Monday, January 05, 2009

Happy 2009

Aaaaahhhh. Yaaaawn.
I have been off work since the weekend before Christmas and it feels So Good. I'm reasonably rested (because I have a one-year-old that wakes a bit earlier than I would like) and have done mostly nothing for two weeks. Heaven.

Reality is creeping closer though, I'm starting work on Wednesday, and M starts working in two weeks time. Then it's back to dropping children off at daycare and school before work and picking them up after work. M and me are both going to work 90% of full time so that will help a bit. And my parents will pick up the kids some days too.

I have been knitting a lot since my last post, I hardly know where to start... Let's play catch-up, shall we! For details see my Ravelry project page.

My Domino Sunset shawl has five rows of squares now, and the last row is under way.


Then there will be triangles to straighten the top, and some sort of edging I have to swatch. I need to get another ball of yarn too. It is an enjoyable knit, and it is easy to feel the progress as I finish each square.

I got a little crazy and very rapidly knit three pairs of felted clogs for the kids from that Fiber Trends pattern over Christmas. Here they are before felting.


Fun pattern, I will make a pair for myself too (I have ordered yarn) The felting was no fun though. First some manual abuse, then three or four trips through the quick 30 minute cycle of my front loader then some more manual abuse in the sink. I think they are ok now but they are drying very slowly. I have absorbent paper in them but it still takes time.

I finally got enough tired of the ziploc baggie with Harmony needle parts in it so I made a nice case instead.


Everything fits nicely with room to grow. I like that the fabric coordinates with the needles too :-) It's two batik fat quarters from the fabric stash.

Let's see... yes, socks! M asked for more socks. He wanted something red and chose Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in Sugar Maple, red and orange and yellow. I picked out some suitable patterns for that yarn and he finally chose Dolomite, by Knitspot. It looks great so far!

I modfied the pattern to work from the toe up. Easy peasy, just turn the chart upside down! I think I will do some sort of mini gusset and short row heel. I used that kind of heel on my Loopy socks, see:

It could have been longer but I didn't want to disrupt the nice stripes.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the Loopy Ewe colour. Great fun to knit!

Mid-November M and I went to northern Sweden and Norway with the company we both work with. I made myself new mittens before we went.

I made up the pattern, will post soon. They are knit top down from sock yarn held double. Nice and warm though not warm enough for -15 °C.

On the way North I made a hat from some of my handspun.

It turned out really well. I started it the night before we left and knit on the way to the airport, on the plane and finished it on the first short bus trip up north. It shocked some of my workmates that it was so quick to make :-)

The other travel projects were the Loopy socks above and my first Moebius scarf.

Fun to make and the perfect travelling project.

I don't think I have showed off my finished February Lady Sweater. Here it is:


Colour is most accurate in the first picture I think. I am very happy with it. The Malabrigo is so soft and the simple lace pattern becomes the slightly fuzzy yarn. I also made a matching hat!


Here are some pics of the blocked Adamas:


Adamas blocked out to be very large, but it has a nice drape and the Dream In Color Baby yarn is very nice.

This shawl/scarf is also very nice.

Unfortunately it is not mine anymore...


It was Moms birthday present and I really want one of my own. When I can justify buying the yarn for it. This was made from two balls of Noro Silk Garden Sock and I would like it larger... It is an absolutely gorgeous yarn for shawls but not very suitable for socks I think.

Socks... I made new socks for the big kids. Here are the ones for E:

... and the ones for H:

Oh, and I have started a simple shawl in Noro Kureyon sock.


I have one ball, we'll see how large the shawl gets, maybe it's just a scarf. I tried to make Ziggy's, working from both ends of the ball but the colours turned the same whatever I did so shawl it is!

Now I'm going to knit a bit before A wakes up! M's Cobble stone is still OTN, and I want to finish it (or at least up to the armpits) before I start a sweater (or three) for myself!