Wednesday, August 19, 2015

WIP Wednesday - Swatches aplenty

I have a finished object to show off this week! After procrastinating for a lot longer than I should have, I finally got cracking on the crocheted snail last week, and this weekend I finished it!

It's every bit as cute as the first one I made, and I'm almost said I promised to give it away ;) It's incredibly fiddly to sew together though - especially the shell and bottom foot.

Ah well - worth it :)
Compared to the first one I made, it's quite obvious that I've gotten better ;)

I've also gotten quite a bit more done on the nostalgia shawl. I finished the second lace part and am about half way through the garter section before the next and final lace part. I'm still totally in love with this yarn :)

Finally, I've been doing lots and lots of swatching! My knitting mojo was low over the weekend, and I realized it was because I wanted to knit on something new... so I swatched for a new sweater... and promptly felted the swatch! I was NOT impressed, as the label said it was fine for 30C machine wash!!!
After ranting and raving for a bit, I took another look at the label, and noticed two small dots under the temperature indication... a quick visit to google told me what I'd pretty much already guessed... 30C yes - but on the GENTLE cycle! Gah! Another washed swatch later to prove that it did indeed work that way, and I now have to figure out what to knit instead... Because of course I'd chosen a pattern where my yardage was juuust close enough that I knew I'd probably have to use the swatch... bit difficult now that it's felted! So I needed to do another 2 swatches for another project instead (same yarn - two different colours on two different sized needles).
But once again it goes to show - always treat your swatch the way you would the finished project! Certainly saved me a lot of heartache here!

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

WIP - My Sock Blanket is getting HUGE

I've been a bit all over the place this past week. Since I finished my StashDash2015 goal I've felt more free to knit a little bit here and a little bit there, rather than aim to finish anything :)

So the very first thing I picked up was my cozy-memories blanket! This baby still has a looooooong way to go, but I've added an extra 7 squares over the past week. It's way too big to bring anywhere, so this is strictly for at-home knitting.
Actually, it's getting insanely big. It's almost 2 meters wide! I obviously didn't think that one through. There's no easy way to rip back though, so I'll just keep at it as is, and count myself lucky that I have no plans of finishing any time soon ;)

I signed up for a quick testknit on Ravelry of a really cute 'lovey'. After finishing it, I realized that youngest niece is probably getting too old for these (or she will be soon), but I figure I'll just keep it around - I'm sure a ready-made shower gift will come in handy.

Other niece's snail has seen a bit of process too, lately :) She wrote to ask how it was going, and I realized I hadn't touched it in weeks! Embarrassing. (Even if she did reply "I didn't mean to stress you!" I know sweetie, I know :) ). I've finished everything but the head/body now, so it's coming along nicely, finally!

Finally, I've returned briefly to my Nostalgia Shawl. I'm in the middle of the second lace part, and apparently I can't count to four and take part in a conversation at the same time! It's still perfect for TV knitting, but I can't actually bring it with me anywhere. Go figure. Ah well, I still love it :)

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

WIP Wednesday - StashDash2015 Completed!

Less monogamous this past week, which means I've only knit a couple of rows on the Nostalgia Shawl (too little to show off), but instead have finished a couple of languishing WIPs!

I've FINALLY knit all the letters for my cousin's son's name. I gave him the 'P' when he was born last year, but somehow never got around to knitting the rest. Procrastination, pure and simple. And the worst thing is that once I started it only took me a couple of hours to get the rest done! But better late than never, and now it's done! Now I just need to figure out when I can go drop it off :)

I also decided to get my A in G and finish the "One Step Ahead" boots for Liz. I've been putting these on the back burner as the seaming is a bit of a hassle, and I didn't have to have them done until October anyway. But I decided to just get them done already, and managed to finish them up last Saturday! Still need to buy buttons for them, but the knitting and seaming is all DONE!
They're nice and warm :) Am definitely considering making more of these.

Aaaaaand since the height of summer (although this year it's more a case of "Summer? What summer?") is the perfect time to have a ton of wool on my lap, I FINALLY picked up my $5 in Paris again to try to get it done for StashDash2015. I only had the sleeves to go, so it should've been a breeze...

And it mostly was... except when it turned out that I couldn't count and somehow counted 68sts and got 58! On the second sleeve of course, so no amount of fudging the numbers could get the numbers to work and the sleeves to turn out the same. *sigh*. No way around it, I had to rip back 45 rounds (out of 48! :-P) and adjust my decreases accordingly. I still wonder how on earth I could mess up my counting by THAT much. Ah well - it was only 45 rounds of a sleeve, so it only set me back a day or two and yesterday I was finally able to bind off! (Still need to weave in the ends though).
Just like with the first $5 in Paris I knit, I absolutely LOVE the fit! Now I remember why I bought enough yarn for 2 more ;) I'm not entirely sure what I think of this colour combination on me, but I think it'll be okay.

And with this I have reached my StashDash2015 goal! 5K completed since May 22nd :)

As usual I'm linking up with Stitch Along Wednesday