Anyway, knitting:

I’ve made another Citron Shawl. Didn’t I swear off doing another one of these? If I didn’t, I should have. It’s made of Cascade Baby Alpaca Lace (again) in a beautiful icy-blue colour. No modifications other that my lazy Make-1.

I made Simon a sweater. It’s the Darling Darby Sweater which is fully customisable and fits him perfectly. No modifications but next time I’ll go down a needle size for the ribbed neck. I used GGH WollyWash for it.

I finished my Monkey Socks and have been wearing them – they are bliss to wear. They also are the proud owners of my first perfect kitchenered pair of toes!!

Winter hit faster than I wanted, and when the latest Knitty came out, it had an Escargot hat. All my hats from last winter had been given to the Salvation Army so I really needed one. It’s done in GGH Alpaka using brown and pink for the colours. I’m planning another in the reverse (brown contrast, pink main) so I can change it up if I want. The first is currently blocking in front of the heater.

Before I knit that though, I joined a Cowl Kal to make the Niagra Cowl. I made it out of GGH WollyWash. I am also part of the I heart Cowls Kal which I will be doing over January with some alpaca for my daughter (see below).

(no photo – sorry)

I’m currently working on my Girl Friday Sweater. The last sleeve has just the decreases to do and then it all needs to be blocked. However, I need to be realistic here – I was hoping that I could get the sleeve done and get everything wet-blocked before Sunday. NOT HAPPENING. Even if I got the sleeve off the needles this morning and the entire sweater soaking this afternoon and pinned out this evening – I doubt it would be dry unless it stayed in front of the heater. Guess a place in the house with the least amount of blocking room? I’m lucky I could get the hat on a small table and I’m already having issues keeping Simon off it. I guess I could pin it out on the dining table – in the non-heated kitchen, but how long would that take to dry? Would it mould being wet for that long?

Since saving the draft for this post, I left it up to fate. I finished the sleeve and threw the sweater into a bucket of Eucalan overnight. It got pinned out the next morning and after just checking it, it seems nearly dry. I know better than to trust that, so I’m leaving it there til Saturday evening.

We did some furniture shopping, threw out most of the stuff in our living room, so now we have a new 2-seater, an electric lazy chair (not a lay-z-boy, but same idea), tv stand, bookshelf, two new desks and desk chairs. It was a bit insane while doing the furniture shuffle but it has been so worth it.

Along with the big furniture shuffle, we kept my old desk, it now is the home of my new hobby – sewing. My neighbour and I got matching sewing machines while they were on special and she is helping me to learn to sew. This all started with a trip to the StoffenMarkt when it was in the area and I realised that it was cheaper to make my own clothes than to buy them. After a quick chat to my better half, he agreed to the machine. I have a Singer Promise 1409 and it’s getting a lot of use.

My first semi-project was a stuff toy bone for Simon which was his favourite toy for a while (he’s since moved on to cat-toy balls).

My first real project was a sock sack. This is a SUPER EASY pattern. I modified it to add a lining out of my contrast fabric so that it looks neater on the inside. It’s full of mistakes, but I love it. I love it so much, that I’ve made another, have cut out and started a third and am planning on making TWELVE in total.

Why would I need 12? In 2010, The Yarn Harlot did a Self-Imposed Sock Club. She pre-picked out a skein of yarn, matched it to a pattern and put both into a ziplock bag. She did 12 of these bags and every month, she grabbed one with the aim of finishing that pair in that calendar month. Needless to say, this idea has caught on and lots of knitters now do it, there’s even groups on Ravelry for it.

There is no way I want to do twelve pairs of socks though, so I used the stash feature on Ravelry and virtually cleaned out my stash. I have 12 projects using one or more skeins of yarn all matched up on a piece of paper on my desk (and also noted with links to patterns in my Rav profile). My list includes five pairs of socks, five shawls, a dishcloth month using my Sugar and Creme and a blanket. Completely do-able right? If I’m smart, I’ll leave the dishclothes til late in the year and use that month as a catch-up month as well. My first three projects are determined – a pair of socks, a shawl and the blanket, but for the rest of the year, I’ll try keep it random. I doubt I’ll want to do two shawls or pairs of socks back-to-back, but we’ll see how I feel. This Self-Imposed Club also gives me a year to build up my stash for the next time I decide to do it.

I won’t be working solely on these projects, I also plan a few more sweaters for Simon, a cowl for my daughter (she’s asked for one), a few cowls, hats and fingerless gloves for me and maybe a mystery shawl if one pops up that calls my name. However, all those extra projects use stash that I currently don’t have. But I can buy required yarn as it pops up.

I was thinking about this Self-Imposed Project Club when I thought I should do something similar with my sewing. I don’t have a sewing stash (yet!) but I can plan to do at least one project a month.

I know that so far, there are a few projects that I want to do. Firstly, the other nine sock sacks, a weighted pincushion/tool holder, clothes for Simon, a notebook cover, more toys for Simon, a quilt (is this too extreme?) and some clothes like shirts, skirts and shorts for Summer. I think that should keep me busy enough.

I got a phone call yesterday from a friend who asked me to go visit, which is easy enough to do since she lives just across the road (more or less). She handed me this:

Hmm.. what’s inside?

From what I can understand (my Dutch reading comprehension isn’t great), it reads: To show that the progress against cancer can’t stop, I’ve designed a scarflette. Buy and wear this scarlflette and let it be seen that you also believe in a world without cancer.

It’s a pretty patterned scarflette that is as light as a feather.

I’m wearing it with pride, although it’s now tied around my ponytail.

Here if the first sleeve of my Girl Friday Sweater, I’m currently working on the sleeve cap and should have it done by this weekend.

Just one more sleeve to go before blocking, seaming and the collar

You got a sneak peak of this the other day with my photo of it while walking Simon, here is where I currently am on my first monkey sock. I’m guess that I’m one pattern repeat from starting the toe. Maybe I’ll have this done by this weekend too? Being able to focus on it really helps with getting it off the needles.

And last but not least, my Charizard cross stitch. He’s got a wing now and the last body part that is needed is one leg and a bit of his head before I fill in all the little details.

I spent yesterday being support for a friend of mine while she waited for results from the vet about her pet. It made for a long morning, but it was worth it with the good news we got.

Here’s my photo for yesterday, Simon hugging my foot. He’s developed an obsession with my feet recently, I even have a photo of him sleeping with his head on one.

This is what I’ve been doing during my day-time dog walks, sneaking in a few rows of my first monkey sock. I can usually do around two rounds during the walk, if I’m lucky, I get three done. This sock is currently getting it’s foot done, so it wont be too long (I hope) before I can start the second.

In the Socktober group on Ravelry, there is a discussion of what people plan to achieve during this month, I’m shocked at the amount of people wanting do to FOUR pairs of socks?! Maybe one day I’ll be one of them, but that wont be this month.

I only found out about this today, so after making this post, I’m going to go sign up at {tinniegirl} A blog post every day for a month – should I be scared?

I’ve also decided that since this is my birthday month, I’m going to try do the photo-a-day goal I set myself nearly a year ago. This might just be scarier than the blog post a day…

Puppy Kisses… Gee… Thanks Simon. Excuse me while I go wash my face.

Excuse the crappy photo qualities today – it is too-early O’clock and the sun isn’t even up yet.

I’ve just cast off the stitches for the arm and am hoping to get this piece done by Knit-Night tomorrow night so I can work on the first sleeve there.

Charizard now has a belly and the start of his last arm, my step-son loves him, but I have this ear-marked for my Charizard-loving 9 year old boy for Christmas.

Socktober

Most knitters will see that written and know exactly what I’m talking about. This will be my first year taking part.

Want to know what I’m planning on working on?

Remember this? My holiday knitting project – Monkey Socks.

My aim for October is to finish them. Once Socktober starts, I’ll be mainly working on these, my sweater will be used when I need something on chunkier needles

Are you taking part in Socktober? What are you planning on working on?

There’s not much to show you this week, I haven’t touched my sweater but I finished one of my stealth projects, it took an hour yesterday morning to bind it all off using Jenny’s stretchy bind off.

I can however, show you my Charizard cross stitch which I’ve been making steady progress on.

Currently working away on his belly, I’m enjoying the progress with these huge blocks with easy patterning.

Since I don’t have much to show this week, how about a shot of my WIP area?

Just a simple baggie, clipped onto my desk using a binder clip. It holds two balls of yarn and the clip holds the needles very comfortably. What you’re currently looking at is my sweater with the stealth project stashed underneath, can you guess what it is?

I’ve had a productive week, but I can only show you half, I’m currently working on TWO stealth projects. Both of which I’m really trying to power through, so I can get back to work on my main ones.

This is the second front side of my Girl Friday Sweater, I did the ribbing at home and the lace work at Craft night on Thursday, since then, I haven’t touched it, too busy with the one of the stealth projects.

I have finally started Charizard, thankfully he currently seems to be large blocks of colour so he’s going along pretty quickly. Once I get him done, I’m planning on working on a baby record cross stitch for my best friend’s baby who is due in March.