FO Friday - Burberry Cowl

The Burberry Cowl I made for myself is done and I love it!  It's almost too warm to wear it right now - but it will be perfect once it starts snowing (which will be soon).  The yarn is amazing (details in a previous post).

This is the second time I've made this cowl - the first one went to my mother-in-law.  It's a great pattern and it's fast because you use chunky yarn.

I was talking to someone in my LYS the other day who said she's been wanting to make this cowl but was intimidated by the cables.  I can't express how easy cables are - especially these ones!  If you have never knit cables and don't believe me, just find a YouTube video on how to do them.  Super simple and they look great!

I could get used to this knitting for myself stuff :)

Head over to Tami's Amis to see what others have finished recently!


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WiP Wednesday - Gramps

I've started my first project of my Christmas knitting (I hope it won't be my only project but progress is slow right now!) - Gramps!  I'm knitting the 3-4 year size for my nephew who is almost 2, but big for his age.  It's looking a little small right now and I'm hoping that it's just an illusion because it's on my needles and I haven't gotten too far yet.  I even did a gauge swatch before knitting this pattern (unheard of for me!) and it was pretty close to what it was supposed to be.

For the main color (brown) I'm using Diamond Yarn Luxury Collection Fine Merino Superwash DK.  For the contrasting color (grey) I'll be using Cascade 220 Superwash in charcoal heather color.

In my efforts to become a faster knitter, I'm attempting to knit this project continental style (not my usual) as I think that, once I get it down, I'll be able to finish projects in a more timely fashion.  This project is good because it's a lot of stockinette stitch.  My main problem with continental is keeping my tension.  I still have to 'rewrap' the yarn around my finger once or twice per row but the tension is looking pretty good, so far.

I've actually gotten a bit further than these pictures show but I'll likely feature this in another WiP post in the near future so I'll take more pictures then (unless by some miracle I find more time to knit and finish this in the next week or two, then it will be in an FO Friday post!).

I hope others over at Tami's Amis are sharing  more exciting WiPs than this!  Lots to do at work and the end of the school semester have been taking up most of my time lately!  I'm counting down the days until I get a break from it all over the holidays.  One of my favorite professors is encouraging me "not to waste December" and work on an article for publication - I'm not sure if I have the heart to tell him that I really want a full break for a couple weeks...on the other hand, I'm not sure I have the energy to write a publication-worthy article!  Would much prefer to be knitting and baking next month :)

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Christmas Knitting Prep!

Despite my hectic schedule, I am determined to knit some of my Christmas gifts this year.

So, in preparation, I put in a KnitPicks order :)

I've been wanting to invest in an interchangable circular set for a while and the KnitPicks sets went on sale for 20% off - perfect motivation to finally put in an order!  I also ordered the knitting chart keeper and a couple of fixed circulars for another project I've been wanting to start for a while.

I went to my local yarn store (LYS), Urban Yarns, which is always fun (and dangerous).  I fell in love with a new colorway from Sweet Georgia Yarns called Chai Spice:

I'm debating between a couple of projects for this yarn.

I am itching to make Arbutus from Jane Richmond's new book, Island.  I spotted this gorgeous Indigo Moon skein and, well, I need Christmas presents too so in my basket it went!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm hoping to finish Gramps for my 1.5 year old nephew.  Here are the colors I chose:

The brown will be the main color.

So, my trip to my LYS was successful.  A new yarn store is opening near me on December 1st and, if I've made good progress in knitting this yarn up, I've given myself permission to buy more...and I predict there will be sales :)

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WiP Wednesday - Something for Me!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I made one 'impulse' buy at Knit City.  I could not resist the chunky, pink, amazingly soft, 100% baby alpaca yarn by Jeanette Sloan.

To justify my purchase, I made myself come up with a project on the spot before I handed over my payment.  My project of choice was the Burberry Inspired Cowl Neck Scarf.  I rarely knit anything for myself (one of my goals is to do more of this, though!) and the fact that I'd be using the yarn for something I'd keep took away some of the guilt from the impulse buy that I promised myself I would not do.

Here it is in the making...will feature it in an FO Friday post soon!

On another note, I'm hoping to start some Christmas knitting now that my 7000 word paper for school is finished!  I'm hoping to start off with a project for my niece (I'm thinking Thirsty Rose but will ask her as she is quite the independent fashionista even at the age of 3) and nephew (I'm thinking Gramps for him) because they are the most fun to knit for!  Then I'll see if I have time to work my way through any projects for the rest of my family.  

Click the image below to head over to Tami's Amis to see what everyone else has on their needles!

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FO Friday - Irish Hiking Armwarmers

This FO is not baby knitting - it's something for me!

Part of our vacation this summer included some time in Oregon.  We did part of the Fruit Loop Farm Tour - which included an alpaca farm (Cascade Alpacas).  Not only did it make me dream of owning alpacas one day (even more than before), the owner's story of how they started the business was very inspiring!  They have a wonderful little yarn store on site.  Having passed up the opportunity (maybe better to say resisted the extreme temptation due to the "More yarn?  Really??" look on my husband's face) to buy yarn from an alpaca farm we visited on San Juan Island, I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

I ended up buying a few skeins of gorgeous yarn including this skein of gorgeous, super soft 100% baby alpaca, hand dyed in the colorway "The Gorge":

To justify my purchase, I had to come up with a project on the spot that I would use it for.  I had been wanting to make the Irish Hiking Scarf Armwarmers for quite some time and thought this would be great yarn for the project.

It's even more gorgeous once it's knit up.

These were easy to knit and fast.  They would make great gifts...but I'm keeping these ones for myself :)

Thanks again to Tami's Amis for hosting the FO Friday linkups!

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