Loopy Academy, Freshman Year, Semester One, Finished!

 

I finished my hat over the weekend, so I’ve completed Loopy Academy for the fall!  The idea of Loopy Academy is so fun, and a completely different (slower and easier) pace than Camp Loopy in the summer.  The fact that it’s ongoing is great too, because I think it would make a great challenge for a newer knitter.

Anyway, for this semester I’ve knit a cowl, mittens, and a hat.  The hat does fit, and it does stay on well even though it’s a slouchy style!  You’ll have to take my word for it because I don’t do selfies.  Next semester doesn’t start until February (we get January off), so I’ll be finishing up my socks and Hitchhiker and maybe doing a few other things in the meantime.

Blogging will probably be sporadic this week but I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating Thursday!

Loopy Academy - The Hat

 

The last project for Loopy Academy, Freshman Year, Semester One is the hat.  (Actually, that’s my last project, yours might be something different because we can do them in any order.)  It has to be knit in DK or Sport weight yarn and the pattern has to be from a new-to-you designer.  In order to hit the yardage requirement, I chose the slouchy, garter stitch design, Rikke, by Sarah Young.  I tried knitting a slouchy hat once before and it didn’t work at all.  It might have been too loose at the cast on and ribbing, but also my head is really round.  Mickael and Caleb have these ridges on the back of their heads where a slouchy hat can kind of sit and stay on correctly.  The back of my head is just rounded and smooth.  I did get the cast on and the first few rounds (worked on a smaller needle) tight enough this time, but I’ll only know if it stays on right once it’s done.  I think it’s a cute hat and I hope it works out.  Fortunately, hats are super fast, so I’ll know soon!

The yarn I’m using is Fable Fibers Biography in Ruby.  I love the color shading of the tonal reds on this yarn.  I think this would make a cute pullover with a pair of jeans too.  I might have been thinking about pullover patterns last night while I knit on the hat.  Here’s my Rav project page, if you’re interested!

Another Finished Project!

I finished my mittens for Loopy Academy yesterday!  I made flip top mittens from Three Irish Girls Glenhaven Cashmerino Worsted in Aileen.  I started with the Urban Necessity Gloves pattern, but the shaping on those didn’t work with my hands so I ended up making my own modifications.  I guess the designer and I have differently shaped hands.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough yarn to finish these, but fortunately, I had enough with a tiny bit left over.  They’re knit at a pretty tight gauge, which will make them warmer on my hands.  I plan to wear them when I run.  I’ll be able to flip the tops back and use my fingers to control my music and deal with Runkeeper (the app I use when I run) on my iPhone, but then I can tuck my fingers back into the tops to keep them toasty while I’m running.  If my hands get hot, I can flip the tops back again.  Of course it’s supposed to be a lot warmer on Friday morning, but I’m pretty sure that after the temps we’ve had the last coupe weeks, I’ll be able to get a lot of wear out of these.

I’ve now completed the cowl and mitts for Loopy Academy, Freshman Year, First Semester.  The only thing remaining is the hat and that should work up pretty quickly!

A Sock!

I finished my first Fairy Tale sock!  (I keep typing Fairy Tail, which is something completely different, and really none of our business.)  Last night after I started dinner, I had a few minutes to cast on for the second sock and I worked the first two rounds of that one.  I cast on in the same place of the color repeat, so hopefully this second sock will match its mate.  I started right at the beginning of the blue, but the toe ended with pink.  Does that make it a blue sock with pink stripes or a pink sock with blue stripes?  Mysteries I may never know...

Finished!

 

I finally sat down and got all the ends woven in on this!  I kept putting it off and putting it off, but I had promised myself I wouldn’t start another sweater until this was completely finished.  Then it got really cold and my natural, knitter’s response was to cast on a new sweater.  So this weekend, I sat down and started weaving in all those ends.  It took Braveheart and The Mummy to do it (weaving in ends is not for new movies because you have to pay attention to the weaving in), but I got it finished. I did a quick blocking of the ribbed edges and the crochet around the neck and now it’s ready to go!  Here is the project page, in case you’re interested.

Oh, and the new sweater?  My original plan was to knit a fingering weight cardigan, but I’ve changed that plan to an Aran weight cardigan.  It snowed here last night, I want something heavier!

Progress

It’s been hard to get anything done the last few days because every time I sit down, I get Max in my lap, cuddled up and snuggly.  I know he’s cold, but I am loving the kitty snuggles.  It does make knitting difficult though because he’s not a fan of me knitting while he’s in my lap.  Also, once he’s in my lap, I can’t get up and get my knitting, or iPad, or stitch markers, or all the other little things I need to knit.

I have been able to get some work done on my second mitt though.  I’ve got the thumb gusset stitches on waste yarn and I have a row of waste yarn (just under the needles, you can barely see it in the photo) marking where I’ll pick up stitches for the mitten flap.  I might start the mitten flap a little lower than the waste yarn, but this way I have a line I can use so it will be straight.  I have waste yarn on the first mitt in the same row, so I’ll be able to make them match.

At this point, I’m only a round or two away from starting the fingers.  They are pretty fast to work, but they’re fiddly.  Hopefully, Captain Cuddles will let me get them finished over the weekend.

I hope you all have a great weekend, filled with kitty or doggy cuddles of your own!

Brrrrrrrrrr!

The fuzzy running tights made their first fall appearance this morning (they’re lined in Polar Fleece), so it’s a good thing I’m moving right along on my mittens for Loopy Academy.  Flip top mittens were approved by Sheri for this project and I finished the first fingerless glove portion yesterday and cast on for the second one.  I’ll do the flip top sections later and I always do thumbs last.  I will do glove thumbs, so my thumbs will be covered all the time, but the mittens will let my use my fingers to use my iPhone while I’m out running.

While it’s a little early to be quite this cold, this early around here, at least it’s not snowing here like it is in some parts of the country!  This cold weather is making me want to cast on a sweater, but I’m still weaving in ends on my Ombre Ravello.  I promised myself I wouldn’t start another sweater until that one was finished and blocked.  I had planned on knitting a fingering weight cardigan next, but now I’m thinking about doing something heavier.  Hmmmm...

Fairy Tale Socks

 

I’m past the heel turn on my first sock.  This is the other knitting project I took to Disney World and it’s the perfect kind of project for traveling.  Round, and round, and round, and round, then you work a heel turn, then round, and round, and round again.  I love watching the striped pattern grow!

If you’ve never knit with Biscotte and Cie yarns, The Loopy Ewe just restocked yesterday!  These socks are in the Conte de Fee B color way and they have Conte de Fee right now (I think it’s a bit darker than the B version).  I’m also in love with Arielle, Grincheaux, Princesse et le 7 mailes, and Scotland Inspiration, although really, I think they’re all pretty great.  Just thought I’d mention this in case anyone was in need of enabling.  Of course, Christmas is coming too (faster than any of us really want it to) and some self striping yarn under the Christmas tree will make any knitter smile!

Hitchhiking

 

I’ve been moving right along on my Hitchhiker scarf!  This was one of the projects I took with me to Disney World (with a color way like Let It Go, how could I not?) because it’s an easy pattern to memorize.  I took the pattern with me, but didn’t need to refer to it once I got going.  I’ve completed 18 teeth so far.  The pattern calls for 42 (since 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything), but the pattern also calls for Wollmeise which has more yardage than Dream in Color Smooshy With Cashmere.  I plan on knitting until I run out of yarn, so that will be however many teeth I get.

I got another shot of it this morning so you could see the colors better.  It’s still not perfect, but it shows them better.

This week, everything goes back to normal around here.  We’ve recovered from the trip and it’s time to get back to our routine.

Halloween 2014

Last month I showed you our costumes for the Halloween party we went to.  I’ve got pictures for you now!  Can you guess where the party was?  I’ll give you a hint:

If the Headless Horseman didn’t help, maybe this will:

Figured it out?  I know this will show you where we were:

We went to Disney World for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!  One of the perks of homeschooling is flexibility in scheduling so we were able to take a week and go to Disney World.  It was a wonderful trip, the weather was perfect and we had a blast (of course).  This was our third trip to Disney World and we all got to do our favorite things and eat at our favorite restaurants, but the Halloween party was brand new to all of us.

Here’s a shot of Caleb (who really isn’t as bored as he looks) and I on our way to the boat to go to Magic Kingdom for the party.  Our resort was just a short boat trip to Magic Kingdom, which was a very nice way to get there and back.  It was pretty warm that night, although by the end of the evening, after the fireworks and parade, I borrowed Mickael’s shark hoodie.  I guess it looked like a shark ate a mermaid!

We were also there during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival so there were even more countries represented in the World Showcase, all with snacks and wine or beer from their homeland.  I love Epcot anyway, so this was just more fun!

We got back home late Tuesday night and we’re slowly easing back into our routine around here.  Disney World is wonderful but it’s not a relaxing vacation.  It’s also a vacation that takes a lot of advance planning and I feel like I got it really right this time.  I thought I’d mention WDW Prep School because I found her information to be the most helpful (and most accurate) for planning this trip.  Even though I knew the big parts of planning after two previous trips (make your Advance Dining Reservations as soon as you possibly can), there were little things I learned that helped make the trip even more magical (like how to get a FastPass for Be Our Guest at lunch one day).  If you’re planning a Disney World trip, I would definitely check out the site!

Fairy Tale Socks

 

Since I finished the little footie socks last week, I’ve started another pair of socks.  These are regular socks, knit in my plain vanilla, bog standard, stockinette stitch pattern and they’re knit in Biscotte and Cie’s Felix Self-Striping in Conte de Fee B (Fairy Tale).  I knit a pair in Brillantine earlier this year and I loved the yarn (as well as the fun stripes).  As soon as I finished that first pair I knew I wanted to get some more of this yarn.  What amazes me is that not only is this yarn self striping, it’s HAND DYED self striping!  That’s pretty impressive, when you look at the finished socks and see how precise it is.  It keeps my obsessive compulsive-ness happy!

Tune in next time for a full report and photos of the Halloween party we went to!