Shawls and Monsters

I didn't get a chance to knit a lot during May and the first part of June.  Now that summer vacation hit early this year, I've been catching up on some major knitting projects.  The two projects I did manage to get done during May are 2 shawls, Summer Flies and Damson. 
Summer Flies is a semi-circular shawl I knitted in Malabrigo Cotton, a beautiful organic cotton yarn in a worsted weight.  I like the color shift from a natural cotton color to gray within the yarn.  It used up most of the yardage.

Damson is a small shawl with faroese-type shaping so it stays put when you wear it.  I did mine in Malabrigo Sock, colorway Persia, and the edging is done in KnitPicks Stroll, color black.  Even though I was supposed to be able to do it with one skein, I ran out of yarn and had to edge in black.  Still, I think it turned out pretty well. 

I managed to get some monster knitting done, too.  One of them I still can't post, until I'm sure my swap partner received her package.  The other monster I did was my cute little Stealth Murray, who I'm giving to a family friend tonight.  He's made of awesome camo colors, with tan and black eyes, a purple mouth.  I love the crazy expression on his face.

New Pattern Available

I just made my Squiggy pattern available to download on Ravelry!  Happy Knitting!!!!!! 

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

I just got home from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  It was amazingly awesome, again.  I like to look at all the different kinds of sheep, and some of them let you pet them. 

And then there's the yarn.

This year, I think I went a wee bit nuts-o, although 2 of them are gifts.  My lovely purchases:

Creatively Dyed Yarn Calypso Queen in Midsummer

Creatively Dyed Yarn Beaches in Ibiza

Miss Babs Northumbria BFL in Picture Perfect

Miss Babs Yummy Monochrome in Nori

The Verdant Gryphon Bugga! in Cotton Stainer

The Verdant Gryphon Mithril in The Depths of the Sea

Maple Creek Farm Fredericksburg in Summer Fun

Using Yarn Scraps

I have a lot of sock yarn scraps.  Not as many as some people, because I tend to get bored knitting socks, but I have a lot.  At first, I thought about doing one of those sock yarn blankets, but then I looked at people's projects, and saw that they took insane amounts of time, like 2 years!! 

2 years?!?  If I get bored knitting the 2nd sock, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to work on a sock yarn blanket for 2 years.  I did like the idea of mitred squares, though, so I started knitting up my scraps into a stole.  I have enough scraps to do that without begging other people for their leftovers, too, which is nice.  I have 25 squares done, in a nice block of 5 x 5 squares.  I like picking up stitches for each square as I go along, too, cutting out the insanely awful task of sewing them together.  I think I'm using about 15 different yarns, so it's diverse, but not too crazy.  Some of the scraps have quite a bit of yarn left, too.

The other reason I picked the mitred square stole is that I am absolutely, beyond a doubt, terrified of hexipuffs.  I can't think of anything more terrifying than knitting an insane amount of hexipuffs, tying them together, then sleeping under that blanket only to have the whole thing fall apart, and hexipuffs going everywhere.  It just doesn't seem like a sturdy idea to me.  Also, I like not having to knit tiny things in round.

So I continue to truck away on my stole, with plans to block it and then back it with black velvet or velour to make a nice, thick, warm winter wrap. 

Knitting ADD

Ugh, I'm having knitting ADD today.  I have a few projects going:  a zombie monster, a scrappy wrap/blanket, and a pair of socks.  I'm just having trouble sticking to a project I actually want to be knitting right now. 

Yesterday, I bought some really nice, yummy cotton with a little bit of elastic in it, and made a spring beret.  It's a really nice.  I love the yarn.  It's Crystal Palace Yarns Cotton Twist, in colors Cornsilk and Ketchup.  I wanted to make a hat I could wear in the summer, since my head gets really hot in the sunlight. 

But I finished the hat this morning, and since then, I haven't been able to decide what kind of new project to start.  Tried knitting the pair of socks, but they are going to be too big, and I don't feel like continuing, since I don't know anyone they would fit, or least anyone I would want to give them to.  This is why I don't knit with Opal.  I don't feel like working on the scrap blanket, because I have to pick up stitches for that, and I don't want to do fiddly little knitting, which is also why I don't want to work on the zombie. 

I do have a lot of yarn, but most of it needs to be skeined up.  I don't want to do that either.  Ugh.

Squiggy

I finished writing a monster pattern today, Squiggy the Squiggle Monster.  I knit a lot of monsters, for me, my family, and to give away, and I decided to make up my own pattern.  I've written patterns in the past, and improvised my own designs, but I've never decided to release a pattern for other people's use before.  I'm excited that I will be releasing Squiggy as a free knitting pattern soon.  I've written the pattern and made the first Squiggy, and now it's in test mode.  So excited!  I hope to give away some Squiggies very soon.  In the meantime, here is a picture of Squiggy:

Hopefully, the pattern for Squiggy will be released in the next month or so.

Monster Spring Break

While I was on spring break, I finished a lot of monsters.  The first was one was Angus, for my nephew's fifth birthday.  He was so excited to get him!! And he calls him Angust, which I think is pretty funny.

After that, I worked on Ganni's Baldwin, at my nephew's suggestion.  Ganni's Baldwin is for my mom, just because she likes monsters.

Finally, I finished Charlie for my friend.

I'm also working on my own monster pattern, which I hope to have test-knitted soon.  I'm calling him Squiggy, and he's totally adorable.