FO Time

I have finished the shawl!



Elvis Approves of this shawl.




Stats

Yarn: Sweet Sheep BFL superwash. super skein. (about 800 yards)
Needles size: 7
Time to completion: approx a month (project monogamy FTW)
Diameter of shawl: 46 inches

The cast on was a complete and utter pain. After I got it, a friend on Rav, upon hearing of my frustration, told me of a trick used in circular starts with few stitches: cast on with doubled yarn for half the number of stitches and then 'spread' the stitches out. The errata on the project page has NOT been put into the pattern, so please make sure you know where the errata goes!

Otherwise, this is a mindless knit once you get into the repeat section and is very impressive once it is finished.

ciao

Round and Round and Round and Round

.....we go! My Candian Shawl continues. Current stats: approx 92 inches around. Approx 100 gram of yarn left (on my incrediby inaccurate kitchen scale) Ciao

Fingernail Friday

Spring Thing nails!

Round and Round and Round and Round.....

I am working happily on my Candian Whirlppol shawl. It's 408 stitches around, currently. So it is growing a little less quickly than it did at the beginning. here's a couple of crappily lit pics: It's grey and thunderstormy out, so the natural light leaves a lot to be desired. The flash leaves a lot to be desired too, but beggars can't be choosers. I don't want to switch to longer circs till I have to, so it's all squished up on the shorter ones. I am rather glad the rain came as forcast today. Yesterday hubs and I did the sprinkling of the cornmeal on the lawn to keep the crabgrass away and give the grass a bit of a feed. So the rain will help melt that in a bit. Spring. It might actually be here!

Fingernail Friday

The "I Hope Spring is Here" Edition.....

Spring!

The weather today is beautiful....for once. It's been a long, grey winter. So, I decided the other day to cast on something with spring colours. The Vortex shawl in some 'mistake yarn' dyed by the Sweet Sheep. The cast on was a MAJOR PITA. 8 stitches on 4 dpns. Yeah, twisted the stitches, dropped dpns, you name it, I did it. Finally tried it via magic loop, and while I still had to cast on a few times to get it right, it was slightly less frustrating. If you try this pattern, please note the errata on the Ravelry project page. I mistakenly assumed the pdf would have been corrected. It was not. Much swearing ocurred. Another note, when the designer says 'place stitch markers beteween sections' or repeats or whatever, she means the grouping of stitches. Also, when you get to the ....and repeat these 2 rows until size desired is reached....part, the directions are for each repeat between the stitch markers. The pattern is a little unclear about that. All that aside, once you get going it is very easy to do. It is lace knitting that can be done in front of the tv. It is also very impressive looking. The second picture has truer colours. On my monitor at any rate. Ciao

There Is Not Enough* Headdesk* In The World

So, I was excited. I had finished knitting the pieces of my Whiskey sweater. I pressed the pieces as advised by the designer. I seamed the sleeves onto the sweater. I sat down and prepared to pick up stitches to knit the neckband.

"Hmmm", I thought to myself, "this looks a little weird". I proceeded to begin picking up stitches anyway. (de nile, it ain't just a river in Egypt) Ran into a roadblock immediately. The pattern read "pick up 10 stitches across top of sleeve". Ummmm, I had no top of sleeve.

I laid out the sweater carefully on the floor. The knitting inspector ran over to investigate.



I seamed the sleeves on UPSIDE DOWN. fuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I need a drink. Of actual whiskey, I think.

Fingernail Friday

Sorry for the delay posting this. I had to oust the troop of gnomes practicing riverdance on the inside of my skull. I had to bring in the local sheriff, but they have been evicted. So, on to the fingernails!

Whiskey Shots

Most of my Whiskey sweater is knit up:

Now to weave in the ends, sew in the sleeves, pick up the stitches for the neckband...wow, that sounds like a fair bit of work left for an almost completed sweater!

I'd better hold off on the celebratory drink.

Bob's new boots

For those of you wondering, Yes, this is Bob of Ravelry fame!

Wonky, Like Me

Dishtowel #2 has been christened 'Wonky'. Somehow I made it a little off-center. Which is prettty much how I feel after the spring forward daylight savings time thing. Please forgive the uncropped photo. I feel like a truck ran me over. Too. Tired. To. Go. On.


4 more to go!

Fingernail Friday

I Need a Drink

I cast on for a sweater. Tess by Kim Hargreaves. I love me some Kim Hargreaves.
I did not have enough bulky yarn in my stash, so I am using some other yarn doubled up. I think it might still be a tad less thick than the pattern expects, but it is turning out nicely, so I'm not worried.
Getting this knit started was a bit of a process though. I had to cast on 3 times. The first time I started knitting the medium size. It was HUGE. Probably due to the yarn sub I did. So I cast on again for the smaller size. And then screwed up a stitch. And dropped a couple of stitches trying to fix the screw up. Swore and threw yarn across room. Ripped. Cast on AGAIN. Third time is the charm, I suppose, as it is going much better now.
The knitting has progressed to the splitting for the sleeve-holes. so the knit looks a bit funny as it is curled up on the cables, but here is a progress picture:


Here is a better angle for the eyelets along the lower edge:


Obviously, this is unblocked, raw knitting...and just in case you were wondering at the project box:


Seems appropriate considering the trouble I had getting this to start off properly. Verily, I name this knit.....Whiskey!
( this project 'bag' has the added bonus of being cat-proof)

Breaking the Silence

Oops! I had no idea it's been so long since I posted!
So, I have finished some Giftmas knitting,


A dishtowel. I got a bunch of Bernat's Handicrafter cotton at a really good deal, so I figure I'll make up some dishtowels as little gifties for people at Christmas. This is, technically, the placemat pattern on the ballband. I knit it on slightly bigger needles (5.5mm) to make the fabric less dense and more suited to a towel. It turned out nicely. I have enough of this cotton to make another 5 or so towels. But I think I want to change up the pattern to avoid boredom. What patterns do you like for dishtowels?

Fingernail Friday

Infinitude

A friend's birthday is fast approaching, so I needed a fast, fun knit for her. I also really liked this pattern, so the combination is a WIN! in my books. The pattern is Infinitude, an 'infinity scarf'. In other words, a big knit circle. The pattern comes in 2 sizes, I knit the larger one because I like drama.
Laid out to dry after it's bath:

Wrapped 3 times around the neck:

Wrapped twice around:

And a last, out of focus shot (sorry!) of how long it is:



The yarn is Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, it took a whole hank and about half of the next, so 300 yards-ish for the larger size scarf.

This took me about a week to knit up, with interruptions for, oh, work, eating, sleeping, migraines, you know.....life.

I am now tempted to make another for me. Although I have 2 new cowls I just knit!

ciao

Fix

My clog/slippers developed a hole or 4. Not feeling like knitting a whole new pair right now as I am working on a couple of other projects I thought I would fix em.

The before pic (well, the 'I got started and then realized I should take a 'before' pic' ) :


Then I needle felted some fibre I had lying around onto the holes:


Tada! Like almost-new! I was a bit concerned the bottom of the slipper would feel lumpy, but it doesn't. I can't tell there is a patch at all. Or 4 patches, as the case may be.

Fingernail Friday-Valentine's Day Edition

Hubby Hat or Melonhead II

Hubby really needed a new hat. His old one is pilling and not very nice anymore.


His request was that it 'cover his ears'. So I cast on 96 stitches, k2p2 for 8 inches, decrease and done! Decreases were done as this pattern in the round has written up.

What to knit next? I am ogling 2 'infinity' scarves. What to knit? The Infinitude scarf or the Gap-tastic one...?
I know, I'll go raid the stash and whatever one I find yarn for first wins! Sounds fair ,right?

Ciao

New Knit!

I finished anothe rknit. I am on a roll, I tell you. This time it's Spirogyra fingerless gloves. Made with Oceamwind Knits Merino II. A lovely yarn. I made the shorter version of the mitts and they are plenty long, 21cm from one end to the other.





This picture is closest to the actual colour:


All in all, a very successful knit. I cast on and it took 8 days to complete and that is with several days of not knitting at all due to work and the like. 2/3 of that was over 2 days. I could have knit the whole shebang in a weekend if I was dedicated.

I have already worn them and loved em!