Socktopia!

I was planning on making a pair of socks a month this year and I found out there's a cool knitalong that could help me accomplish just that.



I couldn't resist joining Socktopia. I just love challenges. I have no idea what I'll do for January just yet, we'll see.

Speaking of socks, I'm LOVING the Monkey socks and I'm LOVING the Austermann Step yarn I'm knitting them with even more. I'm already almost done with the first sock, I just can't get away from it. But I really need to take a break and get back to the blue cardigan. I started redoing the front yesterday and I just couldn't get into it. *sigh* I must finish it.

2006 in Knits

I finished my boyfriend's Fuzzy Feet. Here they are pre-felting:



(You gotta excuse the new cashmere yarn in the picture, it seems to like being photographed). I used Galway worsted and it felted beautifully, as you can see here:



I finished 15 things in 2006 and since I doubt I'll finish anything else in the next few days, I think it will be it. I think 2006 was a good year.

-I worked my first cable.
-I made a sweater.
-I participated in the Knitting Olympics (though I did not finish my two pairs of socks in time).

Yeah, I'm pretty happy. And I already have goals for 2007. I want to:

-Try colour work. I'll probably go with something small. A hat or mittens. Not sure what yet but I want to try.
-Finish my blue cardigan. It turns out I did the shaping wrong on both fronts so I want to redo them. I really need to finish it.
-Learn to seam well.
-Pick the Kiri shawl back up and finish it.

And as usual, I have a billion projects in mind. There are several sweaters I want to make (I must finish the blue one first), so many that I wouldn't know which one to choose if I were to start one now.

I want to make a shawl with the cashmere coned yarn I bought a while ago. I really like this pattern from Knitpicks. Of course, I need to finish Kiri first.

Of course I also want to make the cashmere cloche with the yarn I bought yesterday.

And I think I want to make almost every sock Cookie A ever designed. I've already started by casting on for Monkey yesterday. Yeah, I did that instead of starting the cashmere cloche. What can I say, a Knit-along thread on Craftster inspired me. Plus, the pattern works beautifully with Austermann Step.

'twas two days after Christmas...

I hope you guys had a merry Christmas, if you celebrated it that is. If not, I hope you had a wonderful day anyways :)

My mom is not a knitter and she doesn't know a thing about knitting. But she loves me and she knows I love to knit. So every year I get yarn in my stocking. Problem is, my mom doesn't have access to a LYS so I always get stuff I wouldn't buy myself. Like this:



Now don't get me wrong. I do appreciate the gift and I believe there is no such thing as bad yarn. Plus, I think the colour is pretty and I like the scarf on the pattern band so I'll probably end up making it someday.

But today I went to Effiloché and used some of my Christmas money (cause mom is great and she also gave me money) and I got myself what I really wanted for Christmas:



Yeah bad pic, I know. But you can sort of see some Fleece artist merino yarn in a raspberry-like colourway, a set of 5 bamboo 2.25 mm DPNs (my favourite for sock knitting) and 50g of Hand Maiden 4 ply cashmere.

Wait, you can't see the cashmere? Hold on:



It is to die for. I want to make the Cloche pattern that comes with the yarn. One woman at the store told me she used it to make the same cloche and that she made two and still had enough yarn for one more so that is good.

It's taking all my willpower not to cast on right away. But first, I want to finish the Fuzzy Feet (the knitting part at least). THEN I can cast on for the hat.

Last Christmas present

I finished another short row for my mother.



I simply don't get tired of this pattern. And the yarn was just yummy. It litterally made me hungry all the time with its chocolate, butterscotch and latte colours.

This is probably my last post before Christmas, so merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it!

Warm hands

I made mittens:



I used this pattern.

Now on the needles: Fuzzy feet for my boyfriend. I wanted to make him the Fibertrend felted clogs, but I figured I had a better chance of finishing the Fuzzy feet before Christmas. I also want to make a short row hat (yes, another one) for my mom. But there's no pressure. If i don't finish these items by Christmas, the recipients will simply get them later.

They're finished!

Ta-da!



Pattern: Jaywalkers from Knitty
Yarn: Um. Regia. In one of the Canadian colours.
Needle: 2.25 mm DPNs.

I liked knitting them but for some reason they took FOREVER to finish! I'm glad I have them now, they fit really well and I think the pattern works great with the yarn.

I'm also almost done with a pair of mittens. Expect pictures soon.

Oh and I have bad news : I lost my hat. My beloved short-row hat. I usually lose one hat a year but I really hoped I wouldn't lose this one. I suck.

Last Sunday was my birthday (thanks to everyone who left birthday wishes in the comments). I didn't expect any knitting-related gifts so I was really surprised to get a really wonderful one. My boyfriend's grandmother made me a scarf! It's very simple but it's beautiful and I love it. I've received knitted gifts before but I was younger and didn't know how to knit. Now that I know how much time a simple scarf takes, I really really appreciate it.

Dear short-row hat pattern

I LOVE YOU!



You see me with a weird expression on my face. I'm wearing Veronik Avery's short row hat (link is a pdf file). I made it with the recommended yarn. It will be a Christmas gift for my sister.

I'm also wearing a scarf made with acrylic. Yes, acrylic. Red Heart Whirly. And it's soft. Weird.

Oh yeah, and I'm also wearing my HABS shirt. Because I'm going to see them play tonight. Against the Maple Leafs. They better win!

My birthday is tomorrow! I'm not expeting any knitting-related gifts, but I received money already so I'll probably buy me something wooly. I'll be 29. I don't like that number.

Finally, I was asked in the comments of my last post which knitting-related calendar I prefer. It's difficult to say (that explains why I got both). The One knitting pattern a day one is nice because it has, well, a lot of patterns. They're pretty simple and the majority are patterns I wouldn't make, but I still like it. The Stitch and Bitch one doesn't have that many patterns and most of them have been published in the S&B books already. So if you want patterns, I wouldn't suggest it. It's still a fun thing to have though.