Monday, March 30, 2015

So many FOs, Not enough time...

I've knit a fair bit of projects I have yet to put on this blog... All in all, it comes down to not having a proper camera and time to do great shots.

I currently have the following finished, ready for photos:
- S Chuck in fuschia (Charlotte)

- XS Chuck in Thistle
- Lady February Sweater
- Hat for lady February sweater (my own design)
- A multitude of monsters and stuffies

Thankfully, the weather is starting to look nice and with the camera I have available to me I can tweak colours in photo apps to get the final result looking at least somewhat close to the real colours.

It seems I've caught the sweater bug...
I've knit 2 chuck sweaters, a February lady sweater, I'm nearly done a pinwheel sweater (just the arms to go), and I've recently cast on Hitofude (again after having it frogged, however this time around I haven't been spending much time on it, so there isn't much to see), and as of last night I have Agatha on my needles... All since October.

I recently purchased Henriette (with Agatha), and plan to cast on for that once my Agatha sweater is finished.

You may have noticed a few of these (Chuck, Agatha, Henriette) are all by the same designer.  Andi Satterlund over at Untangling Knots is an incredible and inspiring designer.  Read a bit of her blog, and you'll see for yourself!  I first purchased the Chuck pattern for the Selfish sweater knitalong and ended up knitting two in the time allotted,  I was hooked! Not to mention, I still have plans on knitting a full length Chuck
 in a cozy grey.  I love how simple the instructions were to create such a gorgeous sweater, I started looking at some of her other designs.  I have a long list of patterns in my queue, and a fair few are hers.  After casting on Agatha last night, I noticed the same ease of getting into the pattern, and knit to the body row one easily and fairly quickly.  If you want to test out her instructions, try out one of her free patterns, such as Miette - you won't be sorry!



Friday, March 20, 2015

Sock Madness 9

Some of you may or may not know about Sock Madness, a group on Ravelry that holds a sock speed knitting competition each year.

This year I signed up, hoping to expand my sock knowledge, and hoping my shoulder would get a nice strengthening workout in the process.

I didn't work on either of the practice socks, as I wanted to save my shoulder for the competition.
The first was The Stroop Stroop Socks.
Photo by Ros Clarke
The second warm up sock was Choose Your Own Adventure Socks.  I like the way it shows off self striping yarn, and with options to 'choose your own adventure' there are a few variations!
Photo by: Midwest Yarn, LLC


Sadly, I made the cheerleading team only.  My shoulder is not up to knitting on small needles, and after the two weeks from the start up of the round, I had all of one sock complete... but that was enough to qualify for all of the upcoming patterns!

The first sock was Alohomora, and here's what my first sock looks like:


I chose this yarn for the sparkles.  You may not be able to see them very well in the photo, but the yarn screams magic to me, and I absolutely love them. Since the pattern was for the competition, there were a set amount of stitches and rows you needed to complete to qualify.  That being said, they're a titch big on me, I could have gone down a needle size - if I could knit on needles that small currently.

Round 2 has just come out, and these gorgeous Cable Madness socks are the next sock competitors are knitting.
Photo by Karen Buhr
If competitors finish before the deadline then they have to option of knitting the bonus pattern, Duck-Foot Ivy.  For those who qualified to be a cheerleader (like myself), or anyone who doesn't knit the round 2 sock before the end of the round, the pattern will be available at the end of the competition.
Photo by: Hreow Beth
Once round 3 has started, I'll post what pattern has been released and my progress on other pairs.