Monday, March 19, 2012

Crafty kids.

My five-year-old is working on her scarf. We tried learning how to crochet before, but she just didn't have the patience for it then. This time she is doing very well and is learning the single crochet quickly. My older daughter just finished her scarf last week after over a year of working on it. I will post a picture of her scarf later. The crocheting is our "home economics" class for home school. When they get older I'll teach them knitting, embroidery, and sewing.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Quick update.

This is just a quick update to say that the needles came on Wednesday, and I been working pretty heavily on trying to catch up. I don't think it looks like I've made much progress on the dress, even though I have spent a ton of time on it. I figured that I have put approximately 22 hours into the dress since starting it (right now each round takes 45-50 minutes!). I will post a picture of my progress some time tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Christmas knit#8 "Apacolypse Scarf" complete!

I last posted about this scarf back in the beginning of December. I have had it finished for a couple weeks, but just now got it blocked. I am not very pleased with how the pictures turned out as they look very grey even though the scarf is a true deep black. I think it was just too bright where I was taking the picture, but meh, I'm over it.

For this scarf I used a pattern found on ravelry.com and used Knit Picks Swish worsted yarn. I did modify the pattern a touch by adding a chain edge to neaten up the edges some. I also made the scarf a little more "compact" by using a smaller needle than the pattern called for (an 8, and I used a size 6). Over all I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I hope my Dad likes it and actually uses it.


Monday, March 12, 2012

Christmas knit#11 "Muscari" socks, completed.

Here are the blue socks finally completed and blocked. I had these finished quite awhile ago, but just now got around to blocking them and taking pictures. I figured since the MoH dress is at a stand still until the new needles come, I might as well get some other projects finished.


 Here is the entire sock. The pattern was okay and pretty simplistic in the lace design, and I like the way it looks. That blue yarn is stunning though isn't it? The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Hand Painted sock yarn in the colorway "Lullaby." I love this sock yarn :D

 Here I am showing the cuff and leg of the sock, plus it is easier to see the lace pattern here.

The heel of the sock is the only part I really didn't like. This was my first time doing a short row heel, and I hated it. I didn't enjoy doing it, and I especially don't care for how it looks or how loose it is. I hope it fits okay and the recipient doesn't dislike it as much as I do.

 And the toe of the sock, just for reference.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Needle catastrophe.

A picture is worth a thousand words indeed. As you can plainly see, I am in need of new knitting needles. I wasn't putting very much stress on the needle, just holding it and pulling the yarn along the cable so I had sufficient room to work. Guess I will be making a knit picks order. At least I ought to get good progress made on the socks now (trying really hard to find a silver lining, lol).


This picture is just to show my current progress, though I will obviously be taking a break from working on this until the replacement needles get here (I paid extra for faster shipping, so hopefully I can get back to work in a couple days).

I have never had a wooden Harmony needle break before, and honestly I was pretty surprised when it happened. I almost considered getting a nickle plated needle to replace it, but I got wood again and will try to be more careful from now on.


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

MoH dress progress pics.

Here are pictures as promised. I am currently on round 6 and just joined on the 4th skein of yarn. All 1,222 stitches are a tight fit on the new cable, but it is way better than having it split up between two cables. Isn't the knit picks shine worsted yarn lovely? It has left orange fuzz on my black pants, lol no biggy though.

Knit Picks order!

Hooray! My knit picks order just came! That means I can start working on MoH Mandarin dress again. Those 60" cables are going to make working on this project so much nicer. Hopefully I will get enough progress done this evening to post a picture.

The 24" cables and size 5 needles are for when I start working on the bodice of the dress, just so I don't end up doing a last minute order again.

Mermadia progress.

Just my progress on the socks :)

Friday, March 2, 2012

MoH Dress, please!

I have been slacking with my posting here of late. I am done with the blue sock, the pink tunic, and more than halfway through the foot portion of the green socks. I think I may scrap my old way of doing things, and use the blogger app more to upload pictures more frequently. Right now I feel "behind" and so dread doing the massive updating that is required. I am going to just not bother, and once I block the projects I will post directly onto this blog.

In other news, I started my big project for this year. I mentioned before that I am making my own gown to wear as the "Matron of Honor" for a friends wedding, and I just started it yesterday. I don't really have much progress to show yet (you can't even see the pattern) so I won't post pictures of it just yet. It is really big around (I am working bottom up) and I don't currently have a cable long enough to hold it (one is on the way from KnitPicks.com!). I have been using both of my 40" cables and swapping needle tips and end caps around so I can transfer stitches onto the "working" cable to knit. It isn't hard, but it takes forever and isn't exactly fun. I cast on 1,222 stitches and it took forever! I worked from late afternoon to a little after midnight, and only got 2 1/2 rounds completed (I am also on the second skein of yarn already).

I have been calling this project the MoH Dress, and it is sticking so that is probably what I will refer to it as in future posts. I am making the skirt pretty simple, and I hope to keep the top portion simple as well (though who knows what sort of shaping issues I will encounter). I am really hoping to have the skirt portion completely done before the end of this month, though I will need to wait until May before I knit up the top (so that it fits, as this whole changing weight deal throws a bit of a wrench into making this dress ahead of time). I am hoping to make notes along the way and have a working pattern by the end of the project, not that I am in a big rush to make a second large project.

That is all for now, hopefully pictures in a day or two :)