200,000

If you go down to the bottom of the side bar on this page, there is a site visit counter which is just turning 200,000, alhamdolillah. Thank you to all my readers, you make it so exciting for me!

Upcycling

I knit these socks last year. The yarn was not strong or suitable for socks and these develpoed holes at heel. So, I threw them in the washing machine and felted them. Then, did a quick surgery on them to come up with a drawstring bag. The leg part is the fair-isle front and back panels while the sides are formed by felted pieces from the foot.

Seraphina Shawl

So, it is done and photoed. Seraphina shawl in Rainbow Sensations Boucle with 6.50mm hook. I nearlly used up the entire ball. It is a good large size and I love it. So soft and cuddly and looks great too! I think this was a perfect pattern-yarn combination.

It's Not Worth it

I recently had a bad experience at ravelry, encountring a bit of cheating and nastiness. And I realize there is nothing I can do about it. But, this makes me reluctant to be on ravelry anymore, so I have taken a time off from there. I might just be holding off any more pattern writing for now, though I do have a few designs I wish to try soon, inshaAllah.
Now, to the lighter subjects, I am nearly finished with the seraphina shawl. Hope to finish it and post pictures tomorrow, inshaAllah. Then I will be resuming KAL projects.
Also, to cheer myself up, I changed the blog colors :)

Because I missed Crochet

I has been a couple of months since my last crochet project (which was the Breath of Spring doily), and I was missing not doing crochet. Then, yesterday, I had a sudden urge to start something in crochet. So, I got out my huge ball of Jo-Ann Sensation Rainbow Boucle and started the Seraphina shawl. It is quite amazing how fast crochet goes, especially with a 6.5mm hook. I did not spend that much time on it, but it has grown a respectable size. And, was my family ever so wowed by the size of that 11 oz ball of yarn! LOL.

A Little Dress

I finished this dress for my daughter yesterday. I managed to get a picture today while there was a little lull in the rain. My daughter is so used to getting her picture taken now in the various FOs, that she knows where, how and when to pose, by herself, LOL. Even when I was sewing on buttons and this was not exactly done, she came up to me and said in anticipation, "Amma, taffeer...?!?" ("Mom, picture...?!?").
Regarding the project, the yarn was Schoppel-wolle Turandot (as I mentioned in an earlier post) approx 320 meters, needle size was 4.5mm and 5mm crochet hook for the edging. The pattern is my own. I have jotted it down while knitting but have to put it together a bit. And I don't feel like doing it right now, maybe in a few days, inshaAllah!

Yet Another WIP

With my hands quite full with the coatimundi KAL projects and the March sockdown sock, I still could not resist casting on another project. This is to be a summer dress for my daughter. It is my own design. The yarn (Schoppel-Wolle Turandot, which I recently got in a RAK) is quite dark in color and not many st patterns suited it, so I came up with one of my own :).

I'm sorry for the blurry pic, hopefully I can get some better ones in the morning.
So, obviously, the KAL has been on the back seat for the last couple of days. But that is ok as my friend who was knitting along, also has some other urgent projects and so will be delayed in getting back to her coat and stole. However, I do hope to work on my KAL projects in the tomorrow, inshaAllah.

Coatimundi KAL days 3-5, and more

Well, things slowed down during the week and I don't have any progress pictures on the coat and stole. however, am just about to finish sylvi's back and am in the midst of chart four for the stole.
In the meanwhile, I did manage to finish up my first sock of the march pair. Even if I say so myself, it is gorgeous. The pattern would have be a masterpiece if it were written in the right format and the few few mistakes corrected.

I also did some spinning over the week. I'm halfway through the purple roving I got from a friend lately.

And there is some exciting news, but that will require a separate post of its own.

Coatimundi KAL day 2

This was the day for knitting the stole. I finished the third chart for the first half of the stole. It is my first stole and I am enjoying the experience. It was difficult to take a photo because right now, the edges just keep curling up!

Here is the progress, Shells is making on her sylvi. I love how hers is turning out.

Coatimundi KAL day 1

Yesterday was the kick off day for Coatimundi KAL. Although we had already started the projects, now we get to work on them almost exclusively. I had skipped the sleeves and started with the fun part (back) first.
So, I did some more knitting on the back yesterday. Here is what it looks so far:

Today, I hope to work on the stole, inshaAllah. Shells ser progress on the stole, here.

Alpaca Handspun

I finally finished spinning the alpaca fibre that was on my spindle. For the second half of the roving, I tried my new spindle. It was awesome. What a difference a well balance, sturdy spindle makes. I can get thinner, more uniform yarn and faster too! Also, there is less tendency to overspin.

I decided to leave it single ply. So, here it is, approx 345 meters. It felted slightly during the soak, which says something for our weather, I guess, as I was using normal tap water.
After finishing this, I could not stop spinning and and tried some of the new roving that came with the spindle. It drafts and spins so smoothly, it is really fun.

DinoMitts v 2.0

I had made a similar pair although in dull colors, a few months back. Now, I decided to write the pattern and test knit again. So, this pair was created. The colors this time round are quite bright and cheery. My son helped me with the yarns. Other than that, the spine of the spinosaurus is slightly different, so that my son tells me it is no longer a spinosaurus but rather resembles a T-Rex, LOL. May be some parent with greater knowledge about the dinosaurs can help with the identification :)

It's amazing what a different the right yarn and colormake to a project. My son is thrilled with this new pair.

Now, I'm going to have another test knitter knit these, before putting up the pattern in a week's time, inshaAllah.

At Random

I have had a serious case of castonitis over the last week and have started several projects. Currently, I have six active WIP's on my needles/hook. So, of necessity, the progress is slow and I have no recent photos of these WIPs to share.

Cooking is not my forte. I tend to stick to the dishes I know and cook them over and over again. (have not had any complaints from my family yet :)). So, it is a huge deal when I try something new. Last week, I got to cook a pot chicken roast or Murghe Musallam (urdu for whole chicken). It turned out ok and I was excited enough to take a pic.

I had a wonderful surprise today. I got a package from a Canadian friend at forum sporum (ravelry).

She sent me a drop spindle kit with a gorgeous wooden spindle and lovely rovings in two awesome colors. Now, I am itching to try out my new spindle :)

March Sock

These are the socks I currently have on my needles. I had an eye on the pattern for a long time and finally got a chance to try it. It has an interesting construction and I think, is gorgeous. Only drawback is that it was a mystery pattern at Sock Knitter's Anonymous of two years past and is available in their thread and not like a separate pattern. On the designer's blog too, it is not in a complete pattern format. But charts are fairly easy to understand.

The yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit 50 cotton which I got in a RAK last month. My only concern is the sizing. Although it seems snug enough, I still worry about it being on the larger side.
I am really enjoying knitting right now, mashaAllah, because of my wonderful WIPs_ these socks and two projects from Coatimundi KAL.

Coatimundi KAL

This is the name of the great spring KAL about to start on March 15th. My friend Shells and I plan to knit a coat, sylvi and a stole during this. She blogs about the name of KAL and her warming up progress, here.
I did a bit of warming up myself over the last two days and managed to do quite a bit doen on the stole. This is my first big lace project and I am enjoying it already. This could easily get addictive.
As for sylvi, I started with the back simply because I could not wait to get to the fun part, :)
So, you see, this KAL has a lot of variety and promises to be so much fun, inshaAllah!