I do declare...

it is time for an update!

Firstly the projects i have completed and am currently working on.

Remember how all the way back here I may have mentioned working on something? Well they were finished a few weeks ago now but here they are, my first ever completed pair of socks!

They are the Bellatrix socks by Monkey Toes and I love them. They are part of a triplet of sock patterns each representing a character from the Harry Potter series. I knit them up using my Socks that Rock yarn that I think resembled candy floss while in it's wrapper and they are definitely sweet on my feet, they keep them nice and toasty!

I originally knit them to be my Charms homework for the HPKCHC in January and I think I could have finished them if I hadn't left the first one to the side for a couple of weeks with just the kitchnering of the toe to complete. The second one knit up really quickly after I had mastered that technique.

Anyways the class project was to make the teacher laugh, and below is the image I had planned in order to do just that, something tells me that Ms. Lestrange would not like her black socks suddenly being pastel coloured!

Next up is the only project I managed to finish for February (I had some technical problems during the month, my village seemed to be denied proper internet access for a while there, but it is a project I am proud of because I had to do actual maths and things, no just following a pattern here oh no!

These are a wrist length version of Ysolda Teague's Farinelli opera gloves.

I had been drooling over these since I saw them on Ysolda's blog and had bought the pattern intending to make the full length one's when I had a reason to. Well I decided to get a little creative and use some of the yellow Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK that I had sitting in my stash to make a smart formal pair of gloves to match my Haven scarf and my lovely pale yellow handbag.

The pattern actually calls for fingering weight yarn so I had to actually knit a gauge swatch for the first time, in like, the whole time I have been knitting, I normally just don't bother, and I had to go down from 2.75mm needles to 2mm needles to accommodate. If I am honest the swatching was quite fun because I got to use my Karatstix knitters rule for the first time since I got it a few weeks ago (to see it click the link under knitters rule, I don't want to make this too photo heavy).

After sorting that out I had to figure out the whole where to start in the pattern, well I started with the final sleeve pattern repeat (rounds 145+) except I made sure that the pattern end came to a point like it does on the top of the hand by reversing the final two rows of the hand pattern before starting the repeat and after adding a very straight forward but attractive edging pattern.

I think they have come out really well and they fit really snugly and look smart with my handbag. They were a pain however because the reason I knit them for the class was because the project was to knit something you hate, and I hate knitting thumbs and fingers on mittens and gloves, I can never seem to get the casting on of extra stitches and picking up new ones right and it drives me nuts. I am however rather pleased with the outcome of this one.

Definitely an 8/10, and I will be knitting the full length ones in future!

My next finished object is my first attempt at making a beret style hat, and I am not happy with it.

I made this Grace Lace Beret out of the Ethical Twist Alpaca and Wool blend that I got from Tricot to try out. The wool is quite nice but I am not sure that I would buy it again, I think if I did I would get the Baby Alpaca option instead as that seemed a little softer and had more of a fluffy texture then a coarse one.

I love the way it looks, the pattern really has shown up well, but the problem is that in order to do that I had to lightly block it, I dampened it with water like I have all my other forays into the art of blocking and it grew in size, the main body of the hat would be fine in the large size but the ribbing has lost all its elasticity. If anyone knows how I can fix this then let me know, if not I will just have to find a large headed friend to gift it to.

The hat was for another HPKCHC class, this one Care of magical creatures for this month, and it is representative of an Acromantula web (giant man eating spider). I am quite chuffed with it as representation of the subject, I just wish I could wear it. Maybe my next one will be more successful.

Now last but not least for this post, the project I am currently working on is the Susie's Reading Mitts pattern.

This picture is actually from Wednesday and I have since completed the above mitt and am over half way on the second one. I am using up the Katia merino DK that I bought to make a hat to accompany my Pink Bella's Scarf as I had gone off the idea of a matching hat and this is a perfect way to bust some of the stash I have (which was the project for the HPKCHC class, banishing some stash) in order to make way for a couple of things that have come in over the past couple of days.

It is a really quick simple knit and I have been wearing my completed one already, It is the perfect length for when I am typing etc and keeps my hands nice and warm. I have bad circulation in my hands and wrists so the extra length on the wrist is also great. I am hoping that the second one will be finished by tomorrow!

Coming up, random things I have been up to and some of the recent additions to my knitting corner!