Plugging Along

I've just cast on with this yarn for Ornamental Socks.  I love this color (it's a bit lighter in person) and I've been wanting to do the pattern since it came out.

I made this last night from the free skein of Knit Picks Biggo I got.  Just a basic seed stitch cowl (the Luxus Cowl), it knit up really fast, though I did run out of yarn so it's a bit shorter than the pattern called for.

The yarn is gorgeous and squishy and soft.  I'll definitely get some again the next time I need a bulky yarn.

My mom's Christmas gift is done. :)  I'm afraid they're a bit small for her, but I hope it'll be okay.  Mine are a bit small length-wise and fit well, so I'm hoping that'll be the case for mom's too.

I'm still working on my dad's hat.  I just... don't care for it so it's hard to want to do.  But it will get done.  But no more hats...  I don't really care for them.  I'm still sewing in ends on Josh's sweater, and it's taking a while and is tedious...  I have a lot of socks in the pipeline (I have a bit of a sock yarn problem...  I need to actually make some of them!), and another cowl, so I want to finish some things up before starting more.  Luckily most of the knitting's been going really fast, so I should get a few pair out before the end of the year.

Getting There

I've been working on Christmas gifts lately, but also a few other things.  Pardon all the phone photos!

A bag for my grandma:

Mitts for my sister:

A scarf for my aunt:

I'm also working on a hat for my dad, but I don't have any photos of it yet.  It's the same pattern as the next one, but in black and red to match a scarf I made him a few years ago.  There will also be socks for my mom, but those haven't even been started yet.

My friend requested a hat.  It's a bit big, but he likes it.  He also is a great hat model, lol:

I'm also nearly done (finally!) with Josh's sweater.  Since these two pictures, I've done the collar and have started sewing in all the ends.  The sleeve cuffs are a bit big and might get ripped out and decreased more; Josh isn't sure yet though.  I still have the zipper band and will have to sew in a zipper.

I've also been making little things for a gift exchange online.  I'm using these wonderful little Lion Brand Bonbons.  They're really great to work with and the colors are great.  They have a few other packs, but I like these colors the best:

 

I've been reading a lot lately too, which I've missed.  I've been reading all year, but sometimes it's harder than others and I'm finally enjoying it again.  I read three books last week alone and am blowing through the current one. :)

I also won a giveaway on Dull-Roar for the "Ghosts" ebook and I can't wait to read it and make some things from it. :)

 Projects on Ravelry: Cat Bag, Mitts, Scarf, Hat, Josh's sweater.

Fall!

I went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival with my mom and sister on Sunday.  It was a really nice day, cool but comfortable, slightly overcast with patches of sun, crisp air, wonderful colors around.  It was lovely.  We were able to get in free thanks to the kindness of a stranger outside the gate with extra tickets, and really only paid for food.  We walked around a lot, looked in some of the shops, and caught a couple shows from Flight of the Raptor.

We also watched a street performer... ;)

 visited the petting zoo...

 watched children ride a camel!...

pretended we were royalty... ;)

 and saw a seahorse.

We had to park in the overflow parking, but had a really nice little walk through a little grassy, wooded area.

It was a really nice day. :)  And a wonderful start to fall.

Elephants and Socks

So, it's been a while.  I finished working at the archives I was at, we moved out of our apartment, we were kinda homeless and so were living with Josh's parents for a few weeks, and moved into a house we're renting in the Detroit area.  We've been moved in for a month now, and so far so good.  Josh has started school again and that's going well.  I'm looking for work and have had a few interviews, but nothing's panned out yet.  It's getting very frustrating so I've been reading, watching tv, and knitting a lot to relax.

This one I actually made back in June, for my boss at the archives.  I didn't know when I'd be leaving (if I'd found a job we would have moved sooner than we did), so I wanted to give her a little something when I could.  She does circus research so I thought the elephant was appropriate. :)

These next ones are three baby gifts I made.  I made one for my friend's new baby, and two for my mom's co-workers (both have had their babies now; a boy and a girl).

I've been working pretty well on Josh's sweater and am more than halfway done with the first sleeve, but it got too hot to continue.  I also wanted some quick projects that I've been wanting to do so I've made some socks (I started these last Tuesday, the 4th).  Monkey:

Kalajoki (the right sock; the left isn't done yet, but I'm halfway through with the foot):

I will probably keep up with the socks for awhile.  I love making socks and I love quick projects and I need to feel productive right now.  I think next will be Riff, but I also have Sinusoida, Paraphernalia, Harold and Maude, Maeva, and a couple others wanting to be made.  I also have a couple hat prototypes in progress that are just okay, and I told my friend I'd make him a beanie for winter, so those will probably get done soon too.  I just love socks. :)

Ravelry links: purple elephant, rainbow elephants, Flying Monkey socks, Laxá/Kalajoki socks.

Pattern for Anne-Girl Socks

I finally got around to editing my Anne-Girl Socks pattern and converting it and it should be ready to go!  So, without further ado here is the pattern: Anne-Girl Socks!

The gauge is 21 stitches and 30 rows over 2 inches in stockinette.  Any size can be made from the pattern, mine are a woman's size 9.

Done!

Eep, it's been awhile!  I'm now done with my MA (graduation's tomorrow, now to find a job...), I've finished another baby set for another of Josh's cousins, and (!) I finished my Anne socks! :)  I'm currently editing the pattern (written while knitting the first, edited while knitting the second, though once it's done I hope people will let me know if there are issues - things I might assume, since I know how it goes, I might not explain properly, etc.) and hope to have it up on ravelry soon. :)

So, without further ado:

Raveled here: Anne-girl socks.

And here's the baby set: 

Offset wraplan, Garter stripe baby socks, Aviator.  I still have to attach buttons and sew in a few ends.  I really want to make those baby socks in an adult size; I love the pattern. :)  Next I have three elephants to make; one for my boss (who does circus research) and two for babies for my mom's co-workers.  I also have to get back to Josh's sweater which I haven't worked on in much too long.  I just like these quick little projects so much better!  Plus I have the wedding yarn to use and I'm getting more for graduation from Mom and Dad and I just want to use it now, lol.

"Extra Yarn"

Have you seen this book?

 It's a cute little picture book for kids about yarn! :)

 Besides the cute story, the illustrations are gorgeous.

 

 

Josh grabbed it at the library for me because he knew it was something I'd like.  I do like it.  A lot.  A want to find a copy and just look at it always.  It's gorgeous.

In which we discuss books

I read a fair amount.  Well, I think I don't read much, but as evidenced by all those "the average person only reads 4 books a year" things that seem to creep up every so often, I actually read a lot.  Since being back in school I haven't read as much for pleasure as I'd like to.  I'm on break right now and while I should be reading for a class, I'm taking advantage and reading for pleasure (as well as working on finishing those socks and watching too much Netflix).

Unfortunately since I don't read for pleasure much lately, I've been too picky about what I'll read.  When it's not for school I want it to be fun and easy and not necessarily light, but not heavy either.  Don't get me wrong, I like a good heavy book and non-fiction, but right now I don't want to be reading Dickens or anything like that.  So what have I just read?

The Betsy-Tacy Treasury by Maud Hart Lovelace.  What a wonderful collection!  It's the first four Betsy-Tacy books (there are ten total) and I can't believe I've only just read these!  (Though I guess most of them have been out of print for awhile.)  They are gorgeous little stories and just perfect.  Very like Anne of Green Gables in a lot of ways.  Just beautiful and that perfect old-timeyness I love without being dull.  If I ever have a daughter I can't wait to share this with her.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon.  Like pretty much everyone else in the country I love Downton Abbey.  Really anything PBS and/or British and/or period pieces.  Anyhow, I love Downton Abbey, so when I saw the book I had to read it.  Well, it wasn't everything I hoped, but interesting enough.  There wasn't enough about the house and the staff and the things about Downton and Upstairs Downstairs that are so good, and too much about the nursing and Egypt and not about the house.  It was still interesting, but not what I wanted.

Every Eye by Isobel English.  I think I've mentioned them before, but if not: I love Persephone Books.  Like, maybe a little too much?  I don't know.  Persephone Books publishes out of print books by mainly women authors and they're just fabulous.  I found two at Barnes and Noble once, but the rest I bought through the website (I have ten).  The B&N ones have painted covers in color, but still echo the style of the others.  The ones through the website have gorgeous dove grey, soft feeling, book-jacketed paperback covers.  They have gorgeous colored endpapers and come with a bookmark for the book printed with a quote from the book on one side and the endpaper on the other side.  The B&N ones have grey toned endpapers and no bookmarks, but have a folded cover so they still feel like they're book-jacketed.  They're also that wonderful soft feeling cover.  Anyway, I love Persephone books.  I've read five of the ten books I have so far.  I'll probably move on to another one next.  But back to what I read.  I read Every Eye, which wasn't my favorite.  Of the five I've read, three I love and two I just like okay.  This was one of the two.  It was short, which was its appeal at this moment, and the website described it wonderfully (or I wouldn't've bought it in the first place), but it just didn't deliver.  I couldn't really connect to the characters at all and the ending was over-hyped.  There were also sentences scattered throughout in French, much like the Poirot books, and much like Poirot, I just skipped them because I don't know French.  Maybe those few extra sentences would have added something?  I don't know.  It was written beautifully, don't get me wrong.  I wish I could write like this, but it didn't deliver.  It just wasn't what I wanted.  I will probably read another Persephone book next (though I have a few others staring at me...), hopefully with better results than this one. :/

I have another book I read recently but it needs it's own post with pictures.  For some reason I can't upload pictures right now or I would've done it already.  Additionally, I was going to share photos of my Persephone's because I can't describe them well enough, but again, pictures won't upload right now. :(

One down, one to go

I finished my sock!  To think I had been so worried about the heel, and that was the least of the issues.  I should've been worrying about the toe, lol.  I think I tried the toe four times before I got it to work right!  Stupid toes...  So, the first sock is done.  Now to type out the pattern from my notes and try it on the second sock and hope all of my notes are correct. :)  So, here it is:

I went outside to take these (natural light and all that), not even thinking about that it was quarter to six in the evening...  Additionally, I locked myself out of our apartment.  :(  I'm still cold...  Lesson learned on a few counts... :-/  But the sock is done and I'm happy about that. :)

Anne-girl part 2

Last May I started my Anne of Green Gables inspired socks.  I had gotten to where I wanted the heel and stalled.  I didn't want to mess up the heel especially with such wonderful yarn.  After I finished the baby stuff last week I picked them back up and just steamed ahead, frogging be damned.  Luckily I didn't really have to frog anything!  I did rip a bit out just because I didn't like the sl1, k1 heel pattern so much and just went to a regular knit heel.  Anyway, after a bit of math, I turned the heel and did the gusset and now I'm more than halfway through the foot! :)  I'm on spring break now and so hope to have sock one done this week.  Anyhoo, pictures to share: