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 ;)

Readathon Wrapup :)

Books read:
"Auggie & Me" - R.J. Palacio
"Destiny's Song" - Audrey Faye
"Veronica Decides to Die" - Paulo Coelho
"Cancer Vixen"
most of "Stray" - Andrea K. Höst

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 :)

WIP Wednesday - LOVE this!

My Spring Showers cardigan finally finished blocking last week, and it is without a doubt my favourite thing that I've knit all year! The colour is great on me (if I may say so myself ;) ) and the fit close to perfect! The sleeves could have been a tad longer, but considering I only had 5 grams left as it was, I'm glad I didn't try to stretch it further.
And even with 4/5 length sleeves - I absolutely love it!
Modifications: I added ~10sts to the length, and took most of that length out of the wedges, as I didn't want it to flare quite as much. I knit seed stitch instead of garter stitch for the lower hem, and made long sleeves instead of short. If I were to make it again, I might leave out the wedges entirely - I don't think it necessarily needs them.

I also managed to finish the Olivia Cardigan for my niece this past week - or rather, it's currently blocking, so I'm waiting for it to be dry enough for me to sew on the buttons. Not a fan of sewing on buttons, but there are only three of them here, and they're so cute, so I think I'll cope ;)
This really turned out amazingly cute! I couldn't be happier with it! My sister and I are talking about whether it'll be best as a cardigan or a dress (would be easy to sew up the bottom half of the cardi), but it's hard to tell until my niece has tried it on. May turn out that she's much too long-legged for it, by the time it fits around the chest!

And as always, when I bind off one thing, I have to cast on something new. This time it's the "One Step Ahead" socks for a friend of mine. I've already knit these once, and they go even faster the second time around.

My Stitch Surfer socks are coming along nicely. I finished the first one on Thursday, and - thanks to a knitting-and-coffee-date Sunday - am about one third of the way through the foot on the second. It's my goal to finish before the end of October, which is looking VERY feasible.

Podcast - September Wrap-up and October TBR

Read:
Cooking as Fast as I Can - Cat Cory
A Gift of Magic - Lois Duncan
All Clear - Connie Willis
The Thing About Jellyfish - Ali Benjamin
Manga adaption of Jane Austen's Emma
The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins


TBR:
Still making up my mind what to pick for Dewey's Readathon :)