Oooh, an FO!

Kittens, it's been awhile since I've had one of these. It seems that this year, all I can finish are toys. (Interestingly, these are my least favorite thing to knit/make. Love the look of them; hate making them.)








On Wednesday, I started and finished this Angry Birds Finch for my little guy. He's been having a difficult time adjusting to his father's new class schedule, so I wanted to do something nice for him. He's been super excited and the first couple of mornings, I woke up to Angry Birds battles in my bedroom. Now, he wants even more birds and more piggies to vanquish. He'll get them...in time.

The pattern designer has a full pattern line of the Birds now. I would highly recommend these; they're very well written and clear.

WIP-it Wednesday: 18 of 52

I'm back this week, kittens! I finally made some noticeable progress on one of my projects, so I have something to blog. You know... other then assure you that I'm working even if I've been really quiet and not showing off many pictures.

After my last sweater project turned out so abysmally, I allowed myself a pattern purchase and immediate cast on of another to ease my pain. Nothing hurts me more than a project that needs to be frogged; I hate wasted time and effort. (Hey, at least I do not knit the whole thing trusting my gauge and try it on at the end!)

This is some lovely Sundara Sport that I have had marinating in my stash for about 6 months now. It's definitely not the oldest yarn I have sitting in there, but it is one that I've had a hard time picking a project for. For some reason, I remembered it as being darker then it is; I seem to recall that while I liked it, I didn't really love it when it first arrived. Maybe it just looked like a darker grey in November then it does now?

This project has been on needles since mid-April. I'm moving at a snail's pace on it, but I'm OK with that. 2011 is all about taking things slow. I've been working with an unfamiliar construction type--the technical aspects are easy peasy--and sleeves are always a concern for me. I ended up making a decision to alter the pattern and fit 8 additional sleeve stitches into the top of the sleeve as I worked. (No math involved, just winged it.) I am so glad that I did and how they're spaced. Even before blocking and the growing this superwash merino will do, they fit perfectly. With growth, I'm expecting about a couple inches of ease to be added in, making them a close fitting, but looser-than-my-usual-preference sleeve. Even if for once my knitting doesn't grow like past experience has taught me, it fits! So...WOOT.

I'm about to take a quick break for a project I'm making The Boy. Then, I'll be right back on the next sleeve and getting this sweater moving!

April 2011 Wrap-up

End of the month, kittens. Here we go again!

Yardage Totals 2011

January: 1071 yds
February: 762yds

March: 1189yds
April: 1083yds

Year to date: 4,105 yds or 2.33 miles

Not bad considering it feels like I got nothing done this month.

I skipped the last WIP-it Wednesday because there was no discernible progress in any of my projects. Why bore my small audience with the same pictures as the week before? I can assure you, kittens, that I am making progress, as my yardage numbers show. I managed to finish O4 of the O7 skeins of chocolate brown yarn in the bottom stripe of the never-ending blanket for The Boy. In May, I will finish that stripe. In the sweater project I cast on late in the month, I've finished the yoke and am moving onto the sleeves this next month. I even managed to have a single FO for April, a monkey for my daughter. (The Boy now wants one of his own, and I'll try to knit that sometime in May as well.)

I'm rather pleased that my average is better than 1,OOO yards per month, which is my low monthly goal for 2O11. After 2O1O and popping out a mile per month--damn near close, anyway!--I really needed a break. I'm not going to lie to you, kittens, I've needed it. 2O11 has been rather stressful and many things require my attention that have not in the past. I'm hoping to come through this experience a little more adult than I have been. With the third decade of my life wrapping up, I suppose it's time to get serious about that whole "adult" thing.

Thank you to those of you that read this little blog of mine. Here's to a productive May!

WIP-it Wednesday: 16 of 52

Err..."Wednesday," more appropriately. Didn't have the time to blog yesterday, I'm afraid, so we'll pretend this one was on time.






First, the Wide Stripes blanket. It's hard to tell, but it is making slow progress. I now have 03 of 07 chocolate skeins knit up in the bottom stripe. For sure, I'll be finished with it by the end of next month, then I can unravel the provisional cast-on and work my way up the rest of the blanket. I'm still hoping to finish it this calendar year. (At the rate of 03 skeins/month, I should be done in December.)







Next is a sweater cast on. This one isn't too interesting yet, so I really do not have much to say about it. I'm taking things slow since I'm having to alter as I go. I do not want another mess like the last sweater I had on needles.

WIP-it Wednesday: 15 of 52

Kittens, last week you were guessing what I was up to. About 20 minutes ago, I finished it.







I believe it was my friend Katie who guessed I was making a monkey. Susan guessed it was a monster and she wouldn't be far off: he's a pattern from Rebecca Danger who *is* the "monster lady."

I had been planning to make this little guy as part of a set to send off to live with someone else, but then...it happened.

Danger! Danger! Someone seems to have fallen for the monkey.







"Mama! You no take my monkey!"

Well played, little girl, well played. It's OK, I wasn't feeling much like gift knitting anyway.

He's even started settling in and making friends.

Keyka Lou Bucket Bag

Kittens, I have been a ball of anxiety lately and yesterday, I reached the point that I had to DO SOMETHING, or I just may die. Seriously.

I needed something quick and would yield a finished object in little time.

I needed something that would use pre-existing supplies and not cost too much for a pattern.

I needed something different then I've worked on before.

And most importantly, it had to be something useful...and to my taste.

I set my mind to sew myself a new bag, and for a long time I've been eying Keyka Lou's designs. (It just so happens that she's having an anniversary sale right now if you're in the market for a new bag as well.) I've had this inexpensive brown corduroy sitting in stash for forever now; I honestly have no idea when I bought it or why I did. It's always been there. After assessing that I had just under a half yard of the fabric, I decided to make a Bucket Bag. I bought the pattern, printed it out to the correct size, and then played around a bit with what I had in stash until I was happy.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the results. The only way I could be any more happy would be if I had enough corduroy for the front pocket to be brown as well. Everything in this project--minus the corduroy-- is a leftover from one of my current projects, and it uses this adorable fabric I reclaimed from a Gymboree shirt I bought for The Girl and she never had a chance to wear. Who doesn't love ponies on some level or another?

Ponies. ♥

I've never sewn a bag before, and I'm sure I've denigrated my own sewing skills enough on this blog to paint the picture that I'm not a very experienced sewer. If I haven't, let me say it loud and clear: I AM NOT A VERY EXPERIENCED OR CAREFUL SEWER. My work is sloppy, and the eagle eyed out there will be able to see spots that I fudged or didn't get things quite right.

Overall, I'd say I did a pretty good job.







And for as much as I hate to get bogged down in putzy details, I really enjoy top stitching.

Even for someone like me, this pattern was pretty easy to follow and produced a pleasing result. I had a couple of places that I became stuck, but after reading through a few times and looking more closely at the provided pictures, I figured it out and was able to move along. I want to say this bag took 4-5 hours from beginning to end.

I definitely recommend these for anyone.

WIP-it Wednesday: 14 of 52

Wordless. (It's just easier that way, kittens.)