More Christmas Gifts

A lot of posts all at once, yessir. That's what I'm up to... mostly because I have been working ever so hard on my knitting and the like that I haven't had time to blog... and now I do. :)

Right, so my youngest sister was asking for an eternity scarf and a redo of her legwarmers (from Love to Knit) in basic black. (The legwarmers thing is a terrible story - when I was JUST learning how to knit, I made her a pair of legwarmers in white and pink, tres cute. However, I brought her with me to the store to pick out yarn. I didn't know the first thing about knitting and how important the yarn you select is for the project, etc. Well, the first pair of legwarmers are absolute crap. *sigh*.)

Legwarmers - in basic black - stylish.

Anyhow, so a friend of mine was doing a cute neck warmer / infinity scarf thing that she'd found on Pickles and I LOVED the pattern, but I wanted a longer, more dangly form of infinity scarf, so I adjusted until I had a pattern that was more suited to my project, which is as follows:

Scarf detail

Using a bulky yarn (5) and US size 11 (8 mm) needles

co 23 using the provisional cast on method
(RS) Row 1: k2, yo *sl1, k2, psso both knit stitches, yo* Rep from * to * until last 3 sts, ssk, k1
(WS) Row 2: k2, p to last 2 sts, k2

Rep 2 rows until desired length is reached ending on RS row.
Graft the live stitches on the ends together.

WOO!

The scarf looks really nice on.  YAY!

And if you're wondering what's up with all my headless models... that's the only way they'd model for me... if I didn't include their heads. :)

Merry Christmas with Joie de Vivre!

So, yet again, I decided this year it was a good idea to try to make all the Christmas gifts I was giving... well, at least those for my mom and sisters. This always seems like a good idea until two weeks before Christmas and I still have a project that I haven't even started. woops. Anyhow, this year, I actually pulled it off without a mad dash on Christmas Eve.

Anyhow, so what did I accomplish this Christmas? Well, for mom... I made a lovely sapphire blue sweater / cardigan. The pattern is Joie de Vivre from the book Sensual Knits... and I must say I find the sizing to be rather small. I used Patons Silk Bamboo yarn, which didn't quite give me the right gauge, but it was awfully close. AND... then I knit a LARGE... for my mom... who is a stick. I started and ripped it out because there was no way it was the right size, and then I started and ripped it out again, and then I decided it was going to have to be a large. BUT... eventually it came out right-ish.

I'm not fully convinced that this is the nicest sweater, but I tried really hard to get it right and the pattern is beautiful. Anyhow, my issues: 1. the sizing. Either the yarn I used is very very much the wrong yarn to use or my gauge is too tight. (I knit a swatch, it was darn close). 2. the ribbing! Knitting this up in one piece is TRES COOL! EXCEPT when it comes to sewing together the seams. I can't figure out how you make the ribs line up. Maybe it doesn't matter, but my ribs don't line up and that makes me sad. Hopefully no one else notices. 3. I didn't block mine, so the sleeves are about 1/2 length, which is fine, but I'd recommend making longer sleeves period. It wouldn't be that hard to do, just cast on ~34 more stitches on either side.

The pattern really is lovely and elegant. How much cooler can you get than an alternating drop stitch rib? I also LOVE how soft this yarn is... wow...

My sister's favourite scarf

So, I stole a picture from my sister's facebook that shows the lovely toque and scarf I made her *gulp* two years ago now. She was super nice and took pictures of the beret and scarf I made her too... just don't have those yet. So, here you go, my blurry sister, showing off her wicked-cool toque that she loves so very very much! (I believe there was a matching neckwarmer and mittens at one point too... )

Oh yeah, patterns, the toque is from Bronwyn Lowenthal's Love to Knit Book.
And the scarf was from lord knows... but I found it?
Seriously, easiest scarf pattern on the planet...

Anyhow, that's it for now!

Later!

Instructions

I find that I'm always searching you tube for a variety of stitches that I can do during one project but can't seem to remember for the next project. I need constant reminders. Also, I'm working on a sweater and just learned how to do a cable cast-on (yes, I'm aware that's pretty basic, but I've been using the long tail cast on method forever and haven't felt the need to change until now.)
Anyhow, this post is all about my favourite videos on you tube for learning / teaching yourself how to knit. I have a pair of socks in the works that will require a kitchener stitch (or grafting) as well as the sweater I already mentioned, where I will have to neatly and carefully sew the shoulder seams together.
I will post some older projects soon as it seems the projects I'm working on at the moment are coming along very slowly.

Back from holidays

Hi! I've been away on holidays for a month, which generally means no knitting, but I did finish the baby girl toque that matches the little boy's bear toque just before I left! These things are so freaking adorable! :D
I hope baby Elise looks super cute in it when she grows into it. It's a touch big for her head at the moment. Ooops.

Anyhow, current projects? Working on a pair of socks in a really pretty blue colour, there's a shawl in the works, a blanket that I've been working on forever, and a few new ideas in my head (one's a sweater and the other is a pair of legwarmers).

Love to Knit... Love that Book

I may have mentioned a scarf I knit for my sister (which I still don't have a picture of by the way) a few posts ago. I may also have mentioned a matching beret from Bronwyn Lowenthal's Love to Knit book. Well, I liked the beret I made for my sister so much that I made one for myself. They're so much fun and living in a place like this having cute / fun winter hats... not necessarily all toques... is a must.

Back to Babies!

So, my cousin is having a baby, as is a girlfriend of mine. My friend, is having a little girl, but I just can't see her dressing her baby in frilly pink frou frou... and my cousin, is having a little boy. Sadly, I didn't know my cousin was having a boy when I started this frilly pink frou frou blast from the past dress. I can't link this pattern as it's from a book my mom had when she was a knitter (ie. when she was pregnant with me, she knit a baby sweater. Once.)
I wanted to make this dress in just a solid lavendar or replace the pink parts with lavendar, but I just couldn't find the yarn in the right colour (and was too lazy to go buy it online) so it ended up frilly and pink! Which is awesome... now to find the right person to give it to... someone has to be having a little girl who likes pink, right?

Too long!

Wow. That was quite the hiatus. I should really be more on top of this. My bad! Anyhow, what have I been up to you ask? Many things, but mostly this:This afghan has been an absolute ton of work, but it's so pretty, ahem, in a manly sort of way. I'm actually really excited to see what it looks like when all the ends are tucked in and the granny squares are all put together. I absolutely love this pattern, but be wary, there's lots of colour changes and lots of sewing to do!

Babies gallore

So, it would seem that a large number of the people I know are having babies. That being said, recent times have seen an increase in the number of baby related projects I'm working on at the moment (up from 0). After the socks, knitting in the round on double pointed needles seemed like a piece of cake! So, I took on a baby hat! I found the most adorable pattern when I was out shopping for yarn and I couldn't resist, so I bought the yarn and VOILA! Adorable Baby Bear!Sadly, you have to log in to the Bernat site to see the pattern, but it's the "softee baby - knit hats with ears" pattern.

Sockies!!!

So, after the scarf was finished, I decided to move onto something completely different. A friend of mine had got a ball of sock yarn and a pattern (from Make One Yarn Studio here in Calgary) to go with it for me for Christmas, now seeing as I had never used double pointed needles before, I was a teensy bit wary, but no pain, no gain, right? So, I consulted almighty youtube for some advice on how to work in the round on double pointed needles. The going was slow and after half of the first sock I was wondering how on earth people did this to make their clothing (especially because the pattern was not as easy as it could have been and I was contemplating making only one sock)! But, lo and behold! Once you get the hang of double pointed needles - sock two goes much faster!
So, for me, this was something entirely new and I'm still not sure if I liked doing it, by my socks are SUPER COMFY!!! <3

All the things I love

Well, I've been away from blogging for some time now... sorry. This is mostly because I have not been taking pictures of anything I've been working on lately. Ooops... I really really hate it when I do that.

Anyhow, so let me start where I left off...

Before Christmas my sister asked me to make her a scarf... for no reason... just a scarf would be nice. And I said... SURE! Now, I think I may be insane for agreeing to a scarf so readily (I kind of hate making scarves, they're repetitive, inane and take forever for what you get) however, here's a note to non-knitters everywhere: Your knitter friends are much more likely to make you things anytime you want / need something if you constantly tell them how awesome the last thing you made them was. My sister has mastered this technique. I made her a scarf last christmas (and a super cute toque to go with it) and since then she hasn't shut up about how much she loves the scarf. She almost left it at a restaurant one night and had to call her friends that had stayed to rescue it for her, she gets compliments from random strangers while she's at school, and (best of all) she wears it ALL the time!

So, yes, I made her a scarf. I was awfully excited about this project as I was hoping she would love it as much as she loved the last one (that remains to be seen because our winter has been so ridiculously mild since Christmas). I set about searching for a pattern and somehow got it in my head that I should make a cabled scarf. Cables are tedious and a ton of work, but they make beautiful finished products... (see where I'm going, this whole project seems to be things I'm not overly fond of) so, not only did I find a cabled scarf pattern, but I found a REVERSIBLE cabled scarf pattern! Score!

So, it's finished and my sister has it, and I don't have a picture. I even made her a beret (from my favourite book, Bronwyn Lowenthal's Love to Knit) to go with it! I really need to snag a picture so I can post it... and I will, just give it time.