FO Friday #8: Yet Another Pair Of Socks

Every winter I inevitably turn into a human bear, hibernating until the warm weather arrives. This year it has been even worse than normal due to Melbourne having the coldest winter it's had in 20 years and my impending thesis due date. Although winter sucks and I hate it, hibernating usually makes me feel warm and safe, like hot chocolate and cosy murder mysteries set in yarn stores. This year is a bit different - I just feel kind of fat (from being inside so much) and panicked (mainly due to the thesis). Because of my general crankiness and being so out-of-sorts, I've been neglecting all sorts of thing, like posting my FOs and waxing my legs (as you will soon see).

Today, I decided this state of affairs must stop! Not the waxing (I need the extra warmth) but definitely the tracking of FOs. So, I put on my Big Girl Underpants (which are, incidentally, indistinguishable from my everyday knickers, see previous paragraph about winter weight gain), went outside with my iPhone and took some shots.

This is a pair of socks I started last year for my mum for Christmas.

Clearly she did not get them! They are all ready to be wrapped up for this year, though. Can you believe it's July and I already have one Christmas present finished (*cough* five full pairs of socks to go *cough*)

They were knitted toe up, spiralled with leftovers from my Winter Is Coming socks and a ball of blue Patonyle from my stash. I used about 40g of the coloured yarn and just over 50g of the blue.

They are soft, comfy, and hopefully will be appreciated by their recipient. 

And now, photoshoot done and blog post posted, I am changing into my pyjamas, dressing gown and fluffy slippers. Baby steps...

FO Friday: Endless Rainbow (2015 FO #3)

Guys, I have had a mental week. I've easily worked 65 hours in my quest to meet five deadlines (Five! That's freaking ridiculous). I am completely exhausted and really basically dribbling words from my melty, melting brain. But I couldn't not share with you my latest favouritest FO: my Endless Rainbow Scarf.

It took my a few goes to get my head around the triangles but once I did, they were easy and the scarf travelled with me all over the place.

Boobs! (and belly...I've got to get of my arse and do some more exercise...) 

The yarn is a super special skein of Needlefood merino sock that I've been saving that I finally used as part of the Summer of the Single Skein KAL on Ravelry. I paired it with some beige/neutral Patonyle and they blend really well both with each other and most of my wardrobe.

I'm happy that I've used up a lovely bit of stash on a lovely pattern that resulted in a lovely scarf. Now, even though its 9.50pm on a Friday night, I'm going to go to bed! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

PS: How nice is my beach?

It was much colder than it looked though.

FO Friday: Little Pretty Pinky Bookmark (2012 FO#3)

One of the things I like most about being bi-craftual is having the skills and ability to make something that's suitable for almost any situation. A friend getting married? Knit her a shawl. Someone you love having a baby? How about some itty bitt shoes and mittens, or a warm, soft and cuddly blanket. A birthday for a second-tier friend? Buy them a book (Seriously. Handmade gifts are time consuming, often made from expensive materials and, in addition to the physical created object, are a gift of the time, thought and love of the creator. Don't waste those special things on someone who is not super special to you.)

Need to send an overseas friend an 'I'm thinking of you' birthday gift? A cute pretty pinky bookmark does the trick:

 
The pattern is Crochetroo's eternally popular fan bookmark with some unintended modifications. Because I am too lazy to take the four seconds it takes to google the pattern so I made it largely from memory, I forgot to attach the fans properly so they kind of flap around a bit.  I figure for a bookmark that shouldn't really matter - it'll be squashed by the pages anyway! The yarn is Twilleys of Stanford Twenty (colour way R6) which feels like plastic, so should be perfect for the functionality of this gift.

I'm pretty happy with this effort and (as an extra bonus) there's no extra postage cost for including this with my card. Win win win.