Wednesday 30 April 2014

A couple FOs, plus a Frolic.

It's been a fruitful couple weeks in the land of fibre arts.


 First off, I finished my niece's Zita.



Next, I finished the first Aquaphobia sock. After a year. I know, not exactly fruitful, but at least slightly productive, right?



Third, I started on a Young Einstein for the little guy. The shoulders are almost done.



Fourth, I'm working on a sun hat to match the Zita. The brim of the hat mirrors the band on the dress. (no picture yet, but the same colour as the dress) And Fifth, I just finished spinning the FML Skein. Why is it the FML skein? Because it got tangled all to shit and I spent three hours detangling it.


With that out of the way, I should also mention that I went to the DKC Knitters Frolic again this year. It's a once a year event where they hold workshops and have a huge marketplace of yarn and spinning and other goodies which you can buy (and for those with a budget, just drool over). I picked up some new fibre and a skein of yarn.
Super Mario colourway by Studioloo

Malabrigo fibre

Lime green Superwash wool

Wool and firestar mix

And, as you see at the bottom of the stash, a beaded row counter for lace and other pattern reps. Oh, and someone gave me some free hand balm because the skin gets dry from spinning.

The Frolic was great. It's one of my favourite events of the year and it was nice seeing my friends from the knitting group. Special shoutout to Sandy, who braved crazy bad traffic with me and endured our adventures into parts unknown on the way there.

Good times!

Oh, and lastly, I've added a knitmeter and spinmeter to the site. Just a fun way to keep track of how much I've knit and spun this year. We'll see whether or not I keep up with it :P

Wednesday 2 April 2014

I love finishing projects.

My latest FO is a pair of socks called Tadpole. I used Cascade Heritage Paints sock yarn in a beautiful pink colour.

The original pattern called for a 64 stitch cast on which, for me, is usually good enough for my foot. This one knits a little bit tight and I found myself ripping out three reps of the pattern and casting on again with 72 stitches and adjusting accordingly. You can read about my adjustments on my Ravelry project page.

The pattern itself is really easy to remember. After looking at the whole pattern and counting the number of stitches I had to start with, the rest was instantly memorized.  I could have done the pattern for the whole of the leg, too, but I really wanted to knit it up quickly, so the project stayed as was stated in the pattern.

These are cosy and soft and fit perfectly. Anyone who wants a fast, easy, and engaging without attention pattern should try this one out.