FO: Bookmarks

I've knit a few of these guys, and finally knit one for myself:

 Pattern: Spider to Web Bookmark (Ravelry)

Yarn: Wister LaLa Baby, Japanese yarn in white

Hook: USE/3.5 mm
Timeframe: June 15 - 17, 2010
Mods: None.  Excellent pattern.
Problems: None!

 

I also knit up a few for a charity sale we had.  All the money collected went to a local orphanage.  I knit four, but forgot to take a picture of them before they started selling.  Whoops!

 

Pattern: Spider to Web Bookmark (Ravelry)
Yarn: Wister LaLa Baby, Japanese yarn in white, then off-white.

Hook: USE/3.5 mm
Timeframe: November 2, 2010
Mods: None.  Excellent pattern.
Problems: None!

 

All four of the bookmarks went, so I was quite pleased.  I do enjoy this pattern, it's so simple and quick and is fairly impressive, I think.

FO: Cusp

Cookie A., my favorite sock designer, is coming out with a new book.  It's called Knit.Sock.Love., and will be available in a couple of weeks.  It's up for pre-order now, and you can get a PDF version at a much lower price if you pre-order it with the book.  Highly recommended!

Okay, back to the topic at hand.  For her book, I was able to test knit one of the new socks, Cusp.  This is a great sock pattern, really simple and quick compared to many of her designs, and perfect for some gorgeous Indigo Moon I had on hand:

 

Pattern: Cusp, size L
Yarn: Indigo Moon West Coast Musings in West Coast Sunset.

Needles: US1.5/2.5mm DPNs.

Timeframe: July 3 - 8, 2010 for the first one, October 17 - November 1, 2010 for the second.

Mods: None!
Problems: None!

I do love Cookie A.'s patterns and can't wait to see the new book.  I've got it pre-ordered and I'm getting the PDF too.  This one was a really quick knit with interesting gusset construction.It is not particularly flattering to my ankles, but is a cool design nonetheless.  It may live on my sock blockers more often than on my feet!

FO: Amethyst Wrap

This next project also had a two year lag while waiting for more yarn.  I did in fact get more yarn, but whether it was the change in dye lot, the change in needles (I used Addis instead of my Boyes since I now have an Addi Turbo Lace in US4) or something else, there is a definite change to the pooling from one set of yarn to the next.

Pattern: Amethyst Wrap
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential/Stroll Multi in Peacock Multi, 4 skeins.

Needles: US4/3.5mm Boye Interchangeables then Addi Turbo Lace
Timeframe: August 12, 2008 - November 1, 2010.  Hibernation waiting for yarn for two years, then waiting for a block for a month.  Poor wrap.
Mods: None.
Problems: None.  The not-quite-consistency of the pooling annoyed me, but it still looks great and I'll use it.

Initially, I had two skeins of the Peacock Multi so figured I'd give it a go with those.  This was a test pattern, so I fulfilled the general requirements of making sure the pattern works and all, and was able to say how much 1/2 the recommended yarn got you.  At that point, it was a pretty cool table runner, but I'd much prefer a wrap that can double as a scarf.  I love the colors, and while my aunt may have been interested in using it as a table runner, I wanted this one for myself!

Before Lee assisted my photo efforts

I purchased some additional yarn while in the US so brought that and the hibernating wrap back to Japan.  I managed to finish nearly all of the knitting while on flights to a conference in Slovakia.  It also waited for over a month to be totally finished with those projects I swore I'd have finished soon.  One of which is still not done.  However, it will be warm and wonderful when it is finished, that darn Bramblewood Vest that is oh-so-close.

FO: Caroline

Here's the first of a few finished object posts.  I had a blocking session the other day, so I've finished a few things that were hanging around.  First off, a cute hat that I can wear now that it's getting chilly out:

Pattern: Caroline, size L
Yarn: Peru DK Luxury in Purple, 2 skeins.

Needles: US4/3.5mm Addi Turbo Lace and DPNs.
Timeframe: October 3 - November 1, 2010.  One (long) day of knitting, one day of blocking and ribbon making, procrastination in between.
Mods: Slightly fewer rows per inch, so knit 5.5" brim instead of 6" and I love it!
Problems: None.  I think it's a tad larger than desired, but the small likely would have been too small, so no real complaints.

I've had this hat and the yarn to knit in in my queue for quite some time.  I finally took the yarn and pattern to RoboCon, a robotics competition my students were involved in, and knit it entirely during the competition and bus ride home.  It just had to wait awhile to get blocked and be-ribboned.  Mostly, I wanted to block a few things at once, and had enough projects in the "almost there!" stage of knitting where you're close but not really and it takes longer than you think but you're so optimistic you'll finish them this week that I waited until I did, in fact, finish a couple more of those items.  Which you'll see shortly.

Flowers!

We've recently had our school festival, so here's my arrangement:

Every so often, every student puts their weekly arrangement on display for the school.  There's always arrangements in certain areas, and here was mine this year:

And here are a few more I've had throughout the year.  I really haven't been showing them off, but there've been a few good ones:

Stamps

I have stamp carving supplies, and while I don't typically have a reason to carve stamps, I've carved a couple that I haven't yet shown off.

This one is for a friend.  We'd talked about letterboxing at one point, and she has quite a few sites near her, so I made what I thought would be a pretty good signature stamp for her to letterbox with:

She's from the Northeast but lives and works in Florida, so the combination of Mickey and a snowflake seemed pretty good.  I printed out the pattern and used the tracing paper to transfer the pattern to the rubber blank, then carved it out.  It came out pretty well for my second stamp ever!

For my third stamp, I made myself a letterboxing signature stamp.  Like everyone, when I'm bored in class, I've doodled from time to time.  Since I was little, I've doodled a specific dragon, not a traditional dragon in any mythology really, but my personal doodle.  Therefore, this particular doodle, being fairly small and fairly easy to recreate and fairly unique, would become my personal signature stamp, along with the kanji for my name:

I very much enjoy carving stamps.  They really don't take much time at all.  I'm definitely going to place a stamp or two in Kanazawa, in Kenroku-en, the famous local garden, and maybe in another famous place or two, but probably just there.  I may also place stamps in a couple other places around Japan, say, at the three famous mountains or the other two of the three famous gardens.  We've already climbed Mt. Fuji, and I'm not sure if I'll get to the other two gardens again, but if I do, I'll have to plant boxes.

Anyone else have stamp ideas they need carved up?

Back in Black!

Yes, they did in fact have black elastic, and I did in fact get some.

In keeping with my last-minute finishes, I finished my Blaze about five minutes before walking out the door to a Halloween dinner.  Wearing it.  I left my knitting scissors at home during an earlier train ride, so was unable to run the elastic through the tops of my knee socks before wearing them out, but since they only fall when walking and we'd be mostly sitting, I wore them anyway.  Made quite a cute Halloween outfit!

Not so good picture, but the best of the sweater and socks

Now for a major washing/blocking session, washing my well-used Rogue and blocking (read: finishing!) my Caroline hat, Amethyst Wrap, Cusp socks (from Cookie A.'s soon-to-be-released Knit.Sock.Love), and Blaze.  The Caroline hat will still need a ribbon, so will need a bit of work when it's dry before it's really done, but this brings my yearly total of projects up to 50 finishes, of course in a year that I don't set any goals for myself and assume that with two queen-sized blankets, I'll have a smaller than usual count.  Not that I'm complaining!  I should have at least a few Christmas presents (Nuno scarves, socks, and Pocket Creatures) as well as a pair of gloves and a work vest or two done by the end of the year, so the total may well in fact pass 60.