Aquaphobia Socks

It was a close run, with my finishing these socks 3.5 hours before the deadline ( midnight December 31st). I had started these about one and a half months ago but did not cast on the second socks until 3 days ago. So it was really stressful in the end. And for once I struggled with kitchener st, which I always believe to be a piece of cake. Once, I had it fixed, I tried on the sock to find it was too long in the foot. So, I had to frog and redo the toes. If it is any consolation, I got the Kitchener right this time.

Despite this race against time, it has turned out a really nice pair. And I am happy working with the deadline if it means a finished pair. As for the pattern, it is Aquaphobia socks and the yarn is Soft Sock Yarn by Sunshine yarns, which I got from my friend Shells.

And I guess this is my last finished project for the year :)

The Tutu Pullover

I finally weaved in the ends on the pullover I was knitting for my daughter. I restarted a project a couple of times to get the design right. Initially I was trying bottom up but later settled for top-down knitting, starting with the turleneck. In the end, it turned out to be a perfect fit and I am very happy with it. I might be writing down the pattern for it.

Last week I also knitted up a hat to go with my daughter's sunburst coat. I was a bit short on yarn and just barely managed it. However it turned out nice and goes well with the coat.

Here is a sock!

A month of intermittent knitting, finally gives me the first sock of the aquapobia pair. I am not too fond of the pooling at the foot but it is snug and comfortable and fits well. It was a good knitting experience too, without any hitches, and watching how the colors will turn up on every row was great fun! Now, I have to knit the second sock before the end of the month to qualify for the sockdown.

School Hat

With two sick kids on my hands, I needed a simple small project to work on. A school hat for my son was the perfect project for the occasion. It took only two days to knit and my son has a new hat to replace his old misplaced one, once he starts going back to school, inshaAllah.

The pattern was straightforward. As mine was intended for a six year old, I cast on only 100 sts and adjusted the decreases at the top accordingly. Also, I used ssk decrease instead of the prescribed kks. I love how the decreases line up on the top of the hat. Also, it has room for adapt to a growing head.

As for the kids, they are doing much better now, alhamdolillah. Their fever is down and cough much improved.

Wavy Feathers Wimple

It took me more time than expected to finish this wimple. I knitted it according to the directions, then added half a stitch pattern more for good measure and soaked and blocked it and even got my daughter to model it.

But when I tried it on myself, I found it too short for my liking and too loose around the face. So I took another day, ripped back the garter edging at the top and added another pattern repeat. So in the end, it is 1.5 pattern repeats longer than the recommended length. Also, this time I made the cast-off less loose for a snugger fit around the face. My cast-on was very very loose and blocked into a scalloped edge to my delight.

All in all, I love Wavy Feathers Wimple pattern. The yarn is Mitai, 2- ply, fingering weight, handpainted 55% silk/ 45% cashmere yarn by Moxie Yarns which I won in one of her blog giveaways. It is wonderful to knit with and wear. I still have half of it left and I am considering making a pair of fingerless gloves with it. But that and the rest will have to wait as both the kids have caught some sort of respiratory tract infection right now.

Laddu Pullover

Thus named is the design for the cotton pullover I made for my son a while back. It goes up for sale at my ravelry store today. Non-ravelry people can find the purchase link below. I had a wonderful set of test knitters for this pattern. You will be able to check out their projects once they link them to the pattern.

This raglan pullover is knit in rounds from bottom up till the armholes, then the front and back are worked separately. The sleeves are done the same way.

Yarn weight: Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

 Yardage: Approx 300( 350, 400, 500, 640, 750)yards MC  and  200( 260,340, 440, 600, 680) yards CC

Gauge: 16 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in st st

Needle size:US 8 - 5.0 mm, US 6 - 4.0 mm

Sizes available: 2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12) years

Finished measurements:
Chest: 26 (28, 30, 32, 34, 36) inches
Length: 16 (18, 20, 22, 24, 26) inches
Sleeve length (to underarm): 9 (11, 12, 13, 14, 15.5) inches

Eid and More

For me relaxation comes in the form of knitting and I worked some on my new cast-ons. The first one is a wimple/smoke ring I am knitting for myself. It is a nice, easy lace pattern

without being too lacy. So I am hoping it will serve as a good inhouse headcovering.

The second one is going to be a glitzy pullover for my daughter. My own design of course. I have had some Moda Dea Tutu in my stash. It is shiny and it is pink, so what better use for it than a little girl's sweater.

CeCe

After a couple of weeks of sometimes reluctant knitting, I have finally managed to finish CeCe. I had started this in April and lost interest in it during the summer. This turned out to be a tricky pattern for me. I had selected the size with 2 inches of negative ease but it still turned out too loose (four inches!). I think the problem might be that the pattern gives gauge in st st while the cardigan itself is lace. I still love the lace pattern. And though far from perfect it is wearable and finally off the needles :)

Socks

After a long break from sock knitting, I finally cast on for a new pair of socks. The slip st pattern, Aquaphobia is very simple and addictive. The yarn (Soft Socks Yarn from Sunshine Yarns) is a gift from a friend. I am enjoying how its colors are lining up in the pattern.I will be entering the pair in the SKA November sockdown.

Spartan Pullover

I finished the spartan pullover yesterday. I used thinner yarn than was called for in the pattern. Consequently I had to adjust to my different gauge. The details can be seen at my ravelry project page. It was a simple and enjoyable knit more so as it turned out perfect. DH is well pleased with it.

In a quick little project, I made this pair of crochet flower clips for my daughter last night. I love this stage when kids are thrilled to have things made for them by their mommy. I wonder how long this lasts.

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.
This is a top-down seamless coat for sizes 2- 12 years.

Yarn weight: Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

Gauge: 15.5 stitches and 22 rows = 4 inches in st st on 5mm needles

Needle size: US 6 - 4.0 mm, US 8 - 5.0 mm

Yardage: 550 - 1300 yards (503 - 1189 m)

Sizes available:  2 (4, 6, 8, 10, 12) years

Finished measurements:
Chest: 24 (26, 28, 30, 32,34) inches
Length: 16 (18.5, 21, 23.5, 26, 28.5) inches
Armhole depth: 5 (5.5, 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5) inches
Sleeve length (to underarm): 8.5 (10.5, 11.5, 12.5, 13.5,15) inches

Eid Mubarak

Eid as always started with chand raat (the eve of Eid). Moon was sighted early in the evening so we could get busy with our henna and bangles.

For once the kids were excited about their bedtime as it mean time for henna, LOL. As you can see, car was a popular theme with them.

My henna design flopped this year as I was unoriginal and tried to copy a pattern out of our living room rug onto my hand.

The Eid day started bright and early with the father-son duo going for Eid prayers.

And after that we were ready to receive and visit family and friends.

The kids had a happy and fun-filled Eid, going to bed exhausted around midnight. And we still have two more days of the same! Hope everyone had a wonderful time!

Baby Pants

Here is the pair of baby pant to go with the BSJ I knit earlier. Though a very simple pattern to knit, I managed to fumble up the directions and had to frog almost half of it.

With this, my Eid knitting for this year comes to an end. Now on to Eid cooking and cleaning.

Baby Surprise Jacket II : Pastels

Eid is just round the corner and I decided to knit some baby stuff as an Eid gift for BIL's baby boy. Baby Surprise Jacket (ravelry link) seemed to be the most ideal choice. I had knit one last year so it went faster and smoother this time. I decided to use all subdued tones. I used DK baby soft Bambino (a local acrylic brand) leftovers and 4mm needles.

The modifications I did were to turn the jacket inside out, so that instead of distinct stripes , I got blended colors. Secondly, I added a I-cord edging ( I just love the I-cord edging) to the jacket. All in all it turned out really well and it is better sized than my first BSJ.
I am a little rushed for time here, but if possible, I will try to knit white trousers to go with it, inshaAllah!

A Knit Full of Adventure

Some might remember the shawl I was knitting last month, for which I ran out of yarn. A couple of my friends from Sporum Forum (ravelry)helped me find a matching skein and sent it to me. Only, when it arrived, we discovered it was a lot lighter than the original yarn. That's when I got the sound advice of dyeing the whole shawl with tea. You can see the finished shawl here, with the ugly color difference:

So, I brewed up about eight cups of really strong tea and soaked the shawl in it. You can see how early on during the soak, the color difference is still discernible:

I let the shawl soak for several hours, though I was too impatient for an overnight soak. Then I took the shawl out, rinsed it twice and the then gave it a gentle wash. Some color did ran out initially but it was negligible by the time of final rinse.
Next came the blocking, the shawl is quite large. (I was too lazy to measure it).

...And finally some glamor shots. The post tea dyeing color came out to be a nice honey color. And no discernible color difference !!I love the shine the yarn has after blocking. Also it is so light and airy, I am tempted to wear it right now!

New Things

With my latest project named and test knitting underway, I moved on to other things. I started a sweater for my son. I have four balls of Cotton-Ease, two violet and two lime and the trick is for me to come up with a suitable design for this yarn. I initially thought of a zippered cardigan but unsure about the availability of a suitable zipper in my local supplies shops, I settled on a pullover/sweatshirt.

As you can see, I stick to a classic style of contrasting color stripes in the ribbing and front pouch pocket. I hope I get the pocket placing right.
In another new, I practiced some continental style of knitting. I have reached the stage where it becomes smoother but not very fast, and of course it was too loose, so I had to frog all the rows later.

A Girl Coat

I finally cast off the collar on the coat/cardigan I was knitting for my daughter. And sewed on the buttons. It is knit in a local worsted weight yarn on 5 mm needles. The credit for the idea for this coat goes to Shells who suggested it to me. (She is going to test knit for her daughter's size). I knit a size four so it is a bit large on my three-year old. However, she was so pleased with it, she kept it on for hours, resisting all attempts for it it to be taken off.

I am going to write up the pattern over the weekend and then have it test knit, inshaAllah. And yes, I am looking for a name for the pattern.