Purple Swap

So, yesterday I received some goodies from the lovely AmandavW in the Aussie Swappers Purple Swap. I received the packaged delivered to work and was going to open it at home but I was tempted and so I opened it! And what a wonderful package! I could barely wipe the smile off my face as I unveiled it all.

The goodies all wrapped up with purple ribbon

Package unwrapped and look at these goodies! Misti Alpaca 4ply yarn (this has alpaca, wool, silk and nylon in it), a purple sunset card, a bunch of Cadbury chocs in purple wrapping and a Stockholm Scarf which I've been wanting for a while! I'd knitted with Misti Alpaca lace for Evelyn's WWFY Hanami Stole which is in progress right now and I thought it was wonderful stuff. To get a purple 4ply version is great!

Here is the scarf in action. It's knitted with Bendigo Woollen Mills Moorland which is an alpaca and wool blend. I love how soft alpaca is. I was actually starting to think that I'd asked for too much by putting the scarf on my wish list but here it is now:

And then, just as I thought I'd covered everything, Amanda mentioned that there was also a yarn cutter in there somewhere. YARN CUTTER! I so needed something of the sort since I'm planning to go on a trip in July and I'd need something to cut yarn on the plane perhaps. I was thinking of bringing a dental floss pack but I won't need to since now I have this!

It was all very exciting and I'm thankful to Amanda for putting together such a lovely bunch of purple fun. I LURVE purple.

Snapdragon Flip-Tops

These flip-top mitts were knitted for irkutskaya (Hilary) in a WWFY job. The yarn is lovely, it is Madeline Tosh DK in the colourway "gilded" which is the same colour as the one featured in the pattern photos. Hilary picked these beautiful purple buttons which I think are BETTER than the ones in the pattern photos.

I submitted this in a Nerd Wars challenge as well for the Man-Made Overlords Nerd Culture category to demonstrate how flip-top mitts made it convenient to use high-technology like laptops and mobile phones.

Ball Sack

So I knitted a BALL SACK *snickers*

Looks like this without the yarn in it:

It's for my swap partner in my Aussie Swappers Purple swap. I sent it off today so hopefully she won't be nosey and start stalking me back to see what I've made! I've used leftover Moda Vera Noir self-striping sock yarn. It didn't take much yarn and only took me a day (i.e. a day knitting during my free time, not an entire day). Hope she finds it useful.

Sh*t Knitters Say

Love this video. I do the photo thing a lot!

Hearts and Ears!

Mini project update time. I completed two mini projects just before last weekend. One was an Ears baby hat for my new little second cousin Zeffy. It is knitted with Cleckheaton Bamboo so it's very soft and not at all scratchy. I made Tim a Henry scarf with this same yarn though he's yet to wear it :(

Poor little bugger is always hungry and wanted MOAR FOOD so he was a bit upset but here is Zeffy with it on and with my mum holding him:

The hat with the little Hippo toy we gave him as well

It's a tad big for him just yet but come winter he will likely grow into it. I had a bit of a drama where I washed it on the day of the "month" birthday where we'd see him for the first time, so I had to attempt to dry it quickly with my hair dryer. I don't have a dryer at home so hair dryer was next best option.

My other project is a crochet heart. My Aunty Alice liked the ones I made earlier so I made her one as well and sent her the pattern so she can make some herself:

The originals which she liked were part of an engagement present. The photos of the originals were nicer so here they are:

They're a quick and easy project but a little bit painful because you need to crochet really tightly so the fluff doesn't come out. Also, I'm not really a great crocheter. I just DO STUFF and it magically works. The yarn is Sullivans Coton-A (yes that's how they spelt it) which is an acrylic cotton blend. I submitted this project in Nerd Wars too. I need to work out what category and team tie in to submit the ears hat under.

Lace Ribbon Scarf

I finished off a lovely Wollmeise Lace Ribbon Scarf on the 29th of January in Grashüpfer (grasshopper) green which reminds me of St Patricks Day green. It was another Will Work for Yarn job but time for irkutskaya whom I haven't yet had the pleasure of knitting for yet. I received a caked Wollmeise Lavendel (lavender) and a skein of Wollmeise Twin Heavy Metal (dark grey) in exchange. We had no idea whether the Lavendel was Twin or 100% but I got a little tip to work out what it was. Snip off maybe 1cm of the yarn, unravel it and count the plies. If it has eight plies then it is 100%, otherwise it is twin. I counted eight plies so it's 100%!

2011 - Year in Review

So I was looking through all the projects I'd done in 2011. I am pretty amazed at my output. Keeping in mind I knit mainly on the trip to and from work and whenever else I have spare time like weekends, days off and bits before and after work. My Ravelry total was 33 projects for the year. Some are small projects, some were big projects. So on average it seems I completed about 2.75 projects a month, taking on average 1.6 weeks per project. Here is a little montage of my Ravelry projects:

Out of all these projects, only one was hibernated from the year before. That was Tim's Cricket Vest. For this project, all I needed to finish in 2011 was the arm and neck bands. The last project I completed was the Corona and this one I did a little on New Years Day before it was complete.

All in all, I'm pretty impressed by my progress! Joining Ravelry definitely spurned me on to do way more than I probably would have otherwise, in terms of trying new things, learning new techniques and completing so many projects. Can't wait to do more.