And the months dragged on

Wow, last post was in April. Bad jupe! I should've posted earlier, but honestly, I've not been knitting a whole hell of a lot. On the other hand, I HAVE been spinning a lot.

My lovely friend, Cindy Cole Bennett, gave me one of her old spinning wheels, an Ashford Joy. I've been spinning up a storm and will post pictures of many of my lovely new handspun at the end of this post.

First, though, is a short list of some of the projects I've been working on, in no particular order.

Booties for a lady at the gym who is pregnant. She runs the childcare centre and is always great with my kids. This is the least I could do for her.


Winter is coming and Nick's head is getting bigger. I made him a new hat and cowl set for the chillier months. I didn't line it with fleece because he's often running and playing and I want his head to breathe a bit.  I hope these fun colours keep winter bright.

The project that truly will never end, Aquaphobia, is now over 50% done, as I completed the first sock and started on the second. This pattern is so annoying to me. Some people love it, but not me.

A teacup cosy is exactly what the doctor ordered now that the weather is getting cooler and more cups of tea are being poured. I usually make it by the cup so a cup sized cosy made the most sense for me.  (I also started making a teapot cosy, but I haven't yet woven in ends nor added floral embellishments. I'll take a WIP pic)

Moving along, I have only a few more knitting projects to show off, then I'll make another post just for the handspun.

First off is a shrug that was called Birds of a Feather.  I made it out of a lovely eco wool in a navy blue and instead of birds, I used dragons. I call it my Mother of Dragons shrug.

I don't have any pics of the completed product but I wear it all the time, as the weather is perfect. Here's a WIP photo.

If you haven't already caught on from my other comments (Winter is Coming and Mother of Dragons) I'm a Game of Thrones fan.  These socks aren't close to finished, but they're a fun and focused knit named after Brienne of Tarth, the Sapphire Isles.

I think that's it, for now. I will have more FOs to show off at some point, as Christmas knitting is beginning to happen. Also, a huge project of many handknit items is coming up in preparation for Comic Con 2015 in Toronto. Here's hoping I can get enough stuff finished to make a profit! :D

Next post -- spinning!

A parade of FOs

I must admit: I've been slacking off with my knitting until just recently.  Over the past month I've started and finished new projects, and just plain finished old projects. Out of an old queue of several WIPs I'm down to just one more WIP. I feel like I can take on another new project, and with the Frolic tomorrow, I'll be jumping for joy with the prospect of being able to start a new project.

So, here are some pictures of my FOs. I'll be adding one more tomorrow, likely, when I'm wearing it. (It still needs to dry)

Booties for my neighbour's newborn

Running armband for my phone/mp3 player

I had taken up running all summer long and needed a good solution for my phone. This was meant for an iPod but it fit my phone at the time very nicely. Did the job!

Pauper Gloves

Stash busting at its best. I used some of a skein of Naturally for these. Tweed works very well for fingerless gloves.

Organic wool baby sweater

I knitted this for my cousin who had a baby early this year. It took about a half to 3/4 of a skein of Cascade Eco wool.  It was soft and adorable. Very very fast knit, too. Recommended if you have little time to knit for a little one.

Fetching gloves and Montana scarf

My friend, Talen, who lives in Australia was really hoping to get a hand-knit item from me. It was his birthday just a couple of days ago, so I started early in the year to diligently knit him a scarf. A nice, long, scarf. Before blocking, this sucker was seven feet long, and after, it measured a whopping eight feet. Because I had a whole skein left over after making the scarf, I also made a pair of fingerless gloves for him.  Sadly, the parcel didn't make it in time for his birthday. We're still waiting for it to arrive.

10 stitch zig zag blanket

This was the original project for my cousin's baby but I realised that I didn't have time to finish it, and am also expecting, myself, so I decided to turn it into something for my own little one while I opted to make the little sweater for her baby.  It's a fair size for a stroller, which is what I'm aiming for, and is made of organic cotton.

Striped Baby Sweater II

My lifelong friend and his wife had a baby not long after my cousin. I just couldn't decide what to knit, so even though their son is almost three months old, I made something, anyway. Better late than never. I'll be seeing his wife next month when we both go to our hometown (She lives in Ottawa and I live in Toronto) and I'll hand it off, there.  This is made of leftover yarn from the zig zag plus two extra skeins of the same brand of yarn that I had in my stash (which I bought to knit for them, incidentally) It was a really fast knit. I made this same sweater two years ago and it sure as hell didn't take a week to make.

So,  that's that for my FOs. Quite a few, but not as many as a fast knitter would have made :P  I am all set for the knitters frolic and have my options open, as the only thing I have left to finish is a sweater (I started 2 years ago) for my father in law. It's April and I have till the fall to finish it. Sounds like a familiar mentality, as I thought the same things last spring and the spring before, but I think I'm in good shape to finish it, provided I do so before I have the new baby.

FO - Pinwheel blanket and matching booties

I actually finished this on March 30th. I've just been so busy lately, I haven't posted about it. It turned out quite nicely, and I had enough yarn left over to make a pair of booties for baby to be.

Note: this is not for my baby to be because I am not pregnant again :P When that happens again, I will be sure to be knitting away merrily.


I have started another baby blanket for our friends Joe and Diana who are also expecting. Their baby is due in May, so I have a tight deadline to finish the next blanket. I have opted not to do another pinwheel blanket because I like a little bit of diversity. The new blanket will actually be a nice baby's textures blanket. Four different colours and four different textures. I hope it looks nice when it's done.