WIP Wednesday

I only have one WIP to share today because there is only one WIP that matters.

In my lap is my third pussyhat. I need to make one more as my best friend and I will be taking our teenage daughters to the local Women's March this Saturday. I think this is the first protest march I've ever participated in and I'm a little a nervous. But if not now, when?

Read more about the Women's March here.

Read more about the Pussyhat Project here - includes free knit and crochet patterns. Plus there are several patterns on ravelry but you might have trouble finding pink yarn in stores.

Want to March on Saturday? Here is a link to all the Marches happening. Maybe there is one near you. 

The pattern I'm using is from someone on instagram. I can't remember who, sorry. But here is what I'm doing if you're interested in making your own. 

Using size 6/4mm needles and worsted weight yarn, cast on 96 stitches. Join in the round. Knit 20 rounds of k2,p2 ribbing. 

Switch to size 8/5mm needles and knit every round until hat measures 8 inches from cast on. Turn hat inside out and do a three needle bind off. Weave in ends, turn right side out and wear it proud.

And I'm also pledging to keep wearing my pussyhat, as long as he is in power... and the weather is cold. Might need to get some fingering weight pink yarn to make myself a pussyhat for the spring/fall. I'd hate to go to a thrift shop in a month and see a ton of pussyhats there, so please, keep wearing yours as a sign that this is not normal. He is not a legitimate president. It's going to take more than one march. Resist.

Friday Finish

One finish to share today. I finished it in November (and according to my ravelry page it only took me 11 days to knit!) and the pictures have been waiting for me to post ever since. It's the Prairie Hills Shawl that I test-knit and absolutely love. Once I finished it I wore it almost everyday for a month. I've just started to wear other shawls and cowls since the beginning of the year.

A badly modeled picture from last fall. I was pleasantly surprised how much I like the fringe. I'm thinking of adding fringe onto a shawl in the future. Or perhaps knitting this shawl again in a different colour. Now that I'm looking at this picture, I might have to start knitting one this weekend.

All stretched out with fringe hanging down.

Did you have any finishes this week?

WIP Wednesday

Where did the last week go? I've been made some progress on a few WIP's.

The crocheted afghan should be twice as long. But it isn't because I had to restart it twice since last Wednesday. The first time was because my foundation chain had been too tight. So I started over using a bigger hook for the foundation chain, switching to a smaller hook before I started the first row. The second time I restarted was when I stretched it out after finishing the first skein. It was way too long and after doing the math, I'd have a great diving board cozy when I was done, but not a very good afghan for a couple. Anyway, I'm almost done the second skein now and am very happy about the size.

A closer picture of the colorful goodness.

And I've been doing a pattern repeat a day on the Hogmanay shawl. 

A closer look. I know the shawl will look great after blocking and the lace gets all stretched out.

And I cast on the first mitten of a pair of Run Around mitts I'm making for my sister's birthday next month. Loving how the yarn is knitting up.

And my mom sent me some pictures this week. Above is the 34 flower buttons I made her during the holidays.

And laid out on the comforter she's stitching them onto. 

And the lovely socks I knit her for Christmas but forgot to take a picture of. Looking good mom.

And she sent along this bonus picture. Several years ago, I don't even know what year to check for a previous blog post, I made her a pin quilt to hold all of her Christmas/ Holiday/ Winter pins. It's pretty full and makes a great decoration.  I found it! I made her the pin quilt in October, 2009.

What have you been working on this week?

Friday Finishes

Today's post is full of some little finishes that were gifted for Christmas. 

I knit this pair of fingerless mitts in about 24 hours (thanks to an 8 hour drive) and were gifted to a niece. Since I used the leftover yarn from this scarf, I gifted her the scarf, too. It had been sitting in the finished bin waiting for a home. Hope she likes them. 

And after helping my daughter make a Poochie bag for a cousin, I had to make some too. The one on the left went to the same niece who received the fingerless mitts and scarf. I made a scarf for another niece but forgot to take a picture of it, I guess. The bag on the right was gifted to my daughter.

My daughter's bag. I used some Hummingbird fabric that had been in my stash for years.

Closer look at the one for my niece. Bird fabric again.

Bags together. (Is anyone else having a terrible time taking pictures in winter daylight? They all come out so dull.)

And a finish that wasn't made by me. My daughter started crocheting this blanket for her youngest brother when I was pregnant with him (beginning of March 2013). She's worked on it off and on for the past 3 and a half years. Including a time when the blanket mysteriously grew a fifth corner and several rows had to be ripped out. She dedicated herself to it and finished it a couple days before Christmas. We exchanged gifts here on the 21st and it was under the tree for him then. Floyd had been watching her make it and knew it was for him. He was pretty excited to use it after he opened it.

And we used it that night to cuddle on the couch before bedtime. It's the perfect preschool size.

WIP Wednesday

Wow, I really fell off the blogging train at the end of last year, didn't I? Well, I'm not making any promises to be a better blogger this year. In fact, I'll probably be blogging less. I hope to continue with WIP Wednesday's as I like looking back at my own progress and I'll do the occasional Friday Finish post when I have something to share but that's it. I have a couple other posts planned for this month too, to wrap things up, but then I'll be posting only once or twice a week by February. This year will be a year of change for our family. My husband's contract at his current job ends this summer, which means he's on the hunt for a new one (anyone looking for an Evolutionary Biologist?), which will lead to us moving somewhere else this summer. 

And I'm really committing to my career as a writer this year. I continued my research over the holidays about creating a website and think I have it decided. Now I need to buy a domain and a website hosting plan. And I plan on doing it this week, which means my computer time will become making a website time for the next couple months while I figure it out. I'm in no rush to get a site up and running so I'll be taking my time making sure the website really reflects me and what I want to share. I'm thinking I might add a writing blog to my life as well (because 2 blogs aren't enough for me? - I also have a family only blog besides this crafty one). 

Even my What I've Been Reading posts kind of disappeared at the end of 2016. Mainly because I hardly read anything the past few months. I think I have 3 books I haven't shared here but I've already finished my first book of 2017 so perhaps I need to do a post soon. However, I spent hours yesterday moving my What I've Read archives into Goodreads. I really enjoy stats and I like comparing the number of books and pages I've read over the past 5 years. You can find me here on Goodreads and here's my stats page (which I adore). Are you on Goodreads? Even though I joined a couple years ago, I haven't really used it, so advice welcome. And I joined the 2017 challenge - I'd like to read 30 books this year, which is low for me, but I think doable since I know we're moving.

And now for what you're really here for, crafty WIP's. I have lots to share today. And several finishes that I still need to share from the holidays. I forgot to take pictures of some - mom, I need a picture of the socks I made you! Anyway, here's what I'm working on.

If I was following the pattern exactly, this shawl would be finished. However, looking at other people's projects on ravelry, I came across one that continued the edging up the side that should be bound off. I looked at her notes and asked for her to expand on how she did it but this morning I decided to find my own way. Can you see the slight curve beginning at the point? I've only done two pattern repeats so far that decreases one stitch every two rows. This might take a while but I've got plenty of yarn. Hope I love it when I'm done.

And I picked up a lot of this colorful yarn during the after Christmas sale at Michael's to crochet an afghan. I've been itching to make one. And as of right now, this is suppose to be a gift for next Christmas. I have over 2,000 yards. That should be enough, right? Pattern is from this book and can be found here.

On the ride home I finally cast on Hogmanay. I've been waiting to start this shawl for months. I got this yarn as part of the giftables club from The Loopy Ewe, fall of 2015, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was meant to be a Hogmanay shawl. Maybe because the yarn is similar to the one on the ravelry page? I don't know. I haven't done much yet but I'm looking forward to working on it more this month.

My mother asked me to help her with a crazy project. She has a store-bought comforter whose batting is starting to bunch. She wants to tie the quilt with buttons to help the batting stay in place, but she wants some of the buttons to become crocheted flowers like this Pin she saw on Pinterest. However, she doesn't crochet. But I do. She bought 2 packages of yellow buttons and some grey buttons and we picked up some floss and I gave her some floss from my stash and I crocheted a bunch of flowers with that really tiny hook while I was home for Christmas. I made her 34 (sorry no pictures, maybe you can take a picture of them, too, mom?). Then she placed them on the comforter and I realized she needs about 80 more. Yikes. So a package of buttons and the floss and the hook came home with me and now I have another WIP. I need to find some more grey buttons (I found 8 in my stash when I got home, mom!) and buy more floss but this should be a fun little project to work on over the next couple months.

Oh, and these are the buttons I took from my mother's button stash as payment. And yeah, I'll give you that yellow one back, mom.

I also started the December embroidery pattern by Sarah K. Benning once all the gift making was done. Still have lots to stitch but I'm really enjoying it.

And my awesome sister-in-law gifted me this project bag for Christmas. The teeny, tiny needles blew my mind. I love it, Michelle. And it's so big, I can fit 4 different projects in it. Great for car trips since the zipper at the top stops things from falling out and going everywhere.

What have you been working on?