Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Needlework Tuesday - A finished project and more...

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

My goal this past week was to finish the seams on the Ragg Christmas Stockings and hang them on the mantle. I surprised myself with this one and actually got it done! I'd rather be knitting than weaving in ends and sewing up seams, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. Anyway, here's a shot of them:


This kit was purchased from Mary Maxim.   I miscounted the rows somewhere, so the middle one ended with a red-tipped toe, instead of white, but I don't care.  They are a little oddly shaped, but I love them!!! 

I also finished the other fingerless mitten/glove and worked on the matching hat, the next project from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month. The second fingerless mitten turned out okay, but it's a complete different colour than the first one. The pattern said that this would happen because of the variegated yarn that I was given. It still looks okay. The hat has been a little challenging. It's knit in a round on 5 needles. My needle set was a set of 4, so I decided to use a slightly smaller one from another set. It's not noticeable at all, so I'm continuing with it rather than going out and buying a whole new set of needles. The challenging thing is that for some reason working with 5 needles (stitches on 4 of them plus one working needle) isn't as stable as working with 4 (stitches on 3 plus one working needle). A couple of stitches have slipped off the needles and I managed to get everything tangled up more than once. It's not that enjoyable because I have to watch the stitches closely in case one of them makes a run for it again. It's quite a bit better now that I have a couple of inches done, but I'm still taking it slow and only doing a few rows a day. Here's a shot of that project:



I'll show the other mitten/glove and finished hat when it's done.  The yarn for this one is Mary Maxim's Milan. It's a light-weight (3) yarn that's 80% acrylic, 20% wool. It's really nice to work with. My only very small complaint is that the ball lost it's integrity and collapsed upon itself about 3/4 of the way through. However, it didn't end up in a tangled mess (like some other yarns I've worked with), so I'm not going to complain too much. I did move it around a little, so perhaps it's my fault. I just adore the colour selection, so if I happen upon a sale, I might just be making another project with this one.

My temperature scarf is all caught up. Here's a shot of my current scarf compared to one I did last year:

I think you can figure out which is which.  Here's a hint: the newest one is still on the needle.  ;)  In general, the colder temperatures have come a little earlier. For comparison purposes:
  • Orange 29C - 22C,
  • Dark Yellow 21C - 15C
  • Light Yellow 14C - 7C
  • Light Green 6C - 0C
  • Dark Green -1C - -8C
  • Bright Blue -9C - -15C
That's it for this week.   Speaking of knitting, do you see this news about knitting and Alzheimer’s risk? I don't have a plan for this week yet, but you can bet it's going to involve more knitting.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.   If you've done any crafting this week, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so other can enjoy your creations.

1 comment:

  1. the hat is looking great. That colour combo would work for me. I am planning to visit the new Mary Maxim store in London soon and will look for that yarn. I like the fun of working with a long colour repeat.

    I tend to knit with circular needles instead of multiple straight, but it can be a challenge when it is those small ones for hats and sleeves. I find I have to knit slower, but at least I'm not dropping out the errent needles.

    Thanks for linking up with needlework Tuesdays.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your comment. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I've been getting lots of spam comments, so I'm turning on word verification to help keep spammers away. I know it's a pain; I don't like it either. Hopefully, in time I'll be able to turn it off again. Thank you!