And then there was knitting

Lots and lots of knitting! Woo hoo!

Let's start with a hat, it looked like this:

Then I realized it was going to be too small, so now it looks like this:

My sister laughed when I texted her the pictures. Back to the drawing board on that one. Clearly, I need a larger needle. Funny thing is I was sure I got gauge, maybe even a smidgen looser than it called for.

But in the good news category my Wee Niece's new Wallaby is progressing nicely. There are sleeves and the pouch is finished. Will hopefully join the pouch to the body this weekend. That will probably depend on how much knitting is done on the hat featured above.

And progress was made on a random pair of socks. Definitely got my sock mojo back. What a relief. No idea who these will be for, maybe even me, but it's nice to have a pair in reserve in case something comes up and you need an emergency sock gift.

Current Weather
9C and mostly cloudy. Another Chinook has blown in and warmed everything up.

Wordless Wednesday

It's Deja Vu All Over Again

I was hit by the urge to make my Wee Niece another sweater. In mauve again. Another Wallaby. A bit larger this time as the first one just barely fit her. In fact, I suspect she's outgrown it by now and she got it at Christmas.

The sleeves are well begun.

I floated the idea of new sweaters for my Niece and Nephew to my sister but she's pretty sure they won't wear them. In that case I'm not going to waste precious knitting time unless they ask.

And I started more socks in John Deere colours. I think these will be for a friend who will be house sitting while I'm away later this year. No pics yet.

In other knitting news....

My sister (mother of my Niece and Nephew) asked me for a Wurm in grey or black. How can one refuse?

Current Weather
4C and partly cloudy. Everything is refreezing as the Chinook blows out of town and I nearly wrenched my knee on some ice while walking the dogs. I was even wearing a hat with a light in it and still didn't see the ice. Of course, the dogs barely noticed the ice. Must be nice to be a quadruped, or tri-pawed in Ahab's case.

Wordless Wednesday

Sleeves

Socks For Me

Finished up a pair of socks for myself. I think I have my sock knitting mojo back. Hooray! For a while there it was looking pretty bleak on the sock knitting front. Guess it was just a bump on the road not a complete derailment. Yes, that's totally a mixed metaphor.

These are just a basic pair of socks, although I did make the top wider to accommodate my fat calves. This yarn came with a spool of yarn to reinforce the heels and toes with, of course I totally forgot to use it. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Lang Yarns Jawoll Color Superwash
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches / 4 inches

I think I'll try to work on more than just socks now as I've knitted four pairs in the past month, which is quite a sock marathon as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe I'll go back to knitting for my Wee Niece...... it's not like that can go badly after all. ;-)

Current Weather
6C and mostly cloudy. We are in the middle of a Chinook so temperatures have warmed up and the roads are a slushy mess.

Wordless Wednesday

Tree out front

First Socks of the Year

Always feels rather celebratory to finish off the first project of the year. These are pink; very, exceedingly pink. It's the thing for little girls these days.

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Lion Brand Sock-Ease Prints in Cotton Candy
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches / 4 inches

Very Pink Socks

Current Weather
-11C and partly cloudy.

2016 Year in Review

Let's take a look back at 2016.

Pets

Eclipse is still trucking along up at my friends' place. I suspect she loves retirement.

No health crisises from the felines this year. Squish continues to take his thyroid medication and he's actually not too bad about taking his pill twice a day. Other than that the cats are maintaining the status quo.

Soccer has another raging ear infection to finish off the year, I hope I can get this cleared up soon. He also seems to have slowed down a lot in the past few months. I hope it's just age as he turned 12 recently, I don't know his exact birthday as he was a rescue but I put it at sometime around the end of the year.

Ahab loves, loves, loves playing Scent Hurdle. He earned three titles in 2016. He started off running every heat in every race but starting in the fall I cut him back to one heat per race. He's old and I don't want him to get hurt playing the game. He sure gets excited if I pull out the barbells for a little practice.

Knitting

First thing finished in 2016 was a pair of socks for myself. Made from leftovers from a couple other pairs. I'm imposing a personal minimum of three yarns before they're Frankensocks.

Then I finished a sweater for myself. It didn't end up fitting as well as I'd hoped it would so I don't wear it much. This may end up in the Frog Pond yet.

Then came John Deer Knubbelchen in preparation for my Wee Niece's visit in the summer. Oh, and my Sister and Brother-in-Law came too but we all know who the important visitor was.

Next up more socks, for my Nephew this time. He's having a green phase which has continued into this year as he wants sock that are "green with maybe purple" for his birthday. Never argue with another person's colour choices.

Then some irresistibly cute Monster Pants. I made these too big for my Wee Niece but better than too small when it comes to kids.

Socks for my not-so-Wee Niece, she's still totally into pink. I live in despair that she will ever discover that other colours exist. No, not really; but I personally just don't care for pink. It's a harsh colour to my eyes. That's just me though.

Then I realized that if I was going to give my Wee Niece a toy upon her arrival I had better have one for the other little girl who was coming. My sister traveled with a friend who also has a young daughter. So I made a second Knubbelchen. I've been told since that this has become one of her favourite toys. How thrilling!

I wanted to try making more three dimensional toys but decided to break into the genre slowly so I made myself a Wee Little Bunny. He's presently sitting on my desk at work watching over my (dying) computer. The colour doesn't show particularly well in the picture, he's actually a soft yellow.

A friend of my boss had her gallbladder removed and since I'd knitted a "replacement" for myself as a joke when I had mine removed he asked if I could make another for her. Why not?

Feeling a bit more confident knitting three dimensional items I made a rabbit for my Wee Niece. When she received him on her birthday she kept putting him in a mixing bowl. My Mom decided we should call him Basil the Bunny because she was clearly trying to cook him up. We'll have to wait and see if that sticks.

Then along came another sweater for my Wee Niece. If you're sensing a theme here you'd not be wrong.

My sister who never wears socks (different sister than my Wee Niece's mom) asked for a pair of purple socks. How could I resist such a plea? I mostly knitted these while watching some exceedingly boring SQL training videos. They kept me awake.

At last something for myself. This sweater has been seeing a lot of wear. It's made from sock weight yarn so it can be worn indoors. This is a basic bottom up seamless sweater. I love seamless sweaters, mostly because I hate sewing. Learned that after making a couple of flat knit sweaters.

Found this pattern and simply could not resist making a dragon for my Wee Niece. I may have to make more of these as they're so terribly cute.

The first sock weight sweater was such a success I made another. I have a third on the needles and yarn for two more after that.

Some summer socks for me. These are mostly cotton so they're nice and cool for summer. If we get summer, which doesn't always seem to be a guarantee around here.

Then came the Great Sweater Crisis. I started making a Wonderful Wallaby using the colours found in a Hudson Bay blanket but it looked like it was going to be too large. So I made this little Mauve Wallaby which I greatly feared would be too small, have now spoken to my sister and it fits, just barely. It's made from sport weight yarn using the smallest Wallaby pattern with the sleeves and body shortened a bit.

In the end I did finish the Hudson Bay Wallaby and I sent it over to my Wee Niece with my folks when they went over for Christmas this year. I'm so jealous of the fun they must be having over there.

And because I had so much fun making toys I finished off with a Polar Bear. I think she's a girl we'll see what my Wee Niece decides. The sweater is not part of the bear so I predict lots of "take the sweater off, get someone to put it back on for me" from my Wee Niece.

My older Niece and Nephew also got toys this year. They don't look like much but who couldn't use a Hacky Sack? Maybe they'll become all the rage at the hockey rink. They also got books for Christmas although they were delivered on Boxing Day. The Hacky Sacks were a great hit and we spent close to half an hour playing with them, guess who got to help demonstrate them?

The tentative plan is to knit three more for each of them for birthdays or Easter so they can have juggling balls. Maybe I'll use the leftovers from their Birthday Socks; that's a thought anyway.

Then socks for Mom for her birthday in early December. These were late and are presently waiting for her to come home from Scotland.

Since I'm using up some vacation time at the end of the year Dad's birthday socks got finished in plenty of time for his birthday in January.

And finally socks for my Nephew. This puts me ahead for 2017 as his birthday isn't until February. He specifically asked for "green with maybe purple". And so I deliver. Colours are much darker than they appear in the picture.





Let's break down the numbers, just because:
24 projects completed
8 toys
8 pairs of socks
7 items for my Wee Niece
7 sweaters
3 items for my Nephew
2 items for my not-so-wee-Niece
2 bunnies
2 knubbelchen dolls
1 dragon
1 bear
1 human organ
1 pair of pants (trousers for any UK readers)