WIP Wednesday - Ascots

Update on previous WIPs:

1. Honey Cowl: just need to bind off and that baby is done.
2. Karin Fingerless Mitts: about halfway on the second glove.

Current status: Craft Fair Mode

I'm in mega-crafting overdrive making things for a couple of craft fairs coming up to benefit rabbit rescue. I have a list of things to make, but my obsession this week is these crocheted ascots/scarflettes.

The yellow was my first attempt, and I decided that it was too long and the opening too wide. I remedied this on the second attempt (red), and it's much better.

I'm trying to use up some yarn in my stash, and didn't have enough of either of these colors for an entire ascot, so I striped them.

While pretty, the downside of that is now I have a massive amount of ends to weave in (which is not quite as annoying in crochet as it is in knitting, so I'm not overly bothered).

I think on the next striped version I'll crochet one row per color and carry the yarn up the side. I don't imagine it'll be terribly visible given the ruffle around the edge.

I'm having way too much fun making these. They're almost as addictive as pom-pom scarves. Almost.

WIP Wednesday - Honey Cowl

Proof I've actually made a decision recently:

That's no small thing. Decisions are my nemesis. (I'm lumping "decisions" together as a singular threat to my day-to-day life, so I'm justifying the number agreement there, despite the verb, in a weak attempt to appease the grammar gods. And I don't know what the plural of "nemesis" is. Nemesi? And can you really have more than one nemesis? I don't think so, Johnny Snow.)

I decided on the Honey Cowl, because it seemed to be the easiest to cast on at the moment I was deciding. And, I got the chance to pet Melanie's honey cowl that weekend, so that was incentive. I'm already halfway through the second ball, so it'll be time for another decision before too long...sigh...

WIP Wednesday - Karin, still & bunnies

I'm still working on the Karin Wristwarmers. I haven't done much knitting since I've been home from holiday. Any progress made has been at the two knitting meetups I've been to in 2012. I have managed to finish one of the gloves, sans thumb:

I think my issue is that these gloves are literally painful to knit, but I don't know what to start next so I don't have a project to flip to when I need a break from cotton unless I want to spend 5+ hours on a repeat. I've been thinking about what I want to cast on, but I can't seem to make a decision. One option is the Helix Scarf from Jane Austen Knits 2011. I have one skein of Malabrigo Lace in a pretty brown that would be perfect. Option two is the Honey Cowl that everybody I know is knitting, and I'm incredibly jealous that they are knitting it and will own it and I'm not. My friend Mel bought me Madelinetosh DK in the Composition Book colorway for my birthday and I really want to try it because it will be my first tactile experience with MadTosh. But, I've been a little itchy to knit another lace shawl since I finished one over the holiday (more on that in a later post), so option three is Lazy Katy in this gorgeous skein of Meilenweit Solo Tono that my stepmom bought me from Coordinated Colors in Yorktown, VA:

 

I have the yarn and patterns for all three and I just need to pick one.

What I should be working on is stuff for the rabbit rescue craft fairs coming up. I have a few balls of the newish trendy mesh yarn to knit up, and I thought I'd mix in a few pom-pom scarves because I just can't help myself. I also made this little guy as a prototype:

 

We're planning to make these as part of the Make Mine Chocolate campaign at Rabbit Day 2012, so I needed to play with it to make sure it was actually going to work. I used some scrap felt I had on hand and drew a bunny template on paper. He needs a face still. His grand purpose in life is to hold a lollipop by sliding the stick through the loops in the back.

WIP Wednesday - Karin Wristwarmers

I bought this beautiful green Noro Shirakaba last month at Admit Ewe Knit when I spied it sitting oh-so-prettily in the Wall of Noro, and finally got the chance to start knitting it into something. It's a cotton/silk/wool blend in gorgeous saturated colors that's much softer than other Noro yarns due to the cotton content. I decided on the Karin Wristwarmers since I've never knit a pair of fingerless gloves for myself and I love fingerless gloves. Love, love, love.

The picture really doesn't do the color justice. I found the pattern to be a bit wonky to start. To get gauge I had to go up to a US 10 needle when the pattern called for a US 7, only for it to be way too big. I went back to the seven, ignoring the gauge and it's knitting up perfectly. The take away: gauge swatches are for chumps. This is not a good lesson.

Also, while the cotton makes the yarn really nice and soft, it's hard on the hands. Well, at least my poor, arthritic hands. I think I can manage it through this project and will just have to take a break from cotton for a little while to recover.

P.S. I was curious what "shirakaba" translated to, and best I can tell is "white birch." From wikipedia:
"The Shirakabaha (白樺派, literally ‘the White Birch Group’) was a Japanese literary movement centered on the magazine Shirakaba, first published in 1910. It also refers to members of the group who share the same ideas and literary style." I don't know what that has to do with yarn.

WIP Wednesday - Shaelyn

I decided to put a little time into one of the larger projects in my WIP basket: Shaelyn.

The shawl is beautiful and the yarn is divine, and I really want to have this shawl. But I don't seem to be all that keen on actually knitting it. After three 22 row repeats, I realized I couldn't complete a repeat in one sitting, so it got shoved to the side in favor of instant gratification. Earlier this week I added the fourth repeat. I timed it: four and a half hours. And there are at least three more repeats to go...sigh..

WIP Wednesday - Ornaments

My dream is to have a Christmas Tree full of handmade ornaments. I also have dreams of closets full of scarves and hats and shawls and fingerless gloves for every day of the year. Baby steps.

Last week I made a Yarn Wrapped Wreath as a sample for the Raleigh Knitting Group's Holiday Party craft:

I also made a Button Wreath. I used buttons I had on hand, so it's kind of sad looking:

I have a few more ornaments on the to-do list this year. I'll let you know how it goes.

WIP Wednesday - Ninja Bun!

Ninja Bun was languishing in the WIP Basket and I decided he had to be finished this week. I need him for super secret missions, like keeping an eye out for Santa.

He has a weird parallelogram face. I don't know what's up with that. If I make more ninjas, I'll do some doctoring. I didn't have the patience for fiddling today so I just followed the instructions.

Also, frogged the Fetching. I'm pretty okay with it now since I wasn't crazy about how the cuff was rolling. Just need to find another pattern for that super soft Plymouth Yarn Suri Merino, which I've just found out has been discontinued - gasp! Why do they keep discontinuing yarns that I like? Why?

So, that's two things off the Stuff I Need to Get Done list. As a bonus, here's Goose scoping out Ninja Bun:

WIP Wednesday - The Basket

I'm taking a page out of my friend Tiffany's book and starting some regular weekly blog posts, the first being WIP Wednesday. I don't have anything majorly exciting on the needles at the moment, except the Christmas present that I can't talk about yet even though I'm pretty sure my sister doesn't read my blog, but that doesn't mean I don't have all kinds of WIP craziness.

My stepmom gave me this huge basket for Christmas a couple years ago. It's become the metaphorical cave for all my hibernating WIPs. And it's stuffed to the brim.

As a much needed reality check, for my first WIP Wednesday, I'm going to list everything in that basket. As a bonus, it also becomes the Stuff I Need to Get Done list. (I would add "Before I Start Any New Projects" to that title, but, really, who am I kidding?)

WIP aka Stuff I Need to Get Done:

• Daddy & Me Field Cap - For my nephew, Kurt, but going to be frogged since I made him something else.
• Asymmetric Cardi - Knit-along with Tiffany and Deb. Back piece, which is the biggest piece, is nearly finished but I haven't touched it in a couple months.
• KidLin Shawl - This isn't coming out like I thought it would. I may just finish it, and either frog it or keep it depending on how much I like the finished shawl.
• Throw Rug - Started this because I figured the best way to make my stash look smaller was to knit up all my bulky yarn. Still really love this rug, so this will get finished.
• Newfoundland Mittens - I like these mittens, but I may frog them and use the yarn for something else. I got about six more balls of this yarn from my friend Melanie recently, so I'm thinking bigger.
• Shaelyn - I love this shawl so much, but I got to the point where I couldn't complete a repeat in one sitting so I abandoned it in favor of instant gratification. This will be finished.
• Loopy Lace Scarf - This is only a couple inches in. It's meant to be for my grandma, so I should probably finish it, though I kind of think she'd like a baby doll instead.
• Ninja Bun - He's so close to being finished! I just need to suck it up and do it.
• Clementine Shawlette - This was part of that 11 shawls in 2011 delusion I had earlier this year. Going to finish at least this one, but it so won't be before the end of the year.
• Best Bunny - All I have left to do are the arms and legs and seam everything together. That's actually kind of a tall order. Seaming is the worst.
• Fetching - Ran out of yarn with only a few rows left, so these just need to be frogged. :(
• Breast Cancer Awareness Scarf - I really like this scarf so still want to do it, but given that I started it in February 2008 and haven't touched it since, I'm going to have to rip it back and start over.
• Brr Baby Beanies - Making two of these for my nephews as birthday gifts. Almost done. I feel really bad about how late they are. :<
• Magic Loop Two-at-a-Time Socks - Knit-along with my knitting group. Grr. But dammit, I will finish them.
• Purple Flames Scarf - Based on a stitch pattern in the Vogue Stitchionary. I've only done a few inches, but I still like it after a year or so so I think I'll finish it.
• Dustifur - Dust Bunny snuggly that I'm just making up as I go along. He needs ears and a tail.

And that is my WIP list. I may have a few other WIPs floating around that haven't made it into the basket. Since I don't have proper links, here are a couple pics of the purple scarf and an earless Dustifur:

And speaking of Tiffany, she supplied the basil Goose is munching in this video:

Peace, Knitting & Bunnies,

~ Meg