Vampire Swap 2014 Has Arrived!

My swap package came earlier this week!

My partner sent me some pretty great stuff!
Fiber first!

The cowl is super soft and cozy, I'm not sure what yarn it's made from though - it's a single ply super yummy yarn at any rate! This yarn has sadly been discontinued, so I'll need to find the perfect project for it.  This is Merino Fine (100% Merino Wool) in colourway Hopeless Romantic by Kitchen Sink Dyeworks. The label says it won't pool or stripe, so I'm rather intrigued as to how it will knit up.  The skein is only 390 yards in fingering/sock weight, so finding the perfect project may be a bit challenging, I may end up pairing it with a solid colour for a small shawl, or a pair of socks... Though a Voodoo would be interesting! (More on the voodoo in an upcoming post!) Books:

Knitted Lace is a great little book full of great patterns such as Wakame Lace Tunic, Bettie’s Lace Stockings, Luminarie Skirt, and Oriel Lace Blouse to name a few!

The Passage is a supernatural type book (she stalked me well!), the first of a three part series.  I'm sure I'll love this one once I get a chance to sink my teeth into it!

Related to vampires and bats:

Some bottle labels, a pack of 8 - I'll definitely make use of these, they're rather amusing! This adorable little bat is super soft and I think will be keeping me company in my knitting nook, that or in my bedroom.

Scented:
Some lovely soaps from Wolfe Farms. The Love Bites is fresh orange and lime blended with berry and cherry.  I'm not actually sure what the other two are - I've kept the package mostly in its box until I can put everything away, so the smells kind of blended together!  The Hexies are filled with lavender, and go in your knitting project bags!  I must say, these I can smell without any issue from the soap, and they smell amazing.  As I pull out my wips over the next few days, whichever the first 3 I work on will have these in them!

Extra Goodies:
A great card, I love the design.  An adorable Lion measuring tape and some super yummy chocolates!

I'm in the midst of another swap, so I'll post about that soon!

Blueberry Frappe In Autumn

The beginning of December I joined the Project A Month Knit-Along group on Ravelry.
The first pattern from the donation group for me was Cranberry Autumn.  I named mine Blueberry Frappe in Autumn, because I had originally planned on using a cranberry coloured yarn, however despite the gauge being correct, using a lighter weight yarn didn't look quite as nice; instead I used a skein of Naturally Caron Spa I received from Katie in our last package swap.

The yarn has since been discontinued, so I didn't do the second repeat that would make it a slouchy hat, instead kept it fitted and I now have enough yarn left to either make a pair of mittens or a small cowl to match (I hope).

The pattern was very well written, easy to read and memorize - I'll definitely be knitting this one again, at least once in a cranberry colour and keeping the extra repeat, and likely one for my mum if she sees this one on me.  I chose the teen size, as when I first knit this (up to the end of the first repeat before the crown pattern) the small adult was surprisingly large on me - it could have been the yarn I was using, as it had a fair bit of drape to it, but I feel like I may knit all of the ones for myself in teen.



I may use the same pattern detail to make my own mittens rather than looking up a previously existing pattern, but it's unlikely I'll be making them before the end of December.  I have another KAL I'm working on, that I will tell you all about tomorrow, and January starts a new project a month kal, so my needles will be busy!

Christmas Knits...

I managed to get all my knitting for Christmas done in time, and all but one photographed.

You may recall I finished Oliver, Cabled Hug and Sock Head a few posts ago.
Oliver was for my Grandma, the Cabled Hug for my mum, and Sock Head for Nick (Man-beast).

Since then I've made...
Brotherly Hat, for my brother - a quick knit I designed on the fly.


I designed a mitten to go with the cabled hug, called Entwined.  And knit the Wavy Moss Headband to go with them for my mum.

I made Nick the Straight Shooter mittens, which I'm not too pleased with, but he says he likes them.

I knit his mum Wee Bonnie Mouse, and After Tea Shawl, however I didn't remember to take a picture of the shawl.

Candice wanted a Louise Hat from Bob's Burgers, but with floppy ears

I made my dad the Antler Hat by Tincan Knits.
I used a chunky yarn for this one, and it was still a little tight, I think I'll have to find much more basic hat patterns for him.

And finally, I made a few of the snowball buddies as gifts as well.
Jack for Candice and Jude

The Grinch and Phoenix (the cat) for Ken and Ty.

I will update about a few more finished projects and wips tomorrow.

Community of Knitting

I had planned on waiting until I finished all my Christmas knits before posting, so there would be a nice compilation of pictures and patterns for you to look at.  Instead, I want to tell you about this wonderful thing going around Instagram and the knitting community.

There's a new "game" called #GetYourYarnWishGranted.

I purchased a pattern from Oblivious Knits to grant her wish, picking myself up These Are The Breaks pattern, hoping to get some yarn for Christmas (even if I buy it myself) to make it.  She's trying to raise enough money to help out her mum, so if you like her designs, please consider buying one (or more!) of her patterns!

Photo by Oblivious Knits

Now, a lot of people were posting for yarn, which is lovely and amazing that people are willing to send coveted skeins.  I would love some indie yarn, but feel a bit guilty about posting it as a wish - a lot of indie yarns are expensive and I would feel bad having someone send me a skein of something yummy (it must be a Canadian thing).  Instead I wished for this: Any pattern off my Ravelry Queue.  I was surprised at not only the speed of which knitters responded, but that not one, but three people granted my wish!

First:

Photo by Jenny Lee

Sockanoids From The Deep.  This was part of the Super Scary Sock group from 2010 - the year I started knitting and knew nothing about how to use Ravelry, knitting socks... or as I'm embarrassed to say, before I found out I was knitting backwards!

Second:

Photo by aKNITomy

I've likely posted about how much I love and have covetted this pattern.  Some may find it a wee bit morbid, but I love anatomy, and bats and knitting... this has all three! The pattern is Knitted Bat Specimen, great for most gothy people you know - knitters or not!

Third:

Photo by Susanna IC

This is Polaris, a shawl I've had on my queue for since 2012.  I love the beaded pattern, and I may have just the yarn and beads I want to use already in my stash! Don't be surprised if this ends up being my first finished object of 2015!

The knitting community is by far one of the most generous I've come across, I'm looking forward to granting a few more wishes!

Just A Few Pictures...

It's been a while since I've been able to update! Since the last time I wrote, I've managed to get a picture of Man beast's sweater... It's not the prettiest, and it's not on a person, but I can finally show it off!
It hasn't been cold enough to wear it, I'll see if I can't get a picture of N himself in it on a nice background of snow - if we ever get any!

I finished Oliver Reindeer for my Grandma - one of my Christmas knits:


And my mum's cabled hug is finished, seamed, blocked and had a quick snap shot.  This is one part of three for her xmas gift, the others have yet to be made, one of which is a custom design to tie everything together.

My anniversary is on Sunday, so I knit Mr. N an octopus after he mentioned he wouldn't mind one, and I'm hoping to make him an ornament for our tree before then.  I think he'll be surprised, since we agreed to keep it low key and only plan on going to dinner.

I've knit him Sockhead, which he saw when it was blocking, but since I had mentioned selfish knitting while he was at work that day he assumes it's for me.  What I really like about this pattern is it's pretty versatile, so he can wear it any way he wants - slouchy no brim, slight slouch small brim, large brim no slouch!  I'm also working on Straight Shooter for him for xmas.


I've finished the snowball fight package and sent it off, but I need to wait for it to arrive in Vancouver before I can post about them.  I'm currently working on a Bonnie Mouse, and need to do a few more knits to check off my xmas list, and a few loom items.  It's officially the beginning of December, and I'd like to have everything done by the 20th... I better get a move on!

In non-crafting news, Man-beast and I got a few couch! Demon seems to love it, and while N is at work or out of the city, the little furball steals his section of the couch.

And in case anyone hasn't seen one of the new holiday Tim Hortons cups, they're right up any knitter's alley.  Man-beast brought me one after work on Saturday.

Selfish Knitting: Punishiable By Frogging

Now I'm sure you may be wondering which project of selfish knitting could have possibly been frogged as I didn't have much in the sense of selfish knitting on the needles.  Sadly it was Hitofude.  I've been working on Christmas gifts and wanted a break from knitting on large needles and patterns I wasn't in love with, so I picked up Hitofude and began to knit.  As mentioned here, I had been ready to cast off the sleeves and continue on.  I had finished the sleeves the last time I was working on it, and when I picked it up, I only had the neck bind off section to do before continuing for the rest of the body - I had hoped I could have it knit by Christmas, so I could wear it with a new dress (I always get myself a new dress for Christmas).  Somehow I messed up, and the bottom part of the body wasn't lining up with the lace on top, so I had decided to rip back to after the arm join.  Long story short? It ended up not being salvageable and the entire thing is now wound into a ball - ready to start fresh.  The only good I can see from this, is I found the arms a little tight at the armpit; next time I may go up a size in needle or simply add an extra repeat  before joining the arms.

As to Christmas knits, I'm currently working on a poncho/cape.  I've done a few more repeats since this photo was taken, but here's what it looks like so far:

The next time you see this project it should be a finished item!

The Snowball Fight swap is going swimmingly, I'm expecting mine any day now!  Once I've received it and sent mine off, I'll post about how everything went.

As for the Vampire Swap, the Mod for that specific swap has said all packages have been received according to tracking labels - however I don't have mine yet! I did find a slip in my mailbox stating I have a parcel available tomorrow after 1 pm. I'm hoping this is the vampire swap box, though it could be the snowball arriving early.  If it isn't the vamp swap I may have to speak to my superintendent and see if they have anything for me - unfortunately the post sometimes gives it to them and though the last super that managed the building would deliver it to the unit that night (or every night until you answer), I'm not sure the new ones will.  My last swap with the new supers I caught the mail person just as they were leaving and they'd said they left with them, so I got it immediately.  Hopefully it comes tomorrow and I won't have to bother them!

Now, I think I'll go continue to watch Witches of East End and seam up Oliver - all the pieces are knit, but there is an awful lot of sewing to do to finish it... or perhaps I'll work on the cabled hug and save the sewing for tomorrow.

Knit Quick!

As some of you may recall, earlier this year I knit Rainshine.  I recently found out the stylist I occasionally do 'hair modeling' for really liked it, and I had an appointment with her on Wednesday.  Now, I just found out she was rather fond of this shawl on Saturday night, so Sunday I cast on in hopes of knitting it up quick as a nice surprise!

I managed to have it finished and blocked by Tuesday night, and it was dry and ready to come with me on Wednesday.  I knit this one in Tosh Sock, colourway flashdance!  If you recall my Tempest sweater, it's the purple from that, and I still have a skein of the Lepidoptra left.  (I still need pictures of quite a few projects, Tempest is one I need a proper picture of - and I haven't forgotten N's sweater!) I managed to sneak in a few pictures (with my old hair) before I left, so here ya go! (And if I'm feeling brave, I may post pictures of my new hair! I'm not overly fond of selfies, but my new hair is really rather neat!)