Happy Easter Weekend! I just love Easter, I think next to Christmas it may be my fave holiday. I am currently just putting the finishing touches on my cousins easter treasure hunt for tomorrow. For the past few years I've been doing this where I create a bunch of clues which will eventually lead them to a treasure box with a treat in it for them. This year I got my two girl cousins My littly pony toys and I got my 11 year old boy cousin a light up yo-yo. They will also each be receiving a knit easter egg from a pattern in the March 2008 Creative Knitting (which I bought last saturday just days before it was replaced by the May 2008, phew that was close!). I have knit two eggs so far with one to go, but they only take 2 hours to knit so no worries. I knit one in Vanna's Choice (purples) and one in Red Heart (orange), now the Vanna's choice I love working with, in fact I'm still working on a blanket in that very yarn. It is a very nice acrylic and I haven't had any issues knitting with it. This REd Heart, however, almost broke my fingers. IT's not the nice soft Red Heart... no... it's the could be plastic super skein in bright orange I got to make the very same cousin golf club covers for Christmas. As I was knitting it I could literally hear it squeeking and my hand was in pain from trying to maneouver the increases and decreases. The stripe on that very egg is from the yarn I made my first sweater with (and still only completed sweater) and I have no clue how I knit a huge garment with that. The eggs are really cute though and I think my cousins are going to love them!
Last night I finally finished my first Monkey sock. I sat down yesterday afternoon and thought about picking up the final easter egg and getting it done but the monkey sock was calling my name. I had to do two more repeats of the lace pattern and then the toe so I figured it would be a manageable project for the evening. When I did finish the sock, however, I failed to immediatly CO for the next sock, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't come down with second sock syndrome and leave the poor sock until I finish some more projects (in this picture you can see the paw of my little helper, maggie).
At knitting group this past week I really began work on scarf using Rowan Soft Lux yarn I bought at Ram Wools back in... january?? I think. I love this yarn, it is so pretty and soft and so much fun to knit with. It is a scarf and it is almost spring here in the 'peg so I'm in no hurry to finish it. I have a funny feeling it is going to become my "i'm bored with everything else"project and get ignored a lot. As long as it is done by the time the snow flies in the fall the I'll be happy.
As a nice Easter present for my mom I decided to try ballband dishcloth from the Mason Dixon knitting book. I loved knitting this, the constant changing of colour made it a really interesting knit and not as monotonous as a classic dishcloth. I finished it and gave it to my mom yesterday and she loved it!
Now.... what else have I finished... I finished my brothers mittens, yay! Last week I also finished my felted mini bag, which I failed to take a picture of. I love it. The felting went well, although being my first felting project I feel I may have over-felted it just a smidge since the cabling is not as defined as I would have liked. Despite that I am very pleased with how it turned out and I'll try to remember a picture for next time.
Sweater Update: I have been working on so many little projects it has been ignored, although I do hope to be finished the body VERY soon and then the sleeves will take next to no time and before I know it I should have a sweater (and hopefully before it's +30 C outside).
Blanket Update: Still looking adorable, loving the colours, but it is a project that will be slow going and I fully expect it to take forever... once I've knit a few more rounds I'll post a pic to show the progress!
Happy Easter Everyone! Hope the Easter bunny treats you all very well and happy Easter Knitting!
