February - End of Month post

OWL

Ummm... yeah. Still stuck at the 10 completed from mid-month. Once I realized that I wouldn't be able to finish 25 of these (15 more in six weeks). I kind of crashed on it. I am hoping to still do two more and make a smaller blanket, but it probably won't be til the end of March.

MISSION

I still owe you pictures of the cardigan-in-progress. I proposed my BROOM as the Chocolate Passion Cardigan. The back was super-fast and pretty easy. The panels that go from the bottom center to the front, up the front and then curve around the neck? Not so easy. I've restarted a couple of times. Funny enough, it wasn't the short rows nor the cables that tripped me up the most (although there have been plenty of mis-crossed cables to have to fix). It's mostly been that the directions were really not very clear and have caused me a lot of heartache.

CLASSES
Flying - DONE

Baby blanket 2 done of my goal of 13 blankets in 2013.

Charms & Muggle Studies - DONE

These were hats #4 and #5 from 50 planned for 2013.

DADA - DONE

Herbology - DONE

Divination - DONE

Quidditch x 2 - Two more hats - DONE

I didn't quite get as far as I hoped on the MISSION nor the OWL (in fact, have caved and admitted OWL-failure already). But, I still got a lot done.

PLUS, I participated as a Ninja in Nerd Wars!!!!  I was able to submit the OWL hat and five of my squares for the OWL to Flexible Scheduling. The Twisty screw-like cables on my Aran square for Discovery, the Bulky bright-colored scarf and hat to Encyclopedia (reminicent of a picture of a winter carnival), the blue bunny blankie for Nerdology (inviting Elmer Fudd to eat some wabbit with me). Plus I gave a charity donation to a worthy cause for Giving Geeks. Gotta love being a nerd.

Custom-made Knitting Notions bags are in

AND they are BEYOND aweome....!!!!

These were made by the AMAZING Kara who has a shop on Etsy - Darn it! Sew What!

She made them to my request and I think they turned out beyond cool.

First, some Gryffindor pride!

And we can't forget the awesomeness that is a stealthy craft ninja!

The material & zippers are of high quality. The embroidery is amazing. They are lined with contrasting fabric and the perfect size to hold about any notions in a knitting bag that one would want.

Add that she found the most-perfect images to use? And I couldn't be more pleased.

They run $14 regularly, although she did give a 10% discount to folks at the Knitting Retreat last month if they wanted to place a custom order. I've bragged about them on Ravelry and Facebook already... and figured I'd better pop in here and share the awesomeness on my blog as well.

Feb Mid-Month Progress Report

OWL

Keep working on the Stained Glass Afghan - goal will be to have 20 blocks completed by February 28.
Not happening. Sadly the project is bothering my wrists too much.

I have five more squares done (total of ten now). And I'm hoping to start a couple more this month and maybe turn them in for yardage... we'll see.

BROOM

Cast on Chocolate Passion Cardigan with Knit Picks Brava in dark brown (need to find buttons!).  Get to 50% done by February 28.

This is still feasible... I've got the back done. The front two sides also includes the over-sized border...

... pictures will be along a little later.

CLASSES

Flying - Bunny Buddy Baby Blanket (half plushie, half baby blanket) DONE

Charms and Muggle Studies - Charity Brioche hat x 2 DONE (pics posted previously)

DADA - Brioche Scarf

Muggle Studies - February Cabled Square
Herbology - Dishcloth DONE - x 4

Divination - February cabled square - to be started

Quidditch
two baby hats - one cabled, one crocheted with an i-cord & flower DONE

So, current plans are to start the February Aran square tomorrow. Work on the Broom cabled sweater. And work one or two squares of the Windows Afghan - though I'll probably make them one at a time so that I can turn in any that I finish into a seventh class.

Fo's - forgot the washcloths

Totally forgot to post my washcloths I finished yesterday...

These were done by casting on 3 stitches and doing a KFB in front of the middle stitch and after the middle stitch every other row... until I get to the size I want and bind off. Simple & easy... great knitting for when other things are on the mind. I didn't love the yarn self-shading too much as it is quite 'pastel' ... but it definitely makes you think of spring and using these around the house to clean seems like a useful use for the yarn that I don't love.   I used Lily's Sugar n Cream yarn and would get right around two washcloths from each ball of yarn.

FO's

The Bunny Blanket Buddy is smaller than I expected...

Certainly more just a toy than a blanket, but definitely cuddly.  I used Bernat Baby Blanket yarn - the new form... which is much more like chenille, but machine washer & dryer friendly.  I bought two skeins since they are only about 80 yards each - yet I only used about half a skein for this.

I also finished hat #6 for charity:

This is baby sized... and I didn't care for the crown - they had you just K2Tog for as many rounds as it took to get to 8 stitches or less and then use a cable needle to feed the yarn through the remaining live stitches. The super sudden decreases without any regular rows between them just seems to dramatic a decrease.  But it's still a hat... :-)

I used some left over Knit Picks Brava Worsted and it turned out ok, not as soft as some others... so I'll probably wash this and see if that doesn't help it soften up.

More Hats!

These are hats # 4 & 5 - Adult-sized in my typical Brioche hat pattern. I needed some samples for the class I'm teaching at the end of the month, and these really are super-quick.

I was struggling to find super-bulky yarn... so the hat on the left is made with a couple of handfuls of left-over bits (blues and greys) of worsted, held triple. If I ran out with one ball, I just grabbed another. Super-bulky is faster and easier than dealing with three strands of yarn, but, it sure does feel good to use up some of the odds and ends basket yarn instead of always adding to it.

The hat on the left was made with Lion Brand's Jiffy-Thick & Quick - a nice, soft, super-bulky yarn. The cost is right for charity hats. The content is 100% acrylic (which is right for my allergies). The weight is nice, the yarn is great for showing stitch definition. BUT. It only comes in highly variegated colors. No solids. And really? Only about a half-dozen variegated color options at that.

Review? Highly sold on the yarn. Not high on the color options and this is not going to be a yarn I purchase much of in the future as a result.

My favorite for these WAS Lion Brand's Wool-ease Thick & Quick . But now that my allergies have worsened, I break out in hives if I work with that yarn. But, a shopping trip last night got me on the trail for another alternative. I'll do a review after I've used it, which might not be until March... but I'll let you know.

First FO in February

I finished the 4' alligator (officially). This was ALMOST done in December, but with one last yarn end to weave in.

Nine yr old added for scale!