Busy, busy!

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this. Lazy ass I am!

Thought I'd do a quick drive by update on what I've been doing lately. We'll start with my most recently finished knit:



Autumn Leaves by What To Knit When You're Expecting (Rav Link)
Materials: Biggan Design DK in Vintage Rose, 3.75mm needles
Used: 125g (I think? I haven't weighed it yet but it wouldn't be much more than this... maybe 150g)
Size: 6-9 months - 18cm armpit to armpit, 29cm top of sleeve to top of sleeve, 24cm top of neck to bottom of garment.
Mods: Only three buttons instead of the six. Knitted sleeves in the round, instead of flat+seaming. I stopped the 'skirt' increases about 5cm before I started the moss stitch edging.
Started: 26 May, 2009
Finished: 29 May, 2009
Made for: Baby Laura, born 24 May, 2009!

Very lovely knit, very easy, my first top down actually (that has been completed! I still haven't done the waste yarn for the sleeves yet on my FLS), and it went like a dream. I started it on Tuesday morning, was dividing the sleeves Wednesday afternoon, finished the moss stitch Thursday night, finished the sleeves Friday morning and blocked it Friday afternoon. Yummy! I think I want to start a stash of baby knits in different colours/styles so I have stuff ready when our friends pop. Just gotta make sure they'll appriciate it (and it's machine washable... ;).

Omg, I finally finished the Boyfriend Beanie.



A Hat Fit for a Boyfriend by Stephanie Likes to Knit. (Rav link)
Materials: Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed Aran in Ivy, 4.5mm needles
Used: 0.88g, or 84m
Size: Tam sized!
Mods: *shrug* I dunno! Not much
Started: 28 February, 2009
Finished: 20 May, 2009
Made for: Tam!

That took way too long. I don't know if it's because it was on dpns, or whatever. It just was painful. I still think it needs a bit more length, and I might make another one top down. Am loving top down construction for fits. And seeing I know how to do a nice, stretchy cast off, it will fit!

And my bolero! I mentioned in my last post that I was going to make a ribbed lace bolero to wear to Megan's bridal shower thing in Malabrigo Worsted. Well, work didn't have the colour I wanted to make in the Worsted, so I went with some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece instead!



Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly (10 Feet High) (Rav Link)
Materials: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Salmon Berry Red, 4mm and 5.5mm needles
Used: 115g
Size: Shoulder Width: 19 inches
Arm Circ: 14 inches
Mods: I did a k2tog, yo, yo, k2togtbl because I was lazy. Sewn bind off ♥
Started: 21 April, 2009
Finished: 17 May, 2009
Made for: Me!

I had to sew under the arms a bit more after I wore it the first day, as the cotton had stretched out a little bit. But it's okay now. I think I might do a bit more sewing, just to get it to stay in place a bit more, as it falls off my shoulders sometimes. It's nice to keep my shoulders covered, but I think I would have liked something a bit heavier in weight. Nevermind :)

I've started my February Lady Sweater in the BWM 10ply Luxury in Autumn Glow, and have another February type knit for a special little girl who will be turning 1 soon! I bought yarn for that today at the Textiles Fair - Dream in Color Classy in "In Vino Veritas", a beautiful semi solid red colour. Nom. I may be knitting this more for a special mother, but at least the little one will get use out of it too.

I think I will do another post about our fibery weekend tomorrow. Maybe I'll snap a couple of pictures tomorrow too, seeing I was too lazy to do that today.

Now, time for shower, time for bed. So glad we have electric blankets this winter.

Back to work!

So, I finished my first adult garment last week - I was so very excited!! :D



Back to School U-Neck Vest from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel (Rav Link)
Materials: Cascade 220 Heathers in colour 2452
Used: 2.56 skeins (515m)
Size: 41

I really enjoyed this, although I was very apprehensive about making it to begin with, as I didn't think the neckline would suit me - I'm one for the plunging neckline :) And I was worried about all the mindless ribbing, but that actually didn't turn out too bad. I did the ribbing for a little bit longer than written, and I continued the waffle stitch a bit more after doing the bust increases, and after dividing for the front and back and doing the decreases for the under arms, I only did one row of working even instead of seven, as suggested by Cripsynoodle's blog post. I also did a 3 needle bind of on the shoulders, and only one three row purl ridge on the arm holes and the neck line as it would have been too much otherwise.

I learned how to do a pretty invisible increase on the bust as well, which I'm proud of - the M1R and M1L from knitting help. And EZ's Sewn bind off!! I will be using this bind off for everything now, because it is really easy to do, and it's so stretchy. Hooray for learning new tricks! So yay.

I wore it to work last week, and I received lots of complements about it, which made me happy. And it's always nice to wear knitted object to work - especially when you work in a yarn shop :)

Looking back through my other projects in my notebook, I finished my Downtown Clutch(Rav Link) back in March, just in time to take it to my job interview (I didn't plan that at all ;).



This project is where I learned how to do a 3 needle bind off (awesome!) and I converted the pattern into a circular knit, instead of two separate pieces to be joined up. I also lined it (dodgily)



My next plans are to make a February Lady Sweater in Bendigo's new Luxury 10 ply - they've brought out a really nice dark orange/red colour that I think would look fantastic. I also bought Ysolda's Ishbel last night, and I am a bit unsure what to make it with. I'd like to make it fairly big, so I think dyeing some knittery slim sock will be in order. I also want to make a Ribbled Lace Bolero in some sort of red Malabrigo worsted weight.

The boyfriend beanie is still in time out, as I am not loving it, but it needs to be finished. And I am currently working on a Clapotis, which is going VERY well - it's in this beautiful rainbow coloured fingering weight yarn I got in a swap, 200g worth of it, so it should turn out something nice and light, but very colourful.



Okay, that's enough for one post. :)