Work in Progress (WIP)

I haven't blog anything about my knitting projects in about a month, I have been working on a Haruni Shawl which is the April Advance choice for my Ravelry KAL. I was brave enough to do the advanced choice this time. However I am also working on another easy shawl Meandering Vines, it is my tv knitting project, I got use to knitting something while watching TV, if not I feel like something is missing, if I'm not knitting while watching TV,it makes me feel so useless just sitting there (no offense to anyone,that's just me). Knitting Haruni needs a lot of concentration on my part so I knit that during my quiet time, early in the morning when everyone else is  sleeping or when I'm alone. It is almost done just 5 more rows then I will be binding off, there are 2 options to Bind off but I have not decided which one I will do, I'll make the decision when the time comes to bind off.Really glad there is so much support on the KAL group, they will be able to help me with that. In the meantime the Meandering Vines shawl is slowly getting there, The pattern looks complicated yet so easy to knit. This is something a beginning lace knitter will appreciate to knit. I have also been using my Knit picks Harmony needle and I would say I have made the right decision when I bought them. The needle points make it easy to knit lace and the long cables are very convenient. I don't think I will ever use straight needles again.As usual all the patterns and instructions are available at Ravelry. Come and join if you are not a member yet.
Happy Knitting and Enjoy your day!

This is the beginning of my Haruni Shawl

This is where I am now, almost done!

Meandering Vines Shawl, the pattern looks really nice.

Meandering Vines Shawl in progress

Garden View Shawl

Its end of January and I have finished the Garden View shawl, its a very easy, quick knit shawl.  I will make another one but would be bigger. I will be giving this to a friend as a birthday present, hope she likes it.This is the February Shawl for the Ravelry group. There is no choices for March Shawl as of yet, can't wait to find out which ones will be winner. The moderators for the group are so nice and awesome,the group does not have any hard and fast rule,you can knit every month or skip a month and its ok, everybody helps each other. There are a lot of awesome projects from other group members. Since I am new to knitting lace shawl, this a good way to learn , now if I can only get my brain to handle reading chart instructions. I still have to rely on the written instructions to knit the shawls, its easier for me to understand. Well here are some pictures of my Garden View Shawl ( I really need a better camera). Happy knitting everyone.

Yarn Finds and more!

Happy new year again to all! Days went flying by and its almost half of January, before we know it another year will pass. This is my first blog of the year 2012. I have been knitting and have finish a sock before 12midnight of 2011 so I was actually wearing it on New year. I also finish a matching hat and scarf, I'm thinking about giving it to a previous co worker as a late Christmas present and a slouchy hat for my daughter, I also managed to knit a mitten for my daughter's friend.. I  also finish baby hats and socks for a niece and the most exciting well at least for me was finding this $1.00 yarn from my local dollar store.Im always on the lookout for bargain yarns.  I bought 9 skein/ball color summer rose,cerulean and thistle.They are made by Caron. I know they are acrylic/nylon,but who cares, watch out yarn-snobs!I love the colors and will probably use the summer rose for KAL i joined on Ravelry for the February project. Yes! I'm still working on the January KAL which is 198yds of heaven, I will definitely finish that before end of January(cross fingers). Enjoy your day and here are some pictures :)

My yarn finds!

A slouchy hat for my daughter

My New years day stripey socks.

Pompom Hat and Scarf

It's MONDAY...

Weekend went by fast, didn't get any knitting done,Saturday morning was nice, it was raining, i love the rain then we went to my brother in laws house to celebrate his birthday and watch the Pacquio Vs Marquez fight, it was not as exciting as their previous fights, oh well both of them made so much money. Sunday was laundry day and did some organizing around the house.We are also trying to replace all the faucets in the house, so much work so little time. Housechores gets in the way of my knitting :)



Oh!I have to post this picture of my new styrofoam head, it came in Thursday, my daughter told me it creeps her out:D , she looks great to me.



 
I also made some progress on my lace shawl, It seems I have been knitting this for a long time and yet it still looks small even for a shawlette, did 3 repeats of the lace pattern already. I will make sure to use lace needles next time since the needles I am using is blunt, it makes it harder and slower to work on the yarn, in fact I decided to stop working on it until I get a lace needle. I have ask some knitting friends on g+ what will be the best knitting lace needles, got several suggestions and I will either order online but  will visit my local yarn store (lys) first to see if they sell any. I normally go to Joann's but they do not sell the lace needles in-store.
Well here are the pics Happy knitting and have a fun Monday!

WIP Wednesday

Happy WIP Wednesday! What do I have on my needle right now? Hmm, lets see a Lace shawl, another shawl, a scarf, a cowl and a helmet liner. What did I get myself into. I'm suppose to have only 3, oh well I guess I have to control  myself casting on another project until I finished one. Speaking of finish project I was able to make me a fingerless mitts yesterday, my hand got so called on MOnday and I could not knit wearing gloves, i'm glad i actually finish it or else it will be the 6th project on my needle. Moving on to my Lace Shawl ,so far so good, I'm on the last row of the lace repeat, I'll probably do one more repeat (oh no!!), since it seems really small, of course I'm still keeping my lifeline, especially now that I have gone that far, probably farther if I just work on this one, good luck on that, I tend to work on other projects when I get too tired of the pattern or gets frustrated, that's why there's always an easy project on my needles to switch into just to get me going. Enough of my babbling, here are some of my pictures. Enjoy your day and keep on knitting, i know I will :)

Here is my progress on the lace shawl that I am working on , the cable needle does not want to cooperate hence the wonky edge, Hopefully next picture will be a finished project.

Finished Fingerless mitts :)

This photo shows folded cuffs!

To Block or Not To Block!

Until last night I did not know that I can block Acrylic yarn. I have been using mostly acrylic yarn since it is the least expensive and easily available to me so I can do what I love to do, knitting :) hopefully someday I will be able to afford the fancy yarns. I have always been happy with the way my knitted projects look even if it was not block. If you have seen theEar flap hat I made for my daughter which came out a little too small so I was going to make her another one, however my son requested me to make one for him first which ended up too big I don't know why since i even did a gauge swatch so I knitted another one, And of course it turn out to be a little too small and I am not making another one, I heard and read about blocking but most of them were about other fancy yarns and that acrylic cant be block since it is not a natural fiber but I remember someone had mentioned that we can block acrylic so I did a Google search and lo and behold I found Bead Knitter Gallery, she talk about acrylic can be block, this is the link ( http://beadknitter.blogspot.com/2009/03/you-can-block-acrylic.html?showComment=1319658734282#c2787138813915084037). I followed her instructions and started steam blocking the hat , I was so happy with the result , it fits perfectly and it looks great. I have been steam blocking since this morning and I can say I'm a fan of blocking now.

Below is the example of a before and after for the Earflap Hat

     This is the hat before blocking,edges were uneven and you can see some puckering on the hat.

This is the hat after blocking edges are straight, no puckering and I actually like the texture too.

Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

FO Fridays

Its FO Fridays so here are some of my finished projects. It is also I LOVE YARN DAY Today!!!!

Earflap Hat I made for my daughter, As I suspected its a little bit small, so I will have to make her a new one .

 A simple easy lace scarf. I used 2 yarns together. A very light rose finger weight yarn and a ribbon yarn (from one of my recycled sweater stash).

This is a hat and scarf for one of my friends 9 yr old son. Basic Ribbed hat and One row handspun scarf. For the yarn. I used Joans sensations Rainbow Classic.

HAPPY FRIDAY !!!!!

Your Yarn is the STAR!!

I love working with yarns that have texture like boucle, fun fur ,homespun etc.. They always give you different final product and you don't have to use difficult pattern. I have always just use garter stitch to make simple scarf and yet they look like something that was complicated ( from a non knitter point of view :D ). 

I tried using lace patterns on some yarn with texture but ended up frogging them in the end since the designs does not show much. For me just using plain knitting works well with textured yarn. I found this yarn from my stash and taught I could make another scarf to add to my Christmas knitting projects/presents.This should not take long as I'm using a size 17 needle and just knitting every row.  Ill post a picture once its done. Happy Knitting..

This is what i have done so far: