Friday catchup and finishing things

I am still busy making more of these Lisbon-times from drops for a special lady's birthday this summer, I hope I will finish, the yarn is a bit of a hassle to work with, but it is so fluffy and soft. I am sure the shawl will look beautiful whilst being warm but still light.

Still chugging along on my ripples baby-blanket, little miss E is already born, so I better finish quickly!

And then there is the finish. I gave my friends a Easter egg (well to be honest it was a yellow paper bag with while dots on it, but it was Easter-y) and in it between some candy and a small handlotion was a crochet basket and bunny eggwarmers also from drops. And, I am quite proud, done all by myself, i read the pattern, and then just knitted and I did not make a single (big) mistake! I think it is time to level up on my knitting adventure!

I have been going to our new shiny library and borrowing loads of books, and crocheting a little and chatting to the friendly librarian. I have no idea how many books I've borrowed this month, but quite a few.  Yesterday I was so into the book I was reading that I did not quite go to bed... Oops.

I had my friends over for an Easter-lunch and Christmas dinner and workshop. We decorated eggs, sowed some seeds in decorated milk cartons. I love doing seasonal things.

 

E and I went to a lecture-thing about Roald Dahl which was very interesting. I am now on the waiting list for his autobiography. 

Oh, and I bought some yarn, I have been quite good lately and not bought a lot, some for specific projects, but this I bought just because. I love the colours.

A-Z challenge S

S is for scarf, shawl, shrug

I love simplicity as well as things that are complex, and I must say I love scarfs, shawls and shrugs. Because they can be simple and elegant or complex and fun. There are endless possibilities.

I think I make most of those things in a year, which might be because I gift a lot of them away.  And they are usually rather fast to do and fun and warm and usually you don't need heaps of yarn to do them.

This year I have already made two shrugs and two scarfs and I am going to make a lot more. And on the steps are a shawl, one in Japanese flowers and then there is the Victoria shawl Mister M bought me the pattern for. I have the yarn for another card and then there is lots of other shrug patterns I would love to make... My to-do-list keeps growing.

Btw, this is the scarf I finished the other day.

A scarf is something you wrap around your neck to keep the cold away.

A shawl is something you wrap around your torso to keep the cold away

A shrug is a small jacket type thing you wrap around your torso to keep the cold away, the good thing about a shrug is that it won't fall off since it is attached to your arms, the other garments may fall off unless you fasten with a brooch or somethings. But you could add a shawl over your shrug if you are on the colder side.

Can you tell I do my best to keep the cold away? Might be why I love to make these things as I am always cold, and an extra project on my lap with the blanket I always wear helps me to keep warm and toasty and when finished I can wrap them around me as well. Win win.

I could add socks, I learnt knitting socks last year and made two and a half pair and then I proceeded to buy lots of sock yarn so I might get a move on and make more, things is, I only know one size, mine unless I have the feet to measure up against all the time which is how Mister m got his pair. But to be honest I don't love making socks yet, they take too long, but I will make a couple this year.

Back to normal

Now that Easter is over I can tell you that I did finish my goals, and you might know how I like to make myself goals and some of the time actually finishing them. But I have gotten better at making goals that I can finish so that might be it. I finished my Florida shrug, did a bunch on my knitting adventure, was social, read four books and spent lots of time in the sofa with Mister M and the buns.

But look, it is finished. It weights 111 grams so I did get to use up some of my acrylics that was leftover from my pink granny square blanket.

Pattern here.

Today I also went to my LYS for their opening, the paper was there too. I got some balls of yarn on sale that I wanted to start a shawl with and I wanted to have one with changing colours and shockingly I didn't have any in my stash so it was good the store had some for sale.... (excuses, excuses, I would have found some way to justify any yarn I bought)

I love zombies, this was a picture from a friend of Mister M where we were social this easter you know but I forgot to show you then.

And another reason I sort of had trouble keeping with my one in two out yarn policy: My friend *Kio came by with some leftover yarn for me...  Over 350 grams and with the yarn I got from Mister M for our anniversary and the yarn I bought on sale for the kitties in a row blanket I have so much yarn I can't see that I can make twice as much as I've gotten in this year. Hehe. But I will still try.

Here is my ongoing Knitting Adventure. I L O V E the colour in this, and the price was awesome if you remember, 30 kr for two balls of 100 grams, they are on sale on Panruro now too, 50 kr for one ball of 100 grams of yarn, you can see why we couldn't pass the opportunity when it was presented?

 I still have plenty of yarn before I start the decrease and it is already longer than the orange one, so using a bigger needle really did do the trick, I can't wait to start the next one.

Bunnies are napping as usual.

*

And I have joined the A-Z challenge.

Today I can't count but does that count?

Hello, says bunny, she likes to get attention and since I have been out today she is a little diva and demanding attention constantly.

But

My scarf/shawl is finished! It measures 1,54 m long and 0,40 m wide and weighs a little under 200 grams. Yay! I started this five weeks ago but since I concentrated on the large blanket this got only a little love. *Kio helped me start it but I remembered how to do the decreases all by myself which is a big step forward with my knitting skills.

Here is the scarf outside our apartment, I used two skeins of Katia Azteca which I got on sale from Panduro. My mother also bought some, I wonder what she will make.

Next time though I think I will make the increases every sixth row instead of four, but here is the pattern anyway if anyone wants to try it... I want to make another, but I need to buy a bigger knitting needle, I need a circular 6 I think...

Waffles is the best!

I mentioned I was out and about, since I have so many finishes I could buy some yarn so I met my friend Evi for coffee, shopping and a trip to the library. And I did do lots of shopping.

Now on my bunny blanket I used 10 balls of yarn and the scarf used 4 so I could buy 14 new balls of yarn for my cat afghan, too bad Nille had a sale... Does this look like 14 balls of yarn? I am blaming my dyscalculia;)  these 24 balls are in cat colours, but I bought some that were just on sale and not cat colours because I had to buy 10 for 100 kr and most of those were not in cat colours. Teehee. (I might be only showing you the cat coloured yarn I bought and not the others, so I might have bought more than 24 balls of yarn)

And I bought a box for my yarn, which Mimle hated and tried to bite through, so much for buying something the bunnies would leave alone. You see I wanted a wicker basket but Evi said that would be eaten up within the week and since I agreed this little box came home instead. But we put it away by the sofa and Mimle hasn't found it yet. Hah. I win.

Some of these colours I am sure will turn into presents, (Some of these I already had)

So: 14 balls of yarn out

and 35 in? 

Oops.... 

Obviously I can't count, (this number may also be wrong) so I better use up some more yarn, because I want to use more than I buy!

 Wait, I have given away 8 balls of yarn too from my stash so that counts right?

So only 22 out and 35 in, better, but still room for improvement I think.

And I have made another pattern repeat on my kitties in a row afghan and some only white shrug.

Chugging Along

I picked up my scarf/shawl knitting and I am feeling like there is a finish soon on the steps, which means I can buy more yarn! I was going out today to meet a friend and shop some, but suddenly the doorbell rang and a couple who used to be my parents friends who were in the neighbourhood came by for a cup of cofee. I haven't seen them since my dad died, but I got a nice flower from them and it suddenly feels more like spring than winter....

So I had to put a new spring-like doily out, this one I bought at a flea market and I love it. 

Also because I was bad and not following my own rules I have now crocheted a whole pattern repeat and am now on number two. I am hoping I have enough yarn for grey in the bottom, then purple, hot pink, purple and then grey again which I think will look awesome! We will see if there is a border in sight. I am hoping this won't take years to finish!

Three

Todays show and tell is a finish.

My mother and I did the last of the decorations.

So now we have Mason Jars with star light inside and bunny jars with lights and eight jam jars with heart bands on them and two of those even have a flower.

The idea is to have a light in each jar and have them on the tables while we eat. The larger jars have LED-lights in them so there is no fire hazard.

Here is the finished jars. And those bands took forever to make.

I still have some leftover yarn and I think I'll continue to make flowers and leaves so that they can be scattered all over the tables.

And I settled on a shawl. My mother knitted this for me last year, but so late in the season that I didn't really wear it. The other day I blocked it thoroughly and my mother just gave med the leftover yarn so I'll make the border a little bigger I think because it has a tendency to still curl around.

And then I will be done.

Boyfriend still has a project that I hope to show off tomorrow. But I am going to remove my nail polish now so that my nails are easy to fix later.

Making a dent

Well, so my dermatologist confirmed what we all thought. And I have a new strict regime of medicine, creams, skin care and diet. No sun, which is bad news for my vitamin D insufficiency... But I'll manage, hopefully I'll look and feel better soon. Or at least within four months when when I am done with the medicines for now.

Here is a picture of the finished shawl that still after blocking, ironing and fussing with  still won't lay flat, but I like the border it got. And you know I made this in the hopes of stash busting that light pink yarn, I ended up buying two skeins of the multi-coloured one (and using up both) but did not make a dent in the intended light pink yarn... Oh well, so much for stash busting, at least in the end I did not end up with more yarn just a finished item.

(Same picture as last time because it sort of still looks the same ten centimeters on)

Oh, and my secret dress ( I have never made a big garment before that needs to fit so it is a good thing I started to make one now for a special occasion with a lot riding on looking good. :P /sarcasm) is now 40 cm long, and is, according to the pattern done, but since the yarn is not that stretchy I am making it a bit longer before I start on the bust and back.

The jacket I am knitting is still on the backside, but I think I'll finish that soon and then we will see if I understand the rest of the pattern, in the series of a first of everything.

Valmin is a blur these days as he is always out and about doing important bunny things. And for some reason, he wants to dig on one particular part of our living room floor. Too bad it is hardwood and he is not making a dent in it. And I just trimmed his nails so he doesn't have much digging tools anymore anyway, but he still keeps busy.

Speaking of tools. we finally went through dad's old tools. we kept some and handed some over to my cousin the carpenter as a way of paying for all his help with our move and stuff. 

(I have a picture on boyfriends phone, but he is asleep, which I should be too, so you'll have to wait for tomorrow.)

This is all the stuff he got, we kept one large box and two boxes will be sent to recycling.

Mimle is also busy these days. busy using her ears, and if I move the slightest she is by my feet or in my lap looking for a treat. I have no idea why she does this because she does not get treats more than 4/10 times she does that. But maybe she is just bad at math. Or she is trying to make a dent in my resolve to not give treats more than I am giving treats. Or she just hopes I am bad at math. Which I am.

anyway, I am off to bed, wish me luck with actually getting to sleep as my nose feels like someone filled it with cotton and I can't seem to use it much these days...