impressive if the month was September still...

October Sock: But fortunately I'm not doing too badly on the second October sock either! So it's actually looking good all around :) When knitting the first sock I discovered that I'd be playing a much more serious game of yarn chicken than first anticipated though! My socks usually weigh around 30g each, but with this one I'd already used 22g when finishing up the heel! So it's more of a ankle sock than I'd anticipated at first. Must be heavier yarn than I'm used to. Never mind - fortunately I don't mind ankle socks :)

But with a bit of luck and a bit of effort I should be able to finish these by the end of the month too! :) Or very early November anyway.

Little Pole hasn't seen that much progress. I would have liked to have finished the body by now, but I got sidetracked by other projects. It is what it is. I should still have plenty of time to finish in time for Christmas :)

Newborn Vertebrae: One of the things that have sidetracked me is the vertebrae KAL hosted by The Fat Squirrel. I'd wanted to knit one for my niece-to-be anyway, so it seemed the perfect opportunity. The KAL ends by the end of October, so I made sure to finish the knitting this weekend. Still needs to be blocked though.

Herbert the Snail: Another distraction is the fact that I finally feel accomplished enough at crochet to tackle one of Stacey's amazing animals! I bought her book, Crocheted Softies almost two years ago, because I knew that I just HAD to learn how to crochet and make some of these! I'd especially fallen in love with "Milton the Slowpoke Snail", so of course I had to start with that one. I would have finished already if it wasn't for the fact that I couldn't find any safety-eyes, so I had to put it on hold for a bit until I figured out what to use instead.

The name comes from a childrens' song we used to sing in church about "Herbert, the very slow snail" :)

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock (Sunset Scales)
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

WIP Wednesday - It's all about the socks!

On the Needles
The second "My Cup of Tea" sock is finally taking off. I'm 4 rows away from the heel and know from experience that once that's done, the foot will feel like it takes no time at all.

However, the heel-flap-gusset heel does not qualify as mindless knitting for me yet - I still have to check the pattern constantly - so when I needed some easy knitting last Monday, I decided to just go ahead and cast on for my October Socks even though the September Socks weren't done. After all it IS October already! ;)
These are the Sunset Scales Socks by Melissa Goodale - I picked them specifically as they looked like they'd be good for variegated yarn... this was before I bought the book you'll see below, or I might have chosen differently ;) Anyway, I'm just over halfway through the foot already, and enjoy the way it knits up :) I'm knitting these toe-up, as I may end up having to play a tiny game of yarn chicken, and it's easier to shorten the cuff this way ;)

(Love the kiwi stitch-marker. Saw it at a yarn shop last week and knew I had to have it :) )

Off the Needles
I finished my third pair of the Magic Slippers Saturday. They're such quick knits, and I've pretty much learned the pattern off by heart. Each slipper takes me between 3-4 hours to knit. I gave them to my niece yesterday, and fortunately she was absolutely delighted :) They're a tad big, but that just means she'll be able to wear them for longer :)

My cousin and his wife had a boy not too long ago, and I finally get to see him on Saturday! When they had their first child I knit her name for her as a present, so of course I have to do the same for this one. I've only managed the first initial so far, but it took me two years to finish the letters for their daughter, so I'm not going to feel bad about only having the 'P' ready for Saturday ;)

Between the Pages
Got two new knitting books for my birthday :)
75 Birds, Butterflies & Little Beasts was a gift from my parents-in-law :)
Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn I bought myself with money Morfar gave me. With all the colourful sock yarn I have in my stash by now, I thought this was the perfect book for me! I even got it at 10% off, as it turned out they only had the display copy left!

Stash Stories
Last year at around this time, I biked past this absolutely GORGEOUS tree, splendid in its fall colours. I immediately stopped and took a photo of it, all the while giggling a bit to myself that the VERY first thought on my mind was "I want yarn in this colourway!!!"
Well, last week I found it... and of course had to buy it!
It's not exactly right. This yarn is variegated instead of a gradient, and I'm actually not sure what it'll look like all knit up (will have to swatch before deciding on a pattern... it might be good for the leaves in Leftie though), but I still had to get it :)

YOP Week 13

Just a quick post today, as I haven't got a lot of progress done. In fact, I haven't touched the Little Pole at all for almost two weeks, as I got sidetracked by all sorts of other projects.

I did manage to finish the first September Sock though, so while not a complete pair as I'd hoped for, at least I got half way done instead of procrastinating completely as I'd feared. I ended up doing the heel as written and was once again reminded how very much easier the Fish-Lips-Kiss heel is!! But I'm thinking this might fit my foot better? Not sure, I'll have to pay more attention.

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)

Year of Projects - Week 11

Looks like I finally found a pattern to suit my sock yarn :) If you didn't see my WIP post, my yarn had become very belligerent and decided that Hermione's Everyday Socks was just FAR too boring, so that wouldn't work either. Wednesday morning I finally cast on for My Little Cup of Tea and have now come further than I did with any of the others! So I'll take that as a good sign :)

The Little Pole is still behaving nicely. Have had absolutely no problems with that one, dear thing. I'm still slightly concerned whether I'll have enough yarn, but if worst comes to worst I have some suitable white I can use to pad the sleeves. But more likely than not I'll have plenty, and this is just me being a worrywart as always ;)
(Progress photo from Wednesday, I've added about 15 rows since then).

Progress
July Sock (Braided Swirl Socks)
Stashbuster #1 (Dragonfly Elfe)
August Sock (Vanilla Socks)
September Sock (My Little Cup of Tea)
October Sock
Stashbuster #2 (Little Pole)
November Sock
December Sock
Stashbuster #3
Stashbuster #4
(Stashbuster #5)
(Stashbuster #6)