Rainbow Cardi

I am currently obsessed with the cardigan I am making. It is getting so close to being finished and I just can't wait to wear it.
Also, I got myself a pretty new camera with some gift cards I got for Christmas, so I have been snapping photos of everything. It's really fun- it's a mirrorless camera, so it's a bit like a small DSLR. It even has interchangeable lenses. It also makes a very satisfying snap when you take a picture. I might be a little bit in love. I might also be annoying my friends and husband a bit.

Anyway, my cardigan. So yesterday I was pretty sure I was going to finish the buttonband, so I had to choose buttons.

Here they are sitting on the cardigan. I love this sparkly yarn, it is really doing it for me. The sparkly/neon combo makes my heart so very happy. 

I brought the buttons in to work to get Kate's opinion, and she pointed out that the flowers did kinda make it look a little juvenile. She was right, and both me and the cardigan are young enough looking as it is!

Here is the cardigan currently. Buttonband done, working on the first sleeve. It looks like I'm even going to have enough of the neon to have the sleeves striped all the way down. Yay!
I am going to need to reinforce the edge of the buttonband, though. I put the buttons and holes right in the middle, and I probably should have put them closer into the body. Oh well, that's the beauty of crochet. Add a few solid, snug rows on the edge and it'll look great and avoid the dreaded wobbly band. I might also sew reinforcing stitches around the buttonholes. If I'm not too lazy.

This beautiful thing was a present. Actually, yarn and bowl both. Kate got me the yarn a few years ago. But the bowl was this year, and isn't it amazing? My best friend got it for me for Christmas. It's so pretty. It sits on my desk and I have been using it a lot. It's really nice for keeping my yarn in place while I watch shows on Netflix and crochet.

Alright, I need to finish getting ready for work, and get my cardi packed up to work on the subway. Happy Tuesday!

Finished Things and Things on the Hook

I just finished this set. It's a baby blanket for a little guy I hadn't yet made anything for. I started it with the other colour of this mulitcoloured sock yarn I bought, but I was doing a really labour intensive pattern with fingering weight. It was silly.

The project got restarted with two strands and this spare DK I had leftover from the scarf I made Andrew last year. It was so much faster, the blanket just flew off my hook. It was a lot of fun. I had enough yarn leftover for another project, so this sweet little cardi was born. I had fun with it, too. It just needs some snaps and maybe some buttons now.

This isn't anything exciting, but I like the colours in this cowl. I love the rainbow yarn and it sits in front of the cash register at work staring at me. In Septmeber I finally gave in and made myself this little cowl with some black wool. I started it with white wool, but it looked way too young.
I think I might get a chunky yarn and do up a sample of this pattern for work. It really is easy and looks pretty cute when you finish.

I still need to get pictures of me wearing this cardigan, but I looove it. It's snug fitting with a zipper and has just a bit of motorcycle jacket look. The only issue is that I kinda stink at putting in zippers, so you might notice the bottom comes to a bit of a point at the end of the zipper. Whoops.
Otherwise it looks great and is super flattering and comfy. Can't beat it.

This is another project I finished and have been wearing like crazy, but I'm not going to show much of it because I think I might write up the pattern and try to have it published, eek! Don't you love the acorns?

And now for the stuff I'm working on still!

I started this cardi with Paton's Metallic because it's so shiny and fun. The stitch pattern takes awhile, but I'm going to switch to shallow half double crochet after the yoke for a soft, relaxed looking cardigan- I hope!

This is my Little Mermaid dress. Well, so far. I was planning on wearing it to my brother and sister-in-law's beach wedding at New Year's, but clearly it was not finished. My sweet little nephews were along on the trip, and playing with them in the sand just seemed like a much better priority than worrying about finishing a dress. Maybe next New Year's- this has gone on pause because a floor length dress isn't quite practical, even for me who will wear a fancy dress anywhere!

I haven't been working on my spinning much, but I've done a little bit here and there. It's fun, but it's a lot more work to pick up than my hook. Still, I can't wait to finish this batt! It's so pretty, and I'm so excited about the chain plying that's letting me make it something of a gradient.

And this is just some fun shots of the yarn I'm going to be working on next- this gorgeous stuff is going to be turned into a simple top-down cardi. Sparkly white and neon, I can't wait to wear this!

One Month to Get Back to Normal- Ha!

I was so optimistic. Just over a month and things were getting back to normal- suuure they were.
It took longer than a month, that's for certain. It wasn't until after Christmas and the holidays, the trip to Cuba for my brother's wedding and the week off from work that I really started feeling back to normal. The chores that were exhausting after the wedding are starting to get done again, the apartment is... well, it's not clean, but it's better, and I'm actually able to start taking on other responsibilities again. I'm even doing things like joining a ball hockey team.

So apologies for the long delay. Hopefully now I will be properly back. Here's a few of the things I did while I was absent from the blog.

I am so proud of the veil, and excited about the photos I got of it- mostly the ones from our pro photographer.
Here it is just after finishing.

Here is the blocking process- it looked so cool while I was blocking it!

Check out the detail of the row of beads I added- I also beaded the picot edging.

And here it is being shown off at my wedding with some of my stitching friends looking on. They admired it suitably. 

And some Christmas gifts! This was for my sister in law- it's a squishy washable wool. The pattern was really fun to do, and I hope she'll get use out of it.

 

This rather boring but soft and warm hat is for my big brother. Hopefully he likes it- Andrew liked it enough to request one for himself, and I know my other brother wears his a lot.

 

I made this hat for my best friend with some yarn I'd been drooling over. I was seriously tempted to keep it myself, though. I love how it turned out, and I love the colours. I really want to make myself something from this yarn (it's a new colour of Sirdar Folksong Chunky, striped with white in Patons Shetland Chunky if you're curious).

But the presents I am most proud of are the ones I made for my amazing little nephews. They were visiting from China for both my wedding and my brother's wedding, and I had so much fun with them. This little sweater and the blanket are from Beastly Crochet, and they were a lot of fun.

I especially loved making this blanket. Even though I had very little time and had to really push myself to finish it, it was so cool watching all the robots take shape.

It was also neat to learn a bit of embroidery as I added all the details on to it.

As predicted, the 1 year old and the almost-3 year old didn't care a bit about their presents, but everyone else was suitably impressed. Really, I made them for me. I knew the kids wouldn't care, but I'm so happy to have made them something special.

I had such a wonderful time with my nephews- during the time they were around, I got to know them a lot better and by the end of our time together, even the little one would grin and point to me if you asked who Auntie Lynn was. 

Possibly the best thing I got this year was the last day with the older one- he wanted to ride the bus with Auntie Lynn to the airport, and we got to snuggle up and talk about what lives in the ocean, and who lived in the houses, and tell stories. Then he came wandering back over to my seat on the plane and wanted to climb onto my lap and hear more stories, which I was all to happy to provide.

It was a great New Year's for me, I only hope the rest of the year continues to be this great!

Returning to "normal"

Hello all!
The wedding was wonderful, it went really well. It was exhausting, though, and I feel like I've just started catching up on life. Getting sick afterwards didn't help much.
I've missed this place. I've been crocheting like mad lately. I'm making a dress to wear to my brother's wedding in December, and I'm also making some special Christmas gifts for family members who will be here this Christmas- they're usually on the other side of the world. My nephews are getting an amazing sweater and a super cool blanket. I'm pretty excited- they're robot themed.

Anyway, here's some of the stuff I've finished in the last few months.

I finished my summer tee. I'm pretty please with the result, although it needs to relax a bit.

This little cardi thing was a nice quick project. It's comfy, and just enough to cover my upper arms from the intense AC in the mall where I work during the summer. I couldn't resist the sale yarn. I never can.

I love how this cardigan turned out. It's really comfy, and I am thoroughly enjoying all of the "that's CROCHET?" comments it gets.

My wedding veil! Shown here unblocked. It's really amazing blocked out, I am so pleased with it. I should have some good photos from the professional wedding photographer soon, I'm excited.

A crochetviatrix hat- I've always loved the Aviatrix hat and had to make a crochet version. It was fun, and I'm mostly quite pleased with how it came out.

I made two pairs of these amazing gloves (Blind Peacock, you should make them!). I made the first pair for a friend I promised to make fingerless mitts for ages ago. They were so quick and fun that I went out and bought myself some KPPPM and made myself a pair. Especially nice because they only take one 50g ball.
They're pretty addictive, I foresee more of these in my future.

And a few wedding photos for you all:

Yes, my train was ridiculous. I'm also very pleased with how we did making the bridesmaids dresses- and doesn't my veil look nice?

We did it! Yay! Now time to get back to real life.

Weding

So planning a wedding is the worst. Ok, it's also cool because it's going to be a lovely day filled with friends and family, but oh man. The constant pressure is hard to take. There is just this thing hanging over me that I have to do.
Combine that with how busy summer gets, and you get the reason I haven't posted in awhile. I have a lot of pictures on my camera, but I haven't taken them off in weeks. That never happens, I'm usually the type to put em right onto the computer.
I also haven't had proper time off in... months. I had a week off in January. I'll get it again in October. I do have a three day weekend coming up with nothing planned though. Oh man that's gonna be great.
I also have 4 more weddings to attend before ours, plus one I just attended the weekend before last. Oh, and I am making blankets for all of those. And I'm making my veil, and all the centrepieces (half done tonight thanks to my bridesmaids, but I still need to finish the doily for the next part) and we need to make the bridesmaids dresses. Thankfully my bridesmaids are awesome and coming over on Tuesdays for the next little while to help.
I went to the TTC Knitalong this weekend, and I have some photos to share and some awesome stuff I got to show you, but it'll have to wait.
I just realized I have to scan and send off the agreement with our caterer.
Sigh.
I hope someday I'll have enough free time to update properly!

Being a Busy Adult with Many Responsibilities

I am so behind on... everything! I'm sharing these pictures and they are so out of date, but I wanted to share something with you.
I love these appliques- we all got into a bit of a crazy applique streak at work. They're to show off what you can do with some of the simple craft supplies and things we carry. I love that little squidy especially.

This has since become a nice blue spring/summer top. It's from the new Love of Crochet, which was full of surprisingly lovely things.

I've now blocked this little shawl. The middle is from Venus by Aiobhe Ni, and the outer part is ripe wheat lace, one of my favorite vintage lace patterns.

This blanket and pillow set is now sitting on a brand new couch in my living room, and we need another pillow for the other side. That one will be a diagonal rainbow, I think.

 

And this top went through the washer and then I accidentally put it through the dryer, which made it shrink instead of growing slightly like I wanted it too. Now it's waiting for me to do my laundry again. 

Oh yeah, I have to do my laundry, too.

Planning a wedding is not the most fun. Oh, it's not so bad, but the whole thing is just a constant pressure over my head. Soon enough I will make a list so that I will know what to do and when to do it. Right now we're in the final stages of booking a caterer, and trying to get invitations finished and on their way. 

I also had some extra responsibilities at work for the last little while, and was on a different and earlier schedule. It's over now, but while it was happening I was zombie-exhausted the whole time.

Today I had some time free, so I went and got my bike from our old apartment. I'd left it parked out behind, and had been worried that I didn't have the old key. Turns out the lock was broken and it was just sitting there. Well, at least it was still there!

Since it didn't actually work, I took the day to head out to an amazing little local bike non-profit that helps you repair your own bike. It was women/trans day there, and I had amazing help and fixed up my own bike with a lot of help and patience on the part of the awesome volunteers. I had to replace three parts, and the front shifter still doesn't quite work, but the back shifter does; more importantly, the bike now runs when you pedal it, and the chain isn't so rusted it can't really move.

It was really awesome to be able to get my hands dirty and fix it myself. It felt pretty amazing, I have to say.

I need to find a place to keep my bike now, other than my living room, but one step at a time. I think I might start biking to knit-night every week.

Anyway, I was dead tired and sweaty as anything after that, so I biked home and hopped in the shower, then napped. While I napped, Andrew ordered us sushi and so we had a lovely treat and got to enjoy our new couch, delicious food and an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. 

I should maybe work on one of the five wedding blankets I need to do this summer, or maybe my veil, or the doilies I need to make for centrepieces... Soon enough I need to get my bridesmaids over and start sewing their dresses, and bring over my friend Gabe who is going to teach me to make a dress that fits me so I can have something for the dancing part of the wedding, and I need to start the lace overlay for that dress... but all of that can wait. I want to do something relaxing and not practical- I'm planning on working on my current obsession, another top-down raglan cardigan to wear at work. Time for some relaxing crochet!

Long Time No See

I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated. It feels like no time at all, but it's been ages.
Life is moving quickly. We've had dinners and birthdays (including my Mom's, which was a great excuse to see the family more!), Easter and who knows what else. We're still trying to find a caterer for our wedding, I'm now officially a manager at work and full time, we have something scheduled for every week from now til I don't know when...
Being a grownup is a full time job. And it doesn't help that I had a one-day weekend as I transitioned to full time manager this week.
Yesterday was fabulous, though. I spent the day at Wonderland running around like mad with a few of my stitch n bitch friends, riding roller coasters and eating deep-fried delicious doughy things (Beavertails and Funnel Cake!) and just having a great time.

With the lovely yarn ladies, waiting in line. 

 With both my "spouses"... Alia is my wife through many bizarre jokes, and something about how her husband and I share a birthday.

 

 Andrew and I got "Wondermarried", aka he bought us some awesome cheap rings. 

Then I came home and took an hour long nap- and then an hour later fell asleep for ten and a half hours. I've been exhausted.
Now that I'm regularly Monday-Friday, I feel like I can finally get into a real schedule. I'm home by a reasonable time every evening, and even though our weekends are full to overflowing, I should get some relaxing time. Next weekend I have work, a party, a lunch, a convention, and a dinner and dancing birthday party for my best friend, all in 24 hours. Thankfully that's just Friday-Saturday,and I think we're wide open on Sunday. Thank goodness, I wouldn't have anything left after all that!

I have been crocheting like mad, too. I've even finished a few more things for my challenge. I've also got some pretty new yarns I'll share with you all soon. I have a few to show you today, though!

I totally fell in love with the green/blue semi-solid when we got it at work. Originally I planned to use the bright pink below with it to make Bel by the lovely Aiobhe Ni- and then the variegated came in and matched it perfectly. So now that's going to be the contrast colour.

This fabulous pink and mixed yarn has already become a cowl that really needs to get blocked. Can you believe that this contrast variegated and the one with the green are the same colour? I love hand-dyed.

This yarn- the colour, the fact that it's sockweight... it just screamed out my name. I had to have it! It's gonna be another awesome summer tank top.

These mitts are for wearing around the house when my arms get cold. They're fleece lined in some awesome fleece I got when I went with my friend to Fabricland. It matched perfectly.

 I made this sweet little sweater for a lovely woman from our yarn group who's moving away. She's 8 months pregnant with a little boy.

I'm up to 7 finished projects for the challenge- and am really close to a tank top being done!
Pictures of the new ones soon, I promise.
Finishing Challenge:
Blue Cowl
Block Party Mitts
Silk Spinning
Granny Shawl
Colourwork Cardigan
Central Command sweater
Rainbow Stripe afghan