WIP Wednesday: knitting through a meltdown

When I have a lifarmageddon, I stop knitting and curl up into a (metaphorical) ball. When its just your normal, average meltdown, I knit lace.

The more complicated, the better.

I actually won the pattern for the Mehndi stole on Ravelry. Well, I won a pattern of my choice (the sponsor paid for the pattern) and I chose this. The lattice like cables, the sprawling vines, the smell of henna (ok so that's a memory!), I knew I had to knit this pattern.

Pic taken after 1.5 repeats of chart A

The complicated twisted stitches, the need to read the chart for almost every stitch is exactly what I need right now. It calms me and I can't stop to think! 

Even the reverse looks gorge!

I'm using a yummy, yummy yarn. Its Universal's Dolce merino, a merino and microfiber blend and it is soft! I just knit a pullover with it and it was a dream to work with, no splitting, no fuzz and frogs wonderfully. My swatches didn't grow or shrink either. It's going to be a cuddly wrap.

If the p2together tbls don't kill me first.

Sharing with WIP Wednesday 

Flowers for Friday and every day

Flowers may fade but these pretty little crocheted ones are forever.

I might have mentioned that things were a little tough the last few months. One thing that cheered me up was working on these sunny little flowers for an everlasting bouquet. i enjoyed every part of the process, from crocheting the flowers and leaves, making up my own pattern as I went to gluing yarn to the 'stems' and fitting them all into a mason jar only to discover it wasn't the right height. I'm using an old pasta sauce jar at the moment, till I find something prettier to use.

The flowers were all made from leftover yarn, from worsted to super bulky weight. The leaves and stems are again from stash yarn, but wrapping the stems did use up a fair amount of yarn. While I did use a lion Brand flower pattern for 4 or 5 flowers the rest are my own creation.

I used pipe cleaners for the stems, gluing the yarn and flowers and leaves on with craft glue. It was a messy process!

Overall, quite pleased.

Ravelry entry
Link up to FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday.

TGIF!

I know I've been away for a very long time. I would start out by writing posts, then delete all my drafts. April was a hard month for us and we're only just getting over it. So much so that I lost my knitting mojo. I'd sit with the same unfinished sweater next to me, work a few stitches, then give up.

I've never been so slow to knit before. I guess sometimes knitting isn't therapy.

On to the FO, then. This one was finished ages back, but I never got round to writing about it. Mainly because of inertia-- why blog when its easier not to? Also my mods didn't quite work out like I had imagined.

I love how to top half of the sweater fits. Its like it was made for me- oh, wait, it was.

Now the bottom half, I wanted to make longer than the pattern and also try to give it an A-line shape. To that effect, I went up a needle size and made several increases on the sides. I'm wondering if I should have made increases all round to get more of a skater dress effect. In reality, I sbhould have started the increases sooner. Oh well. You live and learn.

I chose not to knit the cowl that the pattern calls for. I really liked the boat neck.

Still the color is very me and it does fit well. Maybe too well around the tummy!

Pattern: Francis revisited
Yarn: Knit Picks Brava worsted, wine colorway
Needles: 5.5 mm, 6 mm, 6.5 mm

Sharing this post with FO Fridays, Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday. (Linking up anyway even though Tami and Natural Suburbia are yet to add their posts!)

Wip???

After endless swatching and two false starts all I have left is this:

What does one call a disaster of such epic proportions?! Lol. This just proves I am math impaired. And I can't read directions either. 

Oh- the blue box is where I store my stitch markers. I have quite a few of them it seems. 

Gah! 

Farewell, T!

One of the saddest truths about being an expat, living in a mixed, mostly transient community, is that people come and go. They leave to start families. They leave to sometimes return home. They leave to put down roots.

One of my closest friends here, is leaving for good. She's returning to her roots and while I am deeply saddened at her imminent departure (she flies out today), I'm happy that she's happy with her choice to return home. With their family growing, it makes sense for her and her husband to go back.

I dedicate this post to you, T.

Today's FO is the baby blanket I knit for her. I won't be able to meet her or her baby anytime soon and although I will miss seeing her and cuddling the little one (due in a few short months), I hope the blanket will comfort him or her in my stead.

I knit the blanket super fast because I did want to finish it before she left. Since they have decided to keep the baby's sex a surprise, I used a pastel yellow shade, acrylic for ease of washing and larger needles because it doesn't get very cold in Bangalore, where she's headed.

The ribbon finishes the whole thing off nicely. I was hoping the hearts were brown when I bought it, but oh well.

And my label, to remind her of me.

The pattern, as written, has no real edging. I added a crocheted scallop trim to make it prettier.

Finished dimensions are about 30"x 30".

I gave it to her on her farewell a few days ago. She liked it!

Pattern: diagonal tweed baby blanket
Yarn: Lion Brand Pound of Love, pastel yellow colorway
Needles: 6.00 mm (US 10)
Hook: 6 mm

Linknig up with FO Friday, Fiber Arts Friday and Creative Friday. 

WIP Wednesday: Aggravated!

Sorry there are no pictures today. I'm kind of upset, because my project keeps encountering the same problem! I've been working on my Francis revisited pullover, and at last count, the cable on my knit picks options needles has snapped four times. Four times!!! Each time I end up dropping several stitches before realizing the darn thing has broken and picking up the dropped stitches. Ugh. The join where the plastic cable meet the metal holder must be weak because the plastic keeps popping out. I've thrown out three of the cables, kept the last one- which broke yesterday- in case knitpicks asks me to send the cable back. I've emailed customer care but I don't know what they will say. I'm really not inclined to spend postage money on returning a broken cable!

Ah.....end of rant. How much better I feel!

Friends, Friday and 'Frisco

First off--I have a terrible sinus problem. Dry winter air + indoor heating + leaky humidifier + dust allergies= a very unhappy and congested nose. And just a few days before we head to San Francisco too. Ugh! I've been sleeping (and basically living) with the humidifier on all day, but it doesn't do much good. I've taken steam, irrigated my sinuses and popped several pills to stop the sneezing and the general feeling that my head will explode. Will we survive the long flight and the dry air?

We can only hope.

Today I'm sharing something I finished awhile back, but couldn't call it like 'finished finished' because the buttons took forever to arrive. These winter storms have much to answer for (including my present state of misery).

I've never made leg warmers before, but I can see the attraction. Warm and cute! And a very easy knit, especially if you do them in the round. I made these for a friend, and the pattern she chose is knit flat. Its a cute pattern, but if I made it for myself, I'd knit in the round and the buttons would be sewn on just for show. As a matter of fact, some designs have mysteriously appeared in my Ravelry queue....wonder how that happened :D

She does seem to really like them so I'm happy. And they turned out cute which makes me happier.

Pattern: Legendary Leggings
Yarn: Lion brand wool ease, wheat colorway
Needles: 5.00 mm (US 8), 5.5 mm (US 9)

Linking up with FO Friday (although her post isn't up this week), Fiber arts Friday and Creative Friday. I'm catching an obscenely early flight tomorrow and will be traveling all of next week so there likely won't be much posting done. Have a great weekend!