TWO more FO's for you!

Even though I went back to work on Thursday, I have managed to knit a lot during the evenings. And this weekend has mostly been spent on the couch, knitting and playing games with Thomas. So I've actually managed to finish two more projects! On Wednesday evening I finished the Sofie's Slouch that I made for my mother. She had asked if I could make her a blue slouchy hat, and I had some KnitPicks Stroll yarn left in my stash in the colourway Saphire Heather that fit perfectly. The pattern called for DK, so I just held the yarn doubled and got gauge. Perfect!

I'm pretty pleased with the hat, and my mother will get it next week so I hope she'll like it too. I used up almost all of the yarn I had left too, and I feel so pleased when I get to move yarn on Ravlery from the "stash" to the "all used up" tab! Although now I have to find some more blue sock yarn to use for a pair of Tardis socks that I want to knit eventually...

Yesterday I was knitting mostly on my Julissa sweater that I'm making with Wollmeise DK yarn. This yarn is really nice to work with! I made my Evenstar shawl a year or so ago with Wollmeise Lace, and even though the finished shawl is gorgeous and really soft, I found that yarn a bit stiff to work with. Not the DK! This yarn is super soft right from the start, and the stitch definition is amazing!

I've just begun the hip increases, after finishing the waist, so hopefully I can get the body done tonight or tomorrow. I really love this sweater, and I can't wait to wear it. The pattern is really clear and precise, even though you do lots of stuff at the same time, but the instructions are good and the charts are perfect. I can definitely see myself making more of Vanessas patterns in the future.

In the middle of the day yesterday I also took a break from the sweater and worked some on the Vanilla Bean socks. They went so fast that I actually finished them! 

These were made with KnitPicks Felici yarn, in the Time Traveler colourway, and I really like them. I may have to rip the toes out though and make one more stripe before the decreases, because the foot parts are a bit too small. I wore them for a while yesterday, and I found that the heel tended to end up a bit below my foot... I'm not sure if I'll bother though, as they are comfortable anyway. I think this is just because I had never made an afterthought heel before, and I didn't know how long I should continue knitting before starting the toe.

As I finished those socks, I knew I needed to start a new pair that I can use as my work knitting. The Gördes socks that I cast on the other day (and that I haven't touched since) are a bit too complicated to knit on during my breaks, I need something more mindless for that. I chose the Flecktone mitts as my starting point, only I'm turning them into socks instead. That shouldn't be too difficult, right? I love the stitch pattern! I pulled out one of my newer yarns from the stash, the Four Seasons Gründl Hot Socks Nil yarn that I got when my mom was visiting, so I can use them for my March socks in the Stockinette Zombies Striped Socks KAL.

So far I like the look of them, but I'm not sure that I'm enjoying the yarn very much. It is pretty scratchy, even for a workhorse sock yarn. But the colours are awesome, I love the kind of tonal striping, and I think they might soften with some wash and wear. I'll definitely finish them! The pattern is pretty mindless, so they'll be perfect for work.

Ok, so now I have three projects going: One sweater and two pairs of socks. I think I might actually cast on some lace today though, as I really feel like lace knitting! I already have some MadelineTosh lace yarn wound, and I think I'll start the Mandala II shawl. I don't have very much planned for today, other that grocery shopping, so I think I'll get around to it.

So how did you guys spend Valentine's Day? As Thomas had his birthday on Sunday, we have never really celebrated Valentine's, but this year we at least spent the evening together. Thomas' museum hosts something called Nerd Cafés about once a month, where someone who has a passion for a specific topic comes and talks about that for an hour, while the audience gets to buy coffee and cakes. This month the Nerd was a Stephen King afficionado, so I really wanted to listen. As you might know, I'm a bit obsessed by Stephen King myself. I have read all of his books, I even have a Dark Tower tattoo, and I adore his books. So it was a really nice speech, and I got to talk a bit with the speaker afterwards too. His name is Hans-Åke Lilja, and he runs the website Lilja's Library which is one of the biggest Stephen King fan-sites in the world. He's even got to meet mr King himself once, and I have to admit I'm pretty jealous about that. If you do like mr King, I really recommend the site to you as it's really great.

Ok, now we're going to have lunch and play some TV games. I'll see you soon!

/ Jenny

Sickdays equals finishing-days!

Yeah, my stomach is acting up again. I'm eating hormones to treat something completely different, and it seems like these pills are not getting along with my stomach. At all. I feel like I haven't worked a whole week since November (I have, but it doesn't feel like it)! I had a vacation day on Monday, and then my stomach started spazzing out, so for these past two days I've mostly been horizontal on the couch. No fun at all!

But! I managed to do some knitting after all. Some days, when it's really bad, I feel to lousy to even knit, but yesterday I managed to get some knitting done in the afternoon at least. And I finished my Ill Met by Moonlight socks!

I think I told you that they are a little bit on the big side, but that's ok. I was afraid that I would run out of yarn for a while, but I had nearly 10 grams left over, so that was fine. I really like them, and they were a fun knit!

I also cast on new stuff this week. On Monday I started Sofie's Slouch, a hat I'm making for my mom. I'm making it in KnitPicks Stroll, colourway Saphire Heather, and holding the yarn double. It's looking really good so far!

Mom requested a blue slouchy hat a while ago, and I'm hoping to get this done fairly quickly. We still have lots and lots of snow and cold here, but you never know how long the winter will last. Next week is spring break week, and as my sister is a teacher she gets some days off. She's going home to visit our parents, and I hope I can finish the hat and send it with her.

Today, as I had kitchenered the toe on the Ill Met socks, I decided to start a new pair of socks too. I'm already working on the Vanilla Bean socks in the stripy KnitPicks Felici yarn, but I really want a pair of more complicated socks on the go as well. After much picking and choosing, I settled on the Gördes socks by Hunter Hammersen.

I'm making them in Shibui Knits sock yarn (100 % superwash merino, 175 m/50 g) in the colourway Periwinkle, and so far I like the yarn. It's been a while since I made socks without nylon in them, but since it's plied so tightly I can't really tell the difference. I'm not hard on socks at all, so I have no problem with wearing socks without nylon.

I got some more yarn this week too! First, the two skeins I got from MarigoldJen before Christmas finally arrived. It's her BFL sock yarn (75 % wool/25 % nylon, 425 m/100 g), and the colourway is called Apple of Megan's Eye. 

This colour is specially dyed for the Stockinette Zombies, and I think there are only about 70 skeins of each weight yarn in each colour (this is Megan's colour. There is also an Amy colour, Punky Plum, and Jen dyed in sock weight and Worsted weight). The skeins were available for preorder for just a couple of hours before they were all sold out, and I managed to snag me two of them. In March there will be a KAL with the yarn, and I think I'm going to make a pair of Laris Designs gloves. I just haven't decided on which yet!

I also got my first club shipment in the Cookie A Sock club this week, and this yarn is amazing! I think most members have gotten theirs by now, but I'm just warning you about spoilers ahead.

The yarn is Indigo Dragonfly MCN Sock yarn (80 % merino/10 % cashmere/10 % nylon, 344 m/100 g), and the colourway is called E Pluribus Nom Nom Nom (Out of Many Jars, One Cookie). I LOVE this yarn! It is one of the softest sock yarns I have ever felt, and the emerald green is just perfect! I'm not over the moon for any of the two patterns this month, so I'll probably make something else with it. It's just so pretty I have a hard time deciding on which pattern would make it justice!

I also got a project bag with the shipment, and I think it's the same as the previous years (with the exception of the year printed on it, of course). 

And two cookie recipes as well, which I'll definitely try to make. It shouldn't be too hard to substitute the wheat flour for gluten free flour, I usually do that when I bake without too much trouble. I'll do that when my stomach has settled down a bit though, right now I'm not really in the mood for cookies at all!

Ok, now I'm going to watch some podcasts and maybe knit some more too. And possibly dare to have lunch!

/ Jenny

Knitting like the wind!

I've had a real finishing week this past week! I've been mostly focused on my Grey Havens sweater, and yesterday I finally finished it! I sewed in all the ends, sewed on the buttons, and blocked it at once, as I really wanted to wear it today. It's Thomas' birthday today, and we went with some friends for lunch at the museum restaurant where he works, and had soup and cake buffet. I set the fan on the sweater, and it actually dried over night so I could wear it. 

I LOVE it! The sleeves are a tad long, but I can live with that. The buttons are perfect with the sweater, and it fits me like a glove. I'll get a lot of use out of this one!

After I washed and blocked the sweater I also finally finished the first of the Ill Met by Moonlight socks that I've been working on since before Christmas.

They are a little bit big on me, but not big enough that I feel I need to give them to someone else. They just aren't snug on the feet, but they are pretty enough that I don't care. I'm almost past the pattern part on the leg of the second sock too, so hopefully the second one will go a lot faster.

Then today while we sat in the restaurant waiting for the exhibition that we were going to to open, I pulled out my Vanilla Bean socks, and I finished the afterthought heel on the first sock on those too!

These are instead a little bit small for me, I think I could have made one more colour stripe before I started the toe, but I've never made afterthought heel socks before so I wasn't sure on when to start the toe. They fit me ok, they are just a little bit short in the foot part. I'll wear these anyway too, as I really love them!

Oh, I've also gotten some more yarn in the mail this week! Do you remember that I thought I wouldn't have enough of the Madelinetosh Pashmina that I made the Grey Havens from? I did have enough, I used 3.9 skeins out of my four, but to be on the safe side I ordered one more from Eat.Sleep.Knit while they still had that same lot. And as I ordered from the States, I figured I could just as well get something else, as the shipping is so expensive anyway. So I got five skeins of Dream in Color Classy (100 % Merino, 229 m/113 g) in the colourway Chinatown Apple.

I think it might become either an Astrid sweater or a Dark and Stormy cardigan. It's very pretty and very very squishy! When I had placed those skeins in the shopping cart, the store told me that I only had a few yards left to reach my first mile milestone and get a welcome package, so I also got a skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock:

It's 80 % merino/20 % nylon, 398 m/100g, and the colourway is called Harvest. It's a really pretty, golden yellow which will become very pretty socks!

Then a couple of days later my final big purchase came from The Loopy Ewe, and I could not be more happy! Three huge skeins of Wollmeise DK (100 % superwash merino, 428 m/200g) in the colourway Unbeschrieblich!

The name actually means indescribable, and I think that is just what the colour is. It's a very pretty brownish purple, and I love it. I have two skeins of the same colour in fingering weight too, which I don't really know what I'll make from yet. The DK will definitely become a sweater or cardigan for me though.

Other than that not much has been going on here. Lots to do at work, and since Thomas has been away with his job for almost all of this past week I've mostly been parked on the couch in the evenings, knitting and listening to podcasts. I have the day off tomorrow, and I think the day will be spent mostly with knitting and a little bit of house cleaning!

/ Jenny

I love yarn clubs!

It's just so much fun to have stuff arriving in the mail all the time! Right now I'm actually in four different clubs, but I only have one more shipment from the Sheepy Time Knits Time Traveler club (which will be arriving in March), and two more from Mad Color Fiber Arts Geeky tour club (which will be arriving in February and March). Then it's the rest of the year with The Knitting Goddess and Cookie A :)

I do think I might join in for a second round with mad Color Fiber Arts though. I got the first shipment in that club a couple of days ago, and it is lovely! But first, I need to remind you of what I got from Sheepy Time Knits about two weeks or so ago:

This colourway is called the Medusa Cascade. It's really pretty, and I love how Mandy interpreted the colour inspirations. Then the yarn arrived from Mad Color Fiber Arts:

This is Shiny (70 % wool/30 % silk, 342 m/110 g). The collourway? ALSO Medusa Cascade! Isn't that a funny coincidence? The colours are completely different, and I love them both, so I'm very happy. This will probably also be more socks in the future.

I actually had two more packages arriving in the mail this week, but in my defence one of them was ordered right after Christmas. Sometimes it just takes a while for stuff to get here from the States. I ordered a stitch light from Buffy Ann Design, which is a little light that you put around your neck and direct at the knitting. 

Thomas always complains when I use the spotlight next to the couch, as he gets a glare from it in the TV screen when playing games. I hope this will suit him better. I like it just fine, even though it takes a little fiddling to get it pointed right.

The other package I got was from Garnkorgen, and contained three DPN holders that I really needed. I've been knitting so much stuff on DPN's simultaneously lately that my two older holders weren't enough. Now I have five, which is more than enough.

In that package I also got three super cute buttons:

I have no idea when I'll use them, but they were just too cute to resist. Tiny sheep!

This week seems like it has been a long one, and I haven't got a lot of knitting done. I did put the sleeves on the Grey Havens sweater, and I've knit almost one repeat of the chart pattern above it.

It is looking really good, and I really want it done so I can wear it! I'll probably try to get as much done on it as I can this weekend, as we don't have any real plans. Thomas is leaving on Sunday to be gone the whole of next week, with work, so I'll probably get some done next week too.

I also decided that I really needed a new work knit, since I finished the Aquaphobia socks. So the other day I cast on for a pair of Vanilla Bean socks, in my KnitPicks Felici yarn.

The colourway is called Time Traveler, and contains the colours of Doctor Who's scarf, and I keep it in my Doctor Who box bag from JessaLu to keep the theme going. I really like these socks, they are super easy. However, I'll make my first afterthought heel on these, which will be exciting! I have no clue how to make one, but I guess I'll be able to find tons of tutorials online.

Other than that I haven't touched my other projects. The Ill Met by Moonlight socks could really need some love, and I think I'll try to finish those once the sweater is done. And my Julissa sweater that I'm making with Wollmeise DK has actually started whispering my name some evenings now. But I think I want to finish Grey Havens first. 

Now it's time for lunch, and then maybe a short walk outside as we're actually having sunshine today!

/ Jenny

First FO of the year (plus more spoilers!)

Today I finished the first FO this year! It is the Aquaphobia socks, that I've made with Regia Design Line Garden Effects yarn (75 % superwash wool/25 % nylon) in the Spring colourway.

They are part of the Self-striping KAL that the Stockinette Zombies are hosting on Ravelry, and I guess this yarn barely qualifies as striping. But I'm very pleased with them, and I think I'll wear them to work tomorrow. The Regia yarn reminds me a lot of the Opal yarns, it has the same kind of work-horse feel to it. I bet they'll wear like iron!

I made a lot of changes to the pattern, most of them inadvertently. I misread the pattern, so instead of the slipped stitches that I was supposed to make, I held the yarn in front when I lifted the stitches, which creates a kind of woven effect. I also stopped mirroring the cables after about half of the first sock, because I forgot. So the second sock only has non-mirrored cables. I had to make some decreases on the leg part too, as it was getting very big on me, but now they fit me very well! I call all of the changes design features :)

Last week I also got the January shipment in my Knitting Goddess sock club. It's called 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but it's about Helena Bonham Carter instead. The pattern I got is called Wallace, which is really pretty, and inspired by the Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit movie. The yarn is The Knitting Goddess 4-ply merino nylon sock yarn (75 %/25 %, 424 m/100 g), and the colourway is called Trousers for a Fiend.

This yarn just screams my name! Green is my very favourite colour, so this yarn couldn't suit me better. It is so gorgeous, but I think it will have to mature a little bit in my stash before I decide what to knit with it. It will probably be socks though.

Yesterday my friend Anna had invited some of her knitting friends to a yarn swap day, so five of us gathered for a very nice, chatty day and evening at her place. We all brought a lot of stuff from our stashes that we knew we would never use...

Yeah, that was a lot of yarn! We gave a lot of it to Lovisa, who has a friend who does a lot of charity knitting, and we swapped some between ourselves. I got rid of a lot of the scratchier wools I had, foremost all of my Färgkraft yarn. It kind of hurt to let those go, because the colours are so awesome and pretty, but I really hated working with it! I made the Omelet shawl out of it right before Christmas, and my hands kind of hurt after working on it. So I'm happy to know that it will be going to new good homes, where it will be used (Lovisa got two skeins of Glam Goth, and Alexandra got two skeins of Cerise).

I got to take home some skeins instead though! The first haul was two skeins of KnitPicks Shimmer hand dyed Lace yarn, in the Deep Woods colourway. 

This is 402 m/50 g, 70 % alpaca/30 % silk lace yarn, and I really like it! It will become a pretty shawl some day, although not right now. I'm really into sweaters right now, if you hadn't noticed, so the lace knitting has gotten a bit left out. I'll pick it up soon again though, I kind of like having lots of different projects going at once. And now that I finished the socks, I think I need to start something new soon.

I also got two mystery yarns with me home. The first was another brownish lace yarn, that I think Maria said was Hand Paints Lace yarn of some kind. But I don't know how to find it on Ravlery (so if Maria has a link to it Id' be happy!), so for now it's just called Mystery Lace yarn.

It is very pretty, and more subtle in the colour variations than the KnitPicks ones. The second is a skein of green Angora/Lambs wool yarn that is kind of similar to the one I made my Tardis vest from last year.

I think this is around sport weight yarn, and I think it will become a hat and possibly a pair of mitts for me. It is super soft and cozy, and the angora makes it really warm.

I got all three of my yarns from Maria's stash, but I think we were all happy with what we got. She got some Kampes one-ply wool from me as well, which I find to be just on the border of too scratchy. It's a nice yarn, and the FO's are awesome, but it's just a little bit too stiff to work with for me to be completely comfortable. I guess I've become a real yarn snob!

I've knit a lot on the Grey Havens sweater too, I only have one more chart repeat left on the second sleeve! Then it's just the yoke and the collar left. I haven't gotten any new photos of it yet though, so you'll have to wait until I've attached the sleeves. I do think I'll run out of yarn though, so yesterday I went to Eat.Sleep.Knit and ordered one more skein. As the shipping is kind of expensive from the States, I figured I might as well get some more stuff while I was ordering, so now some Dream in Colour Classy and some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarns are also on their way to me. I'll tell you more about them when they get here.

Ok, it's time to tackle the laundry. Have a great week!

/ Jenny

Sheepy Time Knits Spoilers, and some other stuff too

I'll start with the other stuff, so the photo of the club yarn doesn't end up as the promo photo. When I got home from work today, two new packages were waiting for me! The first contained my very last project bag that I got for my Christmas money. I got this one from JavaJennie on Etsy, and it is sooo pretty!

I love the tiny fairies! And the top is actually a snap closure, which I haven't seen on a project bag before. Very practical, and very pretty. I love it! The size is perfect for two skeins of yarn, which I guess makes it a medium-ish size.

The other package I got was from Sheepy Time Knits, and contained the Time Traveller club yarn for January. So if you are in the club and haven't gotten your yarn yet, please read no further!

The yarn is All Your Base (100 % superwash merino, 448 m/100 g), and the colourway is called Medusa Cascade:

It is so cool! Even Thomas commented and said it was a beautiful colourway. I'm thinking a pair of amazing socks! As I'm not very hard on my hand knit socks, I have no problem making socks without nylon in them either. I'll definitely join this club again if it comes back!

Ok, I think that's it for today. Now I think I'll knit on my sleeve for the Grey Havens sweater, before I have to go to bed!

/ Jenny

Shopping weekend

I feel like I'm only writing about getting new stuff lately, but to be honest: Most of the stuff I've been telling you about lately were all ordered around Christmas. It just takes stuff a while to get here from the States! At the beginning of the week my two AWESOME geek bags from JessaLu arrived, and I could not love them more. The first one is from Vincent and the Doctor, and features the Starry Night motif, with a tiny Tardis added:

It is just so completely full of win! I immediately transferred my Aquaphobia socks into it, so now it goes with me to work every day. I've finished the first sock, and am about half-way down the second leg. I think I might actually finish these before the end of the month (which means they will count in the Stockinette Zombies' self-striping KAL).

The second bag is a bucket bag, which I think technically is more for spinning, but I'll use it as a project bag anyway. It has Daleks on it!

It is so cool, and my inner Doctor Who nerd is melting in a puddle of happy goo just looking at it. At the end of March I'll get the last shipment from the Mad Color Fiber Arts yarn club, and as I'm in the one that's Doctor Who themed, I'll also get another JessaLu bag then! Yay!

I think it was the day after the bags arrived, that I got some more yarn in the mail. I managed to snag two skeins of KnitPicks Felici sock yarn from Great British Yarns, and I think these might have been the last two in the Time Traveler colourway because they don't have it listed any longer. It is a self-striping sock yarn in the same colours as the Doctor's scarf (do you notice a theme here?), and as KnitPicks don't have it on their website either I think this colourway is discontinued. So I'm very happy I got them!

I think these will probably become my February self-striping socks.

On Friday, my mother came to Linköping for a short visit, so on Friday evening her, me and my sister went to dinner at a lovely tapas restaurant. It was so much fun, and the food was amazing (and I haven't had breakfast yet, so I'm getting really hungry just thinking about it). She stayed with my sister for the night, and then yesterday we all went on a huge shopping spree for almost the entire day! Here in Sweden there is always a big sale on clothes right after Christmas, and now the shops are selling a lot of stuff for half of the sales prices. So both my mom and my sister got some clothes (I got some too, but mostly pyjama pants and boring stuff like that), and then we went into the crafts store. My sister needed to get some embroidery thread, as she's working on a HUGE Super Mario hanging. My mother offered to pay, and to be fair I got two skeins of sock yarn too :)

The first one was a skein of Four Seasons Gründl Hot Socks Nil yarn, in lovely teal colours. I haven't tried this yarn before, or even heard of it, but it seems like a standard, 75 % wool/25 % nylon, 384 m/100 g sock yarn. Sort of like Regia or Opal I think.

The second skein was Austermann Step sock yarn (also 75 % wool/25 % nylon, 420 m/100 g) in a lot of mixed colours. 

I think I might need to stop buying self-striping yarn for a while! My plan to buy only sweater yarn this year held out for almost an entire week... But technically, these skeins were gifts (even though I picked them myself), so maybe they don't count? I'll try to do better. I don't think I have any yarn money left for January at least, so I'll try not to get any more this month.

Oh, and while we were in town yesterday I also upgraded my phone! I've had a pink Ericsson for a couple of years now, and I've been pretty happy with it. Lately though I've found myself wishing I had a smartphone instead, so now I finally got one. It's a Samsung Galaxy, the mini version, and so far I'm very happy with it. I've got apps for Facebook, Plurk, Ravelry and blogger (the important stuff), so I think I'm set. I decided to actually pay for the Ravelous app, as that was the only one I could find for Android (I have the Wooly app for my iPad, and I like that a lot, but that one is only for Apple) that had my stash in it. I like it, and it really has all the important features of Ravelry that you might want on the go. 

Ok, on to the knitting: I've mostly been working on the Grey Havens sweater, and it's finally coming along nicely. Later today I'll get to start the sleeves, as I'm up to the arm holes on the body. 

The pattern actually tells you to start by making the sleeves, but I feel more comfortable starting with the body. I really, really love this pattern, and the yarn (Madelinetosh Pashmina) is heavenly! I'll definitely get more of that in the future. 

Other than that I've worked some on the Aquaphobia socks that I showed you above, and that pattern is great to bring to work. It's more or less mindless knitting, so I can chat during the coffee breaks, and I really like how they are coming along.

Now Thomas has finally woken up, so I think I'll go make breakfast for us. Today will be spent mostly cleaning, as the house desperately needs it!

/ Jenny

Knitting like a maniac!

As you can see, I've made some changes to the blog. It's a new year, and I decided that things needed to be freshened up a little bit. The contents will not vary much though :)

I've been knitting like crazy since the new year began! I think it was probably good for me to finish off all of my old projects before the end of December, as I now want to do nothing but knit, all the time! Thomas has been away for three days this week too, which has meant three evenings of uninterrupted knitting time for me.

I'll start by showing you the Gray Havens sweater, that I'm making out of Medelinetosh Pashmina yarn, in the colourway Dried Rose:

I've made all of the decreases for the waist, and actually I had made all of the increases for the bust too, when I noticed that it was a bit short. I tried it on, and it barely reached my belly-button... So I ripped it back to the decreases, and now I'm elongating the straight part a bit. I think my row-gauge is probably off, but that doesn't really matter. I think I'll need to make six repeats of the chart instead of the intended four, and I'll be all right. I LOVE this sweater though! The pattern is great, and the yarn is awesome! I really want to finish it so I can wear it. I'm focusing mostly on this one right now, as I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the month. 

I started the Julissa scoop-necked sweater with the Wollmeise DK yarn in Sabrina a couple of days ago too, and that one is flying off the needles! It's knitted top-down, and I've already set the sleeves aside.

It is a really fun and easy knit, despite it looking pretty complicated with both cables and lace, but I haven't touched it since last weekend I think. I love it though, and that one will get a lot more attention once the Gray Havens sweater is done.

On Wednesday night I actually turned the heel on two different socks! First, the Ill Met by Moonlight socks:

I've made most of the leg part at work, during my breaks, but now I only have a couple of centimeters left until I'll start the cable on the foot. And that is a bit too complicated to make at work. The socks fit me perfectly, and that is actually something that I love about Claire Ellen's designs. All of them that I've made have a perfect fit on me.

The other sock that I turned the heel on was the Aquaphobia socks:

I'm very happy with these, even though I apparently haven't followed the pattern at all! I didn't look too closely on the pattern photos, but somehow made the assumption that the stitch pattern was the same weave pattern that I used on the Bobbie gloves (where you slip every other stitch with the yarn in front). When I had a closer look at the descriptions on how to turn the heel, it told me to slip with the yarn in back, and that's when I got suspicious. I went back in the pattern and checked, and sure enough it told me to do that all the time. I'm calling mine a design feature! I like the way mine look, so I definitely won't frog it!

I also noticed that about half-way down the leg I had somehow stopped making the cables mirrored, so after that they are just the same. Luckily the cables can't really be seen with the very busy yarn, so I decided to ignore that as well. I think I'll just make the cables identical on the second sock. I also had to decrease some stitches when I neared the ankle part, as it was turning out way too big otherwise. But with the decreases it fits me perfectly, so I'll just repeat that on the second sock too.

I have gotten a lot of stuff in the mail recently too, I think almost all of the stuff I told you about last time arrived. I now have four new project bags, and possibly there might be two more coming that I ordered from JessaLu... And I might order one from JavaJennie on Etsy soon too, as I really love the snap closure on hers...

In the photo, from the left is the one I got from A Needle Runs through It, and it's currently holding the Julissa sweater. Next to it is the cone from CackleBerry Creations, which is now holding the Gray Heavens sweater. The third one is from Miss FiberFox, and that's holding the Aquaphobia socks, and out on the right is the one I got from Elizabeth Quintan Design, and it's holding the Ill Met By Moonlight socks. 

I also got some yarn in the mail this week. The first was five skeins of Cascade 220 in the Liechen 9338 colourway:

These skeins were totally not my fault. As I'm right now making four different projects with cables on them, I really needed some new cable needles as I hate having to move the ones I have between the bags all the time. So I went to Garnkorgen and ordered a set of KnitPicks wooden cable needles. But you can't order from a yarn shop without getting some actual yarn right? So I got the Cascade. I think this might be the yarn I'll use for the Dark and Stormy cardigan, but don't hold me to that.

I also got a great deal on some Garnstudio Drops Lima yarn (65 % wool/35 % alpaca) in the Ruby Red colourway:

This is a DK yarn, and I don't really know what to make with it. I got 12 skeins, which is about a sweater's worth, so it will probably become some kind of garment for me.

Oh, and my mom asked me if I could make her a slouchy hat in blue, so I'm thinking of using some of my KnitPicks Stroll yarn for that, in the Saphire Heather colourway:

She picked the Sofie's Slouch pattern, so I'll probably cast this one on fairly soon. The pattern calls for a DK, but I think I might achieve that with the fingering held double. That way it will be warmer too.

I'm also itching to start a new lace project, and I already have yarn wound for one! I want to start the Mandala II round shawl, and I have two skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh lace in the Rose colourway all geared up. I might hold off on starting these two projects until the JessaLu project bags arrive though, so I have something to put them in :)

I also got all of my buttons in the mail, and I love them all! I sewed two of the ones I got from Orit Dotan onto the For Good Hat, and it turned out super cute!

And still no new podcast episode! Today I'm in my PJ's, and I haven't showered, so you won't get to see me. I'm thinking possibly tomorrow, if I can just figure out how to set up the camera! Thomas got a new one for Christmas, which I think will get me a lot better quality. I just need to learn how to use it...

I'll be back once my next bags arrive. And possibly some club yarn as well :)

/ Jenny