Another One Bites The Dust

I finished it! I finished the sweater!

I even had time to block it. Can I tell you how great it was to have it fully finished and blocked and still have a full day before the party where I was giving it away?

AND IT FIT! It fit her perfectly. I was very happy about that. It looks great on her. And she seemed to like it.

I need to get a proper photoshoot of it, somewhere with light, but it's done and the pattern is written. Good photos and a test are all that's missing. Yay! That can wait until the new year. For now, I'm down to 16 projects already, and the new year hasn't even started.

I also blocked out my critron, which really improved it. I still don't want it, but now it looks much nicer for whoever gets it.

Progress!

Despite a still dreary, dark world out there and a cold I'm fighting off, I've actually made progress on my resolution!
I wanted to start with the easy stuff to get that early satisfaction of finishing stuff off, and to knock a few things off the list that have been in progress for... longer than I'd care to admit. Some of them still need blocking, but hey- baby steps.

My critron. I was going to make it double this size (ha!) but each row was taking about 20-30 minutes at this point, and I don't love it now like I did when I started. I just did a few more rows of the last ruffle and finished. It needs a serious blocking, and then I'll probably give it away.

This was going to be a cape, but I did the weirdest shaping and it was turning out terribly. I could have made it a nicer cape now, but I just decided I didn't want to bother any more. I pulled apart the weirdest join I've ever done and just added a scarf to the hood. Andrew says I look like some kind of elf, which I can live with. No idea what I'll do with this.

This was originally going to be my veil, then I decided I didn't like the pattern or the choice of yarn (cotton for a veil? Nope!) so it was going to be a shawl. But I wasn't really loving it, so I just finished off the row. I'll block it and it can be a table decoration or something.

That's all the finished stuff for now, but I've made some real progress on other projects, too.

This is the Christmas present sweater for my best friend. I finally finished the collar and have now moved on to sleeves. Here's hoping I don't have to pull them out 3 times like I did the collar. This also clearly needs some blocking, but that will wait until the whole thing is done. The goal is to have it done for the Christmas party I'm hosting on Saturday. Totally do-able!

I'm a little bit in love with this sweater. I'm completely deviating from my original plan and I love it. Since it's tunisian, I can do traditional fair isle-style colourwork. Yes please!
I was working on it at a gathering this weekend and people kept asking if it was for a kid. No way, this colour scheme might be a bit young but it is all for me!

I love the vivid hearts and am having so much fun. I'm gonna do another row of the little hearts, then a bit of geometric shape stuff, then maybe another heart row and a few hearts going up the front of the cardigan from here. Who knows- at this point, I'm just having fun with it!

I hope you're all staying as cheerful as you can in this dark, cold time of year (well, for us Northern Hemisphere folks anyhow). Happy holidays, all!

Early Resolutions

First, this is the new vase my lovely best friend got me for Christmas, sitting on top of the gorgeous end table my brother in law made us. So many handmade things are starting to appear in our house! I love it.

And some wip stuff- this is the cardigan I've been designing, and also the Christmas present of said friend. I finally finished the body, now I'm on to the collar. Then all that's left will be the sleeves and sewing on the closures! I want to finish it for her for actually Christmas, because it means I can also get the testing started. I'm really excited about publishing this one.

This is the insane fingering weight cardi I've been making myself for what seems like a million years. No pattern on this one, although I really ought to write more of these. Still, it's just nice to have a cardi where I can plod about a little aimlessly and not worry too much. I'm really happy with how it's turning out, and I can't wait to see it finished.

This is what inspired me to write a post today, though. Well, not that mess above. It was actually this pin I spotted today. I wanted to see what it would look like if I took a picture of all my wips. All of them.

It looks like this big mess! Sure, some of them are hibernating... but it's still too much. So my resolution, starting now (no time like the present!) is to get down to only 7 wips. I don't mind having lots of wips, but there are 20 (plus one different kind of project) and that's too many even for me.

So here they are numbered, and here's the plan of action:
#1- my critron! I was going to make this huge, but it is teeny yarn and sloooow going. I haven't worked on it in ages, I don't really want to work on it. I'll finish a few more rows then end it as a small shawlette. Giving it away.
#2- laceweight cardigan, what was I thinking. I want to make some serious progress on this. Even if I don't finish it this year, I want to at least get several inches done and importantly, pull out the old cardigan so the second ball of yarn is ready.
#3- Hood. It was going to be a cape, but I'm going to add a quick scarf to it and call it done. Giving it away.
#4- Neon socks. These I've barely started, but they're a quick project.
#5- Heart sweater. It's a pretty tunisian project and I'd like to start it up again. It's going to have colourwork hearts on it.
#6- Drape front cardi. I'm working on this all the time, so it'll be finished soon!
#7- This is a tablecloth my great grandmother made. It's now stained and dirty, with lots of holes. My mom gave it to me to repair, so it's a different kind of project and something I'll just get to one day.
#8- My doily project. It's a long term thing, so I'm not too worried.
#9- Baseball tee! I'm going to bring this on vacation. I'm so psyched to have this finished object, though it's not the most fun to work on.
#10- This was going to be my veil originally. Now I think I'll just finish it and have it as a nice table centrepiece.
#11- This is a shawl I'm making my cousin, and I'd like it to be part of her wedding gift. She's getting married next year.
#12- This is an insane top I pull out once in awhile. I'll be bringing it on vacation too.
#13- I started this shrug as a store sample and just bought the yarn and took it home when the store closed. So I'll be finishing it some day soon.
#14- This is a shawl I'm also excited to finish because it will be simple and cozy and warm
#15- These are totally crazy shorts that I'm not sure I'll ever finish.... but they're fun.
#16- This is the cardigan I'm making my friend, so hopefully it'll be done within the next 2 weeks.
#17- I have to get back to this cardigan! It's going to be great.
#18- This is just a plain granny scarf I'm just working on for fun. I'm not too worried about when it gets done.
#19- This is the fake chainmail I'm making for a costume to wear next year for con season. It just needs to be a bit long and have long sleeves. It's on a huge hook, so it'll be quick.
#20- I've been making this blanket forever. I need to make 7 more large squares, and then it should be a reasonable size. No more motif blankets!
#21- The dress I wanted to wear to my big brother's wedding last year. I ended up deciding spending the time with my nephews would be a better idea, so I just want to finish it to wear this year! It's already a long tank, so it won't be too much longer.

Alright... wish me luck!

A Long, Dark Month

Hello my hooky people. Apologies for the absence. It's been a long month for me. There's been some bad news and discouraging job hunting, but it's mostly just been one of those months where it doesn't quite matter what happens, you're gonna be a bit bummed out. Thanks, brain!
I've gotten a lot of crochet done, though. As usual, my yarn always cheers me up immensely!

This is a little baby jacket I made for a friend and fellow crafter who's having a little girl. I was sooo excited to make something pinky and ruffly!

And putting little heart elbow patches on was irresistible. I have this pattern written up, I just need to get to testing it.

These legwarmers were inspired by all the knitted neutral legwarmers I kept seeing on Pinterest. I love them, but since knitting needles and I are not bffs, slip stitch came to the rescue. I'm pretty happy with the way the calf increases went- I like the look they have that reminds me a bit of knotty wood.

This hat is my new favourite! I took the awesome pattern, and modified it so that it used slip stitches instead of sc, and added a blo slip stitch ribbed edge. The pompom is from the notions market in Shanghai, and it's real rabbit fur, which makes it soooo soft!

I am super excited about this cheerful project. I'm making a series of doilies in rainbow colours, then I'm going to mount and hang them. I'm not quite sure how, but I'm thinking either embroidery hoops or canvases painted a nice slate grey.

Either way, I'm excited to make doilies which I find quite fun, and excited about the colours. I love rainbows. This yarn is from a new yarn/fabric shop in my neighborhood, which is also quite exciting. They don't carry a lot of fun yarn- baby stuff and a bit of basic wool- but it's really nice to have something in walking distance. They do have some pretty nice crochet cotton, as you can see!
I also got a whole boatload of white #20 cotton to do snowflakes. I have this grand multiple year plan that will eventually result in a pretty garland of tons of different kinds of snowflakes.

These socks were done for a test, and I love the pattern. It's very clever- I was amazed by how the cables were done, and she had the most clever method for seaming blo ribbing.
I got the gauge wrong, so these are a bit too tight for me. I'm gonna make another pair for me with a few mods- I prefer alternating rows of f/iB slip stitch on the sole to get a nice flat and untextured sole, and I'll do the heel in sl st instead of sc because I just like it better. I'll also make them taller, because I'm a big fan of nice and tall socks.

And these pretties are my most recent project! I love these mitts, they're going to be so warm. They're double stranded and 100% alpaca. Yum. The fabric biases a bit, so unfortunately I should have made the top increases on a slightly different angle; blocking helped, and I'm hoping that will correct itself with wear.
Still, my old mitts were getting ragged and holey, so it's nice to have a new pair!