Finished Friday

I was all excited about this post as I thought I had a few projects to show off but it turns out that I only have two. Even so two is better than none.

Firstly socks. This is another pattern - Lindsay - from Sock Innovation by Cookie A and is the third pattern from the book that I have made the others being Rick that I made way back in 2009/10 and Wanida that I finished recently.

I want to show some close ups of the yarn. I purchased it at the end of 2011 because I liked the way it was dyed although I had no idea what to make with it as I thought that plain stocking stitch would show it off best but I did not want to knit plain socks.



The colourway is named Christmas Lights and the yarn 80% merino, 20% nylon feels soft. Unfortunately the dyer is no longer dying yarn.

I followed the pattern as written although I was a bit wary about the garter stitch heels and toes but as this is knit at fine gauge they did not come out bulky.



If you're thinking that one looks bigger then the other - you're right. I blocked only one so I could see if there was any difference.

The other item finished was a hat for Operation Gratitude. It is a crochet pattern that can be found here. I used two colours of Vanna Choice yarn that I had purchased recently. I used the size hook stated in the pattern rather than the hook size on the yarn label which I would usually do. So my hat isn't very slouchy but is a good hat nonetheless. This was a quick crochet.



At the beginning of the week when I said I had won some yarn, I forgot to post a photo. So here is the yarn I won from the Operation Gratitude group on Ravelry.

May Madness

I was bored with WIPping Wednesdays so I have gone for a new alliteration. Like many potential posts, this one was written in my head at the beginning of the month but is only now making it into print.

We are almost halfway through the month and I am now writing about beginning of the month challenges. Place in context if possible.

The start of each month brings a new set of challenges. For me it is sock knitters, Operation Gratitude and tea cosies. Away from Ravelry it is the books of the month suggested by Amazon. But I'm just talking knitting/crochet challenges today. Firstly, I know that I do not have to take part in any of the challenges but I have pledged to myself that I will make something for Operation Gratitude each month, also as I want to use up all my sock yarn starting a challenge from the sock knitters group is a good way to go, and why not throw a tea cosy into the mix. Although I will only follow that challenge if I have yarn in my stash hence not making the last two.

The Operation Gratitude project I start straight away regardless of what else I have on the go. Once again the administrator came up with hats and I chose the crochet option using two colours that I bought last month specifically for this purpose. I can't count either of them as balls of yarn out but they are on their way. This hat is finished and will appear in a finished project round up soon.

Having finished a pair of socks at the beginning of the month I decided to dig into my sock yarn stash and start a pair to fit the current month's challenge:- Featured Techniques: Flora/fauna or Science/technology/geek: Featured Designers: Rachel Coopey and Nicki Miller. Looking through my queue and favourites on Ravelry I decided on this pattern, using yarn that I had purchased in Calgary to make gloves. Although the original purpose for the yarn does not matter as long as I use it. I have not got very far with these but the socks I did finish will appear soon.

Finally I decided to take part in the monthly tea cosy pattern. The pattern was for a small size and I do not have any cosies specifically for my small tea pot plus I had yarn in my stash. All the knitting and crochet is complete I just need to sew all the parts together.

And then we come to the projects that were already on the needle at the start of the month. Despite starting the other projects listed above, I have been working on the mittens, one is completed except the bind off at the cuff and the other needs a thumb and cuff but I haven't touched the cast off of the shawl.

And there is another project to throw into the mix. Last week I received an oddball blanket. I put my name down for this one at the beginning of January as it was to be worked in variegated yarn and I had some I could use up. I chose a simple pattern and started on my section last night and I should finish by the end of the week.

I do not record meters out until I have shown photos of finished items so meters knitted/crocheted has not gone up but yarn in has gone up because I was given some yarn. I won Operation Gratitude's group drawing at the end of April and chose yarn. I am hoping I will be able to turn it into projects for Operation Gratitude.

WIPping Wednesday (Last for April)

Another week without a finished item. I was expecting this but I have a couple of projects that are very close to completion; I just need to set some time aside.

Firstly there's the so-close-but-never-finished shawl. I pulled out two rows. I didn't put in a lifeline just proceeded carefully as one row was beads and YOs and decreases and the other row, although plain followed such a row so I had to make sure that I did not undo more than that row. I then added a lifeline so if I still do not have enough yarn to complete the cast off I can pull it out.

The other item close to completion are the socks I started a couple of weeks ago. All the knitting is completed and I just need to graft/kitchener the toes. Usually not a problem, except the socks were worked cuff down with short row toes which means the seam is across the width of the sock. So I have 32 stitches to kitchener in dark yarn - twice.

Having finished the socks I cast on a mitten. Yes I know it is not going to be cold enough for mittens even in Canada but I have had the pattern for a while and I bought the yarn on the yarn crawl last year especially for this pattern so I just decided to go for it. It is two colour knitting so something I can do during all the hockey play off games.

WIPping Wednesday

After two weeks with finished items there's nothing to report this week. Nothing finished and nothing cast on. (Although I did restart the sock I cast on last week.)

I started the cast off of the always close-to-being-finished shawl and reached the half-way mark of the yarn before I reached the half-way point of the shawl. I undid what I had cast off (so glad I put in a life line) and now I have to work up the courage to frog the last worked row which has beads and YOs as well as K2togs and SSKs. A life line will calm the heart.

I am close to finishing one sock but I am not expecting a Finished Friday this week.

Finished Friday

As I said on Wednesday I have two projects to show today. And looking at my current projects it will be at least a couple of weeks before I have any more finished items.

These two projects were finished on the same day.

Firstly socks. I started these on our recent trip to Spain. Start to finish was just over a month but I did not knit on them every day so actual knitting time was less.

The yarn is that shown at the end of this blog post and the pattern is Wanida by Cookie A from her book Sock Innovation. I have now knitted two patterns from this book and am just starting a third. Does that make up for the books where I have not knit one pattern?

The yarn feels soft knitted up even though this is a tight pattern. The socks fit but are a little tight so it will be interesting to see how much they stretch when worn. The yarn was a gift from my friend Clair - check out her store at Purple Gecko Studio. I did not think to check for errata before we went away. (When I first started knitting there were never mistakes in patterns and even now with mistakes all over the place it never occurs to me to check.) When I got to the heel there was obviously a mistake, which I could work out for myself how to remedy, but as we had free WiFi at that point I was able to check the publisher's errata.



The other finished project is a hat for Operation Gratitude. My aim is to make one project a month from the suggestions put forward by the group and I have managed that so far. I have been crocheting the hats but I chose the knit pattern this month as I needed a project for knit group. (Not that you have to knit at knit group, just that this month the knit hat pattern was easier than the crochet pattern.) Start to finish was five days. The pattern is Weather the Weather Hat available on Ravelry and I used Red Heart Soft and a size 5 mm circular needle. It is 40 cm in length and just the right size for adult hats until the end. I used half the ball of yarn. I was going to use the Paprika colour left over from the scarf but wasn't sure if I had enough. It would have been close so I'm glad I didn't try. I had bought the purple yarn earlier this year as I did not think I would have enough to finish this tea cosy. As it turned out I did not need it for the tea cosy which was a good thing as I am only knitting cosies from stash but the yarn could go to charity projects. (I had contemplated returning it to keep my yarn in down.)

WIPping Wednesday (Third in April)

Another successful week of finished items.

Although one item was cast on and finished during the week so it wasn't a WIP for long. This was a hat for charity that I mentioned that I would cast on. I used yarn that I bought a couple of months ago that I thought I would need for the tea cosy but didn't end up using. This was my last unused ball of yarn suitable for charity knitting, so I had to buy some more.

Actually, it seemed from Michaels's flyer that they had a few kinds on sale but the branch I went to had just one type of washable worsted on sale. I bought three balls to keep me going for a few months. So yarn in has gone up but as I don't record a ball of yarn as "out" until it is mostly used I am not showing a reduction in balls of yarn used which is why I have metres knitted and crocheted to aim for that number to be higher than the number in. In is still higher than out but finishing a couple of my older WIPs will change that. Hmm, finishing the older WIPs? I really should set some time aside to cast off the shawl. I think one of the problems is that in the back of my mind I am concerned that I do not have enough yarn to complete the cast off. But I've already ripped out rows because I had more yarn than I thought so what will it matter if I have to undo part of a row?

The other item finished this week was a pair of socks. I measured them against a pair that fit well and decided that although they looked short they were the right size.

As the hat was my charity project for the month, it was not replaced with a new project but as I have sock yarn that should be turned into socks another one was cast on last night.

Finished Friday

As mentioned in the last post, I have two finished items to show.

Firstly a baby hat. I found the pattern through a blog. It is Knit Baby Hat by Bernat. The pattern is worked flat and seamed but I changed to working on the round. I used Red Heart Soft left over from this hat so I worked the smallest size to allow for the thicker yarn. I also worked more increases as 20 stitches is too many to draw up especially with a worsted weight yarn.



The other finished item is a scarf knitted for charity. The suggestions for March were scarves - not my favourite thing to make. Mostly I have been crocheting the charity items as it is usually quicker but I didn't feel like crocheting a scarf so I chose the knitting pattern. It is the windward waves pattern (not capitalized) and is available on Ravelry. The pattern calls for three colours so ideal for using leftovers. The yarn had been used in the hats I made in January and February. With this pattern it was definitely advantageous to be able to knit backwards - ie moving stitches from the right needle to the left needle. I hadn't done this for a while and I was surprised at how easy it was to work the technique. To keep ends to a minimum I did not cut each colour when I had finished with it but carried it up the side for the next time. I did cut each colour once in the middle. I was surprised at how quickly the knitting went. My dates on Ravelry are not accurate as I cast on before we went away but did not work on it until we returned.

This photo was taken as soon as the scarf was finished but I have since blocked it and it looks better.

WIPping Wednesday (Second One For April)

I just noticed that last week's post sat in the drafts folder. It has just been published but if you are a regular reader of the blog (hi husband) now you know why you think you are a week behind.

Exciting news to report. I have finished two items since last week. The hat that I mentioned casting on is not only finished but also mailed off to Canada. Also finished is the scarf I was knitting for charity. Photos of these will appear soon.

I haven't picked up the shawl to work the cast off but I have reached the toe on the second sock. I now have to decide if I want the socks to be longer. The first sock doesn't look very long but it fits fine, I will measure against other socks that I know fit well to see if I should/could add further rows. I also pulled out 47 rows of another project that was very close to being finished but when I tried it on I didn't like one of the patterns so out the extra rows went. The good thing about this is that it is stocking stitch knit in the round so now I have a project that I can take to book club next week.

And I didn't cast on anything new. Although that will change as I will start a new charity project. I haven't cast on the tea cosy for March and as much as I would like to make the pattern for April, I don't think I have enough yarn in different colours. It needs two shades of green and three shades of another colour.

So for once I can report that projects finished exceed projects started.

WIPping Wednesday

I am not so sure reporting on WIPs is a good idea when I don't seem to have as many corresponding Finished Fridays. But there are two projects at cast off stage. The always being close to finished shawl just needs to be cast off. Before I started the last row I put a slip knot in the yarn so that I knew that if I got to the slip knot before the end of the row there would not be enough yarn for the row and the cast off row. Well I kept on knitting and the yarn ball was getting smaller but no slip knot. I had convinced myself that I had pulled out the knot without noticing but it appeared just after I finished the row. So, in theory, I have enough yarn to finish but I can't remember if I placed the knot half way along the yarn or made more allowance. Oh well, I'll either be happy or unpicking.

The other item at cast off stage is the scarf I am knitting for charity. I have been working on this frequently as it is really for March. It will still not be finished even when it is cast off as the pattern calls for two rows of single crochet around the edge. This project will appear as a finished item shortly as my aim is one charity item a month and I will still have to make something for April. Because of this project I haven't worked on my socks much.

Yesterday was Tea Cozy Tuesday. Here's the link to the post showing this month's choice. Week 1 is for gathering supplies. There's just one problem with this - I am pretty sure I do not have enough yarn. And I was only going to participate each month if I had yarn in my stash that I could use. But, it would make a really nice gift. I have yarn for March's cosy; so if I make that in April I can just be a month behind or miss April's altogether. (Or buy yarn.)

So without any completed items, what did I do? Cast on something of course. There is a two-fold reason for this. Firstly, yesterday was guild meeting day and I needed a project to take. (What do you mean I could have taken the sock?) Secondly, when we were Skyping with my son and his girlfriend over the weekend she said the weather was still cold and she was desperately making the knits fit the baby until I sent more. Umm, but I'm not knitting anything for you people up there. So I started a hat that I could work on at the meeting. And it would be really good if it made an appearance on Friday.

Finished Friday

No knitting or crochet projects to show but I do have a number of sewing projects to show off. No surprise that they are all bags. This was going to be a photo heavy post but I was wondering what a button on the photo editing softwear did and it made collages. So here it is, a collage of all the bags I have made recently.



When I made this bag I commented that I was sure that I would make more. I found some shiny material that seemed ideal for a reversible bag by using the right and wrong side of the fabric. The original pattern calls for half-yard of each of two fabrics. I bought two yards. Not surprisingly I had loads of the fabric leftover so I made a reversible drawstring bag. This is different from the other drawstring bags I made as it has a square base and the drawstring is at the top. I purchased ribbon for the drawstring and a toggle.

In this post I showed off my pyramid bag and said I had made other bags. At the top right of the photo you can see the larger pyramid bag I made. I made a tab to cover the bottom of the zipper but after I cut the piece of fabric, I noticed if I folded it just so, I could get a complete cat. So it is bigger than a tab should be. Husband said he liked the tab as it helped with closing the zipper. The bigger bag has a handle made from the same fabric as the lining.

The bags on the bottom and middle right I made for my friend Clair's birthday. Check out her cool stitch markers at Purple Gecko Studio . I used the same fabric for each bag. I wanted the same colour zippers for each bag but they didn't do the colour in the smaller size so I was very pleased with myself that I sewed in a longer zipper and cut to size.

And then, of course, I had to make another bag for myself. I wanted a box bag for all my knitting notions to replace a bag I had stupidly decided I didn't need any more. It is the right size but probably would have been better with more interfacing.

I think that's all my recent sewing to show off. Although it won't be the last of making bags. I still have enough of the shiny material to make one, if not two, bags. And I have some fat quarters waiting.

WIPing Wednesday (no. 2 for March)

You might have noticed a small lack of updates this month. This is because I have been to Spain and decided not to try to update my blog while I was there.

I managed to add two Wips to the pile. I like to take a crochet project on the plane, with a plastic crochet hook so that there is not any question about knitting needles being allowed. I didn't have a crochet project on the go so I started one on the first flight using the yarn I bought as mentioned in my post at the end of February. The good thing about that is that I was working on a project that I really wanted to make; the bad thing is that it used four different colours of yarn every two rows. So I had to have four balls of yarn in my hand luggage. As this project is intended for Christmas it will go to the bottom of my WIPs.

Knitting needles and yarn went in my checked luggage and I did complete one sock and cast on for another while I was away. I used The Fiber Imp yarn shown in this blog post and am knitting a Cookie A pattern from Sock Innovation. This project will be near the top of my WIPs.

I have had to look at my last post to refresh my memory of my other project on the go as I have not got any finished projects to show you. The shawl is at the stage where I have to see if I have enough yarn to complete a row and cast off so there is likely to be more unpicking on that one but it is really close to being finished. I have no idea how many rows of the charity scarf I worked. I remember that the main thing was to get it cast on. I think that should be my main project so that I can finish it before the end of the month and be ready to start another project. The toy is still a yellow blob and I just need some time to finish that. It would be nice if I had something to show next week.

I did not cast on the tea cosy for March. I have chosen the yarn and it should be a quick knit. I would like to complete it in the intended month but I might make it in April instead.

WIPing Wednesday First One of March

The count for the past week is one item finished (the tea cosy shown yesterday) and two items cast on. I know it's not good to cast on more than I have finished but I do have an excuse. One of the cast on items is the car project. I finished the last car project in the middle of February and I decided it was about time to start a new one.

The other project I cast on was a scarf for charity. I have mentioned that the group on Ravelry for Operation Gratitude suggest patterns at the beginning of each month. This month was scarf patterns and I decided on the knit pattern - using yarn from stash of course. the pattern is knit lengthwise so there were 211 stitches to cast on. I decided to get the cast on over and done with so that I could work on the scarf whenever I wanted. it too longer to decide which cast on to use than to actually work it. Single crochet is worked all around the scarf so the look of the cast on didn't matter plus if it was a little loose the crochet would adjust for that but I didn't want anything too tight. The cable cast on was ruled out but I didn't want to work a long tail or any variation. With that number of stitches I was unlikely to get the right amount of yarn at the start and although I could work long tail with two ends of yarn this results in three ends having t be sewn in at the start, not a good idea for a scarf. I ended up with the knitted cast on and knit the first row. It did not come out really loose or with gaps between the stitches so we shall see how it looks once I get further into the pattern.

I frogged back the shawl as I said in last week's post and completed the third repeat of pattern D. I weighed the yarn and I should have enough to complete the border pattern E and the cast off.

Also I finished all the knitting for the toy which now needs to be stuffed and sewn up. Still no photos as it really is a yellow blob.

Looking at these WIPs, I'm not sure that I will have any completed items by next week. We shall see.

Tea Cosy Tuesday and Finished Friday

It is the first Tuesday of the month and time for another tea cosy. I've chosen my yarn - left overs in stash - but haven't decided when to cast on.

I finished February's on the 28th. So it qualifies for Tea Cosy Tuesday and Finished Friday. Although I thought I was going to run out of the purple yarn I made it all from left overs. The pattern had a flower on the top but we liked it with the top of the lid showing.



You can find the pattern here.

And I can show the baby cardigan that I finished a week ago.



I used two 50g balls of yarn and a small amount of another yarn in my stash, probably Sirdar Snuggly but it didn't have a label. I didn't have enough yarn to knit the sleeves to the length in the pattern but I wasn't worried about that as sleeves on baby garments are usually too long. The pattern is from a collection from Sirdar that I bought when my niece was a baby and she is now 15! I made her the sweater and hat shown on the front cover.



I now want to make another cardigan from the collection for the other baby but that will involve buying yarn. I thought I had plenty of baby yarn but I don't have enough to make a complete garment.

Sew Cute

I could have kept with the alliterations and titled this Sewing Sunday especially as I have a few bags to show but this little bag deserved a post of its own.

Through various links I found a pattern for a pyramid bag. I have wanted a pyramid shaped bag for a long time but haven't bought one as Esty is such a pain to search and want is entirely different from need.

Now I can make my own. I made the pattern as written but I have successfully upsized it to to a project bag. This is a perfect size for stitch markers but I am not intending to keep this one for myself. The best thing about this bag - cost. The fabric was left over from these bags, the ribbon was left over from the baby booties and I used a coupon when I purchased the zipper from Jo-Ann's.

I made this bag last Sunday and I followed it with a larger pyramid bag and a box bag and then yesterday as it was a rain day (like a snow day but warmer), I made another box bag and small pyramid bag. A separate post will include details of these together with a couple of bags I made at the end of January which I have not shown yet.

The photo was taken with my phone with the bag on my computer keyboard so you have some idea of size. (The zipper is 10 cm in length.)

WIPing Wednesday (3)

I have finished one WIP mentioned last week. The baby cardigan was finished. I used a different colour yarn in my stash for the front bands and also used buttons in my stash. It was finished in time for delivery to the baby. So with that off the needles, an easy project was cast on. This will be a toy and no photo as it is just a yellow blob.

I am still working on the tea cosy. It is going slowly but I am more than half way through. I should try to finish it by the end of the month.

The shawl that was this close is now further away. But for a good reason. I wasn't sure if I had enough yarn to complete all the pattern repeats especially as the pattern and the info on Ravelry showed different amounts of yarn required and other knitters said they had run out of yarn. I had been weighing my yarn before starting pattern D and after finishing each repeat. Pattern D is worked three times and then there is a border pattern before casting off. After completing two repeats of pattern D I put in a life line and worked pattern E. I completed it last night and weighed my yarn. I had used less for pattern E than pattern D. So now I am going to frog back to the life line and work another repeat of pattern D and then work pattern E. It does not matter if I do not have enough yarn to complete all the rows of the border. So a project that I was thinking would be finished this week is still a WIP.

And this can be considered a pre-WIP. Yesterday I bought yarn so you will see that my totals are really messed up. But this is yarn designated for 2 projects. Just wasn't planning to start soon. A friend had made a baby jacket that I really liked and thought I would make a couple but later in the year. Yesterday I went to Michael's as I needed more yarn to finish the tea cosy and they had yarn on sale for less than half price. That's too good an offer to pass up so I bought what I needed for the baby jackets. So it will sit in my stash for a while but at least there is a definite plan to use it this year.

Finished Friday

OK, it's Saturday but I was side tracked by hockey yesterday. I was very pleased with myself. I managed to go all day without finding out the score of the US/Canada game.

Three projects to show off today. All simple and small but finished. Although these are all 2014 projects and I should be finishing my old WIPS.

First off the needles was this cowl. When I was looking in my stash for yarn to make hats last month, I cam across this yarn and decided it would make a nice cowl. The yarn is Pavlova by Stylecraft, and had been partly used in 2006. The pattern is Elis by Reiko Kuwamura, a Japanese designer and is available free on Ravelry. I cast on and cast off loosely but I think it would have been fine if the edges had been tighter but there was no way that I was going to unpick either edge. The yarn has a fuzz and clung to itself making any unpicking very difficult. The cowl is for my son's girlfriend.



Next off the needles (although that is not exactly correct as it was crocheted) was a hat I made for charity; another hat for Operation Gratitude. The pattern is called the Joel M Hat and is available for free on Cathy Wood's website. I used the right size hook for the yarn and followed the pattern and the hat came out too big for my head. But that is not a problem as it is for charity and there are people out there with bigger heads than me.



I used three different yarns in my stash. The blue is Waverly by Bernat. I had bought it on sale a couple of years ago as I thought it would be good for oddball blankets but it had not been used so far. The grey is Wool-Ease by Lion Brand which was left over yarn in my stash and the black is Simply Soft by Caron, also left over yarn.

The third completed project is a pair of knickers for a teddy bear. Originally, they were meant to be shorts to go with the sweater in this post, but I ran out of yarn on the first leg and as the point of making these clothes is to use up stash I wasn't going to buy more yarn. It was easy to turn them into underwear.

Here's teddy showing them off.

WIPing Wednesday (2)

I haven't posted photos of finished projects but that doesn't mean there haven't been any. This week I finished the hat I was crocheting for charity and an item of clothing for a teddy bear - also for charity. This is my car project and I have put new yarn and pattern in the car but nothing cast on yet.

I have finished both fronts and the back of the baby cardigan. I started the second ball of yarn about half-way up the back. I might need more yarn for the front bands but I will deal with that when I come to it.



As mentioned yesterday I started the tea cosy for February

but nothing else was started - this is good. The shawl is still this close to being finished as I have been working on the baby cardigan. It would be nice if next week I can report that I just have the bands left. Although I have in my head plenty of other baby things I want to make; with two babies in the family and stash yarn I can keep busy for quite a while.

Tea Cosy Tuesday

I mentioned in a recent post about joining a new group that is making tea cosies. The person who started the group is calling it Tea Cozy Tuesday as she is updating every Tuesday. Here is her blog post about the pattern for February.

It looks like another one that can be made from left overs. I changed my mind a few times about the yarn I was going to use as I was not going to start this until I had finished my charity hat for the month. (It's bad enough that I have 2013 projects unfinished but I don't want to start having projects started in 2014 that take forever to be finished.) I actually started it on Sunday but changed my mind about the yarn as I did not want to run out like I did with the last cosy. So I restarted with a different yarn yesterday. It looks like a quick project, although, it will appear in tomorrow's WIPping Wednesday it should be completed by the following week.

WIPing Wednesday

Don't know what a WIP is? It's a Work In Progress. I don't know when it entered crafting lexicon but most crafters know the acronym.

It has been a frequent complaint of mine just lately that I have too many projects on the go and looking back at my posts I see that it was last April I expressed my concern.

One of the problems with having too many WIPs is that I don't have a finished project to show off. I was going to start WIPing Wednesdays last week to show projects I started as starting projects does not necessarily mean that I have previously shown a finished item. At least I can say one of the projects I would have shown last week as new is now finished. One thing I have noticed about WIPs that I haven't mentioned before is that when I get close to the end of a project I tend to work on it exclusively (depending on complexity level) because I know I will soon have a finished item to show off.

So this week on the WIPing front, I completed one project, a cowl using old stash. It was a quick knit for a gift. Photographs and details to follow as I'm not sure how I am going to photograph it to show it to its best. And then I cast on a baby cardigan, again using old stash. I have two 50 gram balls of baby yarn that I wanted to use while the baby was small. I chose a pattern that requires 100 grams with the idea that the bands could be worked in a different colour if I ran out of yarn, but having worked one front so far it doesn't look like that will happen.

I also have a hat that I am crocheting for charity that should be a finished item for next week's update. (I am also this close to finishing a shawl but I will finish the hat first.)

I'm Still Joining Groups

This is a reference to this post. Although I am doing slightly better with group joining than yarn buying. I have left the dishcloth group mentioned. The last mystery dishcloth I knit with this group was in 2011. I recently left the group because I had not joined in for so long and they were starting to repeat patterns.

As we know, nature abhors a vacuum so I had to fill the space with another group. At the beginning of the year a new group started on Ravelry for making tea cosies. One a month, alternating knitting and crochet. Umm, yes that does mean 12 cosies, and, no, I don't need 12 cosies. But, I'm hoping that I will be able to part with some of them and gift them. I'm also hoping that I will only use stash yarn but that is likely to become more difficult as the year goes on.

January started with a knitted cosy from Patons Canada. I actually had the recommended yarn in my stash left over from a project made in 2006. Amazing that it survived the pre-move clear out. As it turned out, I didn't have quite enough yarn to make the complete cosy; I worked fewer rows of ribbing at the top and didn't work the ribbing at the "armholes". I was tempted to buy buttons but if I'm using stash yarn then I must use stash buttons. And I had just three of these so no odd button left over. As good as completely using yarn.

The good thing is that I really like this cosy - the bad thing? I want to make another!

Left Overs of a Different Kind

These are really left overs. Having completed November's challenge in the Sock Knitters group on Ravelry, I was gung-ho to start a challenge for December. One of the challenges in December has always been using left overs. Meaning knitting a pair of socks entirely from yarn remaining from previous projects. Not necessarily socks but it must be a project knitted by you (no helping other knitters by using their left overs) and they must be partial skeins. (For example if you bought 3 skeins of yarn for a project and used 1 3/4 the partial skein of 1/4 would count but the whole skein would not.)

I have never partaken in this challenge because why knit with left overs when I have plenty of virgin skeins? But 2013 was different. Maybe I felt it was time to knit a pattern that I downloaded years ago. Who knows? Anyway I emptied out my bag of sock yarn left overs and sorted them into piles of yarn type and then chose three colours I thought would go well together.



The yarns are all by Regia - regular and stretch and are left over from these socks.

I didn't use up any of the three yarns but I could not knit another pair from the left overs.

I decided pretty early on that I did not want the pattern on the sole of the foot and changed it to stocking stitch, also I decided to work the gusset decreases on the sole of the foot, I liked the way this came out and am likely to incorporate it into other sock patterns.

The overall project time was 1 2/3 months but I was not knitting these all the time and they sat untouched for a while when it came time to sew in the ends.

Although I knitted socks for Novembers and Decembers challenges, I didn't cast on anything for January and I haven't made up my mind for February. Probably because I have got enough (too many?) projects on the needles.

A Trio of Gifts

2014 is turning into the year of new projects. The only good thing about this is that I am finishing the projects I have started. Also I am using left over yarn.

This trio of gifts is two hats I have made for others and a gift of yarn for me. So it is a good thing that I am completing some projects.

Before Christmas my son told me that his girlfriend would like a hat. She had been looking at hats and he declared that his mother could knit one. Sounds familiar to all you crafters? Do you know how many patterns there are on Ravelry for slouchy hats? Neither do I but there are lots and after sending photos of a few to my son I gave up. So with the start of the new year and DH having a business trip to Calgary, I decided to just make her a hat without input from son. I chose the pattern, used yarn out of my stash and came up with this.



The pattern is Nell by Lisa Gutierrez available free on Ravelry. The yarn is Red Heart Soft in the colorway Berry. This was a quick easy knit; the only thing I am not sure about is the stretch of the brim. With the yarn I used and the twisted rib pattern I am worried that it will stretch and not go back into shape. I used just over 1/2 ball, so it is a good stash buster project.

Having made this hat for his girlfriend, I thought I ought to make something for my son. Even if I wasn't sure he would wear it. In this post I said that I wanted to make another one as a gift so that is what I made. This time I used the large hook size - 5.5mm and it made for a softer hat. I still added 3 rows of DC after the pattern but not a row of SC. And I used up all the brown that was in my stash - just love that - so I can count that as a ball of yarn out.



So to prove Newton's third law of motion, one ball out has to be balanced by one ball in and my friend Clair sent me this yarn.



The dyer is local to Calgary and this is her Esty shop.

It is a fingering/sock weight yarn; 80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon.

And to quote Douglas Adams "an increasingly misnamed trilogy" there is one more gift. I knitted some more booties. They are exactly the same pattern and yarn as these and these.

A Simple Cardigan

This is a project that has been on the needles for a number of months. Probably from the end of June but I did not make a note of the exact start date. When I left Calgary, Myrna gave me some of her hand spun which she very nicely said reminded her of me.



To show case the lovely colours, I knew I would want to knit with a loose gauge and a shawl would not do justice to the yarn or any design I chose. I looked at a number of cardigan patterns and knew that I would have to make my own design.



I swatched. To get some idea of how the yarn looked on larger needles as well as to obtain gauge.
Firstly I knitted the waistband sideways, with the yarn doubled for stability. Every row started with a slip stitch to make picking up stitches easier. I knitted until it fit but left the stitches live; 1) in case I changed my mind about the design; 2) as I had not made up my mind about the type of fastening I wanted.

Still using the yarn double, I picked up a stitch in every slipped stitch and purled a row, on the next row using single yarn, I knit into every stitch twice by knitting into each strand of yarn. After that it was plain stocking stitch with garter stitch front bands and working some decreases inside the bands. I cast on stitches for the sleeves and worked raglan decreases and continued to decrease at front edges but less often. When there were just the 4 edge stitches left on the front I worked a few rows garter stitch for the neck and cast off.

At this point I had to make a decision as to to if I liked the cardigan so far. I had got this far without cutting the yarn so I would still be able to take it apart without losing any yarn. I continued.

Firstly I had to decide on the fastening at the waistband. I sewed 5 small buttons on one side and chained loop fastenings on the other.

I then joined the yarn to the stitches cast on for each sleeve. As I wanted to use up every bit of yarn, the sleeves were worked at the same time using the end from the outside and the inside of the ball of yarn. As I was not sure how many rows I would get out of the remainder of the yarn, I worked a garter stitch cuff and placed random decreases under the arms. When I decided there were enough rows of garter stitch I switched to stocking stitch which gave me a nice rolled edge for the cast off.

No pictures of me wearing it yet, but you get the idea.

Oddball Blanket - Wild Turkey

It would seem that I can start and finish projects in 2014. Damn those 2013 projects that refuse to end. I have two more finished projects started this year, one of which I will show here.



It's another Oddball Baby Blanket. We have two weeks to complete a blanket and I usually get going on one as soon as it arrives so that it does not get forgotten. With this one there was no choice in stitch pattern as it is an all garter stitch blanket. Not my favourite thing to knit as it takes so long to knit but an easy no concentration project.

Both yarns were in my stash. Speaking of which, the observant among you might have noticed that yarn in is no longer zero. I need yarn to finish a project so it was definitely a needed purchase.

I'm also going to record meterage in as although I like balls in and out as a way of (trying) to make sure I knit more than I buy it doesn't fully reflect the growth or shrinkage of my stash. I am already showing meters knit or crochet so why not meters in?

An Oldie

This is a project that I finished in 2008 but I didn't have any good photos to show, mostly because I hardly wore it. So when I wore it the other evening, I persuaded hubby to take some pictures.



The pattern is a Drops design using two different yarns. None of my local yarn shops had both the yarns so that I could choose two colours that matched. Eventually when a LYS was going out of business I bought all that they had of the Drops Silke-Tweed (which is now discontinued) and used it double.

I really enjoyed the knitting and pattern construction but initially it wasn't an easy item to wear. If you don't do it up it flares at the back and looks stupid (on me anyway) but how to fasten the front? The pattern shows it fastened with a button but nowhere in the pattern does it say where to place the button. I bought a brooch but this did not keep the jacket together after a short time. Then when a new store in Calgary had their opening sale I bought a couple of shawl pins and they work fine.

First in 2014

A finished project already! Which is a good way to start the year, except I started the project on 1 January so it is not one of my WIPs. But the good news is that it is for charity and I used yarn in stash, so much so that one colour was completely used up. (Although I didn't feel that I used enough of any one colour to count balls of yarn out of my stash.)

I had mentioned about wanting to knit for charity again and have worked a couple of sections on Odd Ball blankets and also another group on Ravelry that had welcomed me. Well with the start of a new year I thought I would get involved with this other group that makes things for Operation Gratitude. Each month they have a knitting and a crochet pattern suggestion and this month was hats and they chose patterns that used different colours so people could use stash. A crochet hat is a quick project and using oddments was even better, so I made a hat.

Here are a couple of photos of the finished item. The first model is a lampshade as it really shows the hat well and the second model is my husband as his head is a better shape than the lampshade's.



The pattern can be found here. it is an easy pattern but beginners may need some help as techniques are not explained. All my colours are Red Heart Soft Yarn, left over from various blankets, and I am very excited that I had just enough of the blue to work two rounds and none left over to hang on to. The recommended hook size for this yarn is 5.5mm, I used a 5mm but the hat would look just fine worked with the larger hook. I also added 3 rows of double crochet (American terms) and one row of single crochet to make the hat longer. I used the instructions for the woman's size and I did not think it would fit me but it was amazing how as it got longer the fit improved, a good lesson for any hats I make from the top down. (As an aside, a similar principle to making toe-up socks, the toe of the sock shouldn't be increased to fit completely across the toes of the foot otherwise it will be too big once you start the main part of the sock.)

Once I finished the hat, I wanted to start another as a gift, but sense prevailed as I have all these other projects to finish.

OK I lied, I cast on a different hat pattern as a gift to work on during the play offs.

Left Overs

These are a couple of projects that I finished at the end of last year so didn't have time to make it into a blog post.

Both items are for charity and the first one is the start of a new blanket for Western Regions Oddball Baby Blankets. In the post where I showed the first section I had knitted for this group, I mentioned that I started a new blanket. What I always hate about starting a blanket is choosing a name. But living close to the beach in Southern California it wasn't hard to come up with Surf's Up, although I don't know how I will come up with a name the next time.



The blanket starts and finishes with a few rows of garter stitch. I knew I did not have enough of the turquoise to work the edge and 4-inches of pattern so I worked the garter stitch in an off-white. I think it sets off the pattern nicely. Both yarns were left overs.

I keep an easy project in the car to work on in those times I am waiting in the car without knitting, usually because I was picking up son or husband from work. The last project, a dress for a teddy bear, shown here lived in my car for almost 2 years. And the new project (a sweater for a teddy bear) was going the same way. So now whenever I stop at the beach I work on my car project. This meant this project took just over a year and I'm hoping that the next project (matching shorts) takes less time.



And I have a completed project for 2014 which will have it's own post.

This Year, Next Year

Here we are again, a round up of everything (an exaggeration) that has happened in my life this year. Also for a change I'd thought I'd combine the year in review with plans for next year.

And for a change I am going to start by saying happy anniversary to my lovely husband and thank you for another great year.

On the knitting (crochet) front I had 46 projects on the needles; of which 7 were frogged, including a project that I mentioned this time last year. Of the remaining 39, 5 were carried over from 2012, including one that is always being carried over, and 9 are still on the needles. That is way too many, although one of those is the aforementioned never-ending project and one is a project that stays in the car and one just needs the ends sewn in. There's also the project that got put to one side as I needed contrasting yarn and now I need beads so I have decided to finish another beaded project before going back to this one. Most projects got pushed aside when I started making baby items. By year-end I have made, 1 hat, 3 dishcloths/washcloths, 5 shawls, 4 pairs of socks, 2 baby blankets, a skirt, 3 baby jackets, 3 pairs of booties, a baby hat, a sleeveless cardigan, a scarf, a baby dress and cardigan, a sweater for a teddy bear and 2 sections for oddball blankets. 16 items were gifts and 3 for charity.

As well as having a new look for my blog this year, I added 2 yarn counters. One shows the amount of yarn I have knitted and crocheted. It is from Knitmeter.com and although it looks cool I'm not sure if it serves any useful purpose. it would probably make sense if I had counted the meterage in this year. So I'm not sure if I will continue counting in 2014. Also I added a count of balls of yarn in and balls of yarn out as an encouragement to use up stash. In fact, if I hadn't had to make baby clothes and therefore had to buy suitable yarn, the yarn out would have exceeded the yarn in.

Which brings me to my plans for 2014. Which is to use up my stash. OK I know I say that every year but having gone through my stash, it is really doable. The only spanner being the babies, as I can't not knit for them and although I have yarn left over from this year's projects, it is not enough of any one thing to make something useful. (Although it will be enough for booties and hats for the next round of babies.) So knitting for the babies will cause me to buy yarn and stop me from using stash. But I would like to make a serious dent into my stash so that I can buy at the next yarn crawl.

Wishing everybody a fantastic 2014

Presents Revealed

Now that Christmas is over, I can reveal the items I made for gifts.

Socks for my hubby. I decided to knit a pair of socks for the November challenge for Sock Knitters Anonymous. November 2012 was the last time I completed a pair on time and I have only knit one pair that fit the challenge since then. These socks that were the mystery pattern for March.

One of the challenges was designer RoseHiver. I have knitted a number of her sock designs and she has so many designs that are are free This seemed like a good time to get back into the challenges set by the group. Because I still have sock yarn.

So here is the finished pair.



The yarn is Comfort Sock by Berroco and looks way better as a sock than in the skein. I had to sneak into my husband's sock drawer to match the size against other socks I have knit for him but I was still concerned that they wouldn't fit so I didn't sew in the end at the toe - just in case - but they fit fine.

The other knitting was a dress and shrug for my great niece. I started off buying yarn according to a dress pattern and ended up designing my own patten and having to buy more yarn.



The yarn is Tecido Trico by Cirulo. It is fabric (gauze) with holes at the top. the cream yarn is Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK by Sirdar. The comments on the original pattern that I was going to use indicated that the dress was not long enough so I purchased more of the fabric yarn so that I could make the dress longer. (The original pattern had a fabric skirt and bamboo bodice.) It looked awful; too frou-frou. So I made up my own pattern. This meant I did not have enough yarn to complete the shrug. I had to order it but it arrived quickly and I was able to finish the shrug and get everything mailed off.

I was going to make 2 dresses, one for each of the little girls in my life but having to write my own pattern and complete the first one in a hurry, I took a rain check on making the other one.

The final Christmas present was a sewing project. My son's girlfriend asked if I would mind making her a "Hello Kitty" quilt. I was non-commital because I didn't want to be under pressure to make it but I decided that it would make a good gift that would be a complete surprise. The end result is about a queen bed size. I really like it and she does too,

Charity Knitting

I have not knitted anything for charity since we moved last year. Doesn't really matter why I haven't, I just haven't.

After rearranging my stash a little while ago, it is now in drawers instead of a box, I decided that I should look into knitting for charity. First stop Ravelry.

I searched the groups to see what was out there as I liked the idea of knitting for a purpose. I joined one group and felt bad because I was welcomed by name to the group, my intention was just to see what the group did before getting involved. I was careful for the next group and put it on watch. This means I can see what is going on in the group but am not a member. In effect I can do that with any group on Ravelry, (as an aside I don't know why people set up private groups on Ravelry that can be read by anyone) but by putting it on watch the group is marked and easy to find.

Finally I decided to join a group which made oddball blankets similar to the group I belonged to in Canada. There are some slight differences with this group. For example each person only has to knit 4 inches.

Here is my first contribution. The name of the blanket is Anchors Aweigh so this pattern I found in one of my stitch dictionaries was very appropriate. I wasn't too sure how it would come out but it is showing up better than expected. The yarn was left over from the blanket shown in this post. So nice to be able to use up yarn.

I was the last person to work on the main blanket - the next person will work the edging so this group likes the last person to use the needles and cast on a new blanket. So I did. Also using yarn leftover from that blanket.

There have been some finished projects but nothing I can post about yet as they are presents.

Not Secret Knitting

There are two or three things that I have made for other people for gifts, so I am not going to post pictures here yet just in case they are looking. But I did knit a dishcloth the other day. Although it was knitted for someone else it is not a Christmas or birthday present.

A dishcloth. I still have a small amount of dishcloth cotton in my stash; in fact less than I thought I had as I nearly bought yarn for this project. the only thing that stopped me was that Michael's did not have the right colour of blue so I decided to go ahead with brown.