New obsession + Olympic controversy

Okay, here is the story on armwarmers.

Way back in January my sister requested a pair of knitted armwarmers for her 19th Birthday, which is at the end of February. Great! Cool, I have just the pattern for it, and have been meaning to make some.

Well, being the dork I am, I signed up for the knitting olympics and thought these armwarmers would be perfect. For some reason I totally overestimated the time it would take to make these, and the result was that I was finished the pair of them 3 days into the olympics. The whole idea of the knitting olympics was to challenge yourself with a project that you would be hard-pressed to complete in the 14 days. So what do I do, pick something easy that took 3 days. I don't know what I was thinking. The organizer of the whole K.O. managed to make a Dale of Norway sweater during the competition. That is just insane.

Anyway, after realizing how easy the armwarmers were to make, I've been knitting up a storm:
















And that is the armwarmer story.

UFO'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've cleaned out my UFO pile (unfinished object for you non-knitter-lingo-savvy-types)

*ahem*
Anniversary Sweater - done (he's even worn it a couple times) I won't post pics until I can get a GOOD one that will do it justice.

Burgundy purse w/bamboo handles - done. Well, the second handle has been attached and it is awaiting the lovely lining I purchased for it. But really, it's basically done. I guess I'll take pics after I get the lining sewn in.

Entrelac scarf - done. It's hanging in my closet, though I still think I'll give it away to someone.

Brown and teal bolero - done. Really cute, really really cute. Again pics to come when I get a good camera (supposedly this month)

Overload Update

I'm really trying to streamline my projects on the go, really trying hard.....

- Anniversary Sweater for my bf. I know, this is ridiculous...I have been working on this for almost a year. Anyway, I have finished the front and back, as well as joined them at the shoulders and knitted up a roll down collar (which he hates....so I have to get creative and do some frogging) as well as finishing one sleeve. I really need to make that second sleeve a priority. Poor guy :(

Entrelac Scarf - I work a few squares of this when I need a break from another project, I'm in no hurry to complete it. I picked chocolate brown, baby pink, and light lime green for this scarf several months ago, but now that I've been knitting it up it's not as lovely as I originally thought....at least to me. This one might go in the "gifting" collection when it's done.










-Dayflower Scarf - Another one for the gifting collection, probably for my bf's mom. This one was knit up in a Mohair/acrilyc blend called "Watercolours", it actually feels quite lovely.














- Burgundy Variegated purse with bamboo handle (notice, the singular) - this is still in it's same embarrasing state as when I last mentioned it. In fact, I completely forgot about this until I read my blog and saw it's sad little entry there. *sigh*

- The Voodoo Scarf has been frogged, now I have several tangled piles of burgundy voodoo and nothing to do with it :(

okay, that's all I feel like updating for now, rest assured there is tons more: Birthday presents for Danyelle, my first swap entry, and my foray into beaded jewellery land, as well as my own personal Olympic Knitting Controversy. :( Stay Tuned!

Knitting Olympics

Some of you faithful readers may have noticed a new little button on my sidebar, I am now a proud member for the 2006 Canadian Olympic Knitting Team.

I came across this fun little project on yarn harlot's blog and thought it looked like fun.

The project I am taking on (for my country, no less) is a set of Irish Hiking Armwarmers that my sister Danyelle has requested for her 19th birthday. I'm making them in a light sagey/olivey green colour to match the green frog hat I've already made (pics to come)

So beware! As of Feb 10 I will be knitting with gusto, for glory....and above all....for gold!!!!!!

PROJECT OVERLOAD

okay I'm working on a ton of things right now. A ridiculous amount, really.

- A burgundy variegated wool purse with bamboo handles. This is basically done, I just have to sew the second handle in and line it. I got some really cool teal and purple silky liner at Dressew for about $2/meter. This purse has been sitting in it's unfinished state for about two months and I'm pretty embarassed by that fact.

- My left mitt still needs a thumb and it's getting cold. HELP!

- Hockey skate baby booties for my brother. One is finished, the other one should be coming off the needles soon. So adorable.

- Anniversary Sweater from knitty for my bf. I have been working on this for months, doesn't look like he'll be wearing it this winter, I've finished the back and am almost done the front but still have sleeve and seam sewing hell left.

- Dayflower scarf. I just started this last night because I had some green mohair screaming at me from my stash. In one sitting I got about a quarter of it done so this one should go fast.

- Burgundy "Voodoo" scarf

*sigh* And I've been finding so many patterns for things I want to make. On the upside, I am managing to shrink down my yarn stash so will be able to go SHOPPING soon :)

Mitts

First mittens, what a pain. I still have to finish the thumb on the other hand, it's sitting in my basket waiting for me to feel ambitious, or for it to snow....whichever comes first.

I really like this yarn though, it's SOLO by Bernat...about $5 a ball from Zellers. 2 balls should be enough for these mitts and a matching hat. Check out the grain, there are tiny multicoloured strands in there.

Disco Ball

I was feeling silly one day and had a ball of bernat handicraft and a bag of sequins and thought....what the heck, disco ball hat.

I have no idea where I would wear this, but it's actually kind of cute and funky.

Clapotis

This was my big summer project. I knit this up over 2 months of weekends at Wreck Beach and evenings on my patio.

It's made out of "TLC Amore" (I think) which I picked up at Zellers, 3 balls at $8 a piece...I still have about two thirds of a ball left and am trying to find a use for it.

It wasn't supposed to end up as wide as it is, but once I started dropping stitches the width increased drastically. As a result, what was supposed to be a largish scarf is now a comfy shawl/wrap.



The pictures don't really do it justice, it can look casual or dressy depending on what you match it up with. Goes great with jeans and heels, or a summer dress. I'm very pleased with the end result.

The pattern is from knitty, take a look to at the pictures there to get a better idea of what it looks like.

First Lace

Okay, this was a gruelling 2 month project with many interruptionsm, but in the end it turned out really well.

My first lace scarf, pattern courtesy of knitty once again, is made up of "Kid Merino" (28% kid mohair, 28% merino wool, 44% micro nylon) by Crystal Palace Yarns.





I purchased one 240 yd ball for about $8 at Urban Yarns (I think it was on sale) I only used just over half the ball and realistically should have made this scarf longer but I just wanted it DONE and off my needles.

Updates

...okay so I've been slacking of in the picture taking department. It is difficult to get inspired to take pictures of finished projects when you have such a CRAPPY CAMERA!!! Hopefully that changes soon.

First up, just a few standard scarves.

This one was done in Brown Bernat Velvet, garter stitch on 10 mm needles. Very quick, very easy, but I don't think I'll be using the Velvet again anytime soon. The ends don't weave in very well and the velvet sheds off the ends.


Next we have my pink furry scarf made with the most expensive yarn I have used to date. I saw this Italian yarn at A Touch of Wool and fell in love. It's called "Gracia" (80% nylon 20% rayon), is so soft and gorgeous, and I love the black flecks in it. I love pink and black together. Anyway, I picked up two balls of this stuff at $12 each and made this super long, skinny K2P2 Rib scarf.

The picture's fuzzy but so is the scarf, haha. I've tried to show a close up of the grain so you can get an idea how amazing this yarn is.

Penguin

I have been making tons of things, but haven't really had time to post them...But I wanted to get this one on here before I give it to my sister today. I found this pattern @ Knitty.com and thought it was adorable so I made one up as a gift for my sister. It's a really quick project (I probably spent about 4 hours on it total) and I also made it a bit less "chubby" then the pattern calls for:

Almost baby time!!!

Dad and Sasha are due pretty soon, within the next month or so I think. I went into panic mode because I started knitting this blanket about 3 months ago and as of 3 weeks ago was only about half-way done. So I busted my butt and finished it off in record time.



Close up of the center pattern:



And close up of the border, done in seed stitch:




I used 100% cotton yarn so it's nice and soft and washable. I'm so excited to give it to them tonight!!!

I also had some time and odds and ends of cotton yarn to make some adorable little hats:



I've been sewing a baby quilt for them too but it's not done, I'll post pics in a few weeks.

Oldies

I wanted to take the chance to post pics of some older projects:

This was the first purse I made, my first (and so far, only) felting project, AND my first time knitting in the round. I got the pattern out of the book "Stitch 'n' Bitch". The purse has this really cute little change purse attached to it with a cord, but I haven't gotten around to putting snaps on it yet so it's really quite useless to me so far. I think next time I make one of these I'll make the handles thicker and maybe even add some felted flowers.



And this is a really great backpack, though a bit rough around the edges. I used a pattern in the same book as a basic template, but modified the design on the back. The pattern called for some weird hello kitty monkey thing which isn't my style so I drew out a star on graph paper and voila! This is my first real intarsia project, and at least now I can think of a bunch of ways to do it easier and better. The most challenging part of this project proved to be getting the liner and the zipper in, I've never been a big fan of zipper sewing. Anyway, I use the bag all the time, it's perfect for when a purse is too small and a normal backpack is too big and I've gotten tons of compliments on it I guess mainly because there aren't really any others around!

First Post

Okay so I'm home sick from work and finally decided to take on the task of setting this thing up so I can proudly display my creations to the world for judgement etc.

Now if the silly photo software didn't keep crashing my comp I'd be able to post some pics.