Hello, November..

Wow, can’t believe it’s november already, and we’re almost at the end of the year again. ‘Sigh’..how time’s fly.

There’s not much going on my life lately, and as usual i’m not the most diligent blogger when it comes to updating her blog. So here some quick recap of what i did recently, which consist mostly my knitting activities :-D

– After almost a year of keep on postponing, i finally gave up and admitted my old glasses just not working for me anymore. The frame annoyingly kept on sliding down my nose and a bit askew after i’ve dropped it couple of times, not to mention the lenses that didn’t feels quite right anymore because i still get blurry edges when reading small text.  So, i got myself  two new pairs of glasses with more ergonomic frames and a better fit lens’s prescription; so now i can read, watch, work, and mostly knit happy :D

– Finished 1 more test-knit shawl projects and my first test-crochet shawl (need to blocked and photographed them)

– Finished a test-knit short sleeves top (awesome project with my first introduction to short-rows for neck shaping, and my favorite of all garment knitting elements : seamless!!).

– Finished my first test-knit flat shoes (quick project, awesome result and fit nicely!)

Well, mostly that’s what i’ve accomplished so far until the first of this month.

Anyway, since it’s mine and one of my best-friend’s birth month, i’m thinking of knitting two different lace shawls for her birthday present and of course, yours truly. Now, after seeing my pattern library and my not so exciting stash, i can’t decide which ones to knit.. oh well, story of my life ;P

 

[late post] Shawl for Mom

After seeing my first ‘sweet dreams’ shawl (i forgot to post it in here..oops!), mom asked me to knit one for her in different color tone. She chose the color of the yarn (a dark blue – indigo), and she wanted the beads more visible than mine. So we did some beads shopping and decided on miyuki’s seed beads in amethyst lined crystal AB for it. I just love how the ‘amethyst’ shimmer color of the beads worked wonderfully with the color of the yarn, it’s match made in heaven :D

Here some pictures of the finished shawl

sweet dreams shawl for mom :)

sweet dreams shawl detail with beads

 

The pattern is call ‘Sweet Dreams’ (duh!), another gorgeous design by ‘Boo-Knits’, a part of her ‘In Love Collection’ shawl patterns. This was my 4th Boo’s shawl that i’ve finished this year and a second one of the same pattern (i was pretty much in ‘Boo phase’ that time ;D).

I did some modification on the pattern since i used a lot smaller needle size, which of course would end up smaller than the pattern said it would be. Mom wanted the shawl (a lot) larger than mine (she’s taller with wider shoulders than me), so there were some adjustment on the stitch count for the body and of course the number of repeats for the lace edge. You can find more details of the shawl on my ravelry’s project page.

 

My Ravellenics 2014 Entries

Okay, so i failed to complete this year’s T-A-D, which is a bit disappointing (another of my ‘lazy-blogging’ episodes), bummer… Anyway, as i mentioned on my earlier posts, i’ve joined this year’s Ravellenics game on Ravelry. I actually tried to enter 3 projects for this event, but sadly only made it two (oh well..)

These two projects both used Boo-Knits shawl pattern : ‘Promise Me’ & ‘Out of Darkness’ (you can find these lovely patterns and her other designs on Ravelry).

The first one, is my version of Boo’s ‘Promise Me’ shawl :

My version of ‘Promise Me’ shawl

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Can’t believe that i finished this shawl less than 2 weeks! I also got 4 medals for it (on category; shawl, lace motif, beaded & single-skein usage). Pretty awesome, considering at the same time i also knit another lace shawl for different team and doing some test-knitting project as well (gasp!).

The next entry was this large, almost fully beaded, lace shawl. My first in black too.

my ‘Out of Darkness’ shawl, Done!

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With several modifications, the wingspan came a tad longer than i’d like it to be, but the depth of it just perfect! At first i thought using a black yarn was going to make it looked morbid, but i also kind of felt it would be perfect with the essential theme of the pattern, especially combined with the color choice for the beads (i used miyuki’s seed beads in gilt lined white opal + transparent dark topaz AB).

And boy, was i glad that i stick with these choice, the beads and the yarn worked harmoniously. I love how the contrast between the lightness of the beads and the darkness of the shawl complimented each other. I consider this as one of my proudest achievement in knitting a lace shawl, love, love, love it!! And i got 3 medals for this (on shawl, lace & beaded categories) and quite a few admirers on ravelry as well (cough!) :DD….

So there you have it, my entries for this year’s ravellenics game. Hopefully i’d be able to join the next one right about the same time with 2016 (?) summer Olympics.

You can find more on these 2 project on my ravelry page in here and here.

1st Shawl Done in 2014

Here’s my first shawl that’s done on January 2014.

It’s actually knitted a day before christmas, and supposed to be one of my 12 shawls in 2013. Unfortunately couldn’t make it on time. It’s a pretty quick knit pattern, but due to a busy year-end i just couldn’t find the time to finish it.

I even took it to my vacation earlier this year, but still didn’t find enough time to work on it. Well, it’s finally done late January this year. And here it is my first ever Ishbel shawl :

Ishbel shawl finally done! the brooch was made by my sister the beads crafter :)

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You can find more details of the project on my ravelry page :)

My first Ravellenics Games

Are you a member of Ravelry? If you are, then you must be pretty aware of the recent buzz  considering the famous ‘Ravellenics Games 2014’.

What is Ravellenics games if you wonder? it’s an event on Ravelry where we’re challenged to compete against thousands of other ‘Ravethlets’ by making knit/crochet/weave/spun projects during the period times of Olympic games or in this case Winter Olympic 2014 (which is about to begin earlier this month).

First we must join certain team on ravelry (it could be one or more), then we choose a project or more to compete, put the tags on (for our team tag & project categories/events) and get ready to start (or casting on for knitters) at the exact same time the Olympic begins. Sounds exciting, right? Oh well, it is for moi ;P

This year is the first time i participate in this Ravellenics games (it has been going on for quite some times actually, not sure what year, 2008 maybe?)  and i will be competing under 3 different teams (yes, three..talk about over-eagerness ;D). So it’s going to be 3 projects for 3 different teams, and so far i’ve chosen 2 crescent-shape shawls, though with 17 days time-frame it will be quite a challenge to finish them on time (ambitious much? ;p).

I’m still not sure what would be for my 3rd team. I’m thinking to add my unfinished cardigan that i’ve been knitting since last year so i can competes it under WIPs Dancing category and hopefully this event will give me the boost to finally finish it. But i’m still haven’t quite decide it yet; well, i still have about 4-5 days before the event start, so it would be like my back up plan if i’m still unable to find what project to compete at the last minute.

What are the rules? well, here’s what i got from the main group page :

The One Rule To Rule Them All:
Challenge yourself by starting and finishing one or more projects during the 2014 Winter Olympics.

What will be a stretch for you? It could be a new technique, that first sweater or pair of socks, something massive, something delicate, or maybe finishing that monster in the closet. The goal of the Ravellenic Games is to support you in expanding your knitting/crocheting horizons.

When do we start?
The Mass Cast-On will take place during the Opening Ceremonies. When the Olympic Games kick off in Sochi (20:00 Moscow Time Zone, UTC+4:00) that’ll be your start time, whatever time that is in your timezone.

When is it over?
Official End time: 23:59 Moscow Time Sunday, February 23 The closing ceremonies will be earlier that evening, but since the exact moment of the torch being extinguished is unknown, we’ll give you until midnight Moscow time. Each Ravellenics project must be marked Finished on the project page prior to the ending time in order to qualify for a medal.

Just remember the main one rule:
Challenge yourself and have fun!

And have fun i will!