Inbetween projects!

Zup?

I finished up the leggings for my niece the other day and threw it into the washing machine yesterday so now I'm just waiting for it to dry so I can snap proper pictures of it. But this thing was horrible...and I knew that when I started it. This is the third time I've made leggings, second time in ribbing and let me tell you something...I hate it! I don't mind doing ribbing on sweaters and socks and whatnot, but leggings, that's ALL ribbing on teeeny tiny needles...that's just pure nightmare. But I did it! Once again! And I'll probably end up doing it a couple more times if I know myself right, and I'll bitch and moan just as much about it when I do. But for now! I'm done! I finished these and they look good! I just hope that they'll be better than the last pair I made. These are ment for my middle niece, but I bet that my oldest niece could easily fit herself into these.

 

*sigh* Another project done... (I'll get new and better pictures up sometime later) And now I'm in that inbetween spot again. It's weird...after every big project with a deadline, I feel kinda empty inside and have problems starting on the next one. There's these couple of days (or sometimes only hours) where I don't know what to do next...and I just end up doing some small, mindless things instead. Like my Granny Bacon blanket! I worked a few rounds of that one before I pulled out the Dovremittens again. 

I did 20 rounds on the second mitten before I pulled out scrap yarn and started working up some Granny Squares.
For some time now, I've been longing for my own traditional Granny Square blanket. And while I've got a bag full of wool scraps lying around, I've been putting it off... The thought of Ugly Scrap Socks has claimed all my scraps already.

But last night, I did pull out a bunch of small scraps from this bag (which only made me want to tear Granny Bacon to pieces and save more scraps) and worked up some squares. The plan is to do a good bunch and then join them together by the last round. I'm too lazy to sew them up together, and I'd like to not use too much fresh yarn skeins. I'm using scraps for a reason.

NOW! Just watch me grow tired of it only to have a handfull of finished granny squares lying around for months before I either frog them or use them for something else...

The motivation sucking monster!

I usually don't mind ribbing...but for some reason, making leggings that consist of almost only ribbing really kills my motivation. Yesterday I managed to finish up the first leg of these and I was so danged happy, but I was quickly brought down again with the thought of it only being the first leg... I did work the red part of the second leg at the same time as the first, but nothing further than that. I am now struggling with finding motivation to continue working on it. Each leg measures 58cm (22,8") and I am working on 2,5mm needles. If this were fair-isle, it would be done last week or so, I bet!

I need them done by next weekend, sunday if I'm not mistaken, shouldn't be a problem really...I just need to get my motivation going and stop getting tempted by "Papers, Please!" and Granny Bacon...

Latest projects!

Well now... It has been over a week since my last update on this blog... I am SO good!

I didn't really have much of a reason for this hiatus either...maybe except for this past weekend. You see, the 17th was Norway's national day over here, and also the 200 year anniversary for when we got our own constitution, so it was a big thing! Usually, I've gone to my parents for that day to celebrate it in my home town. But this year, since it was the 200 year anniversary, they were moving the celebration and the...parade? thingy...up in the mountains and my parents were going to celebrate it in Levanger and join in on that...parade...thingy...thang...along with my ex-sister-in-law and my oldest niece. So I was left straded, with no real place to go and people to celebrate with... But my brother, my sister-in-law and my two youngest nieces, which lives close by. Their kindergarden was going to join in the same parade in Levanger, so they offered me to come and stay with them over the weekend.

SO! Ofcourse you gotta dress up nice during this festive day, and usually, I'd wear my bunad (our national costume), but since mine is back home at my parents place...and also a tad bit too small for me, I ended up just using a normal dress. Ofcourse I needed accessories. What I've allready shown on my blog here, is this bag. I needed something to hold my wallet, camera and phone.
I used the Quinn Cabled Bag pattern from Ravelry and used leftover yarn from my Jackie sweater, Drops Nepal. It turned out a little bit wider than the pattern though, I ended up with 14 stitches too much.

I also figured that I needed a pair of socks. After a quick search, I found these lace, lightly ruffeled socks that was just perfect! The yarn here is Silja, the same as my Batman sweater.

As if this weren't enough, I also made myself a pretty little hair ornament! I knitted three flowers in leftover cotton yarn, representing the colors of our flag, and crocheted two green whines in more leftover cotton. No real pattern here.

Also a little snap of them in my hair.

The last completed project that I got to show you guys right now, is the granny square blanket that I made for Pepsi. It didn't take long to work this blanket up, with a 4,5mm hook and three skeins of yarn, it was a quick fix. Two skeins was Amazing from Lionbrand and the last skein was Eco Wool DK from Sirdar. He was obsessed with the Amazing skein that was sent to me from Drunk Uncle June earlier this year, so I just had to make something for him with it.

 

That's all for now! Currently I'm working on dishcloths to fill the time before my next project. If you are wondering, I'm working up a good bunch of the bleached cotton yarn for these and I'll be posting pictures soon!

 

WIP: cable purse and cat blanket!

Time for a WIP blogentry again! Some progress have been made so let's document it!

First off, the cable purse! I'm actually close to finishing it! At the end of Eurovision last night (hurray for Austria BTW!), I managed to graft up the bottom of the purse and weaved in the ends.

 

After the Eurovision finale was over, I soaked it and blocked it. Couldn't find anything better than a plastic A4 folder to put inside it...So it'll get the size of a A4 paper. A bit wider than expected, but that's ok, I did end up with 14 more stitches than the pattern asked for anyway so, not much that can be done with that!

Not that it matters really. I'll be a good size for projects and later use. As you can see, I'm still missing the shoulder strap for it. I am pondering the thought of having two straps that'll cross over eachother.

The pattern tells me to make four i-cords and braid them together into one strand to make the strap, I am also thinking about just making three and then make a normal braid. But we'll see. I need this purse done by friday at the latest so I got a lot of time.

What I haven't shared with the blog though, is that I've started a blanket for Pepsi. Forever ago, Pickle's good friend Drunk Uncle June sent me these wonderful skeins in the mail...among other things wonderful things!

The yarn is Amazing from Lionbrand, a brand I've never tried before since it's not sold in Europe as far as I know...though, I may be wrong. Amazing here is 53% wool and 47% acryllic and kinda fluffy, the color is called Regatta if you were wondering. As soon as these skeins came into my possession, Pepsi has been crazy about them and wouldn't leave the skeins alone. He was constantly sniffing them and chewing on them and more than once, I woke up finding the skeins in a mess on the middle of the livingroom floor. Luckily though, he never chewed over the thread, so it was still fully useable. But I realised that I would have to make something for him with these skeins.
I figured another blanket would be a good idea. Since the yarn contains wool, it wouldn't be ideal for toys. He also doesn't care much about beds or pillows, so a blanket would actually be plausible for him to use. So, when I now finally was done with gifts and hasty projects, I decided to start it as a simple project inbetween stuff. I was originally thinking about knitting it, like the other blanket that I made for him, but instead I ended up working it in granny square. With hook 4,5mm, I have now worked up one of the skeins I got and are currently working on the other. I also decided to use a single skein I had in my storage forever in this blanket as a break between the two colorfull skeins.

Simple, yet pretty and hopefully colorful enough for Pepsi. Cats are attracted to colorful objects.

Slow knitting

Now that I don't have any hasty projects going on...well, except for the cable bag...I'm doing really slow progress on everything. So let's do a round-up of the little I've done over the past few days...cause it's not really much...

The cable purse/bag thingy are going well. I need it done by the 16th since I'm going away, but it's really no rush as it works up fairly quick. I haven't done much on this bag yet, and I'm allready over halfway there. It's a quicky this one!

Not really knit, but I did manage to finish up the tail for Fibi the other day... It looks like crap since it's so short and stubby compared to the pattern itself, but it's one step closer to finishing off the doll! Now I only need the ears (which I need some help with) and the scarf, which is just knit so shouldn't be a problem for me!

Other than those two, I've pulled out the mindless knitted shawl that I started during the Christmas holiday last year. Thanks to Pickle, I now can't unsee it as a watermelon! So it now has a name, "watermelon shawl"! BUT, I've managed to misplace the last skein somewhere, so I can't continue it until I find it... Oh well...

I got two other colors in this yarn so I might just make another one that's a big more complex instead.

Cabled purse!

WARNING, WAY TOO LONG BACKSTORY...WHICH IS REALLY NOT NEEDED...

I'm not a girly woman, not at all...rather far from it...being pretty, dressed up, fashion, make-up, shoes and purses and accessories are alien to me. I might have a more femenine taste in the world of knitting, but still, that's the only place I'm femenine. I've always been boyish and that's something I'll always be.

But then there's occasions where I'm expected to dress up, and when those occasions occure, I'm often at a loss about what to wear because what I got are too dressy, or not dressy enough, or I'm missing tons of the accessories. Like for our national day, the 17th of may... This year, I didn't really plan to do anything since...well...stuff...and I no has friends... But during Easter, I was invited to my brother and his family, which also my parents are going this year. So then I needed an outfit!
First off, I was thinking about using the swing skirt I've been working on forever...and haven't been working on since forever... But then I decided against that since it'll probably never get finished...

So then I was thinking about my two midnatt.no dresses that I got...or maybe order a new one...but then again, they're a bit too dark for spring...

So that's just about all the formal wears I got... I could put on my suit, but sadly, I'm fat and it doesn't look too good on me anylonger...even though it was bought when I was allready fat...and it never really looked good on me...

 

So we then go and buy a new dress! Woop woop! Not really that excite... I really couldn't care less... But I kinda like this one dress that I eventually got. I've talked about it before, it's the one from Ellos, but I didn't show any pictures of it... So let's fix that right now, shall we? Atleast to the best of my abilities...in dirty mirrors...without flash...yay!

I even got some accessories that goes good with it! But here's were everything stops... I has no purse...or bag...or whatever... I really just have one bag, and that's a messenger bag which I use for everything...and it's not really formal or dressy...and doesn't go good with any of these outfits.

SO THAT'S WHEN WE FINALLY GET TO THE POINT!!!

I need a purse that I can carry my wallet, phone and camera in that can work with atleast this last dress here! I'm low on money, I don't care to spend how much cash on something to carry my cash for just one or two days for the rest of my life. What do you do then? Well, you make one, ofcourse!

For something like this, I want something that's easy, yet pretty, blend, yet decorative, not too big, but can carry all the stuff I need...which isn't even like a drop in the pond for some girls out there...
TO RAVELRY WE GO!
It didn't take me long before I found this cutie. The next day, I casted on! Using the leftover skeins from Jackie, I think I can make a good looking purse.

I finished up the top band of the purse earlier today and started to pick up stitches to work up the body. I ended up with 14 stitches too many compared to the pattern, but with a little adjustments and some extra stitches here and there, that was no problem and you probably wouldn't even see the difference when I'm finished!

I got a little over a week to finish it up, which shouldn't be a problem, and another four skeins, so hopefully, this will go as smoothly as possible! When it's all over and done, I can probably use this as a holder for some smaller projects I'm working on while on the move.

Now, this has been a waaaaay too long blogentry, with a bit too many pictures of myself in it...so I'll just call it a night and keep on working...or play some Minecraft...

Jackie is finally finished!

And here she is, Jackie herself! I'm so happy to finally be finished with this sweater! Feels like it took forever, but in reality it hasn't been that long.

As I've stated before, I started this sometime in september last year, but it got put on hold over Christmas cause of other projects. Finally picked it up again now in january and finished it off. Got it washed and blocked a few days ago and tonight I finally sewed in the buttons on the sleeves! So happy to finally be finished with this one! The yarn is Nepal from Drops, also where the pattern comes from which you can find here.

I sewed on a extra set of buttons on the sleeves so the lenght can be regulated however I please.

Buttons are really pretty too

Glad to scratch this one of  my UFO list! On to the next project...which I am currently working on...

Progress of the day - 30th jan

Huzzah! Managed to finish two projects today! First off I finished the second pair of ugly scrap socks.

And then I finished off Jackie, the grey cable sweater! I'm still missing the buttons cause they haven't arrived in the mail yet, and I also need to block the cowl a little, but it is fresh off the hooks with all ends weaved in! I am wearing a t-short with white print on it underneath so it's not too tight over the chest, it's just glaring through the purl stitches.

I will get better pictures of it whenever I've recieved the buttons. Which reminds me, I've never showed off the buttons before! I got them off ebay and I think they'll look good on the sweater. I'm also thinking about sewing on double the buttons needed so I can regulate the sleeves more.

It is a glorious day (night) indeed! Now, I got several new project planned and I might start some of them tomorrow...even though I should be focusing on the UFO's I got lying around the livingroom... Oh well!

Sleeves done!

FREAKING FINALLY!

They didn't take forever, but I just hate working with thick needles! Just finished the hard couple of rounds after you put the sleeves on the needle too, that's the worst part... And now my arms ache!

Hopefully, it'll all be worth it!

Progress of the day - 19th

There's really not too much to blog about when I'm only focusing on one project, but I am doing progress on Jackie though! Finished the first sleeve today and I'm about halfway done with the second... Starting to feel the ache of thick needles in my shoulder though...

The cables and ribbing makes the sweater look really tiny, even though it's actually size L/XL.

Progress of the day - 18th jan

Cause of back pains, I haven't gotten too much done today I'm afraid. Still working on Jackie since I want to actually finish it this time, and I'd rather not start any new projects until I finish off some of my current ones...as I've said too many times allready.

The sleeve pattern is kinda confusing actually, so I'll just have to wing parts of it, but it is comming along nicely. The fact that it's all ribbing with a tiny bit cable is killing me though, with needles at 7mm, my shoulder starts acing too soon.

Now, I am off to bed cause I'm dead tired...