Delinquent Blogger

I have excuses.  Do you want my excuses?  Not really?  Well, you're getting them anyways coz it'll make me feel better.
1.  Work has been stupid busy and I have zero drive to accomplish anything when I get home.
2.  I am working on a sweater.  It's a really easy pattern (read: boring).  I no longer want to finish it.  Motivation ~= 0
3.  Sleep.  Yep, I have been actually getting a decent night's sleep lately.  This cuts into knitting time.

Okay, excuses are done.

What the heck have I done since I last blogged?  It's been a while.  HOLY!

Good thing my ravelry can be sorted by "most recently completed"

TA DA! SO, I finished a baby blanket that I've had on the go FOREVER!  So pleased!  And then I packed it up in a drawer, didn't take any pictures and called it done.  Woops.  I must admit, I still don't have a plan for this blanket.  I kind of figured it was for a baby boy.  A friend of mine is having a baby boy, but I already started another blanket for that one.

A picture!  With the border!

Repeat pattern.  I love it though!

I finally finished my rust tweed shrug - again, I did not take a picture, but I have been wearing it.  It's REALLY freaking warm.  Glad I got it done by the end of the winter (being that it's March winter has not yet left us, but it is tantalizingly close to spring... pfft... sweaters).

Best image I have.  I know, it's hard to see.

The L'infinita cowl I was working on gained completion (and photos!  Why have I not blogged this yet?) and then I wore it non-stop.  OMG  I love that thing.

GORGEOUS

I don't seem to ever wear it long.  But it is a lovely colour.

Of course, I did more stash-busting and made yet another baby sweater.  I might have to take all the things out of my drawer (you know, the non-existent baby stash for possible future?) and take a picture just to let you folks all know how out of hand this is getting.

Awww....

Okay, so that's everything I've finished recently... how about things I've started.

Starting with the sweater that is sucking my will to live.  "Look how cute it is!  oh and look how easy it is!  I'll just make it for my sister's birthday.  It'll be so fun and easy.  Awww..."  @$*&;%!  I think I have something ridiculous like 250 stitches on my needles at the moment and what I get to do to those 250+ stitches is seed stitch.  FML.  Seriously... why did I think this would be a good idea????  This sweater is WAY too boring.  It consists of stockinette stitch and seed stitch.  It is easy though.  But man, where did my motivation go?  Out the window?  With the fun?  Oh yeah, that's where it went.  I'm hoping when I finally get it off the needles that it will be super super cute and well worth the agony of a FREAKING BORING PROJECT.  **Note to self** you are no longer a beginner.  Stop attempting beginner patterns.  You hate them.
(I am a really really bad blogger and wrote this a couple weeks months ago.  I have since finished this god awful thing.  It's cute.  Sister seems to like it.  Feeling less rage.)

Somehow it looks better when folded in half

FINALLY FINISHED!

Then... remember that gorgeous yarn I bought at the "mayan apocalypse sale".  Ya know, she who dies with the biggest stash wins?  I think I'm about 3 balls into my lap-ghan that I'm making with it.  (I made the pattern a lot thinner).  I love working on this, therefore, it is getting my attention instead of the aforementioned sweater.  Sadly, this means I had to put a moratorium on this lap-ghan in order that I might actually get the sweater done for deadline #2 (deadline #1 came and went and I was not finished - deadline #2 is when Katy gets back from school - March 18th.  gah!)

Love the yarn.  Going to be quite the teeny blanket though.

Mmmkay... so now all I have to do is go take a whole ton of pictures and put them in this freaking post - otherwise... Most.  Boring.  Post.  Ever. (Took me waaaay too long to get pictures, but I did it!)

Back to Reality

Well, I apparently was too busy to post over the holidays?  (I really wasn't - but I WAS having a good time)

So, being that this is the New Year and all, I made myself some crafting related resolutions.  Pretty much entirely because I spent a good 3 days cleaning up all the files in my craft room so that they were useful and not just a garbage pile (are we sensing a theme?  I'm sensing a theme.)  So now I need to keep the momentum up.  My crafting resolutions are simple and, hopefully, effective.

1. Finish All Hibernating Projects - this is the biggest and the hardest.  It would mean that I finish my cleopatra wrap and that lovely green-ish diagonal striped blanket that I've had in progress for ~4 years.  This would make me very happy (and make me feel like I *can* start new projects - not that I don't as is, but I feel guilty leaving these stragglers behind).
2. Wind My Nice Yarn Into Center Pull Cakes - I am beginning to have quite the stash (and not just of crappy walmart yarn) and none of it is really wound and that makes me not want to use it (even though it's amazing!)
3. Store Yarn / Supplies Better.  I currently have just a giant basket that is filled with random yarns (mostly crappy walmart yarn) and a little paper box beside it where I keep my scraps.  So, I'm thinking what this will entail is finding a creative way to store my knitting needles and properly storing all my newly wound hotness. :)

So, that's it.  Those are my crafting related resolutions.  I have quite the list upstairs in my teeny tiny craft room - this year my resolutions are MORE or DO rather than LESS.  I feel like that is a positive way of looking to the future.  More of the things you love and take action for things that need to be changed, rather than eat less, lose weight etc.  

Okay, less resolutions, more craftiness!

Let's see... so I'm taking that mittens and gloves galore class over at craftsy and I made some lovely thrummed mittens for my sister for Christmas.  They turned out AMAZINGLY even if I did have to rip a good portion out at first because my thrums were ginormous.  Katy seems to love them and they are super super warm.  

Little thrums (these are actually the big ones)

Mitten #1 = done!

DOS!  Dos mittens - yeah, my spanish sucks

And those slippers.  You know, the god-awful cabled slippers that were so much fun?  Yeah, they turned out awesome.  Mom is always wearing them and that almost (almost) makes all the work worth it.  Mom opened them, and Katy fell in love and asked for a pair (I said no.)

See, they turned out cute!  Worth it?

What else have I been up to over the holidays?

That rust cabled sweater?  Yeah... it's nearing completion.  Less than one ball of yarn left to go and I'm just ribbing away (though, admittedly, the ribbing is BORING.)

There's a relatively new yarn store here in Calgary called "The Loop" so I wandered over there for the "mayan apocalypse sale" she who dies with the biggest stash wins... lol.  Oh, right... the point of that... yeah, so I bought this yarn.  It was majorly on sale (I got 8 balls for $24!) and I started a lovely cable knit lap-ghan with it (seriously, it's going to be small, not sure I have quite enough yarn, but we'll see).

I started a seed stitch cardigan for my younger sister Katy's birthday (which is in January, so she is aware that it is coming and she picked out the colour, but it is in no way going to be ready for her birthday).

Oh right, and more about "The Loop".  My lovely friend Jess gave me the most wonderful birthday / Christmas gift and that was a knitting class.  So we went off to the loop for single skein sunday and started work on a pretty easy (very easy) cowl.  It's made with malabrigo yarn, so I am feeling incredibly spoiled.  

I feel pretty!  Oh so pretty!

In fact, I have been just spoiled in general this holiday.  There is nothing like the wonderful people in your life being excessively nice to you (this confuses me some, you know, I don't *need* all these nice things, and no one *has* to do this for me - Dave keeps telling me it's not because they have to, but because they want to, and that it just means my friends / family loves me) to make you realize just how wonderful your friends are and just how blessed you are.  This has been my greatest take-away from this holiday season - an overwhelming sense of love - and really, who could ask for anything more.

More Slippers

I guess this slipper thing isn't going to stop any time soon.  It uses up so much of my stash so nicely.  There's also a charity drive for gifts for a seniors home going on at work at the moment and I'm thinking the slippers will go to that.

Anyhow, the ones for - I've decided - my mom (the insanity slippers with the cables and the fingering weight yarn) are coming along well.  I finally got one slipper all sewn up.  I just don't have that much motivation to work on them.  I'm sure I could finish them faster if there was a deadline or motivation - but for now - they're  ALMOST done!  WOO HOO!

you don't want me in your picture?

cute button!

cat-attack!

The "unsubstantial - holey slippers" well, those are the ones I'm making for the seniors home gifts.  I know that sounds really bad - but to be honest - I was so mad about the first pair that I used all my ends to snug up all the holes and now they look really good.  (still not terribly warm, but how warm does a house-slipper really need to be ?)  So, I started on a second pair, but I didn't want to have to snug up all the holes on pair number 2 - so my solution was to do the sc row around the slipper with the mc and work my scs through part of the 2nd st so that the holes would go away (and they did!) and then do a sl st round with the contrast colour.  I'm about halfway through slipper #2 of pair number 2 and they're looking STELLAR!  (woo!)

see how much LESS holey they are now?

finished!

And now for something completely different.

You know that shrug that I made for my sister for Christmas a couple years ago?  Well, it was too big (like she couldn't keep it on her shoulders too big).  It makes me sad that something I made is loved, but cannot be worn because it is so obviously the wrong size.  So we spent a few minutes pinning things up and figuring out how big it needs to be and then I frogged the whole darn thing.  Then I had to rewrite the pattern due to the size it required being was 30 sts less than the original!  (omg!) I've been determined to get through this so that her sweater comes back to her as soon as possible - so I've been knitting stockinette stitch on the train a lot (yes, I am *that* girl).  AND!  I finally finished!  I am so excited!  I just have to bind-off and then tuck ends and sew seams (I know, that is where everything gets stalled - but must. finish.)

Slippers

Okay - so who has a really great pattern for slippers?

What I'm looking for is something cute, relatively unconventional, easy-ish, and quick to make.  I'm not asking for much, right?

Anyhow, so after starting my god-forsaken slippers for my family for Christmas I decided that those were TOO much work - but cute!  So I moved on to these incredibly easy crochet slippers.  They're cute too, but I kind of hate them.  There's really not much to them and there are incredibly large holes in them.  So let's do a pros and cons list

Crochet Slippers
Pros:
Took me two days to make a pair of slippers
I got to use scrap yarn - used less than a ball of yarn for the pair
they're really actually quite cute

Cons:
BIG freaking holes in them.
Really rather insubstantial
They don't look like something I would give away as a gift.

Cute - yet holey!

Ballet Flat Slippers
Pros:
These are gorgeous (hopefully they will remain gorgeous when they are sewn up)
They are more substantial as they have a doubled sole
They do look like something I'd be willing to give as a gift

Cons:
Took a ball of sock yarn
Took about a month
There's 6000 ends to weave (well, more like 16... but still!)
Haven't finished them yet

Super pretty - yet so much work!

I'm not sure we have a clear winner.  In fact, I'm fairly certain that neither of these patterns win.  So, I beg my initial question again.  Who's got a really great pattern for slippers??  Please help me out!

Cabled Ballet Flat Slippers

Okey (sorry, I've been reading a lot of Raymond Chandler novels lately - so okey is definitely the way it is spelled at the moment)

Well, that was a total aside, so let's just start fresh.

Okey... I got it in my head that I was going to make Christmas gifts for my sisters and mom - sort of.  Not their whole gift - just a little something to go with what I am getting them for Christmas (but I don't know what that is yet... lol).  Then I had this really adorable Cabled Ballet Flat Slipper Pattern in my queue on Ravelry.  My head thought that these two sentences were made for each other and I got excited, bought some yarn, and cast on.  Nice going genius.

So, now that I'm just about done pair number one (of three! good god) I have some questions.

Question #1 - who makes slippers out of fingering weight yarn?  Are they masochistic?
Question #2 - who makes CABLED SLIPPERS out of FINGERING WEIGHT YARN?
Question #3 - who makes cabled slippers out of fingering weight yarn that are in 4 different pieces that you have to sew together????
Question #4 - why did I think this was a good idea??????????

Okey, now that I'm done questioning everything.  They're super super cute!  But I've been at it for about a month (a month with a lot of travel involved - so plenty of time to work on them) and I am JUST finishing my first pair.  Good grief!

Cute!  Slipper Top

Blocking the bits

Of course, being who I am, I've been making slight edits to the pattern as I go.  I hate seaming and there was a seam at the back of the upper part of the slipper that I thought was stupid since I could just pick up the stitches and work from there.  Well, I "forgot" that the pattern is not written to be worked in the round, mostly because up until the point I am at, it hasn't mattered.  I haven't BEEN working in the round - but now I'm picking up stitches around the foot opening and making the edges all pretty like.  So, I just worked it like the pattern said to.  oops.  Oh well, it said to knit, so I was supposed to have a nice garter edge but I have a stockinette edge.  I just don't care that much to go back and fix it.  I did however, start casting-off and find that my beautiful edge started rolling and that I did care about so now I'm casting off knitwise in the round on the WS.  lol... this is awesome.

I am hoping these slippers turn out amazingly because they have been a lot of work.

Blankets are soft... and done. :)

So, while I was doing the 2012 Bernat Mystery Crochet along afghan - well more like before - I was working on a blanket for my sister.  Actually, what really happened was I ordered my yarn for the CAL and then got bored waiting for yarn and waiting for it to start, so I started another afghan.

It's a pattern I've been dying to try because it looked so pretty, but until now I've lacked confidence in my skills as a crocheter and thought it might be a little hard for me.  I love the colour combination that they put together in the pattern - the purple, blue and green - but when looking for yarn, I just couldn't find a green that went with my blue and purple, so I chose a grey instead.  I think it'll be more timeless with the grey anyways (or at least that's what I keep telling myself).

Pretty colours

I am having a lot of trouble getting the colour to come through in the pictures (I'm betting it's because it's spring, which means it's very very very grey here right now) but these are the best I've managed to pull off.  They're really very rich colours that go very well together, they just look kind of dull and grey in all my pictures.  :(

Nice big afghan!

Then!  My husband's cousin had a baby, so I started a blanket for him (the baby is a boy).  :)

I started a baby blanket with this pattern and ended up tearing it out because I hated it.  It was so boring!  The pattern does specifically say that it is meant for variegated yarn and I am using a solid colour.  So, I'm betting it was my fault.

dislike!

Then I found a baby blanket pattern that had cables in it.  That made me a touch wary, as I'm not a huge fan of cables, but I thought I'd try my hand at it anyways!  SO glad I did!  This turned out fantastic!  I was working on this a lot while in hotel rooms on our fantastic Utah road trip and there wasn't very much left to do by the time we got home - so WOO! I'm done!

VOILA!

All folded up and ready for baby Bryce!