Irish Hiking Scarf =DONE

And the scarf is finally done. It felt like it took forever to finish, but it probably was around 2-2.5 weeks. I still have to iron it out and perhaps block it. The pattern was relatively easy to do, which was nice and I didn't have to 100% follow the pattern.

Here are some pictures of me wearing it!

Family and knitwear

One of my favourite pictures of my family in Newfoundland -the Lodge's. In this picture I am wearing a sweater that my great-Aunt knit (from the Clouter side). I inherited it from my Grandma Clouter (well, actually, it was sitting in a drawer in my Grandma Clouter's house and I asked if I could have it). I love this picture for a few reasons: I am with my father and grandfather who have both passed away; I am in Newfoundland, and I am wearing a beautiful knit sweater that I hope one day I will be able to knit one day myself. My whole family, the Lodge's and Clouter's, are part of this picture!

Irish Hiking Scarf

On a mission to find yarn cheaper than in Guelph, I decided to buy a few balls from Amazon. I was so looking forward to the yarn coming that when it came, I was disappointed. I ordered the wrong damn yarn. I guess that's what happens when you are sleep deprived from being up 3 times a night with a 3 month old. I ended up finding the yarn I wanted at Michael's in Guelph and bought two balls on sale for $8.99 -I will knit something up with it later.

Well, since I didn't want to send it back and have to pay shipping fees, I decided to find a pattern I could use with it.

So, here it is:

Pattern: Irish Hiking Scarf
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/irish-hiking-scarf
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Worsted Weight
Colour: Fisherman
Needles: 5mm

Project Complete & Second Pair

I finally finished my first pair of mittens. They fit me perfect! The pattern was easy to follow and straight forward. I was surprised how easy it was to knit on double pointed needles (which I usually am surprised how easy learning new techniques are).

The only difficulty I have it where the thumb meets the hand. When I finished there seems to be gaps (or holes) that I have to sew up. The pattern does not say to do this, so I am guessing that these gaps should not be there. Ahh well! You can't really tell that I had to sew them!

Here is a picture of them:

I am now on to my second pair of mittens. I had some yarn that I purchased in Newfoundland just sitting in my stash. 

Pattern: Red Heart Mittens for all (see below post)

Needles: 3.5 mm and 3.75 double pointed

Yarn: Briggs Little Regal (2ply) in Dark Grey

So far they are knitting up nice. This is a better quality yarn and is 100% wool, so I would think they will be warmer. The yarn is a bit smaller (if that is the terminology to use), so they may be a bit smaller than the other pair I knit. 

I am looking forward to seeing how these turn out. 

I decided to scrap these mittens. I finished one mitt and it was much smaller than the previous pair (I guess because of the different yarn).

Yearly Technique: Mittens

Every year (mostly during the fall/winter months) I attempt a new technique in knitting -in the past I have learned to knit cables, sweaters, hats, etc.. Since I am on Mat Leave and I already decided what I wanted to try, I started a bit early. So, I decided that knitting mittens was the new skill I wanted to try. So, I went to the knitting store and the local Bible Mission store to get my supplies and I started. I bought double pointed needles in size 3.5 mm and 3.75mm and some inexpensive yarn -Bernat Super Saver.

In order to learn how to use double pointed needles, I looked up some youtube videos and off I went. I also looked at the video that was with the pattern. The videos help a ton as I am a visual learner.
It took me a couple attempts to figure out our to use the dpns, but I got it quicker than I thought. I am almost done my first mitt and have already offered to knit my sisters a pair each. I am currently knitting the women's size.

Here is the pattern: http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/mittens-all
Since I was not able to find the red heart yarn suggested, I used the Bernat Supersaver.
Needles: 3.5mm and 3.75mm

Matching Baby and Mommy Sophisticate Cardigan

I have already knit a sweater for Pierre. It is a beautiful sweater and was easy to knit.
The link to the patter is here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-sophisticate---free

For this pattern, I used Cascade Pacific Chunky. Since I loved it so much, I decided to knit one for myself as well. I used the same yarn but in a different colour. I used espresso for myself.
For both patterns, I used a size US 10 (6mm) needles.


http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sophisticate-2

UPDATE (Sept 30). I am still not done this. I messed something up and it is much smaller than I thought it would be and I am almost done. I have put it aside for now until I decide if I want to finish it or unravel it despite spending hours on it so far.

Post #1: Journaling my projects.

This is an attempt to start journaling my knitting projects.
I find it difficult to keep track of projects (i.e. what yarn I used for what projects, what needle size, etc.) -especially for those projects that I make up and alter the pattern that I find.

Heres to the life of knitting!