finished object

A Pi shawlette

Posted on October 6, 2015October 13, 2015 by bekswhoknits

On the car ride down to camping I cast on an Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi shawl.

I followed the instructions to the letter and enjoyed all the stockinette. Perfect camping knitting.

When I got home though I quickly realised I didn’t want an all stockinette shawl and I wanted something more like the shawls designed for the EZ 100th Anniversary
So I reached an increase milestone and slowly but surely I felt that it was time to cast off so I would have enough of the same yarn to make a lacy shawl.
As luck would have it, when I cast off I ended up with a shrug / shawlette or my personal favourite description – a cape! The kind of cape a knitting superhero would wear. (If only there was a knitting superhero who goes around fixing knitter’s gauge, those errors you tell yourself you don’t care enough to fix but actually once it’s too late to fix you wish you had, and made sure that you never lost at yarn chicken… *sighs wistfully*)

It’s just big enough to fit across my shoulders but the circle shape is still pretty and functional
I seriously love this shawlette and its positively gorgeous with the knitting cardigan pins I bought from Kate Gabrielle.

I’m sensing a spirally theme

Posted on August 31, 2015 by bekswhoknits

Somehow my daily happy things journal (which I was using to properly keep track of my 15 in 15 goals) has fallen a little bit by the way side. It was recently found under a pile of knitting that had fallen off the couch!

So I’m taking a wild guess and thinking that these are finished objects 12 & 13 for the year.

The hat is a pattern I made up. It was a cast-on 84 stitches, do a brim, increase row then knit until it needed some decreases. It’s very slouchy. Really I could have started the decreases about an inch earlier but it’s still super cute.

The yarn is from the Fiberista Club. I went on a bit of a club binge earlier this year and signed up for another YarnvsZombies club, the Fiberista club, and also the Fandom of the Month club.

It’s LYDIA Sock in colourway ‘Watermelon Wine Cooler’. I think it matches my hair quite well.

(Yes this is a selfie while I’m outside the pub waiting for a taxi. There are still ends that need weaving in….)

The wibbly wobbly 10th Doctor shawl has been on the needles for aaaagggeessssss. At least a year or more. Mostly due to me not being able to count and running out of yarn. Then I couldn’t remember what the pattern was or where I was up to.

Eventually I figured it out (it was the Canyonlands Shawl which is perfectly wibbly wobbly) and got stuck in again and finished it on the weekend while watching season 4 of Scandal.

Yes you’re all getting to see my dirty laundry AGAIN but there’s no other place to block a shawl with 2 kittens who think that my blocking mats are their scratching post.

I thought that I would have to block it rather aggressively to get it to curve like the picture, but I just wet it and once I pinned out the top edge it smoothed out into those gorgeous wobbly edges.

And because last time I forgot to tell HWF that there was a shawl blocking in the bathroom and he opened the door on itand nearly feell over, this one came with a warning sign.

Now if it would just hurry up and dry I’ll be able to take some dodgy shawl selfies!!!

Finished object number 7 – sucky socks which turned into unsucky socks

Posted on April 15, 2015April 15, 2015 by bekswhoknits

I hated knitting these socks.

Sure the yarn was squishy, the colours were pretty and the pattern was simple enough.

But the yarn was low twist so it kept a splitting, the colours pooled badly, and I stuffed up the pattern really early on in the sock and didn’t want to go back and change it.

So they’d been languishing on the needles for a while as I worked on other projects.

Then the needle I was using for Olivia broke (4th needle that has broken on that project!), the stitch pattern on the shawl I had on the needles wasn’t working for me, I didn’t feel like crochet and I didn’t want to start a new project.

I had already turned the heel (fish lips kiss style) so I picked them up again. Told myself that I would knit until the end of the football game and then bind off. By the end of the game they weren’t really long enough when I tried them on my foot but I was so sick of the bloody things I just wanted them finished and was not at all prepared to spend any time doing the usual ribbing required of a sock.

So on a whim I figured an I-cord bind off would add some extra length, plus give them a bit of extra stretch and stability around the ankle.

(The socks have been strategically photographed to not show off my giant pattern fail!)

I freakin LOVE these socks now!!!!

The fit perfectly under low topped converse which I practically live in.

I don’t mind the mistakes because they’re under a shoe, and the icord bind off makes the yarn colours look great.

I am definitely going to use this bind off for socks more often now. Plus no time consuming ribbing.

So many capital letters!!! ALL THE THINGS!!!

Posted on November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 by bekswhoknits

I honestly don’t know what I’m more excited about**

That my shawl is finished, blocked, and looks more amazing than I thought it would.

That my tenth doctor yarn arrived on Friday!

AND I’m now the proud owner of a hand crafted spinning wheel!!!!

Oh and I made a tea cozy.

**Pretty sure it’s the spinning wheel. It’s going to take all and I mean ALL of my energy to not look at ALL THE SPINNING FIBRE while I’m at work!!!!
And all the spinning tutorials.
Seriously when my Grandma (in-law) casually suggested that she had a spinning wheel and would I like to use it as it was currently in storage as a decoration I don’t think she expected the excited shriek that followed. The tea cozy was made for her on Saturday in gratitude.

Getting tweedy with it

Posted on October 27, 2014October 27, 2014 by bekswhoknits

I finished two shawls on the weekend in between writhing on the couch in pain watching gilmore girls, WA winning the Domestic One Day Final(!!!!), and having a very adult-y dinner party with some good friends, good lamber, and Emu Export.

The first one is a Ffrench pattern – Seven and Zero.
I swoon over all of her patterns. I just do.

This one was started so long ago I don’t know exactly when. I’m not exactly sure why considering it’s a pretty easy knit, excluding the counting part. If you look closely there’s a few times where the yarn over rows are a bit closer than the rest. It’s not a mistake it’s a design feature.

But it’s finally off the needles and blocking as we speak.
I literally used every single scrap of the Yarn Vs Zombies Tweed as I ran out while casting off.
So I wove in the ends I had and then used those scraps to finish the cast off. I was stressing for a while but I had just enough. I blocked it with points instead of straight. Just because I could.
Check my instagram for shawl selfies as soon as it’s finished. I can almost guarantee I won’t be able to resist.

This second shawl is a Stephen West pattern – Pogona.
I’m pretty sure Keri raved about Stephen West patterns all the time. So when I was trying to find something for Yarn vs Zombies Tweed dyed in 11th Doctor colourway this really spoke to me.

This literally flew off the needles. I was blind to all of my other projects. I had to finish this before I finished Seven & Zero or blocked the Spiral Blanket of Awesome which was also recently finished.
I probably had enough yarn left for another few repeats but I wanted to play it safe.

But I think that the universe was secretly telling me that I needed to have enough left so I can make a bow tie out of the rest. Because bow ties are cool.

FO#24 – Elementary Watson socks

Posted on November 15, 2013November 15, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I have been killing it at being an adult this week. My giant to-do list is getting shorter, our new house is now insured, our apartment is one step closer to being rented out, and in a surprise twist almost all of my Christmas shopping is done.

Mums pressie has been done for ages, the family over east just needs wrapping, and a pair of socks for Dad came off the needles this week.

Although technically they are a birthday present. There are 3 December birthdays in my family which I tend to include as part of Christmas shopping.

The pattern is elementary Watson. It’s cables like this that make me wish I was attracted to solid sock yarn.
The pattern does get lost in the self striping, but it’s still there.

I particularly liked the fleegel heel. I think I’ll be using that again in the near future.
And as usual these are toe up, two at a time, magic looped on my trusty 2.5mm Addi Turbos.

This is sock number 7 this year! I have to get shuffle on if I’m going to make 12. Methinks slightly larger needles for the next pair.

FO 16 – a not so lucky cowl

Posted on July 8, 2013July 8, 2013 by bekswhoknits

This cowl has been on the needles for three weeks now. And in all those three weeks my football team have won.
But when I wore it for the first time yesterday, we didn’t win.
I’m still more inclined to blame the players, particularly as inaccurate kicking was clearly an issue yesterday so I’ll give my scarf another challenge next week against the team on top of the ladder.

But enough about football, and onto the knitting.

This gorgeous yarn is from ladybug fiber company.
I was researching for my birthday wish list (which no one in my family took any notice of anyway) and I found the perfect teal, grey, and black yarn.
A quick twitter poll told me to buy it and I obeyed.

The perfect pattern had to be found, and when I stumbled upon this cute but simple rib cowl I was on to a winner.

I made it longer than the pattern indicated because I wanted it to wrap around twice. And I’m super happy with it. Even if Port Adelaide don’t win every time I wear it.

Somehow I managed to get another piece of Port Adelaide merchandise in every single shot (except the back of the boat). Purely coincidence. Or proof that I own a lot of merch.

The finishing touches FO#14

Posted on June 21, 2013June 21, 2013 by bekswhoknits

My modern garden cardigan is finally properly finished. It has buttons and everything.

And now it has buttons you can clearly see that I messed up the button holes.

I may research ways to insert a button hole, I may also just try to force it. Or I may just leave well enough alone. I haven’t decided yet.

I sewed the buttons on with matching embroidery thread. The buttons are from spotlight and I still have 3 left so I may make a matching hat.
Again I haven’t really decided yet.

Apart from the button hole lapse in concentration I’m super chuffed that I made this.
I do always feel a little bit self conscious wearing things I’ve made. In primary school wearing home made clothes put a target on your back which I haven’t altogether forgotten. I think things have changed though. More people see home made items as a hobby rather than a sign of lack of wealth.
Plus I burst out laughing any time someone insinuates knitting your own clothing is cheaper.

FO #9 little granny squares

Posted on April 19, 2013April 19, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I think I managed to keep my foray into crochet a blogging secret! But there were a few attempts before I felt I could make a blanket.

See? Terrible.

It wasn’t until it clicked that I needed to crochet in the gaps (rather than in the stitches like knitting) that I made a bit of progress.

Having a go at crocheting a block don’t work so well either.

But really I can make block fabric with knitting. What I really wanted to do was granny squares.

So after a bit of practicing is finally clicked.

I spent a lot of the night balancing my needlecraft book on my lap, swearing and cursing.
But I cracked it.
Well I’ve cracked one pattern. The pattern for these squares is the same as my big one.

They’re so pretty. I can see more crochet in my future!
(I never thought I’d say that!)

FO 8 – Granny Square

Posted on April 12, 2013April 12, 2013 by bekswhoknits

So this ticks off number 13 in my 13 in 2013 challenge – crochet a granny square.

If I’m honest, this wasn’t exactly the outcome I expected.
Actually I’m surprised I kept this quiet for so long.

This is my granny square.

For reference, that’s our queen size bed that its resting on!

So I can add ‘can do the triple crochet stitch’ to my list of skills.

There were a few smaller granny squares that I did before starting a giant blanket sized one, I may share them at some point.
But for now I’m just going to sit back and feel impressed with myself.

Seriously I made this!
This is by far the biggest item I have made.
I feel accomplished.