WiP Wednesday #5

So starting with the WiP that I don't have a picture of, I desperately need to complete my third square in my Vortex blanket. Being that tomorrow is December 1st and I'm supposed to be starting the fourth and final square, number 3 needs to be worked on TODAY! Crossing my fingers for that to get done!

The Snowflake Throw is still slowly coming along. I was doing well with one row per week until we went out of town last week and that row didn't quite get completed (only 50% of it did) so I'm very slightly behind but it's on the list for the weekend.

All in all, not too bad. Now it's time for some pictures!

My quick project of the week that will be completed today and ready to share on Friday! I may or may not have time for one more quick project of the week depending on how that Vortex square goes. I completed three small projects last week while out of town. Happy to know I can knit in the car seeing as I can never read in the car AT ALL. Just need to make a quick trip to the craft store at some point for some buttons and then those three will also be ready to share Friday!

I cast on my Ballet Camisole this week as well. I know some people get bored easily with the projects that are just so repetitive in stockinette stitch but I have to say this is my go-to project during the day when little one is playing on her own but I still need to keep that one eye on her.

Trying to keep the hooks and needles happily busy this week and next week before holiday baking kicks in! I also have to whip up 8 quick little cat toys for our two furry friends Mac and Cheese. After all, they can't have empty Christmas stockings this year!

YoP #5 - Not the update I had hoped for

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow U.S. friends. I was up at my in-laws for most of the week and missed out on blogging (and missed out on making much progress but more about that in a paragraph or two). I was quite bummed that usually I'm just about finished my Christmas gift shopping/making by Thanksgiving but that was before kids. This year, it was Thanksgiving and I had barely started but that has since been remedied!

Well, first off let's start with this news about my YoP list: I finished my Saroyan and I'm in love with it! I was hoping to have it blocked before I left for the in-laws house but it wasn't quite dry so it had to stay at home but was a nice surprise for me to come back to yesterday!

Isn't it lovely? Honestly I'm tempted to make another because of how quick it was!

Now, for the tragedy of the week. Remember my Peacock Shawlette that I was so excited about? This one with the unique colors in it?

Well, about 40 some odd rows in I decided it'd be a nice project to take with me to work on over Thanksgiving holiday. Apparently I was wrong. I happily took it out of my bag and began knitting away when several rows later I noticed that there were several random stitches added and a few stitches dropped as I went along. Long story short, the rows that aren't pattern rows are to be purled and it appears I took out the project thinking I was on a purl row when I wasn't so I purled two rows straight and then on one of the following pattern rows I somehow didn't follow the pattern very well (this is why I don't knit and talk, I should know better at this point).

Without a lifeline anywhere and me being quite rookie on fixing my own knitting mistakes AND knowing that I have started and restarted this thing at least 4-5 times, I decided that I was going to have to forfeit the project, frog and save it for another time. I'm not taking it off my list because it was my own stupidity that caused on the confusion and I do want to complete it, I just don't think the holidays are a good time for me to do my first knit lace shawl. It was rather sad to unravel it all :( but I'm optimistic about the next time I start it.

Poor yarn looks so sad now.

I think I'm going to cast on my Summit Shawl or Ballet Camisole this week. Eventually I'll cast on both and work simultaneously as I think the Ballet Camisole is a prety repetitive pattern so I'll need some variety going too.

Next time I'll know to listen to myself and take the simple project to work on while I talk. If I had done that, my 3rd vortex square would be complete instead of behind! Darn holiday madness kicking in!

FO Friday #4

I mentioned Wednesday that I had lots of FO's and lots of pictures, right?

Well.....

I do!

We'll start with this past weekend. I was dying to make one of these for SOMEONE and even though it's a baby cocoon, my 3-month old is just too long to logically fit in this thing. A friend on Facebook mentioned her friend had just had a baby that day so I officially had someone to make it for! Quickest project ever!

The top is made of that Pom-Pom novelty type yarn which I had purposely avoided since it's been out. I didn't realize the top of the baby cocoon was made of this until I looked at the pattern but surprisingly, I was pleased working with the Pom-Pom yarn and if I had a use for it, I'd do it again!

FO #2 this week: Fingerless Mitts for my Aunt. It wasn't a project planned for my week but I found out she was in need of them so another quick project later, here they are.

The above mitts were made with the leftover yarn from my next FO for this week, an owl hat for a friend expecting a baby! I won't mention what friend on the off chance she somehow finds my blog (I'm about 80% sure she won't).

I love these owl hats from Inner Hooker, they're so adorable. My little one now fits hers so we're getting a lot of wear out of it for cuteness reasons! I have a few of her other hat patterns as well but haven't got around to making them just yet!

Made myself a Divine Hat this week as well (mentioned it in this week's WIP Wednesday post). It was my project off the "quick list" on my year of projects that I wanted to do before Christmas. With all my other FO's I understand I really could've gotten away without making a project off my list but I myself needed a new hat for this winter and our latest cold front was motivation!

These last three FO are very small but I love them so I wanted to include them. I made the hubby a bottle cozy and a coffee cozy in his beloved Steelers colors. He tested it out with a beer bottle the other day and it was perfect but of course when I went to take pictures, all I had within reach was an ugly water bottle.

Finally these are FO's in the sense that the hat itself is finished but I haven't embellished them yet so I guess they're sort of WIPs too. I was just happy to complete three (3!!) of them this week on top of everything else.

They're baby hats, for which of course my model was napping at the time of this post, oh well. They're all 3-6 month size :).

I can't promise every week will be this productive and picture pretty but I'm glad to have so many to share with you this week!

WiP Wednesday #4

My mom called me earlier in the week to remind me that the small annual craft fair we usually do was quickly approaching so based on my limited time (it's held the second week in December) to build stock, I've decided to go with "Are you cozy this holiday season?" for my portion of the items.

That means I've been working on creating all kinds of various cozies for various items! Obviously the first versions aren't perfect so I'm not sharing pictures of those but Friday I'll be sure to have a few to share!

Above is my box of yarn to create all my craft show goodies. Being that my phone call with my mom was last Thursday when Michael's was conveniently selling Vanna's Choice for 1.99 PLUS 25% off your total purchase. I picked up a ton of skeins and spent only $19.60. I should mention that total also included a skein of pompom yarn for a project that will also be revealed on Friday!

I don't have that many exciting pictures for this week's Wednesday which is a bummer because I have so many FO's to share at the end of the week! I believe right now I'm up to 6...yes SIX!! We'll say it was a busy Saturday through Tuesday for me :)

Here's one of my not quite yet finished small items this week in Moda Dea Eclipse. I really wish they still made this yarn, it's such a pretty color.

So yes, I apologize for the lack of exciting pictures but Friday will be an extravagant post of pictures for sure, I'm excited!

For now, it's off to make some progress on my Saroyan and other bigger projects that have sadly been neglected the past week due to "life" going on.

And on one last note? This is how I've been so productive lately. As opposed to being rocked to sleep, we just sort of zonk out now.

YoP #4

I guess there's good news and bad news to this post. The good news being I've been productive on my Saroyan, the bad news being that's ALL I've been productive with off my list this week. I've officially been invaded by outside projects which is keeping me from my list! I did finish my Granny Cowl that I posted in this past week's FO Friday!

I finished the first increase section and am working on the fourth or ten leaves on the middle before doing the last six leaf decrease. My guess is that this will be done fairly quickly but once again, we'll see how those non-list projects take over my life :-P.

The fourth row on the snowflake throw is finished but I won't bore you with another repetitive picture of more snowflakes. Two rows to go so that is moving at a good pace too!

GOALS FOR THIS UPCOMING WEEK:

* Must do more rounds on the Vortex throw to ensure my third square is finished by the end of November. I've only completed 9 of 22 rounds, yikes!

* More work on the Saroyan/Peacock Shawlette

* Get going on items for the upcoming craft show Dec. 1st or 6th (the date hasn't been finalized yet)

* Complete a baby gift for a friend we're seeing over the Thanksgiving holiday

*Row number FIVE on the snowflake throw

*Finish something on my "quick project" list which really should only take an hour or two

On top of all the crafty-ness I really do need to clean the house so it'll be an interesting week. I'm hoping for long naps from the little one to help me out! I figure if I can get some non-YoP things done during the day with the cleaning, then the evening is mine to work on YoP things!

Sorry there's no exciting pictures this week, I do already have at least one FO for FO Friday this week, hoping for two!

FO Friday #3

I finished my quick stash yarn project for the week! I made the Granny Cowl from Crochet with Raymond. I definitely want to make another one of these with some regular worsted weight yarn but I do still mostly like the outcome of this one with Homespun.

Excuse the picture with the lovely sweatshirt. It's 6:30 a.m. and it's already been declared a lazy Friday in my house by me!

I just realized that the bottom of that last picture the cowl is curled up a bit, oops. Apparently pictures early in the morning are not something I must repeat! I'm also very excited that even though this is made from random stash yarn I had, it coordinates perfectly with my winter coat! Picture of that coming soon :) Hopefully this afternoon!

Don't forget to click the link at the top of this post for more FO Friday!

Mill Ends...oh what you can find!

So I had to make my way to AC Moore this morning and get one last skein of blue for my snowflake throw and go in search of two picture frames (one for a Christmas present, the other for my house).

Now of course we all know you can't go down the yarn aisles and JUST get that one skein you went for. I happened to pass by the mill ends bags which are always fantastic deals at 6.99/bag (today turns out they were only $5.24 so even better!

Knowing your yarn comes in handy looking at these bags because if you can identify what it is, you can always buy more of it later if you start a project and need it. I had wanted to try out the Bernat Mosaic yarn for awhile and unless someone can prove me wrong, it appears this is a mill ends bag of Mosaic in the "Aura" colorway. As you can see by the picture of the bag, obviously that's plenty more than one skein so getting all of that for less than the usual price of $5.99/skein.

Excuse the glare on the second picture, I was that excited to take a picture when I got home. There's six skeins of mystery yardage in that bag but based on my experience with these mill end bags in the past, they're usually quite close to the actual skein :)

Needless to say I'm ecstatic! Time to find the perfect project and if I ever need more since I don't exactly know how much I have, there's always 40% and 50% discount coupons to the craft stores in the paper every week!

Ok excitement done now, I couldn't resist sharing!

WiP Wednesday #3

Despite the usual progress on the usual projects, I wanted to share something different this week as to not be so boring with the somewhat repetitive pictures showing that I've done x amount more rows on the same ol' thing! So...

I found some Lion Brand Homespun odd skeins in my stash that happened to happily coordinate with each other. I'm finishing up the project today and will have it up for FO Fridays but wanted to give you a sneak peek of some of its awesomeness. I will say, no wonder this Homespum was in my stash for so long. It's nice and soft but man do I somewhat hate crocheting with it. It slows down my progress just a short bit.

Don't forget to click on the link at the top of the post for more WiP Wednesday!

YoP #3 / Squee Sunday #2

Not sure that I'll have time to do separate Year of Project and Squee Sunday posts today so I cheated and tacked my Squee Sunday onto the bottom of this post instead :).

I've been busy busy knitting away on my Peacock Shawlette and haven't had to rip it out again yet *crosses fingers*. Let's hope at 26 rows in, we're good to go (but probably good for me to start stringing in some life lines in case I have to frog anything else).

Also decided I couldn't hold off and had to start my Saroyan this week! Loving this pattern so far, it goes so quick!

I think the pattern shows up best in a solid color but I really like this yarn and it's so soft that I can't resist! I'll probably make another in a solid to show off the pattern better.

It doesn't seem like much yet but I also started the first few rows on my Cap Sleeve Top. I'll have to get a better picture of the yarn because it looks grey in this one and it's not! It's Bernat Baby Stretch in a medium purple color, very pretty. I hate when pictures don't do the yarn justice!

My snowflake count on my throw is at 21/42 (counting large motifs only, not fillers). Looks like this will be finished by Thanksgiving!

Yes, there's one filler motif I have to put in at the bottom left but I had to take the updated picture for today's post.

YoP-wise, I think that's my progress for the week. Two starts and two continuing WIPs so four projects total off my list in progress right now, not too bad! I guess there's really five since my Vortex Throw is on there but the only progress on that was the first several rounds of the third square so no pictures I haven't already posted.

Don't forget to click the link above and read about others' squees too!!

My Squee for this week? Little One, who was previously accidentally getting her thumb in her mouth, can now purposely get it in her mouth! We thought it was the usual accident until she pulled it out and promptly put it back in. Can't believe she'll be 3 months on Monday already! Time is flying!

FO Friday #2

Just a quick post this morning to show off my finished set of fingerless mitts out of Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight. Funny how the striping ended up matching in both, I love them!

That's the only FO for this week but I'm glad to have finished them! Excuse the somewhat overexposed second picture, it was late at night and with no natural light, really no good way to get a pretty picture of them :).

WiP Wed #2

I'm excited for how much progress I've made on various things not even in the last week, just in the last few days! I finally started my other fingerless mitt and hoping to have the set complete in time for FO Friday this week! I'm kind of itching to start another pair (different pattern too) once those are complete. I think it's the change in finally having cold weather that's got me motivated for some winter accessories!

I also picked my Knook back up after having it hibernate a couple weeks. Started my fourth leaf for the table runner that by the time it's finished it won't be Autumn anymore but that's ok, it'll be finished!

Beginning of the month also means I started my next square in my Vortex blanket! This one is going quickly I'm assuming because I'm so used to the pattern at this point!

Also starting a blanket soon but when my Herrschners shipment gets here decides on which one I start. I've got some Caron Simply Soft in various colors that will eventually become a striped bobble blanket and I have the afghan kit I mentioned a few days ago on its way to my house. I'm hoping to start one of those either end of this week, beginning of next week depending on progress on everything else goes!

All three of those projects above were started Tuesday morning during the little one's naptime so I felt highly productive that day! I always hate the first few beginning rows of projects so I figured if I could get myself several rows in on each one, it'd be a breeze to complete them within the next week or so.

It's the little things...

That's right, it's the little things, like fashion accessories that give me nice little FO quickly and keep me motivated for all the bigger projects I'm working on!

I've given myself a list of several projects to pick one each week to do since they're nice and quick but very lovely! In my case, they're all crochet because that's what I'm quickest at and the only way for a one week project. There's about 7 weeks until Christmas I believe so I'm hoping to finish 7 quick projects!

1. Granny Square Cowl - Make with stash odds and ends for lots of color (COMPLETED 11.9.11)
2. Divine Hat - Moda Dea Eclipse in stash
3. City Girl Cap - Vanna's Choice in stash
4. Sensational Lacy Scarf - Crochet Thread in stash in several different colors
5. Lace Fingerless Mitts - Patons Stretch Socks in stash
6. Crochet Button Slippers - Green/Yellow boucle in stash
7. Crochet Mile a Minute Scarf - Simply Soft Ombres in stash

Can't wait to do these little projects and share them along the way!