Monday Update: March 18, 2013

Happy post St Patrick's Day! I hope you're not feeling too ill this morning, as I know some are. All that green beer and food is making some of my friends look a little green this morning. I didn't partake in any festivities this weekend, I didn't even drink a beer. That's a little out of character for me; I usually have at least one beer on the weekends. This whole weight loss thing is always at the back of my mind, so every time I think I'm going to eat/drink something that's not the healthiest, I ask myself what's more important: happiness right now, or long term happiness in the future? This isn't me saying I never allow myself to eat stuff that isn't good for me, in fact, we had McDonalds for dinner last night. But, I try to think about what I'm putting in my body. That being said, I will probably be having a beer after work tonight. It will likely be an apple cider beer, so I can pretend it's kind of healthy.
Anyway, onto what I've been knitting this week! I don't have pictures of everything, but I do have quite a few. I have been working on making loads of head bands so I can be well stocked for the fall shows. I have almost a dozen waiting to be sewn up in my WIP basket. There are a few other almost finished objects in there as well. Since I got this basket, I've been keeping all my stuff in there until the ends are woven in, and I tag them. Then they move to my craft show bin. It helps me keep track of where everything is, and I like to do things production line style, so this facilitates that. Sew everything. Trim all the ends. Tag everything. I feel more efficient that way.
Onto what I've been knitting!
This head band is a custom order for one of my friends. She asked for it a little while back, and I just hadn't gotten around to making it. The head band was easy, it just took some time to figure out how I was going to make the flower. Most of the flowers I see on this style of head band are crocheted, which is something I just can't do. Once I figured it out, it was super quick to make. I'll definitely be making more. Actually, I have another headband just like this ordered, so it will be sooner rather than later.
I got back on the hexipuff train last week. I knew I needed to crank out a bunch if I want to be finished this thing in any reasonable amount of time, so I was just going to make a couple and hopefully feel a little better about it. I ended up making eight of them in just a couple days. I'm nowhere near caught up, but I had a lot of fun making them. The first one that started me down the rabbit hole was the red and aqua striped one here. It looks awesome, this is a favourite colour combination of mine, but it was a pain in the ass to actually knit. Doing stripes in the round on DPNs is something I didn't really enjoy doing. I don't know if I'll be doing many striped ones, that aren't self striping.
These are the first five puffs I cranked out. The top grey one is actually sparkly, and I love it. It's KnitPicks Stroll Glimmer yarn in the Chrome colourway. I think I have two skeins of it. My parents got it for me in my Christmas yarn package. The two blue ones are yarn from Evermore Studios. The rainbow and blue is yarn I got from a destash on Etsy. I'm loving the way these puffs are working up!
I laid out all the puffs I had made, and I have 21 at last count. (This doesn't include the puffs later on in this post) Together, they're not even large enough for a seat cover, so I still have quite a ways to go. I am having fun knitting them, which is the most important part.
I tweeted that I wanted to make the hitchhiker shawl, but didn't have the money in my PayPal account to purchase the pattern. I wasn't looking for a handout, just lamenting my broke-ness. One of my knitting friends from a gazillion miles away gifted me the pattern on Ravelry, and it brought a tear to my eye. I feel so lucky when things like this happen to me. I will definitely pass on the gesture when I can afford to do so. I pulled a skein of Lanitium ex Machina's yarn out, and got to work.
The colours are working up beautifully, with no pooling in sight. I'm up to twelve points. I would be a little farther along if I didn't goof up in the middle of a row and have a really wonky stitch. I had to rip back about 3 points to fix it. Totally worth it, because I know that if I didn't, I would notice that mistake forever. I'm slowly but surely building my personal accessory collection. This is going to be shawl number four (I'm pretty sure anyway) that I've knit for myself. I can't wait to finish it, but in the mean time, I am enjoying the knitting process.
I finished up the last few rows on a loosely knit orange neck warmer. I've had this on the needles for a few weeks, but haven't really been actively knitting on it. I had only about 3 rows to go before it was done, so I cranked them out and bound off. It's a 5x5 rib with an unknown yarn on size 11 needles. The yarn is from a bag of mill ends at Zellers, so I have no idea what it actually is. That's one thing I'm really going to miss when Zellers is gone for good. Just a couple more weeks to go. With the yarn that is left in the skein from this, I am doing a summery scarf on the same size needles, and I'll also be making a head band or two later on.
I made a few more puffs with the Evermore Studios yarn. The blue one at the top finished off a mini skein which brings my number down one. But! I had to get a skein of black Red Heart Super Saver to knit up the head band I mentioned at the beginning of this post. So no change for the week. I will be going through some of my stash this week or next and getting more yarn ready to donate. I'm starting to realize how overwhelmingly huge my stash is, and I know I need to start paring it down, or there will be problems.
What have you fine folks been up to this week? Any fun knitting you're working on?

Monday Update: January 28, 2013

The weekend is over, so now I get a couple days off. Working part time means I often work weekends, so I look forward to the start of the normal work week, as it means I get a couple days off. I hope your weekend was awesome, and it wasn't too chilly where you are. It snowed here, and it's beautiful! It's all starting to melt now, but it was nice while it lasted.

The past few days, my project of choice has been the start of my Beekeeper's Quilt. I started getting yarn for this before Christmas, and I am finally getting around to starting it now. I have a loose goal of knitting 365 puffs before the end of 2013, so we'll see how that goes. My first one was the blue in the first photo. I made it on the 23rd, and I decided to photograph all the ones I've finished everyday. It seems like I can comfortably make 2 a day, and sometimes push to make three. I'm also still working on items to sell at the craft shows, so realistically, I could probably be more productive once craft shows wind down.

With the yarn I got from Evermore Studios, I made nine of my first twelve puffs. I somehow missed one ball of their yarn in my stash, so I'll be making the tenth colour at some point in the next couple days. I've been talking with the owner of Evermore Studios about doing a giveaway, so be sure to keep an eye out for that!

The other yarns I used are KnitPicks Felici (the pink and purple one in the first photo) and some Flusi Sock Monster yarn I got from a destash on Etsy (the two multi colour ones in the last photo).

I still have quite a few colours I haven't used yet. I am going to try to make one of each colour before I start duplicating them. I might even assemble these first few, just to see how it will look.

I still don't know how I will weave in the ends on this. I was thinking about assembling the whole thing with the ends, but I'm now leaning towards using one colour for the whole thing. What did you do, or what are you doing for your quilt?

Overall, I am absolutely LOVING this project. I'm shooting to have it done be the end of 2014. The finished size will be for a queen sized bed. I'm struggling to figure our how many puffs I will need for one this size. I'm getting numbers between 250 and 1000. I think what I'll have to do is lay out what I have, calculate the area they cover, and multiply that by how big I want it. It's a lot more math that my poor brain is used to, but it seems like the best way. The other option is to have one of you fine folks tell me exactly how many you used, which would be a whole lot easier. I've had a couple people give me numbers they're shooting for, so I'm likely to head in that direction.
Regardless, I love this project, and I know it will take me a while. I'll take it one puff at a time, and when I have enough, I'll stop. Actually, I might even continue and make a throw to use on the sofa as well. We'll see if I'm tried of them when that time comes!
In other knitting news, I've been making more bows for my two upcoming craft shows. I wanted to have a lot of little items available, because I don't think I'll sell a whole lot of the wintery items. I also assembled some earrings this morning. My dad is building me a display rack for my earrings, and bows. I'm really excited to see how it turns out! I drew up what I wanted, and he seemed pretty confident that he could pull it off. I'm crossing my fingers!

A Weekend In Review

I meant to blog yesterday, but I had quite the busy day, and ended up going to bed quite early.
This past weekend was probably my last craft show for a good long while. I did the Christmas Craft Show, in Windsor, and it was great!

You can click the image to see a larger version of the photos.

-Rick and I stopped at the post office on the way out to my parents. I got my sock yarn in the mail! I ordered a bundle of sock yarn mini skeins from Evermore Studios on Etsy about a week and a half prior. The yarn is even prettier in person than the photos lead me to believe! So soft, and a great variety of colours. I have the next couple days off work, so I am going to wind them into centre pull balls. I can't wait! I should be getting my DPNs from Midwest Yarn any day now, so I might allow myself to knit one hexipuff before starting the gift for my friend, for which I will be receiving the yarn at the same time.
-Friday night, my brother and I went to the bar that's a couple blocks from my parents house and had a Caesar. He turned 19 over the summer, which is the drinking age in Ontario, so we decided to hang out over a drink. We had a great time.
-Saturday morning, I set up for the craft show. I had a great space, on a corner, not far from the entrance. I had fantastic neighbours, and had a great time overall.
-I got FOUR orders for custom items on the Saturday of the show. The first was a cream cabled scarf. My mom bought me to Michael's to pick up yarn after the show, and I got a huge shopping bag full.I stayed up super late (I think about 3:30 am) so I could get the knitting done. I woke at 6:30, so I could finish it. It worked out well in the end, as I got it done not long after arriving to the show. The woman who ordered it came to pick it up in the afternoon on Sunday, and loved it!
-The second order was a crimson red lace neck warmer, the same as the ones I have in my shop. The colour is absolutely beautiful. It knit up quite quickly. I am definitely going to make another in the same colour. The recipient was one of my neighbours at the show.
-The third, and final order I completed, was a head band. I've seen similar items on Etsy and other blogs, but had never made one myself. I love it! It worked out really well, and much faster than I had anticipated. This went to my other neighbours, for their daughter. I am going to make more of these, no doubt about it!
-After the show, I went back to my parents, and decompressed for a while. We all went to my brother's hockey game, which they won. It's been a while since I've seen one of his games, so it was nice being back in the arena. I worked on my final order, a navy blue shawl, during the game. It's almost done! Just a couple more rows, and it will be ready to go. I stayed the night at my parents again, and left early Monday morning.
-Mom drove me home, where I unloaded all my stuff, and then she and I went out for lunch. We had fish and chips. Mine was in sandwich form. Absolutely fantastic. I've had food from Joey's before, but never the sandwich. I loved it! I had left overs for dinner at work.
-The last pictured is a screen shot I took when I was face Time-ing with Rick, and he changed the camera so I could see Winston. Poor little guy looked so confused when he could hear my voice, but not see me!

Overall, the weekend was great. I did very well at the show, and I enjoyed spending time with my family. How was your weekend?