vintage

I have been vair busy lately. But I have been vair, vair productive with knitting.

I managed to knit ze boyfriend a pair of socks [not the ginormous socks from hell: new socks in a different, more interesting pattern...with bigger needles], experimented with cables for the first time for these gorgeous mitts:

made from the equally gorgeous Berroco Vintage wool [soooooo soft! And such beautiful colours]. I've fallen in love with it and already made a sweater with this gorgeous blue with the same orange for some stripes along the body and along the boatneck collar and deep v back. Vair classy if I do say so myself. Now I've got some grey in it [colourway cracked pepper] to make Kyleman a cabled sweater [I'm hoping the frustration I met with his first set of socks won't extend to the sweater. But already I'm feeling good. There's something very calming about plain stockingnette; especially during a movie].

I'm also powering through my first set of cabled socks made from the Sweetheart sock pattern on knitty.com. These also happen to be my first pair of toe-up socks, the method which I'm falling in love with. I think this way you'd be able to make a great pair of knee highs without worrying about yardage.

With spring coming up those knee highs might have to be next on my list.

men's socks are ridiculous

I feel like I am making the most ridiculous pair of socks ever. This is mostly because they are for dear Kyleman, and he has very large feet. And thus, I feel like they are going on FOREVER.

And now that Christmas has passed, I've acquired a few balls of yarn that are also calling to be socks. If I give in, I will have four sets of socks going on at once. It is ridiculous and  yet I am seriously contemplating it [especially since Kyle's socks are surprise ones and so if they take foreeeeever, he'll never be disappointed by a promised due date on them. Voila.]

Anyways, my mother bought me to die for sock yarn for Christmas: Mini Mochi Purple Dawn which is so darn gorgeous and soft that all day I've been wanting to rub it against my face.

Sad, but true.

sock fever

As Christmas is coming closer, I've finally getting pretty close to completing everybody's gifts. And as that end comes nearer, I start thinking about all the new things I want to make. Like socks. Since last night I've cast on two pairs of socks - one for me, one for the boyfriend - and am contemplating casting on a third pair. Which I know is somewhat ridiculous, but really, yellow yarn is calling to me.

For a while now I've wanted to knit things for my boyfriend. So far I've only been able to knock out a hat, scarf and 2 gigantic mittens [oh, the days before I checked gauge]. But I've been dying to make him something bigger than winter accessories; I want to test out the Boyfriend Sweater Myth....but I'm thinking I'm going to start with a vest [my boyfriend is a very vesty-type person]. The only problem with him is he likes darker colours, which normally isn't a problem - I'm also a big fan of them - but they are kinda boring and difficult to work with when you don't have the proper lighting.

But I love him and thus I have started surprise navy socks for him. I am determined though, to use a dark medium blue for the vest...hopefully with a bit of manly shine to it.

I've decided to attempt designing my own special Kyle Vest for him, based on a vest I saw in The West Side Story yesterday. I took a bunch of measurements from a sweater I've been holding hostage from him for a while and aside from a couple differences I'll be able to figure out the rest relatively easily. The only thing I'm worried about is the buttonholes. Buttonholes and I don't get along that well.

19 inches and a headband

I do this a lot. I get forgetful, or very boring and I don't update my blog. My bad. Although according to Blogger stats, I have only had 21 page-views so I only feel slightly regretful.

In other news, I've started and almost completed the sleeve portion of Knitty's "Tubey" pattern, which I've made a couple modifications to. I also finished a slightly lame [probably only because I designed it myself] but ridiculously easy crochet headband today and am determined to find a lovely flower pattern to attach onto one side in hopes of increasing it's bohemian charm.

I have also determined to create another knitted boob for my friend, who was the unfortunate victim of a spaz-out of mine over the weekend. A while ago I had made one for my boyfriend, who loved it [but then again what male doesn't love a knitted boob?] and so, hopefully this will make everything peachy keen and show my deepest apologies...with tassels.

3 Hour Sweater Challenge

Needless to say, contrary to this entry's title I did not finish a sweater in 3 hours. I DID, however, finish the back piece relatively quickly. Which is pretty amazing and wonderful since I'm pretty sure I have slight A.D.D. when it comes to knitting large projects. AKA that lovely pink sweater I blogged about a little while ago......

Which I am now debating on frogging and using the yarn for other projects; AKA another 3 hour sweater for my sister for Christmas and some baby things for multiple baby girls that will be coming into my life in February.

Also I've discovered that my work, Value Village [or Savers in America] is a WONDERFUL place for collecting beautiful yarn. Such as -

this lovely, lovely lavender lace weight that is going to last me for AGES. It called to me in the store but has since just been chilling out on my side table waiting for the perfect project to come along. I keep thinking SHAWL but then along come WINTER and I move on to my warmer projects. 

This lovely mohair concoction [I'm sorry, this yarn and the last one didn't come with any labels aside from a little sticker with a number inside lavender's spindle; so i can only guess at who and what they truly are {I am also too lazy to be hardcore about it and perform tests to see what they are at that}] which is being transformed into a baggy bolero from Pickles. I am tres excited even if it seems to be taking forever [see? There's that A.D.D. again!] but luckily I have....

this beauty to keep me occupied when the mohair is getting me down [mohair doesn't really get me down, I love it to bits even when, after hours of knitting, it makes the tip of my finger feel really weird and waterlogged]. This Cloudspun is what I'm making my Three Hour Sweater out of and I am definately in love. I was lucky enough to buy two big bags of it with at least 7 50g skeins in each. And the way the sweater is shaping up, I will still have one bag left to make some lovely hats and whatnots out of! 

Not to mention the other fabulous finds - including some 100% pinky wool from a foreign land - all for under $20 CDN. Oh yes, who's jealous? 

For the love of scarves.

When I first started knitting, my gram bought be enough Patons tweed yarn to make two scarves with. Being the ambitious beginner I was, I pounded out one garter scarf with a few mistake purl rows thrown in and pushed it on my supportive boyfriend. After that I craved more complicated things and more yarn.

Thus I forgot about most of the tweed yarn until I made a sad, little headband...and then forgot about the rest again. Since then I've attempted at least 3 different scarves with the remaining yarn [I honestly love this yarn and am determined it should be used as it was meant to be] but get bored and restless and....blah about each one. Scarves and I don't really seem to match.

Finally in desperation I decided to try my hand at a cowl scarf for this yarn. So I looked up a basic cowl pattern on ravelry, cast on the recommended stitches, and went my own way from there. Surprisingly it's holding my attention and is now almost done. Finally a compatible love for my yarn and style that has made me vow to never [ok, maybe not never] knit a long-ass scarf again; it will all be cowl scarves or cute, short scarves that look like a mix between ascots and bow ties [oh, left-over alpaca yarn, do I have a plan for YOU!].

the end.

The second

So now after relatively successfully completing my first sock - I don't think it would stand up to the scrutiny of any seasoned knitter, but at least to my non-knitter family and boyfriend it was perfect - and a tenuous beginning [I still haven't become pro at joining in the round on the first try yet] I am just past the ribbing cuff on my second sock, and my hope is I will be able to turn this heel much better than the first. 

Truly, the only problem worse than trying to turn a heel is once people realize you can make socks, they all want some. Or a sweater. There are some very big grabbers out there.