Knit WIPs again...

Mystery Blackberry Shawl

Yes, still working on the Mystery Shawl. I have completed the first three clues out of five, took a break from it to finish some swap projects (again...) and hope to pick it up again soon to start the next clue.

I am at a point now where I feel I can't more than four rows at a time before I need to change back to a project that takes less focus. Knitting lace with lace weight yarn is just so much more challenging knitting lace with sock weight yarn...

Green Monkey Socks 

Socks again! This pattern (Monkey by Cookie A) was one of the options for the sock KAL in the Beginner's KAL group, and I loved the look of it. The lace pattern is easy to remember and knits up quickly.

I had been wanting to try a "cooler" sock yarn for a while and went with a wool / cotton blend for these socks. I'm very happy with how that yarn is working up - it's got a great stitch definition and does indeed feel a lot more summery than standard sock wool. I'll have to see how it will hold up with washing and wearing, but I so far love that yarn.

Dream Socks (Solid Socks June / July Mystery)

Uhm, yeah - more socks! Once again I just couldn't resist the Solid Socks Mystery. Oh, and it's such a lovely pattern this month - so glad I joined! Last clue was released last week, and I'm looking forward to finishing these.

All Seasons Cardigan

I haven't made any clothing for my little girl in a while - but have had the All Seasons Cardy by Kelly Brooker queued for quite some time. What I love about the pattern is that it is written for lots of different sizes, but also for a couple of different yarn weights. I had some nice dark red yarn lying around; bought it a while back with a different pattern in mind, but have since lost interest in that particular pattern - so I decided to use it for the All Seasons Cardy instead.

I still have a couple of inches to knit for the lace section, but it's working up quickly, and I think my daughter will be able to wear it soon.


Harvest Cardigan

I have actually made some progress on the cardigan I am knitting for myself. I'm ready to start the garter border now - and then I "only" need to knit the sleeves. Yay! Maybe it will be ready (and wearable) when autumn comes...

FO (knitting): Tequila Sunrise Socks

With my Shadowboxing Socks done, and the start of the Solid Socks Mystery still a couple of days away at the end of May, I felt I needed another quick pair of socks on my needles. Vanilla Latte Socks had been in my queue for a while, and I had that very cheery looking striping yarn in my stash. It seemed a perfect match - and I have not regretted my choice of pattern and yarn. 

The socks knit up quick enough, but still took me ten days to complete because... well... as usual I was working on multiple projects at the same time. I chose a twisted stitch ribbing for the cuff and a slip stitch ribbing for the heel flap. And - oh - I love that colour way... although it turned my Vanilla Latte into Tequila Sunrise...

Funny thing is - these are actually not the colours I would usually go for, and I'm not sure why I bought that yarn in the first place - guess it must have been a miserable, grey and rainy day... but hey! I couldn't be happier now. It's almost a pity that the last couple of days have been so hot - so I haven't had a chance to really wear my new socks yet (except for two minutes to take a picture).

FO: Shadowboxing Socks and Crochet Dragon

Just want to show you the last two projects I finished in May.

Shadowboxing

The first one are my HiyaHiya Shadowboxing Socks. I absolutely enjoyed knitting these. The lace pattern is really easy to remember, making these socks a nice relaxing knit. Only thing I modified was the heel flap - I used a slip stitch ribbing rather than the regular 1x1 ribbing the pattern called for. 

Here be dragons...
My last May project was a little dragon I crocheted for a swap. I actually finished it a good two weeks ago, but didn't want to post pictures before the parcel had arrived.

I found the pattern in a magazine (Simply Häkeln Spezial Amigurumi Vol. 1), and I knew I had to make that dragon at one point. Then the D'Clutter Swap in the Geek & Nerd Swap group came up, my partner loved dragons, and I figured it was the perfect time to use up all that green cotton yarn that had been sitting in my stash for months. As it always is with amigurumi, I loved making all the individual parts, even the tiny bit of embroidery for the face... but sewing it all together... oh, that's the part I don't like. And it seems to take ages... mainly because I don't like it and work on other projects between sewing on limbs. But it's so worth it in the end. Because... well, just look at that cute little dragon...

FOs (Sewing): Reversible Drawstring Bag and The Owl Dress

Reversible Drawstring Bag

I tried out another project bag tutorial and loved it. It's fairly easy to sew, the bag is a nice size (perfect for socks), and it's reversible! I made this as a last minute swap gift - but I will make at least one for myself once I've finished some other sewing projects.

The Owl Dress

Yes, it's done! I finally finished my daughter's owl dress. It sure isn't perfect, but I'm still really pleased that I made it through the pattern (to be found in: sabrina Nähen special: Kinderträume aus Stoff zum Selbermachen).

It was a great learning experience, and it did turn out cute! What I love most about this dress is that it doesn't look to "girly" - it's just the perfect little dress to wear while out playing.

My little girl had been very excited about this dress ever since I had told her what I was making and that it would be for her. Then on Friday I received the owl buttons I had ordered (I had been looking for owl buttons for weeks, and finally found some that I liked last week), and I told her that she could wear her dress as soon as I had sewn on the buttons. Actually wanted to do that Friday night, but got distracted... Saturday morning after breakfast, she goes to the living room, sees her dress... "button?, button?". Oops... So, I sat down to attach those buttons, told her to sit down beside me and watch... which she did very patiently - I've rarely seen her sit that still... Needless to say she had to put it on rightaway - and she seemed so happy wearing it! 

I'm already looking into sewing more clothes for her - started working on a pair of trousers, and found some other adorable dress patterns...

My first handspun yarn

I finally started spinning my own yarn. I bought a spindling starter kit last September, but it was just lying - until about two weeks ago. Since I do not know anyone who is spindling and can show me, I am relying on youtube videos and a Craftsy class to learn how to do it.

The starter kit came with about 100 grams of top in a nice dark brown (the picture only shows a small portion of it). I fear I can't tell you what kind of wool it is - I just don't know!

Anyway, my plan was to try spinning two singles and then ply them together. So I spun up about half the material I had and ended up with this single:

The thickness of the yarn varied greatly, it was quite lumpy bumpy especially at the start, but my spinning got more even towards the end. So the next thing I did was spinning up the rest of the roving - and I loved the result! Of course it was not perfect - how could it be after just a couple of sittings - but the thickness of the yarn was way more consistent than on my first try. I was so excited that I even forgot to take a picture... Anyway, because of the huge difference in how my two singles looked I decided to chain ply them individually rather than make a 2-ply yarn out of those very different singles.

The first third or so of my first wonky single didn’t really ply very well, and the yarn even broke at one point - I guess it was the yarn I produced during my first sitting and I didn’t put enough twist into it. After that plying ran slightly smoother, and while the result looked quite bumpy as a whole, I did actually see some stretches of yarn that look really nice. 

Plying the second single was a much more pleasant experience than plying the first one, although the yarn still broke once near the end - at a point where I had obviously rushed a join after the yarn had broken during spinning (I was able to fix it, though). My second yarn came out a lot more even than the first one - there still are some slightly thinner or thicker stretches, but the differences are by far not as extreme as in the first one. Overall I have to say I am really pleased with the look of my second plied yarn.

Right, so how much yarn did I make? My first wonky skein weighs in at 43 grams (1.5 oz), and has about 18 meters (just under 20 yards). Most of it is bulky to super bulky. The second skein is 51 grams (1.8 oz) and about 43.5 m (46.5 yards) of worsted to aran weight yarn. Just for comparison, a picture of both skeins together:

I had so much fon making my first yarn(s) that I have already bought more wool to spin. Just trying to decide what my next yarn will be... Bluefaced Leicester, Icelandic Sheep or Coburg Fox Sheep?

FO: Knubbelinchen

A couple of weeks ago I came across this cute doll pattern (Knubbelchen)  and knew I had to make one for my little girl. This month the Beginner's KAL group on ravelry included it in their suggested patterns for the monthly KAL - the KAL theme being stash busting. So I had my excuse for casting on rightaway in spite of all the projects I've got going on anyway. I had lots of leftovers of brightly coloured cotton yarn and decided to go with those... it would be a very colourful doll. Also, I decided to knit the girly version with the skirt.

The pattern is very well written, and it's a quick and enjoyable knit. But by far the best thing about making this little doll was to see Helena's happy face when I gave it to her a couple of days ago. She had seen me working on it and got really excited when I told her that I was making it for her.

WIPs - Old and new...

Blackberry Mystery Shawl

I have so fallen behind on this mystery! The last clue (number 5) is out, and I just started clue 3... To my excuse, I have been focussing on swap projects lately (which have to stay secret a while longer). Anyway, I am greatly enjoying the shawl pattern, but it's something I can only work on when my little girl is asleep, so it will be a couple of weeks before this will be finished.

Oh, and this is what the pattern looked like after the second clue (only one section of the shawl shown):

I love how it's turning out so far


Sock Yarn Blanket

I made four more squares for the blanket so far - so I've got five in total now. Just after I had finished the last of these squares I noticed that I had forgotten to give them a slip stitch edging. Oh well, it will make picking up stitches for the second row of squares a bit fiddly, but other than that I should be fine. I'll try to remember the slipped stitches for my next couple of squares...

Shadowboxing Socks

Started another pair of socks. Joined one of this month's HiyaHiya sock KALs again. This is the easiest HiyaHiya pattern I've knit so far, and it doesn't have cables for a change. I love the simplicity of this pattern!

I am now in the middle of the foot - the picture shows the socks right after finishing the gusset shaping.