FO Cover Song

Here is my second go at the Chelsea Market Hat.  This one was done up in US6 and US9 needles using Malabrigo RIOS. SO YUMMY.





I did run in to one tiny little problem. I was so excited to cast on that I didn't block my swatch, so when I finished the hat and it was a lovely fitting beanie, I suddenly became afraid of blocking it. What if it grew too big during blocking?

I did some time lord swatching, blocked it, seemed OK. Just to be safe, I wove some crochet thread around the brim and cinched it as tight as possible during blocking.

The hat turned out perfect! I think the crochet thread was the key to success in this project, I'm very happy with how it turned out, but I'm pretty sure the brim would have stretched too much without the reinforcement!



As always, check out Tami's for more FOs.

WIP a Garden in Time

Hey everyone!

Here is a project that I've been working on since October that hasn't seen a whole lot of blog time. The Something Pretty blanket. It's a crochet blanket, done in squares. My goal is to end up with 50 total. Right now I have 25 flowers, but they still need the square border around them.

I've been working on this pretty much exclusively at work. It's a nice small, portable project, plus it's a cinch to memorize. I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to finish this by the end of December. Which is good, because this is my dissertation project for Nerd Wars.  

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to visit Tami's for more WIPs. 

WIP Stars for Xmas

Hello everyone!

Before I start, just like to mention that my most recent video blog went up on Monday. If you have time to listen to a random knitter talk....


Now on to WIPs!  At fist glance this might seem like an FO post because I have already finished two of these stars, but because I plan on making GOBS of them to put on my Christmas Tree, I think they still count as a WIP!

The pattern is called stjarna, and the designer is Karolina Eckerdal. I'm enjoying this pattern, as I get to feel very clever when my worked in the round square shape suddenly develops points and starts to look start like :)

This project is going to be my Nerdology entry for R2 of Nerd Wars. The challenge is to explain how it relates to some other Nerdy thing that you enjoy (Wave your flag high.) For this challenge, I'm going to explain how I was a VERY nerdy anime geek and spent 5 years studying Japanese in college, this project specifically is linked to an anime called CLANNAD, where one of the female characters is obsessed with starfish and thinks that everything star shaped is meant to be that sea creature. It makes me smile thinking of how she would look at my star-studded Christmas Tree and see nothing but starfish! 

For more WIPs, check out Tami's!

Destress with spinning

Hello all,

So I missed a week of posting.  I've always known that knitting and spinning are really helpful ways to manage stress, but I think I sort of took it for granted. I took a few weeks off of spinning, because I got a bit of a spinning injury doing that lace. I felt so frazzled and stressed without my spinning! Knitting can be useful for destresing, but only if it's simple. I've been making mistake after mistake in my knitting lately so I've just been taking it easy with some granny squares.  I started missing spinning so much that I pulled out my little supported spindle from Hipstrings and worked on my cotton spinning a bit.

But today I started spinning a braid from galesart on my wheel. ooooooh, Wheel how I missed you!

Galesart is the highlighted artest for this cycles SAL in the Completely Twisted and Arbitrary group on raverlry. SALs are so useful and helpful for learning and for inspiration! I know my spinning has improved exponentially with the two SALs that I've already done, and look forward to learning more from the spinning community :)

Also round 1 of Nerd Wars ended! I successfully Dwarfed The Nebula, which is just a fancy way of saying I completed all five challenges. It is not a requirement, but you get a fancy badge and bragging rights if you do.

 

 

I also got an honorary badge from Team one more page because I mentioned a book (The Belgaraid by David Eddings ) in one of my challenge posts!

 



Spinning FO

Hey blog!

Today's post is a Spinning FO. I participated in two different SALS with this 4 oz braid of BFL. I'm really enjoying the SALs because they encourage me to try new things and I get exposed to new things that I might not have heard of otherwise! I've learned a LOT from doing the New-to-you Spin along with The Yarnraising podcast, and I also entered this in Fat Squirrels squirreled away SAL ^^;; Squee!

So this was a birthday present last year. I really thought I was going to buy myself a wheel for christmas last year but it just didn't pan out, bit of a bummer, but I got my wheel this August so this story has a happy ending :) I've been saving this braid until I felt like I had practiced a bit on the wheel, and so I was confident that I wouldn't  "ruin" it.

What I did was split the braid in half and spin each half on a seperate bobbin in order to do a two ply. The idea with this was to maintain the color changes without chain plying. On that end it was only a partial success, I did maintain some of the color change BUT I also got some barber polling. This is a combo of not splitting the braid evenly (maybe) and also because I didn't spin both singles consistantly. One was noticably thiner than the other. Oh well.

I am very pleased with the yarn over all though. At 26-30 WPI its the closest to lace weight I've ever spun. I also paid a lot of attention to the plying this time because I prefer yarns with a tighter twist in the ply and I feel like my previous yarns perhaps didn't have as much plying twist in them as I probably wanted. 

Ended up with 700 yards in the main skien. I had extra on one bobbin and got maybe 40 yards of chain ply from that :)

Thanks for reading, make sure to check out the other cool FOs at Tami's!

WIP all the things

Hey blog!

How are you? I'm doing good. My weekend was FULL of crafty goodness, I went to my first ever Spinning group meeting on Sunday, and then on Monday I spent a whole evening sewing a corset! It's my first ever project on my new sewing machine and (knock on wood) it's going well so far, I think I'm about halfway done!

Anyway, Lots going on in the knitting world too. I finished the Rikke Hat

I'm a little nervous about it. If it were for me it would be fine, but it is for a coworker and he hasn't been around to try the hat on - nerve racking. This is a heavy modification of the pattern which calls for DK weight, I had to drop down to size 4 needles and cast on 88 stitches instead of 96 and I STILL think it turned out a little slouchier than the original.... hope he likes it because I've already woven in all the ends. Lolz.

This is my second finished challenge for Nerd Wars!  I haven't posted it yet because.... It's going into the discovery challenge; something related to the atmosphere. That's easy, I'm gonna say the colors remind me of a stormy sky. The hard part is tying in both team spirit AND the Team unity project - that's a lot of writing that I don't feel like doing today XD

It's ok. I've already started on a project for my next challenge

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out Tami's for more WIPs!

FO Los Loirios

Hello blog!

As you may remember, I recently joined my first Mystery KAL, the Los Lirios Pattern by al-abrigo. It ran through the month of September and the pattern was free for people participating in the KAL. Unfortunately it's not available for free anymore, but it is an extremely well made pattern and it turned out very nice, so you should definitely consider buying it :)

the pattern calls for between 550-700 yards of lace weight yarn. I did the small size and used Juniper Moon Farm Findley a 50/50 silk/wool blend laceweight that comes with nearly 800 yards, so I had more than enough left over!
Knit on size 6 needles, and I love the way it drapes. I probably could have gone down a needle size or too, but I think it's very nice the way it came out :)

You shouldn't be surprised to hear, this is going to be part of my flex schedule entry for Nerd Wars Round 1.

Nerd Wars T9 Begins

Hello blog!

How are you? I've been busy and knitting more than usual this past week, because Nerd Wars Started on October 1st.  Have you heard of Nerd Wars?  It is a group on ravelry and a knitting game that spans three months. You join a team and complete monthly challenges to earn points and glory. There is also the option of doing a 'dissertation' project challenging enough to span all three months. If you are at all competitive and like to try to beat strange goals, this game might be for you. Of course sign ups for Tournament 9 teams have ended, but you can always play as a ninja or lurk until T10 starts ;)

I've already completed one challenge, under the encyclopedia category this months challenge was something inspired by a zoo trip. My husband and I spent two whole days at zoos during our honeymoon so I had lots of sources of inspiration. I chose to knit this baby giraffe hat because we saw lots of baby animals, including giraffes, on our visit :)

I have so many more things on the needles right now including another hat and a pair of mittens.  I've also finished the MKAL and am working up another 4oz braid on my wheel :)

My dissertation project is going to be the something pretty blanket, yes I'm using crochet for my big three month challenge. I'm knitting it in hobby lobby I love this cotton!, the flowers are going to be various shades of orange and yellow.



Watch this space I'm sure there will be more to come!

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say....

Hello blog!  How are you?

Today I'm cooking a new recipe - or I should say, I'm editing one. I'm taking the Pot Roast recipe I made last week and doing the same thing except with chicken. Smells good!  Anyway, Today's post is almost completely about pumpkins!

I'm Crocheting/knitting pumpkins for Team Pumpkin Spice (Decoy Army! Unite! ) It's for a fun little game people over at Nerd Wars are playing until T9 starts :) 

Got sick of knitting with my scrap bulky/sport weight yarn, so I went out and got some pumpkin colored worsted weight today. Also, I *may* have recently been gifted a sewing machine for my birthday, (Thanks mom and dad! XOXOX ), so I got the first tiny bits of supplies to start learning how to spin sew!  I'm sure Amanda and I will be making a Jo-Ann Fabrics run for supplies in the near future and I'll be getting even more of a fabric stash :) 

As always, check out more creative WIPs at Tami's :)

WIP Madness

Hey guys, how are you?  

I’m GREAT.  Why? Because September is almost over >.< September has not been a good month for me so far, but there is a light at the end of the month! If you know anything about Nerd Wars  you might know that Tournament 9 starts October first, and I’m going to be playing!!! It’s my first time participating and I’m super excited ^_^ I will be joining my current favorite nerdery, Team Tardis!

September is the Month-off between the end of T8 and the beginning of T9  and there is a mini game – CUTE ARMY OF DEATH  (death part may have been added by me. ) Goal is to knit/crochet as many cute creatures as possible.  I’ve spearheaded Team Pumpkin Spice and am creating an Army of pumpkins! BWAHAHAHA!

 If interested please join me as one of my pumpkin crafting minions. To keep from boredom I’m using these four different patterns:

 Crochet Pumpkin 1

Crochet Pumpkin 2

Knit Pumpkin 1

Knit Pumpkin 2

Just a note, if you are following my other WIPS:

Demask : Zero progress

Renegade : I’ve started the moss stitch but it seems waay too lose. Must consult with designer, may frog back to the ribbing and add some decreases.

Dongo : Zero progress, the cool pattern I bought has a new crochet stitch in it that I’m struggling with

MKAL : As I write this, I still haven’t finished clue 2 even though the 3^rd clue comes out  TOMORROW.  It’s been a rough week. But I only have 14 rows to go and tomorrow is still a day off. I CAN DO THIS!

That’s all for today. Check back on Friday for my latest FO. Spoiler alert, it’s a hat ;)

Until then, check out Tami’s  for more WIPs!