WIP Wednesday

It was my birthday this week, so I cast on two new knits for me. I did finish my Hello, Hello shawl on Sunday and it is blocking today. Finished photos Friday? Or maybe next Friday. 

Let's get to my new WIP's!

I bought this variegated yarn over a year ago (on clearance at WEBS - link to yarn with colours still in stock) and thought of doing a Flax light for me. However, it ended up being much brighter in person. I thought of making a sweater for a niece but decided to keep it for myself and make a Lifesavers cardigan (minus the stripes). I thought I could handle wearing this bright yarn if I was able to break it up with a shirt underneath. I matched the yarn and pattern months ago and it's been hard to wait to cast on.

So far, it's not really pooling. I hate to say I'll wait until I separate the sleeves from the body to decide if the yarn and pattern will really work together because that's a lot of knitting. But I'm enjoying the knitting so far.

And I cast on a second Prairie Hills shawl. I test knit this pattern last year. I love that shawl and am waiting for the weather to cool so I can wear it again. I bought the special Camp Loopy yarn this year (first time I did that) and am using it. Had a little pooling start. Hope that clears up during the next pattern repeat or I'll have to rethink the yarn and pattern combo. 

And I did a bit of cross-stitching this weekend. I have two small finishes that need to be ironed and framed, but here's a bookmark that I sent along to a friend as a thank-you for  being a beta-reader (like a test-knitter) of the novel I am currently editing. Bought a kit to make 8 bookmarks at Jo-Ann's earlier this year.  Comes with three different patterns, have to buy your own floss. I used stash floss and tried to match it as close as I could. Only took me a couple hours. Hope to make a few more for Christmas gifts this fall.

What have you been working on this week?

Friday Finish - Branches and Buds Pullover

On Wednesday's post, I included a sneak peek of my finished Branches and Buds pullover. It was my August Camp Loopy project and needed to be finished by midnight, August 31st. I'm glad to say I made it, knitting the second sleeve in less than 24 hours!

Here's the sneak peek again. I'm still blown away that I did colour work. And that it lies flat! Now I keep looking at sweaters with colour work. Fun, fun, fun.

My husband got out of bed on the 31st to take this picture of me to post on the Loopy Ewe site. I finished just after 11pm on the 31st. Ends weren't woven in yet and it definitely wasn't blocked.

Post-blocking pictures. Yarn relaxed and softened. Feels great. Yarn is Rosy Green Wool, Cheeky Merino Joy in the Cream and Coffee Bean colourways. Cream was a limited edition and no longer available at The Loopy Ewe, but other colours are, here. 

I haven't added any buds to my sweater yet as I haven't been able to decide how many to put on, if any. I have some olive green (leftover from my Fogliame cardigan) set aside for buds. I kind of want to do a lot or none at all.  Might do a few and see how I like them.

So happy I didn't give up and finished it. I love it!

And yes, I plan to use my mom's lovely garden for finished pics. Until the snow comes.

Did you have any finishes this week?

WIP Wednesday - Two Sweaters

I made progress on one WIP this week... and started another. Oops. I made no progress on my Hello, Hello shawl or Spero hat. Maybe this week? We're having a Muppet Movie Marathon today, so I hope to get lots of knitting done.

Here is my Branches and Buds sweater Monday morning. Finished the branches and divided the body and sleeves on the weekend.

Stretched out, the branches lay flat.

Here's where I am at today. Started the second skein of the cream colour. Still have several inches to knit so it is a great movie marathon knit.

And I needed something that worked up quick, so I started an Owlet for my youngest on Sunday. Did the first 6 inches in less than 2 hours. I made him an Owlet when he was little and he was sad when I told him it was too small. He picked out the blue yarn for this one. I already have yellow buttons for Owl eyes. He'll receive this sweater for Christmas.

Today I finished the body. Need to make two little sleeves, join them to the body and then I get to knit the owls. He's 4, but I'm making him a size 5/6 hoping it will fit him for a few years.

Figured out I have yarn for at least 5 more sweaters/ cardigans in my stash that I want to knit up this year - two of them are Christmas presents. And I need to buy yarn for at least one more sweater that will be a Christmas present. Guess I should get back to the Muppets and knitting.

What have you been working on this week?

WIP Wednesday

Made progress on several projects this week. Even started two new ones. Oops.

Here is my yarn ready to cast on a Branches and Buds sweater for my August Camp Loopy project. Yarn can be found here. It's super soft and I can't wait to wear it.

Cast on yesterday and knit the first branch. Ready to start the second. Doesn't look too bad and stretches. 

A peek at the inside.

Started a Spero hat. Pattern is by Jen and for Jen. If you send her a hat for her Hat-athon in support of Halos of Hope, she'll gift you the pattern for free. For more info, you can read Jen's blog post, here.

And no WIP post last week as I hadn't made any progress on the WIP's I had. Sat down with my Hello, Hello shawl last Friday night and finished the striped section and started the garter section. This thing is going to be huge. Now to force myself to finish it. I really want to wear it but I've had a hard time getting myself to actually knit it. Not sure I've ever had this problem before.

Closer look at all three sections.

And I finished the first sock of a super bright pair. I admit the sock sat on my desk for several days just waiting for me to do the Kitchener stitch at the toes and finish it. 

What have you been working on this week? Not sure if I'll have any finishes to share this Friday, but i should be back next Wednesday with more progress on these WIP's.

Friday Finishes - A Cardigan and a Couple Hats

I finished my July Camp Loopy project, an Old Growth cardigan, almost a week ago. Blocked it this week, but I haven't taken any post-blocking photos, yet. Maybe this week. Below are some pre-blocking pics. And some hats I made this week.

Not sure about the collar. Might fold it over and sew it down. And the sleeves really grew after blocking. Very tempted to throw it in the dryer for a couple minutes to try and shrink it a tad.

Had enough yarn leftover to make a matching hat.

Used the chart for the smallest tree from the cardigan pattern. I did throw it in the dryer for 10 minutes as it really stretched during blocking.

And I made a second hat this week. For some crazy reason, I decided to make myself a Branches & Buds sweater for my August Camp Loopy project and ordered the yarn. Then I realized it's color work and I suck at that. Decided a hat is good practice. Used one of the sweater charts and worsted weight yarn and my tension wasn't terrible. Going to make a second one this weekend to practice some more before casting the sweater on Tuesday. This hat will be going to Jen for her Hat-a-Long for Halos of Hope.

Did you have any finishes this week?

WIP Wednesday

We are back home from our trip north to visit family (finally). We were suppose to arrive home last Monday, but 30 minutes into our drive home, our car died. Spent another 2 days with my parents before they drove us back to Michigan last Wednesday. They stayed another day so we could get groceries and do errands that are easier with wheels but it's been an adjustment. We're waiting until we find out where my husband's new job is before we buy or rent a car. Hoping we might find out in the next couple weeks.

What I'm trying to remember about our trip is the date night my husband and I had on our last Saturday night there. We went out for dinner and then hiked around some falls that neither of us had been to in over 15 years. It was great to spend some time alone and in nature. Totally worth all the mosquito bites I got. We even sneaked down to a ledge at the top of the falls and sat in silence - except for the roar of the water. Best date we ever had.

I did try to do a WIP post last week but life... it gets in the way sometimes. Last Wednesday, I was done both sleeves and the body of my Old Growth cardigan (and July Camp Loopy project). I had joined the sleeves and body of the cardigan and was ready to knit the yoke.

Today, the knitting is all done. Finished the buttonhole band yesterday, after 5 attempts. All that's left is to graft the underarm stitches, weave in ends, sew on buttons and block. Seems like a lot but shouldn't take too long. Maybe two episodes of Buffy?

Made a little progress on my Hello, Hello shawl. Finished the eyelet section and halfway done the stripes.

Closer look. 

I was able to pick up a little yarn while we were away. Trying to decide what to make with this lovely gradient my mom treated me to. Local yarn store is Stix and Stones. Highly recommend a visit if you ever get that far north. They specialize in Canadian yarns so it's always neat to look around.

And only my fellow Canadians will realize how cool/rare this yarn is. Found it at Value Village. Zellers was kind of the Canadian version of Target but with a decent craft section - I bought most of my craft supplies there when I was teenager and in my early 20's. They all closed and became Targets, years and years ago, and then closed again. Thrilled that I found enough of it to make something. I'm thinking a Kelsey cowl. Or maybe a Legume hat.

Got to love this 1 year warranty by Monsanto. 

What have you been up to the past couple weeks?

WIP Wednesday - Vacation Edition

We are visiting family this week in Northern Ontario. And travel time means knitting time. 

Spent some time at my parent's trailer and got a little knitting in on my July Camp Loopy project. Also went for a boat ride in the lovely lake you see and got a sunburnt back to prove it.

Here is my progress on my July Camp Loopy project. Done the first sleeve and almost done the second. Always nice to get the sleeves done first. This is the Old Growth cardigan and Cascade 220 yarn in the Turtle colourway.

Almost ready to start the stripes on my Hello, Hello shawl.

Heel is turned and foot over halfway done. Hoping to have some finishes before we head home in a few days.

WIP Wednesday

A few WIP's to share this Wednesday, a couple almost done and one little finish.

I've spent the past few days quilting and quilting and was able to finish quilting the two Scrappy Bento Box quilts. Above they are trimmed and awaiting binding, which I hope to attach this afternoon.

Finished 4 spools of thread doing all that quilting. Time to go buy some more.

I started a sock almost 2 weeks ago. Getting ready to do the heel in a couple rows. 

And I hope you can tell this has grown. It's the Hello, Hello shawl and I'm halfway done the eyelet section (it's doubled in size since the last time I showed it). Hope to make more progress on it this week.

And I've slowly been plugging away at my Sarah Fielke, 2017 BOM, Down the Rabbit Hole. Since the last time it was on the blog, I have sewn down the green bias around the centre and sewed down the brown circle in the middle. I have also cut out and glued down all the leaves and have started to stitch them down. I think I slowed down on this project when the April clue came out - paper-piecing! My plan is to face my fear next month and get the paper-pieced houses done. 

Yarn ready for July Camp Loopy project. It will become an Old Growth cardigan. 

And my one little finish is this Sashiko embroidery that was part of the Studio MME's Super Stitcher's Club. I don't remember which month this was from. It came with white floss but I changed it up a bit and added some pink. I had it done in four different colours but decided I didn't like it and ripped it all out. Think I like this better.

What have you been working on this week?

Friday Finish - June Camp Loopy Project

One beautiful finish to share today. I finished my Camp Loopy project for June fairly quickly, and am now trying to finish up some other WIP's so I can focus on July's (I must be crazy to knit an adult cardigan in a month). Anyway, here are some pictures of my finished Bamptom Shawl.

I used all the yarn (535 yards), so I was able to add a couple extra repeats to the shawl. Pattern calls for 6 repeats + 11 rows. I did 8 repeats + 5 rows. Glad I had enough yarn to make it bigger. Yarn used is a gradient set, found here. Ended up super soft after blocking. This is a Christmas gift for someone special.

Drapes nicely around the shoulders. My photographer (daughter) didn't mention it wasn't flat and I couldn't tell until I downloaded the pictures to the computer. Oh well, still looks nice.

Wrapped around. 

Lovely lace.

More lovely lace.

Now to wind my yarn for the Old Growth cardigan so I'm ready for July.

WIP Wednesday

Another week has flown by and I did make a lot of progress on a couple projects, but forgot to take pictures along the way. Now they're at a step that is kind of hard to take pictures of but I still wanted to share.

Bamptom shawl is blocked! Took the blocking wires and pins out about an hour ago. Still need to do it's final, modeled shoot but I had to share how lovely the lace looks after blocking. Totally worth it. 

The knitting project I've been focused on this week has been my Salita shrug. I have three things waiting to be cast on that have to wait until this is finished. Because when you finish one thing, casting on three new ones makes sense. Except two of them require the same size needle. Anyway, back to the Salita shrug - I am 57 rows away from being finished! Not too worried yet that I will run out of yarn, although my daughter thinks I will. We'll see.

Had to add another close-up of the lace. This is going to be amazing after blocking, as well.

And here is a terrible picture of what I have been focusing on most of this week. Monday, I pieced all 70 Scrappy Bento Box blocks into two twin size quilts (they finish at 60 x 84). Did I take a picture of the finished quilt tops? Nope. Tuesday, I ironed and pieced fabric to make the backs and then pieced batting for one of them. I had a big enough piece for the other. Then I basted both quilts (with too much help from my four year old) and rolled them up to await quilting. Which I hope to start tomorrow. Fingers crossed I should have one finished next week to share. I'd like both done by the end of the month so I can give them to my mom when I see her in a couple weeks. She will be donating them to charity.

And my yarn for July's Camp Loopy arrived this week. Plus a little but extra. This isn't all of it. I bought a sweater's quantity in the green AND the black. The green will be my July project and will become an Old Growth cardigan (a birthday present for my best friend). The black will become a Harvest cardigan (a Christmas present). I wasn't sure which one I wanted to tackle for July so I bought yarn for both. The variegated yarn on the right is the special Camp Loopy yarn and I will be knitting it into another Prairie Hills shawl for myself (I test knit this shawl last year and have been waiting for the right yarn to make another).  My kids are looking forward to the winding party for all this yarn. This is their last week of school and winding all 13 hanks should keep us busy for a little bit once they are home all day, every day.

What have you been working on this week?