Falling Short of Gold

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Heather

Sadly, my Olympic Ravellenic dreams did not come true. I’ve run out of the main colour yarn for my Isle of Trucks sweater. I do have more coming, thank goodness, but it will be a while before it arrives.

Isle of Trucks sweater – WIP

There it is, up to the armpits. I took the time to weave in all the ends and seam the armpits, so it is looking pretty good. Sadly, I ran out of the blue yarn just a row or so before I could start the colour work that doesn’t require it. Oh well, I’d still need more for the collar, so there is no point thinking about it.

Thankfully, this project still qualifies for the Cast-On Mania Trap Shoot event, which just requires a project to be 1/3 complete. At about 3/4 done, I’m happy enough to enter it there. And the next time the Ravellenic Games roll around, I’ll make sure I’m better prepared.

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Very Scary Spoilers

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Heather

If you are working on the Lizzie*Kate mystery Very Scary and you don’t want any spoilers, don’t look any further!

An owl and a stamp?

Usually I’m not very keen on mysteries, since I am so darn picky! But I’ve wanted to stitch a Lizzie*Kate Halloween design for ages. (One day I will get around to getting Halloween Rules! or Boo Club!… maybe.)

Very Scary by Lizzie*Kate – Part 1

So, I splashed out on the whole kit – the fabric, WDW thread, the extra fabric for the freebie chart, everything. I caught the husband at a weak moment (he may  have been mostly asleep at the time…). And I’m so glad I did, because so far I’m really enjoying the design and I love the look that the over-dyed threads give.

It looks like Part 2 will have a verse, based on the teaser picture on the Lizze*Kate blog. Hopefully it will be something fun or scary. Either way, I can’t wait to stitch more!

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August WIPocalypse and Theme-a-licious

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Heather

Two SALs in one day!

Last month’s WIPocalypse went pretty well. I was able to finish up my Christmas Biscornu fairly quickly, although I am in no rush to do buttonhole stitch again anytime soon. This month’s focus project will be Teresa Wentzler’s Cutwork Compass Rose, a Creativ Festival class from 2009 (sadly, the year TW was sick; instead the class was taught by Erica of Erica’s Places).

Cutwork Compass Rose by Teresa Wentzler (WIP)

 

I’ve still got a lot of stitching to do on this, but I think I can get it done by the end of the month.

On to Theme-a-licious! This month is Altius August, where goal is to embrace the Olympic motto of Olympic motto–Citius, Altius, Fortius. So, in addition to continuing with my Ravellenic knitting, I’ll also be trying to finish up my Chocolate Humbug Bag, a canvaswork design by Northern Pines Designs. Since I am taking a couple of canvaswork classes at the Creativ Festival in October, I figure I better finish up at least one piece on my own!

Chocolate Humbug Bag by Northern Pine Designs (WIP)

I’m hoping I’ll be able to figure out how to use a laying tool properly before October. 😉

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Olympic Knitting

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Heather

Oh, noes! I’m tempting fate by using the O-word! (Thankfully, the COC is a little less crazy than the USOC.)

A sleeve and a bit

Not much of a start, but I’ve still got just under two weeks. The pattern is Isle of Trucks by Fawn Pea (available though the Knit Picks website). The yarn is Knit Picks Cotlin in colours I picked myself (so hopefully the colourwork doesn’t turn into a garish mess).

One plus of having just finished a sweater knit from Cotlin is that I didn’t have to swatch!! Yipee!

Planned changes to the pattern include making the arms and body longer. I may add a band of contrasting colour to them, since I am afraid of running out the main colour. The first sleeve took an entire ball of the MC, so it will be close. Thankfully, I found someone who is willing to sell me one more ball. And, thanks to the coloured yoke at the top of the sweater, the change in dye lot shouldn’t be noticeable. I just need to cross my fingers that it gets here before the end of the Olympics!

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Shades of Spring

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Heather

Let’s see, I’ve covered Halloween and Christmas so far this month. How about Easter next?

Hanging About, designed by Enchanting Lair

This is another old Creativ Festival class (2010, I believe), from Laura Dickson of Enchanting Lair. It is called Hanging About, and due to supplier issues, it didn’t quite live up to her original vision and so it was never released for sale.

The three sides of Hanging About

All three sides are the same, as you can see. Notice anything weird, though? That, my stitchy friends, is why you want dye lots to match. The middle triangle was stitched by Laura sometime in early 2010. She then purchased more Dinky Dyes silk to make up the kits for the fall show. And, as you can see, things had changed a little. The colours are the same, but much brighter.

The fibres are Dinky Dyes silks, Kreinik #4 braid, and Dinky Dyes ribbon. One of the panels has a small Delica bead on it. (I only had two beads, so I decided it looked better to have only one panel with a bead, rather two with and one without.)

And that, happily brings me to 49 WIPs! Woot! (Let’s not think about the eight needlework classes I’ve signed up for in October…)

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Fields of White

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Heather

Ugh! I know that I don’t like working with large swaths of white. And, yet, I do it again and again.

V-neck pullover designed by Sirdar

The pattern is 1753 Sweaters (great name, eh?) from Sirdar. The yarn is Knit Picks Cotlin in colour Swan, which isn’t exactly white but is close enough. I made the option with the v-neck, but round neck instructions are included in the pattern.

“Hey little man, let’s pretend to be a model today!”

I made the sweater just a little bit longer than called for in the pattern, in hopes that it might actually make it through two winters. (The little man is tall and very thin, like his daddy.)

And least you think I am crazy for knitting a white sweater for a little boy, his school uniform colours are navy and white. And, yep, a navy sweater will be on the needles in a month of two.

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A Dragon’s Castle

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Heather

I’ve had the Creativ Festival on my mind recently because it is time for the class brochure to come out, and so I figured maybe it was time to finish up a few old class projects. Earlier this week I finally added the beads to, and cut out, Perforated Paper Castle by Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams (a fall 2011 class).

Perforated Paper Castle, designed by Jennifer Aikman-Smith

Inside is a wee dragon made by Jennifer.

Tiny dragon

The class even managed to talk her into signing all the bums. Jennifer is a really fun lady, and it was hilarious to see her walking around the room signing all the tiny bums.

 

Tiny dragon’s bum

Now completely unrelated, but equally as cool: did you know that Teresa Wentzler will be releasing a new design? A series of Christmas ornaments will be released through PatternsOnline in August. How exciting is that?

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