Juneberry WIP

Hello everyone,

Progress on the Juneberry shawl increased considerably this past week, and you will definitely be seeing it in it's finished form on friday.
It's my second time working a knit-on-edging, and I find the process to be very fascinating. For those who have never seen it or done it before, let me just say that you start by casting on 20 new stitches, and you knit the edging by basically knitting a scarf, attaching it to the main body of the shawl by knitting one shawl stitch together with the last edging stitch every RS row.  For Juneberry, the knit-on-edging makes up a substantial part of the shawl - I used 1 1/2 balls of yarn just in the edging portion of the shawl.




the shawl is going to be big. Unblocked it's already big enough to wrap comfortably around my shoulders. Looking forward to blocking it which will be my first time using actual blocking wires :)



As always, you can see more WIPS at Tami's 

FO : Frosting Hat

Hi again,

As you can tell blogging and I are not getting along. I've been finding it really difficult to find the time to blog. I even tried writing blogs ahead of schedule when I had time, saving them as drafts, which is how I managed to forget to post the Zombie Vixen FO.

Even harder than finding time to write (Aaron is always on my computer!) Is getting decent photos of finished objects. I finally just gave up on trying to get anything decent for the hat, so bare with me. So here it is, My 3rd go at the Frosted pattern.

Funnily enough, even though everything was stacked against this pattern, it turned out just how I wanted it! Using the wrong size yarn with an incorrect gauge paid off against all odds. True it's tighter and less slouchy than the other two versions of this pattern that I've knit, but in this case that turns out not to be such a bad thing after all ^^:;

Don't forget to check out Tami's for more FO post!

FO: Zombie Vixen Mitts

Hello everyone,

Todays FO was originally supposed to be a Christmas present, but it didn't get finished in time. Since the recipient (Who I'm pretty sure doesn't read this blog. Fingers crossed), and I don't live in the same state, I decided to take it slow on finishing these after Christmas. These have been my primary at-work knitting project!




A few things about this pattern. First off, it's really great. Both well written and also with some great zombie humor thrown in. The one part of the pattern I was really skeptical about was the thumb, but I bit my tongue and did as she said and it turned out perfect! Most thumbs that I've knit involve picking up stitches around the held stitches, but this pattern doesn't. This creates a little bit of a hole that you just sew closed when you are weaving in.

Unfortunately, although the finished product is awesome, I found these mitts unpleasant to knit. Usually I love cables to death but these were a little bit fiddly. Especially the one-stitch ones. I usually knit without a cable needle but found that it was actually faster to use one for some of the more unique cabled bits.

The other part is I'm not sure I'm 100% in love with the yarn. It's soft and it doesn't split at all, but it seemed unpleasantly lose while I was knitting even though I had perfect gauge. I have enough for another pair of mitts or possibly some socks, so we will see if my opinion changes or not!



Pattern : Zombie Vixen Mitts
Yarn :  Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label (420 yards, I used about half)
Color : Mallard
Needle : US0

See more FO's at Tami's!

What a WIP

Hey everyone, I'm back after a completely unintentional silence! Last week I just never seemed to find the time to take pictures or write.

I've got some lovely WIPs for you today, First up, Juneberry!





This is my "total relaxation"  knit. I only knit this project when I am already relaxed and happy, which explains why it hasn't been getting much attention lately. I'm really looking forward to finishing this, but I don't want to knit any negatives vibes into it at all!
When I picked it up this weekend I was on row 14/26 from Chart D. Finished up chart D today at lunch ^^;;



Frosting Hat.



I am knitting this hat as a huge experimental swatch. If it doesn't work out I will frog it, shrug, and walk away un-affected. I've had to make this very clear to myself because I knew from the outset that everything about this project is wrong. I'm using Dream in color smooshy, which is fingering weight, when this pattern calls for worsted. My gauge is 6.5 sts per inch when the pattern calls for 5 sts per inch. I did not change the CO number to reflect this. I can't in any way justify my decision to start this project knowing all these things, but I just really really wanted to. It's a disease.

Endpaper mitts.



I started these in December before I decided to do a few last minute Christmas knits, and haven't touched them since! Finally started knitting them again last week. I'm really enjoying the combination of this pattern and the yarn (Broklyntweed loft) . Finished 3 repeats of the chart and am getting ready to start increasing for the thumb gusset. So far can't complain! With a pattern so clear it's hard to make mistakes. My only concern is that My guage tends to get really tight when I knit color work. The first couple of rows are perfect but I worry that it'll tighten up the more I go - but hopefully a combination of increasing for the thumb, and washing and blocking afterwards will be enough to balance that out. Also I try to consciously knit looser with this than I do normally.

Interim Mitts.  (not pictured. )

These are teaching me that I still have much to learn about crochet. I have frogged them for a 2nd time, but am not ready to give up yet, oh no! Keep an eye out for more updates on this one.


Must say it feels weird to have "only" four projects going.  I'm trying to pace myself so I don't run out of stashed yarn before my yarn budget kicks in again, but I've already started eyeing some more patterns. There's some red-fingerless mitts that will probably happen soon, and my Tosh Lace is just screaming to get some attention. Also there is a hibernating beaded lace project that I should probably pull back out.... I made a mistake in it and have to decided if I'm going to frog it or just keep it the way it is.

In the meantime, for more WIPs, check out Tami's

Random Tuesday

Hello everyone, 

It's kinda rainy and dark out this afternoon, but I thought I'd pop in for a brief update. It's been awhile since I've checked my mail, since all I have is a PO Box right now, so I stopped at the post office today and sure enough : 






The first packet is my 2nd braid from Willow Mist Acres Braid Bonanza club, the second is a solicitation for a knitting magazine subscription. I included it in this photo because I was just so tickled pink to be getting yarn junk-mail. Just finding an envelope with the words "Love of knitting" on them put a big grin on my face. I'm not really big on knitting magazines though, so I'm not really familiar with love of knitting at all, and had to google it when I got home to see what it was all about. 
Anyway, enough talk, I'm sure you want to see what the fiber looks like :





Once again, I love the colors!!!!  Especially the orange and the teal! ZOMG ^^;;
For refference, here is my current progress with the first braid :

The first braid was 5.2 oz (there was a bit extra thrown in ) The second one is 4 oz.

FO Friday - Hat

Hello all. I promise to get back to the knitting soon, but for now, I finished a hat. It's Crochet.

The pattern is a slouchy beanie and it was very simple, quick, and fun to do.
I knit it using various leftover DK weight from some baby-blanket projects I did last year. The purple bits are peaches N Cream cotton which worked surprisingly well, considering.

I found the puff stitch very relaxing and slouchy hats are extraordinarily forgiving of newbie crochet mistakes ^__^ 

I'm also *practically* done with the Zombie Vixen mitts.... Just 7 rows of ribbing and a thumb remain!

See more FO's at Tami's!