FINISHED

I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am that I signed up for the February is for Finishing plan because guys- I AM DONE.  Repeat: I. AM. DONE. EVERYTHING.  I'm so stinkin' proud of myself for just gearing down and doing the 'un fun' task stuff because it means now my brain can focus on other things.  It's so hard to start something new when you feel like you really should be finishing something else.  Right now, I don't feel like that at all.  THE WORLD IS MY OYSTER.

Good thing I am done, a new wave of babies have been announced and I feel like for at least one of those blankets I really need to bring my A game.  (Mom-to-be is a knitter and well, I need to impress her, because I'm stupidly competitive like that....)

BUT enough about what could be- let's look at what IS.

First up- Polaris (Part 2) Mittens.  (Part 1 Here)

Pattern: Polaris Mittens by Rebecca Blair
Yarn: (teal) Berrocco Ultra Alpaca Fine Colorway 1285 and (white) Little Knits Sockulent Colorway 1
Needles: US 1
Notes: I must have been stressed right out when I knit these because they were TIGHT.  I wish the thumb had like 5 extra stitches as it was quite tight.  To say that I "blocked the heck out of these" is a total understatement.  I did everything I could to add in some give.  The good news is that my sister has super teeny tiny hands and they fit her perfectly- so YAY.  She gets a pair of mittens!  I also really REALLY liked that white yarn for mittens.  (Sockulent)  It knits up perfectly and goes great with so many things.  Eventually I might try to get my hands on more.

Why did I make these twice?  You can see my epic fail here- and that sort of brings you up to date.  I couldn't bring myself to rip back so much work, and so I just decided to knit a small pair, thanking the stars up in heaven that my sister has tiny hands and this wouldn't just go to waste!

  

Despite the agony I will admit- these ARE quite lovely.  AND- I finally have that Ultra Alpaca out of my stash.  (Making room in my stash always feels SO good.)

But, that is not all friends.  That is not all.

The Preschool socks are done too!

Pattern: Sock Recipe: A Good Plain Sock (from Knitting Rules) by Stephanie Pearl McPhee
Yarn: Regia Design Line Ombre Stripe Colorway 04480
Needles: US 1
Notes: I have knit this pattern so many times.  In my opinion it's still one of the best "sock recipes" around.

As usual, I went to great pains to line up the stripes to get it perfect.  (Which yes, means cutting up the yarn to get me there.)  I never regret that decision.  Although, I can't, for the life of me, explain why the toes don't match.  (That purple must have gone a little longer by accident?)  It's not enough of a flaw to make me twitchy, so I'm leaving it.  They look lovely don't they?

(It is also good news to note that I did NOT knit the remainder of these at preschool.  My son has been attending on his own since January.  I will not lie, we have good days and we have not so good days, but it is nice to have a little of that time back again.)

And so that's it.  This was an INSANELY productive month- which has now freed me to pursue other avenues.  I decided to try something I've been wanting to cut my teeth on for a while now...

Meet my newest lace project- the Peacock's Feather.  I'm assured by lace knitters everywhere the first several rows of lace look like an ugly blob, so I am trying not to panic here.  I've had a bit of bumpy start but I think I'm just starting to get into this now.  We'll see how it looks in a bit I guess.

I haven't set a March plan yet- I'm still thinking on what I want to accomplish.  I like the short term goal set vs. the long term "all year" plan.  I just haven't decided WHAT March will be yet.  Stay tuned!

Finishing Fanatic

Can I just say how good it feels to finish stuff!?  SO GOOD.  So very very good.

Rainbow Hugs and Kisses is the latest thing to get the "DONE" treatment.

Pattern: Band #66 from the"Mosaic Knitting" by Barbara Walker
Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable Brights in "Red Hot", "Orange Crush", "Sunny Day", "Kelly Green", "Royal Blue" and "Amethyst" and "Black"
Needle: US 9
Notes: This blanket is a little longer than I'd like, but I wanted to get a full 2 color repeat through out.  I'm also pleased with the 3 stitch border and will do that again for remaining blankets.

(Just a look on the wrong side so you can see how nice and short the floats are.)

It's lovely isn't it?

The minute that the blanket made it's way to the blocking board I began progress on the mitten in earnest.  As I neared the end of the mitten I got really, REALLY nervous that I wasn't going to have enough yarn.  Running out of yarn before the project is finished is like one of my greatest nightmares.  In the past I've alleviated this panic by over-buying yarn.  But, now that I'm more focused on stash busting I do my best not to over- buy.... but it does lead to hairy moments where your brain says "it's not enough."

I made it to the end of the mitten thankfully with a little bit of leftovers.  (Pictured above)  I then decided I would knit a little bit of the thumbs on each mitten at a time to see how far I could make the yarn last.  I am happy to report (and kill the suspense) that I HAD ENOUGH FOR BOTH THUMBS!  But it was a tight finish... this is all I had left!!

WHEW!  The even better news is that I got right to weaving in the ends (oh my goodness do I hate weaving in ends!) on this and the mittens are currently blocking.  (A blog update soon- I promise!)

And so, with only 1 goal remaining I jumped right in and cast on sock #2.

It's been a productive week!  I can't wait to show you what else I finish this month!

February IS For Finishing

I'm happy to report that the plan for February is going GREAT.  It's so awesome to have a goal and feel you're making progress.

Firstly- I have TWO charity hats knit with the scrap pile.  (As you can tell I seem to be going through a rainbow thing.)

I actually really enjoyed this little project and thinking of new ways and color combo's to knit them.  (That being said I always start these hat projects GUNG HO- and then fizzle out mid way because I'm over it.)

I even got the ends woven in on both blankets and even blocked one!

Behold!  Rainbow Swirls!

Pattern: Shadow Pattern #26 (Fig 119) from "Mosaic Knitting" Barbara Walker (this book is so awesome)
Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable Brights in "Red Hot", "Orange Crush", "Sunny Day", "Kelly Green", "Royal Blue" and "Amethyst"
Needle: US 9.  I was able to knit this in 15 days thanks to the big needle size
Notes: I had always wondered what a rainbow blanket would like with the colors sort of melding into one another, (ie: red background with orange foreground, moving to an orange background with a yellow forground... etc.)  I'm not sure this pattern necessarily blends that idea all that well but it does look pretty cool.

Cast on was 133 sttitches and I knit 6 rows on either end for a border.  (I wish I had done less stitches for an outside edge border (5) but it's too late now to change that.)  I will likely donate this to WCOBB but I'll wait until I have a few more blankets to send them.

The biggest 'float' in this pattern was 3 slipped stitches, and I think it still looks pretty great.  I love that you can achieve such a colorful pattern without the finicky-ness of doing a faire isle.  I really don't give mosaic knitting enough credit.... maybe I need to be thinking about that as a potential Stampede entry one year.  Hmmmmmmmmm

The other projects are also seeing some progress.  A trip to Lake Louise this weekend meant that I got a little quality sock time in and I'm nearly done sock #1.

I've also been devoting some time to the mittens.

I'm nervous about the mittens big time.  I'm worried I'm not going to have enough yarn to finish.  I would REALLY REEEEEALLY like to use up what I have and not buy more.  So, um, if you know anyone who's knit with this and has leftovers- I'd like to become their new best friend!  On the upside, the fear of running out has me frantically knitting these like a mad man!

As you can see I've kicked off a productive February and I'm hoping there will be more finished things to show you soon!