WIP's

My last post was so long with all the FO's and UFO's! I was planning to sit down and write for about 30 minutes, and it turned out to be 2 hours. I'm going to finish up with my WIP's now.

I just finished knitting this first project last night, as the little people were watching Cars 3 before bedtime. It is technically a UFO now, but I'll show it, since when I started this set of posts it was still a WIP.

This is a lovely shawl I saw on the Grocery Girls podcast from waaaay back when, and I had the pattern in my library on Ravelry because it's free. I ordered the yarn last winter, and didn't have a purpose for it (except socks--it's called Tough Love Sock), but I thought it was too pretty for socks. When it came in, I thought it would make a lovely shawl, so I matched them up, and I think it's beautiful. The pattern is called Kvothe and since it's a smaller shawl with tons of repeats, I think you could use any lower weight of yarn (fingering, sport, dk) and just stop when you think it's big enough. I don't want it any longer lengthwise, but I would like it to be a bit deeper/wider. I really enjoyed the drop stitch rows, and it was pretty easy to memorize and knit without looking after a while. Needs end woven in and blocking.

Kvothe in Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock; size 4 needles

An Etsy custom order came in a week or so ago, and I was asked to make a Gimli (from Lord of the Rings) helmet and beard for an 18-month-old for Halloween. I'm almost done with it (I need to mail it off tomorrow to arrive by her deadline) and I've had a lot of fun figuring out how to make it look the way I want. I took my viking hat pattern and made the child size, and instead of the bobbles and such at the bottom, changed colors and made 2 rounds of DC in the front loop. I sewed the brim up and made ridges in the same color and sewed those over the existing ridges on the hat. Then I made a double-thick shield for the front and sewed it on. I am making a little beard with lots of braids, only much shorter than normal. I don't know how well the toddler will wear it, but I'm sure it'll be cute for a couple of photos.

Gimli hat in ILTY leftovers

Another huge project I got some work done on lately is my Bento Box quilt, by Staci Perry of Very Pink Knits. I've talked about her tutorials before, and maybe even this project before, but I am done with the bulk of the knitting now. I saw her youtube video over this blanket last summer during the Mandala yarn craze, and I thought it would look great in the gradient yarn. Instead of using 3 different colors for the body, I chose Wood Nymph and a Yarn Bee cream in DK weight. I started on it last summer, got a few squares in (it takes 16), and put it away to work on the beach blanket. I took it back out and worked on it intermittently for a while, until I was sure I had all 16 squares done. Turns out, I only had 14 finished, so I had to complete 2 more. That bummed me out for a month or two, so I put it away again. I finally got it back out, and now I can lay everything out. I'm sure I'll find 2 squares squirreled away somewhere soon. I love the way it turned out. I still have so.many.ends. to weave in, and so much sewing to do, but the body is finished. I'll have to wait until after Christmas, so I can take a week or two to sew everything into strips, and then I'll add the dark purple-ish border. Then I'll sew the strips together, then I'll throw a party, because this project has been many months in the making!

Bento box quilt in Mandala Wood Nymph and Yarn Bee cream; size 6 needles

I must really like blankets. When I bought all the Mandala yarn, I had the quilt above in mind, as well as a Sophie's Universe blanket. I saw many examples of these crocheted in different colors, and I thought the way the Mandala gradients work, it would be neat to make 4 of them with different colors in the center, and gradiating out. I only worked 2 sections of 1 of the squares, but I think I'm going to crochet all 4 centers, and then do one section at a time on all 4. Some of the parts are a little tricky, and I would rather do them in succession instead of having to figure them out 4 separate times. I have to pay close attention on this one, so I have shelved it until probably summer time. I've got many projects in mind before I complete it, and I'm happy to do one small section at a time. I'm only going to work the first 7 sections or so of the huge blanket, as I want this to fit on a bed. I should have enough yarn to make each chunk square, and then I have extra to crochet them all together, like 4 granny squares. No sewing here! This is the Genie colorway, which I have tons of, because I have a garment or 2 in mind for it as well.

Sophie's Universe in Mandala Genie; size E hook

I would love to include in this post a little bit of my Dream Knitting, but I can't add any more labels. I like for my posts to be searchable, so I can look for certain projects or posts by keyword, but Blogger limits me to 20, and as you can see from the cloud --------> I have so many to choose from, and am adding new ones all the time. I would love to make my posts searchable by name brand, by pattern, by type of project (garments, scarves, hats, blankets, etc.), by holidays, and all sorts of other things, but I'm limited. So I'll cut this one short so I can have 20 more labels for my queue. Until next time, happy crafting!