:(

Today is a sad day.

I got a missed call on my mobile this morning from my dad. I called back and got the sad news that Oupa Les (recipient of the Who? hat) had passed away yesterday afternoon. So, unfortunately, there go my plans of making a matching scarf to give to him for Christmas. I will soon be getting the picture from my dad of him wearing it a mere 3 weeks ago, so that's some consolation I guess. I will, of course, immortalize Oupa Les here and on Ravelry with the picture, but I'm really sad that I didn't personally get to see him wearing it or have the joy of presenting him with the matching scarf.

My dad is planning on moving Ouma Hilda down here so that she's not left all on her own. I have been intending to knit her a Clapotis for Christmas too, but I think that considering the circumstances, I will be starting on that sooner rather than later. I have said to my dad that as soon as she's settled that he must please let me know so that I can visit her *sighs* I don't know how long she'll be able to go on without Oupa Les. I guess time will tell.

And...

I forgot to add:

I finished the Not-So-Bulky Golden Compass Hood that I was knitting for my sister. LOL, I wasn't able to wait for Christmas for this one either before giving it to her...

Knitted up using two strands of sock yarn, it wasn't as bulky as it should have been, but I think it worked pretty well... and the important thing is that she's very happy with the end result.

Also, I've finally finished the body of the table cloth for my friend. I've just got to block it and then I'll start adding the edge lace to it. I hope to have this finished soon-ish, but don't yet know when I'll be motivated to get going on this again.

Hmm... yep, I think that's everything now, lol.

Catch Up

Things have been super busy on my side of the world. I just wish that it was all knitting related and not necessarily work related, lol.

On the plus side, I did manage to finish the Who? hat, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the finished item before taking it through to my dad. You see, the plan was originally to make it for Oupa Les (my paternal grandfather) for Christmas. But, since his health hasn't been so good lately, and with my dad going up-country to visit them, I figured it would be best if I sent it up now instead of waiting to send it later with the post.

I will ask my dad to take a picture of it though, which would be good actually since it will be a picture of it being worn by the intended recipient :)

In non-fibre news, I've been hard at work in my new position as bookkeeper at a flower exporter. Since business is currently slow on this side of the world (we are going into winter right now, lol), my boss had thought it would be a great time for me to create a website for the company. I personally think it turned out pretty good :) and I'm particularly proud of the product pages!

Anyways, I have started to knit up a lovely linen yarn, but I think that the pattern I chose isn't going to work with it, and I'm not too sure that I would wear the finished product. I think of other things that I would prefer to wear, lol.

I hope I'll be posting here more regularly since my life seems like it will be settling down a bit now again :)

What's Happening?

This have been really busy around here! And I mean besides all the knitting that's going on, LOL.

First onto the knitting...

I've nearly finished the Not-So-Bulky Golden Compass Hood for Michelle, but instead of keeping it for a Christmas present, I'll be giving it as a birthday present instead. Not a problem though since I've already got something else lined up to take it's place in the Christmas gift department.

I've done a bit more knitting on the Who? Hat and am basically ready now to start the decreases on that.

AND... I've been working away on the Lacy Tablecloth too!

What else has been keeping me busy? Well, I've been looking around for work again. There's very strong rumours that our head office will be closing down our little satellite branch, so instead of being caught in a situation where I'm stuck without work (especially since I'm still busy paying off my car) I'm on the hunt.

And that is what's been happening here.

Who?

I'm really enjoying working with this Sirdar Legend DK yarn.

I'll be honest and say that I wasn't exactly sure how this pattern would out, but I'm really happy with the results so far!

Tonight I'm going to be watching DVD's at my friend's house, and I'll be taking along that lacy tablecloth that I've been working on since forever. I'm hoping to get into a rhythm on the side that I've now got to improvise so that I'll be able to finish it relatively quickly.

So many choices

My previous post talked about a Crochet Sampler Afghan (pdf file), and I've joined a Crochet-Along on Ravelry for this pattern which is going to be starting this first week in February (so there's still time to sign up if you want to join us).

Why I'm posting again though, is because the same TV show that brought us the above pattern has also got a Knit Sampler Afghan (pdf file)! I really like this pattern too, but looking at it a little closer and comparing the two, I have found that I prefer the crochet one more. But, the same group that is doing the Crochet-Along could very easily do a Knit-Along for those who prefer the knitted afghan more. All they would need is a little prompting *winks*

Up to date...

I've done a bit of cleaning up and organizing on here, so things should go swimmingly from now on.

I'm a little overwhelmed with all the goodies that I want to make for Christmas 2009, but I figure if I get started with it now already then it shouldn't be too bad. Thank goodness we've still got a whole winter to go through! I definitely wouldn't be making too much of a dent in the list if I had a whole summer ahead of me, lol.

This year, I'll be doing a bit of crochet too. I'm sure you would agree with me when I say that this Crochet Sampler Afghan (pdf file), from the TV show Knit & Crochet Today, definitely deserves my attention! I figure that since there's 12 blocks to crochet for this, I could easily do one a month and have a stunning afghan at the end of the year.

Anyways, I've got a lot still to do, so I best get to it!

Back to the Needles

Having taken a 'more than long enough' break from anything creative, it's time to once again pick up the needles and get going! I wanted a pretty easy and mindless project for my reintroduction and so whipped up this little strip of knitting in a short amount of time.

I got the stitch pattern from the Spin-Off (Summer 2008) magazine, but I found a free online version here (Morning Surf Scarf) if anyone else is interested in the stitch pattern. Anyways, I knitted it for a certain length, adding little tabs on either side as I went along. I did a simple 'yarn over, knit 2 together' for the button holes, added a few buttons that my gran had stashed in her sewing box, and voila:



A long strip that can now be closed up into a tube!

Not really all that exciting, lol! But, this was exactly what I wanted to make. You see, my mom had previously complained about how cold the seat was of the toilet in her upstairs bathroom, and how perhaps I could make something for her. Personally, I didn't much like the idea of having something that laced up over the seat. It would make it such a mission to take off, and to my mind wouldn't be very hygienic if it wasn't washed regularly. I definitely wouldn't want a fussy closure on it being the cause of it getting thrown in the wash less often than it should be! LOL



Now granted, this is not your usual type of first project when you've been absent from knitting for a while, lol, but it did have it's plus side too...



It's quick, easy, going to be put to use, and it's FINISHED!

I'm Henry the 8th, I am...

Yep, the scarf named Henry is finished! I'd actually forgotten how quickly something can knit up when you use a thicker yarn, and I'm glad I used it with this item or I most certainly wouldn't have been finished in time.

I had a bit of a hard time getting it back from the recipient to take a picture of it *winks* but that's what you want to have happen when you give a gift to someone! LOL



Knitting this scarf length-ways instead of your normal end-to-end meant that adding different yarns was so easy! I didn't have to struggle with working 5 skeins at the same time to get the beautiful vertical strips in it seen above. And, as you can see, using different weight yarns didn't make too much of an impact on it.

I will most definitely knit up this pattern again. The tubular bind-off was a bit of a hassle to master initially, but once I figured out a bit of a short cut, it was 'all systems go' again. I really loved the fact that the provisional cast on was just basically there to get you started. No picking up of stitches when taking it out and knitting further. Nope! You just pull it out and you're ready to go!

The next project in line.... Well, my sister is completely in love with the Maltese Hats in the latest Interweave Knits. It's available from Knitting Daily until July 31st, so better download it in a hurry if you also want to knit it up.

A for Away...

The starting shot has been fired and the race is underway! I started knitting on Henry at the end of last week, and already I've joined in the second skein of yarn. I started with the plain yarn and am currently working with the tweedy type yarn.

As you can see, I've shortened the number of row repeats considerably since it would look silly if the arrows went on for as many rows as what the pattern suggests.

If you look carefully, you can see where the second skein was started. I'm not too sure it's such a great idea to use yarns that are a different thickness, but I'll carry on a little longer to see how much of an issue it is. If I do decide that it won't work, then I'll have to frog back and just go with the one yarn.

Hopefully, I'll have enough time to finish it before the intended recipient arrives on July 10th!