Birthday Time!

Apparently it's Birthday Time!

Two of my friends have birthdays that are very close together  (and to make things really odd, they both knew each other -before- they knew me, but, didn't know that the other knew me until about last year!  Small world!)

So, one friend is getting the prototype of my Raindrop Shawlette;

I will, eventually, post this as my own design to my Ravelry Store, and you can see more about it on my Designer's Blog, but I want to tweak the pattern first before I put it for sale, and that will take some time, considering I'm going to re-knit a second prototype.

The other specifically requested a pair of Dragon Rider Gloves, just like the ones I made for my roommate (except hers are in black!):

I'll present them both at a Birthday party tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to it!  (No, seriously, this friend throws amazing parties!)

So that's that for now.  It's nice to have a few projects off of the needles (have you seen how many WIP's I have!), and I hope both of my friends appreciate their new knitted things!

Wedding Attire!

So I finally finished the Fairview Scarf.

It may have only taken me, what, one-and-a-half years, but it was worth it.   It blocked out to be taller then me (so almost 6 feet long)!

What prompted me to actually get the scarf done was the fact that my step-sister was getting married!  So, I figured the Fairview would be something I could wear to the wedding!

The wedding was wonderful.  No pictures yet, but number of people were taking photos, so I'm sure there will be pictures online in a short while.  And my new step-brother-in-law (what a word!) is actually a totally sweet man.  He's very kind, rather quiet, and quite a gentleman. 

I didn't get a chance to get a picture of me all dressed up (I suck at taking selfies), so, you'll have to put up with these pictures for now.  While I don't get the 'selfie' culture, I do wish I could actually take a few decent selfies when the time requires it, mostly to show off my knit-wear! But that's another topic for another day.

Anyway, I will offer an online huge 'congratulations' to my Step-sister, who should still hopefully be enjoying her honeymoon as I type!   Congratulations and I hope you two have all the best!

Beaded Year of Lace Scarf KAL

Hello again all!

So I said I was going to try and get better about posting things again, so here I am!

This time, it's with a Scarf KAL!

Every Year, Elizabeth Ravenwood Designs does a yearly Lace Scarf.  It's a free KAL, with one clue a month. 

It's basically a sampler scarf -- which is great, because then each section only takes a little bit of knitting!

The KAL is free to join (though you will have missed the first sections for February and March), and it's a lot of fun.

So, without further ado, I present my Beaded Year of Lace Scarf!

This shows the January and February Sections, and the start of the March section.

It's a lot of fun, honestly, and if you can join in, please, feel free!

I find I end up quite happily looking forward to each section of this.  I intend for it to be a Christmas gift for my Aunt, since she was gushing over the 2014 scarf when I wore it to the family new years party.

EatSleepKnit 2015 Yarnathon

Arg!  Why didn't I post this before!

So, once again, EatSleepKnit has revamped their Yarnathon, and while posted this other places, I've been neglecting my blog again (bad Serena, bad!)

It's actually amazing now.  They've got badges you can win for things like extra yardage in the yarnathon, store credit, Ravelry credit. . . . and there aren't 4, but 12, year-long KALs!

"But why are you only telling me about this now?" you might ask.

Well. . . ok, I admit it.  I've been neglecting my blog.  That's why.  I blame this thing called 'work', plus some other not-so-fun health stuff that came up and kicked my butt for a while.   But don't despair!  Just because it's April does not mean that you too can't get involved in the fun that is the EatSleepKnit Yarnathon.  It runs all year! (And, while yes, it is addictive, it is also a good way to earn store credit and other rewards from then, so, take that with a however much salt you need!)

(And yes, full disclosure -- there is a badge for introducing folks to EatSleepKnit, and I intend to submit this post for it!)

Despite all my silliness, folks, though, this store is actually quite awesome.  Not only do they have many ways to give their customers free stuff,  they've also got amazing customer service, too.  It may sound kind of sappy, but they really are my go-to online store.  Also, their 'free shipping' prize does apply internationally, which is amazing! (Which, sadly, I cannot say about Canada Post).

That's about it for now, folks!  I leave you with the fact that the EatSleepKnit Yarnathon is fun, and a promise to try and update my blog more!

Updates, News and other Stuff

Well, yeah.  I've gotten pretty far behind in updating my various projects here.  Anyone who has taken a look at my Ravelry Projects Page can see just how many more projects and things that I'm working on that I haven't really talked about here.

There are a few reasons.

1) I find I'm concentrating more on my actual crafting, nowadays.  In some ways, that's a good thing -- it means I'm spending more time knitting/crocheting then I am randomly reading the Ravelry forums (Rav is fun, but it's a time-killer!)

2) I've got -a lot- of projects.

3) (And really, the most important reason).

I've been thinking for a while about actually making something out of this whole knitting hobby, and after a lot of searching, I've decided to take some of my original designs (not featured here or on my project page) and begin the process of selling my patterns online through the Ravelry marketplace. 

At this point, though, I'm still only in the process of designing and knitting my prototypes.  And since I'm not a fast knitter, this may take a while.    That being said, I've rediscovered such a love of the fiber arts, that I might as well see if I can make that passion into something, even if it is just a small amount of income on the side.

Due to my previous experiences in a work-from-home envrionment, I've created a second Ravelry ID, as well as a second, more professional, blog.   The reasons for this is that way, the messages and e-mails go to a 'work' e-mail, and allow me to keep a psychological boundary between my work and my fun.  I made the mistake, once, of using my personal e-mail for a work-from-home . . . and that alone did a number on my mental state.  I've since become a very strong believer in separating 'work' from 'life', even if 'work' is a huge passion.

That being said, I do encourage anyone who has been following me here, to check out those other pages to see my ideas and progress.  And don't worry, I'm not going to stop updating here, but my updates may slow down a little.

So. Many. KALs. . .

Well, the title says it all, and is also my explaination of why I haven't posted as much recently!


1) The Montego Shawl KAL is still going on.

2) I'm in a Seasonal Sock KAL; and the Spring Deadline is June 20th.  I've almost got one of two Charade Socks done, but I'm hoping I can finish the other sock in about a week. :)

3) Tanis Fiber Arts set up a  June Shawl KAL with a deadline also of June 31.  I decided to make a 198 Yards of Heaven using leftovers of TFA Green Label in "Chestnut", which is working out nicely, and is actually pretty far along.

4) The Yarn Attic is doing another Summer Bag KAL,  (also a June 31 entry), and I've got a couple of entries, but only one has a picture, and that's my Crocheted Project Bag.   It's an easy pattern, and so I'm making project backs using leftovers from my stash.  It's also a good way to teach myself to crochet again.

And finally, the ESK Team Mascot KAL is also still going strong.  No new pictures of the Octopus Mittens, sadly, but they're actually getting close to finished.  So I still do have a chance to finish up most of this stuff over the next few weeks.

Montego Shawl KAL

Hello!

So it seems like it's the Summer of KALs.  In addition to a summer scarf KAL (more on that forthcoming), the Yarn Attic is also running a KAL for the Montego Shawl.  

The deadline for entries is closed now (I've really got to get better about timely updates, huh?) but I'm working away at my shawl for the KAL deadline of June 31.

So far, it's coming along well, even if it's going to be enormous by the time I'm done. It's my first attempt at a beaded shawl, so I'll see how well this works out when I get to the beaded edging chart.

Octopuses? Octopi?

EatSleepKnit is hosting another KAL.  This time, it's all about knitting your team mascot.

That may sound like it doesn't make sense, at first, but I shall explain.

So, all those who order from EatSleepKnit are given a team, and each team gets various challenges.  I'm skipping out of the scavenger hunt, since I don't have a t-shirt, but I am doing the trivia and the team mascot challenges.   Doing the various challenges gets you more yardage in their yarnathon, which equals more free stuff and more store credit.

Ok, it all sounds great, right?   But I've been placed as a member of team Octopurls, and . . . well, I'm not a huge octopus person. I don't hate them, I'm not afraid of them, but I've never really been 'into' them.   So what on earth was I going to knit?

The answer came in the form of a convenient christmas gift:  The Octopus Mittens.   They're a child-size mitten that knitted up using cables and texture to look like a little octopus.  Not my thing. . . but my little cousin should love it. 

I'm stealing a bit from an extra skein of Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted I got ages ago (I got 8 skeins for a cardigan, I only need 7, and even that is lots), since it has to be yarn bought from EatSleepKnit (fair enough).    So far, they're knitting up really quickly. 

Pictures might be delayed, since my tablet has turned into a brick.  Apparently it's a known design flaw with this particular model of tablet.  But it's still under warranty, so they're just sending me a new one!  And while my digital camera works just fine, the SD card reader on my 4 year old laptop is borked, so I have no way to get the images -off- my camera except for begging my roommate to pull them off the SD card and send them to me, which, while she's cool with that, still isn't as immediate as I would like.  That's ok though.  Less picture taking means more time to knit!

New Knitting Bag WIP, and Finished Accessories

I mentioned earlier that I was working on making myself a knitting bag, and that I (sadly) hadn't posted anything here about it!

So, here it is!

This is what will eventually be a French Market Bag, using Briggs and Little Heritage.

It's coming together quite nicely.  Right now is the easy (and boring) part of straight stocking-stitch in the round, so it's a great project if I want to put my focus onto something else.  I'm debating if I actually want to felt it or not -- it's dense enough I might just leave it as is.

Also, I finished my entries for The Yarn Attic's Accessory Spring KAL:

My Bamboozled Headband:

and my Lace Band Bracelet:

It was supposed to be a bracelet, but it works out better as an anklet, and I'm perfectly ok with that!

Toronto Knitter's Frolic

Well, the Toronto Knitter's Frolic was good to me this year.

I got a few different yarns, as well as a drop spindle that I'm currently trying out (there will be more on that later, I promise!)

First, I got two skeins of Juniper Moon Findley in "Snow."

Unless I completely change my mind, it's going to be a DROPS Morning Sky Cardigan.

I also got a skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label, in her new standard colour "Aurora" (If you remember, I got several skeins of Aurora in her Etsy update, and I'm really glad this is becoming a standard colour!)

This going to be a pair of Birch Leaf Socks, from the book "A Gathering of Lace". I originally planned for these to be made with my leftover skein from my Gox Socks, but then I used my other skein to make the Foare socks, and I think the lace will show off the variegation really well.


Last but not least on the yarn side, I also got a skein of Angel Lace from TurtlePurl Yarns, in the colourway "Deep Ocean".  It's gorgeous stuff! At 1312 yards per skein, it goes a long way!

This is going to become a Roseleaves Tunic, also from "A Gathering of Lace."  I've been meaning to make this for a while.  Originally I was thinking I'd do it in a superwash merino lace, but this just was too awesome to resist, and it's not like I'm really going to machine wash a lace tunic, anyway.

I do have one lesson learned, though -- next time I go to the Frolic, I'm going to try and bring a lot more cash. The credit/debit terminals can get cranky with so many wireless signals, and not all vendors take credit/debit.  But the Frolic is still absolutely awesome, and I'm definitely intending to go again next year. :)

Very Late Cast On and Early Cast Off

Hello, and happy Easter all!  I hope everyone got something awesome from the 'Easter Bunny', be it yarn, or chocolate (I got both, so I'm quite content!)

Anyway,  I finally bothered to cast on for my Lace Band Bracelet.  It`s an entry into yet another of The Yarn Attic`s KALs.  But with a deadline of April 30th, I may have left this a little tighter then I would like.

That being said, I`m amazed at how far a skein of Malabrigo Sock goes!  I got my Evening Star Cowl, my Stella By Starlight Headband, and now the Lace Band Bracelet, out of it, with still more yarn left in the ball.   It`s actually really impressive.

What's even more impressive is how my Ethereal Shawl turned out.  With a cast off of 500 + stitches, it was rather daunting.

This is it before blocking:

And this is it after blocking (and later in the day). 

It didn't even really fit spread out on the couch after I'd blocked it.   I'm glad it's a symsetrical pattern, since I had to fold it in half to get it to fit on my blocking mats!  Note to self, I need more of the mats!

But I got it done with over two weeks to spare before the deadline.  I'm quite proud of myself for that!

Notions Pouch is Done!

So despite my posts about it being an oddly written pattern, my Sundance Notions Pouch is done.

It came together quite well, once I found a written out version of the pattern on Gemmington's project page on Ravelry.   If you're reading this, thank you -very- much!

It's now holding my sewing/knitting notions, including scissors, cable needle, tapestry needle, and tape measure.

I will say, however, that I don't think the Sweater yarn was the best choice for this.  It's not very stiff, and I think this pattern would benefit from a stiffer yarn.   But since part of this was just using up leftovers from other projects, it's still alright by me.

With this done well before the KAL deadline, it frees me up to work on some of my longer languishing works in progress.  With a bit of luck, I'll finish up my other projects as well.

More Very Long Rows

I've come to a conclusion about projects with 400 or more stitches on the needles.

On the one hand, they usually turn out awesome.

On the other hand, when my method of doing chores is 'knit one row, do a chore', it means that I get a lot less done around the house!

Such has been the case with my Ethereal Shawl, but it is still coming along.  I'm onto the last chart of the pattern; and while each row takes about half-an-hour, I can see that the result is going to be stunning.

The current picture doesn't do it justice at all.

For one thing, this picture is old and I've come a lot further.  For another, the lace is all scrunched up and won't show the pattern until it's blocked. 

I'm actually really excited about the blocking process.  I have my blocking mats, and I bought some rust-proof t-pins from EatSleepKnit a while ago, so I should be good for blocking my first lace-weight shawl. I actually don't want it to grow a lot, so I'm probably not going to stretch it out a lot.  

It'll be an adventure!

Ribbed Bag the Second is Done

I realized that, shockingly, this is my only post about my Second Ribbed Bag.

It's the same pattern as the Ribbed Bag I made for my roommate; just this time, done in variegated acrylic.

I'm not actually sure what the yarn is, it's old enough that I've lost the ball band.

But this will become a dice bag, and a Birthday present for a friend in my gaming group who often forgets his dice.

Audio Book Knitting!

With two KAL deadlines coming up, plus having to finish my One Cable Mitts by May, I was looking and hoping for a way to have more knitting time.

I think I found it.   My church is doing a bible study/book study, and we're looking at "The Heart of Christianity" by Marcus Borg. It's definitely an interesting read for those who are interested, but there's a lot there to unpack.

(Also, I can't help but think of The Borg whenever I read his name!)

All tangents aside, though, a friend of mine who is also in this study, happened to have the audio version; of which she was kind enough to lend me a copy.  This has proven incredibly useful, as I can sit with my headphones on in my computer chair, and just listen and knit.   I'm actually glad I'm listenening rather then reading, the material is pretty dense.

Regardless, though, it gave me my knitting time;

My One Cable Mitts progressed really rapidly, I'm now done the left mitten except for the thumb:

and my Business Casual Socks are now past the heel and onto the gusset decreases for the foot.

 I have to finish these by March 31, to make the KAL deadline,  so I really don't know if I can do it.  Then again, I have finished a mans sock in ten days, so maybe, maybe I can pull that off. If I can't they're actually for a summer birthday, so I've got lots of time to actually finish them, if I just can't finish them for the KAL.  But I'm going to try!

Finally, though there's no new picture, I'm done the thumb gusset on the first of the Vancouver Fog Gloves. They're also for a knit-along with a deadline of April 1, but they seem to be knitting up a lot faster now that I'm actually paying attention to them!

More Birthday Knitting (with an actual deadline)!

I started yet another project.  Yes, this means that I have oodles of works-in-progress, but I couldn't delay starting these any more.

They're for a birthday in May, and they're for a friend living in Ottawa.  Her apartment often gets cold, and so I've been told that fingerless mittens are always a good idea.

However, the pair I made her last year are made of stash acrylic.   While they are pretty, and she quite likes them, they're not superbly warm.

This year, I wanted to go for warm. 

So, I'm making a pair of One Cable Mitts.  The pattern is free from the Blue Sky Alpacas Website. (Rav Pattern link is here.)  It's designed to use just one skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes, which is a wonderfully squishy 50/50 merino/alpaca blend.  And I picked up a skein of this ages ago while it was a power-boost yarn at EatSleepKnit.  I was already thinking about fingerless mitts, with it, and the pattern worked out well. (I think this is the first time I've used the exact yarn recommended in the pattern!)

My giftee likes purples/blues and that end of the colour spectrum, so the colour seemed to suit quite well.    And though these aren't machine-washable, I'll probably just have to remind her of that when I see her.  She's one of the few people on my gift list who I will give things that are hand-wash/dry clean only to, because I know she'll make every effort to remember, and knows how to do so.  And these shouldn't need oodles of washing, anyway.

These are also going to be my second attempt at knitting two-at-a-time, as long as my circular is long enough.  It should help keep me from suffering from second-mitten-syndrome.

It's funny, though.  All of my other current birthday/Christmas knitting has been started absurdly early via various knit-alongs.  This, however, has an actual and upcoming deadline.  Hopefully I can finish in time!

More KALs and a weirdly-written pattern . . .

So The Yarn Attic hosts oodles and oodles of KALs, which is absolutely wonderful!  I've got a couple of yarns wish-listed from them, and my stash may grow again after Lent!

In the mean time, however, I'm enjoying the impetus to work on gifts, or things that have sat on my Ravelry queue for way too long.

So, I started a few different projects for their 'Hop in It KAL' , (more on those later, I hope!) but the one I really want to mention is my Sundance Notions Bag.  I'm using the leftovers of Spud & Chloë Sweater from the Pjyama Shorts.

 I just started the cast on.  And it's not bad so far:

I wanted a small pouch/bag to hold my extra notions/needles/hooks, once I finish my felted Knitting Bag, since the knitting bag doesn't have any inside pockets.  (And I just noticed I haven't blogged about my knitting bag despite it being on the needles for a while! Whoops!  I'll try and fix that soon!)

Anyway, so I found the Sundance Makeup Bag pattern from the Classic Elite Yarns Web-Letter.  If you're on Ravelry, it's also at this Ravelry Link.

The pattern is relatively simple, nicely textured. . . but oh man, is it weirdly written.  It's written in sections, but the sections don't progress in order.  So 'oh, yeah, now you go over here to read this part of the pattern, and then you double back for the next section.'  There are lots of little notes and addendums (For example, I missed that you're supposed to slip the first stitch on every row), and there are also abbreviations that aren't defined. (Another example:  I -think- EOR is "End of Row", but I can't find a definition of that anywhere in the pattern).

That being said, once you figure out the pattern weirdness, it actually doesn't look like too hard a knit, and if you browse through the project pages on Ravelry, you'll see that a lot of people actually have re-written out the pattern and simplified the way it's presented.  So if you do get stuck, it looks like you'll have lots of support. 

It also looks like this knits up pretty fast.  It's only 31 stitches wide in worsted-weight yarn, so it should finish up pretty quickly.

Gox Socks are finally finished!

I started my Gox Socks as a test knit back in August of last year.

Now do you say why I say I'm a slow knitter?

But due to snowstorms (and here I was hoping winter was done!) I had the spare time today to finish up the toe and weave in the ends.

So here we go, another project finished!  They're nice and warm, since they're a bit denser with all the twists and cables; and I'm hoping they'll keep my feet warm over the days to come.

And, despite my initial worries that I would need a second skein of yarn, I actually have a small bit left of the Blue Label.  I don't know if I could have gotten the large size out of one skein, but the small had some yarn left over. 

Pretty Yarn

I realized I'm behind!

For those who remember my post about Tanis Fiber Art's ETSY shop update?

Well, my yarn came a while ago (late Febuary), and I realized that I've been neglecting my readers and didn't put up pictures of my new yarn.

So:

Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label in Periwinkle.  I plan for this to be a second pair of Mercury Socks.

Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label in Fjord.  I want to do a second pair of Flying Hearts Socks (with a longer cuff) with this.

Tanis Fiber Arts Amber Label in Aurora.  This was a new base that Tanis created for this update, it's a Merino/Cashmere/Silk blend that's wonderfully squishy.    I want to use this as the contrast colour for a pair of Snowfling Mittens (I still have to get my hands on the pattern, but that can sit for now!)

And last but not least, Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label, also in Aurora.  It the same colourway as the Amber Label, above, but it looks quite different in the skein.  These are going to be an attempt to make aran-weight socks two-at-a-time. 

I haven't yet broken my attempt at not buying yarn (I'm still being good, I promise), but I did realize that I hadn't posted these pretty things.  

An (almost) Yarnless Lent.

So, I was puzzling over what to give up for Lent. I always like to try something that I know I can do, but that will also be a challenge.

Then it hit me.

So, my challenge for Lent is to not buy yarn.   I've bought more yarn then I've intended to over the last little while, with sales and such, I'm finding it a bit too easy to justify 'oh, it was on sale!' and I don't want to do that any more.   My cupboard of yarn is completely full too,  and I don't like having the extra yarn about my room.

That, and I want to save up for the Toronto Knitter's Frolic in April, so this is something that I can do.

However, I did still get more yarn.   I just didn't buy it.

See, my father's been going through the stuff in storage, and he came across all of my mother's old fiber stuff, including yarn.  Since a lot of that yarn is still perfectly good, he brought some to me today.

It's all acrylic, which isn't my first choice, but some of the colours are really nice, and acrylic does make for good gifts because it's such easy-care.  And none of it so far is the super-scratchy annoying acrylic.    That, and the colours I don't think anyone I know would like (hello hot pink!) can be donated to the local Humane Society, to make blankets for the animals, which is where some of these are going.

It was kind of funny, going back through this old yarn, with most of the ball bands still on, and seeing if they brands were on Ravelry, (and if not, updating the Rav database!).  It was also kind of neat just to think that I will be using the same yarns my mother used to work with when I was a kid.  There's a definitely nostalgia value there, I completely admit.