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'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.

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

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.

Many FOs!

Well, another several months and another several projects to report on.  It would seem the last time I updated was after I finished the hoodie sweater for my son.   Much has been done, since.

Here are a few pictures of some of the projects I've done since the fall.

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:

FO - Tempting

Well, I finished this sweater late last night. I was almost tragically disappointed in it at the end because of a shortsighted mistake... but innovation fixed it.

Here is a list of the changes I made:

I opted for a size of sweater between M and L so I cast on 176 instead of 180.
I worked in 2x2 rib  until the piece measured 17 inches, as I have a long torso and like a longer sweater.
When I placed 16 sts on waste yarn, the adjusted number of sts between the next waste yarn sts was 72 (instead of 74).
When I made the sleeves I cast on 64 and began immediately with the cable pattern to give the sleeves a decorative touch.
I worked in 2x2 rib until the sleeves measured 5 inches instead of 3.
I joined the sleeves to the body immediately because it was easier to knit.
When sleeves were joined, I worked across 48 sts of sleeve, followed by 72 sts of body (instead of 52 sts of sleeve and 74 of body).
The total number of sts around the garment once the sleeves were attached was 240 (instead of 252).
For the Yoke, I continued in 2x2 until I was 3 " from the end, then worked the cable pattern.
I bound off in k2tog bindoff instead of as in pattern.

Now, the tragic mistake was that I didn't switch to smaller needles for the neckline cables. Luckily, this was a fairly easy remedied problem. Instead of ripping out the work, (Who wants to rip out rows of 240 sts? Not I!) I opted to take a darning needle and thread a very long strand through the neckline and pull it tight.

In hindsight, it probably would've been smarter to do a few decreases but too little too late. I am very happy with how it looks. I'll take some better pictures outside in better light to show off the proper colours. I still have to wash it but I'll do so after my Stitch 'n Bitch on Monday.

WIP - Tempting with cables

Well, the knitting of the tempting sweater continues. 2x2 rib is mind numbing but there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

I actually completed quite a bit of the sweater last weekend when we were in Ottawa: I finished the body and both sleeves and began the yoke.

After another day of knitting after coming home and recovering from the looooooong drive, I'm happy to say that I'm finally on the final cables of the project.

I've made quite a few modifications to the original pattern (the Large size) and I'll post them here when I'm finished with a note on my Ravelry page.

Here is a picture of my progress as of Sunday.

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: