tow back to work

The holidays were nice while they lasted but I am glad to be going back to work. It does me good to get out of the house. If I was left to my own devices I wouldn’t leave the house at all. Oh, who am I kidding, I wouldn’t leave the bed. I do sleep a lot.
Here is the other pair of socks I have finished for the little Lady V.

I have a pair of socks made from this yarn, and now she can match me! I cast on for a purple pair tonight, let’s see how it’ll turn out.

tow hearts on her toes

One of my dear friends back in states had a baby girl V back in May. I of course mailed over a package filled with cardigans and wee hats. Now I am putting together a second package to send over. Her mother asked if I could knit V some socks because the normal socks make her feet clammy. Auntie Kelebek to the rescue!

It is another pattern from New Pathways for Sock knitters. The original pattern had three hearts on it but since this sock is only 4 inches long I only did one heart. The yarn is Rowan 4 ply soft and a wee bit of Jitterbug for the darker blue heart bit.

I find knitting baby socks immensely satisfying. They are so cute. I mean seriously think how tiny a foot must be to fit into a four inch sock! And they get done in a flash. I will also be making V a cardigan. I will use the Helena pattern because the last one I did turned out adorable!

tow 3 socks, 2 hats, 1 cardi, 1 toy, and a cat

I often write on my blog in my mind, the catch is of course that I have to type it here for others to read!
I was hoping to start this post by talking about the new job I was hired for, unfortunately I got the news that I didn’t make the cut. I made it to the second round with the 10 finalists of which they were going to hire 5-7 people. I thought I had a pretty good chance, but no. I have prayed and have others pray for me to ask Allah to grant this job to me if it is the khayr meaning “good” for me, and to take it away if it is not. Since I got so close to getting the job, yet didn’t make it I will accept this coming from God. I am just not looking forward to starting the whole cycle of job hunting again. It would be a lot easier if I knew what the heck I wanted do!
I started exercising! This was not intented as a new years resolution, it just happened to fall to this date. We bought our first Elliptical machine (cross trainer) about a month back. Unfortunately both ACA and I were too close to the maximum weight limit so the machine drove us both crazy. It was just too flimsy. So we returned that one and bought a much more sturdier machine with nearly twice the weight limit. We had some problems with that as well but it was fixed once they replaced some of the joints (turns out some of the units were faulty!). I joined the “exerstashers” group on Ravelry. I actually decided to pay myself a set amount for each workout before I got the invite to the group. That felt a bit strange! I “pay” myself a dollar for each workout. I will be using this money to buy sock yarn. This way I can curb my sock yarn buying habit and build a habit of exercising!
The Digitessa socks ain’t happening, yet. I am just too loose of a knitter to get the right gauge. I use 2.25 mm needles, and I think I will have to cave in and buy 2.00 mm needles so I can knit a bit tighter. While the digitessa awaits I finished a couple of socks.

These are the Sea Shore Socks. The yarn was dyed just for me by a friend! Yes I made two of them, I just don’t have a good photo of the pair together. I make all my socks two at a time anyway!

This was the third pattern I used for this yarn. The first one I hated the pattern so I ripped it back. The second one I got as far as half way through the gusset increases when I realised it is not supposed to pucker up like this…

So, rip rip rip and I started over with a tried and true pattern of coriolis socks with a thick band. I am pleased with how they turned out. Though I was hoping for something more whoa from this yarn as I bought it so lovingly. It’s not the yarn, it’s me!

And this is the newest pair I finished.

I called it “Salty Waves” because the colour way of the sock was Salty Dog. I knew Jitterbug was notorious for its lack of yardage, I just didn’t believe it until I made a pair. I almost always have 30-40 gr left from the socks I make. Mostly because I don’t like them too long and I am a loose knitter. I barely had anything left after finishing these socks and they are not very tall. I learned cabling without a cable needle for these socks and I love it!
I was also busy knitting baby things for Jess’ upcoming baby and for another friend. I made this shrug for Jess baby and the hat to go with it.

I love it but I won’t be making another one of these unless it’s for my own far away future baby. I really dislike seaming, it’s so much effort (and yes this comes from the woman who knits socks on 2.25 mm needles). But look how cute it turned out!
And this is the hat,

I can only imagine how it would look around the baby’s head!

And this is the other hat I made from the same pattern. The hat is posing on our cross trainer!

It needs to be blocked because the brim insists on curling upwards!

I also made a toy for another friends baby. Apparently I can’t count so the points came out all different lengths!

I don’t think the baby will mind!

I started working on a new shawl. I looked around for a long time to find a pattern good enough for my precious Wollmeise lace weight and I know this is it! It’s from the Victorian Lace today. It has a knitted on border, which scares me a bit but I am all for learning new skills!

Well the photo is to give you an idea. It’s much prettier in person!

I made this yesterday while watching TV.

We keep the salt and pepper grinder shaker things on the living room table because thats where we eat. And the black pepper insists on spilling on the table cloth. ACA put a plate under it to fix the problem but I think my solution is prettier. The bottom is a crocheted hexagonish circle and the rest is knit. I like it!

Hermoine decided that the spot I take photos of finished objects is the perfect place for her to nap. I snapped her photo then moved her away from the spot. Everything I own is covered in cat hair anyway, there is no need to pre-hair my knit/crochet items before they are even worn for the first time!

tow orange you blue

I finished the Ocean Toes socks! This is my favourite pair of socks I’ve ever made. I will be wearing them to Eid (Bayram, a Muslim Holiday) when we go to visit people.

I will be participating in a KAL to knit these beauties. I bought the kit a while back but only got this far

I am hoping by participating in a knit along I will finally be able to knit them.
I got other wollmeise goodies to show. I was able to catch the last update and bought two of my desired colourways, vergissmeinnicht and Blue Suzanne (dark).

Such pretty yarn. I don’t know which one to knit first.
I tried my hand at dying my own yarn. I was sent some blank yarn and blue food colouring in one of the swaps I was in. I only had blue so I made blue yarn

I think it turned out pretty good for first try.

I went to the Handweavers & Spinners Guild of Victoria’s sale on Saturday. It was difficult tearing myself away from all the pretty handspun yarn. I wanted to take it all home with me! Here’s a blurry photo of what I ended up with,

I got the newest issue of the Yarn magazine, an issue of the Mon Tricot, some bargain yarn on a cone, two skeins of hand spun alpaca, and a skein of orange-blue handspun. The orange and blue yarn was so squishy I had to cast on right away.

I get cold in the morning so I wanted a hat for myself. I present to you “orange you blue” hat

I had yarn left over so I made a smaller hat in the same pattern.

As I mentioned earlier my friend Jess is having a baby, yay! We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl yet so I made a teddy bear hat that will fit a boy or a girl. I don’t have a baby that can model for me, so I put the Tickle me Elmo on modeling duty

I think it will look approximately bazillion times cuter on a baby!
I made another job application on the weekend, I do want this job rather badly. Lets hope for the best!

tow coughing

I don’t understand why I can’t get well! I have started coughing and my nose is akin to a fountain. I can function much better, just have to stop for coughing fits or to blow my nose every few minutes. I am working the morning shift in the library today, we’ll see how that one goes!
The sweater dress Helena, or as I named it “Pinky Pink Pink with Brown” is coming along nicely. Unfortunately I am close to running out of yarn. It’s a shame because I was so really very much enjoying knitting it. I got a nice rhythm going with the lace pattern. Another bummer is that I bought the yarn from a Raveler for a great price, and now I have to pay three times as much for retail. I hope I can find a colourway that matches. Here’s what it looks like

The bottom flares out a bit, the circular cable is not long enough for it to stretch out. I took out the tips of the interchangeable needles and put the little stopper things on. I will take it with me tomorrow when I got buy more yarn and some buttons to match.
The September shipment of the Yarn Collective Sock Club arrived. This shipment was from Monsoon Designs and it was inspired from the Orion Nebula. The base is an awesome blend of bamboo and wool. The colourway is gorgeous as well.

I couldn’t get all the shades in the yarn to photograph properly. I don’t know why my camera refuses to capture shades of red or orange! There were also two stitch markers that came with the shipment. They are supposed to help you keep track of increase rows but I haven’t figured it how it would work, yet.
Hermoine was sitting between me and ACA, like she does most evenings. But last night she was insistent on sitting at my spot as soon as I got up. Then she would act like she was sitting there all along.

Special note to mom: That’s not a mess. That’s my side of the couch after I organised it. Thank you.
And to end with, here’s a friendly warning from your noodle producers

kelebek