Hitofude in Curry!

Happy Birthday to me!!!*

 *my b-day was yesterday, but I did finish all the knitting before midnight!

Holidays made me too lazy to write a long post, so let me do a quick list:

• Yarn:  Mirella by Włóczki Warmii. 100% virgin merino, hand painted. I cannot describe how gorgeous, soft and overall wonderful this yarn is! I'd say I prefer it over the Malabrigo Sock!
• Colourway: Curry. Mirella is made in small dye lots, there's no telling if there will ever be a "curry" batch again.

• Needles: 3,5mm - all the way.
• Pattern:  Hitofude Cardigan by Hiroko Fukatsu. Very well written!
• Size made: M
• Changes to pattern: I did 10 repeats for sleeves (less than in pattern), because I was afraid to run out of yarn...

• ...which did not happen and I squeezed in 32 extra rows.
• I used 274grams in total.
• Additional rows were added by continuing increases in the same fashion as in charts B-E.
• It took me 37 days to complete :)

As always - thanks to my husband, who accompanied me into the garden, despite the dreadful weather. Easter was quite beautiful, but so cold, and unpredictable this year!

Now I can wait for warmer days, to show my best-looking-cardi-so-far to the world!

And while I wait I have 1500 metres to wind...

It is scratchy and smells of oil, but it will turn into an amazing... something. I'm not sure yet, but I'm definitely going for narrow stripes!

Happy Easter to y'all!

And have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

The Annual First Bee Day 2017... was three weeks ago!

I knew it! Apparently First Bee of 2017 was waiting for my previous post release... and showed up just one day later - on March 5th.

Ok, this may be considered cheating, because hyacinths were bought in a flower shop. But we have other flowers as well:

I mentioned buying fancy yarn in my previous post. As a 100th post celebration, or simply because I deserve some squishy goodness after this horrible winter! After hours of picking, calculating, terrorizing my husband with countless links I finally found what I was looking for - Mirella by Włóczki Warmii. Fingering weight 100% virgin merino wool, hand painted in Poland. Colorway "Curry". Yummy!

Shipping was really fast. I ordered on Saturday night, and the parcel was delivered on Tuesday afternoon. Luckily  I had a day off after a night shift, when I came back home to this:

Since skeins were a bit too long for traditional one-chair winding I had to create a Wind@tron 2.0. I swear one day I'll try winding my skeins with hand mixer!

It took me about two hours to wind all 1200meters into three neat balls.

Being done with all that I was finally able to start working on the Hitofude Cardigan by Hiroko Fukatsu. I decided not to slip any stitches at the beginning of each row, and I consider it to be a good decision so far.

 

I'm working simultaneously with all three skeins - that forced me to cut thread twice after joining sleeves. No regrets though - yarn is an absolute pleasure to work with, and result is just gorgeous! It has tiny specks of red and green - just like real curry! 

So far I manager to finish sleeves (did 10 instead of 12 repeats), and start body increases. I still have 160g of yarn left, which should be enough to complete the cardi as intended.

I hope that my next post will be one of those "ta-daaaah" posts! Also, my birthday is getting closer, and I might get myself something... nice :)

I'm running back my to knitting! Stupid daylight savings time took away a precious hour of my free weekend!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

Cleaning up my project bags.

It's my first summer without summer brake... It is kinda hard, because usually July was my busiest knitting month. I'm not giving up this year, though!
In last few weeks I completed one big project and two smaller ones. And today I received long a awaited parcel - a skein of Malabrigo Sock yarn. I also got a free project bag, since the postage was seriously delayed. Oooh my!

But let's get back to my former -WIPs. I present to you.. my brand new Syna Shawl. Pattern Syna by Mary Renji.

For this shawl I used Cotton Soft by YarnArt and I was really pleased. This yarn is almost unspliatble! Perfect for crocheting!

The only modification I made was finishing work after a solid section. Last row was crocheted using a crab stitch. I still have some yarn left, but I decided it's big enough:

Now I have to buy a matching dress, because we've been invited to a wedding.

My other no-longer-WIPs are not that big, in fact they are tiny! It's a set of newborn-size cardi and a matching hat for my friend. She's expecting her first baby, and I still need to make a pair of small booties.

Free patterns: Marianna's Lazy Daisy Top-Down with sleeves  and eyelet baby hat, both by marianna mel.
For those I used what I had left from Never Again Blanket, which was made for the same baby-to-be.

Now forgive me, but I can hear my lovely, soft, delicate skein of Malabrigo Sock yarn whisper... "wind me, wiiiiind meee!". I just have to trick my hubby into being a skein holder for a while!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

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.

Creamy Cardi Returns!

In my last post I mentioned my Creamy Cardi as my biggest failure of 2015. I can't see a better way to start a new year, than correcting that mistake, and restarting the whole project.

Here I go (again)!

Since I'm a lazy person, and lately I don't have much time to spare I decided to knit straight from my unfinished sweater.

I know, I know, I should frogg it and let the yarn straighten. But that exceeds my patience!

This time I picked a pattern from Ravelry, one of several I got from Christmas giveaways. 

It's Chance of Snow by Elena Nodel. I love how detailed instructions are! It also covers a wide range of sizes. I chose S2 and am hoping for a comfy, snugly cardi. 

Also, I went down one size using 4mm instead of 5mm needles. My first cardi's fabric felt too loose and therefore uneven. 

Now just look at those cables!

This is how far I got in ten days:

It's really hard to show how it fits around my arms while taking a selfie... Believe me when I say - that's a nice fit!

There's not much going on in my crafter's life right now. Maybe except a funky Twiddlemuff I made for my grandma. You can read more about it in pattern from Warrington Hospital:

In last week temperatures returned to more friendly -2 to +3°C, but before that we had -15°C at night! This of course attracts dozens of birds to our feeder... and one very persistent, but luckily lousy, hunter:

He's been visiting for last three years, but haven't caught a single bird. But just look at this determined face!

I feel a need to add few rows to my cardi. Can't waste that!

Have a nice evening! 

Gosia. 

PS.: Hasiok&Friends is celebrating it's first birthday! I'd like to thank all visitors, especially those who managed to read my post this far. You're the best!

Cream Cardi Struggle.

Now I know... I hate knitting garments in pieces. To be more precise: I hate knitting garments that have more than 2 pieces. 

Like my Cream Cardi:

I like where this is going but I will have to frog the top of the left front AGAIN, so that length matches. I am too close to completing the project to just give up, but I lost most of my enthusiasm.

Maybe I need to take a break? I just hope it won't turn into one of my eternal WIPs

My neighborhood got overrun by hedgehogs lately. Since my dog hates them, we often have to evict them from our premises. Last Tuesday I stopped on my way to work and helped one spiky kiddo get across our street, Young hedgehogs are not as half smart as they are cute!

Next week I will have to travel to Katowice by train every day... which raised a need for a new traveler-friendly project!

I'm still waiting for yarn delivery. What worries me a bit is the fact that my parcel got labeled as XXL by the courier. Huh, maybe they sent 40 instead of 4 skeins? I wouldn't mind, really.

I will share with you my traveler friendly project as soon as I lay my hands on those squishy skeins! :3

Until then, here, feast your eyes on my gorgeous sunflower! Yes, that is a single plant. With over 30 flowers.

Have a nice evening! 

Gosia.

 

All-Terrain Awesome-Tank!

Star Wars project is ready!

It took me 20 days (from second cast on) to finish.

I don't like the see-through effect around AT-AT's. I think it's because I used needles bigger than recommended. On the other hand - doesn't it look exactly like falling snow? :)

I am 104 days ahead of my schedule! So I started knitting a cardi for myself. It's in rather thick, creamy acrylic.
We're leaving this afternoon for our weekend to the land where the crow flies backwards. Please, don't tell my hubby half of my backpack is packed with yarn!  

Until next week! 

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

Ugly but Snuggly... (Sn)uggly!

I discovered my main problem with knitting sweaters. I never wear them. Seriously. My Fourteen Alpacas Tunic is too warm, Autumn Mess pullover is cute, but leaves my undershirt all fuzzy...
My striped cardi is awesome, but the yoke is kind of stretched out...

So I thought about making a sweater that I WILL wear. Something to throw on myself when evenings are chilly. And I came up with an idea for the Ugly but Snuggly Sweater aka (Sn)uggly.

 Luckily I already have sufficient amount of yarn. I found it while renovating my attic bedroom. It's a 54%Acryl 46% PA bouclé mix made in Czech Republic. Since I cannot find it in Ravelry's database and I'm pretty sure it's been discontinued.

Once I even stated working on a big simple sweater then but I never finished even one part of it.
Funny thing about this yarn it's that it is extremely efficient. This piece was made in garter stitch from one 100g skein:

Hand for scale

Now I'm off to mindlessly knitting my first sleeve!
Have a nice evening!

Gosia.