Weekly WIP Report - A day early

Before I start, I must say this: THANK GOD THE HABS WON! I would have been so pissed if they had lost after leading 3-0!

The only WIP I feel like sharing this week is my newest one: Eunny Jang's Endpaper mitts. It's sort of my first fair isle project (I've tried fair isle socks before but I failed miserably and frogged). I thought it would be a slow project because of the colour work, but it goes surprisingly quickly.



I'm using the leftovers from the Fearless Fibers yarn I used for Roza's socks. I have tons of leftovers, probably enough for another (shorter) pair of socks. But I chose to use it for the mitts instead. The grey is one of the three colours I had used in the failed fair isle socks attempt. I don't remember what brand it is. Patons Kroy maybe?

I love the two colours together.

Also, one of my other projects, the brown striped socks, is coming along nicely. I turned the heel and I'm now at the gusset. I just don't feel like taking a picture.

As promised...

Here's the recipe for the great (and easy!) crustless apple-chocolate pie!

1. In a bowl, mix 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

2. Add 1 beaten egg, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 1/4 cup of melted butter, 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, 2 cups of apples (peeled and cut in cubes). Mix well.

3. Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 20-25 min.

4. Enjoy!

To add knitting content to this post: I bought the Holiday issue of Knit Simple. I'm not crazy about this magazine so I usually don't buy it, but I was pretty impressed with this one. You can see a little preview here. (Montrealers, I bought it at Indigo, on Ste-Catherine st.)

Weekly WIP Report

I'm a little late with the WIP Report again, but I have a good reason : I wasn't home last night (Sunday) because I was at a Tori Amos show. It was great!

So, the WIPs. I ended up not casting on for the Endpaper mitts yet because I need to learn how to make that Italian tubular cast-on first. I'll probably do that later this week when I have more time.

Instead, I cast on for a new pair of socks. They will be a Christmas present for my mom's boyfriend.



Simple, mindless knitting.

That's pretty much it for the WIPs. I also worked on the two scarves, but there's not enough progress to warrant a pic.

I do, however, have permission from Robyn to post a pic of her sock club yarn for October, which I got last week.



Isn't it pretty? It came with a pattern but I have something else in mind for the yarn. It won't happen for a while though.

Stay tuned a little later this week, when I will share the recipe for a fabulous crust-less apple pie!

More than I can chew

I just noticed today that I have 63 projects in my Ravelry queue! Sixty-three! I'm trying to think of how long it would take me to knit them all if I stopped adding any new projects now. Years and years and years!

For your information and your amusement, here are the first ten:

1. Endpaper mitts by Eunny Jang.
2. Cable Net socks by Ariel Barton.
3. Streakers shrug by Pam Allen.
4. Anastasia Socks by MintyFresh.
5. Alphabet Blanket by Debbie Bliss (the link goes to a random store that sells the book, but you can see the blanket there. And many other cute baby things).
6. Belle Cardigan by Wenlan Chia.
7. Tweedy Vest by Mona Schmidt.
8. Greenery Hat by Lilith Parker.
9. Tubey by Cassie Rovitti.
10. Esther socks by Stephanie van der Linden (the link goes to a German sock knitting group, but you have to join the group to get the pattern, which is available in English).

The good news is that I have yarn for all these projects except the Tweedy Vest and Tubey. I may cast on for project #1 today.

Two posts in one day!

Well I didn't expect to finish the socks today but I did!





Pattern: Marina Piccola by Kate Gilbert.
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino
Needles: 2.25 mm bamboo dpns
Made for my sister for Christmas.

Twenty knitters in a coffee shop...

Knit night was totally crazy on Wednesday. I hadn't been in a long time but I know there weren't that many people the last time I went. I don't know if there were 20 of us, but I counted 18 at one point.

I got my October sock club yarn from Robyn's nest and it's beautiful. Very soft and the colours are great (very Fall). I would post a pic but I don't know if I can since some people may not have receive theirs yet. I don't want to spoil the surprise. But trust me, it's gorgeous. And I love the pattern and stitch markers too.

I also got to see Karine's afro sweater in person. Very impressive! I wish I was that creative.

I looked at the stats for my blog and in the last week, someone got on my site by searching for "fat legs photos". Should I be insulted? And why would anyone look for fat legs? Maybe some kid is doing an oral presentation on fat legs and a picture of my legs will be used as visual aid?

I'm almost done with the Marina Piccola socks! Expect a FO pic on Sunday at the latest!

Weekly WIP Report

As promised, I finished the leg of the second Marina Piccola sock. I even turned the heel.



I'm now confident that I'll finish it before the end of the month for SAM4. Woohoo! So I allowed myself to cast on for my boyfriend's scarf.



Very simple: CO 48 stitches. Knit in 2X2 rib until you're out of yarn/the scarf is long enough/you're sick of knitting it. I love everything about the yarn (Misti Alpaca). It's soft and the colours are great. The scarf is great for bus/metro knitting too.

So, according to my poll, two posts down, most of you think it's ok to knit baby stuff for your future baby even if you're not pregnant. I'll be honest, I would have knit baby stuff even if the results of the poll had been the opposite. I was just curious. Kate-the-enabler (who, I think, is blogless) commented: "You could always mentally label it 'for me, or for someone else deserving who comes along' - then it's not officially yours" and that's what I had in mind. Knitting baby things = presents for future babies, whether they are mine or not ;)

I'll leave you with a few cute baby patterns that I want to knit:

The Alphabet Blanket (link goes to a Ravelry page - sorry). The pattern is from The Baby Knits book by Debbie Bliss.

The Pea Pod baby set by Kate Gilbert.

A cardigan for Merry, by annypurls (the pattern is free but you will need the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits for the cable chart).

Haiku by Kristi Porter

Feel free to share your favourites!

Something old, something new

My SP hostess Robyn asked us to post our oldest FO and our newest and to talk about how our knitting has improved between the two.

I therefore present you with : the obligatory first scarf:



It is:
a)ugly
b)uneven
c)scratchy as hell (I think I chose the scrachiest acrylic ever made for that project)

It is your typical bad first scarf and is uneven because stitches kept adding themselves to my work. I'm glad I took a pic though.

My latest FO is, of course, Shedir (click the link to see it.)

It is beautiful and well-made if I do say so myself. I think we can definitely see an improvement. The first one being that I now know good yarn. :)

I bought the Holiday Gifts issue of Interweave Knits yesterday (see preview here) and I have just one thing to say : good work! I wasn't too crazy about last year's edition (I didn't even buy it) but this one is great. There are several patterns I'd like to make : the Sweatheart socks, Socks for Véronik, the Twisted Stitch Gauntlets, the Little Gem mitts (LOVE!), the Wisp afghan (without the tassels) and the Fireside stockings (stunning!).

The teddy bear is absolutely adorable. I LOVE the dragon skin wrap (Do, if you're having a girl, I'll be knitting this for her!). The Koolhaas hat is great, but it really reminds me of Shedir (esp. since the colour is similar to mine).

Thanks to those of you who have voted in my Baby fever poll (if you haven't voted, see the post just below this one). So far, 75% (i.e. 3 votes ;) ) think I should go ahead and knit baby stuff. One person is superstitious just like me I guess. I may decide to start the alphabet blanket. I have yarn for it. But that probably won't happen until the new year, since I have so many things to finish first. Like my boyfriend's scarf, which I started yesterday. I love the yarn so much I'm thinking of knitting me some underwear with it. I kid, I kid, but it is incredibly soft (it's baby alpaca).

Yarn and a poll

I went to the yarn store today to buy something for my Secret Pal. And I broke my promise not to buy more sock yarn BUT I had a good reason to. I decided I wanted to knit socks for my mom's boyfriend (who is like a father to me) and I didn't have any "manly-coloured" sock yarn, except maybe the green Reynolds Soft Sean Wool, but I already have a plan for it. So I got some Regia in brown stripes (colour is Sierra).



Manly enough? I think so. Oh and the sock on the ball band is not made with the same yarn. Mine has no teal or red/orange in it!

Ok now a poll. I think I've mentionned before that I've been struck with a bad case of baby fever. I'm definitely ready to start a family but... my boyfriend isn't quite there yet. I'm ok with it. We've talked about trying in a year or so. But I'm seeing pregnant women everywhere, and cute babies and it's driving me crazy! And of course, I'm itching to start knitting baby stuff. Then I thought : why not? There are many patterns I'd like to knit for a baby, including a few blankets. And let's be honest : I'm a slow knitter, there's no way I can knit all of them in 9 months. I could start knitting baby things now in neutral colours. But then I feel superstitious and I'm scared that knitting stuff before being pregnant would be bad luck. What do you think?



Thanks for your help! No matter what the results are, I still need to finish some things before I start with baby knits anyways. I'm halfway done with the second Marina Picola sock (and after that I'll cast on for my mom's boyfriend socks). I'll probably start working on my boyfriend's scarf tonight. Expect a new WIP on Sunday.

Oh and stay tuned tomorrow for a post about my first FO ever (beware, it's going to be ugly).

Weekly WIP Report - Short and Sweet Edition

I don't have much to report this week, as I've been mostly working on Shedir and the FO has been posted a couple of days ago.

I'm now itching to cast on for my boyfriend's scarf, even though it's going to be a very simple 2X2 rib, for as long as I have yarn. But the yarn! Misti Alpaca. Incredibly soft.

But in order to have something to show for SAM-knitalong in October (since I couldn't finish a pair in September), I must keep on knitting the Marina Piccola socks. Therefore, I promised myself I wouldn't cast on for the scarf until I'm at the heel of the socks. I've made good progress on the leg:


(yeah, blurry, I know)

I'm confident I'll cast on for the scarf by Tuesday.

In other news, I discovered the joy of digital scrapbooking and I've made my first layout, kinda. I'm not talented but I like it anyways. I used an old sad pic of me.



Don't worry, I'm not sad anymore!

FO: Shedir

Today was a beautiful October day that felt just like summer.



My boyfriend and I went for a long walk and it was just so beautiful outside. We went to the marché Jean-Talon to get some fruits and veggies and we just enjoyed walking outside.

We figured we should take advantage of the great light to take a picture of my brand new Shedir hat.



Pattern: Shedir, from Knitty.
Yarn: Rowan felted tweed
Needles: 3.25 mm Knitpicks circulars (metal)
Comment: I absolutely loved knitting this. The pattern was interesting and the yarn was great. I thought it was a little bit scratchy at first, but wearing it on my head, I find it quite soft.

Next on the needles: a scarf for my boyfriend. But before I cast on, I want to get at least to the heel of the second Marina Picola sock.

I have new ya-arn!

Earlier this week, I found a cute little package in my mailbox : it was a gift from my Secret Pal! Yay!



You see yarn, of course, and a little white mystery box. What could be inside?



Stitch markers! Woohoo! I love 'em!

But let's look at the yarn again:



Don't you just love the colour? Oh and it's merino by the way. But the colour! It screams baby stuff to me. Now I don't have kids, but I have the worst case of baby fever you've ever seen. It's all I can think about. And I feel the urge to knit baby things. Maybe I will...

THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!

Ps/Shedir is done and I'll post a picture soon.