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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WiP Wednesday - Chunky Trapper Hat

When I applied to graduate school, I needed references.  One of my references had a newborn baby at the time.  I said to him that I'd like to knit his little girl something as a thank you.  That was nearly 2 years ago - but, I haven't forgotten (he, on the other hand, likely has!).  Lately I've been trying to focus on things that are weighing on my shoulders - doing them and lightening the load (in all areas of my life).  This is one of those things that was constantly in the back of my mind.  Now, he was a grad student at one point too.  I'm sure he will understand how busy I have been.  I'm also sure that I care about this 1000 times more than he does.

Last week, I found a project that would be fast, but super cute - the Baby Big Bobble Superfast Cable Trapper Hat by Mad Monkey Knits.  I'm loving chunky knits lately and I'm loving cables, so this hat was a perfect choice; not to mention that I think it will be adorable on a toddler!

I'm using Loops & Threads Charisma.  It's 100% acrylic but its soft (bonus) and it's washable/dryable (double bonus).

I'm loving how it's knitting up so far:

I did run into a bit of trouble understanding the pattern when I had to add in the second ear flap, but I emailed the pattern designer and she emailed back with a clarification within minutes.  I've purchased and knit a couple of her patterns before and the customer service has been great!

Will post the FO on a future Friday post.  Head on over to Tami's Amis to see what everyone else is working on!

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WiP Wednesday - The Hat Full of Friends

I'm excited to have a WiP today to share!  I have a couple of friends expecting baby boys so I decided to work on some hats as I do my reading for school.

A while ago my boss was clearing out some of her stash and gave each of us who knits some yarn.  I received a beautiful skein of hand-dyed sock yarn in shades of blue (I'll have to ask her again what the fibre content is).  It seemed like the perfect yarn for the Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat.  Since most of this hat is just straight stockinette stitch, it's a project I can work on without having to constantly look at it (hence why it is a good project to do while reading).

One of the most exciting things is that I got to use my new skein holder/swift!  A friend's girlfriend found out that I knit (as does she) and gave it to me for my birthday (amazing!).   Using my coworkers ball-winder that she doesn't use, I was able to set this up:

I had some issues finding surfaces which I could clamp the skein holder and ball winder to but I think this worked quite well in the end.  No more putting my skein around the back of a chair and winding it onto my thumb!  YAY!  I think my cat had as much fun with it as I did :)

I ended up with three balls of this beautiful yarn.

I started working on the first hat (I should have enough yarn for 3 of these hats) and also finally got to use one of the beautiful stitch markers a friend gave me as part of my bridal shower present.

In one day, I almost finished the whole hat (I guess that is one benefit of having so much reading to do!) (I am not the fastest knitter around so almost finishing something in one day is an accomplishment!).  I'll share it in an upcoming FO Friday post.

I love that this hat is 'full of friends' - my boss/friend who gave me the yarn, the swift that was a gift from a friend, the ball winder who came from a coworker/friend, the stitch markers from a friend, the final product for a friend.  Having friends who knit rock!

Be sure to hop on over to Tamis Amis and check out what everyone else is working on!

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WiP Wednesday....Already?!?

Sooo, as I was sitting in my evening class last night, I was reminding myself to take some pictures and prep my blog post (as I actually have a new WiP to share this week!).  I even stopped on my way home from class and bought another ball of yarn for my project.  I got home and proceeded to fall asleep on the couch, turned off my alarm when it went off early this morning, heard my husbands alarm upstairs and tried to ignore it...and then FINALLY got up when I heard my cat working on a hairball (which made me spring up from the couch and sprint to him to try to get him onto the laminate floors but OF COURSE he puked on the small and only carpet in our kitchen.  Why?  WHY?)  So, in order to get to work on time this morning, I had to forgo decent pictures of my WiP and will now have to provide you with the lovely cell phone picture taken on my work desk below.

I started work on an oversize, chunky cowl for my sister-in-law.  Her birthday was back in June and I have been wondering what to get her (lol).  Nothing was quite right...until I saw one of her Pinterest posts (have you been to this site?  Pinterest.com.  I warn you, it is slightly addictive.)  She 'pinned' this gorgeous cowl and I thought "ah!  That's it!"

I'm using Lion Brand Thick and Quick Wool Ease yarn in "wheat".  I'm knitting on US 19 (15 mm) needles.  It's quite meditative to knit this project - the yarn feels quite nice and it's straight knitting (so I can do it while reading my articles for school!).  It's going to be really wide - something similar to this but maybe not quite as wide:

I cast on 80 stitches and will knit until I feel it's to my liking.  Then I will seam it up.  I considered knitting this in the round but I've seen some pictures where people use the seam (inside-out) as part of the fashion, so I decided to keep that an option for my sister-in-law.

I'm hoping to have this finished by the end of this weekend!  There's an FO Friday in my future!

Go and check out everyone else's WiPs over at tamisamis.blogspot.com!

WiP Wednesday!

Thanks to Tami for 'hosting' the Work In Progress Wednesdays on her blog!  It keeps me blogging...and knitting! 

I have two WiPs to share this week.

~1~

I started another project this week.  This one has no deadlines attached (it's a 'just because' gift for my niece) but I don't think it will sit on the needles too long because I can't wait for it to be done!

I'm making the Hippo from Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys book.  I'm using the same yarn I used for the Elefante.

Here's the beginning of the body - the blisters and tenderness on my fingers still hasn't healed from the Elefante (tight knits!) so I'm going to have to pace myself :)

~2~

I've made a bit more progress on the Travelling Woman lace shawl.  It's a project I really have to focus on so it's not a good knit to work on late at night while watching tv (so it's taking me a while to complete).  I'm looking forward to completing the knitting and then blocking it - I think blocking is really going to make a difference on this project.