Couple of shawls

I've finished a few things and B's not available for a full on photo shoot so here's some pictures that I took that don't totally suck!

First is Damson by Ysolda Teague's Whimsical Little Knits 2.

I knit this out of some Raven Frog Elegante that B bought for me in Alaska in 2007. Such wonderful yarn with which to work. Silk and merino. Yummy!

The next is Milkweed by cosmicpluto/Laura Chau.
I used some Black Lamb Sea Wool that I bought at Pacafiesta in 2007. I really like the fall colours in this yarn and it's flashes of pooling, even though the pattern isn't all that visible.

While taking these pictures I tried to get some of the cats and the only usable photo was this blurry shot of Jetta. She was in the middle of giving herself a bath which is why she looks extra floofy. I love my little Jets.

And on November 11, which is a stat holiday in Nova Scotia, I spent the day doing laundry and was even able to hang some on the clothes line. It's not very often that we can do this so late in the year.

Luchadero

A friend of ours is moving to Ottawa. Not sure why or when but knowing the winters are cold in our nation's capital, I decided to knit him a balaclava.

But not any ordinary balaclava! A Lucha Libre from Son of Stitch 'n Bitch. Of course, we all had to try it on.

It's a little to big for me...


...and a little too small for B. (or he just put it on wonky)


Luckily, it fits S just fine.


I wonder if he'll wear it when it's -40C?

I have to say this project nearly kicked my ass. I had to learn proper intarsia yarn twisting, how to make centre pull bobbins, AND how to do a crochet edging. Fortunately, I only had to rip out once (that's when I decided to make the bobbins rather than wrangling entire balls of yarn). Despite the challenge, I'd probably tackle intarsia again - as long as it's a small project like this one.

Happy Hallowe'en

Happy Hallowe'en from Merlin.

I have lots of FOs to post, just need to have a photo shoot.

Some more FOs

I've finished a few more projects since the Zauberball shawl.

I finally finished the Spud and Chloe Candy Stripe jacket. I really like it but the collar is driving me mad. With the iCord bind off it keeps rolling up and no amount of pressing will flatten it. Also, it flops down so you can see the seaming so I'll probably end up wearing a pin to disguise the messiness.


On a positive note, the yarn is lovely to work with and held up well after a soak and a tumble in the dryer.

I think the back is my favourite part despite the rolling collar. It has a "bowling shirt" quality to it.


I also finished knitting Coincidence by Mandy Moore. It's knit with fingering weight yarn so it took me a little longer to finish than a worsted/bulky weight hat but I think the results are quite nice. I'm glad I found a use for this Jitterbug since it wasn't going to be enough for 2 socks. (Hey, did you know that Colinette is now coming out with bigger hanks for yarn because they heard the knitter's complaints - I can't remember where I read this....)


Anyway, I added a cute star button to the top and thought it was a nice touch.

New handknits are happy making.

I've also finished my Damson shawl and my Ripley hat. Pictures soon.

Oh and I decided to knit Lexical as my next sweater. Thanks for all the votes.

Crazy, crazy, crazy zauberball

I finished a few knitting projects while I was off recovering from my surgery. The first thing was the "simple, yet effective" shawl that I knit using the Crazy Zauberball in "Rainbow". I knit until I thought it was big enough so I have a tiny bit left.


Merlin had to check it out before I folded it up to be gifted.


I also finished my Candy Stripe Jacket which I though was going to take forever to dry while I was blocking it until L. reminded me that I could throw it in the dryer! The Spud and Chloe yarn is Superwash wool and cotton. Hopefully I'll have some pictures soon. It needs to have some buttons added first.

I have two outstanding FOs as you see on my right sidebar. Damson needs about 25 more rows and I'm almost finished with the Coincidence hat. For my next big project I'm trying to decide between:


Vine Yoke Cardigan by Ysolda Teague (Twist Collective Fall 2009)


Lexical from Berroco's Lustra Booklet


Or Lingua from the same booklet.Any opinions?

Recovery

Hey there. Been quiet because I've been waiting for, and finally had, surgery. Thursday morning I finally had my sinus surgery and am slowing getting back to the land of the living. Dougal has been very helpful in making me feel better, except when he headbutted me in the nose.

On the positive side, I am starting to get my sense of smell and taste back. I've also done a lot of knitting the last 2 days. I'm almost finished knitting the pieces of the Candy Stripe jacket! I hope to have pictures soon.

I might actually leave the house today!

Thrifty

Today I was left to amuse myself since B was working on a photo shoot.  After watching the F1 race from Spa in Belgium I decided to go out and run some errands.  We're having our basement windows replaced and getting a screen door put on our back door so I went to Home Despot to pay for the door.

After that I decided to swing over to Value Village (aka la village de valleur) and try my luck at some thrifting.  I don't usually have much luck with finding good stuff but it's fun to dig around for bargains.

First off I found this dress.  It's from Jacob so full price was likely between $50-80.

I got it for $14.99.

Of course Dougal had to give it a good sniff.

I seldom look at shoes in thrift stores but as I walked by the shoe section I saw these Nubuck oxfords.  Looking closer I saw they were Polo Ralph Lauren.

They cost $9.99. Just need a little buffing with a nubuck block and they'll be good as new.

And just down the shelf I saw these J. Crew suede ballet flats.  I looked on line and they retail for $98.00.

I got them for $4.99.  They are totally unworn!

SCORE!

Unfortunately, there was only Lion Brand yarn in the craft section.  Well, you can't win them all.