Princesses and Monsters

It was a pretty exhausting weekend for me.

My friend Bree, from college, (the one on the left) married her sweetheart in a Faerie Princess/Autumn/Hallowe'en themed wedding.
As I'm a little short on funds for wedding presents, I offered my services as their official wedding photographer in place of a present.

Notice those shawls? They weren't originally part of the wedding attire, but it was a chilly, windy day - and those brides were cold. Fortunately - I had Daenerys in the car, which matched Jaime's colour scheme, and one of the bridesmaids had brought her Icarus, which matched Bree's colour scheme. Total kizmit! Oh - and the brides are knitters too!

It was a great wedding, but being a wedding photographer really is work. Ten hours and 667 photos later, I finally got to come home and relax.

Needless to say, today I reacquainted myself with the couch. But I was very productive on said couch.

I finished up my French Press slippers:So now my feet are toasty warm. Though every time I take them off, one of the cats steal them.

The rest of the day was spent making a monster!Once he gets some flippers and horns, he'll be the next Loch Ness Monster to join the fleet. The orange yarn is our new Tabby Cat Worsted (coming soon) and the belly is some left over Patons Bamboo Baby.

Also, on Friday my lovely handspun from Monika arrived and it's even nicer in person! I've already cast on for a shawl, but I'll save it for another post.

Hope everyone has had a frightfully delightful Hallowe'en!

Keeping warm

As I mentioned a couple posts ago - I am challenging myself to keep the heat of until November. Now that November is only a few days away and I've been successful so far, I'm tempted to try to go a little longer.

I can always snuggle up in some toasty handknit woolens right? Right. (Oh, and don't worry about Dave, last night he opened the bedroom window because he was too warm - I piled on two more blankets - the boy is a polar bear!)

Now I've never been a big sock or slipper person - and despite my impressive shoe collection, I go barefoot every chance I get. Of course, that was before I lived in a house with no carpeting. My floors here are linoleum or pine - and they are chilly.

So socks (handknit or otherwise, but I prefer handknit, of course) and/or slippers are a must. I've gotten along quite well the past few years with a pair of slippers that Dave's Mom gave me for Christmas when Dave and I first started dating. But last year they died - completely worn out beyond repair. I got another similar pair, but they just didn't cut it.

For a while now, I've been wanting to make some felted slippers. So this week, with the colder weather setting in, I finally got down to it.These are the French Press slippers. I felted them last night and they are almost dry. Once they are completely dry, they will get their straps and buttons.

It's an easy pattern, they are a decent fit (though they like to flop off when I go up the stairs) and will be quite warm, but I think I still want to make a pair like these, but in green!

Either way, I think I'm adding several pairs of slippers to my Christmas knitting list - a quick, inexpensive holiday gift.

And speaking of holiday gifts - I have started on another Loch Ness Monster. Finished project coming soon!

Yarn, yarn and.... more yarn!

1) Thank you all for the wonderful comments on Elphaba. In the last 24-hrs more than 150 Ravelers have downloaded the pattern! So exciting! Mom has been busy dying up more self-striping yarn so it should be coming to the shop sometime over the next few weeks. She snuck a few skeins into the shop last week and in a few hours they were gobbled up.

2) On the topic of our yarn - I'm not sure when, but keep your eyes open for another new Wandering Cat Yarn debuting over the next couple of months.Tabby Cat! - A tweedy blend of superwash and non-superwash merino. This particular skein is worsted weight (dyed up especially to make another Loch Ness Monster - Christmas is coming and I have five more to make - I better get a move on), but we will also be getting it in fingering weight. Details to follow soon.

3) That evil Monika did another shop update and I was suckered in by a gorgeous skein of alpaca silk. I couldn't resist (it's yet another skein that is a perfect match for my winter coat - so I'm thinking scarf/shawlette), so I made pouty faces at Mom until she gave me access to the Wandering Cat bank account.

I feel a serious handspun addiction coming on. I really can't say enough about Monika's yarn. When I first bought it, I wasn't sure what to expect - I'd didn't have a whole lot of experience with handspun - but they all looked so pretty. Honestly, I expected it to be - well, a little rustic - maybe a little rough and scratchy. Boy was I wrong.

The first skeins I got were BFL (which I don't have a lot of experience with either) and they were delightfully soft. Even knit to a fairly tight gauge, the yarn retained it's beautiful feel (and looks fantastic) - and it's oh so warm! In that first shop update, Mom also snagged a couple of skeins. And once I saw hers, I was immediately jealous that I didn't get any alpaca silk (like the darker skein shown on her blog) as its the kind of yarn you can't stop touching! I can't wait until mine comes (but I may still steal Mom's).

As I'm writing, there are still some gorgeous skeins available (as much as I was tempted, I didn't buy them all - I showed serious restraint and even managed to keep this one from jumping into my cart). It's Monday - you deserve to treat yourself (how's that for enabling?).

Wicked Warmers

The handwarmers are done! And so is the pattern

Meet Elphaba!

And it's free!

Now, if you'll excuse me - I have an mitred square addiction to feed.

My Basket Runneth Over

Some days, I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Yesterday when I got home after another stressful work week, there was a large box waiting for me.

A large box filled with one of my favourite things.Yarn scraps! FOUR EXTRA LARGE ziploc bags full of nummy nummy yarn scraps.

These ones came from the wonderful Chris. There are all kinds of gorgeous yarns in these bags including some Noro, silks, merinos, bamboos - and so many pretty colours. It's going to be a serious struggle to finish the other handwarmer this weekend and not work on the crackghan!

Chris is also the talented woman behind Scotts Mountain Crafts where you'll find some of the prettiest shawl pins, stitch markers as well as swifts and spinning tools.

Now, I'm hoping the weekend is filled with this:
Because I've got a lot of knitting to do!

A slight detour

If there's one thing I've learned about designing, it's that it's a fluid process.

I was knitting away on my stripey sock. I had just finished the heel and decided to try it on.
Way. too. tight.

So what's a girl to do. I didn't want to rip out all that knitting, only to have to cast it on again with a few more stitches.

And then I tried it on my wrist - a perfect fit!

So then it was a simple matter to frog the heel and move on....
I'm hoping to whip up the second one this weekend.

But now I've stayed up far too late finishing this one off, so it's off to bed for me!

It's all mom's fault!

I should be working on one of the two sweaters I've got on the go.

Or one of the three shawls. (I am on a deadline for those too)

Or Dave's socks.

But I'm not. And it's all Mom's fault.

She decided to get all fancy with the dying and decided to try to make some self-striping sock yarn.
As you can see she was successful. But I really shouldn't be knitting this right now. But I can't help it. I keep thinking, "I'll just do one more row." Then I think, "Well I might as well finish out the colour." Then I want to see the next stripe.... it's a little addictive. It doesn't help that the Top Cat is dead soft and oh-so-lovely to work with.

I improvised this cute ripple pattern and when these are done I'll write it up and release it as a free pattern.

And don't worry about my other projectsRocky is keeping them warm for me.