It Is Finished...And Something Else Started

Well, I got the scarf finished. I haven't blocked it yet - not really sure if I will or not. It's on the shortish side as I only used two balls of the yarn, but I thought that if I do block it that might stretch it out a little. It's still a good size now though.

I really enjoyed this pattern (links to Ravelry), and will make it again for sure.

In other knitting news, I've started a hat using the same yarn I did for the scarf. I had debated on making a feather & fan type hat to match the scarf, but decided against it.

I decided on the Spring Cap by Woolly Wormhead (don't you just love that name?!) and I must say I am really enjoying the pattern. It's easy and it's knitting up quickly. I am making the smallest size and I don't know if it will fit an adult or a teenager. My yarn is different than what is in the pattern and I have no idea if it's the same size of yarn or not. Since my yarn is from Korea (or Japan) there is no indication of the size of yarn that I can see. So, to me it doesn't really matter because I'm not making the hat for me. It will join the mitten tree at church to be donated to charity. I'm going to put a note with it I think, as this hat isn't thick enough (especially with the "lace" work in it) for winter...in my opinion. It's more for spring (as the name would probably indicate) or fall. Regardless, I'm sure someone will enjoy having a nice hat to wear on a chilly day.

I'm just about ready to start the crown shaping, so I don't anticipate it taking a lot longer to finish knitting wise. What will interrupt the knitting will be school work. I've got my first presentation (it's a group one) on Tuesday and of course trying to keep on top of the other work so I'm not doing things up a day or two before things are due. I'm trying to use my knitting as a reward - work awhile then do some knitting to relax. The only problem is that I am enjoying this pattern (as I did with the scarf) and want to work at it until it's done!

In other news, hurricane Kyle is heading our way. I think on the weather network they said it's downgraded to a tropical storm, but I'm not totally sure on that. Regardless, they showed it heading straight for our city but it could hit west of us as well. They say that we are expected to get something like 50-100 mm of rain by Monday (tomorrow) morning, and winds will be in excess of 63km/hour. Sorry for those who don't know the metric system - I'm not sure what they convert to...though I think with kilometers and miles you double the kilometer (roughly), though I'm not really sure. It's supposed to hit just before dawn tomorrow.

We don't often get hurricanes but we have gotten tail winds from them and tropical storms. I know Halifax got hit by hurricane Juan about three years ago, and they say that this storm will hit three years to the day that hurrican hit.

It's getting dark out (has been for a little while) so I expect the storm is on its way. It's not raining yet but that will come too. Hopefully things won't be too bad! I'd better head off now and get some more school work done. Happy knitting!

Half Way Point

I've reached the half way mark on the scarf. Roughly. I think. I'll have to wait and decide if it's long enough when I'm finished the second ball of yarn. Though these aren't generally colours I care for (at least the browns), I think the scarf is looking pretty darn good! I like the way the colours are blending together.

I was a little stupid though, and just grabbed one of the balls (I have a total of 3) before starting the scarf, and it started with the orangish-red. The other two balls I have start with the browns. Now that I've started the second ball, you can easily notice where it starts because the first one also ended with the orangish-red colour. There is no blending between the two balls, and it's not following the colour pattern. I'm not overly concerned about this, however, as all the colours will still be present - just in a different order now. Also, the part with the drastic colour change (where ball two joins) will be at the back of the neck anyway so that shouldn't be too noticeable (if it will at all).

I'm not sure if I'll block the scarf or not. So far it's looking pretty good so far. I'm afraid if I do block it, it will be wider than what it is currently - though maybe I could stretch the length and not the width...anyway, I'll wait until I'm done to decide if I'll block or not.

As I said, I have a 3rd ball in waiting. If I don't use it for the scarf, I might see if I can get a hat knit from it - even if it's only a child's hat. It doesn't necessarily have to go with the scarf - mostly because I don't know if there is a hat pattern with a feather and fan design or not. So, I'll just make any ol' hat. As I said, it doesn't have to go with the scarf. I'm thinking about donating these items to the mitten tree at church at Christmas, so the hat might end up getting put with the scarf anyway, but like I said, it doesn't matter to me if it does or not.

I should be finished the scarf this weekend. I have only been knitting on it here and there (usually no more than a half hour at a time - maybe the odd hour) because I've been busy with school work. Since this is a quick and easy knit (pattern is easily memorized), it shouldn't be too long before I'm finished with it. I'll definitely post a picture when it's completed.

Well, better be off and get some more reading for class done. Tomorrow I have three classes, and then none on Friday - which reminds me, I need to check my email to see if they've got me placed at a school yet to do the observation part of my teacher's training...

Happy knitting!

A New Knit

Edited to add: Want to check out great books you might be interested in reading? Check out the book reviews I have at my writing blog: Ink Scrawls. Click here to read all about lots of fabulous books! Oh, and please leave some comments there too :o).

Now, on to the knitting content...

I did a lot of homework yesterday - mostly reading, trying to keep on top of things so I don't get too bogged down later on. So, as a little reward to myself, I picked up my knitting needles and some yarn. I felt like working on something for the mitten tree at church (which will be up towards the end of November) and wanted something that was somewhat mindless and quick - you know, instant gratification and whatnot.

What I chose was this (see above). It's the Two Weeknights With Warrick Worsted Wave Scarf by Karin Bole. The link will take you to the pattern at Ravelry.

The yarn I'm using is some that I got when I was in Korea. It's called Finance and reminds me of Noro Kuryeon. The colourway is number 176 and is 45g/115m. It recommends to use 4.0mm - 4.5mm needles, so I'm using 4.0mm on my scarf. I made a little change in the pattern in that I cast on 38 stitches instead of the 26 called for, since I thought it would look a little too narrow with the 26.

The pattern is super duper easy and is going quite quickly. I'm sure if I used 4.5mm or even 5.0mm needles it would fly by even quicker. What you see is what I got done in probably a total of two hours...maybe a tad bit more time, but not too much.

The other day I also purchased a couple of knitting magazines. One in particular (the Vogue Knitting one)I was wanting to get because of this post at Brooklyn Tweed. These mittens look so cool! Apparently they aren't a quick knit - and one can tell from just looking at the picture they aren't - but I wanted to give them a try at some point - hopefully sometime in the not too distant future!

But, for now I'd better get back to working on some homework so I can reward myself later on with a little knitting on the scarf again. Happy knitting!

Stash Enhancers

The other day when I posted about the toddler socks, I forgot to mention my latest stash enhancers. Can't believe I did that! So, here is a little post just for that!

First up, I have my August purchase from the Robyn's Nest sock club. The yarn is a reddish colour (I honestly had trouble deciding if it was a dark pink or red. Some of the yarn looks closer to pink, while some looks red...regardless of how you'd classify the colour, I think it's pretty). It's from Tanis Fiber Arts, is hand dyed and feels nice and soft and squishy. The pattern is called Mathematical Equation, and was designed by Robyn herself! Looks like a great pattern Robyn, good job on designing it! There are also 2 stitch markers included as well (in red to match the yarn).

The next item to show is 2 balls of Reynolds Fusion, colour #22. It's a blend of mohair, acrylic, and wool. I think this will more than likely become a scarf. Also, there were two patterns, one for socks and the other for the Pea Pod baby set. There was a cute little cow (which I forgot to include in the picture...silly me) and some lollipop suckers which I love and were long gone before I got the picture taken. This was my prize from Robyn's contest she had a little while back - guess the number of meat balls on the plate. Thanks so much for the wonderful prize Robyn!

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. I have a feeling my knitting may suffer (again) this year. Though school has just started and we haven't done a whole lot yet, things will start to get busy soon. I have the first assignment due tomorrow and then nothing until Monday, but then soon after that, things will start happening. There is also going to be group work, so other than one class, we haven't been put into our groups yet. With the group work will come meetings and what not to get our presentations and lesson plans done up, so that will eat up time as well.

I have no classes on Fridays, but that will be the day I'll do the observation part of my training. I will be starting that soon - it could take a week, or a month or somewhere in between to get placed so that could start as early as next week. Once I finish that, I'll have to start the teaching part of the training. I will more than likely be doing that Fridays next semester as well because I don't have classes then either.

But, I know I'll need to take some down time here and there so I don't crack. I am hoping that knitting will be a part of that and that it won't be just sitting or lying in front of the tv all the time. I find knitting relaxing, so hopefully I will do that to relax.

Anyway, must head off and get some lunch now. My next class starts in about an hour so I need to eat and change (did I mention I have four hours between my two classes on Wednesdays? I just come home for that time...but I'm sure there will be times I have to get together with a group or something at some point) so I won't be late. Thankfully, I don't live to far away from the school so I don't have to deal with a lot of traffic!

Happy Knitting!

Hello Again!

Hello again! I am back. Thank you for your condolences on the death of my father. It's still hard to believe he is gone. I have been pretty good, but have had some moments lately where I feel quite saddened by his death. I'm sure it will be some time before things will seem "normal" again - or at least we'll have o create a new "normal" now.

I have done a little bit of knitting, though in all honesty, not too much. While my dad was in the hospital, I got a pair of baby socks knit and a pair of toddler socks as well. There was a problem with the baby socks, however. I think I either knit one tighter than the other, or I accidentally skipped a few rows in the foot of the sock, because one of them is slightly bigger than the other. When I put them together, it's noticeable so I will either have to make 2 more socks to match, or just use the others as Christmas tree ornaments or something. Because I was too ashamed of this gross error (or not so gross), I didn't bother to take a picture of those ones.

For these toddler socks, I used my 2.7mm bamboo needles I bought in when I was in South Korea with Knit Picks yarn (oh my gosh, I'm having a senior's moment or something - can't recall the name of the yarn!) and the colourway, I believe is called "Crayon". I've had this yarn in my stash for a couple of years now and decided to use it once I got back home to Canada. The pattern is the Baby to Toddler Sized Socks by Miriam L. Felton (I love this pattern!). The pattern is linked to the one on Ravelry.

In the last couple of weeks, I've worked on another pair of toddler socks in the same yarn as the first pair, since I had enough left over from the skein of the first pair. I finally finished the second of those socks last night. These may look like the first pair (making it seem like I'm counting the same pair twice), but rest assured, they are different.

The first pair I made, I gifted to my cousin for her little fellow. She loved them (as did her mom and her grandmother, my aunt). My aunt was telling me last night that my cousin's son was sitting on the floor trying to put them on (he's not quite 2 yet) and wasn't getting angry, but just couldn't figure out how on earth to put these things on! Hopefully they'll fit him. My cousin said they would, though. The second pair I am planning on putting on the "mitten" tree at church this Christmas. Which reminds me, I need to get cracking and make some more socks and mittens, etc. since I don't really have anything (other than a pair of baby socks and a pair of toddler socks) as I haven't been knitting for that while in Korea.

Well, university started up this week and it looks like I'm going to have a pretty full plate this time around. I'm taking six courses each semester, and I'll be starting my observation in a classroom next month (I think). I have no courses on Friday's so I think that is when I'll choose to do my observation and teacher training. I'm also hoping (providing I have the finances) to take part in their program where I will be able to do part of my teacher training here, and part of it in Australia! I need to find out more about it, however - particularly how much it's going to cost. Also with school, we have a lot of group work, presentations, lesson plans, etc. to do and that will take up a lot of my time. I hope I'll have some down time so I can knit and read and whatnot!

Well, I'd better go and start on some homework. For my literacy class we have to write a 4-5 page essay/report on our own literacy memoirs. The prof said it is due next class, but the syllabus says it's due Sept. 15. I have this class on Monday, and I want to get it done for then just in case. If I get to class and find out we don't need it done that day, then I can go over it and revise it (if need be) for the actual due date. If I don't need to, then that is one assignment I will have done and won't have to worry about.

I'll leave you with a picture I took of one of my mom's dahlias (I really love this particular flower). She's got some gorgeous flowers growing in her garden. Her and dad have been into growing dahlias for the last several years and I think they are so beautiful.