Stitch, Brinn, Stitch!

FO: Aviatrix

November 10, 2010 in knitting, swap | Tags: finished object, FO, hat, knitting, swap, wwfy | Leave a comment

I finished the first of three WWFY items for OliviaGoddess. It’s a hat for a toddler.

Pattern: Aviatrix
Yarn: Jojoland Rhythm Superwash
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm, US 9/5.5 mm
Mods: None. Knit as written

So… I’m totally in love with this hat. LOVE IT. It’s an adorable design, and the chin strap is ingenious for babies. ADORABLE. So much so that I will have to make one for myself (but bigger, obviously0. I’m sensitive about things on my neck/under my chin, so instead of the long strap connecting to the side, I might make two shorter straps, one on each side and I won’t fasten them. I might still sew on buttons though.

I knit this hat up in a couple of hours: it’s SUPER fast. And the yarn, which is something that I’ve never used cause it’s a little out of my price point (but was sent to knit the hat for the recipient), is soft and squooshy and wonderful and I wish I could afford it more. Yay.

Tomorrow: another FO probably. Cause I knit like the wind.

WWFY

November 9, 2010 in stash, swap | Tags: knitting, stash, swap, wwfy, yarn | Leave a comment

So I recently arranged a WWFY (Will Work for Yarn, a swap group on Ravelry) trade to knit a couple of things. : ) I received the yarn yesterday with all the other packages.

Here’s the yarn I was sent to knit with:

JoJoLand Rhythm for an Aviatrix baby hat, Claudia Hand-Painted Merino for a Cloud Bolero, and Cashmerino Aran for some Improvisation mitts.

Here is the yarn I received in payment:

That’s Jaggerspun Zephyr wool/silk dk. I absolutely cannot wait to knit it up–it’s GORGEOUS. Not sure what I’m going to knit with it yet, but whatever it is, it will be gorgeous. Yay.

Tomorrow: A knitting FO, probably. I knit like the wind.

Mail Call!

November 8, 2010 in stash | Tags: birthday, life, mail, stash, yarn | Leave a comment

I received four packages in the mail today.

One of them was full of WWFY goodness that I’ll show you tomorrow.

One of them was a couple of skeins of Cascade Eco that I ordered in order to knit more shark mittens on commission.

One of them was some black 12 gauge wire for making knit headbands:

and one of them was an early (by exactly a month) birthday present from my sister:

That’s right; I am now the proud owner of my very own digital yarn scale. It’s the one from Knit Picks that weighs up to 2000 g and down the to half gram. I can now divide my sock yarn exactly in order to knit socks two at a time. Yay! I’m super excited. I may go measure all my yarn scraps so I know how much I have…

Sweater Progress

November 7, 2010 in knitting | Tags: knitting, sweater, wip, work in progress | Leave a comment

This post is a bit late in the day, but still on today, so my NaBloPoMo record is still good.

Anyway, I’ve made some progress on the boyfriend sweater:

I finished a sleeve and attached it and am currently working on the second sleeve. I seem to have misplaced my last skein of yarn, so I’ll have to locate that before I get too much farther along, but I think it’s possible I might have enough yarn. Maybe. Hopefully.

Two Years!

November 6, 2010 in knitting, life | Tags: boyfriend, knitting, life, sweater, wip, work in progress, yarn | Leave a comment

That’s how long the boyfriend and I have been together. Tomorrow is our official anniversary, but since he’s going home tomorrow to take the GRE, we’re celebrating tonight with dinner and a movie (followed by an unrelated party with our friends). The morning of our celebratory today was alright quite lovely–we slept in til noon, woke up slowly, had a quick breakfast then went for a walk (in the middle of which I obtained a delicious white chocolate mocha + extra shot of espresso).

Speaking of the boy, I have been working on his birthday sweater somewhat off and on. I finished the body up to the armpit and have started a sleeve:

That’s 15.5 of the 22 inches I’m going to need for the sleeve and almost an entire ball of Comfy Bulky. I have two balls left to do the rest of this sleeve plus a whole other sleeve and about 3/4 of a ball attached to the body for the top part of the body of the sweater. I think it’s pretty safe to say I’m going to need more yarn. I think I’ll put a post up on the Ravelry DS/ISO board today.

Happy Saturday all!

Sewing Accoutrement Swap: Part Two

November 5, 2010 in sewing | Tags: buttons, sewing, swap, thread catcher | Leave a comment

My partner received the thread catcher I sent her, so today I can show it off!

It’s a pretty simple design–little pouch, connected to a bean bag with plastic pellets in it to weigh it to the table. Lovely.

I whipped up the main thread catcher in no time at all, but I had a hell of a time deciding how to decorate it. I’m very pleased with what I settled on though. Buttons and lace. ❤ I love how the buttons are all different.

Yay.

It’s Thursday!

November 4, 2010 in blog, life | Tags: clothes, life, nablopomo, what I'm wearing | Leave a comment

And I’m still working on Leyburn, so instead you get a bad self-photo of what I’m wearing today!

Sweater: Owls, knit in Cascade Ecological Wool
Shirt: Hand-me-down from my sister, who is both larger and younger than me. It does not appear to have a brand tag.
Jeans: Thrift store, pegged by me for wearing in boots.
Boots: Steve and Barry’s, before they went out of business. $9. Hell yes.
Jewelry: Two Disney rings from my grandmother (that I always wear), blue Pocohontas-ish necklace that was a gift from the boyfriend.

No worries, I don’t anticipate making this a regular feature of the blog. Unless you want me to. Mostly I am all about the swaps and the finished knits and sewing projects and whatnot. Tomorrow will probably be more sock. Or something. Later this month I plan to do a tutorial on grafting (Kitchener stitch) in pattern (like seed stitch or cables or something). I need to write it up though. Along with the pattern for my Halloween cape.

So yes. NaBloPoMo!

WIP: Leyburn

November 3, 2010 in knitting, life | Tags: bones, knitting, life, socks, tv, wip, work in progress | Leave a comment

Day three of NaBloPoMo! Whoo!

I believe I mentioned it yesterday, but I started a sock. A Leyburn sock. A Leyburn sock in SWTC Tofutsies. It looks like this so far:

I like it. I had to undo the bit after the heel and reknit it cause I made it too tight the first time, but other than that, the fit is pretty good. I had wanted to knit these two at a time, but I wound my yarn into a single ball. I’m getting a scale for my birthday (which is in December but I’ll probably get it sometime this month) from my sister, and once I do I can split single balls, but until then, I don’t want to guess, so I’m just knitting one at a time.

In other news: I’ve started watching Bones. I’ve caught the odd episode before, but I never watched it consistently, so now I am. I’m about halfway through the first season (watching it online on Netflix), and I do like it a lot. One of these days I’ll get around to knitting Traveling Woman and Temperance (I already made Saroyan).

FO: Brambles

November 2, 2010 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, hat, knitting, nablopomo | Leave a comment

Day two of NaBloPoMo. So far so good, albeit late.

Pattern: Brambles from the latest Knitty
Yarn: Cascade 220, probably about 2/3 of a skein.
Needles: US 6
Mods: None. I worked the small brim size and the medium length cause I was concerned about yarn (I think I would have had plenty for the longest size)

So I like this hat. Think it’s cute. And I needed another hat. Though it occurs to me that I need another hat that isn’t blue–I have like three blue ones and a grey one and a brown one. I like the pattern (I love the flower-ish shape on the top) and Cascade 220 is always good. I was worried I wouldn’t have enough yarn, but I had plenty. Not that I anticipate making this again (I don’t often repeat patterns), but if I did, I would make the shortest version as that’s really all that’s necessary.

Anyway, yeah. Knitting. I started some socks, which I will show you tomorrow. I’m expecting some WWFY stuff, which I’ll show you when it arrives. Hopefully I can get pictures up every day of this NaBloPoMo thing and hopefully they won’t all be this late. It’ll be interesting at least. : )

NaBloPoMo and Such

November 1, 2010 in other people's crafts/cool things, swap | Tags: nablopomo, pin cusion, sewing, swap | 1 comment

So I’ve decided to participate in NaBloPoMo for the month of November. NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month, is a challenge to post on your blog every day for the month of November. So I’m going to try. I might have to do a couple of silly memes, and there might not always be pictures, but I’m going to try. Because why the hell not?

In other news, I have a swap thing to share today. I did a personal swap with craftsunderground/Maria for a sewing accessory. I received the pin cushion she made for me today:

I think it’s super cool. : ) She asked me to pick from several themes, and I picked chess or champagne (clearly she went with the former). I love that it’s sort of heavy so it won’t fall over and there’s plenty of room for pins. Yay!

I finished the thing I made for her, but I haven’t sent it yet, so I’ll post about that after she receives. I also finished the Brambles hat I mentioned the other day. It’s currently blocking, but I should have pictures of that tomorrow.