Sweater Headache

So I made this sweater, and it was full of problems.
Problems like the pattern not including some little details, for instance anything about the hem. Or not mentioning blocking before seaming, which I should have done anyway but was not smart enough to.
You can see here that there are wobbly panels on the side. The sleeves are also a mile too long, although those were mostly improvised so it's not too surprising. It looked about as flattering as a garbage bag in a really nice colour. It is a gorgeous colour- a rich deep pink heather with flecks of yellow.
Last night I had to make a choice. I sighed, pulled out the scissors and began deconstructing. Ripped out the bottom hem, removed the side panels and reinforced the sleeve where they'd be removed. Then I seamed the cabled panels to the sleeve and down the side and removed 10 rows from the sleeves. Then I redid the bottom hem, this time decreasing and going down a hook size to get a tight, tidy look.


Now I have a flattering sweater that I really like! I was worried that it was going to end up in the pile of "I made you, but I'll never wear you." It would have been a shame because I do really love the colour, and the cables.

I also love the cowl, and the sleeves. I used esc (extended sc) for them, and I think I am a little bit in love with the stitch now. I do believe my next cardigan is going to be made with that little stitch.

Speaking of next cardigan, I wound up the yarn for it today. It's Cascade Pastaza. Aren't the colours awesome? The light pink is going to be the main body, with the turquoise-y and dark pink being the accent colours. I'm really excited for it!

I finished a few cowls lately, too. This one is a simple tunisian cowl for a friend.This one I really finished months ago. It's the sample I made for work of my Cable Crazy Cowl pattern (I have a pattern for sale! I'm a real designer! Woah!).
I taught a class on it, and although I only had one student it was really fun. I'm planning next month's class- I'll be teaching reading a crochet pattern. I'm excited to help people learn to understand patterns. It really opens up your world.

Back Home with Big FOs

I've returned from my amazing week in gorgeous sunny Cuba. Me and the hook spent some quality time together, but I also just relaxed and snorkled and played tennis. My poor boyfriend got sick (again- 3 trips, twice he's gotten sick) but otherwise it was a great time.


I spent most of this day working to get my dress finished for dinner that night...

I did! My mom liked it so much she made me go pose for a picture which I promptly grabbed when I got home to show off.
I love the dress. Cozy and soft but not so warm I can't wear it somewhere tropical (as the one woman who saw it partway suggested- oh, she said, that must be only for Canada!). It's snuggly and comfy and I'm already wearing it like crazy.


Before I went away I finished this sweater. It had 3/4 length sleeves, but I decided that was silly and went full length for them. It's really snuggly and great for layering. I definitely need a long sleeve shirt under it to keep my arms properly warm.


This is what I finished yesterday. It is the most dreamy, soft lovely shawl. It's Debbie Bliss Angel and Party Angel, striped in a simple feather and fan pattern. It's huge and super cozy and so touchable. I may be cuddled up in it right now.

I really am doing a lot of cozy and snuggly kinda projects right now. Winter is settling in. We have Cascade Pastaza on sale at work and I have some sitting in my cubby that's going to be a cardigan (once I can afford some more yarn!). Also some mohair we have for a fantastic price- I have no idea what it's going to be, but I love it.

I'm working on a cardigan for my nephew right now. It's all fuzzy yarn and it's going to have little bear ears on the hood. Bear ears! So cute!
I was also making a pair of socks for me via a tutorial with no gauge. I knew it was risky but I thought it would be fine. Well, I wore the first one for awhile and realized that I couldn't lie, it was way too big. I made Andrew try it on... and it's perfect on him. And he said it was comfy. So... I'm making the second one now for him. Sigh. Next ones will be mine!

I really need to get a move on my angora mittens, though. Once it gets really cold my thin mitts just won't cut it... Ah, life is hard. Ha.

Next post I will share my craft related Christmas gifts. People knit for me! And got me yarn!

A Gift and a FO

Look look, I finished one! Actually, I finished a pair of socks this week too. I had a bunch of days off in a row and really got some good crocheting done. My boyfriend was home this week and he got some great new videogames to play (Batman: Arkham City and Uncharted 3, which is like watching a really great adventure movie) and I sat and worked while he played. The socks are a Christmas present for his Mom... they were supposed to be a birthday present, but shhhh.
Love this cardigan. It's cozy and feels great but I like how it looks, too. I was super way off on gauge, but I (super secretly!) don't care. It ended up longer than planned but I took some rows out of the sleeves so they weren't too wide. I love the super long look of this.
That ribbed edge though, I thought I was gonna go a bit nuts.

I finished this owl set for a friend's birthday. We went out to the pub last night for a steak dinner and I gave her the set. She loved the hat and said the gloves would be perfect for work.

Her phone charm apparently just fell off, too- so this teeny owl toy I whipped up the morning of the party will have a new home. Isn't he sweet? I am having so much fun making little minis.

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.

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!

The End of Summer

A funny thing happens when you get a new job and go from months of unemployed to suddenly working. When that happens during the summer when you never seem to have a weekend where you aren't running around doing something- camping, reunions, going swimming, heading up to cottages... well, something has to fall by the wayside. It certainly wasn't going to be my crocheting!

This basket I finished the week I spent up at my boyfriend's parents house. The yarn is nylon cord I got at a sports supply store for next to nothing. It was pretty good to work with, although since it was finer than called for I had to fudge with the sizing. The socks in the basket are sadly no further towards completion.

I've been working on other things- last week I finished two cowls and a shawl. One of the cowls is for the store as a sample. I designed it and will be teaching it as a learn to cable with crochet project. The other cowl is just one for me to keep! The shawl is another for me, but one I'll also be writing up the pattern for it to have at the store. I still need to spend an evening actually writing out those two patterns, but it shouldn't be that much work. They're pretty simple.

I've been on a mad sweater kick, too. I finished this one in just a week, and the next week I finished another and I'm getting there with two more. I've just been too busy to take pictures of anything.
This sweater turned out just about exactly how I'd hoped- snuggly and cozy with a fair bit of stretch and give to the fabric. I am in love with slip stitch right now. I got a lot of this yarn really cheap and am planning another two sweaters with it. The next will be with the blue I got- I'm going to try faux-fair isle and see what I can come up with.

No more stripes, though. Weaving in those ends was almost more than I could take!

Pattern: Fluffy Pullover

Someone on Rav asked me for the pattern for this. I have been meaning to start on writing patterns, and this one was really simple. It seemed like a good place to start!
If you make this, please leave a comment or link to your project, and please let me know if I can change anything to make it easier or if you find any errors!

Fluffy Pullover

Materials:

Bulky weight mohair, approx 400-500 grams.

Large hook- 7 to 9mm, to get gauge.

Gauge:

4 DC and 3 rows = 2 inches

Written size medium. Bust size 36”. To increase or decrease size, add or remove 5 fsc for every 2 inches from starting chains.

Worked bottom up in joined rounds. Ch 2 do not count as stitches.

Dec refers to DC dec. To work: Yo, insert into first stitch, pull up loop. Insert into second stitch, pull up loop. YO, pull loop through first 2 stitches, YO, pull loop through remaining 3 stitches.

Body:

FSC 83 stitches. Join with sl st, being careful not to twist.

Round 1: Ch2, DC into every st, join with sl st.

Round 2-3: Repeat round 1

Round 4: Ch 2, Dec over next 2 DC, (1 DC into next st) for the next 43 sts. Dec over next 2 DC, mark st. (1 DC into next st) around. Join with sl st

Round 5: Repeat round 1

Round 6-9: Repeat rounds 4-5 twice.

Round 10: Ch 2. (Dec over next 2 DC) twice, (1 DC into nex

t st) until stitch before marker, (Dec over next 2 DC) twice, (1 DC into next st) around. Join with sl st.

Round 11: Repeat round 10.

Round 12-13: Repeat round 1.

Round 14: Ch 2. Work 2 DC in first DC, (1 DC into next st) until marker. Work 2 DC into marked st, (1 DC into next st) around. Join with sl st.

Round 15-19: Repeat round 14.

Round 20-21: Repeat round 1.

Fasten off. Leave marker in.

Sleeves:

FSC 26. Join with sl st being careful not to twist.

Round 1: Ch 2.1 DC into every st, join with sl st.

Round 2-10: Repeat round 1.

Round 11: Ch 2. Work 2 DC into first DC. (1 DC into next st) around. Join with sl st.

Round 12: Repeat round 11.

Round 13-29: Repeat round 1. (Rounds can be removed or added here to adjust sleeve length)

Fasten off, leaving long tail.

Make 2.

Yoke:

Pin sleeves- one at beginning of body rounds and one at marker, or so they are even across body. Make sure ends of rounds are facing the body so the tails can be used later to sew underarm to body. Count 5 sts out from each marker and pin. You should have each sleeve pinned to body with 11 sts.

Join yarn to body at the left of one of the pinned sleeves. Lay sweater so that it is flat with the sleeves on the side. Place marker on the st on the fold of each sleeve.

Round 1: Ch 2. (1 DC into next st) across body and around the sleeves, leaving 11 pinned sts on either side unworked. Join with sl st.

Round 2: Repeat Round 1.

Round 3: Ch 2, (1 DC into next st) until 1^st marker. Dec over next 2 sts. Work 1 DC into next st and across to next marker, dec over next 2 sts. (1 DC into next st) around, join with sl st.

Round 4-6: Repeat Round 3. Try on sweater for a better fit- it should stay up fairly comfortably. Dec more over these rounds for a tighter shoulder fit.

Round 7-8: Repeat Round 1.

Round 9: Ch 2, (1 DC into next st) until 1^st maker. Work 2 DC into next st, (1 DC into next st) around until 2^nd marker. Work 2 DC into next st, (1 DC into next st) around. Join with sl st.

Round 10: Repeat Round 9.

Round 11-12: Repeat Round 1.

Fasten off. Sew sleeves to body under arms, weave in ends and block.

The Dark Side

Meet my first yarn.
Ok, not the first yarn I've ever had, or used or anything like that. This is the first yarn I've ever spun.
Oh yeah, that's right. I've gone to the dark side.

Last night I went out to a pub event. My friend Gabe came along with her spindles and a promise to teach me.
Today I went out and got myself some awesome fluffiness and a spindle of my own.

The super thick white rope stuff is what I made last night- after my first little teeny bit. It's from roving I got ages ago before I knew what that meant. Using it all makes a nice, even and very thick yarn, which was kinda nice as a beginner.
(The pink is my latest attempt- just a little bit to try and get something more like sport weight.)

Today I started in with some of my plain white yarn (below). My results were not so awesome, and it turned out underspun in many areas, overspun in others and generally just meh. I mean, not too surprising for a first attempt, but still.

Then I learned an important lesson- my couch sucks. Ok, I knew that. But it sucks in ways that make spinning a lot harder. See, it sinks. I can't get any height, which means I couldn't get my spindle spinning properly. My attempt with the pink yarn, sitting at my (pink!) desk chair was much better. I felt like a wizard :D

Still, it's totally awesome to be starting a project with yarn I made, even if it sucks.
Maybe I'll just felt this one :)

In other news, I made the fluffiest sweater ever. I went past a Zellers on Monday, and decided to stop in. You know, tempt my willpower. But then they had this Bernat Pipsqueak in mill end bags. I have no willpower. I do have this, a lot of buttons and some soft, fluffy yummy acrylic mohair.
The sweater worked up really quickly. It's thick and warm- it actually makes a great spring jacket.
It also makes me a hug magnet. I went out last night and made everyone pet my soft jacket. I love this thing. Oh jacket. You are gonna get so much wear.

Some Photos- and a Vacation!

Today I finally got a chance to photograph some of my projects in real actual daylight. My Imitation Hawaiian Diamonds pullover now has nice pictures- it really does look so much better being worn than sitting on it's own!

I also got a photo of the little ruby red shrug I made out of that incredible mulberry merino yarn. It is so hard to photograph the colour red!

I've started a new sweater, too. I went and bought a bunch of cascade 220 and have chained on (is that the crochet equivalent to a cast on?) for a simple raglan pullover with a cable up the front and possibly a sweetheart neckline.

I have been decorating my front table. The cats were wine bottles- the wine was ok, but it was reasonably priced and I got these pretties to keep! The silver candleholders were my grandmothers, and the two bottles are some really kickin' Jones Soda bottles that I had to keep. The christmas candles, which I've been too lazy to put away, maybe because they're so pretty, were from Andrew's family. I also have my two aloe plants I got from my friend Mary and my poinsettia which I thought I'd killed when we went away for christmas, but is fighting back to life!
And come on, you gotta love the little dollar store pink elephant watering can!

The exciting thing that happened to me this week is planning the vacation! Neither of us have been and we're planning on doing all the tourist things, as well as nerdy things. Nintendo store and Toys 'R Us anyone?

I have also plotted out yarn stores in the city... Habu Textiles is walking distance of our hotel! I was looking at knitmaps (the existence of which threw my boyfriend enough!) when we were deciding on hotels and looking at all the yarn shops. My boyfriend said "Yes, we can go to a yarn shop while we're there." Very sweet- but like there was a question! If there's a yarn store, I'm going!

I'm really looking forward to it, though. We've been on trips together before, but this is the first time we've gone on a big trip just the two of us.

I decided I needed a new purse- I've been wanting a dark brown leather messenger style bag for awhile, and my normal purse is huge. It's perfect for bringing my lunch to work and having everything in there, but I want a smaller purse for this trip and for summertime when I don't need to shove a giant scarf and mitts and a hat in it.

I looked all over the Eaton Centre, up to the Winner's at College and back down... then went back to the mall and into some shops I'd missed.
Then I found it- more than I wanted to spend, but perfect. Just exactly what I wanted.

(You can see the sock I'm making in there!)

I've never spent so much on a bag before (after tax it was 100$... ah! But we have a Bentley club card from getting luggage, so I can go back and get a 15% discount, whew). I love it, though, and I intend to make it last a long time.
I think it's going to be difficult adjusting to a much smaller purse, but I think it's about time I did. My old purse was like a duffel bag! Sure, I could keep 3 wips in there no prob, but it did get a little heavy.

We hop on the bus this Saturday- I'm so excited!