Knitting friends are the best!

My friend Flo gave me this great little book. I'll be honest, this is not a book I would have purchased on my own.  It is a little more whimsical than the books I  usually purchase.  I was so thrilled when she gave me this book. She gave me this book for no reason. It wasn't my birthday, I wasn't sick, I hadn't done her any outrageous favours. This was a gift in the purest sense. She saw the book and was so tickled by it that she bought one for herself, one for me, and one for our knitting friend Jesse.

I don't need too many excuses to be distracted from whatever current project I have on the go. Believe me, there are many current projects on the go. When I saw the little birds in this book I just had to cast on for something.

The wonderful thing about this book is that the projects are finished in a matter of hours, they knit up that quick. You get to try out some different techniques on a very small scale. That way you won't feel as though you've wasted hours of your time trying a technique that you hate or knitting on  a project that you can't stand. 

So here is the first of what I predict will be many knitted birds. This guy features the sweetest little ear flap hat with some duplicate stitches on the tail for good measure. 

I adore him!!!

Those are knitting needles propping him up. The book shows how to make these adorable wire feet/holder/base-type-thing. I'm sending Kev to the hardware store tomorrow to get some of the wire for me and I'm gonna recruit him into making these wire type feet things for me (and possibly Jesse and Flo too). 

Edited!! I did the feet. They really make him even more special 

Crazy about Crochet

When Kev was in Montreal earlier this month, he brought me back a new book. 101 One Skein Crochet Wonders by Judith Durant. I haven't been crocheting in a long while. And for some reason, my knitting mojo has reached an all time low. So this was just the thing I needed. There are so many really cute things in this book and I'm sure its one I'll turn to time and again when the mood to crochet strikes me. One thing I noticed about this book is that it seems to make use of yarns like Noro that utitlize long repeats of colour. Those are some of my favorite yarns, and I have a lot of them in my stash - single skeins that I'm not sure what to do with.

I couldn't resist crocheting up this cute bunny. He seemed to progress so quickly. I couldn't stop crocheting the little pieces. They came together so nicely. And notice how the colours line up so perfectly on the different parts. This was a happy accident! They yarn is acrylic - Bernat Mosaic. Not a yarn, I'd normally chose but for a toy, I think it works perfectly.










And in other news I finally finished the Leaflet sweater that I started back in November. I like it a lot and I'm not sure why it went into the 'hibernation' pile.





And I'm still plugging away on these Hope Springs Eternal Socks. I'm enjoying the pattern and the yarn. These will be finished soon! I just love how the colours are pooling and swirling around the leg of the socks!

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.