Love Your Library-Ready for April

My March socks came out really well.  I've been working on a way to make both the legs and the feet fit properly and it seems to have worked on this pair.

April's book is The Enchanted Sole by Janel Laidman.  I have no idea why I haven't been knitting my way through this book.  The patterns are mostly for advanced sock knitters.  There are lots of different textures and colors.  The inspiration for the sock patterns are myths and legends.  The one I selected is La Licorne.  The reference is to the French medieval Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.  I got to see them when I was in Paris, so the pattern jumped right out at me.  The unusual part of this pair is some embroidery done on the completed socks.

Getting them done in a month is going to be a challenge.  I've got my weekly afghan squares, a three month shawl project, Doctor Who challenges that start tomorrow, plus a bunch of stuff that I suddenly just had to start.  I've got a big tote bag full of project bags.  It's crazy but fun.

Head for Snapdragon Crafts to see what other LYL-ers have been up to.

Stash Enhancement Saturday 3-28-15

I got my February and March club shipments on the same day this week.  This is the Firefly Club:

The yarn's called Thrilling Heroics.  Browncoats will recognize this as a Jayne Cobb inspired shipment.  It's hard to see the little stitch markers.  They have the colors of the cunning hat that Jayne's Ma made for him.  One includes Jayne's favorite gun, Vera.  I was amused.

Doctor Who Club:

The colorway's Alloys-y! and inspired by the Tenth doctor.  The object below it is a necklace with Yarncircus written in Gallifreyan.

Next week: a whole bunch of Knit Picks.

Nothing Finished Friday

I've been keeping up with all the yarnish projects.  Nothing is done, but I am working on them.  Sewing's another story.  An old, long, boring story.  What does one do without any objects to talk about on Friday?  One goes shopping!

I got the new What Would Madame Defarge Knit? book today.  It's called Defarge Does Shakespeare.  The patterns are all inspired by Shakespeare's work.  I decided that I must start the Fairy Queen Tea Cosy as soon as possible.  The recommended yarns were Knit Picks, so you can pretty much figure out the rest of the story.  It was time for the free shipping game.  I got the yarns I needed, plus a ball of Chroma for my mystery afghan.  I needed to buy a little bit more.  I checked through the tools.  The only things I wanted were backordered.  I ended up in the books.  Socks a la Carte - Colorwork was on clearance, so I got it.  It was more than I needed to spend, but the heck with it.  Now I've got all three Socks a la Carte books.  Who cares if I haven't used them yet?  I've got the whole set!

This was on top of an earlier KP trip this week.  I saved a little bit on that sale and I now have a good set of yarn on the way for my Alice in Wonderland pillow.

It's all in celebration of having survived yesterday.  It involved many hours, two different companies, and a new car battery and alternator.  I do a happy dance every time my car starts.

Here's where to go to see some things that people have actually finished:

WIP Wednesday 3-25-15

Sewing:  Project bag's been cut out.  Messenger bag has been cut out except for the interfacing.  I might need to buy some.  Van Gogh mini pillow is ready to sew together.

Alice in Wonderland pillow has been put on hold.  I want to start if over with yarn that's all from the same line of the same manufacturer.  Using stuff from my stash didn't work.

The Name of the Doctor scarf has gone from 45% complete to over 55% complete!

This week's Mystery Afghan squares are done.

Work almost in progress involves Time Lord Travels.  That's the new Doctor Who crafting game.  I've signed up for a big project (3 months) starting April 1.  It'll be the Oswin shawl.  I started it last year.  When I saw how other people's shawls were coming out, I decided to put it away and start over with a smaller crochet hook.

I don't know what the shorter term projects will be yet.  I bought an ebook of three Companion themed socks in hope that they'll work out.  Even if they don't, I want to do them anyway.

Check out Stitch Along Wednesday to see what other stitchers have been up to.

FO Friday-Spring Edition

Much to my surprise, I do have something finished this week.  These are Geek Socks (pattern in the latest Knitty):

The yarn isn't available anymore, so don't ask.  The colorway's called Caprica.

Geek Socks is a great pattern for that skein of self-striping yarn that you just had to buy.  It's much more fun than a plain vanilla sock.  You don't keep track of where the round starts.  The pattern changes when the color does.  It has an afterthought heel, so basically you knit a tube, finish it off with a toe, and go back and put in the heel.  The only thing that you have to be careful of is the length of the color repeats.  You need at least 3 rounds of each color for it to work.

More finished stuff at Freshly Finished Friday.

WIP Wednesday 3-18-15

The mystery afghan continues.  Here's week 12:

I'll do a lot of things to avoid a bunch of cross-stitch backstitching.  I finished the Geek Socks and then started on an Alice in Wonderland pillow.

It really would work out better if I used all the same kind of yarn from the same company.  It's a stashbusting project so I'm hoping it'll all work out in the end.  At least I'm getting lots of much needed colorwork practice.

Go see some more WIPs here.

Stash Enhancement Pie Day

It's the ultimate Pi day:  3.14.15.  Hee hee.  Pie to be made and consumed later today.

The Doctor Who yarn club from Knitcircus arrived today.

It's nice and soft.  I can't begin to guess what I would do with 230 yards of stripey DK weight, but you never know.  I am baffled by the colorway name, Bigger on the Inside.  It doesn't look like the inside or the outside of a Tardis.  The needle sizer is a US version of the metric one I already have.  It'll made a nice addition to a Doctor Who swap package.

Finished Object Friday the 13th

Memento Mori, my LYL socks for March.  The pattern's really fun to do.  The designer thought the little elements look like skulls.  Mine don't, but I like them anyway.  I probably did them wrong.

Arrgyles.  I did my usual thing with making the legs shorter.  The original pattern would have had two of the pirate skulls on each leg. 

These are the Seoul Brothers.  They are going with other little gnomes on a diplomatic mission from Mochimochi Land to Seoul, South Korea.

See stuff that people finished this week at Freshly Finished Friday.

WIP Wednesday 3-11-15

Sewing:  no progress on either bag.  I'm still trying to decide what fabric to use for the messenger bag.  I'm even considering not making it a Doctor Who bag at all.  The one thing I managed to do this week is to talk myself out of buying more fabric.  JoAnn's has Doctor Who fabric for sale.  I think that at least some of it is available online.  I still stopped myself from getting more.

Van Gogh mini pillow:  still needs a bunch of back stitching.  I may actually start on it when all the current socks are done.

Mystery squares:  up to date, which is week 11 of 46.  I misread the pattern so one of this week's squares is different from the other.  It still looks good so I don't care.

Love Your Library-March:  done except for blocking.

Arrgyle Socks:  done to avoid doing other things.  Hey, at least it is one thing out of my queue.  There are just a few rounds before the toe's done on the second sock.

Geek Socks:  the new Knitty came out yesterday.  When I saw a pair of socks that utilized self-striping yarn, I was all over them.  This is the second yarn I tested for them.  The pattern requires at least three rounds of  each color.  This one (Knit Picks Felici in the Caprica colorway) should work.

At the rate I'm going, most of these pictures should appear again on Friday.  Happy stitching!  Go see what other folks are up to at Stitch Along Wednesday.

Stash Enhancement Saturday 3-7-15

When one has as many project bags as I do, they count as project bag stash.  When I saw that Slipped Stitch Studios had limited edition bags in a Monty Python theme, I gave right in.

The bag's really nice.  It's their Sock+ project bag.  It's also the first project bag that does what my own do:  it's reversible!

Tune in next week when perhaps there will be actual yarn stash to share.

Finished object Friday 3-6-15

I actually finished a few things this week.  First is the Retro Robot pillow cover.  It's a bit funky because it was made with odds and ends of DK weight yarn.  If I did it again, I'd buy yarn for the project and make sure the background was a dark color.  I still like it, though.

The Gothica shawl is done.  It used up my new Also, I Can Kill You With My Brain yarn.  When I took the picture I discovered that it was dry so I will be taking the pins out so it does count as finished.

I finished the little batt of purple-green fiber.  I have no idea what I'll do with about 100 yards of overspun sport weight.  I'm sure an opportunity will come at some point.

Mochimochi Land is headed to Korea with a whole bunch of donated little gnomes.  I'm going to make a bunch.  Here's the one that's completely done.

I also finished my afghan squares for this week.  It'll be interesting to see if I have anything new to share next week.  Fingers crossed!

Check out other things other people have finished at Freshly Finished Friday.

WIP Wednesday 3-4-15

I've got a bad case of resisting finishing things.  Cross stitch needs backstitch.  A shawl and a pillow need blocking.  Second sock syndrome has occurred with yesterday's LYL sock.  I haven't gone near the sewing machine for the project bag or the messenger bag.

I picked up my spindle and an ounce of fiber somebody gave me and this is what is happening.

Love Your Library-March edition

I started my March socks a couple of days ago.  The book is Indie Socks.  The yarn is Felix Helix by Gnarledpaw.  The colorway is Octopus' Garden.  The pattern's Memento Mori.

5

The book features yarns by independent dyers.  This is a good book to have if you like indie dyers.  The yarn I have isn't in the book, but it was pretty easy to find a similar style.  I expect to be going back to this book for other patterns in the future.

The Love Your Library project isn't about yarn, but I did want to report back on the yarns I used.  I gave each of the yarns I used so for 5 out of 5 stars.  I don't usually give 5/5, so IMHO these are really good yarns.  No knots, nice twist, and beautifully dyed in all three cases.  I haven't washed any of them yet, so there's no report on possible excess dye.  The yarns are from Knitted Wit, The Cyborg's Craft Room, and Gnarledpaw.

Time Lord Travels

The new Doctor Who crafting game is a go.  It is called Time Lord Travels and the first round will be in April, May, and June.  Look it up in Groups on Ravelry if you are interested.

Yes, I signed up.