Cape*** finally

Norah Gaughan's Cropped Cardi
Pattern source: Winter 06/07 Vogue Knitting
Yarn: 100% Alpaca from Campolmi Roberto Filati in Florence, Italy
Needle: 5.00mm Addi Turbo
Comments: Finally! I almost gave up on this cardigan and would've put it in the deepest corner of my closet if not for the constant motivation I got from other knitters who modified it with great results.
My modification went like this, remove pentagons #1 and #7, sew collar band to the bottom row of pentagons instead of top. Pretty straightforward, really. And blocking it really made a great improvement. I'm loving the stand-up collar too, cute, no?
My only complaint would be that the yarn is too itchy for me to wear next to my skin. I just recently realised how sensitive my skin really is, no mohair(not even KSH), no alpaca, even wool is a little itchy. Only merino seems to be okay. Still, I can always layer up and look cool!
What do you think?


Two-tone Ribbed Shrug
Pattern Source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needle: 5mm and 3.5mm circular
Comments: My first FO from the book! I'm happy with how it turns out, though initially I wasn't too sure about my colour choice. The pattern was easy to follow and quick to knit, even though it was A LOT of ribbing. I don't think I'll be wearing it a lot though, since the yarn feels a bit rough on my skin. Washing it did make it softer, but still not soft enough. I do love working with Cascade 220 though, it was nice and squishy ;) I still have a lot in my stash waiting to be knit.

That shrug definitely won't be my last project from the book. As you know I'm knitting the textured tunic from the cover too, and I'm done with the body. The thing is, I put it on and it looks hideous on me! It's not even the colour, but I'm now convinced that tunic doesn't look good on my body. So I'll be frogging it and make it normal length instead with short sleeves . Other than that I also cast on for the Puff-sleeved feminine cardigan. Main reason being I have the yarn in my stash after ripping this(Jemima, 3rd picture, pattern from Anna at Fashionable Life). The yarn is Knitpicks Merino Style "Rhubarb" that I bought back in 2005. I'm not too sure why I picked that colour, I'm convinced you can spot me from miles away when I'm wearing it. Anyway, the knitting is going really slow with the small gauge, but I'm enjoying it a lot! And that's what knitting is all about, right?

(Put in something smart here...)

Just a quick post to keep my blog running ;)

Here's another successful gift knitting

Le Slouch
Pattern: Wendy at Knit and Tonic
Yarn: 2 skeins Bouton d'Or Laika
Needle: 5.00mm 40cm circular
Comments: I had to frog a few rows because I was worried I wouldn't have enough yarn, and good thing I did because even after that I still ran out of yarn. Since the time was tight I decided to compromise and do more decrease instead. It works fine and I'm sure nobody will notice.
I started this a day before the party. After I decided that Le Slouch would be the best choice, I had to dig in my stash to find a yarn that would suit the recipient. I thought of using the same yarn as my previous Le Slouch (which was a gift too), but it would be too thin and would take me so much longer. It's a good thing to have a big stash after all, being able to find the right weight of yarn in the right colour when emergency knitting is needed!
As you can see she is happy with it, and all my other friends were saying how awesome the hat is. Imagine if I had given her an aran sweater with the most complicated cables ever, I'd bet you anything they wouldn't be half as impressed.

On other news, I just got myself a waitressing job. It's only 10 hours a week, but I'm hoping it'll help me feel more productive instead of sitting in front of my computer whole day long. Less knitting time for me, but maybe I'll be able to treat myself with some knitting luxury later.

I didn't join this officially, but believe it or not I've only bought ONE skein of yarn since last month. Yeah, I don't even believe in myself.
Oh wait, just when I started to think this might work out, I spotted a sale on GetKnitted. Who was I kidding anyway. But, if by my next post I'm still yarnless, please take me to a GP.

I have another FO to show you, but it'll have to wait till the crazy weather is over before I can take decent FO picture. It won't be fun if it suddenly rains and I'm wearing alpaca. There, I spilled the beans.

See you soon.

Just illusions...

Illusion knitting is fun!

Counterpoint
Pattern source: Magknits Dec 2006 by Jennifer Crawford
Yarn: Cascade 220 1 hank Black, 1 hank White
Needles: 4.00mm Addi Turbo Circular
Comments: This scarf is a birthday gift for my friend who is a Valentine baby, but I was too engrossed with my pentagons that I didn't manage to knit it on time for her birthday. The solution? Wrap the yarns and gave her a card saying my vow to magically turn it into a scarf "someday". Pretty noncommittal, eh?
Fortunately for her soon after her birthday I found some Japanses dramas to watch that I actually finish the scarf in 3 days! 3 days of sleeping at crazy hours in the morning that is, but still pretty impressive I think. I loved watching the patterns grow, and I'll definitely be doing more illusion knitting. It's quite addictive, actually.
Here's the happy recipient

She looks pretty happy with it, don't you think? Oh, she might kill me for saying this, but she's an up-and-coming singer. Check our her music video here. If she asks, pretend you've never heard of me.

On WIPs,
I love this book so much I cast on for 2 projects from it.

The textured tunic in the cover, in Rowan Summer Tweed "Gold".

Two-toned shrug in Cascade 220, it's a longer version of the famous OSW.

One more thing,

Personalised magazine holder for my knitting books! I still have to paint it to cover the burns from the laser, but it's pretty cool, don't you think?

I'd love to talk some more, but I have a last minute birthday gift to finish before tomorrow, and lots of hole punches to design!

bad girl

Again, I'm being a very bad blogger.
Could all of you please give me a tiny smack on the head for breaking my new year's resolution? Being an ambitious and unrealistic person that I am I had 52 things on my new year's resolution list, one of which is to blog at least once a week. I have no idea how many of them I've already broken. My goal is to keep at least one, because "being realistic" is also in the list ;)

I could blame my lack of proper photography device, but I'll admit that I've just been lazy. Time passes by too quickly, seriously.
My new camera should be arriving soon, and with spring 'kinda' here, maybe we'll be lucky enough to get some decent lighting. I'm really hoping to spend more time on improving my blog, so I might need for some technical helps in the future, help me out ok?

At least a lot of knitting has been going on here, I can barely wait to share with you guys!