FO – Friday – Page 3 – polka-dots & sparkles

I want to knit all the things!

Posted on March 22, 2013March 22, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I have so many different projects on my needles at the moment.

I have a meerkat which is all ready to sew together, but I just don’t want to. Sewing up is my least favourite part of knitting.

I have a pair of fingerless gloves for my grandma in law. She lives down south where it’s colder, and reads on her kindle at night. So she needs something to keep her hands warm, but allows her to read. She is also one of the most amazingly creative souls I know. She is an sculptor, a sewer, a painter and makes some wonderful multi-textured artworks which I really ought to show you some time.
So she will really appreciate the work put into handmade gloves.
I don’t mind knitting for people who love my gifts.

I’m still plodding away at Parcel. This week hasn’t been conducive to cables.
At some point it will all click again and I’ll spend a whole week knitting it, but this week was not that week.

I also have my 10 stitch blanket and mini-mania on the go. Plus some other top-secret non-knitting projects (stay tuned!!)
All of this wants me to cast on something new!
But I’m resisting the temptation.

(This is typically the time when CaityRosey does one of her amazing posts showcasing all the pretty patterns she’s found this week – but I will resist. Just looking at all the pretty knitted dresses is testing my resolve)

Happy Knitting!!!

FO#6 leftover wurm cowl

Posted on March 15, 2013March 15, 2013 by bekswhoknits

This was a stash buster. I had some terrible acrylic which I made socks out of but still had stacks left. All acrylics aren’t made equal. This one was squeaky and my skin crawl.

So you may be wondering why I wanted to make a cowl rather than burn it in effigy. Well I don’t know, but I wanted to try and use up some mohair at the same time.

So I cast on I don’t know how many stitches on a 80cm needle and started knitting.
Every few rounds I’d purl.
And then knit again. Kind of replicating the oh-so-popular wurm hat but with reckless abandon.

When I ran out of pink, I changed to grey using up all of this particular yarn so I never have to buy it again. The mohair was gifted and I don’t know what else to do with it, but it combines with other yarns quite nicely.
It softens the acrylic and makes it bearable.

Now I need to decide whether or not I want to block it.

Finished object #2 – Summer Sky Socks

Posted on January 25, 2013January 30, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Sock number 1 in my 13 in 2013 challenge is complete and I’m in love this pattern.

Two at a time, toe up socks, with little delicate cables, on my favourite addi turbo 2.5 circular, with moda vera noir ( which is always on special).

My Bloke thinks I’m in a rut because all he sees me knitting is socks.
But not all socks are created equally.

These summer-sky socks (yay! alliteration!) were a great cable project for me. After learning how to cable without a needle on my Christmas Spirit Hats, I wanted something so I could really practice.

And these are it!

The pattern has a yarn over detail in the centre, which makes it really easy to know where you’re up to in the pattern. It was easy to memorise and didn’t require a counter (always a plus in my book).

I really want to knit more things with this pattern. I’m thinking maybe a pair of fingerless gloves. Who knew I would like cables so much?!

Finished object #1

Posted on January 18, 2013January 17, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I seem to be attracted to scarfs at the moment. It’s the middle of summer! Well I work in an office and wear tights and scarfs all year, so maybe it does make sense.

This charming fellow (as modeled by the newest member of the family) was a super quick knit.
In fact it was started and finished on New Year’s Day.

The yarn is leftovers from my cardigan. The pattern is quick but pretty.
I really love the design. I’ve always been a fan of bows, and the way this sits is really cute.

If I was to make it again I would shape the end a bit differently. It came out a bit pointy. This could be the pattern, but it also could be my inability to read patterns sometimes.

See. Cute!

~~~
lets talk!
tweet me ~ ravelry me ~ email me

Embroidering things

Posted on November 9, 2012November 9, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I’ve been embroidering. I asked a question on A Sheepish Girl‘s (oh so lovely) blog about what stitch she uses for her text, I’ve been itching to try back stitch ever since.
It’s just like knitting but in lines. (In a kind of not really sort of way.) but a lot easier then stem stitch.

So I opened up phonto on my iPad and typed in a couple of quotes. (If you then set that image as the home screen it makes it easier to trace.)
So once it’s traced onto the fabric, I used back stitch to make the letters.
And things just clicked. More so than they did with stem stitch.

It is really relaxing. Not as much as knitting. It doesn’t have the same TV watching options (I don’t think you could ever embroider with your eyes closed, or during a really important scene), but it’s great for listening to music.

But quotes!!! And music lyrics! I have so many things to embroider on cushions and to put on walls and I can see a lot of decorating until my Bloke gets fed up with embroidery and I have to start decorating my BFF’s house (who reads this and can now request embroidered items. I promise I want embroider a doily for you!).

I digress! Here’s my embroidery attempts.
The quotes are from Silversun Pickups, Wolf Parades, and Parks And Recreation.

~~~
lets talk!
tweet me ~ ravelry me ~ email me

Frogging Friday.

Posted on November 2, 2012November 2, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I was always taught pride comes before a fall. Mostly through Enid Blyton novels, and Sunday School.

After feeling so chuffed with myself, for thinking I may have been able to make a pair of socks in a week, I failed.
Not just made a tiny correctable mistake, I failed.

I didn’t follow the pattern correctly and had too few stitches in the toe.
To compensate I increased randomly in the foot of the sock. In hindsight this is where I should have started the gusset.
So I started the gusset massively late.
When I tried it on to start the heel I started early (again to compensate). Stuffed up my maths with turning the heel which meant I had one really lopsided heel.

And when I tried it on it was about an inch too big.

So the project got flung across the room and a few expletives hurled at it.

I frogged it back to the toe and started again from there.
6 rounds in I realised that it still looked wrong and I gave up.

The next day I started again from scratch.

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this and getting cocky I realise the value of slowing down and reading instructions.

When I was in primary school (and occasionally in high school) there was a test. It consisted of a page or 2 of instructions. The first instruction was to read through all the instructions and then follow the instructions.
Usually the instructions were things like ‘stand on your chair’, ‘say or sing something out loud’, ‘turn around 3 times’, but the last instruction always read ‘now that you’ve read all the instructions, sit down quietly and don’t so anything’.

It was meant to be an exercise in following instructions. It inevitably turned into people sitting smugly, watching other people making fools of themselves.

By the 2nd time a well meaning teacher instituted this test, my first action was to skip to the end and read the last instruction.

Obviously I was a smart arse and should have paid attention to the actual lesson.
It may have resulted in a finished sock instead of a frogged* sock.

*for those non-knitters who are utterly confused, ‘to frog’ is to unravel a piece of knitting, or rip-it (ribbit) back.

~~~
lets talk!
tweet tweet ~ ravelry ~ email me

Grr argh

Posted on October 26, 2012March 13, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I’ve been a cranky person all week. Really massively cranky.

Cranky panda, temper tantrum, hissy fits, grrrrr!!!!!

So I cast on socks. (Once my headaches subsided).

It’s horrible, squeaky acrylic which I bought because I liked the colour. Fortunately I do still like the colour because the acrylic is annoying me.

It’s sport weight and surprisingly not stretchy at all. So I’ve had to increase it a bit after trying them on.

But the colours are pretty. Like icecream. Not that I’ve ever seen grey icecream. I think it’s just the pink.

I’m planning on doing the heel and cuff ribbing in the same grey as the toe. The toe which I did too much of.

Cranky I tell you.

But the weekend is just around the corner, and I have rounds of stockinette to keep me sane.

(Frogging is also good for the crankies)

~~~
lets talk!
tweet tweet ~ ravelry ~ email me

its a friday – so there is knitting

Posted on October 19, 2012October 19, 2012 by bekswhoknits

but no finished object, so instead here is a work in progress.
(I may have sped up the gif ever so slightly)

~~~
lets talk!
tweet tweet ~ ravelry ~ email me

Not my usual knitting post

Posted on October 5, 2012October 5, 2012 by bekswhoknits

It’s a different kind of finished object.
An edible finished object.

A strawberry to be precise. Grown by my green thumbed bloke, eaten by me.

My bloke doesn’t even like strawberries, but he grows them for me.

It was a bit of sweetness to start a Friday in what has been a very long week.

(I did have a massive long post which I wrote one sleepless night this week, but lets just leave it at, it’s been a long week and I’m grateful it’s the weekend coming up)

~~~
lets talk!
tweet tweet ~ ravelry ~ email me

Worst photos ever.

Posted on September 28, 2012September 28, 2012 by bekswhoknits

It has been a headless chook week. As in I’ve been doing a very good impression of a headless chicken.

My grand plan to knit a pair of slippers for my mums birthday (tomorrow) didn’t go according to plan. I have two soles, and I thought I was right on track to just finish off the one remaining top until I realised the one top that I had, wasn’t to the pattern.
It was so off I couldn’t make it work.

So instead of just finishing the slippers on Wednesday (ready for birthday tea Thursday) I was frogging one slipper top and searching Ravelry for another idea.

Which ended up being a mug cozy.

And as I’ve been so disorganized this week I took photos after I have it to my mum.

So here’s to a long weekend to chase the headless chook blues.