A Study in Mustard Yellow

Finally, the sock section of my blog is a lot less lonely! I made it from Twisted Lizzy's Sock Pattern.

What I love about these socks is that it looks really fancy when I wear boots, but the bottom half where nobody sees is just a super comfy plain stockinette stitch.The pattern was really easy to memorize (and do), and I found socks were a lot easier to make than I remembered. I definitely want to do something much more challenging next time! Because it was pretty mindless to make, I managed to watch the entire series of Sherlock that's available right now. And, I don't know why I didn't watch it sooner, I'm in love! I used to think Benedict Cumberbatch was not very attractive, but now I think he looks kinda cute when he's acting. I keep thinking 'Hobbit' when I see Martin Freeman though, ha (I do think he's a great actor however)! 

Anyway, I suppose I'll have to find a new series for my future project .. maybe I should jump on the Doctor Who bandwagon?

Updated list Part 3

It's been around six months since I've updated my knitting list of things to do, so I thought it'd be a good time to see how I've progressed in my knitting quest. Time sure flies though! I've been looking at all my old knitted finished objects and thinking about how I used to think it was so hard to make them, and had to look at endless Youtube tutorials, and endlessly frog, knit and refrog my work until it was perfect. Now, I'm confident I can make most of anything as long as I find a nice well written pattern!

So, things I can cross off my list:
1. Organize: I sort of accomplished this with the purchase of my three shelves. I mean, it could be neater, but at least they're not all thrown into several environmental bags anymore.

2. Mistake-less project: well, that cabled headband I made my sister was pretty flawless, as was that diamond headband I made for myself!

3. Vest: My beautiful red vest that I made knocks this off my to do list! The only regret that I have is that I didn't take clearer photos of it before giving it away to my aunt. Now the only way to reminisce about it is through my blurry photos..

4. Blanket: One of my most prized creation helps cross this one off! The Game of Thrones blanket.. it really turned out very well!

5. Headband: And it was finished quite recently too... twice!

So, what's still on the list?
1. Sweater: something that I've been preparing for.. just need to wait for my yarn to come!!

2. Bag: This one and the sweater have been on my list for forever, but unlike the sweater, I haven't really thought about this one very much.

3. Brioche: I want to do this, but I'm so intimidated!

4. Design my own pattern: Well, this won't be happening anytime soon .. my skill level is not even close yet!

5. Dishtowel: This one is the most likely to be accomplished next since its so easy to make, but for some reason I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I only have a few things to add to my list:
6. Steeking: I literally just heard of this, and is supposedly super daunting ... I want to try it (successfully) at least once!

7. Mittens with fingers: I've made gloves, and mitts with half fingers, but none with full fingers yet!

And.. that's it! While I'm at it, I'll give you a sneak peek at what I've been working on lately!

That's right, it's socks! Hasn't it been forever since I've made socks? And I find it much easier this time around! 

Another headband!

I made another headband at the request of my sister who liked the previous headband that I made, minus the color. So, she went through my stash and picked out the yarn she'd like to make her headband in and it turned out to be a ball of the grey and black homespun yarn! At first, I was still contemplating whether I wanted to make another headband so soon, and plus, I don't like making the same pattern twice. But when I saw it could help me use up that ball of homespun yarn, I agreed to it. I didn't end up using the same pattern because I knew it wouldn't really be that visible with that type of yarn, so I just made your basic cable headband with a similar style as my original headband by adding that wrap around it. I still have an entire ball of homespun yarn left, but at least it used up all the leftovers of the second ball I had! Anyway, I hope this will keep her head warm with winter approaching!

Ugly Christmas Stocking

So, I know Halloween hasn't even passed yet, but I have lots of scrap yarn that I wanted to use up, and two of the colors happened to be red and green. Soo, I decided to knit this Christmas stocking pattern. I did end up using up two scrap colors, but it was gray and black rather than green or red .. I still have lots of scrap yarn to knit away!

Well, personally, I think the stocking itself turned out pretty ugly.

I didn't even bother making a collage for this as I think looking at it from one angle is enough. As you can see, you basically just knit one giant sock. But the way you're supposed to make the heel is so different from when I made my sweetheart socks, and personally, I think it doesn't look as good. Maybe it is made differently because it isn't meant for wearing. Whatever the case, even though its ugly, I can't wait to put it out during Christmas once Halloween passes.

Shining bright like a diamond

An ultra quick weekend knit! My first headband! (I can cross that off my list of things to do!) Its made with intertwining diamonds, but I added a seed stitch band to complete the look. It was made with some baby blue leftover yarn (but still didn't use it all, darn!)

Throwback Saturday

Look what I found amongst the renovations going on in my house!

 

 

It's that hideous ribbed scarf I made way back when! It was the second scarf I ever made if anybody recalls. It actually looks okay photographed since my camera is blurry, but its so stiff to touch annd, its got tons of holes! Like this one:

Its pretty amazing to see myself come this far though. I guess the next time I finish a project and am too hard on myself, I should look back at my old stuff and hopefully see the progress!

For a Baby!

Protip at making friends at work: knit things for them!

I have a pregnant coworker and as I've never knit baby clothes before, I decided to knit some baby accessories for her! (As well as use up a ball of scrap yarn). Here's the link!

 

The hat was supposed to look more like a bear, but I think it looks more monkey-like because I put the ears too low. For the mitts, the blue doesn't contrast with the gray very clearly. Moreover, related to my last post, when I was on my second mitt, I was dangerously low on yarn ... so I decided I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the mitt and changed the pattern so I could use blue to finish the mitt. As a result, the mitts are mismatched. I think it looks pretty cute though!

 

I learned to do something new too! It's called the duplicate stitch, and what I used to embroider the bear paw on ne of the mitts! I almost foolishly thought there weren't any other techniques I've had to learn yet!  

 

Wow, baby things are so small though!! I kept wondering if these can fit an actual human being! I can't wait til I have a kid of my own though! I want to knit more baby things!!

A Dangerous Game

Feeling a little nervous ... playing a game of 'will there be enough yarn to finish this project?'

Joining the 23 club!

I'm back from vacation! I had a blast road tripping down to the States. I usually don't share non-knitting related things, but in case anybody is remotely interested in my life, here are some snapshots of the getaway!

We made stops at Portland, San Francisco, Malibu, and L.A, looking at all the fun touristy areas, and the beautiful scenic landscape views. We did so much more than these four pictures can convey, but these were some of my favourite photos.

When I came back after relaxing for so long, the first thing I wanted to do was pick up my needles and start knitting something! Unfortunately, my house is going under renovations right now, so all my knitting things were packed away. As a result, I finally made time for my other hobbies. What other hobbies do I have you might ask? Well for one, I like to read (I find that's a hobby most knitters also like to enjoy). I managed to finish two books, Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King, and the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I finished a book, so I felt very accomplished once I was done. Too bad I'm not on board with audio books, because if there was a way where I can simultaneously read and knit, I would probably be doing that all day.


That wasn't all I did though. I started playing some games again. A new game came in the mail called Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, so I picked up my Nintendo 3ds and started playing that. I also spent some time trying to beat my boyfriend in Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Wii, but alas, I have yet to beat him. I'm also trying to 100% FFX-2 remastered on the PS3 .. so yes, I've definitely been keeping myself busy.


Anyway, today was my birthday, and my amazing boyfriend got me a crochet case to keep my hooks in, and let me spend $100 worth of yarn on a shopping spree online!! For sure I will show you my yarn haul when that comes in the mail! You can guarantee that I am super excited for when that arrives, and I've got projects planned for each of them! As much as I love my other hobbies, they don't compare to my love for knitting. It's just so relaxing, and it can also be flexible in being really mindless, or it can really make you think. But, I guess it can't be a bad thing giving my fingers and wrists some rest!