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?

Plying

At the next spinning lesson, I took my first two ugly yarns and plied them together. See?



Do two ugly yarns put together make an even uglier yarn? At least there were a few sections where cool barberpoling was happening.





Spinning with a spindle takes a long time. I hope I will have the patience to keep practicing, but I sort of fear that the instant-gratification monster will take over (but I want it to be perfect right now!) and I'll lose interest.

(I have a big backlog of stuff to post about. I hope I can get my act together and catch up soon!)

Not exactly a natural talent

Look, my very first handspun (using a drop spindle)!



Isn't it incredibly ugly? Last week Katy was good enough to teach a bunch of us how to spin, and this is what resulted from my first efforts. I showed this ball to someone at WWKIP day last weekend, and their comment was "huh, that must've been a really ugly sheep!" Yeah, the roving is not exactly the most gorgeous thing ever (Jacob sheep, they are spotted!), but I will probably need a lot of practice before I get any good at this.



Next lesson is plying, I'm sure this yarn will then turn into an even bigger horror. =)

My second effort looks ever so slightly better, only because the roving comes in prettier colours.



And because I can't resist pissing the cat off....





She's really getting the hang of this "stay still for the yarn pose" thing. Even though she clearly hates it. =)

Some fun photos

As promised, here are some stacked cats.

Please forgive the blurriness; my hand isn't as steady as I'd like it to be when taking no-flash photos.

Also, I'm making good progress on my EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. It's still a bit of a mystery how it all will magically form into a sweater, but I'm sure it'll become clear when I've got it all off my needles.

This isn't really the best photo ever, but it showed the colour of the Jojoland best.

Man...I always seem to take terrible photos...I need to learn how to do that better. Then again, I probably chose the absolute worst time of day to do it. The dead of night is when natural light is at it's worst, but is unfortunately when I'm most liable to blog. Oh well!