WIP Wednesday - Prayer Shawl

Last fall I agreed to join the newly formed Prayer Shawl Ministry at church. I'd been looking for some way to contribute that didn't involve being away from my boys a lot, since I work full time outside of the home. This was a perfect fit. Work at your own pace, meetings once every couple months, and something I already know how to do.

My first shawl is a simple garter stitch, and I plan to add some fringe to the ends. The colours are earthy, subtle, and soothing. It will be easy to take care of, so no matter who it is gifted to, there's not a lot of special instructions. I think that's one of the main ideas behind the prayer shawls. Low maintenance seems to be key.

I'm think I'm about 60 percent finished the knitting portion. The nice thing about garter stitch is that it doesn't require a lot of thinking, there's not reading charts, you can truly give in to the meditative process as you knit.

Pattern: Comfort Shawl. Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Mediterranean

For more WIP Wednesday creations-in-progress, head over to Tami's!

Falling Water

My mother-in-law's Christmas present. I finished knitting this ages ago (in, like, September?), but didn't get around to blocking or finishing it until just before Christmas. Then I realized we were actually going to be seeing them on the 23rd, instead of the 24th like we normally would, and in a sudden panic, I had it soaked, measured, and pinned before going to bed on Thursday. Then I raced home from work on Friday to weave in the ends.

Pattern: Falling Water by Bonnie Sennot. Yarn: Estelle Cadenza

Anyway, she likes it. And I'm glad. I've never been able to get a sense of what she likes in clothing and accessories.

It's such a pretty blue, I kept a skein for myself.

WIP Wednesday - Broken Rib Cardigan

Pattern: Broken Rib Cardigan by Debbie Bliss, Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease thick & Quick in Wood

Would you believe this is the fourth project I ever started? Like my Mum, my thought process was 'go big or go home' (her first knitting project ever was a sweater).

It's a cardigan for Hubs. To warm him up in the winter. For cozying up at home or at the cabin. It's already close to two years old and I'm still working on it. For a few reasons:

•  It's huge. At 6'2", Hubs is a big guy, and hence needs a substantial sweater.
• It's repetitive. Two rows to know.
• I'm on the sleeves and the shaping scares me.
• I haven't found appropriate buttons yet, which means I can't get going on one of the front panels.

 So far, I've finished the back and one front panel. I'm 3/4 through one sleeve. So, I'm technically over 50% done, but considering I pick it up once a month to work on, there's still a long way to go!

 

(Apologies for the poor picture. This was one of my first cracks and photographing my knitting, and I also had to grab the picture back off Ravelry because I'm on a different computer.)

 

For more WIP Wednesday goodies from this week, head on over to Tami's!

WIP Wednesday - Dishcloths

For a Christmas gift for all the ladies in my family, I thought I would make a week's worth of dishcloths. I like working on them because they're fast, small, and I don't necessarily need to carry around a pattern. Just in the car ride to and from the mountains, I can knock off 2 or 3 of them, as long as Hubs does all the driving. So far I've made 17 of them, all in various colours. Most are a basic pattern, but I'm trying to make some picture cloths as well.

 
In all, I'll need 35 for gifts, 42 if I want to keep some for myself.

Knit dishcloths are fantastic. They make fantastic scrubbers due to the stitches, but are gentle on dishes and cookware.

I haven't tried getting 2 cloths out of one ball of cotton yet, as they seem to use just over half. But, maybe mine will be made with colourful leftovers.

Head on over to Tami's Amis and Other Creations for other WIP Wednesday fun!

WIP Wednesday - New Year Shawl

 On January 5th, I wound 900 metres of lace weight yarn (Handmaiden Lace Silk) and cast on the 10 in 2010 shawl by Janine Le Cras:

By February 8th, I had gotten this far:

Then, it was put aside as I worked on birthday gift after birthday gift, finished some socks, and finally got started on the prayer shawl I had signed up to make. I think the fact that it took me close to an hour just to knit two rows was a bit daunting for me. Then, about a month ago, I picked it up again. After knitting 2 shawls for my sisters-in-law, 2 pairs of socks, and 4 scarves for the men in the family, I was getting faster. Now the shawl looks like this:

I've made it through the main body chart, and the transition chart, and am on the edging chart. I am 44 rows from finishing this.

If you're interested in seeing more WIP Wednesday posts, check out Tami's Amis and Other Creations for other WIP bloggers.

Deep Woods

No, not the bug spray, though I certainly could use some of that right now. The mosquitos are deadly this year! Big! And aggressive!

No, this is a shawl for my sister-in-law. A belated birthday present, I finished knitting a day after her birthday and need to block and weave in the ends, but it's still pretty. Just think how beautiful it will be when it's complete!

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of the colour green, but when I saw this in the store, it just screamed "L!" to me. Well, not exactly. It screamed my sister-in-law's name.

Pattern: Enchanted Wood by Janine Le Cras. Yarn: Cascade Heritage Handpainted

Signs of Spring

When Calgary was in the middle of the deep freeze, I seriously needed some spring in my life. So, I cast on this lace scarf and these socks, and brightened up my days.

Tired of All the Snow (Spring Forward by Linda Welch, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Daffodil)

The scarf is done (I wanted it for St. Patrick's Day on our trip, no pictures yet), and the socks are half done. I ran into second sock syndrome while packing for the trip, and decided that instead of finishing this pair while we were away, I would take a new skein of yarn and start a new pair. I almost finished one sock in the ten days we were gone. If I had gotten the nerve to take my knitting on the plane, I could have gotten much farther. But little boys need too much attention for me to even attempt that.

Now that we're home, I'm madly knitting birthday presents for the family. I'm currently working on my Dad's and one of my brother-in-law's.

WOYNW - Spring in Canmore

All this snow is really getting me down, so I wanted to make something that reminded me of spring.

On the weekend, I was going to make some socks, with a lovely yarn that's all blue, green, and yellow, and so lovely and bright, and cheery looking. But, when I got home from the yarn shop, I noticed one of the needles I needed had slipped out of the package somewhere between there and home. Short one needle, and not able to get back until later in the week.

So, instead I pulled this lovely yarn out of the stash, and pulled one the Three Sisters scarf patterns out of my binder, and cast on. There's been a couple of rough starts, but it's coming along, and it's looking lovely. Before I wound the yarn, I wasn't expecting this beautiful dark green patch. It had been hiding from me. I love the colours though, they really do make me think of springtime in the mountains, when everything is bright and new.

Pattern: Three Sisters #3. Yarn: SpunShine Fibers

Head on over to Kerry's blog Knit, Scrap & Sew to see what's on other knitter's needles.

Wednesdays are for Knitting

Well, not just Wednesdays. But, I wanted to have a regular place to record my progress, and what better than a specific day? It also gives me a chance to practice my photography.

So, what went down recently?

Mum's birthday scarf,  just in time for their trip down south. She bought this lovely yarn at a mini-mill in PEI in the fall. There's enough left that I'm looking at slouchy beret patterns to match.

Mum modeling her scarf. Pattern: Old Shale Scarf. Yarn: Belfast Mini Mills

Getting a head start on birthday presents this year, I knit this scarf for my eldest brother-in-law. It should be perfect for our cold Calgary winters. The yarn is 100% wool from Iceland. So rustic there was the odd small piece of hay in the yarn. A super-fast knit though, I started it just over 3 weeks ago, and just need to sew in the ends.

I call this 'Scarf on a Table'. Pattern: Staggered Rib Scarf. Yarn: Istex Alafoss Lopi

And finally, what's currently on the needles, is this fantastic lace scarf by Janine Le Cras. I love the look of her shawls, and this is the first one I am attempting. It can be slow going, but that orange life-line is a godsend. The yarn is a dream to work with...I would love to get my hands on some of their sock yarn.

Wow, it's really impossible to tell what the finished project will look like. Pattern: 10 in 2010 Shawl. Yarn: Handmaiden

You know, I started a cardigan for hubs back in June? It's really hard to work on. I've heard that about sweaters. So much knitting, so long to see the results. I will pick it up again. Perhaps this week, since I'm down to only a couple unfinished projects. Perhaps Friday, since he's going out...

Decluttering - Day 4

See yesterday's post.

No, really, last night, another of the shallow drawers was cleaned out. There are 4 of them, one was pretty empty to begin with, just a couple owners manuals for things in that room. The other 3 hold my boys' work. Two are now done, the 4th just needs a quick pass through, but it's stuffed so full, I want to wait until I actually have a sufficient filing system in place before I tackle it. Hopefully that will be this weekend. Friday's the first day I will be able to hit the stores.

So, while last night was not crazy productive in the decluttering department, I did get a bit done.

~~~~

And then I knit on my latest shawl (see the New Year Shawl pic on the sidebar). one hour to do 4 (short) rows from the chart. Hubs came into the room as I was finishing the last row, saw me squinting at it, and said "what are you doing to yourself?!" To look at the finished shawl (scroll down, it's the green one), it doesn't seem that complicated, but I've never worked with this fine of yarn before, and the needles I'm using have quite a bit of grab. That will be another shopping trip tomorrow.

It's my first time working with a lace chart, and some rows take quite a bit of concentration. So, it only gets worked on about once a week. Luckily there's no deadline for this one. Maybe Jan 1, 2012?

Socks for Me!

Check 'em out...

Bohemian Monkeys

 I made these. Yep, me. And they fit my feet. Whoot!

The yarn is by Sweet Georgia, it's her Tough Love Sock in Boheme, and the pattern is Monkey. The yarn was absolutely a dream to work with, and it was fun to watch the pattern and colours play and interact as the pattern went along.

Too much fun.

Decluttering - Day 2

I actually got a picture of this one!

In the middle of trying to clean at least a couple of rooms in our house, I started to work on the boy's cabinet in our front room. We have this little room off the kitchen. Enough room for a chair, footstool, side table, and a pint-sized armchair for one of the boys, and a nice, long cabinet for all their books and art supplies.

I opened one cupboard (well, it was really, not closed to begin with due to a 5- and 3-year old being the last ones to put anything away). Out fell a pile of construction paper and colouring books. I brought the box of markers and crayons out from its usual home underneath the cabinet.

It took almost an hour, but by the end, I had a nice pile of paper that still could be used, a nice pile of colouring books and workbooks, and a nice box of markers that still have ink in them.

On the opposite side of the ring, a pile for recycling of papers and colouring books that could not possible have any more written or drawn on to them, and a pile of markers whose ink was now on all that paper.

The Rejects

And now, the keepers are all stacked neatly in the cabinet, and the marker box even fits!

Sweet.

Hangin' By A Thread

I had to get a post in before 31 days had passed before my last one! I couldn't let this go a whole month without reaching out!

I've found a new hobby. Something to throw my attention at with total abandon, foresaking all else. Cleaning, dishes, laundry, child care, blogging. Work continues because, well, they give me money!

I've learned how to knit. And I love it. In the space of 3 weeks, I have completed a short scarf and a dishcloth.

And have added about 20 projects to my "queue" on Ravelry.

Seriously dangerous.

I'm currently trying to figure out how to link my WIP's to my sidebar with no luck. Because pics are always nice.