Thanks, Ravelry

What, you may ask, is in this compact package for me?

Thanks to the Ravelympics, I 'met' the fantastic Roxanne, proprietress of Zen Yarn Garden. We are both working hard for the Ravelry Team Canada. She was showing off some lovely blue sock yarn that she dyed for one of her events, and I couldn't help but commenting on it, what with blue being my favourite-est colour in the world. And so, she mentioned that she'd be happy to do a custom order for me if I wanted some of it. After cruising her website, I fell in love with the Curvy sweater, and told her that I loved the sweater, but not the pink. And so, she offered to make me a custom kit out of the lovely blue yarn, dubbed Azure.

And so...

MY KIT ARRIVED TODAY!! Can you believe it? Barely 3 days since we messaged back and forth about it! Thanks so much, Roxanne!!

And in other knitting news, I am desperately trying to finish my leaf-pattern scarf before the closing ceremonies finish. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it, but boy have I made loads of progress on this project that I definitely wouldn't have otherwise.

Yet again, Ravelry proves to be quite the enabler of my addiction...

[NOTE: To answer Marie's question to my previous post, BSJ stands for Baby Surprise Jacket. It is so dubbed because, as you knit it, it resembles nothing like a sweater, but at the end you do a little creative folding, and presto! You have a jacket! Surprise!!]

Approaching the finish line!

Hooray for the Olympics! Hooray for lots of late night TV for me to knit by!



Finished my EZ BSJ. The pattern is a little tricky to decipher if you're going from the one re-printed in Knitting Workshop, but with some help from all you lovely people, I've finished it! And so, I've completed my first item for the Ravelympics!

I have just less than one skein of that yarn left (only had to dip into it to sew up the edges and sew on the buttons), but I'm not sure what to make with it. I'm a little worried that it's a bit too scratchy to make a good hat or booties. Any opinions?

EDIT: Received my medal for this item, so I thought I'd post it here.

And I just wanted to say that Ravelry is doing an awesome job co-ordinating the over 5000 Raveletes.

Quick post

Really quick post here! I've signed up for the Ravelympics for the WIP Wrestling event. Haha! I need some sort of kick in the pants to finish a couple items. The first is that cream coloured leaf-pattern scarf that's been kicking around for a year now. The second is the EZ BSJ that I still haven't finished. I know that it hasn't been all that long for the BSJ, but the baby shower where I plan to give it away is coming up, so this seemed like good motivation to get it done.

After that's all done, I'm planning to start that other Tulip kit that I have, and the Talia vest (though that Honeycomb vest is looking pretty awesome too). I really like Talia, but the fact that I have to add buttons is kinda making me think twice. But I already have the yarn for it, so I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can sub that yarn into Honeycomb. Decisions, decisions!


I sat on this post for a little bit, and have now realized that I still want to knit Talia. I'll look for yarn for Honeycomb another time.

Vacation knitting

I've been doing a little bit of vacation knitting. There hasn't been as much opportunity to knit as I thought there might be. Even still, here's what I've done.


A washcloth that I finished while riding a couple trains. This is the only piece I've finished since getting here.


Since I'm visiting Japan, I thought I'd try my hand at some toe socks. I've only started the first one, but the rest of it should be pretty routine from here on in.

I've also picked up some goodies here. I've visited a crafting haven here called Okadaya, which is really close to where we're staying, and got myself this little kit.


I'm going to try really hard to get out to the Habu shop in the next couple days, but it's hard to know what to get when I have no idea what I want to make with what I find.

Colourful FOs

I've been doing some finishing lately. First of all my basketweave scarf knit out of a Sophie's Toes Magic Ball, in all sorts of pretty pastel colourways.



Then the Tulip Baby Cardigan from Dream in Color, knit from a kit purchased at Lettuce Knit last Christmas.



(the sleeveless cardigan-in-progress fit her much better. Maybe I'll have to make her a little Dream in Color vest!)

And there are even more colourful knits on the horizon. When WEBS was having its anniversary sale, I bought a bunch of Reynolds Whiskey for Fiddlehead Mittens.



I also got some bright Plymouth Encore for a Circle of Friends blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.



I'm very glad that there are so many ways for me to indulge my love of all things rainbow. =)

Finished my Monkeys

I didn't take a picture of the second sock since it looks pretty much exactly like the first one, but after much procrastinating, I finally managed to finish my pair of Monkeys.

Also, I think I've decided on what my travel knitting will be. Socks, socklets, dishcloths, and another Tulip. What do you all think?

Toys, toys, toys

Okay, so the title of this post is a little misleading since I really only have one toy to show you. But here he is.

This is Tums, a happy little hippo with slightly crooked teeth. I knit him out of Shepherd's 100% Classic Wool, and boy did that stuff felt up nicely! Had I known that in advance, I would probably have knit him up on size 7 needles instead of size 6. The pattern is more complicated than the stackable cats, and requires more work in the finishing process, but I quite like how he turned out. The way the head is shaped is still quite a marvel to me. I'm still pretty bad a sewing features and appendages, but I'm hoping I get better with practice. Good thing there are lots of kids around to give all the toys I'm planning to make to.

And just for fun, here's a picture of Tums in his not quite ready to go state.


I also need to figure out what knitting to take with me on my trip. I need a small-ish project for subway train rides, and a slightly larger project for longer train rides, and I need them to be brainless enough that I don't have to keep looking at a chart (i.e. no complicated lace). Maybe socks, and something else? What should my something else be?