Knit Project: Travels Fingerless Mitts... PLUS, I WON!!! ~.^

Life is crazy! Tis the season :D

Between knitting, sewing, getting food organized for Christmas and trying to clean around the house... Life has been a non-stop whirlwind.

Since finishing my pair of Rathtrevor by Jane Richmond, my newest obsession has been on fingerless mittens. 

Let's start with a couple of new ideas...

Cozy Travels Fingerless Mitts
I found a ball of bulky yarn in my stash and looked up a bunch of different patterns in The Knitting Book that I got for Christmas last year...(Someone obviously knew me ~.^)and came up with these. They are so warm and cozy... They are a bit big for me but it's a cool first try! They turned out better than I had expected...

But then...

I wanted something a bit more elegant and pretty. So I used the same pattern, chose a finer yarn and adjusted the number of stitches and came up with...

Elegant Travels Fingerless Mitts 

I found a ball of Martha Stewart Crafts 100% merino (colour: Buttermilk) in my stash and thought "I just have the one ball so why not try it out." I have to admit it took me a couple of tries but I think I've got the pattern almost perfected. I finished one piece. I seamed it up and tried it on. The fit is comfortably snug. But I like the look of it. Because of the stretch it looks almost lacy... The width of my palm is about 9cm. I will play with the number of stitches so see the different fits I get.

PLUS!!!! 

I WON an ebook copy of Journey from reading Melissa's MisoCraftyKnits blog and entering the giveaway. Journey is a NEW book of knitting patterns by Jane Richmond and Shannon Cook.  All three of these fantastic ladies are incredibly talented crafters from Vancouver Island, BC. This TOTALLY made my Christmas! I am so excited to start on these patterns. Squeee! ^.^ 

Knit Project: *wince* Ouch! That Hurt... :(

"Sniff!" - pencil sketch by Jenn 

So i was looking around the house for a particular set of knitting needles and remembered that i had left them on my half-finished beaded mesh cowl that i was knitting a few months ago. it was a new design of mine and was hoping to get it done by fall but then i gimped up my wrists and arms with my extreme knitting marathon-ing. so i went to the doctor and she told me that i carpal tunnel. so she told me that i had to stop knitting... so i did.

but  after a few months of not knitting and resting up as much as possible, i decided to start up again slowly and pace myself. when i opened the project bag where the cowl was, i saw that the wooden tip had broken off of the cable connector and almost half  of the 218 stitches had slipped off the cable. all i could do was wince and then utter a heavy sigh. there was no way i could salvage the project. so i began to unravel the cowl. i wound it back onto the ball of yarn and let beads fall off the project as i unraveled it. it was frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time... but definitely a learning experience.

i was really excited about this project but i guess i just have to be a bit more careful.

oh well... next time.

*extremely heavy sigh*

Design Project: Sparkly Mesh Cowl is S...L...O...W... Going...

My sparkly mesh cowl design is coming along but sadly I've had to cut back on my knitting a bit. I seem to have done something to my right wrist and it is causing some pain to do anything at all. So this already SLOW project is taking SO... MUCH... LONGER. But so far I'm happy with how it's looking.

I'm really getting the hang of knitting with beads. It's a lot easier that I thought it would be and I'm enjoying the little bit of sparkle it is adding to my design. I have a bit of a pattern emerging. we'll see if it holds up.

^.^

Design Project: Lacy Mesh Cowl

My latest design project... A lacy mesh cowl for spring and summer made from linen. This is my first time working with linen and I have to say that it does take quite a toll on your hands. First off... It gets to be pretty heavy. Even after the 2nd ball I started to feel the weight of it. And secondly... It's a bit of a stiff yarn that can get pretty rough to work with... Literally. Although, my hands became really soft and smooth from working it, the downfall was that it became hard to work with over long periods of knitting.  But on the plus side, I've heard that after blocking it softens right up. So that will be my next step. 

But for now it is my "something light and pretty" accessory for the warmer weather! Yay!

It started with this...
Punta Yarns: Rope-Light Hand-Painted Linen
I fell in love with the colours... light lavender, blues, greens, and yellows

I cast on a whack load of stitches... and chose an openwork mesh pattern.
Then I just kept knitting... until...

VOILA! A cowl emerged!

It was so much fun and easy too!

Knitting: Yay! New Books!!!

So my order from amazon.ca arrived today... SQUEEE!

I got Knits Men Want and Knit Notes. 

Knit Notes is a notebook/design journal to help with designing your own knitting patterns. There's lots of room to jot down ideas and inspirations. There are places to attach yarn samples, swatches & pictures of the finished projects... as well as graph paper pages to sketch out your designs. I think I will have fun filling this book up with my ideas :)

Knits Men Want was a book I borrowed from the library and immediately fell in love with it... So naturally... I had to have it! :D It was the book that my husband found the pattern for his first project in. It has some great patterns for men in it. It's a little ambitious for me right now since there are more sweater patterns in it than anything else (since I'm kinda new to making sweaters) but I find most of them are classic styles that men (at least the men in MY life) would actually like... AND actually wear. So it's definitely something for me to work towards. Yay!

New Design Project! The "Love Is..." Cowl

I had a skein of Punta Yarns Mericash yarn in baby pink and I wanted to make something cute and cozy. Just a few days before Valentine's Day and I had wanted to try making my own pattern of hearts using knits and purls. So I came up with this.

It's still in the design phase. The name is inspired by my mom's favourite little single-panel comic called "Love Is..." I thought it was a good fit.  So it's a combination of row of hearts then a few rows of openwork lace (the lace was mainly my husband's idea being the hopeless romantic that he is. ~.^)

So far it's looking pretty cute! We'll see how it turns out...