A couple FOs, plus a Frolic.

It's been a fruitful couple weeks in the land of fibre arts.


 First off, I finished my niece's Zita.

Next, I finished the first Aquaphobia sock. After a year. I know, not exactly fruitful, but at least slightly productive, right?

Third, I started on a Young Einstein for the little guy. The shoulders are almost done.

Fourth, I'm working on a sun hat to match the Zita. The brim of the hat mirrors the band on the dress. (no picture yet, but the same colour as the dress) And Fifth, I just finished spinning the FML Skein. Why is it the FML skein? Because it got tangled all to shit and I spent three hours detangling it.

With that out of the way, I should also mention that I went to the DKC Knitters Frolic again this year. It's a once a year event where they hold workshops and have a huge marketplace of yarn and spinning and other goodies which you can buy (and for those with a budget, just drool over). I picked up some new fibre and a skein of yarn.

Super Mario colourway by Studioloo

Malabrigo fibre

Lime green Superwash wool

Wool and firestar mix

And, as you see at the bottom of the stash, a beaded row counter for lace and other pattern reps. Oh, and someone gave me some free hand balm because the skin gets dry from spinning.

The Frolic was great. It's one of my favourite events of the year and it was nice seeing my friends from the knitting group. Special shoutout to Sandy, who braved crazy bad traffic with me and endured our adventures into parts unknown on the way there.

Good times!

Oh, and lastly, I've added a knitmeter and spinmeter to the site. Just a fun way to keep track of how much I've knit and spun this year. We'll see whether or not I keep up with it :P

8 months of FOs and WIPs

As I posted previously, it's been a long ass time since I posted here. I still haven't finished the Aquaphobia socks because the pattern is boring and tedious (first sock is still under construction. I'm thinking of just frogging it) and in lieu of finishing it, I've finished so many other projects.

Here is a list of the stuff I've finished!

Kerrera cardigan sweater. I worked on this in NYC and finished it at home.

Young Einstein (which I should really photograph as finished)

Vera - for Russell. He LOVES it.

Groovy Singer Blanket -- for my husband's boss whose wife had a baby

Not a FO, but MORE HEXIPUFFS!

Handspun - traffic lights

Handspun - Cardiovascular

Rusty's Mike Wazowski hat. My own pattern, unpublished as of right now

Handspun -- A Case of the Purples

Mom's Leaving Cowl

Boot Candy

More Boot Candy

BAM! POW! For my comic art teacher.

Soleil's Primrose

Slumleech baby blanket -- for my buddy Kurt whose wife had a baby

Slouchy -- a really fun knit.

MOAR CHANGES

Yep. There are more changes on the way. I just registered a new domain which should be updated in your bookmarks.

www.upknitcreek.com

Yep. I'm up knit creek without a paddle. I'm working on new art for the page to reflect the new name.

 I've been knitting a fair bit recently. Here are some more of my works in progress and a couple FOs.

A finished honey cowl!

Hexipuffs galore!

Progress on the sweater

Projects on the go

Well, it's been a productive beginning of the year.  I have two current projects on the go and have completed a couple.  I think I'll cast on the final bit of my custom design and we'll go from there after it's done.  I'll need to knit it a second time but that can wait. I scoped out some beautiful hand dyed merino from Happy Go Lucky Yarn.  I met the owner of the yarn on the interbutts through a mutual friend and fell in love with her colourways.  I love this one in particular because it reminds me of my own Early Labour Armwarmers.

Anyway, with that out of the way, here are some pictures of my WIPs and my FOs.

Finished Objects

Owl Onesie

Hotshot for Renate

Both are made of Estelle Cloud Cotton which is 100% organic cotton. So so soft!

WIPs

 HEXIPUFFS!
(yes, I've only made five)

Kerrera

FO - Steggie

This deserves its own  post.

Nick's dino sweater is finally finished. I had originally cast on for a size larger than him but he grew during the knitting process. Balls.  It fits him, still. Perfectly. SO, it'll be a sweater for this fall and I plan to put him in it everyday.

Yarn: Berrocco Weekend

Here are some pictures:

FOs, almost-FOs, WIPs, and stash!

I've been fairly busy with my knitting lately. Still, it's nothing to brag about, unlike before.

I made a pair of monkeys for my mother.

I finished a drop stitch scarf for my hairdresser

I knitted a Steggie for my son (but the zipper still needs to be sewn on)

I started knitting a blanket for my brawlin' grandma:

And I started a Tempting sweater for myself, on which I'll be adding the cables modification.

I also went to the Knitters Fair in Kitchener, which is the largest knitting festival in the country. Over 70 vendors, and all knitting related. I picked up some yarn from my friend Cindy, and from Shall We Knit.

Here's some yarn porn:

WIP - Froggy Sweater

I was looking through my Ravelry queue and found a project I had won a kit for. Not wanting to knit another shopping bag, I immediately decided to work on a quick knit for the baby to be.

I had already finished knitting a blanket for the baby but I had yet to do a sweater or any other article of clothing for him.  It was then that I finally found a very nice sweater: offset opening with buttons and applique.

So, I set to work.

The project took only two days to actually knit up, and once I was nearly finished, I hit the local craft store for felt and buttons.

I have since traced and cut out the frog for the front applique and it will be up to hubby to help me with the sewing, as I am the world's worst sewer. I can seam edges of a knitted sweater, but forget thread and needle. I think I'll have him use that little sewing machine we have in the closet to get'er done.

Here are some progress pics:

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.