50% of the Way

With the finish of this: 

I am halfway there to being done! It reminds me of a bunch of Suns shining brightly! This one was actually difficult, not because it actually was difficult but because the instructions were confusing. One of the lines said "k2, yo, k1, k2tog. Twice, k1, yo, k2". Well the 'twice' there confused me. At first, I thought it was a weird way to write do the k1, yo, k2 part once more, but it turned out to be wrong. Then I wondered if it meant to do the first part twice .. But it also wasn't it. It also wasn't do k1 twice. So, not sure if it was just something that I didn't know what it meant, but it must have been because a Google search yielded no explanations. In the end, after using logic and reason, it turned out twice referred to the k2tog. So why didn't I think it was that at first? Well because the k2tog ended in a period, and then it said twice, so I had no idea it would be connected together. But I guess it's common knowledge that twice meant do whatever came before it twice, and now at least it's part of my knowledge too!

Anyway, I laid everything that I've knit so far out, to see approximately how big it would be.

It actually looks like it will be very small!! Maybe a baby blanket size. Perhaps I should add an extra row? Things to think about .. 

Lucky panel number Seven

Number seven has been finished! And boy, is it a beauty! 

It looks better when it's stretched, but since I'm using 100% acrylic yarn, I can't really block it. But I'm sure once I sew it together with all the other panels, it will naturally stretch out, and then you can see all its intricacies. 

It's so pretty! I love how it looks like the stitches just suddenly switch directions, and go against each other. Like a lot of pinwheels blown in the wind :) 

On an unrelated note, I went on a coworker date with sushi and ice cream the other day, and the ice cream was amazing!

The ice cream parlour was like an old mom and pop shop! Very classic feel to it. The ice cream itself was amazing! I ordered the butterscotch sundae, and it was so worth it! It tastes just as good as it looks! 

See?! Who needs to hang out with their boyfriend when you have friends? Obviously not me! I can find stuff to do while he's away! I got my knitting and my hanging out! I got this .... 

Here's another one!

I really love lace patterns I find! This next square I knitted was a lace pattern, and I find it just beautiful! 

Reminds me of a mix of tidal waves or peacock feathers. Something pretty, and oddly calming.

The only thing I'm disappointed in, is that I didn't use up all the yarn. 

So close! Not enough for one more square, but enough to make me feel a tad guilty if I throw it out. I think I'll just keep it though.. You never know when you'll need tiny bits of yarn I suppose! 

It's a gem!

The latest mystery square knits into what looks like jewels! And because of the green colour, it looks like emeralds are emerging from the fabric! 

Here's a close up!

It's another panel that only utilizes knits and purls to create a pattern! Thankfully, unlike the yellow zigzag pattern, it's much more prominent. This one was a pretty basic one to make, so I finished it fairly quickly. 

To be honest, I was considering using the  wrong side as the front when I make the blanket because it creates some cool looking X's. 

But, I've decided against it, because I've chosen to just go with how the blanket was supposed to look like. Plus, the longer I stare at the right way, it starts looking all 3D which is pretty cool! 

Seven more to go!

Being a good host!

As promised, I was a good host today! I took my cousin to many nature adventures, along with the dogs who had a long and satisfying walk. Before that though, first for lunch, we went to visit my aunt and uncle's house where we got to eat homemade hamburgers!

It was pretty yummy, but I have a huge kankersore so eating fatty and fried foods hurts a lot (although it didn't stop me!) 

After, we went to a river behind their house! The weather thankfully behaved (weather always changes so quickly here)

I really loved how the clouds formed. Makes me seem like a better photographer than I am, even though it was the nature that's pretty, not my photography skills. 

Then, we went to a nearby park! It's surrounds an inlet that connects to the ocean. Many people sail their boats around, and there were lots of dogs and joggers making the place pretty lively.

It was a lot of fun, but I'm so tired now! I definitely want to fit in some knitting first before I sleep though! Day is never complete without my stitches! 

Finished Another One!

Wow, I really am being a negligent host to my cousin who has come to visit, haha! That's pretty evident with the finish of my second square completed today! (I swear I'll make it up to her tomorrow!!) 

This one has cables! 

I've always loved the looks of cables! It looks like cords just weaving around each other! This particular cable pattern also looks like it has an added twist when  the cables intersect.

I'm starting to wonder if the colour palette is going to go well together .. It's all the fault of the bright green colour, but that's the one I want to use up the most (I mean, what else could I use it for? No way am I going to wear bright green hats or gloves or scarves). Also I have to consider the fact that I've run out of the bright yellow colour, so that's going to be the only bright yellow square in the whole blanket. I'm thinking I'll add in white squares to soften the entire look. 

Welp, twelve more squares to go!

Dream of Sailing Away

This latest mystery stitch is pretty fitting for what's happening in my life right now! As I mentioned previously, my cousin from Hong Kong has come to visit! And we have sailed away on an adventure to tour around The city! 

I love how intricate and beautiful it looks! It reminds me of sailboats floating in the water, drifting to wherever .. (Still yearning for something exciting, I am!) I actually made so many mistakes in this pattern though. It was actually pretty difficult to knit I thought. You start off CO 41 stitches, but for some reason after every pattern repeat, I end up with 38 even though I was very careful! As a result, I had to sneakily make 3 more stitches each time to make up for it. I think it's pretty unnoticeable!

The only flaw is that the pattern naturally curves, so I'm just worried when it's time to sew the whole blanket together, I might run into some obstacles.. But I'll worry about that when I get to it! If no one has noticed, this was the leftover yarn from my Frankenstein sweater! It was pretty cool working with it again! It's a lot less sticky than the 100% acrylic yarn leftover from the GoT blanket. 

I didn't finish this as quickly as I finished the other one since I've been busy being a good host, (sort of .. Okay not really). I haven't really taken her anywhere yet since I still have to work, so my sister and parents have been showing her around. We did play Mario jenga though, and I felt like we bonded!

I feel a tad guilty as I could have taken her around today (since its Easter holiday), but my mom insists on bringing her to visit a relative that I don't particularly like, so I said I wasn't going. I know, maybe I should've sucked it up .. But I'll try to make up for it tomorrow! I have discovered that her favourite cuisine is Japanese! Specifically sushi! Surprise surprise, that's my favourite too! (No wonder we're family!) So, I'll take her out for a nice meal :) 

Is my blanket in jeopardy?!

Well I finished the second mystery stitch block of my blanket!

To be honest, it looks a little unimpressive. It's simple enough to do, only knits and purls arranged to create this zigzag texture. However, it isn't because it's easy that I'm not too fond of it. It's because it is actually hard to see. Granted it may have something to do with the bright yellow colour, but I still expected it to stick out a little more.

Also, because I'm using scrap yarn, I knew I was in trouble when I saw this: 

There was no way I could finish this square with that amount of yarn left. So at this point, I saw three options. The first is frog the whole thing and save the scrap yarn for something else. But .. Lazy me, I didn't want to start over, and I was so close to finishing! I'm just missing a couple rows! Also, I really really want to use up this scrap yarn and never think up any filler projects just to finish it. The second option is knitting as much of the square as I can with the yarn and then attach a new colour to it to complete the square. I seriously considered this option because I have a pale yellow yarn I am planning to use, which I could potentially also use to finish up this square. However, I think the result would be too striking, and I don't want to draw any attention to something that will look so ugly and obvious and ruin my blanket. So where does that leave us? With option three! Because I'm not missing too much rows, I chose to simply cast off early. I'll probably just stretch the fabric when I sew everything together so it matches the size of the other squares. The problem with this is when it stretches, the zigzag pattern is even harder to see! I'm also sure that it will somehow negatively affect how my blanket drapes. Despite all this, I still believe it to be the best option. 

I hope hope hope the blanket won't turn out hideous! I've been having a good streak of making beautiful projects that I'm 100% proud of lately!

I hope the rest of my mystery stitches won't bully me like this one did! 

Hop onto the Mystery Machine!

So after knitting so much this past weekend, (and literally just finishing a project just this morning) I was going to take a break for a week or two- especially since a cousin of mine is flying in from Hong Kong tomorrow and will be staying at our house for an entire month! .. But after sitting around at home, walking the dogs, and watching my shows for several hours, my hands were already itching to cast on. 

I was debating whether or not to knit a blanket, or crochet an amigurumi doll since I've only ever made one of each .. Or perhaps even knit another mitten/glove since its been a while since I've made a good one. In the end, after endless hours of browsing Ravelry, I decided that I will knit a blanket! The pattern is made from 16 squares, and each square is a mystery stitch! So you will have to blindly follow a pattern and you will only see which stitch it is until the end! 

This pattern seems the right fit for a project for several reasons. First, the successful completion of all these stitches will showcase my skills as a knitter in the form of the blanket. What's more, I still am trying to get rid of all the scrap yarn made from my first blanket (I only have several balls left to go!!) Lastly, each stitch square is quick to knit so that I can feel small accomplishments often, but also that it's overall a large project so I have a long term goal to look forward to. 

Well, quick knits per square they are! I've already finished the first mystery stitch! 

From the amazing way it looks, I think I got it right! I'll try to hold off until tomorrow to knit another mystery square - but I'm super excited with wondering what it's going to be!

More Baby Things!

I'm so paranoid that the owl earflap hat wouldn't even fit a newborn because it is just so small, so I decided to knit something a little bigger this time that would hopefully fit even a one year old. As a result, I feel like I made the cutest project ever: the Apple Blossom Cardigan.


The cardigan, the bow, and close-ups of the edge and lace pattern!
 

Cardigan without the bow

The bow, I actually made from another pattern because I felt like it would be much cuter than a simple tied together bow string that the original pattern suggests. The only part I had to figure out was how I can make it so that one could clip on and clip off the little bow. Well, thank goodness I bought all those buttons, because I thought of a good solution that will utilize it! I single crocheted a long chord, and double crocheted one end for a button hole, and attached the bow with a button on the back on the other end, so that it will fit together like this:

(Left) Bow on (Right) bow off

Pretty creative right? While knitting the bow, I actually wasn't sure if I was doing it right, since before you tie the whole thing together, it looks like this:

Anyway, one of my favourite things from the cardigan pattern is that I learned to make a picot edging!! I actually had no clue what the pattern meant when it said to 'sew down the picot edges' and I had to Google it. Suddenly, all the yarn overs and k2tog made sense! The end result is so pretty and it looks much neater than a cast on/ off edge. So basically, the YO and k2tog will get you this:

After that, you literally just fold it in half, and sew it down (but having to remember to be careful to not sew into any of the stitches in the front so you won't see the seam in the front).

And so, you should end up with this:

Besides my first picot edging, it was also my first top-down cardigan. It was pretty cool to see it come together in this way, and much easier to gauge whether or not it was long enough.

Anyway, I love it! I almost want to keep it for my own future children and give my coworker something else, ha! But I won't ... hopefully, they'll love it as much as I do! I can't wait until I have kids of my own, I will knit them into the most fashionable baby ever!