So Beautiful

I finally finished my Celestarium! I can't tell you how happy this makes me - partly because it's one of the most beautiful things I have ever made, and partly because it felt like it would never, ever be done *laughs*

I love it, I want to wear it everywhere. To the supermarket, to the petrol station, even sat in my office with no one here to see it ;)

 I had quite a few beads, and plenty of yarn, left when I got to the border, so instead of doing the plain knit on border, I added a few rows of k2tog, yo, which gives a nice lattice, and added a row of beads. This plan also gave me the flexibility to block the garter stitch border into points... Which saved the headache of trying to figure out how to block a perfect circle *laughs*

This is an intermediate in-action shot, hopefully to be replaced with a proper picture of me wearing it once my photographer gets home ;)

The way I shaped the edges means it actually sits really nicely on my shoulders, which is great because I had no idea how I was going to wear it! 

I love the yarn (malabrigo sock - and I even have enough left for a short pair of socks!) and the colour, and the beads, and the pattern.... I just love it all, in case you couldn't tell!

It's my first circular project, and my first ever project with beads, so I'm really happy with how it came out.

Nameless Socks

Hey, check it out, it's Friday and I actually have a finished object to share *laughs*

I don't think I have actually posted these socks before at all, but they've been my "I have 10 minutes, I'll do a couple of rows" project for a few weeks now.

I haven't blocked them, because I wanted to wear them straight away - blocking socks is really only something I do for the sake of good pictures, and that doesn't always work anyway ;) So please ignore the lumpy bits *laughs* They are the same length, not sure why they don't look it!

They're made from KnitPicks Felici sock yarn - the same yarn I used for my Super Awesome Happy Rainbow socks. I love those socks, the yarn is so soft and they've held up really well, so I asked for some more Felici for my birthday.

I did a garter stitch short row heel. I'd used the technique on a different pair of socks and the heels are nicely bouncy, so I thought I do another set that way. It has nothing to do with laziness and avoiding purling, honest *laughs*

I do have on problem though...

These socks do not have a name. My mum is a big fan of the names I give my socks, but for some reason I haven't found one for these. The colourway is Hummingbird, so they could be Hummingbird Socks, but that doesn't sit right. So, any ideas?!

Well That's Dead

Ages ago, I knit cunning boyfriend a dishcloth to use at his flat, as he was quite taken with using the ones I had at mine. Once he had it, he wouldn't go back to regular cloths or sponges (apart from when the knit cloth was in the wash anyway) *laughs*

When we moved in together, I noticed it was getting a little bit worn and made a mental note to knit a replacement. I should note that boyfriend does more than his fair share of the washing up because it is one of my most hated household jobs (we do have a dishwasher now though!)

The mental note became a "do this now" note when I picked up the cloth a couple of days ago and saw the state it had become!

Yeah, so that's dead *laughs* I think this is the first thing I have made that has actually worn out too.

So, new yarn ordered, and new cloth created:

Look how fresh it is compared to the old one - I think I need to work on replacing these perhaps a little more often (or at least make plenty so they can work in rotation!)

I went with an alternating pattern of garter stitch and moss/seed stitch for scrubbing capabilities and to keep me interested ;)

I think cunning boyfriend will be pleased with it when he gets home *smiles* I just need to work on a second one now.

I did actually make another dishcloth yesterday, but that one is for my mum who was quite taken with the little one I made her for Christmas and asked for a larger one. So I need a bit of a rest from cotton right now!

Oh, So Pretty

I should preface this post by mentioning that I don't tend to knit lace, and I don't tend to buy pastel coloured yarns - I'm more of a brights girl ;)

So the shawl I am about to show you for this FO / Creative Friday may come as a bit of a surprise - it certainly did to me *laughs* It started when I bought this yarn from A Stash Addict...

I was drawn to its delicate softness, and when it arrived I knew it wasn't going to be socks. I don't usually have yarn that tells me what it wants to be, but this was adamant it would be lace.

Last weekend, boyfriend and I had a housewarming party, and I decided a week before that, that I wanted a shawl to wear - so this yarn came out of its cosy stashed hiding place and became:

My Pastel Peacock. The Peacock Shawlette pattern starts from the lace, so requires a crazily long cast on - but then it gets faster and faster as you knit it - something I very much liked *laughs* In fact, it was a ridiculously fast project, that only took me 3 days (admittedly I did nothing but knit for much of that time, but that's not really the point).

I am excited to say that there are no mistakes in the lace - a first for me *grins* Usually I have to bodge something somewhere along the way, but this came out perfectly.

The colours are quite hard to capture (aren't they always?!) but the picture below is probably the most accurate. I love how the yarn looks in this pattern, it all fit together just how I wanted it.

All in all, I am in love with this project - it isn't my usual type of thing and that makes it even better I think. Of course now I want to knit all the lace shawls ever, but that's pretty much my way *laughs*

New Sock Days Are Good Days

For some reason, I have saved my Ice Cream Waffle socks to wear after blogging about them - so now that I have taken pictures and am composing my FO / Creative Friday post, they have finally made it on to my feet *laughs*

I really like the way the yarn pooled on the foot - but then, I actually like it when my sock pools into interesting patterns ;)

I'm not 100% convinced by these socks, sadly. I knit them to the pattern size that had 64 stitches, because I pretty much always knit 64 stitch socks. However that's when they are plain, and this pattern has very little give in it. So they're a little snugger than I would normally like, even after blocking.

When they're on my feet, the way they stretch makes the pattern quite hard to see, which is a shame because it is a nice pattern (V Junkie)

I really like the circles/waffle effect. I'm not too sure about the cuff though, I think a ribbed cuff tends to make a bit more sense, the one in the pattern has a tendency to roll.

One thing I am liking so far is the heel - it's a short row heel but done in garter stitch instead of stocking stitch. I wasn't too sure how that would feel on, but it's really soft and bouncy. Time will tell on that though! If it works, I might do all my short row heels this way - no purling required *laughs*

I have just under half a ball of this yarn left, and I have some plain brown yarn too - so there may be some interestingly striped socks in my future. But I have a lot of sock yarn, so that probably won't happen for some time!

I know I mentioned on Wednesday that I have a few more finished objects to share, but I think I'll save those for another Friday ;)

Well, They Got Finished And That's The Best I Can Say About Them!

I have a finished project that I haven't posted about despite finishing it a couple of weeks ago... Well, by "finished" I pretty much mean "cast off because I was sick of it" *laughs*

Behold - The Noro Socks of Frustration and Disappointment:

While the colours are great, I don't like anything else about them *laughs* The yarn was awful to work with, thick and thin, it came apart in my hands at least 3 times, and just rough and unpleasant to the touch.

I haven't blocked them yet, but hopefully a soak in some hair conditioner will soften them up!

Because I got sick of them, they're really short and hard to photograph without looking weird, so I tried to take an arty shot...

*laughs* Not my best work!

When I split the ball of yarn into 2, I decided to wind one ball in a different direction to the other, so that I would get a kind of upside down mismatch...

It worked, but I gave up on them before I finished a full colour repeat. I tried but in the end decided that knitting something that I got no pleasure out of was a bad plan so I cast off early. And that was such a good feeling!

Brown, Brown and More Brown

Fridays with no finished projects make me sad.

Which explains my excitement in discovering that I had a project that was finished ages ago but never got blogged about *laughs* It's not the most exciting one in the world, but it is finished and that counts ;)

My brown legwarmers. Yeah, exciting, I know *laughs*

I made up the pattern, if you can call it a pattern - ribbing, stocking stitch and more ribbing:

I'm actually pretty pleased with them, they look pretty dull (especially thanks to the yarn of overwhelming sameness) but they're cosy which is the whole point. And they used up my leftover Rowan Pure Wool Aran, which took up an absurd amount of space.

I made them of a length that I could either wear them ruched up, or unruched but with the top ribbing folded over.

I tried to take pictures, but the colour was all over the place and annoyed me, so here is the ruched look in black and white *laughs* Honestly, it's bad enough that the top two pictures don't have the same colour, I couldn't cope with a third variation!

Anyway, for no doubt more interesting and colourful Friday finishes, head over to Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder

The Princess and The Unicorn

I finished my Princess Unicorn socks!!!

That may not seem like it warrants 3 exclamation marks, but as they have been on the needles for a year, I think a small punctuation celebration is in order *laughs*

Hmmm, strange contortionist picture there ;)

So, this yarn was a Christmas gift from boyfriend, last Christmas. And I finished the second sock thanks to some knitting time this Christmas *laughs* This is why I now knit socks 2 at a time!

To explain the name of these socks - the yarn colourway is called Unicorn. And you can see from this picture below that I have given these socks Princess Soles (click the link for more information on what that means):

This is the first time I have knitted princess soles for myself, and they really are wonderfully comfortable. My feet aren't that sensitive, so I probably won't make all my socks this way, but they are especially luxurious - especially when you factor in the alpaca yarn ;)

So, those are my princess unicorn socks. I posted an FO just before Christmas, but it wasn't on a Friday, so here is my Subtle Stripes Cardigan again, for anyone who didn't see it ;)

You know the Friday drill - head over to Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder for some lovely FOs ;) 

Merry Christmas

I have no idea when I'll be posting over the Christmas break, so I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or wonderful festive break of your choice.

And, as a special Merry Christmas for Sarah, who has been waiting most impatiently for me to finish and show it off, I thought I would post my finished Subtle Stripes Cardigan *laughs*

It sadly wasn't finished blocking for Friday, but I hope the wait was worth it...

I had originally wanted to make long sleeves, but I didn't have enough yarn left. Which is a shame, but I really love how it looks so it's not the end of the world!

I was a bit worried that the body would be way too short, but it blocked to the right length.

Modifications-wise - I increased around the hips, so I could have buttons all the way down, as I don't suit cardigans that only button at the top (also, they seem kinda impractical to me!) I also knitted the inner button band in my contrast colour, which I really like. I'd done it initially in case I didn't have enough yarn, but even though I do have enough left to replace it, I'm leaving it as it is ;)

I really like the subtlety of the stripes in the similar greys, and I'm loving the way the yarn looks - Rowan Felted Tweed, for reference ;)

Anyway, that's enough showing off from me!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, whatever you decide to do.

xxx

The Cowl Does Not Make The Monk*

So much for my plan of scheduling some posts so there aren't big gaps when I'm busy at work *laughs* Ah well, I'm here now ;)

Despite having had a couple of weeks, I still haven't taken proper pictures of my cowl, but I'm going to show it off anyway!

I wasn't sure initially how the yarn would look in the pattern - being tweed yarn I was worried that the texture would be obscured. It's probably a little less striking than the pattern could be, but I love it anyway *grins*

The colour is somewhere between the top two pictures, it's one of those colours that my camera just hates.

I made the cowl the inbetween size, so I think I cast on 160 stitches. After blocking it's the perfect length to wrap twice around my neck without being tight. And by making it this length, I have a ball of the same yarn left so I can make a matching hat *grins*

Ok, brace yourself for a terrible picture (there was no light at all this morning)...

Oh, yeah, I also have new hair *laughs* It's shorter, and in a style that suits the fact that I am more of a messy hair kinda gal than all smooth and sleek ;) I dyed it too, and actually the colour in the picture isn't too far off, it's a light auburn and I really like it.

Details...

Pattern: Honey Cowl
Yarn: Knit Picks City Tweed DK, in the colour Jacquard (I loved working with this yarn, someone sent it to me in a swap package and now I want to make all sorts of things in it)
Modifications: Made a mid size, made it a little narrower to reduce bulk

You know the Friday drill - head over to Tami's and Wisdom Begins in Wonder for some lovely FOs ;) 

* The Cowl Does Not Make the Monk is apparently a proverb - not one I have ever heard but it made me laugh!

Spinning

Thanks for the comments and opinions yesterday - I still haven't decided what I'm going to make, but I think it might have to be Berwick, it just looks so snuggly ;)

Well, although I did finish my Tweedy Cowl, and blocked it, I am currently lacking my photographer who is away with work. So that'll have to wait.

Luckily I do have something finished to show you anyway ;)

I made more yarn *grins* Isn't it lovely?

It is spun from this gorgeous corriedale fibre, that the lovely Heather sent me in a giveaway from her blog. I actually have half the fibre left too, so I can make another one, although I am spinning something else at the moment.

I haven't actually calculated the weight (I think it's roughly DK though) or the length yet, I've been too busy oohing and aaahing over how pretty it looks *laughs*

Thank you Heather *grins*

Kool... Gherkin?

I've been pretty absent from the internet this last week, due to not being very well :( I think I'm on the mend now though!

One of the benefits of down time, is of course that I had time to knit. And so I cast on and finished a brand new project...

A hat for cunning boyfriend. He wore the last hat I made him recently and mentioned how he would love a dark grey hat too. As the last one was just plain rib, I decided to go for something with a bit of a pattern, and Koolhaas was perfect. The design is inspired by the work of the architect Koolhaas, and I knew boyfriend would like this - he's a huge fan of cool architecture *smiles*

In fact, he declared it reminded him of the Gherkin (a building in London), so it definitely fits the architecture theme.

As the last hat I made him was in Malabrigo, I wanted to choose another soft and lovely yarn (also as a treat for me as the knitter of it!). So I bought a couple of balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. It was my first time using it, and it felt absolutely gorgeous *grins*

I had planned to save this to give boyfriend for Christmas, but he's had a pretty crappy week so I decided to give it to him today when he got home (he had to go to South Africa for 2 days for a meeting, and got back at 7am this morning).

As he went to sleep pretty much on arrival at home, I have modelled the hat myself *laughs* He had just enough energy to try the hat on and declare an appropriate amount of love for it before crashing out ;)

Success

I have finished the scarf *grins* It's a shame it's not for me really, as I have become quite fond of it.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, this is scarf mark 2, as the first attempt was with yarn that made me want to remove my hands so I had an excuse not to touch it ;) Funnily enough, remaking the scarf in Malabrigo made it a much nicer experience, who knew? *laughs*

As you can see, it works both thrown around and folded in half and fed through the loop, so my gran can wear it whichever way she is comfortable with (excuse my vacant expression, late night last night!)

I love both the colour of the yarn and my improvised pattern:

I think it works really well and I hope my gran likes it. One of the huge bonuses of finishing it this week is that I should be seeing her tomorrow, so I can hand it over in person rather than posting it to her.

Now to see if I can fit it into a nerd wars challenge, and I'll have a double whammy *laughs*

Still Here... Honest!

It's been ages since I posted - I've honestly been so exhausted that I haven't really been crafting, let alone thinking of craft-related things to blog about *laughs*

I do have a finished object to share, but the size of it does demonstrate just how little I have been doing over the last week ;)

I made an apple cozy. It's for a nerd wars challenge, and I think it's actually pretty cute *smiles* Hopefully it will encourage me to remember to pack apples for work snacks, as they won't get bashed up on my bag (last time I packed a loose apple it ended up impaled on my house keys!)

You know the Friday drill - head over to Tami's and Wisdom Begins in Wonder for some proper FOs ;) 

Decaffinated

I finished these socks a few weeks ago but only just got around to taking pictures of them to share... Ooops ;)

These are the long awaited socks I knit for cunning boyfriend. He got the first one for his birthday in February and it took me until August to complete the second one... Bigger ooops *laughs* Luckily he is a very patient person and didn't complain or anything.

Apologies for the terrible, terrible pictures by the way. Bad weather + evening photoshoot + overhead light = truly awful photos *sad face*

Anyway, they fit and are apparently extremely comfortable, so that's the main thing *smiles* After taking this picture, boyfriend seemed to be quite enjoying his stint as a foot model, and threw in a few more poses for your viewing pleasure *laughs*

I used a Knitty pattern called Java socks - something to do with strong coffee I believe.

© Cailyn Meyer

As you can see, the pattern extends down the heel and over the foot - which I knew boyfriend wouldn't like (he has delicate feet). So I only included the pattern on the leg - hence calling these Decaffinated Socks. Comedy gold I tell you *laughs*

The pattern is a really simple 2 stitch cable, with a surprising amount of stretch

Yarn is a simple grey generic sock yarn that works really well for this.

So, despite the photography indicating the contrary, I can confirm that they look great, and according to boyfriend they feel great too *smiles* I of course adapted the foot to include the princess soles that he likes so much.

You know the Friday drill - head over to Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder . Have a wonderful weekend :)

Fjord Span

Wow, busy week was busy! And not in the funnest of fun ways. But, on the plus side, I did manage to finish my Wingspan *grins*

Sadly, as I only finished last night, I can only share blocking pictures and not the fully modelled version, but as far as I'm concerned, it still counts ;)

I love it *grins* I love the shape, I really enjoyed the pattern and the colours are so gorgeous.

Actually, this picture is probably the best representation of the colours:

It took me ages, but I think I managed to capture the wonderful shades in the yarn perfectly - makes a nice change as it is usually pretty tough!

I've mentioned before, but just to recap, this is yarn I bought in Norway. I went for colours that reminded me of the rocks and water of the fjords - it's almost a shame there's no green in there as the country really is beautifully lush, but these colours work so well together I think green would have been out of place.

The yarn is quite textured, it's not a smooth yarn but blocking has removed the scratchiness and now it just feels lovely and rustic.

Overall, I'm really happy with how this project turned out *smiles*

You know the Friday drill - head over to Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder . Have a wonderful weekend :)

Seaweed of Endor

I'm glad I saved up a couple of finished objects to keep me going through a few Fridays, as I have barely worked on my wingspan at all the last few days and therefore it is not finished for today *laughs*

While I was on my blogging sabbatical, I finished my green cowl...

I love it *smiles* I think this is the first time I have knit the same pattern more than once, but it's such an easy and effective project that having the same thing in a different colour felt like a good idea. 

Excuse the scrunched up arm picture - trying to get the whole cowl in when taking a self portrait wasn't easy *laughs*

As with the other version of this I made, I almost prefer it inside out, I love the texture of the 4x1 rib from the wrong side. It could probably do with a bit of blocking to help it lie better though!

And, because I think it is cute - as a hood:

*laughs*

I know I have bragged about the yarn plenty of times before, but here it is one last time ;)

These gorgeous colours come courtesy of yarn dyed by cunning boyfriend. He was so impressed with my first Kool Aid dyed yarn that he wanted to have a go himself, and this is the result. I love the range of colours and the way it looks, as I may have mentioned (a fair few times, I can't help it, I love that he made something that I could make something beautiful with *sappy smile*)

Ok, enough of that ;)

The yarn was named Seaweed of Endor, so this is now my Endor cowl.

As it is Friday, I am linking up with the lovely ladies at   Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder . Have a wonderful weekend :)