WIPs & Books: Hexipuffs and Neverland

KNITTING: The Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knit
YARN: Various scraps
READING: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie 

My Beekeeper's Quilt hasn't been getting as much attention as it wants, of late. I've been too busy knitting bigger and better things. But when you look at a big pile of over 160 hexipuffs lying on the floor, that seems pretty big. The hexipuffs themselves, unfortunately, are small and slightly boring, which is why they've become occasional TV knitting and little else. This is why I've only completed 14 out of the 30 I had planned for September, and with less than a week of the month remaining, it doesn't look like I'll be knitting many more. 

One of the things I been watched while I knit hexipuffs is the 2003 Peter Pan, which I hadn't seen for years. Having completely adored it when I was an under ten, I was surprised to love it even more this time. Possibly this is because I also recently watched Finding Neverland, which has become one of my favorite films and gave me a new appreciation for J.M. Barrie's creation.

Anyway, watching Peter Pan inspired me to read the book, and when I happened upon the audio book instead I took my chance to listen to it. I only started it yesterday and already I'm almost done- I hope to finish it tomorrow if not tonight. I'm enjoying it quite a lot, though at the beginning Peter frequently got on my nerves. Also, one thing I love about the movie is how important they seem to make Tinker Bell's revival to Peter, and in the book I almost missed that part it went by so quickly. I grant you, this could have been because I was doing Algebra at the time and the book only received half of my attention.

That's all for me tonight! Thank you for stopping by, and check out Tami's Amis for more WIP posts! 

WIPs & Books: Lots of Both!

KNITTING: Simply Summer Socks by Liz Pankratz
Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits
Mr Fox Stole My Heart & Mini Fox by Tiny Owl Knits
YARN: Knitpicks Comfy Fingering in 'Peapod' and 'Hollyberry' (socks)
Knitpicks Full Circle Bulky in 'Mocha' (Mr Fox)
Various mini skeins and sock weight leftovers (hexipuffs)
READING: Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney
The Reluctant Assassin (W.A.R.P #1), by Eoin Colfer
LISTENING: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
My Ántonia, by Willa Cather

Wow! That's quite a busy week, isn't it? So much to cover! Let's start with the knitting stuff.

Upon request, I'm knitting a pair of Simply Summer Socks each for my sister-in-law and her daughter/my friend. I just started the first pair yesterday, and got the majority of what I've thus far completed finished while watching the BBC production of David Copperfield this afternoon. (A word or two about the movie- it's not a great adaption of a great book, and I would have gotten very little out of it had I not recently read the book. Despite it having a multitude of actors who I have seen in the various British shows and movies I watch, few were truly memorable, the exception being Sir Ian McKellen, whose portrayal of Mr Creakle is absolutely stunning.) I'm doing green heel and toe contrasts for the red socks, and right now I can't decide if the color combination is reminding me more of Christmas or strawberries. 

As there is a KAL for the Mr Fox Stole My Heart & Mini Fox going on in the Tiny Owl Knits group on Ravelry right now, I'm taking the chance to knit a Mr Fox. I knit a Mini Fox a while back, but never did get around to knitting the full sized thing. Upon hearing of the KAL, I managed to find some yarn in my stash... of finished objects that I never, ever use. I ripped back the Instant Gratification Scarf that I knit but have only worn once on a very, very cold day. As I don't think a Mr Fox would find much love in my own wardrobe either, I'm going to gift him to somebody- I won't say who, though, because the recipient may read this blog and I don't want her to find out! 

As for my Beekeeper's Quilt, I've been much more productive this month than I was last month. In July, I knit 3 hexipuffs, but this month I'm aiming for a higher goal- one a day. So far I'm doing quite well, and have completed a total of seven and a half. 

I've been reading a lot this week, as well- firstly, Beowulf, which I have to read for school this year but I'm getting a head start on. The copy I'm using has both the English translation and the original Old English, and while I can't make heads or tails out of the latter it's interesting to compare the two. So far I'm enjoying it much more than I have any other book I've read for school, and I look forward to studying it in the coming year.

I'm also reading Eoin Colfer's new book, The Reluctant Assassin. I only got it today and I've only read a few chapters, but it's already enjoyable and has the same delightful humor as his other books. I have yet to see if it will live up to the standards set by Artemis Fowl, though.

In terms of audio books, I listened to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, a few days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I read about half of it a few years ago, but never finished it- having done so now, I can't think what stopped me in the past. I also started My Ántonia last night, but I've only listened to the beginning of it and haven't had time to form an opinion of it yet.

Sorry for this novel of a post! But, at long last, it is finished. I'm linking with Tami's Amis today!

P.s. Be sure to enter my Etsy shop giveaway here!

FO Friday: A Big One!

Ta-dah! I finished my February Lady Sweater! Since I only had one sleeve to go on Wednesday, I knew I was going to finish it, but I did not meet my goal of having it done by 8 o'clock Thursday night. Fortunately I did finish it exactly six hours later and blocked it overnight.

KNITTING: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
YARN: Knitpicks Swish Worsted in Amethyst Heather (8 balls)
And yes, I am using a DPN to hold my hair up

If you did the math correctly, you'll know that I was up until about 2am last night. I was exhausted, but happy to have the sweater off the needles and all of the ends woven in. I thought, I really don't want to block this tonight, I'll just do photos tomorrow with it unblocked. I'm sure it won't change that much. (I don't know why I thought this, because I've done lace knitting before and I definitely know how much better it makes the knitting look. I guess I was too tired to think straight.)

But, I went ahead and soaked it, put it down on the floor to pin it out... and it stretched. The body stretched down about 6 inches, going from just at my hips to just below my hips. So that's why I used 880 yards of yarn instead of 750! I guess that's why people block their gauge swatches. When I tried it on this morning, I was delighted with the length and I'm so glad this is how it turned out. The sleeves also lengthened a bit, which is great because I was a little worried about their length. 

One of my favorite things about this sweater is that it only took me one day less than three weeks to knit it. My last sweater, Oh My Bear! , took almost four months to complete. Granted, I knit several things in between, but February Lady was put on pause a few times to knit a pair and a half of socks, a gnome and part of a shawlette.

The only problem is I only made two buttonholes (completely by accident) and I don't have enough buttons for even those yet. But that isn't stopping me from wearing my sweater (inside with the AC- it's too hot outside!) and I doubt anybody will notice.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out Tami's Amis for more FO Friday posts! x  

FO Friday: A Little Bit Late

Firstly, Happy Belated Independence Day to all of my US readers! I hope you all had as amazing a day as I did.

On Thursday, I nearly finished my Rainbow Socks. On Friday, I nearly finished my Rainbow Socks. And today, I finally did finish my Rainbow Socks. 

I was hoping I would finish them last night, and I could have easily, if I hadn't gotten bored with them (a common lament of all knitters, I'm sure). But I was especially worried that I wouldn't finish them before it got dark, so I took a picture pretending they were done (they nearly were). 

You can't tell, can you, that there are two balls of yarn and a pair of needles hanging off of them, can you? Ah, the many uses of jeans. 

I learned a lot of things while knitting these socks.

•  Knitting socks is incredibly easy (actually I already knew this, but now I'm completely positive of it).
•  Knitting socks toe-up is incredibly easy.
•  Knitting socks two-at-a-time is incredibly easy. 
•  Self-striping yarn is amazing. 

They took me a little over a week (I started them last Friday) to knit, though I could have knit them much faster if I hadn't been knitting my February Lady Sweater  (which, I'm sorry to say, has been shunted to the side in the last couple of days while I was finishing my socks) at the same time. 

Another thing that stalled the completion of these socks was the arrival of my package from the Common Room Swap from Petra (Saree on Ravelry). It was such an amazing swap package, I was crying all throughout opening it. Thank you so much, Petra! 

I've already started crocheting a Gnome from the pattern book, and hopefully he'll be an FO in the next day or two! 

That's it for me today! Check out Tami's Amis for more FOs! 

Spinning Show & Tell: The Tour!

The Tour de Fleece started on Saturday! Oh, the excitement!

In fact, on the actual day I only spun about ten yards. I was feeling very little spinning inspiration, and was more excited about knitting the new project I stupidly started that morning (more about that tomorrow!). I didn't meet my goal mentioned last Tuesday to finish spinning the alpaca singles I had been working on, but I did finished them today, and I plied them. I had a lot of fun photographing the progress.

Unfortunately, it didn't yield as much as I had hoped. From nearly four ounces, I only got 226 yards, which isn't nearly enough to make Orchid Thief. I'm guessing it's ended up being about sport weight judging by the yardage, though it really looks like fingering. It will probably bloom a lot with washing, but that's a job for tomorrow...

The alpaca isn't the only stuff I've been spinning, mind. I also spun some yellow fluff I dyed a while back. I spun and plied it on a drop spindle, and had enough for one or two hexipuffs, which is what I've  endeavored to do with the finished product. 

I haven't quite finished that puff yet... I've lost some of my interest in hexipuffing since starting some new, more interesting projects. 

That's it for me tonight! Check out Crafts from the Cwtch for more lovely spinning posts! Thanks for the linky, Sarah! 

An FO and some colorwork

this picture is slightly off-center but I'm way too lazy to take another one

I finished my Hitchhiker. I finished it yesterday afternoon, with exactly 18 inches of yarn leftover. I was really getting nervous as I bound off, but thankfully it turned out okay. I was able to complete a total of 38 teeth, which was more than I expected. I was worried about not having enough yarn- I only had 400 yards, but it's actually the perfect size and I wouldn't really want it any bigger. The yarn I used is Western Sky Knits Aspen Sock with Nylon in the colorway 'Lucy'.

baa!

As I cast off, I was thinking about my next project. I was deciding between doing what I should do and finish up a few WIPs, or doing what I wanted to do and starting something new. Naturally I chose the latter. The project of choice was Baby Lamb Cuffs, which I began after supper (which I made). I knit the first mitt while watching Merlin (I watched a lot of Merlin), and today I'm working on the second one.

The first one I did using the stranded colorwork technique, and as you can tell from the picture my tension was quite terrible. For the second mitt, I'm using Intarsia, and it's already looking much neater. I'm probably going to remake the first mitt, just because I won't be able to stand having one neat lamb and one messy lamb.

I'll be back tomorrow with a spinning update!

p.s. Sorry about not blogging for almost a week- I was too busy knitting! I'll be better this week.

WIP Wednesday: ooo presents

spoiler alert!

The above is what I have been working on in the past few days- i.e., the package for the swap in which I am participating. It's getting closer and closer to being done- my plans are getting finalized, the biggest knit (the gray thing in the top right corner) only has a few more rows, and everything else can be completed in a day or two. Unfortunately, I still have a few small things to pick up at the store, and since I can't drive I have to rely on somebody else to take me, per their schedule. 

Naturally, the swap isn't the only thing I've been working on- the day before yesterday, I made my 100th hexipuff (and have since made two more). I've been going completely crazy with hexipuffs this month (which is good, because last month I made about 4). I have 23 so far, and my goal is 60- only two a day! I just hope my miniskein stash won't completely die out before I meet that goal. 

As for what I've been reading this week? Well, I haven't been reading so much as listening. On Sunday night, I listened to A Christmas Carol, starting at 10:50 pm and finishing at about 2:00 am. It was read by Jim Dale, the wonderful reader of the Harry Potter books. I loved the book, and look forward to reading (and listening!) to it again and again in the future, though next time may be nearer to Christmas. 

I also listened to A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes book, and quite loved it. It really is incredibly similar to the Sherlock episode based on it. 

Hope you all have a great week! I'm going to be blogging more in the next few days- I promise! Check out Tami's Amis for more WIPs. 

Life Just Got Buzzier ( 4KCBWDAY1 )

That is such a good pun up there. Dad would be proud.

For the KCBW, I was sorted- rather, I sorted myself - into the House of Bee. After all, the description fits me (and almost every other knitter in the Universe) perfectly:

Bees are busy and industrious, but can flit from one interesting project to the next as bright and shiny things capture their interest.

Pretty much a perfect fit! But, why? Today I'm meant to talk about why I'm in the House of Bee, what brought me to that busy hive, what made me make this decision? Well, would you like to have a look at all of my WIPs?


Yesterday, I put every single WIP I had, excepting 3, into my Hibernation Can. This was to help me finish my Oh My Bear! sweater more quickly, because I have a goal to get it done by the end of May and that wasn't happening with a billion other projects waiting to snag my attention. But even yesterday, I made good progress on the sweater and I've now finished the back and started the hood.

What can I say? I'm extremely proud of that bear.

The other two WIPs I left out of the Hibernation Can were my Thor Scarf and my Beekeeper's Quilt. The Thor Scarf just came out of the Hibernation Can, and it seemed cruel to put it back in again, and I'm trying to make one Hexipuff a day for my Beekeeper's Quilt and I can't reach that goal if the project is in hibernation.

Thus ends my first post of KCBW. Thank you for stopping by- if it's your first time here, follow, leave a comment, etcetera etcetera. If you'd like me to see your KCBW posts, leave me a comment and I'll drop you a visit!