Second Year of Projects Week 27

I think the most important thing to say is that I hope everybody had an amazing Christmas, or other winter holiday. I have to say, all the Christmas present I made were received with joy, and all of them fit perfectly, which was amazing!

I cast on for the Octarine Socks this week, and I have to say that I've had a few problems, some of my own making! When I looked at the pattern, I thought that it looked like an easy lace pattern that I could knit during a busy time, as it wouldn't need all my attention

I have to say, it helps to read the *entire* pattern before starting knitting. I'd completely ignored the back charts, which were definitely not simple lace at all, in fact, they're complicated lace and cables.

Though it is a gorgeous pattern, it is definitely not mindless knitting that I can do whilst holding a conversation. The other problem is that according to the pattern, my feet measurements mean that I should make a size large, which involves casting on 80 stitches. I thought that that sounded like a lot, but I decided the pattern knew what it was talking about, and so, of course, the socks are way too big. I just can't face ripping out all that work right now, so they're in time out for a couple of days, until I'm ready to frog hours worth of work.

We're currently in Cardiff, visiting Connor's parents, so I've been travelling round local yarn stores, looking for yarn and beads to make a Celestarium. Out of 5 yarn stores and 2 bead stores, I have no yarn and no beads, 3 yarn stores were closed, one bead store was close, one bead store had every colour of beads except the ones I wanted, one yarn store was really rude to me, and one didn't have any suitable yarn, but they were totally lovely, and I got some locally dyed Jelliebean Yarns Stardust Sock, in the colourway Tardis Blue, which is gorgeous.

I don't think the universe wants me to knit this pattern!

I hope everyone has a lovely New Year, I'll probably spend New Year's Eve trying to reknit these socks!

FO Friday - Mario!

Another quick FO this week, this time a birthday present for my five year old cousin. Last time I saw him, he was absolutely obsessed with angry birds, so I was planning to make him an angry birds hat, but then I saw him just before Christmas, and he now loves Mario, so it had to be a Mario mushroom hat

I'm really pretty proud of this hat. I've never done colourwork before, and this was a sort of approximation of intarsia in the round, which I just made up as I went along! All the stitches joined together, the gauge is pretty even, and I think it looks really good. The pattern is from these Super Mario Charts, which have various different characters, and are good representations without being too difficult to knit!

For more FO Friday posts, click here

Second Year of Projects Week 26

I just have one project to share this week off my list, the last of my Christmas knitting!

This is the finished hat for my Dad, made with my first spinning attempt on a wheel. It wasn't the easiest to make, since the yarn was very changeable in thickness, and I wasn't sure what my gauge would be. It took 4 cast on attempts to get this the right size, it kept coming out way too big! I was a bit worried that I wouldn't have enough yarn,as I only had 110 yards, but I came out with only 10 yards left, so it was perfect.

The aim is for him to wear it whilst hunting in the snow, so I didn't need to dye it, it's just a natural colour. It was very difficult to photograph though, the actual colour is much less grey and slightly more cream.

I also have a little FO that's not off my list.

This is Mr Claus, since my Mum was complaining that she didn't have a new ornament for her (super tacky) Christmas tree. I think it's very cute and very silly! It only took an evening to knit, though it was a bit fiddly as all the parts were made separately.

I'm loving being on Christmas holiday, and I hope that everyone has a lovely Christmas, or any other winter holiday that you celebrate :)

FO Friday - Christmas presents!

Well, it's been a long time since I've done one of these! Most of my knitting recently has been off my Year of Projects list, but when I finished all my Christmas knitting, I decided to make a quick hat for my Uncle, or he would be the only person without a knitted gift on Christmas day.

This pattern is Fisher Cable Hat, and it's a very easy to follow pattern that is quick to knit up. I was using aran yarn rather than worsted, which the pattern calls for, so I only cast on 80 stitches, and decreased the amount of plain knitting above the brim to14 rows before decreases instead of the 20 the pattern calls for. I'm pretty pleased with it, it fits Connor perfectly, so I'm thinking it will fit, and it only took 2 evenings to do.

I also have another (none knitting) FO.

I graduated from my first degree last week (we get two degrees on my medical course, one for preclinical/research, and one for clinicals), and I now am the proud owner of a Bachelor of Medical Sciences with Honours, First Class.

Second Year of Projects Weeks 24 and 25

I'm sorry I've been absent again, I'm getting to the point in the term where I don't have the motivation to do anything, even knit!

I have managed to finish the snuggly socks for Connor's Christmas present

They're fraternal twins rather than matching, but getting them to match would have been impossible, since I managed to finish them with only 1g of yarn remaining... They do amuse me, because they're so large they remind me of Christmas stockings. I have also decided I am never making him a pair in sock weight, it would take far too long!

I also cast on for my Dad's Christmas present. He wanted something made from the first yarn that I spun on the wheel he bought me for my birthday, but since it was my first time, I don't have much yarn!

I'm hoping to have enough to make him a hat that he can wear shooting when it snows and he wants to be camouflaged. I cast on 96 in the hopes that it would fit, but it came out absolutely huge! One of the problems is that about 25 yards of the yarn is much thinner than the other 60 yards, so I've done the ribbing on 4mm needles with the thinner yarn, and gone up to 5mm for the stockinette stitch in the thicker yarn. That is giving a very thick fabric for the body of the hat, but I'm thinking it'll be warm which is the point.

I have this hat to finish, and then one more and I'll have done all my Christmas knitting, so I'm happy with how I'm doing. Hope to get both hats done by Friday, when I go to my parents.

I also got feedback for the socks I made for my best friend's birthday. I was Skyping with her, and she not only commented that she'd been desperately wanting to open her present since she got it a month ago (she knew she was getting socks), but she'd put the socks on immediately and showed them off to everyone at work. She also had the dugong I made her for her last birthday on the windowsill when she was chatting to me, so she's definitely proved herself knitworthy and will be getting more socks. She could not stop being amazed at how well they fit, which made me happy as well, since I had to guess at sizing.

I did get some bad news this week, Tomcat needs surgery on his canine, as it's snapped off and is hurting his gum. But the vet thinks it's best to wait 'til after Christmas, because we'll be doing a lot of travelling with him over the Christmas period. I'm just worried in case he's in pain :(

I'm so looking forward to the Christmas holiday, only 5 days left!

Second Year of Projects Week 23

Well, the best news of the week is that I've finished my exams. Paediatrics and the Obs and Gynae practical went OK, but the Obs and Gynae written paper was horrible! Luckily, it wasn't only me that thought that, so hopefully I'll have managed to pass.

In the last day or so, I've managed to finish one of Connor's socks

They do seem to me to be more like stockings than socks, but they fit him, and that's all that matters. I decided fitting properly was better than knittng them as a surprise, but he still won't be getting them until Christmas! 

I do have to acknowedge some amazing people though, over on LSG I was gifted the Beekeeper's Quilt pattern from the fairyhoarmother (yes really), which was a very sweet RAK from one of the student midwives on the university thread that I hang out on. I also recieved 400g of Chocolate alpaca from the UK Karma swaps group, which is amazing and I will be spinning up soon!

I don't really have much to share today, since exams have kind of taken over my life, but I'll be reading all your much more interesting posts tomorrow!