Friday Finishes!

Lot of finishes to share today! Get comfy and let's get started!

First up is the test-knit I made last month. The pattern, Little Bit Nostalgia, is up on ravelry. Used a gradient yarn that I've shown pictures of on here before. 

Lovely lace pattern. You change needle sizes about half way through which makes the cowl come in a bit at the top.

Sits nice around the neck.

And is quite long.

During the holidays, my job is going to require me to work a couple late nights. With my husband now in England for work, I wanted to give our youngest, Floyd, a little something special to cuddle with at night when I'm not here. I suggested a stuffed animal of some kind. He asked for a rainbow heart. I bought an acrylic yarn and used this pattern. Crocheted up pretty quick.

I think he likes it.

Finished another cowl. Yarn bought from work and is Malabrigo, Caracol in the Diana colourway. Pattern is Waltz Through the Forest. A quick knit that I was able to make during down time at work over the course of a couple days. 

It was quite long after washing. I laid it flat to dry for a bit, then put it in the dryer which helped a lot.

Got to love the colours in this yarn. It reminded me of a stained glass window. Resistance was futile.

And I finally finished a pair of socks! And they're for me! Realized I have been using the Fish Lips Kiss heel for socks for a year now and this is the first pair I've kept for myself.  And they are the same length. Must not have pulled the one up all the way for the picture. 

Very colorful. And very comfy. Yarn was from JoAnn's and I can't remember exactly what it is. Need to find the ball band.

A Barley hat, pattern by Tin Can Knits and my first sample for my job. Used two yarns held together, one of them being mohair - Sugar Bush Bliss and Drizzle. Hat is super soft. I might need to make one of these for me to keep.

Fits great. But taking selfies on a rainy day is hard.

And I got my sewing machine out! Made a quick Halloween table runner.

But since I didn't have Halloween fabric for the back, I decided to make the back a second Fall themed table runner making it reversible.

I used orange for the top thread and the bobbin for the quilting. Orange goes through the black squares on the Halloween side. And through the orange squares on the Fall side. Think the Fall side needs some appliqué but it's good enough to use now.

And one last little finish. This is actually one of seven Poppies that I made. Above is one of two I made using this pattern. I made five more using this pattern, version 5. They're smaller and have the four classic petals.

One of the things I missed while living in the States (which I didn't expect to miss), was wearing Poppies in November and Remembrance Day. The Veterans Day sales kind of piss me off. Here, it is a solemn day, time to remember the dead, not get a great deal at a store. Okay, stepping off soap box now.

What did you finish this week? I'll have more to share next week as I finished another cowl last night and blocked it. Still need to take pictures. Maybe I'll get some more WIP's finished to share. Fingers crossed.

Weekends are for...

... Finishing WIP's! My goal this weekend was to finish up a bunch of WIP's and I'm happy to say I succeeded. Here's what I was able to complete.

Last Monday, my daughter and I went to a workshop on Sashiko embroidery at our local library. I was hoping to learn a little more of the history of it. Instead, we were given materials and a quick tutorial on how to do it (and how not to do it) and given the rest of the time to stitch. Neither of us finished that night, but I did finish mine this weekend. 

And here is my daughter's. Now we're trying to decide what to do with them. I admit I added a bunch of Sashiko patterns to my embroidery board on pinterest. A little addictive? Yes.

Sunday morning I finished crocheting button flowers for my mom. I think I've made over a hundred for her. These are the last 14 and I'll be giving them to her later this week.

And I used a lot of embroidery floss to make them. I kept the wrappers in case I wanted to get more of the same colours. Each one did 3 buttons.

And I finished my first Rin block. I had half of the outside circle left to sew on. Then I basted the centre circle and stitched down both sides. Yes, my fingers were very busy stitching this weekend.

And this lovely? That is my finished Salita shrug, blocked and sleeve seams sewn. Hope to take it out for a proper photo shoot this week to share here on Friday. 

Trying to end June on a high note by finishing up more WIP's. We'll see what more I can complete this week. Did you have a crafty weekend? 

What happened in April?

The blog was a little quiet last month. I'm kind of sorry, and kind of not. Life wasn't extra crazy and we weren't sick, but I put my focus towards something else for April. My writing. April is one of the Camp NaNoWriMo months. Writers can pick what they want to write and their word goal. You can write scripts, non-fiction, poetry. Or you can do what I did, which was edit. I gave myself the goal of editing and moving 60,000 words from a first draft into a second. I ended up having to rewrite several chapters so I probably ended up writing 30,000 words and editing 30,000. 

Yep, I did it. Finished just before 10 last night. I spent most of the weekend at my computer as I was about 11,000 words shy of my goal on Friday. A lot of new chapters, for the new ending, were written on Saturday and Sunday, and a lot of it wasn't very good. But now that the words are written down, I can edit them and make them better. In February, I started editing the first draft and I'd send a couple chapters a week to my sister-in-law to read. By the end of March I only had 11 of 30+ chapters done. It was taking too long and I'd lose momentum if I didn't edit everyday. So I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, hoping I'd finish and I did. And I'm pretty thrilled about finishing. Winning for editing feels a lot better than winning for writing 50,000 words in November. I'll be rereading the whole thing starting Wednesday and then I'll be sending it out to some Beta-readers next week. Kind of scary but necessary. May's focus? Catching up on all the knitting and quilting that was ignored in April and researching agents and publishers to send my manuscript too (that's super scary). First up - this blog post and then mending my husband's shorts that have been sitting beside my sewing machine for two weeks.

I finished crocheting this afghan in April. (Ignore my face, I was probably yelling at the 3 year old who was outside with us and getting into trouble.) I used all 9 skeins of yarn I had and then did 3 rounds in blue for a border. Yarn was some acrylic stuff from Michael's that is perfect for afghans. It should hold up really well. And after washing became surprisingly soft.

Feels great wrapped around shoulders.

Got to love how colorful it is.

Back inside the 3 year old and I made sure it was good for snuggling under. It passed. The afghan will be a Christmas gift this year.

Other things that happened in April? My daughter and I marched for Science.

I crocheted a ton of button flowers. There are 72 in this picture if you're looking for an exact number. Only have 12 left to make!

And I have been slowly knitting my Duvessa cowlette. The KAL for this ends on Thursday so I have some knitting to do.

I'm halfway done chart A. Still need to knit charts B and C. So I will be doing that today and tomorrow.

I have several pictures waiting to get posted that I hope to do this week and next. It would be nice to feel caught up (does that ever really happen though?).What have you been up to?

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.

Friday Finishes - Yarn Edition

     I have several finishes from the past few weeks to share today. All but one are for me. And one of those might get frogged. Let's begin.

First, a picture of me wearing all the finished knits. 

     Here is the Astrid hat I mentioned on Wednesday (I'm making a cowl to match). I used leftover yarn from the cardigan I'm wearing - more information about that below. It's Cascade Venezia worsted in the Denim colourway.

Here's a picture of it flat. Great pattern. Easy to memorize. And stretchy.

     Crocheted cowl that I "designed" myself. I used the worsted skein of yarn I had bought from Turtlepurl Yarns earlier this year. It was the last one so I knew it was going to end up a hat or cowl. When I saw how wide the stripes were going to be I opted for this cowl. I used the same stitch pattern as the rainbow cat scarves but joined in the round after the first row. I crocheted until I ran out of yarn. I also love that the cowl still stands up after blocking.

      Stripey without being striped. Does that make sense? (Here is the same colourway, in sock weight, showing the stripes). I like that the colours dip into each other here. Pattern is simple; chain an even number of stitches. Make a single crochet in second chain from hook. Chain 1, skip next stitch, then single crochet in the next chain stitch, end with a single crochet. Chain 1 and turn. To join in the round I just chained one and then single crocheted in the chain 1 space at the other end, making sure not to twist. When I was finished, I used the yarn end to close up any space that remained. Second row you're making single crochet's in the Chain 1 spaces, and Chaining 1 over and skipping the single crochet's. Simple, if you know how to crochet, and great for watching TV. 

     This red scarf uses the same pattern as the cowl above. I guess when I find something I like, I use it over and over again.  This scarf will be donated. It is made out of two balls of Cascade Superwash 220, really red.

Wraps around a couple times with enough to tuck into a coat.

     And my last finish has been in all the other pictures, my Beacon Hill cardigan. Here it is with the original collar (the above pictures have a different collar). I followed the pattern and then decided the collar was big enough and didn't knit the last 20 rows. So, yeah, it was suppose to be even bigger. For me, it was just too big and too warm at the neck. My husband liked it and my daughter now admits she likes it better than what I have now, too. 

The back and sleeves are my favourite parts of this cardigan. There is a lot of collar there.

      I frogged  the collar and picked up the stitches 4 different times. I thought I was happy with this collar and reblocked the whole cardigan. But I'm still not happy. The buttons are too heavy (obviously that can change, and I am missing one at the bottom), and it forces me to have it done up all the time, or the button side hangs low. And I don't like how the collar sits at the back of my neck. I think I stretched it too much during blocking. I could block it again but... I'm not sure that is the answer.

      Back view with the latest collar. I've tried to wear it several times since I finished it and I never wear it more than a couple minutes. I feel like I'm constantly adjusting the collar so I take it off. I'm afraid this cardigan is doomed. I love the stitch pattern. And the yarn. But there's something about the cardigan that doesn't allow me to feel comfortable in it. I think I might have to frog it. I'm thinking a sweater to avoid buttons. Perhaps this Feathernest Raglan would be best? I must be crazy to even be thinking about frogging it and knitting a different sweater (and having to knit 2 more sleeves!) but I'm just not comfortable in it and don't want to wear it, as is.

Did you have any finishes this week? I'm almost done quilting the Cuzco Corners quilt, so I'm hoping to have that finished and ready to share next Friday.