FO Friday and an Announcement!

I have two FOs to share with you today!  Click on the image above to head on over to Tami's blog to see what everyone else has finished lately.

First is the lace shawl that I made for my mom.  Took me a really long time but I learned so much during the process!

Here is a close-up of some of the lacework: 

And one of my mom wearing it:

For my first ever attempt at lace, I'm happy with it.  

This next project I just LOVE!  Loved knitting it, love the finished product, love the recipient.  It's the Baby Tiered Coat and Jacket (available on Ravellry.com).  I started off with the intent to make the jacket (three tiers).  Sophie is only 6-months old but is into 12-month clothes in some instances - so I started to knit the 12-month size.  As I was working on the first tier I clued into the fact that she may be round, but is not as long as a 12-month-old would be, so I decided to stop at one tier.  When knitting the arms, I knit the 12-month size but used the 6-month length.  I gave it to her as a baptism gift and I was SO excited to hear that it actually fit her well!

I love seeing pictures of the kids I knit for in the pieces I've made for them!  Here's one of Miss Sophie wearing the coat!

And, finally, my announcement:

I'm engaged!  He popped the question about a week ago - he hid the ring in the bottom of my bowl of popcorn!  I'm sooo excited!...and already overwhelmed with wedding planning!  We're going to get married on August 13th of this year.

WiP Wednesday - What's On My Needles?

I'm happy to be back blogging and happy to have three projects to share today!

First up is something I think I will keep for myself.  It will end up being a big infinity scarf/cowl.  I just cast on a bunch of stitches, am using thick yarn, huge needles, and doing a seed stitch.

Second is a baby sweater for my new nephew!  It's a Sirdar pattern (1803).  I've used Sirdar patterns before and I really like them.  They are easy to follow and they are written for birth - 7 years so I see buying the pattern as a good investment.  I chose the hooded version with the basket weave pattern.

Finally is the 'hat with a duck part'.  I'm sad about this project.  I ran out of yarn but ended up finding a fellow Ravelry member with a ball in her stash she was willing to sell for a reasonable price.  As suggested, I added an extra inch to the hat but I still think it's going to be too small/short.  I think it's because the yarn I am using is cotton and doesn't have much stretch/give (newbie mistake of yarn choice?)...which also makes me think that blocking won't help my issues much, if at all.

The ribbing will be folded up and a brim inserted.

The ribbed part will stick out once the brim is in.

I'm going to finish it and try it on the little guy who requested this hat (I'm sure he's forgotten about it by now). If it doesn't fit, worst case is I get different yarn and make it again and hope that this will fit a smaller child!  I think it will either just fit, or just not fit.

Head over to Tami's Amis and see what everyone is working on!

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2011

This is a re-blog from Eskimimi Knits (is re-blog a word?  Like re-tweet?  Am I even allowed to do this?  Oh well, it's good info and you know where it's coming from).  I'm in!  Are you?

"*Fanfare!* Announcing the launch of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2011, the second annual event.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2011 will run from 28th March to 3rd April 2011 in a week of fibre-arts related posts and events which will see many members of the knitting and crochet community worldwide blog daily together on the same subjects and topics.

Everyone is free, welcomed and encouraged to take part. Last year we had close to 200 bloggers simultaneously blogging on the same seven subjects throughout the week – this year let’s do all we can to make it bigger and better than last year.

There are no strict rules to blogging along – nobody will come after yu if you miss a few days out or put your posts up a few days late – the whole idea is to encourage creativity in fibre arts blogs and to help motivate everyone to keep on blogging to their best.

As last year I have laid out seven daily topics plus one ‘wild card’ topic for bloggers to use as a substitute for any day which they do not fancy the subject for. I have again ‘spoilered’ the list of topics so that any bloggers who wish to test their blogging skills by writing posts on the day they are to be published with no preparation can do so without accidentally seeing the subject before the day. If people want to get started on preparation before hand, though, the subjects are now ready to view – simply click on the date title and the topic and explanation shall open up to view.

Note: I think blogging along on the day is fun and a challenge to some people and an absolute nightmare for others, do whichever you fancy. However, I suggest that most people take a look at Day 5 as it proposes something a little bit different and I hope will push bloggers to get more creative. As such it might take a little more preparation than other posts.

So… are you interested?  Then please see this page for all additional details: Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2011

If you have any questions or queries, please leave a comment on this post or the page linked to and I will contact you with information and also publish theanswer to any queries in an updated FAQ this time next week along with further details about the tagging system.

Please do help to promote Knitting and Crochet Blog Week if you can, as the more people that take part the better it will be. Let’s try and get as many bloggers, knitters and crocheters from as many countries around the globe blogging at once as we can. Fell free to use any of the graphics to promote the event on your own blog or around the web. Happy blogging!"