Sneak Peaks at (some of) the wips

First of all, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post (and those who didn't but thought about it or contacted me elsewhere).  You all are wonderful - I've forgotten how supportive this community has been, and I hope to start finding my way back into it in the coming months.  I suspect a lot of my feelings are going to be channeled into more creative pursuits, because that's my jam apparently.

Also, I have about 10 projects that I'm actively working on right now, never mind everything that's in storage.  Yeesh.  Here's a sneak peak at 5 of them.

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The Lonely Shawl is finished, I just need to get some good pictures of it.  Guys, the hugs it gives me are wonderfully warm and cozy, and I'm so glad I chose it as my coping project.  Also, I think I'm hooked on triangle shawls now.  I'm already plotting more, though I've told myself I have to finish a project before I can start one.

Ugh.  Stupid rules.

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This is my latest weaving project.  No, I haven't shown you my first one.  More on that later, when I've made a bit more progress on this one and get a pic of the other.  I want to tell you all about weaving!  This tapestry is for me - it'll be my housewarming gift to myself. 

Oh hey yeah, I found a place to live!  Great basement apartment with lots of light and a few awesome features I'm not telling you about until I give you a tour when I move in.  :)  I'm so happy to have found a place so quickly - the instability of not having a place to live has been eating away at my mental state big-time, despite all of the wonderful people who have welcomed me into their homes.  It's not the same as having your own space.

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I've also got a few sweaters on the go.  This one is my second Marion sweater (the first is a god-awful shade of green and a bit too short) and is knit from the most scrumptious merino/cashmere blend in the world!  Though I kind of wish I'd picked the burgundy shade after all.  The light brown shade isn't talking to me right now - which is probably why I'm not that far into it despite starting it back in November...

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This sweater is a wee one for my employee's brand-spankin' new baby!  Well, once he's aged a bit - making a larger size because Sproggy's Grandmum knit him approximately 10 bajillion sweaters up to about 9 months old.  He'll be cold once he outgrows them all, so this one should come in handy.

Granted, that's only if I actually finish the darn thing.  I made a big mistake on the collar and now it's in the wip timeout corner until I'm willing to undo the whole bind off.

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And this last one is just a hint at the colourwork sweater I mentioned in my last post!  I couldn't resist starting to swatch the colourwork section - though I suspect I've got the wrong needle size here.

SO MANY BROWN SWEATERS OMG.

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The final wip is, of course, me.  No pic right now though.  Though I think we're all wips - you never really finish you until you're dead!  But ah, I have my good days and bad days, but everyday gets higher up on the slope to doing better.  If today's progress was a little shallow, the steep incline that finding an apartment more than makes up for it.

Thank you again for your support.  I can't tell you how much it means to me.  <3

wip Sweaters!

So I'm accidentally knitting a sweater.

Really!  Uh so I started knitting the Daelyn Pullover months ago, but the short rows at the neck back defeated me.  Seriously, I tried it 3 times and by the end of it my pride had gotten involved, there was tears, and a rage-filled scream when I threw the last attempt into a corner and literally stomped on it.

But I don't think I'm good at failure when it comes to knitting.  It nagged at me at the back of my mind, and I didn't understand why I couldn't get the short-rows to work.

So while packing for my trip to Vancouver at the beginning of March, I stuck a ball of yarn, needles, and the Daelyn pattern in my suitcase.  After finishing my toque, it was the only project I had on-hand for the trip back home.  I pulled it out while waiting for my flight and worked my way through the short rows.

I was SO PROUD when I finished that section!  I happily continued knitting on the flight home.  Then continued to knit it at home.  And then before I knew it, I was separating the sleeves and continuing down the body.

You may not believe me, but it only hit me then that I was actually knitting another sweater.  Hehe, oops.

I only have...erm, 3 other sweaters on the needles?  But one of them is being ripped up because I don't like the fabric, so lets say only 2 others.

Granted, I stuck my Daelyn aside while I worked on Christmas in April gifts.  Plus I wanted to rip back about 4 inches or so to put in some shaping in the back, since I didn't do any of the modifications I normally would (narrowing the back, for one) when I plan to knit a garment.  The night before leaving for Manitoba though, I picked it up again, ripped out those 4 inches, then knit an additional 6 inches of the body.

See how far I got?  FULL BUST COVERAGE OH YEAH.

And then on the planes back to Manitoba, I got most of the rest of the body done.  Back short rows and the ribbing was finished while visiting relatives.  And I picked up the sleeve above on the way home.  I've only spend a couple hours on it since, but I've got most of the first sleeve done.  Shouldn't take too long to finish this one up!

Or it wouldn't, if I didn't just cast on a neon red short-sleeved cardigan for the Tops Tees and Tanks KAL over at Very Shannon.  Erm, sweater number 4 (5?) anyone?  :D

A Pile of Hats

I love knitting toques.  There's something about watching the stitches fly around my 16" cable, building a hat-shape in no time flat.  And there's more patterns and styles and designs than I could ever possibly wear myself, and many that I just can't pull off. 

Doesn't stop me from wanting to make them though.

Thankfully, I live in a place that has cool to cold weather most of the year, and epically freezing for sometimes long stretches.  This means that most locals and visitors won't refuse a toque when I try to pawn them off, and they always make great presents.  This also means that they're a popular item for charity knitting!

That's where the pile at the top went, as well as the one above.  I dropped them off last week at our LYS during knit night.  I'm not sure what project or projects they'll go toward, but hopefully someone appreciates a nice warm toque!

I made this toque a couple of years ago, but it's been sitting in a basket unused for a while and I thought I'd send it along for someone to get some use out of.  I made up the colourwork pattern myself, which was fun!  It's a little small for an average adult's head, but would probably fit a kid perfectly.  The colours are off here - it's actually a bright teal against a dark grey background.

This is another oldy, but in a different way.  I made it back in 2012 as a Christmas gift for an old roommate.  Unfortunately, I didn't get it finished in time and got her something else.  In the mean time, it went into the UFO basket and I ignored it until two weeks ago.  It honestly took me less than a half-hour to finish up, and once blocked is actually a really cute hood! 

The pattern is Capucine and I knit it from two strands of Cascade 220 held together.  I think it's a little shallow (probably my gauge was off), but it's not too bad.  I traded braids for the original tassels at the front, but made a honkin' big on for the back.

I love this big, bulky, glitzy toque so much.  It looks horrendous on me, but when I won this yarn I knew immediately that it had to be made up in either this pattern (Vermonter) or as a giant bulky cowl.  This gold flake yarn looks pretty horrendous on the skein, but I figured it would knit up nicely.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Modified Stash-Bustin' Hampton

Now this toque, this one is my favourite of the bunch, and it was tough to not keep it for myself.  It's actually the same pattern as my Haines-inspired Hampton, but with the lace pattern removed and doing some major stash-busting.  I grabbed some left-over green worsted weight yarn and knit until it ran out, and then switched to some leftover light grey with the intention of knitting the rest of the hat with it. 

That...didn't pan out.  About 5 rows from the end, I ran out of grey.  Digging through the stash pile though, I found this brown and though "eh why not", ripped back a few rows and finished the hat with the brown.  It looked a little odd, but a small loose pompom in the brown at the top tied everything together nicely.

I'd meant to donate it much sooner, but the stark line between the green and grey bothered me.  Eventually, I stash dived again and found a teeny tiny bit of dark grey and duplicate stitched on the zig zag above.  SO MUCH BETTER!  I think it's a fantastic toque, a great pattern, and was so much fun to knit from scraps.  Also, I killed 4 small balls of yarn bits doing it, so yay!

Do you have a favourite type of thing to make?  If so, do you ever wind up pawning them off on everyone else because your love of making them exceeds your use for that item?  I sometimes feel like I did that one summer when I underestimated the amount of zucchini to plant and was reduced to literally abandoning them on my neighbours doorsteps because no-one would take them voluntarily anymore!

State of the WiP Pile

Hey guys, remember the WiP Name and Shame post I wrote a month ago?  It's the one where I wrote this declaration:

I, Heather of Things I Make. Plus Rocks, do declare that I will finish at least 5 of these projects in the next month, and will not start anything else until they're done.  I will also finish all of these projects before the end of 2015.

BAM!

7 project finished!  SEVEN!!!
2 projects frogged (well, one frogged and a dishcloth thrown in the garbage because I screwed it up so badly it was that or stab repeatedly with my scissors)
Major progress made on my Henri sweater (the purple one on the right) and the fingerless mitts at the top!

You've seen some of the finished projects, like the Fuego in Flames toque, the SpringTastic socks, and the Helix set (my musician cousin won them, btw, and has apparently been bugging his wife for a pair for years).  I'll post about the other finished projects soon!

The grey sweater in the bottom right corner is still waiting on my KAL buddy to catch up - she's currently in the far northern arctic doing field work, so she's forgiven.  I'm not feeling the grey and white baby blanket right now, but I'm not ready to frog it right now either, so it's going into hibernation until I'm desperate for a baby gift.  The dark brown socks are waiting for fall when it's cooler out, and all of the ends in the year in temps scarf in the upper left corner scare the crap outta me, so it's a project for another day.

But hey, I'm pretty darn proud of myself.  Especially since I finished off 4 of them this past weekend (the last before my self-imposed deadline)!  We did a fishing trip to Haines, Alaska, and between 10 hours a driving and a lot of sitting in camp chairs in front of fires and on pretty rock beaches, I got a lot finished.  I'll post more on these another day, but here's some teaser pics!

Baby vest, finished on the way to Haines - just in time for a wander about the Million Dollar Falls along the way!

Sewing in ends above the treeline.

SO MANY ENDS!


Sewed in more ends (AAAAHHHH) and then added the buttons I bought at the Dalton City Yarn Store in Haines.

More end sewing, but this time with a glacier view from a pretty rock beach.

Of course, we had to run away from these guys at one point.

MOAR ENDS!  But miraculously, finished in time for a freshly caught salmon dinner, cooked over the campfire!

And because I obviously hadn't sewn in enough ends, I did some more.

After all of those ends (SO MANY ENDS OMG), I pulled out my Henri and started the bobble section of the sleeve.  I hate knitting bobbles and that was why I left the sweater alone for so long.

I think I'm on track to finish all of these projects by the end of the year, except maybe that baby blanket, and the scarf will obviously need a couple of days into 2016 - since I'll need to know the temperature on Dec 31 first.

I'm also not letting myself start another sweater until Henri is done.  Following my declaration was tough at times, especially that "not start anything new" part, but it was really good at pushing me to finish projects.  This last declaration, about finishing Henri, is particularly tough because I just received some gorgeous new yarn and I want to play with it so badly!  But I want to wear Henri even more, so it's easy to talk myself out of starting something new.

More on these finished projects soon!

wip Name and Shame Time

Uh, I might have a problem.  A big startitis problem.  A woman at one of my knit nights recently asked me how many projects I had on the go, and I jokingly said 15.  Um.

Here, let me lay it out for you.

1. Year in Temp scarf.  Started in January, stalled out in March.  Still recording the daily temps though, so I'll catch up...someday.
2. Toque Tank.  This was the second knit I started during the TTTKAL, after I powered through my Avana.  It flew off of the needles...until I hit the armhole and neck bands.  This will probably only take another couple of hours of knit time.
3. Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot! Nearly finished the first fingerless glove!  Loving this project, but the colourwork takes a lot of concentration.  Maybe a half-hour to finish the first?
4. Striped toque.  This is for a silent auction for an upcoming family reunion.  We're fundraising to buy an outdoor event tent.  I'm planning to make a pair of fingerless mitts and a cowl to go with it.  This is still in the wips because I just need to finish sewing in ends.  Uh yeah.  Minutes.
5. Henri.  The as-yet-unblogged sweater.  I adore this thing, it's like a wearable swatch, so much fun to knit!  I need maybe a few more hours to finish the front, then onto the back.  This got put on hold while I knit my Cardboard Cafe for the Holla Knits KAL.  Definitely something that needs to be picked up again soon!
6. Fuego in Flames toque.  Haha just started this sucker.  I justified it because...because.  I'm knitting this out of a scrumptious yarn one of my best buddies sent me in March for my birthday.  Considering how much I'm loving both the pattern and this yarn, it shouldn't take too long to finish it.
7. Amiga for the Heather's Amiga KAL.  Just blogged about this.  I'm nearly done the raglan increases, but will be holding once they're done to wait for Heather to catch up (she cast on tonight - July 7!).  
8. Nub of a scarf.  Was supposed to be a small lacy scarf using this amazing qiviut that the above-mentioned Heather sent me a while ago.  I don't like the lace though, so I guess I'll frog this and find a better project for this yummy yarn.  Not that there's a lot to frog.
9. SpringTastic Socks.  Started this on the way to Mexico, hoping to finish the pair on the trip.  Then realized how long fine-weight yarn socks take, so hoped to finish one.  Then was just pleased to get past the heel.  Uh, these are taking a while.  I like them though!  Must get back to them.
10. Yet another Baby Vest.  Same pattern as the pink one I just made.  Probably only need another hour to two to finish this one?  What the heck, me, just finish it already.
11. 5 Hour Baby Sweater.  On...5 months?  AHA yeah.  All that's left is about 12 rows for the hem and buttons, AND THAT'S IT.  I...don't even know why this isn't done.
12. Silver Star Crocheted Blanket.  Started for a friend's baby, took too long to start, baby is now 1.5 years old?  I don't think he's getting this blanket.  Good thing I didn't tell his parents about it, eh?
13. Reverb.  Uh so I started this November 2013, and last worked on it during a plague the end of December 13.  I do really want this cardigan, it's just been hard to restart this.  Maybe I should pull it out again after I finish Henri.
14. Alpaca Winter Socks.  I think I mentioned these socks (or erm, half of a sock) in the Baby Vest post - they're a community knitting project.  They'll be a really heavy and warm men's over-socks.  These suckers weigh a ton already!
15. Dishcloths!  I'm including both of these as one project so I don't go over the holy number 15, shhh.  Actually, I've joined another dishcloth swap and they posted both the Happy dishcloth and the Pinwheel dishcloth.  I spent that morning working on these instead of cleaning my house and packing for a camping trip last Friday. HAHAHA.  The crochet dishcloth only needs another half hour to finish.  The pinwheel needs to be seamed and have all the ends sewn in.  One or both is going to someone awesome!

I actually think there might be more, but this is what I could find.  And this doesn't even touch on sewing.  I have a declaration to make though:

I, Heather of Things I Make. Plus Rocks, do declare that I will finish at least 5 of these projects in the next month, and will not start anything else until they're done.  I will also finish all of these projects before the end of 2015.

And now it's your turn: how many wips do you have?  *arches eyebrow*

wip: Quilts and Sweaters and Garment Sewing Plans (OH MY!)

I've got two projects on the go right now that I'm determined to get finished asap.  Because wow do I ever have a lot of wips!

The first is my quilt.  This thing flew through my sewing machine, and all it needs is the edges bound!  I tried making continuous binding for the very first time, and despite a lot of confusion and almost making a bunch of rings instead of one long strip, I managed to get 150" made up!  Now to make up another 150", and I'll be ready to finish this thing off!  It's looking so bright and cheerful, and I'm so glad it's nearly done, yeh gods I'm tired of man-handling this beast.  SO much more unwieldy than a sweater or a dress.

I should've learned this lesson already from the blanket I made my Mom this Christmas, but sometimes it takes a few tries before this aging dog learns something new.

The other project I'm stubbornly being monogamous with (for knitting, anyways) is my Cardboard Cafe.  I powered through the front right side with the help of a few late nights, and just cast on the front left side this morning.  I had a root canal done today though, so I'm distracted and achy and utterly useless for knitting.  So instead of knitting, I dug around in my pattern and fabric stash, and brainstormed some garments to make to go with my new cardigan!

I'm still in love with my Coral Laurel (even if it's a wee bit too snug on me right now), and I'm thinking another tunic-length dress and a top would be perfect makes, since I mostly have the fit down.  I didn't take a photo, but a quick fitting showed that I need to do a small FBA and maybe add a 1/2" to the centre back to make it fit a bit better this time, so it's nice to know that in advance.  This pattern might become a TNT for me!

I'm thinking that funky orange for the shirt, and either the woven plaid-like shirting or the purple floral for the tunic-dress.  I'm SUPER keen for the orange, since I've been trying to find the right t-shirt pattern for it for YONKS, so I'll probably start with that.  I think it'll be fun with my Cardboard Cafe, don't you? 

What do you guys think?  Subtle plaid or loud purple for the dress?

Crochet Startitis - I NEED HELP!

Holy cow, has crocheting ever gotten it's hook in me (haha pun intended).

Deco Daisies is coming along beautifully, and I'm really enjoying the project.  Especially now that I've memorized the pattern.  I think it won't take much longer to finish 'er up.  It's going to be a short cowl, not the long version in the original pattern. 
 

Seriously loving the texture and colours in this one!

And then there's the Amber I told you about when I got my (1st) recent yarn order.  I'd planned to start this in the fall when all that wedding bag sewing was finished.  But nooOOOOooo, I had to start it now Now NOW!!  And I'm nearly to the neckline on the front.  Seriously guys, crocheting in worsted weight is so damn quick!  Now I remember why I picked it over knitting when my Grandma taught me, 25-odd years ago.

Also loving the texture in this!  The problem is that I only have 7 balls of this yarn, and I just polished off the second one right before taking the picture above.  Uh...I'm thinking about 2.5-3 balls on each front and back, which leaves me a little bit more than 1 ball left for the sleeves.  That's not going to work.  So I went to the Knit Picks site to order more, and saw this:

Uh oh.  Uh, I don't want to wait until the end of November!  I couldn't even wait 1 month!  Luckily, it seems like a lady on Ravelry has a couple of balls she's willing to sell me.  *whew*  Definitely a lesson in ordering enough yarn to begin with.

Speaking of not buying enough, I impulse bought some yarn from my LYS yesterday to start this gorgeous crocheted top, In the Shade by Elena Fedotova.  Except I mistakingly bought lace weight instead of the required fingering because I was too impatient to check the yarn requirements.  Luckily I can just double up the lace weight to make fingering, but uh, that means I'll be short one skein. 

Well damn, I guess that just means I'll have to go back.  Poor me.

So yeah, STARTITIS ANYONE?  I think I need help.  Or just a bit more time.  Because these are all parts of the mini travel wardrobe plan I'm coming up for our beachy holiday this winter, and I want to make them all NOW!  lol  Maybe I'll make up a little plan to try to keep me on track.

Am I the only one with a case of startitis right now?