Some WIPs and things

I'm all about the WIPs lately, huh? I really want to get some of the things on my Rav page done. Yeah, it really is just about making my project page cleaner. I mean, sure, actually having the finished objects would be great, but c'mon. How can I start more projects with such an untidy and full WIP area?I did start this, though. The first part of my wall decoration project. It's an exploded miniature doily. With a bulky weight yarn, a real doily would have been too much. This one was perfect, and quick. Good for my patience.

My Herringbone sweater. I bought the yarn at Lettuce Knit in the spring for a totally different project. Then I saw this pattern and knew I had to start it. Even though I don't have enough yarn and I will probably end up having to get a different dyelot to finish this. Whatever. I'll use it for the sleeves. Yeah, that's it.
The pattern has taken some serious figuring and I swear there are some counting mistakes in it. I'm just fudging it as best I can, but it seems to be doing well!

My Critron. This baby is taking forever. I'm basically finished what the pattern calls for now- well, I'm on the last section and other than the border I would be done. I used a very fine yarn, though, so it's too small for my taste. I'm going to add several more sections. I'm already almost 550 stitches in the ripple section, so yeah. It's going to be awhile.

This is the project I really want to finish because I think it's gonna be great for work. It's a light little cardigan that I'm using totally the wrong yarn for and loving it. It's gonna be too big and totally cozy and perfect for the slightly-more-than-a-t-shirt but not-a-real-sweater that I need at work.

And look, I took some pictures of me wearing my pretty mink cowl! I'm feeling pretty awesome today. It's my day off, so I get to recover from the festival finally. I did my Wii Fit exercises, am down to my lowest weight in a year or so and got past 20 hours on my Wii-piggy-bank thing.
Now to get a bunch more work done on some WIPs! Today is a good day.

New pretties, WIPS

So I spent the weekend at the Creativ Festival. I was working at the store's booth and so I was totally not going to spend any money. But then I saw some yarn, and you know how that works. Besides, my bank account was healthier than expected. So just three little skeins I was going to take home.Isn't it pretty? Party Angel, I love it! I adore light fluffy mohairs, pretty soft pinks and anything that's sparkly. Match made in heaven.
But you can see that there's only two skeins there. Not because they were out, though...

... but because before I got those, I found these. Kidsilk Haze. 50% off. The softest, dreamiest of pinks.
They were so sweet. They had to come home with me!

I don't know yet whether they'll be two small shawls or one big striped one. Thoughts?

And then the booth across from us had this. I had to take something really special and unique home, you know? And this is incredible. It's 70% mink, 20% merino and 10% silk. It is so soft and wonderful, the grey is just amazing and working with it was incredibly fun.
I got it from Knitca.com. They don't have it on the website, yet, though. Not that I can see, anyway. I want more. Ok, I can't buy more. But I want more.

I finally finished my first tunisian mitt. I started these as a way to practice gauge and tension in tunisian before I began my Betty's Tunisian Tee. I think I ripped them out 3 or 4 times, maybe more. I even finished and seamed the main body before I ripped it out the last time because they were too small. Finally, finally I have one finished.
The other one will join it soon- hopefully in less time than it took to do this one.

This is the beginning of another project. I fell in love with some wall art I saw on Ravelry and now I have to make some for my house. Think big, bright flowers and granny squares and motifs. I have a part skein of Chroma left that might go in the mix, too. We'll see.

Waffle Cowl and Christmas Presents

I just finished this waffle cowl using some yarn a friend gave me and some thrift store yarn. Originally I had the darker colour on it's own, but the cowl was way too small. I pulled it out and made this waffle cowl. Much better. I like the delicate little picot edging too .

The slight waffle pattern gives it some texture and I think adds some warmth. It's just sc flo worked in the round.

I've been making hats for some of the guys on my list for Christmas. Isn't this pattern great? It' the Best Guy Hat Ever and I think it's just a great all around hat. Simple, stretchy and nice. Easy to work in any yarn, feels great on. I made this one and handed it to my boyfriend to try on. He was very sad when I told him it wasn't for him.
I might make one for me once I'm done with the boys on my Christmas list.

This weekend I'll be at the Creativ Festival downtown. I've never been, so I'm looking forward to it. I'll be working, but that's ok. I'm not to spend any money there. Only look. Nothing at all.
(I'll do my best...)

Tiny Things and Big Things

So my boyfriend does a webcomic called I am ARG (http://iamarg.com/ totally NSFW!) and I'm a pretty big fan. I've already promised him a big plushie for Christmas- he wants to go to local cons next year and have him to put on the table.
Well, I've been reading MochiMochi Land (http://mochimochiland.com) and I don't think you can do that without some urge to make something teeny weeny and adorable, so I decided to make a tiny practice plush with some DMC.
Isn't mini-ARG cute? He looks so sad, but that's how he was requested! Big ARG will have more of a menacing look, but that's hard to pull off on a little guys who's only about 2 inches tall.

I finished some big projects too, like this pink fluffy alpaca sweater. I've had my eye on this alpaca in the clearance section at work for ages. It's soooo soft. I've been running a really tight budget, though, so I put one skein of bright turquoise in my shelf in the back to buy someday, sighed longingly at the other colours and went to pet them once in awhile. Then we had a 25% off clearance sale, and all was lost. I came home with 9 skeins of pink, the turquoise and some pink bamboo sock yarn I'd also fallen for.
This sweater was about 7.5 skeins of the pink. I think I'm gonna make legwarmers with the rest.
Not sure if I love the sweater- I'll have to wear it a few times to know. It's a bit shorter than what I wanted, but wiser heads have informed me that alpaca will grow. Here's hoping!
Now to wait until it's cold enough outside to wear this. It'll be a really cuddly skiing sweater.

Mini-ARG is not the only DMC project I've done. Since I started at work, I've been in love with all the incredible colours you can get it in. It's so inexpensive, too. So I started a few jewellery projects with some of the beads I have lying around and some DMC I got at work. Just simple pieces that I can throw on with anything to brighten up an outfit!

My aunt (ok, my Dad's cousin's wife, but close enough!) liked this one so much at Thanksgiving that I ended up making her one. She's a knitter and it's their cottage we all get invited up to for Thanksgiving- I can't say no to someone that nice!

This little pink necklace is a favorite of mine. It's simple and light and adds a nice pop of colour to plain fall outfits.
Did I mention that with the exception of the three coloured necklace, I'm doing these as one floss skein projects? I might publish a little pattern book of inexpensive simple jewellery. They're super quick, too, so they're make great presents. Even with beads the cost for each would be no more than a few dollars, and that's only dependent on which beads you choose.

Ps, here's a picture of my yarn corner as it stands right now in celebration of yesterday's I Love Yarn Day! I tidied it a little and found some yarn that I adore but had somehow forgotten about. But... I need to get through some of my long list of WIPs first!