The end of the Ravellenics

Well, the post title pretty much says it all.

I did manage to finish both the projects I set myself up to do.

One was the Fair Isle Hat:

And the other was the Quick Bulky Socks:

It's quite nice to have things off the needles, I have to admit.  But I'm also very glad the Ravellenics are over.  They definitely kept me busy.

Ravellenics 2014, and a Finished WIP!

Well, it's official:

I've been sucked into the entertainment value that is the Ravelry Ravellenics 2014, despite not watching any of the actual Olympic events.

So, I have a few things to add:

1) I'm working on a pair of Quick Bulky Socks:

The pattern comes from Toronto's very own Knit-O-Matic, via their blog, and the yarn is Briggs and Little, leftovers from the Fall Lake Slippers.

I just finished the first sock today, and I'm hoping to finish the second by the 23rd (the end of the Olympics).

2) A Fair Isle Hat to match my Fair-Isle Mittens.

I've only just gotten past the ribbing, but the worsted-weight yarn (also Briggs and Little. . .hmm, I'm seeing a pattern here), means it does knit up reasonably quickly.

Finally:  Ravellenics allows you to enter works-in-progress, that you finish over their time-span,  and I did just that.  I finally finished my Glacier Sweep shawl!

It took quite a while, but I'm loving it.  It's warm (which has been nice given the recent weather, even if it is starting to warm up), and it's squishy, and the colour is just wonderful.

Nice Warm Mittens

So I finished my Fair-Isle Mittens.  I -almost- had them done by the KAL deadline of the 15th, but weekends around the holidays are very, very busy.

All I had left to do was the thumb and weaving in the ends, but it just didn't get done.

Oh well, they're done now, and its a good thing, too.  My previous flannel mittens weren't keeping out the cold.  These are stranded, so all the yarn floats on the inside add to the warmth and layering of the mitten.

There's still a cowl and hat to come in this set, but I don't need those nearly as much.

Oh, yeah, and they're apparently kitty-approved, since I caught one of the cats dragging them off of the towel where I'd left them to dry after blocking!  Kitty number two really does love Briggs and Little, it seems!

Mittens for Me

So I've been working on many things over the last little while.  Lots of knitting going on.

Anyway, one of my more rewarding 'quick knit' projects is my Fair Isle Mittens. They knit up really quickly in the worsted-weight wool, and they're heavy, and nice and warm.

I intend to make the matching cowl and hat, too, when I get the right size circulars.

I've just finished the fair-isle chart and am onto the decreases for the top of the mittens. I should easily get the other mitten finished by the deadline for the knit-along (December 15th).

Sorry for the slightly blurry picture, but it's hard to take a picture with my off hand.

With a bit more time, the right mitten should be done!

Piles and Piles of Christmas Knitting (and stuff for me, too!)

I decided to enter a KAL featuring Christmas Knitting.

While only one entry can actually be entered, you can knit as many things as you want, provided you only post one finished object in the final thread for the knit-along.

While you can't knit until October the 15th (tomorrow), you can swatch and wind yarn before, so I spent yesterday winding a whole bunch of yarn for these projects.

1) Dragon Rider Gloves.  They're for someone who reads this blog, so I'm hoping not to spoil the surprise too badly.

2) Mittens on a String.  These are a simple free mitten pattern.  My giftee for these is one of those types, while a really sweet person, who would leave his head behind if it wasn't attached to his body.   Hence, the mitten-string.

3) Mini-Dalek Coffee Cozy.  This is going to be the most complicated of my Christmas gifts since I'm re-sizing the pattern.  It's just a matter of recalculating and shrinking stitches per inch, but it still has to be done. Gauge isn't absolutely crucial on this, which does give me a bit of wiggle room.

4) Pine Cone Mittens.  Yet another pattern from Knitting Everyday Finery, these are the only project I haven't created a Ravelry Project Page for, because the yarn for them doesn't need to be wound, it's a giant ball of worsted-weight mill ends I got ages ago that came pre-wound.   These are for the friend who was kind enough to lend me a netbook to get through the laptop being down.  He wasn't initially on my knitting list, but he really did come to my rescue since I need the computer for work.

Finally, there's a project for me, as part of the idea of this KAL is that you don't forget about yourself during the frantic rush of holiday knitting.  The idea is you get one entry for a gift, and one entry for something you knit for yourself.  So, like I mentioned before, I'm going to be making myself a fair-isle hat/cowl/mitten set.

It's going to be a busy next few months.

Scarf is done (or, progress on the Christmas Knitting!)

So, the Entrelac Scarf for my Father is finally done.

Yeay! 

It's nice to have something off the needles, since several more things will be going on the needles in the next little while.

There's another KAL here on Ravelry that's all about Christmas knitting, so I'm going to enter that with my remaining Christmas Gifts.

Also, that KAL challenges you to make one thing for yourself, as well, so I'm going to make these (non ravelry link here), using Briggs and Little I got early in 2013.  The DROPS patterns are actually really nice patterns, even if sometimes the instructions are a touch vague (but that's probably just due to the translations, I suspect.)