IT. IS. FINISHED.

Let's get right to the chase today- THE FIRESIDE SWEATER IS DONE.

Pattern: Fireside Sweater by Amber Allison (Ravelry link) size small
Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire in "Oatmeal 02"
Needles: US 10
Notes: I added an additional 4 inches to this sweater because I like them long.  The sleeves are also pretty long- which I also like, because I have these ridiculously gangly long arms and very few sweaters ever fit in the arms right.  I also left the stitches live on the shoulder and bound them off together using 3 needle bind off.  NOTE TO SELF: ALWAYS do this, the shoulder seams look FANTASTIC.  I copped out and also used 3 needle bind off on the neck- if I had attempted to kitchner it, I'm not sure we'd have a finished sweater today.  I'm 90% happy with the way this turned out, my only disappointments are a) I should have knit the smaller size because this still fits big and b) I don't love the side seams- the left side, for whatever reason, has this noticeable jog that just doesn't look right.

This sweater is thick- and bulky... and not exactly right for the current heat wave we're experiencing. I couldn't even bring myself to do a photo shoot outside because I would have melted into a puddle of alpaca and wool.  In fact this sweater is bulky and warm it might be perfect AS A COAT in -25 weather!  I probably will wear this more for fall outdoor weather truthfully than an "inside" sweater because even on the inside, in the AC, I was SWEATING like crazy in this thing.

I will say this.  It's good to have this albatross off my neck.  The guilt is gone on working on other items because this is officially, 100% finito!

This, people, is a PRODUCTIVE blog post because the sweater isn't the only thing that's finished... check out these Kai Mai socks!

Pattern: Kai Mei by Cookie A
Yarn: Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash in "Hollerstaud'n"
Needles: US 1
Notes: These are a great "mindless" knit.  As long as you have stitch markers reminding you to make decrease and make 1, you should be golden.  I love the slant in the pattern and the way it comes accross the toe.  My only disappointment here is that once I blocked these, they became baggy in the leg.  I should have left the 3x3 ribbing unblocked... oh well, that shouldn't be too hard to go back to.

As usual, the Wollmeise was a pleasure to knit with, I love the color saturation and the yardage- I have a TONNE of leftovers.  Maybe even enough for another simple sock!

Finishing these two items meant I got to continue on with the "Summer of Socks" (and/or, small items).  I immediately cast on the Snowflake Lace Socks that I have been admiring for years.  I'm a making a few mod's on the pattern, including adding a picot cuff.  I'm mildly worried about the stretchy-ness of the lace pattern... and may decide to rip out everything I've done and drop down a needle size.  But for now, they are cast on and the "project du jour".

The only other thing sitting in the hopper is the adorable "sheep hat" which is all knit, it just needs to be sewn up.  Hopefully I'll be inspired to sew on the pieces soon.  It would be such a shame to not sew it in time and miss out on the super cute model, WHO IS NOW CRAWLING (OMG!!!!!), I've got "in residence".

I've also committed to knitting in the "Ravellenic Games" during the Olympics but let's discuss that a little later.  For now- we celebrate that this blog has become a place where I talk about FINISHING things again!

Finishing Things is Hard Y'all

Last day of June- the sweater is still not done.  I added two rows to the neck and opted to 3 needle bind off the thing.  The ends on the seems are all woven in- I just need to sew in the neck and sew in the buttons... which have arrived.  I will get there people- I SWEAR.

Also arriving with the buttons was some yarn I ordered.  (oops)  I just can't resist the self striping yarn, especially from Knitpicks.  I also threw in some interesting white for a pair of socks I've been planning to knit, for, like, EVER.  Those will hopefully be on the needles soon.

The Kai Mai socks were moving along quite fabulously....

.... until I hit a snag.  No, not an error or something that I have to spend time fixing.  I was at the MiL's the other day and looking through her copy of "60 Quick Baby Knits" and was inspired.  I dropped everything I was working on and cast on this project.  

It's going to be a damn cute sheep hat- knit with the leftovers from Parker's blanket.  I can't explain what came over me, I was absolutely compelled to knit it.  I dropped everything, including my Hexi Thursday plans and knit this hat.  I made good progress too- in fact I've finished knitting all of the parts and woven in the respective ends but I just can't bring myself to spend the time seaming everything in.

WHY DO I HATE FINISHING THINGS!?  I'm so close.  Again.  And just can't get over the "finished hump".  What I really need is something who hates knitting the items but LOVES sewing things together.  We'd make a great team.  Hoping to get some finished things on this blog soon- but it is nice to feel like I have some freedom to pick up and knit these fun distractions.

For those of you taking in the Stampede next week you can see some of my knitting projects in person.  Both Baby Dots and the Nebula socks (back in the good old days when I finished things !!) are trying for a ribbon in the Western Showcase.  Wish me luck!

Sexy Hexi Thursdays

Those of you who get tired of "Ravelry bandwagons" (wherein it seems like everyone is making a certain project on Ravelry)  may want to look away because Mother in Law and I have embarked on a project.  Yes- we're making Hexipuffs for the Beekeeper's quilt with our leftover sock yarns.

We've agreed on a few modifications to the pattern; we will not be stuffing our little hexigons because while the "puff" is cute, it's maybe not super practical for storage.  We also went down a few needle sizes to get a more "firm" fabric.  We're going to need approximately 9 bajillion of these for our project- so there is no completion timeline... in fact 3 years from now I may still be knitting Hexi's.  BUT- in order to at least make some weekly progress I have designated Thursdays as "Sexy Hexi" day- and I will only knit with my leftover sock yarns.  Not to worry I have a lot of leftovers (and it's been fun to go back and revisit sock yarns that I enjoyed knitting) and quite frankly some full skeins of sock yarn that I may donate to the cause.

And one little leftover ball seems to produce quite a few little sections!  Leftover sock yarn from the Maelstrom socks.  This is only from one sock!  Seven Hexi's.... I will be getting a tonne out of my leftovers!

Lest you worry that this blog will become all "hexi" all the time, I am making some headway on other projects too.  Remember when I said I would seam the sweater?  I DID!  (OMG!) I downloaded the great Knitting Help app which helped me clean up my seams.

(Ooo so..... um.... seamy!)

The seam isn't entirely invisible, but it's neat and I suppose that's all I can ask for.

(I clearly missed my calling as a hand model... haha)

All that remains is grafting (*hiss*) the neck and seaming that together and the buttons... which are still in transit.  Grafting and I aren't especially friendly fellows... so I'm again, feeling a little gun shy on the project but I'm hoping to fortify myself with some courage and get this puppy done!  Nothing says START OF SUMMER quite like finishing a giant alpaca/wool sweater.  Haha.

And the Kai Mei socks are plugging along quite lovely.  This is one of those socks that will most certainly benefit from a little blocking- so use your imagination that these look pretty good!

Okay- need to get back to my Hexi's... until next week!

Distracted Chicken

So yup- still no sweater progress as far as seams go... BUT- I have viewed a few videos online and feel like I could make another attempt at seaming.  Who knows... maybe even AFTER this blog post I might be motivated?

It's just easy to be afraid of seaming and the sweater when I'm excited about completing a few things and beginning others.  (Hence the title- distracted chicken.)

Those easy-peasy ribbed socks are off the needles!

Pattern: Sock Recipe, A Good Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl McPhee (I adapted this pattern for a ribbed calf and foot- but all instructions were essentially the same.)
Yarn: ONline Super Socke in Cotton Beach Color colorway 941.  (The last of my super self-striping deal of the very first Boxing day yarn deals!)
Needles: 2.25 mm  (Did you see what I did there?!  I used the Millimeter size, I'm growing as a person/Canadian!)
Thoughts: I love a simple sock.  I really do.  I also love self striping yarn because it does all the work for you and there's a certain joy in watching the stripes occur as they should every time.  The one thing I do, because I'm pretty anal retentive about even stripes, is that after turning the heel, I cut the yarn and join when the leg left off when I pick up the stitches on the foot.  I hate when the flow gets all messed up from the heel, so I like to stay pretty close to the pattern that was on the leg.

I'm also pretty happy that once again, the stripes line up pretty spectacularly.

I also finished a teeny tiny baby hat that I started last summer with some left over Knitpicks felici.



Pattern: Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat by Keri McKiernan
Yarn: Knitpicks Felici leftover in the Rainbow colorway
Needles: 3 mm (I DID IT AGAIN... OMG!)
Thoughts: This was a great way to use up a couple of leftovers.  I see a few sock yarn newborn hats in my future!

Spurred on by my success over completing items that needed completing, (and in the spirit of ignoring the sweater), I also cast on something I have been dying to knit.  The Kai-Mei sock by the infamous Cookie A in none other than Wollmeise.  I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself!  (Also- an aside here but I don't want to be one of those people who horde the Wollmeise but never knit with it.  If I'm going to BUY the yarn, I better knit with it.  I have never understood why people buy BOATLOADS of Wollmeise, snapping it up from other knitters who just want one skein and then proudly display their enormous Wollmeise stash but never have an actual project they knit with it.  If you're going to BUY IT... USE IT.  <---- I will get off my soapbox now*.)

And so here we are, me feeling pretty conflicted.  Knit the sock with the fun pattern and delicious yarn or slog through the scary seaming?  I think you know what's going to happen here...

* I recognize that this yarn sat in my stash for a long time before it got used... so I own up that I'm one of those people... but I'm going for personal growth and STASH DOWN here.

I'm a Coward

So we've hit the preverbial "snag" in the seaming process of the Fireside sweater.  I was actually pretty pleased how nicely the sleeves set in to the sweater and was patting myself on the back quite profusely for leaving the stitches live to do the shoulder in 3 needle bind off because it looks so smartly done.  The sweater was moving along as it was supposed to.

Then it came time to begin seaming up the sides when the "snag" hit.  You see, I've only ever seamed up sweaters that have been knit in stocking stitch.  I have never seamed up sweaters done in reverse stocking stitch.  "Okay", I thought to myself, "this is just an opportunity to learn something new".  Except I'm really REALLY awful at learning new things... especially if there's no one there to show me.  I pulled out the Vogue Knitting book and looked at the picture and said "self you can do this".

Clearly I lied to this "self" person.  Quelle Horror!  This seam looks horrific.  (What also kills me is that I kept going despite seeing very early on that this was a DISASTER and needed to be pulled out.)

Instead of researching various videos that show me how to do this- I do what I tend to do when a particular item confounds me- I ignore it.  Or, I let it "marinate".  And so the sweater has been languishing in this "marinating" state while I pretend that I'm not kind of intimidated by seaming up reverse stocking stitch (and WHY IN THE HECK DIDN'T I JUST KNIT THIS IN ONE PIECE UNTIL THE SLEEVES!?) and I'm not sure when I'm going to have guts to try it.

The only minor upside here is that I'm happily in denial knitting on the simple ribbed sock and those will be done soon.

I'm not quite sure where to go from here.  It seems utterly stupid to get this far on a project and then cop out.  This sweater has been knit by 500 people on Ravelry and they have all managed to figure this out.  Why am I letting a little intimidation stop me?

It doesn't help that I'm also distracted by other socks- seeing as it is June and I had planned on allowing myself to begin "THE SUMMER OF SOCK KNITTING".  I've got the pattern and the yarn ready to dive into the next project- but I won't ENJOY it knowing that I have this sweater so close to finish waiting for me to, pardon the phrase, "grow a pair".

So- I need a glass of wine and knitting guru to guide me through this.  Know any guru's who have tackled this particular "Mount Everest" and if they have laid out a plainly written, with many photos and or videos to guide the exceptionally cowardice on this particular subject?

Lot 665- A Sweater in Pieces

I went through this phase in junior high school where I loved, LOVED... L O V E D the Phantom of the Opera.  LOVED IT.  (Did I mention loved?)  I saw two travelling productions of it.  I had the tape of the full cast recording and I could recite the entire first side.  If I dig deep into the recesses of my mind, I could probably STILL recite a large portion of that production.  The whole point of this is that there's this scene in the beginning where they are selling off the items from the old opera house and when they get to the famous chandelier, (brought down by the Phantom) they say "Lot 665, a Chandelier in pieces..." and thus begins the flashback story of the Phantom of the Opera.  There's this very dramatic piece as the Chandelier is illuminated and the Phantom main theme plays as the Chandelier ascends to the top of the theater.  I would get GOOSE BUMPS hearing this.  I still get goose bumps thinking of this.

The whole point of this ramble is every time I look at the sweater, blocked and ready for seaming... I think "Lot 665, a SWEATER in pieces" and yes, I hear the ominous theme from the Phantom of the Opera.  The only difference here is that I don't get goose bumps, more of a feeling of ennui... like "UGH can't this thing just seam ITSELF!?"

I'm going to do my best to finish the seaming this week- despite my "really not wanting to" attitude.  This won't be "officially done" however for a few weeks as I have placed an order (from Knitpicks of all places) for the perfect buttons to complete it.  But it would still be great to say this is 99.8% done, except for buttons by the end of May.

Speaking of finishing, and looking a little like Mr. Phantom himself, I finished the little stuffed penguin I was making for a little guy's first birthday.

Pattern: Pasha Penguin by Alexandra Virgiel (FREE!)
Yarn: Scap acrylics left over from various WCOBB blankets (mostly Vanna's Choice by Red Heart)
Needles: US 4- I wanted a really tight fabric
Thots: Cute pattern, although I'm a little concerned that I didn't pick up the wrap and turns properly.  The ease and simplicity of the pattern got my thinking it might be fun to make a little "something" and enter it in the "knitted dolls" category of Stampede.  I'm still "ruminating" on that idea and looking for the right inspiration.

I put Mr. Pasha in the fridge because he just looked like he wanted to be in a more "natural" habitat.  Cute project!  I have enough yarn to knit myself a whole pod of penguins!

And, because things have been finishing up smoothly... I also have pretty decent progress on the simple sock made.  I like the fit of the ribbed sock, but I hate how it looks in it's natural, shriveled up state.

Alright... I have procrastinated enough, time to get into the seaming.  Maybe I'll download the Phantom to listen to keep me company while I seam?

PS- Christine and Raoul forever... I never bought into her falling for the creepy masked dude.

Attention Span of a Gnat

Oh dear... allowing myself indulgences for finished projects is a slippery slope.  One minute I am a focused machine quickly churning through my unfinished object pile and the next minute, the UFO file has grown again.

First I suppose we need to address the achievements.  Sweater pieces finished and ends (that will not require any seaming) are woven in.

The blocking board is here and I just need to spend my afternoon communing with the blocking pins.  I will admit I am concerned.  The good news is that I had enough yarn.  The bad news is that this pattern was written by a very well meaning person, but not a pro pattern designer.  There is no schematic for making sure I block to appropriate measurements.  It is obvious to me that the fronts are much larger than the back and the sleeves might be a bit of a tight fit into the right spots.  I'm not sure what this means for the finished project.  I guess we'll see.  Hopefully I will be spending time sewing this up and gushing here when finished instead of lamenting a "so so" project.

Secondly- the mittens from my April indulgence are complete!

Pattern: Emma's Mittens by Minh Hoang (Ravelry link only)
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool in Mercury
Needles: US 5 for cuffs and US 6 for hand
Notes: I did as other Raveler's suggested and knit in a thumb gusset instead of doing an afterthought thumb.  This was TOTALLY the right call.  I hate how afterthought thumbs feel.  I did this by increasing 1 stitch every other row after the 2nd pattern repeat until I had 12 stitches.  I also knit these long- because I like mittens that can fit under a coat and aren't going to expose your wrist easily to the elements.  The only other change is that I did mirror cables for each hand instead of doing the same (large cable) for each mitten.

These turned out pretty great and I'm quite happy.

Finishing the mittens was like opening Pandora's box however.  Because I finished that distraction and was technically finished the knitting/end weaving portions of the sweater- I cast on another little distraction.

This is going to be Pasha the penguin.  Earlier this year Make One Yarn Studio partnered with the Calgary Zoo to knit some penguins for the new penguin exhibit.  I very much wanted to participate in this project but was otherwise distracted by a new baby that was eating up much of my knitting time.  The zoo no longer needs penguins, but I know a friend of mine thought the knitted penguins were pretty neat and inquired about buying one for her little boy.  She was put off by the price (not that they are over-charging... this is afterall a HAND MADE ITEM) it's just a lot to pay for some people.  Anyways her little guy turns one sometime soon and I thought it was a great "scrap yarn" eater- so I decided to knit her the penguin.  Hopefully this will be done at the end of May along with the others.

I went to my mother's the other day and decided there was too many parts and pieces to Pasha and I just wanted a simple knit to work on there- so I cast on a simple, ribbed sock in a very satisfying self striping yarn.

Funny story about this project.  I had originally taken this yarn and needles to the hospital with me thinking I could knit while I was in labour.

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OMG I find it so funny that I thought I could concentrate on knitting while in labour.  Even funnier?  This wasn't the only thing I brought!  I worried about running out yarn/projects so I also brought a few dishcloths.  Um no.  Even WITH the drugs.  No.  Seriously HILARIOUS.  Anyways- I have a few short little trips coming up and this just seemed like the right "just a quick stitch here" project.  I'm not putting this on the "must finish by the end of May" list... (must finish by June for CERTAIN) but if that happens I'll be quite proud of myself.

So there you have it- this nap schedule is really benefiting my knitting time again!

In the Thick of It

As promised, I pulled out the Fireside sweater and begun anew.  Really, I'm surprised at how little there is left to do on this.  MiL, as promised, watched the bambino for an hour and I set to figuring out where I left off and what I needed to do.  Before I knew it, I had a finished back section!  I quickly cast on the sleeves and progress is chucking along.

I will confess to a few setbacks.  It was around row 10 the first time through the sleeves that I realized I read the chart wrong and knit where I should have purled.  Fixing that, I was into the second repeat on the chart when I realized that I had mis-crossed a cable about 10 rows back on one sleeve.  So, I frogged back and fixed the cable.  Since then- the only setback I've had is a child who is sleeping like crap right now (growth spurt/teething) and although he still naps like a champ, it means that I'm napping instead of knitting in his nap times at the moment.  (Mama is TIRED.)

This is the first time I've knit two sleeves at one time, and so far so good.  Although there are times where I will forge ahead on one sleeve and get 2 or 3 rows ahead and realize I didn't knit the other sleeve.  Minor issues, that are probably occurring because I'm a little sleep deprived at the moment.  I also knit these two at a time because there is a very real threat of running out of yarn, that I confess is making me all kinds of worried!  (On the upside this makes me knit faster so I can alleviate the stress.)  (I love my donut stitch markers.  LOVE them.  Except they make me CRAVE donuts like all the time.  I have resisted so far but the worse the sleeping at night gets the more the need for donuts arises!)

As also promised, I haven't touched the mittens since May 2 when I put myself in sweater mode.  I'm terribly close to finishing them... just the thumbs.

I'll knit the thumbs when the sweater is blocking and then will allow for a little "indulgence" if there's time.  (Maybe more mittens... who knows!)  It feels good to be progressing on the UFO pile and getting some things off the needles.  I can't wait to start some new things!!

April FO's Bring May Sweaters?

It certainly looks that way!  For the first time this year I met my knitting deadline and finished my April projects!

Pattern: Baby Dots by Kay Meadors

Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby in "white", "prettiest pink", "pink" and "rose rumba"
Needle: US 6
Notes: So easy to knit, but also suffers from "OMG-I-am-so-bored-with-this" syndrome.  I carried up the three yarns along the inside of the borders so that I didn't have to weave in the ends after every row.  It was a VERY good idea... all of those ends would have made me cray-zee!  Also, I had to rely on MiL's stash to have enough white yarn.  Since our dye-lot's didn't match I alternated every other row to blend the two.

I was VERY worried that this wasn't going to block properly, being acrylic and all.  But, I think the knit gods decided to smile down on me or something, because after some time with the blocking board- the whole thing doesn't seem as rolly polly and lies reasonably flat.  Maybe this does have a Stampede destiny afterall?

Finishing a blanket is in itself VERY satisfying... finishing a blanket AND a pair of socks is downright heroic!

Pattern: Spring Fling by Pam Gordnier (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Madelintosh Tosh Sock in Logwood
Needles: US 0
Notes: Great pattern if you read the whole thing through (ahem... me)!  I'd highly recommend going down at least a needle size... I went down TWO and they fit "just right" on my calves.  This was my first time doing an "eye of the partridge heel" and I really liked it.  Caution though, it eats up more yarn than a standard heel, so you need to be sure you'll have enough.

These are just a delightful "springy" sock and the yarn is absolutely dreamy to knit with.  Madelintosh lends itself beautifully to socks and these are no exception.

With both projects off my needles I hinted at a little cheat... until the very end of April.  I'm just smitten with these mittens!  (Emma's Mittens)

And so- with the socks and the blanket finished on time, it's time I pull out the sweater and work on it.  I'll be heading over to MiL's on Wed with Parker so that grandma can play with Parker and mommy can have some uninterrupted "figure out where exactly I am" on this project so that I can forge ahead on finishing it up.  Because let's face it, with a dude like that this....

... it's easy to get distracted.

Smitten Knittin'

Well... boo boo fixed and progress made!  Guess what's off the needles and ready to block?

This project is gorgeous.  G O R G E O U S, I love the little pink dots in the white knitting and it's perfect for a perfect little girl someday.  But here is where I get real nervous.  This project is acrylic.  Acrylic is not a natural fiber- I'm not sure it's going to block.  Even if I can get it lie a little bit flatter, I'll breathe a sigh of relief- but otherwise- YIKES.  I might crochet up the edges on the inside of the blanket to try and give the sides a little more "girth" in the hopes of keeping them from curling, but I won't lie- I'm greatly concerned about this pretty pretty project and well... it may not have a greater purpose this summer if I can't get things to lie flatter.  (This makes me so sad because I really love this project and it's so lovely and I think it would show well... just it laid flat.)

Keeping me from entirely freaking out is the Maui Fling sock- which is seeing progress too and this is just such a pretty pair of socks.

For the first time this year I'm actually AHEAD of the finishing project.  And so, I've allowed myself a mini reward.  If Baby Dots is blocked or blocking, and Maui's are done, I can spend the rest of April casting on a small "quickie" project and knitting it until May.  May 1- the sweater comes out of hiding (and well, it might be used for a greater purpose if Baby Dots can't "shape up") and I work to finishing that.

So Spring is "springing" along beautifully for me... things are finishing up and my brain is beginning to daydream all of the exciting projects I can work on once the UFO pile dwindles down to nothing.  Spring is making me so excited for SUMMER knitting!