The Craziness of November

November is one of my favorite months, the cooler weather is always nice and there’s such a wistful feeling in the air. And of course there’s lots of things to look forward to this month (Doctor Who 5oth Anniversary!!!). November is also one of the busiest months of the entire year for me, Christmas crafting takes up a lot of my time (but of course, I can’t talk about that just yet! Someone might see what they’re getting a wee bit too early ;)) and for some reason I thought I could probably handle a few other projects as well (’cause really, who needs sleep???) so I have a sweater on my needles and a hat on one of my hooks. And I recently finished a scarf for myself:

If you click on the picture it will take you to the pattern page on Ravelry, the pattern is actually available for free until November 5th. I really love the pattern as it’s entirely customizable and so much fun. I used a lovely yarn from Neurotic Knitterz Etsy shop and played around with needle sizes. Notes from my project page:

Used roughly 1/2 of the nice smooshy yarn.
Started with size 5 needles, changed to size 6 on 2nd repeat of chart C, changed to size 13 on 3rd repeat of chart C.

Did allover lace version and repeated chart C 3 times.

I also finished a Chevron Cowl:

Click on the picture to go to the Ravelry pattern page. I made this with Caron Simply Soft Party in the Fuchsia Sparkle and Spring Sparkle colorways, the buttons are handmade with beads, ribbon, wire, and a little bit of crocheting. Notes from my project page:

Making this a button cowl instead of a slip-on.
Chained 150, worked in pattern to last 11 stitches of set up row. Working those 11 stitches after I finish the rest of the cowl. Plain dc with buttonholes.

I love this pattern! So easy and elegant.

And along with the Christmas gifts, I just started working on some penguin sweaters (as in, sweaters for actual penguins! Not sweaters with cute frolicking penguins stitched onto them) for the Penguin Foundation (remember, sleeping isn’t necessary!)

Speaking of crazy; I decided this year I was finally going to participate in NaNoWriMo…. So I’m going to write a 50,000 word young adult fantasy story in just one month! That’s totally possible!! As long as I have an endless supply of Twizzlers and Diet Coke, and my Pandora radio station keeps playing, sure! Totally doable (I don’t need sleep!!! ha ha ha, I can totally go without sleep for an entire month!! It’s easy, it’s… it’s… :snore:)

Knitter’s Pride Crochet Hooks

I recently won a giveaway over in the Knitter’s Pride group on Ravelry and received a lovely Dreamz 7 (4.5mm) hook, I LOVE this hook! It’s so smooth and easy to use, I just got it a couple of days ago but I just had to find a project to use it for! 🙂 So my current crochet project is another Elise Shawl, I’ve made one before in a bulky wool yarn and this time I thought I’d go with a worsted weight cotton.

Progress Pic:

Pineapples, Baby Things, and Test Crocheting/Knitting

I love test crocheting/knitting!! It’s a fun chance to work with designers and other testers and is great if you’re hoping for a designing career yourself (which I am, and I’ll be writing a lot more about that soon!!). Last autumn I did four secret tests (meaning I couldn’t share pictures until the patterns came out), the patterns were recently published so I thought I’d share:

First off is the Bonnie Baby Hat by Kelly Menzies, it’s available in the February issue of the UK magazine Let’s Knit!

Also from Kelly Menzies is Lux Baby Mittens and Lisbon Baby Booties (both available in the February issue of Let’s Knit!):

I had a lot of fun with the baby things! Especially the booties, they’re so sweet and tiny!! But I also did a shawl test for Maria Segares last September, the
Pineapples for Everyone Shawl is easily my favorite crocheted shawl pattern, the design is lovely and works up quickly (and can be made with any weight of yarn and appropriate hook) so I expect to be making another one soon! The pattern is free and you can find it by clicking on the picture it will take you straight to the pattern on the Crochetvolution site (a site that I highly recommend checking out more of!!):

That’s it for my secret testing! Though I’ve been doing other tests and in fact just finished one the other day, I’ll share those pics some other time though! This is getting a little picture-heavy 🙂

New crocheted FO’s

I have a few projects that I thought I would share, I’m debating on what to start next…. Probably another shawl 🙂 And I have a slip stitch and lace scarf that I’m working up (and I’m still working on my freeform project but that one will take a while!)

First up, I finished the Elise shawl and I love this pattern!!! Highly recommend it 🙂 Especially if you’re not to sure about starting a lace project, I love lace (and thankfully it’s making a comeback in crochet!) but it can be intimidating if you’ve never done it before.

Next is a skinny ruffle scarf that I made up the pattern for (will be making plenty more, it’s a fun and quick project) I used this in a challenge on the Ravelry forum Nerd Wars (Go Team Pineapple!!!!!) This is my second tournament but first time I’ve actually had time to participate so hopefully I’ll a few more projects to turn in.

And lastly, I crocheted a lacy necklace and added a really pretty pendant (I will probably be making more of these as well, I love thread crochet but necklaces, earrings, and bracelets are about all I have the patience to do, no doilies 😦 Which is especially bad since I started crocheting because I fell in love with a pansy doily :-))

Shawls and Italian herb rolls

Not that the two things in the title have much in common other than I’ve been working on both today, but I love to bake and haven’t been doing much lately so I made biscuits and the rolls today and am planning on making some french bread later in the week.

The shawl is the Elise shawl (the link will take you to the ravelry pattern page) which is a free pattern that uses sock weight yarn and an I hook to create a lovely light shawl, but I’m substituting Lion brand homespun because I like working with bulky yarn (and because the completed shawl will be quite a bit warmer than if I were using sock weight) also I had some of the “Harvest” color which is really pretty. I’m just going to work until I use up all my yarn and it may be more of a scarf than a shawl but that would be fine too 🙂