I Can't Believe.....

I can't believe that I haven't blogged yet this month. Its been an incredibly busy, productive month. I went to visit Amy!!! She had her final graduation recital and she rocked it! She was beautiful and amazing and everything that a I knew she would be. I was beyond proud! My daughter is so talented, I have no words. We had a really great time - lots of great food and some great shopping in Sherbrooke and Montreal. Of course I went to a yarn shop. I went to Mouline this time around. I bought a sweater's worth of Madenline Tosh chunky! I can't wait to try it out. I'm debating on which sweater it will actually become, but time will tell. Here are a few photos of some of the things that I've made recently....mostly knit while travelling. First up....a hat made from 100% yak fiber. The pattern is Anne Hanson's of Knitspot. I'm a member of her Bare Naked club and I love it so much. Yarn in its natural colour. This yak is divine. So soft!

And then I made a sock ... and a half. The pattern is Cat Bordhi's and its from the book 'The Knitter's Book of Socks'. This sock is knit toe up and has a really interesting arch expansion construction. And its extremely comfortable to wear. Here's hoping that I don't come down with second sock syndrome and can manage to knit the second one...well, there is more travelling in my future so I'm sure that it'll get done...eventually. Lol. The yarn is from esty seller lollypop yarns...and I love the self striping. I love this sellers stuff, but getting some of her yarn has proven near on impossible. I have to stalk her website like a crazed lunatic and even then you end up getting cart jacked. I've almost knit up the two balls I have and well, I neeeeeed more... I think I have a problem. Yes, I do...this girls shop and Loop. I'm not even linking the shops here just in case I have a reader that might be interested...lol...selfish much?

And finally, the best thing that I've ever made....the project that I'm most proud of....my magnus opus if you will.

Isn't she beautiful??? I just love her so much!

I can do better toes now.

This post is a mish mash of things, but highlighted by this!



A perfect toe, I think. Its the fourth toe up sock, so I should be getting the hang of it now right. I really need to finish this sock before the end of the month. Its for the House Cup on Ravelry. Really, that's the only thing keeping me somewhat motivated and somewhat monogamous or at least its keeping me on track to a point.

I also finished this hat!



Sure, it doesn't look like much here, but it is gorgeous. Of course it belongs to Amy. It was a secret pre birthday gift. Actual birthday gift will happen when I visit at the end of the month. Whatch out yarn shops of Montreal! I will try to control myself somewhat as Kev is travelling with me. This pattern is by cocoknits and its called 'fleeced earflap hat'. It is a very unique hat which involved a sort of thrumming technique. I didn't quite get it right as the fleece was supposed to be invisible from the right side. You can see spots of it on my hat, but I didn't really mind too much as I'm sure Amy will be wearing it with the front bib and ear flaps up. (I hope).

And the final mish mashy part to this post is a follow up on that alpaca that I wasn't sure if I liked or not. So, I've spun all four ounces. I love the colours, but honestly it feels so scratchy. I can't imagine wearing this next to the skin at all. Usually I find commercially spun alpaca beyond soft, so I'm not sure if I've managed to take something that is usually soft and spin it into barbed wire, or if I bought a bump of alpaca that has a lot of guard hairs in it.



It is lovely to look at though. I will be attempting to navajo ply this. I've only done it once before. I can't even remember if I posted about it, as it was very unsuccessful. Or, it felt unsucessful as the singles kept breaking and I kept having to tie the loops together. I did rather enjoy the process though, hence I'll try again.

Moving right along

I'm up to the heel on these toe up socks. I must admit that I much prefer the heel flap method of turning a heel than this short row business. But, I must broaden my knitting horizons by trying new techniques. They sure are pretty though.

I'm also moving right along on the handspun scarf. I can tell how overspun this stuff is as I'm knitting it. Its not something overtly apparent by just looking at it, or even just touching it. But knitting with it, is a different story. This pattern is a perfect fit for handspun yarn.

I'm no longer a 'toe up' virgin

So I got my second installment of sock club yarn and pattern. I didn't realize at first glance that these are toe up. Like any technique in knitting that I've yet to try, I was nervous about this. It seemed fiddly and besides, I like cuff down just fine, thank you very much.

But, since this is my first ever sock club and I'm such a keener, I'm determined to knit all patterns as is. So, I've cast on and knit one toe. Not fiddly. I like. I'm not a convert yet, but we'll see.




Oh, yes. See that very cute little sheep stitch marker? Its from scarymerry on etsy. I love them. I've also bought a pop tart set.