Bootilicious

I've been on a booty making kick lately. Wait till you see how many baby bootees I have made in the past few months. There's a good reason for it of course. A friend of mine had a baby and usually that's reason enough to make a pair of booties.  But my friends baby got sick, real sick. And I thank God that she is well and healthy and thriving today. But she did lose a foot. She is too small for a prosthetic but her mom likes to put bootees on her. So she asked me to knit some for her. How could I say no? 

 

 This is the most recent pair that I finished. The pattern is from The Yarn Harlot. I love them. I love the look of garter stitch in variegated yarn. The yarn is socks that rock by blue moon fibre arts.  It is so vibrant and beautiful. And I just love those little pom-poms.

 This pair is also garter stitch. This time in a worsted weight yarn from Rhichard Devrieze that is speckled. Speckled yarns are all the rage right now.  The pattern is from The knitted slipper book by Katie Starzman (which is an absolute joy by the way). There are so many great patterns in this book!! I knit another one from this book too. 

 

 

These little slippers are knit and then felted down. They also come from Katie Starzman's book. I love the needle felted flowers. My daughter gave me some textured paint to use on slipper bottoms along time ago. This is the first time I've ever used it and I love it. Reagan tried these out and they definitely make for a no skid surface. They aren't sized for a baby of course. These were for the baby's older sister. There was no way I could gift a bunch of baby booties and not have something for the older sibling. That's just not how I roll. 

 

Now these mock shoes are to die for!! I love love love them. Whenever I talk about them my voice automatically switches into babyspeak and it's several octaves higher than it should be. I can't help myself. Amy says there's an actual name on this phenomenon. People do this all over the world. It's been studied extensively by linguists. Good to know i'm not the only crazy person out there. I thought they couldn't get any cuter and then I sewed the Daisy button on. Swoon!!! The pattern is by Bekka Knits and it's called Baby Merry-Janes. 

 

These also have the potential to make my voice go several octaves higher. Just look at those tassels. The pattern is from a Norwegian designer named Heidi Pettersen. It's called Lillebrors vintersko. I knit them using Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn. This yarn is super wash and it's a wool/cotton blend.

 

These aren't quite finished yet. There is no pattern for them. I'm making the pattern up as I go along. I love the way the bootie looks.  I'm sure when there's two of them they will look even better. I'm crazy about the picot edge. It's so much fun to knit. I'm worried they may be a little small for my friends baby. But that's ok because I'm gonna need some test knitted when I decide to publish this pattern. A larger size will fit the bill. 

Christmas Traditions

So, I wrote this blog post about two weeks ago.  I've been having a lot of problems using my iPhone to do blog posts.  So many problems that I've composed and lost whole posts.  It was getting very frustrating and I had almost decided to give up the whole blogging business.  But, Kev gave me a laptop for Christmas.  So, now I can resume blogging.  I rather enjoyed blogging using the iPhone, but lately the apps that I had been using just weren't working and I couldn't even manage to get a post to the publish part.  Like I said, very frustrating, especially when you've done the work to get all your thoughts down to word form and all your pics organized only to be met with a road block in the publish phase.  Maybe it was my phone, and not the app itself.  That is entirely possible because my phone has been absolute and total rubbish lately tbh.  So, without further adieu - here is what is likely my last blog post of the wonderful (not) year of 2016!!

Yes!! I cant believe how fast this year has gone.  It's that time of year where start thinking about what ornaments I want to make for my four grandsons.  This is the third year that I've made handcrafted tree ornaments for my boys.  The first year I crocheted snowmen for them.  The second year, I knit the cutest snowball reindeer.  This year, I've decided to knit little elves!

The pattern was written by Susan B Anderson.  She is a wonderful designer - in particular she designs great toy patterns.  I've knit several of her toys in the past and always with great results! She does a fantastic job.

All four of the elves knit up very fast.  I couldn't be more pleased with them.  I'm pretty sure that my boys will like them too, and really that's what its all about, right?

Merry Christmas from my house to yours!

Baby Wall

My favourite blogger, the yarn harlot has often written about how when she knits for babies that she feels a responsibility to finish the knitting in a timely fashion because it seems as though the babes somehow delay their arrival until the knitting is finished. 

So with that in mind I started knitting these super sweet overalls. They were a little fiddly but oh, so worth it. They are knit using Julie Asselin's superwash DK weight yarn called Leizu. A great yarn for babies in my opinion. 

The pattern is from Judith Durants book One Skein Wonder - Baby  I own all of books in this series(I think) and I highly recommend them. This pattern took a little more than one Skein of the Leizu but thats ok. I've got some left over that I can do a hat or some booties for baby Wall. 

This little guy is going to be the first baby of my fellow pharmacist Melissa. They  have been waiting for him for a long time.  I didn't want to delay his arrival at all if there was anything to this knitting myth and really cracked down hard on the knitting and got it done in a reasonable time. 

Just look at those little butt pockets!!

L

She is currently 10 days overdue and it's totally not my fault. The knitting is done!! 

 
 

25,000 Tuques

I've been on a hat kick ever since I heard about the charity called 25,000 Tuques. Here is the link,if you are interested. 

https://m.facebook.com/25000tuques/

This is something I feel very strongly about. I feel so bad for people being forced to leave their homes. So when a lady in Quebec started a movement to knit hats for every Syrian refugee coming into Canada, I thought this is something I can do to help out.  

So I've been knitting hats like a mad woman. I think Canada is expecting it's the last refugees in April. This coincides with the end of winter. So I need to send my hats now. I've got five done and my friend Jesse gave me two as well. I may send them to Montreal or I may send them to St. John's. There are groups collecting hats in both cities.

Now, onto the knitting. The first Hat was this fair isle lovely thing. The pattern is a freebie from the Purl Bee. I love this one so much and I love the pom-pom even more. The trick to a good pompon is to soak the darn thing in water. The pom-pom fluffs right up 

The next hat that I made is a pattern by Jared flood and it's called turn a square. This was a very simple hat and had the added benefit of using up scraps of handsoun that was too precious to throw out but too small amount to really do anything with. 

I was hooked. I couldn't stop knitting hats. I finished three more in quick succession. I have two more on the needles nearly done too. But I'm starting to realize the time is come to get these in the mail.
 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 
 

 

 

Top Down Icelandic Cardigan Part 2

Here we are in September already. The weather here in this part of the world has taken a definite turn. Fall comes quickly when you are this far north. The leaves of the birches are turning yellow already. The dogberry trees are almost void of leaves altogether, though I suspect a beetle or disease if doing that, not really due to fall. 

I've been making slow but steady progress on my topdown Icelandic cardigan. I'm determined that this will be a sweater that I wear. I'm determined to knit it perfectly. I'm determined that the fit will be amazing and that I'll be so happy with my cardigan that I'll never want to take it off. 

I've knit many sweaters for myself. Sadly, I don't wear too many of them. There are many reasons for this. Fit is a big one. I've knit one that's too small, another that's too large, another that for the life of me will not stay on my shoulders. (I think this is a design issue - others on Ravelry have complained of the same). There is one sweater that fits fine but looks ridiculous. It has a long peplum and elbow length sleeves. My daughter says it resembles a bathrobe when I wear it. Not a good look for me. 

Then there is this asymmetric sweater that I modified to make it fit symmetric. I really didn't think this one through. The original pattern had a button closure at the neck.  The left front was thin while  the right front was wider. In the original form it was really quite a pretty pattern. I'm not sure what possessed me to try to modify the pattern so that the opening of the cardigan was in the center. I ended up knitting to thin fronts instead of two wider fronts. The result is a cardigan that resembles a cape with sleeves. Not a very fetching look for me.

The final issue that I've had with handknit sweaters is one of sensibility.  I've knit three short sleeved 100% wool sweaters. Let me tell from living in Labrador I've learned that if it's cold enough to be wearing a wool sweater it's cold enough to require sleeves.  It took three sweaters to realize this. That is a sad reflection upon my powers of observation.

So for this sweater I think I finally got it. It's going to be that perfect combination of fit and style and sensibility. That is unless I run out of yarn. 

Knitting and Stress

Needless to say, the past month or so has been very stressful. Dealing with contractors and insurance adjusters hasn't been fun. I found myself very stressed - too stressed to knit even. I know, shocker. So, I've been thinking was I not knitting because I was stressed or was I stressed because I wasn't knitting?

I'm starting to think the answer is the latter, because I've forced myself to make a conscious effort to knit a little every day and I no long feel quite as stressed. I'm able to cope a little better.

As a result, I have some amazing FOs to show off.

First up, is this great little shawl. Its from the Knitspot Bare Naked Club. I loved knitting this shawl so much. It was knit with Brooklyn Tweeds Loft yarn in all natural colours. I predict I'll knit more of this pattern. I've always been a big fan of feather and fan lace.

And this beauty is my first forray into beaded knitting. Its called "My Hope" and it was designed by Laura Linneman of the Knitgirllls podcast to be used as a fundraiser for the Make a Wish Foundation. I enjoyed knitting this as well, but I totally messed up the beaded bind off. My fault for not reading the pattern correctly at all. I've put off weaving in ends because I've noticed several mistakes and I'm debating try to fudge/fix them or take it out and do it again. We'll see how it goes. But isn't it gorgeous? The yarn is Tanis Fibrearts blue label and OMG - Look at that purple. It nearly glows!

And my final FO is another Minty (Knitty pattern). This is the third minty that I've knit. It remains my daughter's favorite hat pattern. I started knitting this with her in mind, but it turns out that she isn't a fan of the variegated yarn. Oh well, I loved it. And I think it will likely be a gift for someone. The yarn is very unique. I've lost the tag (it came off in the washing of the stash that I could save because of the fire) but I know it came from a stall at the Farmer's market in Halifax. It came from Lismore Sheep Farm Wool Shop and it was a part of their "Easy Scarf Kit". Nat gave me this for Christmas last year. I'm not an easy scarf knitter, but I loved this yarn so much!

To make up for the disappointment that Amy felt with not having the hat that she wanted (ie solid) I started knitting Amy a Honey Cowl. She really liked this handspun (even though its not solid. Whats up with that Amy?) Its one of my Loop Batts. And boy, am I ever enjoying knitting this one. I think I'll be knitting more Honey Cowls this season. Maybe for Christmas gifts. I can see all my girls wearing these.

So, to sum up....lots of knitting going on....less stress. I can't say no stress because that would be nearly impossible - but certainly less. The moral of the story is to knit more, knit often, take lots of knitting stress breaks. Its good for your health.

Mystery Revealed.

So, for the second consecutive year, I've taken part in Stephen West's mystery knitalong. Like last year's KAL this year was also a shawl. Unlike last years KAL, each clue this time was very unique. Don't get me wrong, I love last year's shawl and its one of my favorites to wear. But each clue was more or less a variation upon the last. This shawl had some very different clues that utilized a lot of different techniques. The result is stunning!!! And even though pink is not something I would not normally chose, I think I will wear this lots too.

The yarn is from esty seller Kelpie Fibers I'm warning you - don't go over there unless you want to buy yarn. It will be seriously hard to resist. I have bought her fiber before, but its the first time buying her yarn and OMG!!! I am so crazy about her yarn. I'm thinking of getting a sweaters worth of the Falkland sock. It practically glowed - the colour was that spectacular. And it is so flipping soft. Again, highly, highly recommend this shop's yarn!!



Thanks to my gorgeous daughter Amy for tolerating me and being my model for this. Turns out the best photo is the one she took of herself. LOL. I'm debating a photography course over on Crafty....hmmmm.....might come in handy. We'll see.

Afflicted

I've been bitten by the bug that seems to have been going around the knitting community. Yes, I'm talking about the Colour Affection Shawl





The yarn harlot blogged about it. Diane of Knitabulls podcast spoke of it. And its been consistantly in the top 20 of Ravelry's 'Hot Right Now' pattern list since ...well, I'm not sure, but I'd be willing to bet since it was written. Veera V is an established pattern writer. This particular shawl has been well over 4 THOUSAND times on Ravelry!!

Well, who am I to resist. I think its the endless possibilities of colour combos that make this such an appealing knit. I started knitting this on my vacation to Niagara Falls. Kev hand wound the yarn for me. I purchased the three skeins of Mad tosh sock from Lettuce Knits in Toronto.






I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this. There is something soothing about garter stitch stripes. I'm not sure that I will keep this shawl for myself however. I did notice one thing about it when I had just about finished it. The colours, the stripes - the shawl looked very similar to my Daybreak. I love wearing shawls in the winter, but I'm not sure that I need two stripey shawls in the nearly identical blue and yellow colours.

Two Wrongs Make a Right

I've never believed that two wrongs make a right. I'm not sure where that expression came from, but it always felt kind of dumb. Until now that is. I just finished (finally) my Rocky Coast Cardigan. And it turned out perfectly! But I think the reason it did so, is because of 'Two Wrongs'. Both 'Wrongs' happened at the beginning of knitting this sweater, and I kind of liked how it looked, so I just went with it. The first wrong was casting on for the wrong size. Initially, I cast on for my bust size and knit several inches. Then I check out the finished objects on Ravelry and found that since this pattern is meant to be worn with several inches of positive ease, you should cast on for a size that is several inches larger than your bust size. Rather than tink back, I decided to keep the cast on as I originally had done, but increase up to the size to give me the easement I wanted. This turned out to be perfect because the other thing that I read about the FOs was that the neckline tended to run large and hence slipped off people's shoulders. The second wrong, was miss crossing my cables. My cables are lined up - snake like - meandering down the length of the garment. I knew I had made a mistake right from the get go, but I kind of liked it and decided to keep going. Since the yarn I chose is sort of self striping these cable lines help to break up the self striping. So, here it is. I love it. The yarn is Cascade Eco Duo - a blend of wool and alpaca. Its a single and its oh so soft and squishy.

I'm sure it'll pill like nobody's business, but I don't really care. I have a good sweater shaver. I predict this sweater will get lots of wear. It is so comfy and the amount of ease is perfect. Its not falling off my shoulders. And I like the little clasp that I've used too.

So, in this case, I think two wrongs did make a right....well, a right sweater in any case. Next up....I've got some Madelinetosh chunky I've been dieing to try!!

Zombies

I knit this little zombie up the other day. I enjoy knitting toys. They go so fast. The yarn is random bits of scraps that I had lying around. The pattern is a freebie found here. I think this will be a gift for my daughter's roomie who has a thing for brains. lol.

Two finished objects!

I've finished two more things recently. One is in handspun! I'm keeping to my resolutions so far. First up, the Bandana Cowl that I've been talking about. Its done in the Loop Bullseye Batt.

I like it very much - but I think I will gift this to someone, just not sure who yet. Maybe I'll start a big-box-o-gifts for future gift giving. That way, no stressing for Christmas knitting. I really should do this for baby shower gifts too, but thats a whole other discussion.

Another item off the needles is my 'Wild is the Wind' hat by one of my favorite designers, Lee Meridith. The pattern is from Lee's e book called Remixed. All the designs are knit out of recycled yarns. Included in the book will be tutorials on how to recycle yarn and deconstruct sweaters. So far all of the patterns in this book have been awesome! If you haven't purchased it yet, I highly recommend it. These patterns are all designed to be knit at any gauge! Talk about stash busters.

Here is my hat - slouchy version. I'll be making this again using the brim pattern as written. I think next time I make this, I'll use a yarn with more drape too. I'm thinking this hat will also go into my big-box-o-gifts. I'm thinking there is someone in my life with a birthday coming up. That someone is very important to me and she just happens to love slouchy hats. She also reads my blog, so I wont give it away, just yet.

Off the Needles!

I've finished a couple of projects. I've decided that my New Years resolution in knitting is to not cast on anything new until I either finish something or frog something currently on the needles. And, every second project that I cast on has to be in handspun! Hows that for a resolution that I can keep?

So, I finished a couple of things. First up...this little dude.

Or dudette? The pattern is Harriet the Habberdashery Hippo by Rebecca Danger and I love it!!

I'm so tempted to buy her book - the big book of knitted monsters I don't knit a lot of toys, but I think I could be easily swayed to knit more if they all turn out as cute as this. And can you believe that this is the second hippo that I've knit? I'm not sure which I like best.

I also finished a pair of socks and I've been wearing them a lot eversince. I especially like wearing my handknit socks to bed. I am on my feet a lot during the day and often will wake up with pain in my feet. It seems if I rub foot lotion and wear these socks to bed, I don't have this problem nearly as much.

The yarn is Berocco Sox and the pattern is The Knitmore Girls Vanilla Socks. This has become my go to sock pattern and I've already cast on for another pair. I need to build up my stash of knitted socks since most of my older ones have developed holes or have become slightly felted. Maybe its time to do some mending.

Spectra

Here it is...another Stephen West design. Obsessed much? Well yes, I believe I am. Lol. Make no wonder, just look at this stuff that he comes up with. Unbelievably simple, yet so effective.

Its knit in Berocco's Ultra Alpaca Fine and Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. I really enjoyed knitting this. I knit quite a bit while travelling to Toronto earlier this summer and vowed I'd knit until the yarn ran out - so its quite long.

I decided to lay it out on the piano so you could see the length of it. I highly recommend this pattern. It curves around the neck in such a nice way. There are endless possibilities in how to wear it.

Its button time

These are the sleeves of my little cardi.  I didn't like the way it was turning out - see the one on the right.  I hadn't counted on my gauge for garter stitch being so different in the round, versus flat.  The second sleeve cuff (on the left) I knit flat and seamed it shut.  I liked it much better.  So I frogged the first cuff and knit it flat as well.  The whole thing is now finished.  Pretty cute eh?

Well, except its missing button.  I'm still not 100% sure who I'll be giving this to.  Maybe Heather's baby - who will be a boy.  Or maybe a former coworker - who will be having a girl.  I really like these green buttons.  What do you think?

I think they would be perfect for either a boy or girl.  I'm still debating doing a little embroider or needle felting too.  In anycase, I'm super happy with it.  I'm also in love with this yarn.  I bought this yarn with the intentions of finally making a sweater for Kev.  Its 50% acrylic/50% wool, so I thought it would be warm enough, but also easy care.  But I love the colour and I love the way it knits up.   Great stitch definition and just so nice to knit with.  I'm thinking about making myself a Lady Kina.  This sweater looks so much like me.  Its so wearable.  And I'm thinking that the acrylic might make it cool enough to make this garment a nice transitional cover up.  And then I can use a nice yellow/green button too.

Random Saturday

In my efforts to blog more, may I present Random Saturday. Every Saturday I will post some photos and descriptions of what I've been up to this week.

First up....Jerky.


Amy is gone back to Sherbrooke. She left a lot of stuff behind. I had to box up much of it. She loves caribou jerky and was hoping that I would send some. I thought it was a very remote possibility as we have no caribou. (not from lack of trying on Kev and his brother John's part) But, as luck would have it, we were invited to Nat and Blairs for supper on Thursday evening for caribou burgers. Blair gave me about a pound of the ground meat with the cure and seasonings all done. All I had to do was put it in my jerky pistol and fire.

Next up are my fiddlehead mittens. I was on a real roll with these babies. I have one finished - lining and all. The second one is done with just the lining to knit. My right wrist is giving me some grief so I've been knitting continental more often to try to allieviate some of the tenderness. Its much faster. I had the thumb gusset all completed and was almost up to the part where I had to decrease for the top of the mitten when I decided to turn the lining into the mitt to see how it was going. Well, you can see what a collosal mistake I made. I put the thumb on the wrong side.


And finally I'll show off my comfy cardigan.

I strongly suspect that I will have this one finished in time for next Saturday's random post. I only have to finish the left sleeve, then pick up stitches at the waist and knit a 'skirt' onto the cardigan. Then I have to seam the underarms and weave in the ends, sew on buttons (find buttons that I like first) and then block. Well, I'm hoping to have most of the knitting done by next Saturday then, I'm not totally sure about it being actually finished, finished, ya know?

Mini Shawl and more Ysolda Love

I've just finished knitting Damson by Ysolda. This pattern has been #1 on Ravelry's list for some time now with 311 of these being made. Its is a simple fun little knit that takes just 1 skein of sock yarn. Unfortunately for me, my sock yarn came up a few yards short. But, I knew this before I started it, so its my own fault. The original calls for Malibrigo sock which runs about 440 yard. I used Tanus fiber fingering weight which only had 400 yard. I love this yarn though.

But, I had to end the pattern early. I didn't get those nice scalloped edges that I should have, but thats okay. Its still lovely. I adore this colour. I guess its because we are running quickly into fall here. The leaves are starting to turn already!

And just for kicks, here is a picture of it prior to blocking. Quite the difference isn't it?

Boutique Cloche

I've knit this cute little hat from a book that I got for Christmas called Boutique Knits. Its super cute and I wore it out today in minus 30 something celcius weather and it kept my ears and head warm, so its a winner.

It took me a while to figure out how to wear it, but it looks best (on me anyway) with the ruffled edge hauled down over the ear.