Happy Days

The Basic Chic Hoodie is done (except for buttons) and I am really pleased with it. The yarn is super soft and squooshy and the cardi very warm. The hood looks good and I am happy I made it, even though I will probably never wear it over my head. I will have to look online for buttons as the local choices are pretty pricey.

A friend of my husband's just had a baby girl so I made a Baby Kina out of some very pretty Madelinetosh MCN Sport in Lepidoptera. It is a very cute pattern and I will certainly make it again - probably very soon as on of my friends just had a baby girl.

This one also doesn't yet have buttons but I did find some today at the local Spotlight. I'll take another pic when I finally sew them on. It should be soon as this needs to get mailed to the mum.

I took a pic today of Whippoorwill being worn and thought it was worth putting here as it is such a good shape and very easy to wear.

My new cardigan on the needles is the Rocky Coast Cardigan by Hannah Fettig from her book Coastal Knits with Alana Dakos. There are a lot of beautiful patterns in this book and I am sure I will be making more from it soon.

It is knitting up very fast on 6.5mm (US10.5) needles. This is two days' knitting.

I am using the same yarn as in the sample The Fibre Company Organik in Artic Tundra.

Still only 3 wips which is great but poor, poor Marlene. I bought the needle I needed on Friday last week but I still haven't touched her. Maybe tomorrow.

First Week of School

It has been a busy week sending the kidlets off to school and childcare so not as much knitting as usual. Still, the Basic Chic Hoodie is moving along. One sleeve is done and the second should be finished tonight. I am excited to start the hood. I would love for this one to be finished completely by Monday.

The Hitchhiker has 35 points and it seems quite small but I guess there is still a lot of knitting in those last 7 points. I am still loving the vanilla aspect of this knit.

Poor old Marlene. I guess I just don't care about fancy socks as much as I do pretty shawls and sweaters. I will force myself to finish these because I hate ripping and I do know that I will like the finished item.

Holiday Knitting - a blanket and a shawl

I knit my first real blanket while away for a week. It is Umaro and knit out of Cascade Lana Grande in the Espresso colorway. I really love it but think it would be equally beautiful in a pale color like the pattern pics. If I had been doing this at home, it would have taken me months but because I had more time and was focused, I managed the finish it off the day after we got home. It is 52" x 55" unblocked.

My other finished project that week was Whippoorwill which is absolutely gorgeous. It is out of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Denim and Ink. I will have to take pics of this shawl being worn as it is a beautiful shape and looks great on.

I have a couple of cardigans finished in January but one I need a picture of it modelled and the other needs a couple of buttons. When I have those sorted, I will do another post.

Good Progress

I have made good progress on the Basic Chic Hoodie. I am about 8 rows away from the almost 4" of ribbing on the bottom. watching Downton Abbey while knitting on this has helped it to fly along. Although I love pockets, I am not doing them here as they just seem superfluous. I think i like them on cardigans that are loose and unbuttoned.

I am one of those weird people who don't mind sleeves. When I get to the sleeves, I am almost done. I can crank out a sleeve in a day or a day and a half so knowing I am 2-3 days away from finishing a garment is quite exciting. Plus they are good TV knitting or watching the kids knitting. So, I will be quite happy when the body is done as I know i only have the sleeves to go. Oh, except for the hood. And the button bands. And sewing on the buttons. Hmmm. 

Hitchhiker is still coming with me everywhere and it is also my nighttime TV knitting with my husband as the needles are small and make less noise than the big needles. I am at 32 points.

Marlene needs some love. Main problem is I don't love the needles I have. 2.75mm Harmony 80cm for magic loop or 2.75mm 100cm ChiaoGoo. I like both needles but not for this. Harmony not slick enough and Chiagoo not great for the magic looping - I find the cable too thick and cumbersome for magic loop on the smaller needles but fine for larger needles. Needles are such a personal thing, though. I need Knit Pro metal for this and should just go buy one. Next time I am in the city, I will buy some.

More January FOs

I finished the lovely Moiraine by Arlene's World of Lace which was my first beaded project. I used Socks that Rock Lightweight in Blue Moonstone and I really liked working with this yarn. It was my first project with STRL. The beads were 6/0 seed beads from my local bead shop in Brisbane.

I will definitely do more beaded knitting. This one was pre-strung and I used the tutorial from Leslie of The Knitgirllls which was very helpful. I bought a basic bead spinner from Michael's when I was last in the US. I also want to make the Shipwreck Shawl and I have the yarn and beads so that will hopefully happen in 2012.

It is a gift for a friend but it will be hard to give it away - I love it. She is a special friend though and she admired this skein of yarn when she was visiting so it was lovely to make something for her out of it.

Stripey socks

CIMG3622, a photo by tash.balaz on Flickr.

This is Beat sock yarn from Perfect Day Yarns in a sock club from early 2011. Unfortunately Sarah has taken a break from dyeing. I do love these socks and the colours are really pretty.

My next socks will be Resistor Socks from String Theory in their Continuum base and they will be for my Dad who used to be a television technician. He was quite tickled at the idea of having socks that look like resistors.

I'm Still Learning

I am not sure I will actually get skilled at this but I am doing my best with the time I have available.

The previous post was just a picture from flickr and I have no idea how to edit it. It is actually one of my Dec 2011 FOs. It is Lightweight Pullover by Hannah Fettig in Madelinetosh Eyre Light in Faded Chinos.

I had a store-bought Country Road winter top/sweater like this that I had worn for years and it was looking pretty shabby and i threw it out. The winter came and I realised I had two really nice skirts with no top to go with them. I was worried about getting the right color when ordering online but this was just perfect. I could not be happier with the colorway or the yarn. It is simply gorgeous.

CIMG3596

CIMG3596, a photo by tash.balaz on Flickr.

Faded Chinos Lightweight Pullover

Silly me

I know blog posts don't have to take very long. I am not sure why I left it over 8 months. I am going to try and routinely update every Monday but I might do a few catch-up ones in between.

I have lots of FOs already for 2012 and it is only January 17. It helps that I had so many wips at the end of 2011, although I finished up a lot in December also.

I only have 3 current wips.

Basic Chic Hoodie by Bonne Marie Burns out of Madelinetosh 80/10/10 MCN Sport in Antique Lace

It may not look like much now but wait till next Monday... I get SO much done when I mainly work on one project.

My take-along portable knitting is Hitchhiker by Martina Behm in Wollmeise 100% Superwash in Dornroschen. I am copying my friend Leeanne's Hitchhiker that she made for her mum out of the same yarn and colorway and I loved the bright colours and how this scarf pattern really broke up the variegation. I am at 27 points out of 42 but that is probably only 1/3 of the way through. No rush though on this one.

My 3rd wip has been on the needles for a while and it is now my "one-repeat-per-day" project. I am only allowing myself one of these in the category at a time. I love the look but I am just not that excited by the actual knitting. It is Marlene by Cookie A. and I am knitting it out of Colinette Jitterbug in Whirley Fig. The yarn is really lovely and the colour is very pretty. It is a pretty heavy fingering. I think I am one more repeat in since this picture - whoopdeedoo!

I am going to finish this post and do a new one for January FOs to date as I am mistrustful of computers and would hate for this to crash and burn when i try to actually post it.