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 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

I love finishing projects.

My latest FO is a pair of socks called Tadpole. I used Cascade Heritage Paints sock yarn in a beautiful pink colour.

The original pattern called for a 64 stitch cast on which, for me, is usually good enough for my foot. This one knits a little bit tight and I found myself ripping out three reps of the pattern and casting on again with 72 stitches and adjusting accordingly. You can read about my adjustments on my Ravelry project page.

The pattern itself is really easy to remember. After looking at the whole pattern and counting the number of stitches I had to start with, the rest was instantly memorized.  I could have done the pattern for the whole of the leg, too, but I really wanted to knit it up quickly, so the project stayed as was stated in the pattern.

These are cosy and soft and fit perfectly. Anyone who wants a fast, easy, and engaging without attention pattern should try this one out.

I'm going to keep up, damnit.

I've been SO bad with updating this thing. I'm going to put forth a genuine effort again to keep things going.

First off, I finished my Miranda sweater. I misread the pattern and did the version without the front pocket, but honestly? I can live without the front pocket. I wore it on Patrick's Day. It's just warm and snuggly. I thought I would've needed a tanktop beneath it but it's perfectly fine against my skin. I usually find wool, even superwash merino, slightly itchy. This merino? Not itchy. It's just soft and lovely. Here are a couple pictures:

Next up is a WIP of mine. They're called Tadpoles and they're actually very reminiscent of Monkey socks, only reverse.

I originally cast on 64 for this sock and got to the third rep of the pattern when I realised in dismay that they were too small for my foot. After much swearing, I ripped the whole thing out and cast on 72 instead, modifying the pattern accordingly to work with the added stitches. The first sock is about 3/4 done now and fits like a dream. They also look beautiful. Here are some WIP pictures.

Finally, I finished a project that had been hibernating for about a year and another that had been hibernating about six months, now. First is my husband's Dwarven Battle Bonnet:

And second are the cigar smoking gloves I made him. He hasn't worn them yet but I know he likes them. It's just a matter of catching him for a photo wearing them.

And here I am, forgetting other projects I finished since my last post.

Hat and mitts for me to match the Honey Cowl I made ages ago.

The Cursed Socks

They're finished :D

Technically, the beautiful mooshy yarn was cursed. BUT I broke the curse by finishing a pair of awesome Mystery Socks.

Almost a full year of FOs

Wow, it's been way too long since I last updated this page. My apologies to anyone following.

I have a huge number of finished objects to update with. It's just been much busier for me, so updating the page with the FOs, along with Rav with FOs, as well as shouldering two feisty crotchfruit is a lot of work.

I've been enjoying my knitting group at Whole Foods. The people I've met and the friends I've made are just amazing. I look forward to going every week.

I've brought knitting travelling to Mexico and to Thunder Bay. So many wonderful memories this year.

I have one more commission to finish up - which means maybe one more blog post this week. Won't that be novel? I'd better get back to knitting, eh?

Go just past the cut to check out all my finished projects.

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:

Socks!

April 30th was the DKC Knitters Frolic in downtown Toronto.  I arrived late and didn't bring a lot of cash and was actually very frugal with my spending.

I bought 12 hand made stitch markers for $10 and a skein of this super yummy merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn spun by a local dude. Yep. By a dude.  The colour was really tempting and I couldn't resist, but unlike when I usually buy sock yarn and try to knit socks, I started and finished the project in a week. (instead of within months or years)

The socks? Monkey. No purl monkey to be specific.  They turned out really nicely but had a bit more yellow than I anticipated. In spite of this, they're super comfortable and super bright. I absolutely love the striping and am pleased with the softness of the yarn. Definitely a new around the house footwear thing.