A Year of Projects Update - week 38

Some progress has been made this week and I have a (tiny) FO!
Thomas was home from school this week for 3 days so I had to stay with him (nothing too terrible just miserable with cold and possibly flu.  Which was obviously bad, but I did get to do some knitting.
As a result I have put in some time on both of my sweaters.
Nasreen is coming along nicely.  I am really enjoying this knit and the yarn is wonderful.  I am now making my way through the angled stripes on the front.  So I have the top band and the back to go.

And the Grass River Tunic is going nicely as well. I am now onto the hip shaping, but it essentially now just stockinette in the round.

I did also make progress on my socks but I am so nearly finished I will take pictures when I am done.
I do have an FO.
It is coming up to Daniel's birthday.  He is having an animal party.  I wanted to do most of the organisation (apart from the actual party) myself, to perhaps save some pennies and to be as environmentally friendly as possible.  So have made the invites myself (I will show next week when they are printed) and was going to make some knitted guinea pigs to give as little gifts to the invitees. In one of the groups on Ravelry, I was inspired by another member to modify a pattern to make guinea pigs as pencil toppers - so I have made a prototype.  They have been approved by Daniel, so I am now into full production!

And that is that for this week.  I hope everyone has a relaxing and crafty week.

A Year of Projects Update - week 37

We have had a busy week, so it's been a miracle any knitting has gotten done.  However, I have fitted in some!

I only have WIP's this week, but all are coming along nicely.
I have done some more on the Grass River Tunic.  I am now onto the waist decreases, but as it is a fingering weight it is taking a while. 

The socks are progressing well.  We are at shortie length now, but I want longer so we are still going for the time being.  You never know they could be finished next week.

The only spanner in the works is that I have cast on a new project that I am loving.  I finally cast on Nasreen from Pom Pom 26.  I have had this yarn for about a year now and it has been wound up for most of this.  I am loving this project.  The yarn is amazing.  It is Rosy Green yarn and is 100% merino - all organically sourced and dyed.  I love it.  The pattern is constructed in bits then seamed.  It is reminding me of Stephen West at the moment and I love it. 

And that is a wrap for this week!  Hope everyone has a great week.

A Year of Projects Update - Week 36

Back to school this week, which was as busy as ever.  We did manage to get to swimming on Monday and hope to keep this up more regularly.
I have a finished object this week.  Completely frivolous and one that you won't have seen unless yo follow me on Instagram. 
Meet Gnatalie.

She is a gnome!  I had seen the pattern at Christmas and liked it, but hadn't been inspired to make it until I saw Ellie at Crafthouse Magic doing a gnomealong!  I really like her - pattern is Here we gnome again and the yarn is from South Downs Yarn.
Otherwise I have made progress on my Grass River Tunic.  I have joined both fronts to the back and now have a few more rows to go until I join in the round.  Pattern is by Elizabeth Doherty and the yarn from Eden Cottage yarn.

I have also made progress on the socks.  I have now done the heels and am making my way up the legs.  These are an adapted version of the hazelnut socks by Helen Stewart and yarn is by Little French Meadow.

I am now looking at another sweater to cast on.  The Grass River Tunic is a fingering weight sweater and I fancy having something a bit heavier weight to work on.  Not sure what though!

And I think that is about it for this week.  I had a few bits come in the post.  I got some stitch markers from Highland Heffalump and a few, along with a stitch gauge from another shop that I cannot remember the name of now!
I also got some more fabric so that I can sew a couple more dresses.


I hope everyone has a great week.

A Year of Projects Update - week 35

It has been such a lovely week here - weather wise particularly.
We had our first barbecue of the year on Monday.  Grant you , that was the one rainy day, but we had fun anyway!
We also went swimming, did some gardening, had a playdate and went to Unravel.  I will come back to Unravel later.
I have made progress on most of my projects this week.  I finished the team hard hats (one for all three of us for the motor racing).

They are actually bright pink.
I also finished lots of sewing.  I finished two Coco dresses (one of which I wore to Unravel).  This s a pattern by Tilly and the Buttons which I have made many times before, but I love this easy to make and easy to wear dress.

I also finished a dress that was actually my oldest WIP.  This is the ultimate wrap dress by Sew Over It.  I started it to wear at a wedding 3? 4 years ago.  I didn't finish it at the time - obviously.  It didn't need much doing to it - I don't know why I had put it off for so long.  I still think it needs another line of topstitching to keep the facing in place, but the sewing machine is still threaded so I will try to do that today. 

I also made some pyjama bottoms from Tilly and the Buttons first book - Love a t first stitch.

Unravel was fabulous as last year.  I got what I wanted and didn't get too much that wasn't planned.

I got some self striping to make sock arms from Dragon Hill yarns.  Whilst there I did get tempted by some sparkly pink striping as well for me and Daniel fell in love with the yellow and black colourway that reminded him of bees.
I also picked up some dark grey to make the body of sock arms from Amy of Stranded Dyeworks.  I was wearing my Quiet Stars that I made with her metelsome colourway that I had picked up last year, so we were able to have a bit of a chat as I was purchasing.  I also got some plum from John Arbon Textiles (bought from the lovely man himself) to make a vest top called Lange that I have had my eye on for a while.  And I finished off with a pin badge from Pom Pom magazine, bought while I was perusing the sample knits from the latest edition and Interpretations from Joji and Veera that were on show there

All in all a great day, and now I have to return to work to pay for it all.  Six weeks to the Easter holidays!

A Year of Projects Update - Week 34

It's been quite an exciting week on the FO front!  And this is whilst I have been at work.  We are off this week - it is half term.  We have a few plans including Unravel at the end of the week (my treat for entertaining the boys all week!)  Otherwise we have some swimming plans and a bbq planned for Monday with friends.
Anyway onto these FO's!
I finished my legwarmers at the start of the week.  I love these and plan on wearing them a lot.

The yarn is some that I repurposed from another frogged project.  And the pattern is from an issue of Stranded magazine.
I also finished the Flax for Daniel.  I am so pleased with this - it is big enough for him to wear this year, but has enough room that it should be ok for next year as well.

Yarn is some that a friend got for me.  I still have enough to make some hats.
I also finished another Team Hard hat for the motor racing.

I now have two done and have the last one now on the needles for me.  Pattern is a free one for a cabled hat.  The yarn is hopefully showing the right colour, despite looking quite red in previous pics, it is actually a bright pink!

I have made no progress on the Grass River Tunic or my socks, but hope to this week.
Well that is it for this week - I hope everyone has a lovely restful week.

A Year of Projects Update - Week 33

Slow and steady has been this week.  The boiler was fixed last Sunday and in the end it was an easy fix.  Thank you all for your support last week.
We also had a broken toilet seat last week and the toilet is a non standard one so it took a while to source a new one!  We have it now and just need to fit it.
Progress on projects has been happening.  I went to the knit group with Daniel yesterday and made lots of progress on his Flax.  I am more than half way down the body and will try to do some more today.

The wool is a mega ball of aran from one of my friends.  It appears to be the tardis of balls of wool as it is not getting any smaller!
I did make some progress on my socks but you can't tell so no pic this week.
I am zipping through the second legwarmer and am now more than halfway through this.

The yarn here is repurposed from a top that I had frogged earlier in the year.
I have also started the Grass River Tunic by Elizabeth Doherty.  I am at the first set of increases for the armhole.  I think this should progress more when Flax is finished.

And finally, I have been really good at not buying any yarn (I am going to Unravel in a couple of weeks so am saving myself), but I saw this on Instagram and fell in love.  I have never got anything by Twisted Limone and missed out again on this update, but...  Karen (at Twisted Limone) said that she would do custom listings, so I tried my luck.  Karen was brilliant and dyed it that day and in the week this arrived at my door

It is beautiful.  I don't know what it will become, for the time being I am going to keep it and pet it!
I hope everyone has a great week.

A Year of Projects Update - Week 32

It's been a bit of a chilly week here, but I feel a bit silly saying that when some people have had temperatures of -40 and 50!  Anyway we have had to wrap up and this morning our boiler has stopped working. We are currently waiting for an engineer but I suspect it has broken down completely.  It is a very old boiler and there are no parts for it so now I am worried as to how long it will take to fix or install a new one.  We have no other source of heat, so the knitwear is well and truly out.
Anyway, I have made some progress this week, before this happened.
I almost finished one of the Team Hard hats for the racing.  It needs a pom pom and then it is ready for Daniel. I have since started my version.

I have made progress on Daniel's sweater.  This is Flax by Tin Can Knits in a yarn that a friend got for me.  It is a 400g acrylic/wool blend, so will be more than enough and should be easy care.  I have made a Flax before and love this free pattern.

I have made a bit of progress on my Christmas cast on.  These are a modified hazelnut sock by Helen Stewart in the yarn that I got by Little French Meadow in their advent set.

I have cast on the Grass River Tunic by Elizabeth Doherty, but have not done too much so it doesn't have a photo yet.
I have also made a fair bit of progress on my leg warmers.  I think I would like one more repeat of the pattern and that will be long enough for my needs, along with a second one of course!

And I think that is it for the week.  Now to go and see if I can source a heater!
Have a great week.