Blueberry Frappe In Autumn

The beginning of December I joined the Project A Month Knit-Along group on Ravelry.
The first pattern from the donation group for me was Cranberry Autumn.  I named mine Blueberry Frappe in Autumn, because I had originally planned on using a cranberry coloured yarn, however despite the gauge being correct, using a lighter weight yarn didn't look quite as nice; instead I used a skein of Naturally Caron Spa I received from Katie in our last package swap.

The yarn has since been discontinued, so I didn't do the second repeat that would make it a slouchy hat, instead kept it fitted and I now have enough yarn left to either make a pair of mittens or a small cowl to match (I hope).

The pattern was very well written, easy to read and memorize - I'll definitely be knitting this one again, at least once in a cranberry colour and keeping the extra repeat, and likely one for my mum if she sees this one on me.  I chose the teen size, as when I first knit this (up to the end of the first repeat before the crown pattern) the small adult was surprisingly large on me - it could have been the yarn I was using, as it had a fair bit of drape to it, but I feel like I may knit all of the ones for myself in teen.



I may use the same pattern detail to make my own mittens rather than looking up a previously existing pattern, but it's unlikely I'll be making them before the end of December.  I have another KAL I'm working on, that I will tell you all about tomorrow, and January starts a new project a month kal, so my needles will be busy!

Christmas Knits...

I managed to get all my knitting for Christmas done in time, and all but one photographed.

You may recall I finished Oliver, Cabled Hug and Sock Head a few posts ago.
Oliver was for my Grandma, the Cabled Hug for my mum, and Sock Head for Nick (Man-beast).

Since then I've made...
Brotherly Hat, for my brother - a quick knit I designed on the fly.


I designed a mitten to go with the cabled hug, called Entwined.  And knit the Wavy Moss Headband to go with them for my mum.

I made Nick the Straight Shooter mittens, which I'm not too pleased with, but he says he likes them.

I knit his mum Wee Bonnie Mouse, and After Tea Shawl, however I didn't remember to take a picture of the shawl.

Candice wanted a Louise Hat from Bob's Burgers, but with floppy ears

I made my dad the Antler Hat by Tincan Knits.
I used a chunky yarn for this one, and it was still a little tight, I think I'll have to find much more basic hat patterns for him.

And finally, I made a few of the snowball buddies as gifts as well.
Jack for Candice and Jude

The Grinch and Phoenix (the cat) for Ken and Ty.

I will update about a few more finished projects and wips tomorrow.

Community of Knitting

I had planned on waiting until I finished all my Christmas knits before posting, so there would be a nice compilation of pictures and patterns for you to look at.  Instead, I want to tell you about this wonderful thing going around Instagram and the knitting community.

There's a new "game" called #GetYourYarnWishGranted.

I purchased a pattern from Oblivious Knits to grant her wish, picking myself up These Are The Breaks pattern, hoping to get some yarn for Christmas (even if I buy it myself) to make it.  She's trying to raise enough money to help out her mum, so if you like her designs, please consider buying one (or more!) of her patterns!

Photo by Oblivious Knits

Now, a lot of people were posting for yarn, which is lovely and amazing that people are willing to send coveted skeins.  I would love some indie yarn, but feel a bit guilty about posting it as a wish - a lot of indie yarns are expensive and I would feel bad having someone send me a skein of something yummy (it must be a Canadian thing).  Instead I wished for this: Any pattern off my Ravelry Queue.  I was surprised at not only the speed of which knitters responded, but that not one, but three people granted my wish!

First:

Photo by Jenny Lee

Sockanoids From The Deep.  This was part of the Super Scary Sock group from 2010 - the year I started knitting and knew nothing about how to use Ravelry, knitting socks... or as I'm embarrassed to say, before I found out I was knitting backwards!

Second:

Photo by aKNITomy

I've likely posted about how much I love and have covetted this pattern.  Some may find it a wee bit morbid, but I love anatomy, and bats and knitting... this has all three! The pattern is Knitted Bat Specimen, great for most gothy people you know - knitters or not!

Third:

Photo by Susanna IC

This is Polaris, a shawl I've had on my queue for since 2012.  I love the beaded pattern, and I may have just the yarn and beads I want to use already in my stash! Don't be surprised if this ends up being my first finished object of 2015!

The knitting community is by far one of the most generous I've come across, I'm looking forward to granting a few more wishes!

Just A Few Pictures...

It's been a while since I've been able to update! Since the last time I wrote, I've managed to get a picture of Man beast's sweater... It's not the prettiest, and it's not on a person, but I can finally show it off!
It hasn't been cold enough to wear it, I'll see if I can't get a picture of N himself in it on a nice background of snow - if we ever get any!

I finished Oliver Reindeer for my Grandma - one of my Christmas knits:


And my mum's cabled hug is finished, seamed, blocked and had a quick snap shot.  This is one part of three for her xmas gift, the others have yet to be made, one of which is a custom design to tie everything together.

My anniversary is on Sunday, so I knit Mr. N an octopus after he mentioned he wouldn't mind one, and I'm hoping to make him an ornament for our tree before then.  I think he'll be surprised, since we agreed to keep it low key and only plan on going to dinner.

I've knit him Sockhead, which he saw when it was blocking, but since I had mentioned selfish knitting while he was at work that day he assumes it's for me.  What I really like about this pattern is it's pretty versatile, so he can wear it any way he wants - slouchy no brim, slight slouch small brim, large brim no slouch!  I'm also working on Straight Shooter for him for xmas.


I've finished the snowball fight package and sent it off, but I need to wait for it to arrive in Vancouver before I can post about them.  I'm currently working on a Bonnie Mouse, and need to do a few more knits to check off my xmas list, and a few loom items.  It's officially the beginning of December, and I'd like to have everything done by the 20th... I better get a move on!

In non-crafting news, Man-beast and I got a few couch! Demon seems to love it, and while N is at work or out of the city, the little furball steals his section of the couch.

And in case anyone hasn't seen one of the new holiday Tim Hortons cups, they're right up any knitter's alley.  Man-beast brought me one after work on Saturday.