Snow!

It's the first decent fall of snow in the season, close to 2ft and still snowing. Here are a couple of pictures from outside our bedroom window, pretty huh?

Fish - 30 to date

Phew! 30 fish down, ?? to go. The picture only shows 26 (4 escaped to the needles, waiting for their 3 needle bind off), the fish are not sewn together yet (just bound at tails). I have to admit that as it gets closer, I'm dreading the sewing part more and more, not even sure how to approach it - gulp! I'm not even sure how big to make this blanket/afghan, although I'm pretty sure that I want it big enough to cover me. Then I can use it on a chilly day like today when our cheap landlord can't even have enough heat to warm our tiny, tiny apartment properly! Right, back to the fish, to keep plugging away.

The miracle of blocking

The Gothic window lace scarf for Mum was finished and blocked this week (no time to post though). So I wanted to share the before and after pictures of the scarf with blocking. It truely is a very cool effect. I also adore the scarf I made for Mum, I'm sure she will love it too.

This is the scarf before blocking, it measured around 5.5" by 56". I was a little worried that it might be too short, but kept reminding myself that blocking helps items grow.


After: The scarf ended up 6" wide and 62" long, which is ideal I think for Mum as she is about 4-5 inches shorter than me (I usually go for 66" for me). I'm proud of my first 'proper' lace knitting and think the pattern is even nicer than I'd hoped.

Updates

Just a quickie for a little update to show that I am still making stuff.

Fishies: now have 18 1/2 of those thing, no sewing done so far, athough they are bound off together at the tails (saved some sewing eh). I still depsise Chenille and I'm looking that the stuff I have (I bought some cones on ebay a year or so ago) and I think that it's going to last forever! I think that I will have to sell it off again to someone more appreciative of this stuff!


Gothic lace scarf (pictured above) - now 53 inches long! Wow, it's not much longer to go eh? It's going to be a gift for my Mum for her Birthday (next month), I'm sure she will appreciate it. Not much longer and I get to really enjoy the magic of blocking on this, can't wait!

Also, the super-secret Soho project is coming along nicely, keeping me busy, but with good progress.

Also, going to see Matt Pond PA Tuesday (well, assuming we get the tix), nice to get out and see a show, it's been a while.

Little brother's hat

It's done! Finally. Actually, his birthday was yesterday and it still needs to get to the UK, so it's most definitely a late pressie. But since presents are good no matter what, I'm sure he will forgive the lateness of the package. It's a simple two stripe double hat, but this time using Bernat's Satin yarn (therefore adapting the pattern again for the thicker yarn), which is really lovely and soft, and ideal for him, being acrylic since he has sensitive skin and wouldn't follow washing directions. I had a bit of trouble decreasing this hat since the yarn is chunkier than the double knit I'd used for earlier patterns, but got there in the end, and think it looks pretty good (much better than with that crazy blue color too).

Brother's hat and Fish update

The double hat for my little bro is nearly done, however, just now, while taking the photo's of it, I realized that the blue stripes are pretty hideous with the green... So I have some frogging ahead of me (ERGH) then change the stripes to black, much more suitable. The yarn I'm using is Bernat Satin, an impulse purchase/fast buy when someone needed to stop by the craft store before dropping me off for the train. I'm completely shocked that I love this yarn so much. I was becoming a little bit of a yarn snob, but just starting to figure out that expensive does not necessarily translate to good. So yeah, just like anything else really - DUH, I'm slow, I know! But this Satin is soooo soft! It has a lovely sheen AND it's cheap!



As for the fishies, they're getting there, as you can see. However, I HATE chenille, really! Certainly the stuff I've got. It hurts my fingers to knit with, it's stringy, and I strongly suspect that it will start going 'bald' in no time. But somehow I know that I have to get this done, I have a gazillion yards of the stuff and nothing else to make with it. Anyway, the fish are starting to come together, there are 9 so far. And I know that I will love the optical illusion that just 2 colors will create.

I'm fishing!

I'm really excited about this, I'm not sure what this excitement says about me, but I don't think I really care. I managed to find a pattern for the fish afghan that I had seen so long ago online. I think that the pattern has been taken down now, so I'm thinking that I won't be able to post it here, but you can keep an eye on this blog to see if she puts it back up.

I have only completed one fish so far, but I'm so pleased that it gives me the opportunity to get rid of this chenille that I've had forever, that I didn't really know what to do with (definitely a buying error). The colors, to me, seem perfect (an olive green, a deep blue and a rich beige). I will keep a little update on how this project is going, since I suspect that it will keep me busy for a while.

In the meantime, the gothic window lace scarf is getting longer and I've been busy making the Soho scarves.

On another note, there are whispers again about another (yes! ANOTHER) transit strike. It's all a bit of a mess, but the long and short of it is that the contract deal for the workers, that the TWU and MTA worked so long at agreeing to, was rejected by MTA workers (by only a handful of votes too). I can only hope that it doesn't happen again, although another mug would be cool - it's certainly not worth the craziness of a strike.

Hubby's Hat

He was patient, he waited long enough. But now I have finished the double hat for Mr. B. One side is the Foo Fighter's logo which he gridded for me, the other is just the double stripe in grey and black. He says that he likes it, which is great. I still need to sort out my stranding technique, it doesn't seem to come out as pretty as it could (which you can see in the FF side). It came out lumpy on all 3 attempts of doing the logo, no matter how loose I did it! Although
the last attempt was the loosest and least lumpy.