Squeaking in at the end

Finished up a final blanket just before the end of 2017, nothing planned about that it just happened that way. This was mostly improvised, I selected the 'Snowflake Lace Motif' from the "Knit Stitch Dictionary" by Debbie Tomkies and worked it once, so its really mostly stockinette stitch with a garter stitch boarder. Added seat-belt holes so the blanket can be secured with the baby in a car-seat and the baby can't kick it off. The colour changes came out quite symmetrical which wasn't planned at all.

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Caron Big Cakes in Peppercream
Needle: 5.5mm
Gauge: Not critical

Current Weather
-26C and cloudy. If it gets much colder the clouds will freeze. I'm actually not kidding, much colder than this and clouds can't form.

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Gifts

I don't make a lot of Christmas gifts as I don't like being stressed out during the holidays, I mean; where's the fun in that? This year I managed two, rather ambitious, scarfs.

First was a Star Wars Scarf for my Nephew. I wasn't quite sure what he'd like but I figured Star Wars was a pretty safe bet for an almost 12 year old boy. Come to think of it, Star Wars is probably a pretty safe bet for any human male under 110 years old. And boy was I not wrong about that, my Brother-in-Law was already plotting to steal it before all the wrapping paper was cleared away.

I'm not quite sure what went sideways on me but I did not have enough yarn to complete all the motifs in the pattern. Either the balls were under weight, or it just ate a lot of yarn, or my gauge was way off; I don't know. Although, having checked some of the other completed projects I now think the recommended yardage is low and you need 300-350 grams of each colour to complete this scarf. In any event I eliminated a few of the motifs, it still looks OK to me and I doubt my Nephew will notice. It's certainly long enough to keep him warm.

Experimented with a Russian Join to join the balls of yarn together and it worked really well, it does create a slightly fatter piece of yarn for several stitches but you don't notice it at all. I can't even find the joins and I know roughly where they all are. Whether this would be true for a single knit piece I don't know as this is the first time I've used this join but I will say it works really well for double knitting.

Yarn: Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Kitten and Obsidion
Pattern: Star Wars Double Knit Scarf by Jessica Goddard
Needle: 4.0mm
Gauge: 17 stitches and 24 rows = 10 cm

May the force be with you

Second was a Horse Scarf for my Canadian Niece. She's into horses, as any not-quite-ten-year-old girl would be. This was also a complete hit with the recipient and her Grandma kept threatening to steal it. Not my Mom, her other Grandma who joined us for a wonderful Christmas dinner.

I modified an existing pattern to make this scarf. The original pattern is here. Once I'd decided on that pattern I made some modifications:

• Worked only one horse on each end.
• Added a horseshoe border, I did this in DK weight yarn not Worsted so it needed a border in order to be wide enough.
• Added the small horseshoes running up the center between the two horses to make sure the fabric was locked together.

Yarn: Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Morning Glory and Plush

Pattern: Modified the Dual Sided Horse Scarf by Miranda Stanbery

Needle: 4.0mm
Gauge: 17 stitches and 24 rows = 10 cm

Current Weather

-26C and partly cloudy. It has been absolutely freezing cold for a week now.

Merry Christmas to all Who Celebrate

Slow Going on the Knitting Front

I'm suffering from an acute inability to concentrate on any one project right now. Consequently I have a number of projects that are all proceeding extremely slowly. I also seem to have quite a large number of things on the go.

Socks for Dad's birthday in January.

Several blankets that I would love to be able to sell. Working on inventory then will look into how to sell them. Etsy maybe?

Double Knit Pink Bunny

Lavender Diagonals

Double Knit Horses Blanket

Snowflake Car-Seat Blanket

 My Mitered Square Blanket, I'm almost done stripe number five. This one's for me.

A new pair of overalls for my Scottish Niece. Which at the moment is not even one full leg.

A sweater for myself. Sleeves are finished but not pictured.

And a sweater for my Mom which I had to start all over again; not feeling a lot of love for this at the moment. And a sweater for my Scottish Sister that I'm struggling with the cables, not struggling to do the cables struggling to be inspired to work on it. No pictures of either of these or I would feel even guiltier about not working on them.

I did finish one blanket. Mostly, it still needs blocking so I'm not sure it counts yet.

Pattern: Mostly improvised, cast on 156 stitches then worked in Traveling Leaves stitch from "50 Fabulous Knit Stitches" by Rita Weiss until it reached the desired length then added an i-cord edging.
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Solids in Light Blue and Royal
Needle: 5.5mm
Gauge: not critical

Christmas gifts are done though so that's an accomplishment. Will post about those after Christmas.

Wordless Wednesday