I'm sewing again!!

Holy cow did it ever feel good to sit in front of my sewing machine again!! Last weekend I got about a third of the squares cut for my Half-Square Triangle Block of the Month (HST BOM).

I'm not sure which order this blogger app will post them, so I can't give the descriptions in order, so I'll do it chronologically.

I took a picture right after I finished the cutting to show the stacks of 4" squares. There's just over 500 there.

I took another one once I separated out the fabrics since I had cut them 6 layers at a time -- loving my new 60mm rotary cutter! There is nearly a quarter yard of each of the prints. I purchased 2 metres of 108" wide backing fabric to make the background half of each square, and cut 8-10 strips so far.

I was so happy to be sewing that of course I had to take a pic! I used 4 of each print and ended up with 104 HSTs. Pressing and trimming of them is tedious beyond words!!

Finally I show my finished square. It's a slight variation of the windmill block from one of the months. This is being donated to the quilting group I belong to and is going into a quilt that will be raffled off. I am very happy with how it turned out, with nearly perfect matching points and am even more enthusiastic about working on my quilt!!

I should know better..

...than to make any kind of plans to finish something!

I was just cruising along on my A Little Bit Irish cardigan, or so I thought! I'm not sure if I messed up while at the airport, but I know I messed up on the increases while at knit night. The end result was frogging 7 rows of work:

Then I had to knit it all up again so I wouldn't have a knotted mess:

Now I can cruise again until it's time to start the next ball of yarn, and I'll pause to count rows and stitches and such then!

Travelling means slippers!

I can't recall exactly when the tradition started, but whenever Derek travels, I make him a new pair of slippers. He used to "blow through" a pair every time he went away, so I simply began making him a new pair before he left! Well, he has needed a new pair for some time now, and since his flight is at 7am, I figured it was about time I made some! I'm proud to announce my first FO of 2012: Derek's Travelling Slippers

I have also set up knitmeters on the sidebar to note how much yarn I've worked through this year. I downloaded my stash database on Ravelry, and it's over 170 km of yarn! Since this project was about 183m, that means I crocheted up 1/1000th of my stash! LOL! I will only be adding to that total as a project is finished, so the numbers will stay static until projects are done.

I am currently working on the yoke of my cardigan while I wait for the time for Derek and I to leave for the airport. I'm not getting the 3+ hours of knitting time as I had hoped because his 7am flight requires us to leave home by 2am! I can knit by feel somewhat, but I can't knit in total darkness. Here's how the collar turned out:

I will keep on working on this until it's time to get ready to go in about an hour or so. We printed up the pattern for the rose-coloured afghan today, so I'm pretty sure that Derek thinks that is the project I will be working on... won't he be surprised when he returns?!? I'm also hoping to have the cardigan done, or nearly done by the time he gets back. The cardigan, the popcorn afghan, and the commissioned projects will definitely keep me busy mindlessly for when I need a diversion from my mind wandering to places that it best not wander off to.


Nicole =o)

The little swatch that could!

Yesterday I was talking about my swatch, and here it is:

This is the third one I did, and is the correct stitch count per inch at long last! I slogged through the rest of the collar and got started on the body. I only did a couple rows of the body, enough to establish the increases. Those couple of rows were enough to make it easier going now that I'm using the larger needle size. 3.5mm needles and worsted/ aran weight yarn don't mix all that well, no matter how good your needles are! I'm not sure how much I will get done on this daily... I'm sorta aiming for around 10 rows, but since it will be over 300 stitches at the underarm before dividing for the sleeves, that number is definitely negotiable! I'm taking this project and Raith's socks with me on the drive to the airport, so I will have 3 solid hours of knitting time, and possibly more if I wait with Derek for his flight!

I want this project to be one of my "mindless" ones, which means that I don't really have to think. Follow the directions on the pattern, and "just do it"! I like these kinds of projects for the break from the brain-busting that some of my designing does. It's a treat to be able to just sit and knit and not have to think about what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and getting it written down in a way that resembles English. It's relaxing and soothing in a way that is hard to describe. I enjoy designing... I really do, but I also like to zone-out and feel the rythym of the stitches being formed by my fingers. All that being said, I am changing the type of increases that the pattern calls for. It calls for all eight increases to be standard m1 increases. While this type will serve the purpose, I really prefer to have mirrored increases, especially in a place as visible as a raglan sleeve. The increases I do are a type of lifted increase that I saw in a book once, and they give it a very nice look IMO. They don't take any more time, and I do them without really thinking about it anyway... kind of like how I do a ssk for any decrease paired with a k2tog, or a sl1 k2tog psso for any centred double decrease.

In unrelated news, I found the other missing pattern for my UFO afghan. I was searching around Ravelry a bit when I remembered a printed pattern I had found in the craft room by "SAG55". Searched a little bit more, and found the pattern I wanted on the Internet Archive. It's called Basketweave Afghan, and I remember it being a completely brainless project. It was my "bus project" for some time until it basically out-grew the shopping bag I carried it in. When I was looking at it, I guess-timated it to be around 50% done, and that's how I've entered it into my projects page. I also entered Derek's Popcorn MAM into my projects, but that pattern isn't linked in Ravelry either. I get started on that one Wednesday night!


Nicole =o)

You ought to be in pictures!!!

First of all, please excuse the poor formatting for this post... I'm a bit out of practice with my HTML tags and such!! In any case, I'm happy to showcase a couple of recent design photos. Below is the official photo for the sock pattern Walk in the Garden. It's worked in sportweight wool on 2.75mm needles. It was originally designed for Ram Wools' footworks 1.0 design contest.

Below is the baby afghan I've named Manny. I created a new stitch for this design that gives it a thermal quality.

Below is a photo of one of the knitted MAM strips for the pattern Melissa. It's knit with a soft worsted weight yarn on 5.0mm needles. I'm really liking how it's turning out.

The light at the end of the tunnel...

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and for once I'm certain that it's not a train coming towards me!!! I've been working fast and furious on my Mystic Ocean shawl over the last few weeks. If you are on Ravelry, check out my project page for this shawl! This time I linked the progress photos directly to the larger images available on my Flickr photostream.


6 days work from the previous status shot, and I've got another clue done! This chart gets the length of the shawl to 226 rows total. It feels like it will never end!!! You can finally start to see what the finished pattern will look like, and I'm very impressed with how it is turning out.



The morning that Derek left for Edmonton, I finished the 4th clue. I finally got a really nice photo in natural light for the last clue, so I made sure that I did it again for this one. The shawl is measuring over 5 feet across at this point, and I'm working on my 5th ball of yarn.


Somehow I managed to get 32 rows knitted in just over 3 days! I am really picking up speed even though each row is nearly 300 stitches!!! I just want to get this shawl done and blocked! I am beginning to worry about having enough yarn to finish up with. The pattern called for 1200 metres, and I started the 6th ball half-way through this chart. I have 4 *spare* balls of it, so I have my fingers crossed that it will be enough. I have 3 more sections to do, so it will be close! Wish me luck!

Moving right along!

Yes... Mystic Ocean is moving right along. The current is strong and swift, and with a little bit of luck, this journey will be complete no later than the end of May! Larger images of these photos are available at my Flickr Photostream, as well as more details of this project in my Ravelry notebook. The pattern I am using is Mystic Waters, and was designed by Anna Dalvi at knitandknag, as a mystery KAL in late 2007. I have named my version Mystic Ocean since the blue-green colour makes me think of the ocean, and it fits in with the theme of the element of water!

The yarn is Estelle Watercolours in a blue/green colourway {#21} that I bought at Ram Wools during the trip to Winnipeg that Derek and I recently took. It's a 50/50 mohair/acrylic blend, and is really nice to work with for a fuzzy yarn. Each 50g ball has approximately 160m, so according to the pattern, I need about 6 balls. To make things easier, I bought the entire bag of 10... I have to admit that the 50% price tag of $2.99 a ball made that decision a lot easier!!!

It took me about 2 days {including frogging my first attempt!} to get the first chart done. Derek was thoroughly impressed with how nice it was turning out even then. Just 60 rows of knitting so far, and I was quite pleased myself!

A couple of days later, I had the second chart complete, which was also signalled the end of the first clue. I was now 130 rows in, with no looking back... well except at the chart for the previous row so that I could make sure my stitches were in the right place of course! The top edge stretched out would be about 36" at this point, as I had a few stitches fall off of my needle as this picture was taken! The design is now quite evident in the project, and I need to find a way to stretch it more for my progress photos since the variegation in the yarn doesn't hide the stitch pattern.

Another week, and another clue done! Working really cuts into the knitting time, and each charted row takes about 10 minutes to knit. Completing chart C makes the shawl 184 rows long, with a stitch count of 188 stitches. I tried to stretch this out more, but need a better background so that you can see the openwork more clearly. The larger photo at Flickr shows the detail a bit better. The top edge is now at least 60" when stretched. I used two of my 32" circs to display it for the picture, and I could have pulled it out further. With around 200ish more rows to go, it will be HUGE once complete!

And now as promised... PICTURES!!!

Yes! I've actually got the photographic proof that I've been accomplishing something around here. The only thing that didn't make it into this shoot was my new sock design. I'm going to keep that under wraps for the moment. I've uploaded blog-sized photos here, but if you are interested in seeing the larger versions, you can view them on my Flickr account. I also have some recent family shots added there as well.

Here's the finished photo of the socks I made for Derek's boss as a thank you for all the help and such they've given us. I hope he likes them! I even included a little card titled: "The Care and Feeding of your Hand-Knit Socks"!


Here's where I currently am with my first laceweight project, Steph's "Snowdrop Lace Shawl" done in Clea on 4 mm needles.


This is the current state of my blue shawl. It's around 16" and I've used up 2 balls of Patons Glittallic on it so far. Derek chose the yarn and the pattern, so I'm looking forward to finishing this one.

The Year of the Shawl

2007 has certainly turned out to be the year of the sock for me! 18 pairs so far and still counting. I've joined a few shawl groups, and have decided that 2008 will be the year of the shawl for me. I'm kicking this off by casting on my Snowdrop Shawl today {picture below}. I've got it listed in my projects on Ravelry, and have a larger picture linked there from my Flickr. The thread is Clea 1000 that I bought at Ram Wools during their January sale, and I'm using 4.0 mm needles for it. Just from the cast on I can see the truism about knitted lace... it *does* look like shit!!! I know it will block out nice, and I have some hopes for this shawl that I'm knitting into it. I'm hoping to make this project one of my "storylines" for NaBloPoMo as well. Wish me luck!

You oughta be in pictures!!! Part Three

In this installment I bring you Lissa's shawl!


This is the overall view of her shawl in progress. From middle back to the outer edge is about 11" at this point. I haven't decided on final length yet as I'm about halfway through the first ball of yarn for this project.


A closer view of the Cat's Paw pattern that I'm using for her shawl. I think it adds just the right touch for a little girl's shawl.

You oughta be in pictures!!! Part Two

Part two of today pictorial... this one has my scrap yarn projects, namely the Ripple Afghan and the Cotton Floor Mat.


This is an overhead shot of the afghan. It's currently around 20" in length. I haven't decided yet how long I will make it. It's hard to tell how wide it is due to the relatively short length of the circ I'm using.


A closer shot to highlight the pattern that I'm using for the afghan.


This is the current status of my cotton floor mat. It's about 10"x16" at this point. I haven't decided how large I'll be going, but at least twice this size for sure.

You oughta be in pictures!!!

I've been busy with another one of my weekend goals... PICTURES!!! The quality ain't the best, but that's about all I can do with the dial-up. I'm gonna separate this into a couple of posts so that I don't overwhelm my system! This post will be my current socks.


These are Henry's socks... nearly done! The gusset stitches for sock #2 have already been all picked up, so it's just a matter of knitting the foot and weaving in ends on this one.


This is the first sock for Henry's wife. It will be staying at this point until I find out what her shoe size is.


This is the first picture of my Tofu socks. The pooling is... well... interesting. The tiny needles and resulting tiny guage is driving me crazy!


This shows the other side of my first Tofu sock. The pooling between the two sides makes me think of a 60's flower power design!!!

Quickie??

Well here is the pictorial of what I've been doing with the mitred squares.

This is the first square. I've semi-blocked it with my dpns since the stockinette curls so much.

Here are two squares from what will eventually be the edge of my project. I am blaming part of the curling on the crochet cast-on.

Here I've picked up the stitches for the first square in the second tier of squares. I've increased on the first {purl} row to get myself back up to the 41 stitches I need.

Here's the first three squares complete. Lots of ends everywhere to deal with, but that's minor {so far} if this whole thing works out!

This is how it's working out so far... it's definitely a work/ design *in* progress. Many thanks to "CW" {you know who you are!} for pointing out the obvious to me and solving my dilemma. I'll give you proper credit again later once your web site is functional.

How long does it take...

to get something removed out of your 4 year old's ear at the ER?

<-- This is how long!!! Since I usually count rows, it's worked out that I knit over half of the foot while waiting, and if this would have been a sock for me, I would have been hunting up a suture tray for scissors and a needle!!!

For those of you wondering what was in Alex's ear, it was a styrofoam "bean" from a bean bag chair... we had originally thought that it was the end of a Q-tip. The fact that it was a round piece of styrofoam explains why our attempts to remove it at home failed. They had to use suction to get it out, and Alex thought it was hilarious that they had to use a vacuum cleaner on his ear!!! While the night was long, boring, and seriously butt-killing, at least we've managed to get him to one week shy of his 5th birthday before his first ER trip!