The Sunniest Sunday!

Of course I am referring to April the 2nd, which was the sunniest, warmest Sunday you can dream of in April. We spiced up our short spring trips tradition, and went not only to visit our favourite park (as we did countless  times  before), but also...

We went to Narrow-gauge Railway Museum!!! And we managed to buy tickets for a short ride through forest! This place is extremely popular among families, especially on Sundays, so tickets are sold out quickly.

We had to wait for our turn for a while, so we had time to peek into every corner of the station.

We also had the opportunity to meet the dog who lives there. He greets every returning train with his wiggling  tail, and he is not at all bothered by hundreds of people going in and out.

"Why should I be? I OWN the place"

So we finally squeezed into  a tiny carriage, and went for a short, VERY LOUD trip.

It was worth all the waiting, and so so much fun! 

The train part did not take us long, and we continued this lovely afternoon in our favourite park..
We were lucky to find the last parking spot on the parking lot (yay to me for squeezing in!).

This time of the year sunlight reaches the bottom of the forest, so it is full of white and yellow flowers. And it smells of garlic because of the Bear's garlic (or wood garlic) that grows almost all around.

Last week we completed all of our new apartment paperwork, and now we just have to move in.

Unfortunately I will have to leave Korek at my parent's place. He is a 9-years-old doggo, and it would be cruel to take him away from his very own garden. I will visit him often though! It is less than a kilometer away.

I did make him a sorts of a parting gift:

A Blanket of Shame! I started a while ago, and it was meant to be a sweet vengeance for all yarn balls he stole and drooled upon. I used all pinkish acrylics I could find, and combined them in simple C2C crochet blankie. I used the Corner to Corner C2C Corner Start Tutorial by Lauri Bolland.  And I am very pleased with the result.

So is the new owner! :) He took it away while I tried to get a decent picture.

He surely looks great in pink!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

PS.: Guess who's getting a set of interchangeables for birthday next week? Aaand who got himself a complementary skein of hand painted artistic yarn? :3

I'm still alive... and the Giant Owl Blanket is DONE!

Oooh... so it's February now?
Last two months have been crazy. Many things changed. Some for good - we're getting our own apartment in three months, and some for worse - we lost our little friend - Tiny Tina.

Farewell my fuzzball :(

All this made me a bit to busy to blog. Sorry!

In this post from October 2nd I wrote that "I secretly hope this winter will be colder than the last one, so I will be able to use my shawl often, without risking overheating."
I hereby want to sincerely apologize! I have had it with this winter!!!
It's either this:

Or this...

By "this" I mean that grey haze over my lovely town. Smog is a serious issue this year.

Ok, enough whining!
I promised myself to not reveal my Giant Owl Blanket before it's new owners see it first... but I just can't help myself.

I joined the Sunshine Owl CAL a bit too late and in the end I followed instructions up to week 5. Then the blanket got a bit too big for a newborn blankie.

Here you can clearly see when I  started improvising, and lost stitch count. Oh flaring... I wanted to frog it at first, but then I thought - no one is going to lay it this flat!

For some reason my owl turned too big for the center so I did some shortcuts here and there:

And here's one more look at edges:

For this project I used 100% acrylic yarn  Ince by Bonbon in DK weight. It's not a top-notch yarn but colors are vibrant and pure, it also is very even and works up quickly. It went great with a 4mm hook (4,5 mm for two green sections - lacy ones). The whole thing is HUGE - 120x120cm. And that is not the entire pattern!

It took 510g of yarn - I purchased one skein of each color - 10 skeins in total. Looks like someone will make another blankie!

My next post will also be the 100th post! That calls for some celebration. Of course I'll do my best not to write it in April!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

PS.: Korek says "hello" :)

Never* Again! (*at least not this month, okay?)

Done, done, doooooone! The quickest blanket ever!
Elven Pixie Blanket by Tall Gal Knits, also known as Never Again Blanket

You know what? I absolutely LOVED making it! The best moment was when I removed pins after blocking, and discovered it grew over 10cm in each direction. Final measurements are 80x90cm! I used four 50g skeins plus about 1/3rd for border.
Also it got really soft and lacy afterwards.

Not to mention how it made the lace stand out:

 I wanted to give it to my coworker as soon as possible, so I didn't wait for a good picture light.
It would take me too long, because late April just turned really cold!

Ahh, now I can return to my Skewed Socks. I'm almost ready for second heel!
I also decided to add some rows to my Banana Leaf Shawl - I'm sure I could find a use for it this summer!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia

PS.: Mom wanted me to take pictures of her tulips. I counted over 27 varieties... 

Whooops!

Oh no! I just realized I skipped my blogging Sunday!
At least I have a decent excuse - the weather last week was PERFECT. We decided we need some fresh air so we went to our favourite park.
The one we visited last summer, and spring.

Since today we have a horribly cold and rainy Sunday... I'm back!
My "Never again" blanket is going surprisingly well. I am just few metres away from completing third skein. I can't wait to block it!

It is impossible for me to stay focused on one project at a time, so I started this crochet beauty:

Using Ten Stitch Blanket leftovers, and some black acrylic/wool mix. I follow the Granny Mandala pattern by Crochet with Raymond. I hope I will have enough patience to turn it into a circular shrug or a cardi.

Today I got an email about a big sock yarn discount. Couldn't help myself... 4 skeins are on their way.  I think this means getting be back to socks knitting this month. Just in time for the first Sockalong anniversary I guess! :)

Ohhh, now I need to make some progress on the blanket before my new yarn arrives.

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

Springtime Knitting Power-up!

Now that I no longer have to worry about not making a baby blanket in time I have a chance of finishing my WIP's! Or to start new ones...

So about two weeks ago I found this new (to me at least) yarn brand. I was looking for a nice soft acrylic for my Mysterious Purple-Grey Thing, and just by accident I also purchased a skein of Nako Ombre in red-purple. It is a rather cheap 75% acrylic 25% wool mix, and my drop stitch scarf probably won't last longer than one season, but I'd say it was worth it!  Finished scarf is soft, warm, colors are wonderful, and yarn did not break once during knitting. And it took me just one skein and five afternoons to complete:

Of course I had a little helper, who is still dissapointed I didn't let him use Ten Stitch Corner as a doggie blanket. His little paws were reaching to check if the gauge is right.

Before you all think I'm a bad person, who wouldn't make anything for her poor dog:

I DID MAKE THAT *** A SWEATER!!!

It was my very first Ravelry project (ones with earlier dates are from my pre-Ravelry period).

What did I get for my commitment, should you ask?

A nasty growl when I tried to dress him up for a walk!  

See? I'm not the one who's evil!

My Mysterious Purple-Grey Thing is finished, but I'll be able to share it in May, because (again) it's a birthday gift. I decided to make a second, similar Thing, so the first one would have a company.

The yarn I'm using for both projects is a 100% acrylic Nako Rekor. I don't know if it would be nice for sweaters, but for toys it works great!

There's a slight chance we might get through Easter without snow! Last Easter in March ended with us stuck in snow while trying to visit my fiance's granny. Forecasts are more optimistic this year. Weather is still rather chilly, but at least now we have sunny days!

Time to make a shameful confession... When I finished my second ever baby blanket I swore I won't start another one anytime soon. Well, as I learned the term "anytime soon" can mean "at least for one week", because yesterday I ordered yarn for a christening blanket... for my  co-worker's baby-to-be. This needs to be done by July, so there's stillplenty of time left! What worries me is that she picked a lacy pattern, which might cause me some trouble, and that we only got seven 50g skeins - all that was left in yarn shop.

Ahhh, waiting for a squishy parcel to arrive is pure pleasure!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

PS.: Korek says "hello!"

Ten Stitch Grand Finale!

After 155days it is finally done!
My Ten Stitch Corner Blankie. Free pattern from Frankie Brown - here.

Took a little less than 4 skeins of Ören Bayan Merino Gold II batik yarn. I started each square with new skein. The last corner took me AGES to complete!

Nevertheless it was a fun project to make, and it's great that work is divided into parts. I would have given up long time ago if I were to knit it in one piece!

My worst fear was that I will mess up the sewing part. But after a few tries I got pretty handy with stitching my corners together.

What surprised me is the size! IT IS HUGE! I blocked squares before sewing and now it is a one full square meter of a fluffy, cozy blankie. Here's my knitted cat Garrus, for scale.

When I cast off the final square I arranged it on the floor to take first pictures (with my phone - hence low quality). Korek wanted to tell me I should keep my blanket and give it to him. As a token of our friendship I guess. Or would it be a sign of gratitude for "guarding" (aka. stealing) my yarn?

"Can we keep it?"

"But mooooooom!"

The real new owner of my work isn't even born yet. I got two month ahead of schedule. This gave me a real boost and I already have several new WIPs. 

Weather is perfect for knitting. In fact it hasn't changed since two weeks:

I think I deserve a big cup of  coffee and some chocolate!

Have a nice afternoon! 

Gosia. 

PS,: Doesn't my new mysterious project look a bit familiar?