Business Causal KAL – Final Finishers

The end is finally here!!!

I must say a huge thank you to Tanis for creating such a fabulous pattern that so many people want to knit.

I also wouldn`t have been able to have a KAL with SO MANY PEOPLE without all of you! Thank you for joining in, chatting and cheering each other on. It really has been a blast and so fun to see all these amazing socks.

I`ll have a final sock tally next week when I announce the prize winners so for now lets look at the final finishers!!

Laurence finished her socks using Malabrigo Sock in Azules.

Greenbeanstring used Tanis Blue Label in a OOAK called Mossy

Cccatie used Tanis Blue Label in Dove for her verison.

Valerie of Wandering Cat Yarns used Wandering Cat Yarns House Cat in Cafe au Lait

Hundgestrickt used an unknown yarn in a soft grey for her Business Casuals.

Sparrow31 used Shibui Knits Sock in wasabi for this lovely green pair.

Suuf chose filcolana arwetta classic in colour number 143 for her socks.

DivaDar used Ancient Arts Fiber Crafts in the colour Nigeria for her 4th pair!

 Allison1031 used Marigold Jen yarns BFL socks in the colourway Apple of Megan`s Eye.

 Misstlog chose Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids in mauve for her version.

Porcupine made her socks with Regia Color 4ply in colourway F1904.

Sara of LundenKnits finished her 3rd pair of Business Casuals using Lorna`s Laces Solemate in a colourway called The Bean.

Hazelbranch chose Tanis Blue Label in an OOAK called Sienna Mix.

Anyonecanknit used Tempted Handpainted Sly Grrl in the Dreamy colourway.

FiberJewels used Dizzie Lizzie`s in an unknown colourway for her version.

Evelyn used an unknown stash yarn for her socks, possibly Knit Picks in their Deep Water Colourway.

Kwoodie finished her socks using The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in the colourway Southern Green Stinkbug.

Carambole finished her socks using Fleece Artist Blue Faced Leicester Socks in the Ocean colourway.

Knitlove8 finished her socks using The Verdant Gryphon Bugga in the colourway Peacock Butterfly.

RedYarnKnits finished her socks using Red Heart Heart & Sole in the colourway Green Envy.

For anyone still knitting ,you have until midnight tonight (atlantic time) to finish your socks and get a picture up to be included for prizes. Don`t give up yet!!

See you all next week for the big announcement!

Business Casual KAL – Pair number 2!

We’ve reached the last week of the KAL.

There is definitely time to finish off your socks if you are still working on them. You have until Monday 25th midnight Atlantic Time to have your pics up on Rav or emailed to me.

I trucked along last week and was able to finish my 2nd pair of socks for this weeks post.

Knit with Wandering Cat Yarns Barn Cat in Parrotfish.

Another perfect fit! I love the spring-ish colours

I’m not the only one who has been knitting like crazy.

There are tons of finished socks this week.

RamblingRoses used Dream in Color Smooshy in Romeo Blue to make these beautiful socks for her son.

 LeslieAnn79 used Socktopus Sokkusu Original in the colourway My Funny Valentine.

Debbieknits5000 used Tanis Purple Label Cashmere Sock in Tropics for her pair.

Dcmo knit her socks with WanderingCat Yarns Alley Cat BFL in the mermadia colourway.

Tanis finished her socks using one of her new colourways of Blue Label called Lucky Penny.

Lunatic84 used Knit Picks Bare that she handyed purple.

Dimples74 chose Malabrigo Sock in colourway 857 for her socks.

DivaDar finished her 3rd pair using Tanis Blue Label in Chestnut.

Sylviemom chose Tanis Blue Label in Sand for her version.

Rosehiver finished her second pair using Tanis Blue Label in an OOAK called Olive Truffle.

Sewable used Vintage Purls Vintage Sock in the colourway Top Soil for her Casuals.

 Jwallace chose scheepjes invicta extra in colour 1346 for her socks.

ReVi-and-nOa used FishKnits Strong Heart in Carmamello of her socks. I looove this colourway.

 Maryknits7 knit her Business Casual’s with Tanis Blue Label in Faded Plum.

Wowee! That was a heck of a lot of socks this week!

Great job everyone! We have 57 completed pairs… can we make it to 70?

Happy Finishing!

Business Casual KAL – Prize Alert

Wow these weeks are slipping by so quickly!

We have 2 weeks left in the KAL!

I’m working away on my second pair of Business Casual’s while admiring my beautiful new Yarn Bowl.

My dad is a tad addicted to his lathe and I asked him to try making a few yarn bowls. This one is made out of Oak, Ash and Mahogany. I’m a complete sucker for Mahogany! He has several more finished up that I need to take pictures of so expect a full blog post with purchase information shortly..

Now onto the socks!!!

AndreaSJ chose London-Wul Heidi’s by Hand for her Spring-ish pair of socks.

Hannah finished her socks using Calkwalk Yarns Walk

FancyBell knit her BC’s with Tanis Blue Label in the colourway Thrills

 Susieville chose Tanis Blue Label in Chestnut for the version she knit for her husband.

Hege has been hard at work. These are her third(above) and forth(below) pairs of Business Casuals.

She used Garnstudio Drops Fabel for both pairs.

Megan finished her stripey BC’s using Marigold Jen Superwash/merino/nylon sock yarn in the Harvest Moon colourway.

 LesleyBadger knit these beauties with The Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet in Emerald CIty.

Mamagiff used Premier Yarns Serenity Sock in pink for her version.

Vava22 used Fortissima socka mit bambou in colourway 0018

Rhonda of Wandering Cat Yarns used Wandering Cat Yarns Alley Cat sock in the Campfire Colourway.

Kylie used Cascade Heritage Solids for her beautiful pair.

Tammy finished her socks using Ball and Skein Sophia in the Oceania colourway.

Leslie used Tanis Blue Label in Brick for her socks.

That brings our total up to 39 finished pairs and counting!!

 I have more prize to show you this week.

 Susan of Girl Cave Bags has kindly donated this cute sheep sock bag perfect for your current sock WIP.

 Make sure to check out her Etsy shop for updates and uber cute bags to house your knitting. Love!

We also have three fabulous designers who are each generously donating patterns.

SpillyJane is a master when it comes to quirky knits. If your socks are covered in Gnomes or Pints of Beer everyone knows you’ve knit a SpillyJane pattern!  She takes inspiration from pottery songs and food and I just love her quirky style.

Jane is kindly offering up one of her patterns for one lucky finisher!

Photo’s Copyright SpillyJane

Jeannie Cartmel is an amazing sock designer. There isn’t one of her designs that I do not love and I may have gushed about her before. You’ll have a chance to win one of her gorgeous designs!

Photo’s Copyright Jeannie Cartmel

Elinor Brown is a queen when it comes to colourwork. You will have a chance to win her pattern Culture Socks featured below but make sure you have a look at her other designs as well. They are all beautiful!

 Photo Copyright Elinor Brown

Hope you are all chugging along and will make it to the finish line on time. Who wouldn’t want one of these prizes right???

We’ve had 156 people sign up for this KAL. I know not all will make it or even cast on but do you think we can get 70 pairs by the end date??

There are 100 project pages started on Ravelry right now so we’ll see what happens over the next two weeks!

Hurry, Hurry Haaaaard!!! *kidding Happy Knitting ya’ll!*

Aidez – Prize alert!

Another week has come and gone and sadly I didn’t get ANY work on my Aidez this week.

That hasn’t stopped any of you from knitting up a storm though!

We have our first finished Aidez!!

Stacie knit her version in 13 days!

She used 2 different colours of Cascade Ecological Wool and alternated them every 2 rows to create a great striped effect  on her caridgan.

Stacie chose to knit her fronts at the same time and kitchener stitched them together at the back of the neck.

Great job Stacie!

Lacey is using a stunning green in Cascade Eco+ and knitting her Aidez in one piece.

She’s making great progress especially considering she has 3 little’s to take care of.

This one is going to be stunning!

Georgie is knitting her second Aidez with us. Her first Aidez was in a lovely cranberry colour and one of the first coloured versions I swooned over. This time around she’s using a more neutral colour called Light Graphite in New Lanark Aran.

She is changing the cables up on this one and I’m loving what she has chosen. Can’t wait to see this one completed!

I was kind of overwhelmed with how many of you have decided to join in the KAL so I’ve decided to add a little prize draw into the mix.

Anyone that finishes their Aidez and provides pictures by November 24th will be entered into the prize drawing.

I’ll be announcing different prizes here and there throughout the KAL so keep your eyes peeled.

First off are prizes from my three favourite designers

Carol Feller

*Copyright Joseph Feller*

 I’ve done testing for Carol for the past couple of years and enjoy it so much.

Carol’s designs are always interesting and unique and definite must knits.

Carol has kindly offered up one of her patterns to a lucky winner. *winners choice*

Tanis Lavallee

*Copyright Tanis Fiber Arts*

Tanis is a girl after my own heart!

Her designs are comfy and stylish.

Something you can look fabulous in when you leave the house and not have to worry about adjusting  your outfit or being uncomfortable in all day.

Tanis is offering one pattern *winners choice* to a lucky winner.

Lily Kate France

*Copyright Lily Kate France*

Ahh sweet Lily!

I’ve watched Lily design from the young age of 12.

Right from the get go she designed wearable/fashionable pieces. There aren’t  many of her designs that I haven’t knit.

Lily is offering up her 3 newest patterns, Hinksey, Alysha, McKee to three lucky winners.

So how did you all make out with your knitting this week?

Any issues or questions with your Aidez?

Don’t forget to upload your pictures to Ravelry or you can email me them if you aren’t on Ravelry so I can include them in the weekly updates!

Happy Knitting!

Aidez – Ready, Set, Knit!

Well here we are ready to get our knit on!

This group has grown from a few friends wanting to knit this cardigan together to a group of ladies across the globe ready to tackle this .

There are 25  29 of us ready to cast on with more joining everyday!

Please check the list below and let me know if you are joining and I’ve some how missed your name.

SARAH   HEIDI  MICHELLE   HANNAH   RONNIIE

JESS   EVELYN   ANNABELLE2   ELIZABETH

CHRISTINED   LETE   ALAINA   SARA  KELLY

REBECCA   JESSICA  SHANNON   GEORGIE

LACEY   TINA  JEANNIE  EMILY  ANNIE

KATHERINE  KATE  MEGAN  IGNASIOWA

ROSE

I did two gauge swatches for my Aidez and ended up going with the needles from the first swatch.

Swatch one was knit with 10.5mm’s the needles called for in the pattern. I ended up with 3.5 sts by 5 sts. I wanted my stitch gauge to be on and wasn’t that concerned about it being a tad bit longer. I can also just knit to the length I want if I have to as well.

Swatch two was knit on 10mm’s. I ended with 4sts by 5.5′s. I thought I might knit a larger size at a slightly smaller gauge to create somewhere around a 34 but a lot of people have commented that they found it small fitting. Well I don’t really think that 100% accurate. The Eco Wool that sooo many people have used for this cardigan is bulky weight where as the original Aidez was knit with a super bulky so the Eco would indeed create a smaller cardigan than called for if they used this yarn.

That being said I’m going to go with the needles called for in the pattern, cast on for the 36 and then adjust the length if need be. I would normally knit a 32 but I don’t want this to be too fitted so hopefully this will work in my favour.  I also usually need to add length to patterns so I really don’t think I will have a problem.

 I’m casting on for sleeve number one today.

Anyone new to my blog will come to realize that I like to knit my sleeves first and get them over and done with while the pattern is still new and fun. No SSS (second sleeve syndrome) here!

I’ve added a link to the bottom of this post. Just add your name and blog post/url for ravelry so we can keep tabs on your updates/ how everyone is doing and chat about our progress. If you have your project on Ravelry please tag it with CCOAIDEZKAL so we can find everyone’s projects! For those of you that don’t know I am CelticCastOn on Rav and my project page is here.

So tell me, how did you get on with your swatch?

What part of Aidez are you casting on for today?

So excited to cast on with you!

Now let’s get knitting!!

 

Chugga Chug

Its been a while since I’ve picked up a book around here but this week I was in the mood for an audiobook to listen to while I worked on they sleeves of Chalkstone. They are plain stockinette and the perfect companion to an audio book.

I chose The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I knew nothing about it other than A Playful Day Podcast was reading it with her listeners in her ravelry group. So I downloaded it from my local library and started to listen.

I must admit I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue with it at first…. talking dogs and “The Noise” were all a little weird to begin with but I gave it a fair shot and I’m really starting to get into it.

Apparently it’s a series but I’ve gotta get through number one first!

As I said before I’m working on the sleeves of Chalkstone. I’m a little worried about running out of yarn for this and being a bottom up sweater doesn’t help me out any in figuring out if I have enough. I’ve opted for 3/4  length sleeves and I think I’m really going to like it this way. Once I get the sleeves attached I’ll be able to see if I have the yardage to finish.

Fingers Crossed!

Read any must read books lately??

Alive!

Hi Everyone!

Seems in my transistion to my new host I lost a post or two.

 Please excuse the mess while I try to get things back up and running and catch up on all the things I’ve been dying to tell you about.

I hope you are all still out there, I’ve missed you all and can’t wait to hear from you all!

Book Review – Knitting Knee Highs by Barb Brown

I was pumped when ,while browsing Book Sneeze`s selection of available books, happened upon a knitting book!!

Of course I jumped on it immediately and  it arrived this week!

As the title of the book suggests it is a book of Knee High Sock patterns.

First off you should know that the author, Barb Brown is  a Canadian. She lives in Alberta and teaches knitting, designing and dye workshops. She’s been in a few online magazines and the popular book Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn.

The book begins with a knee-high formula for you to use to get an accurate fit. There is also info that helps you convert a normal sock pattern to a knee high and tips and tricks for custom fitting. This information will prove very helpful in creating knee-highs for yourself or others.

Each pattern in this book is shown in at least two different ways. One pattern will be knit as a knee high and then converted to an ankle sock. Another will be a knee high and converted to a regular sock or a leg warmer. I LOVE this idea because really not everyone in the world likes knee highs and it is so great to see what else you can actually do with the pattern and how different each one looks.

The majority of the patterns are fair isle but there are also a few lace ones, some kilt hoses as well. I wouldn’t rate this as a beginner sock knitting book but for those who enjoy fair isle AND socks its a great resource.  I already have several patterns picked out that I want to knit and could see myself really using all of the patterns with the various adaptions mentioned in the book.

The book uses a great variety of well known yarns although I will prefer to knit mine with mostly solid colours because I’m just a solids kind of girl. The one thing that did erk me about the book was the photography….

I mean really I don’t think anyone plans on wearing fair isle knit knee-highs with an evening dress…or maybe thats just me.

All in all this is a wonderful book and will get much use when my sock mojo kicks up again.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Dragging my heels

It’s almost embarrassing how long I’ve had these two gifts and not blogged about them. These were the last two gifts I received from T’s virtual shower before summer even began.

The first package came from Heidi. It contained this great lightweight blanket that I honestly don`t know how we would have survived the summer without. The thought never even entered my brain of whether or not I had a light enough blanket for all those hot muggy nights. This was invaluable to my little sweat head. Also included in the package were these cuuuute little socks, which sadly no longer fit my growing girl, and a pair of Canadian baby legs. Poor T is only NOW just being able to wear the baby legs, she was just too rolly before and they cut into her chunky thighs like no tomorrow!

Thank you so much Heidi for your now very well used gifts!!

The final package came from the wonderful Dianna who started this whole shower deal.

I think, if I remember correctly I gasped when I opened this one. The most beautiful knit baby blanket. The pattern is Honey Baby Blanket by Knitspot and is absolutely wonderful. I think I ran my hands over each stitch gazing in wonder at the different stitches, my favourite being a stitch around the edge that look like little butterflies. I can’t ever imagine having enough patience to knit this but I’m so glad Dianna did! I loooooove it!

Dianna of course asked for pics of T with the blanket which I was more than willing to take…. but you see T was so small when the blanket arrived I couldn’t manage to get a shot of them together that even looked half decent. I had a vision in my head of T sitting up on the blanket posing for the camera….. you know like all babies do when they are able to sit up *rolls eyes*

So I waited until T was able to sit up on her own and set everything up on a lovely sunny day. The one thing I didn’t realize is that when babies can sit up, they are also most likely able to get around a wee bit…

Many of my pictures ended up like this one which the little monkey crawling towards me before I could even get off the blanket. Hopefully these do her work some justice!

Thank you so much Dianna for the incredible work that went into making this much loved blanket and setting up such a wonderful surprise for little T.  We cannot thank you enough!