2011 in knits

Another year is about to end and it's time for my annual review of the year.

In 2011, I finished 15 projects, most of them in the first couple of months (read: before baby!). Much to my surprise, I only made three pairs of socks! I plan on making more in 2012, as many of my socks currently have holes in them. I need new ones!

My favourite FO of the year include:


Julien's stocking


The Wayna Picchu Hat


My Eunice socks


My Icarus shawl

Of course, there's no nicer FO than this little boy right here:



I can't believe he's almost 10 months old! He's a beautiful and happy little boy and he makes my life better in every way imaginable. I looooooove him!

Bookpost

So I mentionned in my last post that I had some new books to talk about, well here they are.

On top of the great Knit Picks yarn that my mom got me for my birthday, she also got me Cookie A's Knit.Sock.Love book! I've been coveting it for a while so I couldn't be happier. I'm trying not to buy books anymore because I have tons of them and I've made it my personal mission to knit from them as much as possible. I'm currently trying to knit my way through Sock Innovation (though both of my current socks aren't from that book, but I'll get back to it as soon as they're done).

Anyways, I think I want to knit every sock in Knit.Sock.Love except for the German Stockings because I down do knee socks.

A friend of mine also gave me two great books. One is Classic Elite Quick Knits. It has lots of socks and hats and mittens (and other things), including some patterns by Jared Flood.

The other book is Socktopus, by Alice Yu. It has 17 patterns, including some that will work well with variegated yarn. I seriously like them all.

So yeah, I could knit only from those three books for the next decade and be happy. :)

Sorry about the lack of pics in this post, but I promise some great yarn porn in the next!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I must be the worst blogger ever! I completely skipped November and haven't posted a thing since mid-October! In my defense, Autumn has been crazy here. My son's been sick on and off with colds and various viruses for the past few months and he completely stopped sleeping through the night. His sleeping habits have gotten worse and worse and let's just say this mommy is exhausted. Things have been rough. But I can't be mad at this face, can I?



In other news, I finished something. I wanted to make a very special stocking for Julien's first Christmas.



Pattern: A New Baby's Christmas Stocking, by Dorene Delaney Giordano
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Drift and Bayberry
Needles: US 2½ - 3.0 mm circulars (magic loop)
Notes: I love the FO but I really hate knitting toe-ups. I have to get used to it though as I plan to knit two more (one for Chris and one for me) in the future (not for this Christmas though).

In other news, I have to go on a yarn diet. My stash doesn't make me happy anymore. I have enough yarn to last me for years and years and everytime I buy more I feel I should really knit what I have first. I have lots of beautiful yarn and I hate that I'm not using it because I keep buying more. I got two birthday skeins coming in the mail but I'm hoping to stop buying at least until next Fall. We'll see.

That being said, even if I'm not buying, I can't help it if people buy me things. My mom got me a nice little Knit Picks package for my birthday.



She got me a skein of Stroll Handpainted in Watermelon:



Two skeins of Felici in Firefighter:



And four skeins of City Tweed DK in Rhubarb:



I had never tried City Tweed and I couldn't believe how soft it is. I always expect tweedy yarns to be a bit rough for some reason, but this is like butter. I really like it.

I also got two circular needles (sizes 0 and 1) and a book, but I'll talk about it more in a future post. Gotta go now!

Yarnlust

If you are going to Rhinebeck this weekend, I AM JEALOUS OF YOU! I've never been and it had never bothered me before, but this year, maybe because I've been spending a lot of time at home, I am itching to go! A road trip sounds so good right now, especially a road trip that involves yarn! Note to my friends: if anyone plans on going again next year and if you have an extra space in your car, think of me! I can't help with the driving, but I can help with the gas paying, that's something!

But this year, I shall be living vicariously through all of you and I can't wait to read your blogs to see what you all got. In the meantime, I am window shopping on various online yarn sites. I'm currently lusting after a skein of Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Strawberry Lemonade. Doesn't it look yummy? But I'm trying to be a good girl and not order. According to Ravelry, I currently have enough sock yarn to make at least 25 pairs. Most knitters would say it's not that much, but it feels like a lot to me. At my current rate of about 5 pairs a year, it would take me... let me count... five years to knit it all! It's crazy when you think about it. So right now, I need to knit more and buy less. At least until Knit Picks' CyberMonday sale (if they have one again this year). I can't promise anything if the Stroll Tonals go on sale.

Speaking of socks and of Stroll Tonal... I finished a pair!


Pattern: Sunshine, by Cookie A
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Springtime (LOVE!!!)
Needles: 2.75 mm for the leg, 2.25 for the foot
Notes: I must have been drunk when I started the toe decreases on these because I made the foot a bit too short. I can still make them fit, but not as well as my other socks. Oh well.



One of the October Sockdown challenges is the knit a holiday stocking and since I wanted to make one for Julien, I didn't hesitate to participate. I'm making A NEW baby's Christmas Stocking in Knit Picks Telemark. I hadn't realized the pattern was toe-up when I bought it, but I've been able to figure it all out so far. Here's what it looks like now:

Let's change the clocks

We need a change. We need to change the clocks so that it has 34 hours insteahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd of just 24.

I need more time to do everything I want!

Most of my days consist of taking care of a six month old and trying to keep an appearance of cleansiness in my house.

I recently started working out again. From home, because I don't have time for the gym. I'm currently doing the one hundred pushups challenge (doing them the sissy way because I can't do real pushups just yet) and I also bought Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD. It is kicking.my.butt. I never really liked workout DVDs before because I found they were always too easy, but that one isn't, noooooooooo sir.

Julien and I started our mommy and baby swimming classes. We both love it. I'm already looking forward to next Monday to go again.

The same day of the swimming class, I have a photography class. I like it but we have a lot of assignements. It's going to be worth it though, because I really want to know how to use the manual mode of my camera.

Oh yeah, and there's knitting. I manage to find a bit of time for it, but there are too many things I want to make (and too much yarn I want to buy) and not enough time to do it all. I have 3-4 projects going right now and I'm already dreaming of the next 2-3 I want to cast on for. I have a problem.



And I just received the yarn to make these (picture from Ravelry). *sigh* I may have time to make them sometime in 2014...

My Precious!

I received Knit Picks order #1!!!



Yum yum yum! I love everything I got. If you want the details, I got some Stroll Tonal in Summer Blooms, Blue Yonder, Queen Anne and Foliage, a skein of Stroll Hand Painted in Juice Box, two skeins of Stroll in Majestic (a discontinued colour) and one in Wonderland Heather (I wanted two, I made a mistake when I ordered!), three skeins each of Telemark in Bayberry and Drift.

I also got some size 7 16" fixed circulars, size 1 32" fixed circulars (for magic loop for socks!) and some size 7 tips for my interchangeable set.

I had never ordered the Telemark before and I gotta say, the yarn is rough! Definitely not something I'd wear next to the skin, but I want to use it for a Christmas stocking for Julien so it's perfect.

Here are some close-up of my favourites:


Stroll Tonal Blue Yonder


Stroll Tonal Summer Blooms


Stroll Tonal Queen Anne


Stroll Tonal Foliage


Stroll Hand Painted in Juice Box

Organizing and a bit of shopping

I've been on an organizing kick lately. After buying an organizer for my interchangeable set on Etsy, I decided I wanted one for my fixed circulars as well as for my DPNs too. So I found ones that I liked on Etsy and I bought them.


(For circular needles)


(For DPNs)

I got them from sarahkincheloe on Etsy (the pictures are from her too). I really like them and now my needles are all organized and I know what I have and what I still need to get to complete my collection.

Speaking of getting knitting stuff, I was bad. Really bad. Last week, I did something I had never done before. I ordered from Knit Picks twice. In the same week.

Now let me explain. I had a 28 $ gift certificate and I wanted yarn to make Julien a Christmas stocking. And last Monday, there was a code circulating online that gave you 15 % off your purchase at Knit Picks (it was good on that day only). So I figured it was a good time to order. With the certificate and the discount, my 110 $ order came down to 67 $, including shipping (ok, I may have gotten a little more than the yarn I needed for the stocking).

THEN, two days after that order, Knit Picks came out with new yarns (angora, people!) and new colours for their Stroll sock yarn line. I was excited, but I could resist, no problem. Until I saw they also rerelased the Woodland Winter Mittens kit, that I love and had sold out oh-so-quickly the last time. And they have a new version with bright colours too. I just had to get it. So I did (and I may have added some of the new Stroll colours too).

The good news for YOU, is that I'll have some yarn porn to share soon. :)

Finish one, start three

I made another Wayna Picchu hat. That one will go to my godson Cristobal. He wasn't available for a picture, so I used my favourite little model.


Pattern: Wayna Picchu Earflap Hat, by Nichole Reese
Size: M (1-3 years old)
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Mink Heather (MC) and Winter Night (CC)
Needles: US 5 - 3.75 mm circular needles
Mods: I knitted a seed stitch border.

I love that pattern so much. I rarely knit a pattern more than once, but I can see myself making more of these.

I've also been bit by the startitis bug. When the schedule for Sockdown 5 was posted on Ravelry, I knew I would have to participate this year, after a yearlong hiatus. I miss knitting socks when I go too long without one on the needles.

As usual, the first month's challenge is "knit all in one colour" and this year's colour is Chartreuse. So I went through my stash and found what looked the most like the colour sample that was posted:


KP Stroll Tonal in Springtime. I'm making Sunshine, by Cookie A, which also helps fulfilling my quest of knitting as many patterns as possible from her book Sock Innovation (this will be #4!).

Also, Cailyn Meyer is one of the featured designers for the month and I've wanted to knit her Java Socks since I first saw them on Knitty. So I'll be casting on soon, using Lulu Yarn's Supersock Merino in Fall Fire. I don't have a pic but you can see some here.

Finally, and because I didn't want to knit socks only, I also cast on for a little sweater, Waffles, using the Reynolds Soft Sea Wool I recently bought.

That's it. Hopefully I'll have new FOs to show soon-ish! Happy knitting people!

Yarn and FO

This is going to be a fun post! First, I have a brand new FO!



Pattern: Wayna Picchu Earflap Hat, by Nichole Reese
Size: M (1-3 years old)
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Winter Night (MC) and Mink Heather (CC)
Needles: US 5 - 3.75 mm circular needles (I tried magic loop for the first time!)
Mods: I did a regular cast-on and I didn't do the crochet finishing thing because I can't crochet to save my life. Because of that, the hat curls a little but it's not too bad and I still like it.

Julien seems to like it much more than the pumpkin hat I made him. I absolutely love this pattern and I've already started another one, reversing the MC and CC.



Ok and now the yarn porn. As most of you must know, Ariadne will be closing its door (I believe it'll be this week actually). I'm very sad about that because I loved the store. But of course, now there's a closing sale going on and I just had to go check it out. I went a couple of weeks ago and I was pretty reasonnable. I got:


Six skeins of Cascade 220 Heathers in whatever this colour is.


Four skeins of Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in brown.

Then I got home and kept thinking I should have gotten the purple Cascade 220 also. So I went back last week and got:


Three skeins of Cascade 220 in purple.


Two skeins of Cascade 220 in blue.

Of course, now I keep thinking I should have also bought the green, but oh well. I gotta leave some for others. :)

My little pumpkin

I needed a pumpkin hat for a photography project, so I decided not to waste any time and knit one.



He doesn't seem too happy, but I just couldn't make him smile.

Pattern: Punkin Head, by Tara Thomsen
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Pumpkin and Forest Heather (held double)
Needles: US 6 DPNs
Mods: None

Cutest Habs fan

Ok so that shawl? It's not gonna happen. I keep messing it up and I haven't knit a stitch in days because I'm no longer motivated. I guess I could try again and hope to have it for the second wedding I have to go to at the end of August, but I don't even want to. So it'll be put in time out and maybe in 6 months I'll want to try again.

And my mom is getting married in two years, so maybe I'll get to wear it at HER wedding! :)

Now to make this post less boring, I'll give you pics of my cutie in his new Habs diaper! :)

Ooops I did it again...

Ok so you all know I have a Knit Picks addiction, right? I know some people don't like their yarn, but I love them and I love their prices. And their needles too.

I'm usually pretty reasonnable though and I order from them maybe twice a year. You may remember I ordered some of their Palette yarn recently, just before the price increased. Well, I did it again and made another order a couple of weeks ago.

See, I got this code in my emails for 10 $ off a set of Zephyr interchangeables. I already have the nickel plated set, but I wanted to buy a second set and I like the Zephyr tips sooo... I just couldn't say no to 10 $ off. And of course, if I'm going to order, I'm going to add some yarn.



I got some Wool of the Andes in Pumpkin and Forrest Heather for a Pumpkin Hat. Some Wool of the Andes in Cloud and Cobblestone Heather to make Christmas Gnomes (I'll also use some WOTA in Cranberry that I already have). I bought a few skeins of Stroll Sport (in Mink Heather, Wave Heather and Winter Night) for hats. And a skein of Stroll Tonal in Gypsy, just because.

Can I say just how much I love (LOVE) the Stroll Tonal? I have three colours so far, but Gypsy is definitely my favourite. It's beautiful!

I got socks!

I finally got a FO to share! It's actually my first post-baby FO and no, it is NOT a shawl! After frogging to the lifeline a stupid number of times (*coughFIVEcough*), I decided I needed a break from the shawl. And I'm glad I did, because now I have socks!

**ETA: Sorry if the pics are huge, I'm not sure how to fix it**



PatternEunice, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Tweed in Plum
Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) and US 2 (2.75 mm) DPNs

I love that pattern! It was a fun knit and it would have been quick if I didn't have a baby to take care of ;)

Also, I wanted to share my latest Etsy purchase. When I bought my set of interchangeables from Knit Picks, it came with a binder to store them. Well I never liked that binder, so I finally bought an interchangeable needles case from Southern Woolies and I absolutely love it! You can fit more than one set in it (which is good since I *may* have ordered a second set recently ;) ).

Stupid nupps

Hello world!

I hope everything is well in the wonderful world of knitting. I am happy to report that 3.5 months after giving birth, knitting is finally back into my life (and by that, I mean I can do more than 1-2 rows a week). Yay!

For a while, I was happily working on my Eunice socks. I don't have much longer to go and I LOVE the way they are turning out.

But sock knitting came to a halt when I bought this dress. See, I have a baptism to go to soon (my friend's baby, I'm the godmother) and then I have two weddings later this summer. So I got this simple dress but it's sleeveless. Sooooo I decided I needed a shawl. I decided that last week and the baptism is on July 3rd. No problem. I chose a simple small shawl (Swallowtail) and chose a skein of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in peppermint and happily cast on.

Things were going wonderfully. I was totally going to finish on time. I did the 14 repeats of the second chart and started the third...

It has nupps. Stupid little nupps. The p5tog on the wrong side are taking forever AND I made a mistake in the last row I knit yesterday and will most likely have to frog to the lifeline (only 5 rows, but still).

Now I'm not so sure I can finish for the baptism. Oh well. I know I can still finish for the first wedding at the end of July so that will be my new goal.

In Julien news, I am happy to report that he now sleeps through the night. He actually started doing it on and off at 10 weeks (he's 15 weeks now). But for a little over a week, he has slept through the night every night (I'm talking from 7-8 pm to 6 am). Let me tell you, it's nice.

He has rolled over (tummy to back and back to tummy) a couple of times, he holds his head up really well and he loves to "stand" (we hold him of course). In the past couple of weeks, he has found his thumb (and seems to think it's the best thing ever) and his toes. He smiles a lot (and cries a lot too, still) and I love him to pieces. Being a mommy is awesome!

Pretty!

Someone in the Knit Picks group on Ravelry organized a "Palette sampler coop" recently and I decided to buy a share, since Knit Picks doesn't offer colour cards anymore. Since the price of Palette has gone up, I'll want to be sure I really like the colours I'll order in the future and now I have a sample of every colour offered. I love my mini-skeins, they're so pretty!

Logical

Yaaaaaarn!

I received my Knit Picks order and it is yummy!



Lots of Palette = a lot of mittens! I'm glad I was able to get that much while the price was still low. I tried to get a good mix of neutrals and of colours so that I have choices when I pick colourwork patterns.

I also got two skeins of Imagination in Looking Glass.

Now I just need to find the time to actually use all that yarn!

Half FO

Well I did find time to knit after all. I finished one sock, only one to go for the pair! This is Eunice in all its unblocked glory. Better pictures will come when the pair is finished:

En vrac

Hello? Anybody here?

It's been over a month since my last post and, sadly, I don't have much to share in terms of knitting content. I'm not worried, I know I'll have time to knit again, someday, but right now my baby boy is taking 95 % of my time (I sleep the other 5 % of the time).

He's in my arms a lot and, sadly, I haven't yet mastered one-hand knitting. I can (and do!) browse patterns on Ravelry a lot though, so my queue has been getting longer even though I'm not knitting. Here are a few patterns that have recently caught my fancy:

Calligraphy cardigan
Bazinga mittens (as a brand new Big Bang Theory addict, I *need* these!)
Garden gnome hat and mittens
Midnight mittens
Wayna Picchu Earflap Hat

In other news, I just found out that Knitpicks is going to dramatically increase the price of their Palette yarn. Instead of 1,99-2,19 a ball, it'll be 3,29-3,49. The price is supposed to go up sometime today. Palette is my favourite yarn for fair isle mittens, so I decided to stock up while the price was still low. I got 20 colours!

I'll post a pic when it gets here. Meanwhile, here's a picture of the boy who's been occupying all my free time:



Why would I want to knit when I can spend all my time looking at that cute face? :)

Duckie

Believe it or not, my little Julien will be one month old tomorrow! Time sure flies. This week has been my first week alone with him (Chris has gone by to work) and I'm now getting pretty good at doing things with one hand only (like typing this post).

Sadly, I haven't learned how to knit with one hand, so I haven't done much of it.

Julien has spent his first month almost exclusively in pajamas, as most clothes I have for him don't fit yet. But I did put him in jeans (too big!) a few days ago.



See his feet? He's wearing duck booties!



They were a gift from Tara. We love them!

Why mommy why?

«I like my hat but it's a little big on my don't you think?»



Knitting done since having a baby: 1.5 rows on my sock. Yeah, there won't be new FOs on here for a while! :)

Introducing...

...


Baby Julien, born on March 9th 2011, after a super quick labor.

For those who like to know these kinds of things: Contractions started at 9am. At 10, they got really intense. We left home at 11:10. We got to the hospital at 11:30 and found out I was already 10 cm dilated and ready to push. I pushed through three contractions and baby was born at 11:56. Crazy fast!

Julien is beautiful and I love him so much. Being a mommy is the most wonderful and most difficult thing I've ever done. Don't expect many posts in the next few weeks, I'm a bit overwhelmed! And no, I didn't finish the socks before giving birth! ;)

No baby but new socks!

Pregnancy status: Overdue! This baby has decided to be fashionably late. My doctor didn't seem to think I'd make it to my next appointment (this Thursday), but I'm starting to think it may happen. Who knows?

Last week, I started a brand new pair of socks and I was wondering how much I'd have time to knit on them before baby got here. Would I turn the heel? Would I finish sock #1? Would I get to the toe of #2?



I actually finished them! I'm sorry I don't have a great picture, I'm not really in the mood for a photo shoot (and bending over to photograph my own feet is not an easy task, let me tell you!).

Pattern: Glynis, by Cookie A
Yarn: Slackford Studio, LLC Stalwart Sock in From Dusk Till Dawn
Needles: US 2 - 2.75 mm needles
Notes: I usually use US 1 needles for socks but I had read comments saying it wasn't a very stretchy pattern so I opted for bigger ones. They fit very well so I think I made the right choice. I also chose to do only eight repeats (instead of nine) on the legs, because I have short legs.

If you ever knit this pattern, don't forget to check the errata.

So I finished the socks yesterday and I cast on this morning for... another pair of Cookie A socks, also from the book Sock Innovation. This time I'm making Eunice, using Knit Picks Essential Tweed in Plum. I guess I'm in a purple phase. I really like the yarn, it's a shame Knit Picks has stopped making their tweed sock yarn!

So, do you all think I'll get to finish these socks before baby gets here?