FO: Stemwinder

Woo! Went to make this hat for my Derby Wife, Chia Grrr'vara, and knit it too small. Kid's small. So now it sits all lovingly on his head. Knit it out of Malabrigo Worsted in Lettuce. Wanna know how to get a toddler to sit still for the camera? Totoro. It's ridiculous. I used the Stemwinder pattern by my gal Laura over at HOME SWEET HOME. This is the ravelry project page. My voice is pretty non existent today and I've spent most of the day in bed or near the bed. Heading back to lying down. Have a great holiday b/c I probably wont see you until the new year! XO

A Couple of Recent FOs!

Last weekend I took a class at my LYS, Let's Knit  on thrummed mittens. I decided that because it was pretty warm climate wise in this community that I would make my little mister a pair of thrummed bed socks because those poly-blend ones don't do any justice in our house. I still need to make him some slippers, but these will do in the meantime. I knit the socks in just over one skein of the Diamond Luxury Cashmere Donegal (link) in the moss colour and it really looks like split pea soup. I love it. Here's a link to my ravelry project page.

This hat I made out of some Rasta that Jennie from Let's Knit gifted me for some reason or another.I had only had this yarn in my possession for a little bit of time, but I felt this urgent need to knit something out of it ASAP and get it out of my house. Maybe because the yarn was so pretty and I wanted to spend a bit of one-on-one time with it. Who knows. Anyway, I forayed into the world of the Brioche stitch to knit this hat. I tried with another hat and I just didn't get it. And, sadly, I was about five yards short, which was the saddest thing ever. Luckily, Jennie had a few yards left and I was able to finish it up. No way you'd ever get a hat out of one ball of rasta, which is disappointing. I didn't ever really like the hat (for me) and promptly donated it back to the LYS where it sits atop the shelves of yarn, in a row with all these other hats, hoping to encourage you to knit yourself a new head warmer for the winter. Here's a link to my ravelry page for this project.

A handful of FOs (it was that kind of day)

Ingledew Street Baby Mitts

Mitty things I started in 2008

Windschief for mygayhusband

(today was wip clean up day!! haha).

FO: what's the story morning glory (waffel hat)!

Whee! I love this hat! The yarn is called cranberry something, and I'm pretty sure it's 100% merino? Regardless, it's so squishy and soft and hand dyed by Ryan from Knotty By Nature in Victoria. The colour is just wonderful. I originally bought it to make Koolhaus by Jared Flood, but I wasn't interested in joining a flock on this one.

The pattern was great! It was a little confusing at times, and I did one additional decrease row of k2togs the whole way around. But despite that one row, I didn't change a thing! So that must equal a good pattern! The yarn makes the hat a little springy on my head right now, but as I know from my other hats, it'll stretch out with time.

I love the colour(s) so much! YAY! In other news, I obviously need a new camera. This one isn't doing it for Port Alberni light :(

This is my Ravelry project page, and this is the pattern page from the Pickle's website!

ROBOTS NEED LOVE TOO! Knitting FOs

i've been lucky to have a lot of time to knit (maybe that's where all my time has gone! hah!) and have a number of things on needles and am just knocking things back. i have one more thing to finish and then i can cast on for a new hat. and then when i finish my dad's XMAS socks i can cast on for a tunic shirt thing. i just bought yarn for these two new projects so i'm dying in anticipation. TOMORROW! woop!

Bella's Mitts

These are one of my xmas gifts that I have to knit. Not many since I've instituted the family gift exchange starting last year. Definitely a better way to go. No more knitting for 8 people every year. Anyway, I like these mitts, but 1. not for me, and 2. so overrated. I knit them a bit shorter, and used the same needle and like the yarn (sublime chunky something or other). My rav project page is here if you want more deets!

Chunky Monkey Vest

I whipped this vest up over the past few days as a trade with our friend TJ who sewed seth the cutest long dress-like dragon sweater. He wore it for one day only in victoria and people died everywhere we went. Anyway, I literally JUST finished this vest and I'm just in love with it. I used scrap super bulky yarn i had around (hence the weird colour make up) and did a gauge swatch (my gauge was 1/2 that of the pattern). it's super warm and will be super long and slouchy for the baby it's going to be on. YAY! My ravelry project page is here.

ps I LOVE the birch wall for taking pictures of my knitting. and whatever else is in its way, really. xO

FO: telemark sweater (and update!)

i should probably write this fast because seth is whining and even the guitar playing isn't relaxing him...that means he wants TITS. i finished his sweater this morning/last night and he looks smashing in it! so smashing we got a compliment on it our first time out!

in other news i didn't get the job in victoria so we can recommence the awesomeness of our life here! woop! i plan, though, to wallow a bit of my post-excitement away with a pizza (friday!) and something shitty on netflix (b/c their collection is shitty).

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Done the little bunnies!! YAY!!! They're so cute and adorable and fun to play with..and they're not even for me. I can't wait for 1. helvetica to be a real baby and 2. for helvetica to be big enough to play with his/her own set! adorable. i mean, look at their little bums!! the tutorial is from the purl bee (they have so many great projects there!) and i finally got to put something up on craftster. i haven't posted a project up there in years. here's the link.

well, internet, it's been fun! i'm going on a variety of trips out of town over the next two weeks and when i'm not on the road i'll be at home very busy painting walls and putting up wallpaper. so i bid you my farewell for the next two weeks!!

FO: giftie shawl + to do!

over the last few days i have been working steadily getting this shawl made and finished up as it's been on the back burner for a certain someone who'll get it next week! the combination of the bright turquoise with the variegated purple is shockingly bright! but i think it'll make a good addition to some cute cute outfits the giftie wears. yay! my rav project link is here.

today is the first day in a while where stewart and i both have the whole day off, two of them in a row. i know i've been on leave for a few weeks so we've had days "off" together, but today/tomorrow i have ZERO meetings, zero running around to do, and no need to get up early. i'm kind of excited. he lies, snoring, next to me here in the bed and i'm going to wrestle myself up (finally, it's almost lunch time) to make a pot of coffee and a snack! and then to get to my to do list. today is going to be busy!!

1. fix up chalkboard wall (i spilled a little and need to paint over the spill).
2. paint hallway with grey paint, 2 coats
3. put fabric on scrap ceiling tiles with duct tape and hang on bedroom wall for our badges/pins, etc
4. move table and sewing EVERYTHING downstairs.
5. make some of these for a little man
6. make 4 of these for some little girls i know
7. re-pot my indoor plants (it's beyond due!)

i hope you all have a great weekend! i'll be back tomorrow with pictures of today and a rundown of the baking i have to tackle, and the packing, and the laundry washing: PG HERE I COME!

FO: Milo Vest + Booty Shorts for Stewart

yesterday and today i knit this! the Milo vest! My gauges was off (of course i didn't pre-check) and it turned out humongous. which kind of ruins my hope that it would be helvetica's coming home outfit. so, also because it's big and super girlie, if helvetica comes out as a boy then i'll be gifting this on to a friend's baby, well not so new born anymore, but whatevs. here's the ravelry link for my project.


yesterday morning i also finished stewart's booty shorts. hallelujah! the pattern's free on knitty and came out just in time for me to actually cast this on based on the Elizabeth Zimmerman leggings pattern. So, phew. My gauge was also off on this pattern (i'm a loose knitter maybe?) and i had to recast it on with way fewer stitches and made it to fit stewart like a glove. mainly because i wanted them to be tight fitting rather than loose and baggy in the pattern's pictures. my ravelry project for this one is here.


finishing this vest means that i still only have one work in progress, my hanami shawl, and am dedicated to knit it before i cast anything else on, which is going to be a challenge since i'm watching movies all day (and night) and will probably get distracted and fuck up, but whatever. today so far i've watched good hair, julie & julia, and am 1/2 way through the september issue. tonight stewart and i are going to watch human voice with ingrid bergman. tomorrow i'm going to go thrift shopping, actually paint (i didn't today because my back hurts blarg) some walls/ceilings (colours!!!), and cook something wonderful for a late dinner. what that will be i'm not sure yet. any ideas?

"it was all of my energy more than i wanted to give"

this past week at work i knit a sockhead hat! i'm currently stash knitting (and so thankful that once upon a time i had $$ and just stocked up on yarn b/c now i'm using it all!!!) and the sockhead hat seemed like such a great opportunity to use up some of this enormous stash of sock yarn i have. here is the link to my project on rav. the pattern was really easy and it was such a quick knit (at work). i also knit it shorter because i do like slouch, but i didn't want to much slouch. the araucania was a little rough, but i think it'll soften up nicely. i even have enough yarn left (it only used 1/2 a skein!!!) to make a baby shirt that i've been eyeing over on ravelry.

in other news a few weeks ago i transplanted my houseplants into bigger pots using some potting soil that my mom had outside.


and lo and behold the dirt was full of this weird yellowish fungus. the plants seem fine but i will need to transplant them here in short order. shake all the dirt off the roots and put them in fresh potting soil. i don't want to traumatize them because they just were transplanted, but it's the weirdest fungus i've ever seen. and i didn't see it in the dirt when i planted the little guys so who knows? regardless, they're still growing and fast. maybe it's a majic growing fungus?

in more other news i'm into my 3rd trimester now and we're into the countdown, closer together midwife appointments, meeting with doulas, etc. i'm going on leave in 2 weeks and 2 days or something like that. which means more knitting, hopefully unpacking, getting to garden, and coming to prince george. where i will hole up with a., engage in serious cuddling with loki, and knit and eat with all the lovelies for a few short days before departing back south to wait out the last month! things of strange right now are a stomach up on my emotional chakra and this consistent kicking at my lower esophagus. blarg.