Homework

Even all those all-nighters during the years of medical education could not prepare me for the task of helping a 5-year old with his homework. I have come to discover that it can be equally grueling or worse. It is not that my son is not a enthusiastic learner, there is just so much of everything! The respect I have for all teachers and parents who homeschool grows by the minute.
Also this can be noted down as one of the reasons of the recent slump in my craft and blog activity.

Floral Slippers

Changing weather and my cold feet prompted a quick project_ a pair of slippers. I designed them myself, getting the right fit on the second attempt. The flower is worked in intarsia though I think duplicate st could have worked as well.

The yarn is the left over from spiderman afghan and needle size 4 mm. These turned out to be a great, snug fit and make my feet warm and happy.

Spartan Pullover in Progress

My newest WIP is Spartan pullover and I am knitting it for my husband. It is a very basic design with drop shoulders and a fair-isle band at the waist. At the moment I have gotten just past the band.

From now on, it is going to be pretty straight forward and probably boring. However, I am hoping to get it done by the end of this month, inshaAllah.

Spiderman Afghan

It is finally done. I kept going until I ran out of red and blue yarn. It is good-sized at 62 inches diameter even though I could not put as many color repeats as I had originally planned. The pattern goes quite fast and I enjoyed it enormously. I did many modifications, like using a larger hook, different color sequence and slightly different way of doing the ribbing. I started with black yarn instead of red, so the ribbing ends at the edge of that central black circle and there is no bunching at the center. My son is very happy with his afghan and the weather has turned just right for it to be useful!

Superhero Dreamcatcher

Nobody might like spiders but kids sure do love spiderman and my son is no exception. I had promised my son a spiderman afghan for a long time and with the winter drawing closer (or is it?? It's so very hot here!!), I have started working on it.

I am using this pattern but changing the color sequence a bit and using 5.5mm hook instead of recommended 5 mm one. It is working up quite fast even though I had to frog twice because I failed to correctly read a pattern line. However, crochet is hard on my wrists and I have to take frequent breaks. (With knitting, it is mainly my shoulders which bear the brunt).
The kids of course are pretty excited about this project, pulling it up to measure against themselves to see how it has "grown".

Cotton Pullover

After a few days of post-holiday fatigue, I resumed work on the cotton pullover that I was knitting for my son. Finally finished it today. As the body and sleeves were knit in rounds, there were only raglan seams to sew but quite a few ends to weave in and then of course the pocket seam and band. This project used up less than two balls each of Cotton Ease Violet and Lime and I used 4 mm and 5mm needles.

I am pleased to see that it fits rather well and my son also seems to like it. His indifference turned to warmth and eagerness when I reminded him of his favorite cartoon hero who wears somewhat similar looking jacket :D

Sunburst Coat Is Up

After being test knitted, Sunburst Coat finally goes up for sale at my ravelry store. Non-ravelry people can find the purchase link on blog's side bar.