Sally's July Gift List

Cross posted at Sally Comes Unraveled and Year Long Gift-A-Long.

OK, June sucked. It sucked bad. I have no FOs to show show for the gift-a-long, and I didn't finish the second quarter challenge (although I did make progress. Sort of.)

I blame the heat.

June Wrap Up:

1. Gift Item: A lace shawl. This is my large project for the second quarter challenge. (Rollover)
Progress: I need to restart the thing with new needles. There are more details here, here and here.

2. Gift Item: Finish Boogie Time (2 of them) (Rollover)
Progress: I'm still stuck. I still need a watch face that works for a boy.

3. Gift Item: Rainbow Socks (Rollover)
Progress: No progress.

4. Gift Item: Jen's Purse (secret knitting - Rollover)
Progress: The yarn is lost in Jen's house.

5. Gift Item: Wickerware Socks (socks for a male relative.)
Progress: I've gotten this far:

Also, this wasn't part of the list, I'm almost done with this scarf, which will also be a gift.

July Gift List:

1. Gift Item: A lace shawl. I'm really going to finish it! (Rollover - Again)
Recipient: Grandma
Occasion: Christmas
Deadline: June 2008, for the Second Quarter Challenge.

2. Gift Item: Finish Boogie Time (2 of them) (Rollover - Again)
Recipient: Family Friends
Occasion: last Christmas
Deadline: Overdue

3. Gift Item: finish my sister's socks (rollover - Again)
Recipient: Sister
Occasion: Birthday
Deadline: Overdue

4. Gift Item: Jen's Purse
Recipient: Friend
Occasion: Birthday
Deadline: Overdue

5. Gift Item: Wickerware Socks
Recipient: Male Relative
Occasion: Christmas
Deadline: Let's say December 18, to give me enough time to mail it.

a BIG FO, a little FO and a list.

i thought i would have finished earlier, but i seemed to have underestimated the power of a 1 year old. i believe he was a cat in his past life... everytime i would sit down to work on babette, he would crawl into my lap and just sit. there was a lot of "arrrgh!"-ing.

but here is the finished thing.

i used a single crochet to "stitch" everything together. it makes for a nice reverse...

kind of looks like a stained glass window.

other than that, i finished a pair of wristys. these will be for a girlfriend of mine. i plan on making some more, as they were fast and easy. just like i like it.

that is my husband in the background, stealing pieces of babette (sometimes it felt like the men were against me!)

as for my july list
1. finish the star baby blanket for my new niece.
2. another pair of wristys for my ma
3. finish another swiffer cover.
4. start another baby blanket for another new niece
5. start a sweater... for someone...

BIG Finish?

Hello Gift-a-Longers!

I know that this time of year can get more and more hectic - school is out, kids are home and looking to be entertained, graduations, weddings, and all the fun in the sun activities we've been missing.

I want to say a big WAY TO GO for those of you who've succeeded in completing the Q2 Challenge. Today is the last day to complete your entry, so I won't count the Challenge officially closed until midnight eastern time. ;)

Many of you are still aiming to finish gifts in time for the upcoming holidays in Q4, and having seen what you've been able to accomplish already, I just know you're going to outdo yourselves this year. Stress free gifting is still our goal, and I'm positive that we can meet it!

I'll announce the winner of the Q2 Challenge drawing on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
I'm still mulling over what the Q3 Challenge will be, so more on that soon.

Remember, every stitch counts, so even if you haven't been churning out the gifts because life priorities have changed, DON'T STRESS! We still have time to be early and on-time with our giving.

Be well everyone!

Finished objects May and June

Hello everyone,

finally I finished two pair of socks: one pair for my husband (May) and the other one for myself (June).

Bye Birgit


my pair of socks





socks for my husband

No Knit Big For me

Hello Everyone,

It feels like I fell into a great abyss over the last few months, and have just found my way out. Every year, I tend to forget or block out how crazy the last ten weeks of teaching normally become. So, I had great intentions for "Knit Big, Gift Big", but they have yet to be executed. In fact, I still need to purchase the beads for the lace scarves.

Things are getting back to normal in my knitting world, and I will post my small progresses with photos in the upcoming days. Congratulations to all who have "Knit Big". I have been inspired by your successes.

Looking forward to Big Knitting this summer during my vacation!

Valerie

Another pair finished!

I am making an effort to knit 10 pairs of socks for Christmas gifts this year, for my nieces and nephews and their respective partners. Just recently, I finished this pair:

Pattern: Hedgerow Socks, by Jane Cochran

Needle: US 1.5

Yarn: Zitron Trekking Pro Natura, 1 skein

Color: 1507 - kind of a lightly variegated watermelon pink (picture has more red)

I love this pattern, and the finished socks look great! At first, I had a hard time with the pattern, but at a certain point, it just clicked and was pretty smooth sailing after that. This is the first pair of socks I've knit with the pattern continuing down the heel flap, and with a more rounded toe, which I think looks nicer than the usual toe I have been doing. They took me a about 2 months to complete, because I was knitting them at the same time as another pair, but I think the next pair of these that I make (for myself, someday!) will go much more quickly, since I'm familiar with what to do now.

Right now, I have 3 completed pairs, 1 pair that is approximately 45% finished, and another pair just started. Hopefully, I can finish ten pairs by the end of October (since some of these will need to be mailed to recipients), and then I can knit socks for myself!

June and Q2 Challenge Update, July List

I haven't been a good knitter girl this month or last for that matter. I have been transitioning to a new job and it has been taking up a lot of energy, but it is a good transition. Also, with the nice weather there has been a lot of yard work and a lot less free time to knit. So I did not finish my q2 challenge. Not even close. I wasn't able to spend the kind of time I needed to with it. I needed to concentrate and that just wasn't happening. All of that said I decided to take the month of June off. I know it it a little early but here is my July list.

• Baby Hat/ baby shower/ Ex co-worker who is pregnant
• Baby hat/ new baby gift/ a different ex co-worker who is pregnant (i think there is something in the water over there)
• Socks/christmas/Grandma
• Poncho/christmas/Mom

Hopefully, I'll get back on track and get this list done. Hope everyone else's knitting is going better than mine.

Half way through 2008!!

And I'm thrilled to say I managed two big finishes this month - both lap blankets; so now all seven are ready for Christmas!

Elizabeth's Q2 Challenge

There has been very little knitting of my Q2 Challenge in the last week. As of Wednesday, the weekend was fast approaching, and the blanket was going nowhere fast. Now, why you ask, was the weekend such a bad thing? Well, we went camping! Now, camping is a fantastic adventure and I love it to bits, however, it was scheduled to downpour the entire weekend and the blanket was not something I was willing to drag through the mud just because I have an unhealthy addiction to knitting.

I needed a camping-friendly project. I thought and I thought, and came up with an idea! Ah ha! I will knit those pair of socks that came to me through the hot cocoa swap in the fall! (Yes, it's been a long time since the yarn arrived, I just wasn't feeling it. Can we move on? lol) Anyway, I went to knitty, printed off the toe-up sock formula (rav link), packed my bags and we drove off to Bon Echo. It's about a 3 hour drive without making a pit-stop for dinner so I was able to contort myself in the front seat to get my measurements (that was fun!) and managed to get about a 2 centimeters of knitting done on the weekend. It doesn't sound like much, but I was very happy with the accomplishment. I took pictures of the lake there, and I tried to get a picture of my very first pair of socks on their very first knitting adventure. We had a wonderful time, and though I was buggy and filthy, I was sad to leave.




We came home, and I continued working on the socks, until I realized that the "mystery project" has a deadline and I should really be working on it instead. So, progress was made and completion is immanent! Well, all that hard work paid off because the mystery project is done!

Here it is before the camping trip



Two days laster, and we have a completed blanket! WOOO!! This marks the accomplishment of my very first quarterly challenge, and I'm so excited! Check her out!

Gift Item: Christmas Striped Chevron Afghan (pattern via way-back machine) (ravelry) by Spinrite
Source: Solutia (no longer available)
Recipient: My parents
Occasion: Christmas
Finished: June 25, 2008

Yarn: 14 skeins of Patons Decor in beige, orange, and green
Needles: 4.75 mm






This blog rocks. Thank you so much for all of the encouragement over the last few months.

Latest Gifts

Cupcake for my boyfriend's birthday





Elf inspired hat and booties for friend's baby shower





For more information on these two gifts, see my blog.

Thanks!
Rima

Q2Challenge - made it!

Here's my Voyager Stole for my Q2 Challenge... it was hard to get a good photo without a model, but i'm thrilled with it. I even added 6 repeats to make it a bit longer.



And here's a close-up of the lace pattern:


I had hoped to finish my Aran Cardigan, but in the recent heat, the last thing I was going to do was sit with a lapful of wool! I did get the back and 2 sleeves done, so will start the fronts when it's cooler...

Couple FO's

Wow, this month is flying by too, but I do have a couple FO's even though they were not on my list. One item on my list came to a stand still, not enough yarn left to do the mate but will post the one I did get done.

Here are a couple knitted cloths, yes, I can say I knit now...lol, reason taking so long and nothing else getting done, but here are a couple dishcloths I did, the swim suit being the last and the bestest one yet :)

Here is one half of a gift I was making till I ran out of the yarn I was using.

Fingerless gloves for my grandson, so until get more I will be putting this on hold for next month. Am hoping to get caught up with my list now that the kitchen stuff is finished and our A/C is fixed. Looking forward to getting back to my crocheting! Knitting is hard on my fingertips :)

I do love all the projects I've been seeing lately. you all are turning out some great gifts!! Keep up the good work!

Finally an update and FO!

Life has been more than a little busy lately I'm afraid, and so my part in the internets has waned considerably! But now I've got a chance to get back in touch - comment on the 50 or so posts I've missed, and update with my gifting progress! :)

I've finished one of my great big 2nd Quarter accomplishments - yay!! Gran's Flowerbasket Shawl was finished and gifted much to everyone's delight.

Gran loves the shawl and admired the lacework which made me feel very special of course! Gran was the first person to introduce me to knitting many years ago when I was about 8, and although I didn't keep it up then, I feel so glad to have shown my appreciation to her with this lacework gift :)

Now I really must re-assess my goals and what needs doing! I've been knitting to releive stress and simply for enjoyment while I've changed jobs, moved house and so on! But now things have settled a little more I think I can take another look and get on track! :)

Keep on keeping on everyone! I know I've been absent for a while, but knowing this blog is ticking along has still been inspiring - thanks everyone!! :)

So dreadfully behind in posting

Well, I know 100% for sure that I will not finish the Q2 challenge. I've been so completely distracted from my knitting with the end of the school year activities and such.

I do have some gift items that are underway, and some in the queue for August/September.

Two new babies will be coming into the world and I have ideas for their knits...

I have purchased the yarn and just need to get knitting

2 baby afghans
2 baby bonnets
2 sets of baby booties.

I'm Making these and my one other August gift item my June and July Knits...

THe other gift item is to finish up my Hemlock Ring Blanket for my mom's birthday gift.

no pics at the moment...

June Gifts...

Well I've been on a FO frenzy the last week or so...

Purple Syncopation Bag:


Child's size Carie Lynn:


Pink Picot Edge baby cardi (Debbie Bliss cashmerino) - although I confess that I knit this a long time ago, just needed to add the botton and closure to make it an FO!


Unbiased Bag with recycled Sari Silk:


Half-Linen Stitch scarf (I don't think I posted this one yet!)



Phew! Ok.. .still working on the Voyager Stole for my Q2 Challenge. I thought I was done, but need to make it a bit longer.


JavaNut

OH! BABETTE!!!

so i finally finished the squares! and it looks like i might be able to finish the Q2 challenge sometime next week... weaving in ends even! "is there pics?" you might ask. of course, but they are on my camera, and i can't find the connector. oh well.

in other gift along news, as of yesterday i have a new baby niece to start knitting for! HOORAY!!!

After BIG - small is nice

I've satisfied the instant gratification side of me by spending the weekend knitting these colorful cotton bibs for a friend's baby who will be arriving in July.  I've sewn velcro for closures which should make it easy for mom and dad.  And the bright colors will be good for baby brain development.

Angela T. June Gift List

Well the baby blankets were a flop for the challenge! I didn't even finish one for the shower we had at work, so that's over. I just realized its JUNE! I am going to focus on getting my Christmas knits done and that's it for the rest of the year for gifts.

1. Mom - Hodded Scarf
2. Diane - Gloves
3. Marion - Socks
4. Derek - Scarf

Angela T.
http://angcraftcorner.blogspot.com

I've been busy these are the pictures

Red Fine Merino Superwash - Branching Out
Gossamer scarf - purple Peruvian Highland Silk
Luna gold Diamond and Lace Scarf

I decided to knit a bear for the cancer relay silent auction. and I have completed 3 scarves this past couple of weeks as well. I decided to knit some fish in Bernat Soy blend from the book 'toys to knit'.

The bear is from the Toys to Knit from my stash.

I still have my June dishcloths to complete.

Late and long update...

Since June is approaching half-way point I figured I should post my May update... pics included for those that weren't posted previously.

May List:
Carie Lynn/Liz/May 15 => DONE
Carie Lynn/me/May 15 => this is the third bag I've done w/ this pattern and I think it's my favorite... so I'm keeping it!



Baby cardi /Baby W/May 30 - this is the Daisy pattern from Knitty.com. Easy design but I would have preferred a solid color for the seed stitch edges if I could have found one to match.


Fluffy Lap Blanket/Grandmother - this is from Weekend Knitting. LOVE it and when it gets colder will probaby make an afghan size one for myself.


Baby vest/baby Fife/May 31 => DONE

I'm keeping the June list short since it's already the 11th, but will try to add to the list if time permits:

1. Bias Bag/tbd (carryover)
2. Half-Linen Stitch scarf/tbd
3. Felted Bag/E.P.

And still working on my Q2 Challenge: Voyager Stole (almost done!)

Elizabeth's Q2 Challenge: 70%

70% complete: I am working on the last wide white panel. Very happy! The last few days, I sewed on two strips, and it’s coming along very nicely. I must say, it’s been very very hot out in Ottawa and that makes it very hard to want to knit a blanket, but progress is being made!

You're support is amazing, and I love reading about everyone else's progress. It's very motivating!

Where Did May Go?

Knitting in May was fairly non-existent but now that I'm mostly free for summer, I vow to make up for it. That said, little knitting has occurred in June but I did sew. I know this isn't a sewing blog but I made a needle roll as a gift for a knitter, so I'm hoping it counts.

To be honest, I originally made it for me. Then, yesterday, I found this fabric I just love and immediately thought it would be perfect for a needle roll so this one is going to be a gift for a knitter friend of mine. Details and more photos are on my blog.

My June knitting goal is to finish the Urth bag and and make a shawl for a winter holiday gift.

Late Checkin' In

May was a blur of family stuff and unfortunately I didn't get anything finished. So for June, I'm just going to work on finishing my afghan for the Q2 challenge.

seamless baby kimono

completed.

not entirely sure about the felted heart, may change for another embellishment down the track

free pattern... I made some modifications

baby afghan

my third FO for this month... finally I feel like I am back on track again... yay

this adorable baby afghan

Socks Finished!

I finished the socks for my Dad yesterday. I made myself knit only them this past week because I was worried I wouldn't finish in time, and it paid off! I'm quite happy with how they turned out.



In other progress, here is where I am on the honeymoon cami and the modern quilt wrap. I'm using different colors for the wrap and mixed in some kidsilk night as well. I'm pretty happy with how it's coming out.