Crystal Star

Wow, where is the time go? I can't believe November is almost over, already. I did plan to post earlier but I never seem to have the time. I am still working in the department I transferred to at work. Generally all my shifts start around 5 am. I've gotten used to for the most part, but I'm still having some time management issues. Hopefully I will get them worked out soon. Anyway, I've been working on a number of projects, I'm just not sure I'm going to get around to posting everything.

I was working on The Monsterpiece Doily, but I keep putting it aside to work on other stuff. When I saw Frivole's Crystal Star, I knew I had to tat it.

I think it turned out pretty well. I used some DMC Cordonnet size 20 thread with Swarovski 4mm bicone crystal beads. I like the star in white, but I think it would look even better in a yellow thread with yellow crystals. I may have to try that sometime. I'll definitely be tatting this pattern again soon. I am currently working on another one of Frivole's designs, so I might be able to post that in a few days.

I've been doing a lot of crocheting lately. Mostly things that will probably be used for gifts this Christmas. I still have a few more to make. I'll try to take some photos of the finished items, but no promises. I still have a pair of socks to finish knitting. I have picked them up and knitted a few rounds just to prove to myself that I still remember what I am doing. I have also done some chainmaille as well, a few surprise sales. If anyone is interested, I am planning a Black Friday Weekend sale, starting tonight at midnight and going until midnight Tuesday morning. I have been thinking about closing my shop in the new year. I haven't decided yet, but I feel like I spend more on Etsy fees than I earn from sales. We'll see.

That's about it for now. I'll try to post again soon-I really mean that. I think I should be able to spend some time this evening tatting, so I should finish my current small project and perhaps start another one. Till next time.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been working on stuff, but I just haven't gotten around to posting. I'll try to get a regular post written up sometime this week. Until then, you can see my Hallowe'en costume that I wore to work today.

Happy Hallowe'en!!!

The Monsterpiece Doily, Round 12: Complete. Finally!

Well, I did it. I finally finished round 12 of the Monsterpiece Doily. It took a lot of perseverance on my behalf to get through it. I'm really glad I'm finished with this round. I'm so tired of cream coloured thread. I'm glad I get to use a different colour for a while. I haven't done much else besides tatting since my last post. I've done some crochet, but nothing I can share right now. Hopefully soon though. I'm not going to bore you with a really long post, though hopefully I'll make progress on the next round much quicker and can post more often again.

Not much to say here. Here is the doily as of Friday afternoon:

I looked back through my blog and realized it has taken me about four months to finish this round. That did include a short hiatus, but that is a long time. I'm also pretty sure I will be coming up to the one year mark soon too. That is, of course, when I first started this monster of a doily. While I'm by no means in the homestretch yet, I think I can see the end on the horizon. I have started the next round, but that was mainly to test my written notes. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a055. Oh, and the doily is 20 inches in diameter. I remembered to measure it.


That's about it for now. I recently transferred to a new department at work which has partly affected my crafting times. I now have a few shifts per week that start as early as 5 am. That takes some time to get used to. I have a day off tomorrow, so I'll probably go downtown and catch Pokemon by the river. Yeah, I joined that bandwagon too! I'll try and get some tatting in as well. Till next time.

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The Monsterpiece Doily, Round 12 & Some Crochet

Man, this round is taking forever. I feel like I should be done tatting it, but I'm only about half way around. I have, however, taken a few breaks from tatting, so that is probably a big part of why I'm not done with this round. I went on a camping trip last weekend with my dad, his girlfriend and my brother so I didn't get any tatting done then. The doily isn't exactly a portable item anymore, and I didn't want to risk it getting damaged, dirty or smokey smelling. I took the socks I've been slowly working on and some crochet projects. I ended up working on the crochet projects. As it happens, I continued working on crochet projects for most of this past week. I also discovered a new crochet technique which I'll hopefully get to.

Not really much to say about the Monsterpiece Doily.

As you can see, I am almost halfway around the doily. As I said, it's taking forever to complete. On the plus side, I have the pattern memorized for the most part so I don't have to constantly look at my written notes now. Since I'm waiting for a book arrive, I hope to continue working on the doily. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a055.

On the crochet front, I managed to finish or almost finish several projects. The first is a cycling cap. It looked kinda cool, but I don't know if I will actually wear it though.

This isn't quite finished. I need to stop at a fabric store to get some interfacing to stiffen the brim. If/when I get to that point, I'll share a photo of it being worn. I used some Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash yarn in Camel Heather. The pattern is on Ravelry/loveknitting.com by Emma of Steel and Stitch.

The next item are crocheted Beer Cozies.

I don't know if it was me or what, but pattern didn't quite work for me. The cozy on the left is made as the pattern is written, using two strands of worsted weight cotton yarn and a 4 mm hook. It is way too big. I may wrong, but I don't think the size of beer/pop cans differs significantly between the US and Canada. The can I used is 355 ml which is equal to 12 ounces, which I think is a standard can size. The cozy on the right is made following the pattern with an extra row using one strand of cotton yarn and a 3.5 mm hook. It fits the cans perfectly, though it is not as thick as the other one. I'll probably have another go at this pattern later, as I do like it and it would make great guy friendly gifts. I used Bernat Cot'n Corn yarn for the cozy on the left and Bernat Handicrafter yarn for the blue one. The pattern is by Pan and can be found on Crafty here.

The last crochet item is more of a sneak peek of more to come.

Yes, they are coasters, but its how they are made that is special. They were made using the technique of "Hard Crochet". That is, using specific yarns and a very specific hook size (2.75 mm) to create a crocheted fabric that is stiff and can hold its shape without the used of stiffeners. The coaster on the left isn't quite right, as my gauge was out, and the coaster isn't as stiff as it should be. The one on the right is in the right gauge range. Both coasters were made using Red Heart Super Saver yarn. The technique comes from the book Hard Crochet by Mark Dittrick. You can see the book on Amazon here. I came across the book accidentally-I think Amazon actually suggested it to me. I'll go into more detail another time, but if you are curious and want to learn more, Sandy Marie of Mom's Crochet has been working on modernizing the technique. You can find her hard crochet tutorial here. She has several patterns available using the technique, including the coasters above, and you will see another one of her designs once I get the yarn. I also have many ideas for this technique too and will of course try some of the patterns from the book when it arrives. Stay tuned.

That's it for now. I'll try and post a few photos from my camping trip in my next post. I got a pretty bad sunburn which I'm still nursing. Till next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily, Round 12 & The Desert Tee

Sorry for the delay in posting, again. Life keeps getting in the way lately. I managed to finish the Egyptian Desert Tee Back before last weekend, and got a good start on round 12 of The Monsterpiece Doily. I got hardly anything done last weekend as I had said would happen. I volunteered at my city's Pride Parade and Community Fair for part of Friday and all day Saturday. Sunday was spent resting. I had an awesome time. I met lots of new people, and I think the experience helped with my anxiety a bit. The whole experience has got me wanting to get out and do more. I spent most of yesterday and today cleaning and de-cluttering, as I seem to have acquired a lot of stuff I don't need anymore that is taking up too much valuable room.

I got a good start on round 12 of the Monsterpiece Doily. It's definitely going much slower now. But that makes sense, so I'll just have to go along with it.

Those scallops really increase the length of the row, don't they? As you can see, I'm 1/5 the way around the doily. It's not too difficult a row to tat, but the stitch counts do take a bit of time to memorize. I can see why Jane E. adjusted the stitch counts and eliminated a lot of extra picots. I find myself referring to my written version many times, just to be safe. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a055.

I ended up not stopping knitting when I reached to point to shape the armholes, as I had initially planned. Before I knew it, I had finished it.

In case anyone is wondering, this isn't blocked yet. It will be much wider when it is blocked. The particular pattern I am using, Mistake Stitch, is a rib pattern and is stretchy and form fitting. And the pink yarn seen at the shoulders are just waste yarn stitch holders. I get to do a three-needle bind off to join the front and back together. I haven't started the front yet. I'm going to work on the Monsterpiece Doily for awhile. The yarn is Knit Picks Lindy Chain in the colour "Linen".

That's about it for now. If all goes well, I'm going to keep working on the doily until I finish round 12. Till next time. 

Just Checking In

I haven't disappeared. I just haven't done much since my last post. As I had said, I kept knitting after my last post. After I got back from my weekend away, I did start the next round of the Monsterpiece Doily. I didn't get very far. I made pretty good progress on my knitted t-shirt and I decided I should keep working on that at least until I get to the point I have to start shaping the armholes. I'm about two inches or so from that point. I would probably be finished if I didn't develop a head cold early last week. Between the cold and some stupid shifts at work, I didn't really feel like working on much of anything. I did work on some chainmaille for myself and a little bit of knitting but that was about it.

Hopefully I'll get the knitting completed to a convenient point where I can stop. Then I hope to continue working on the Monsterpiece Doily. I don't know how much I'll get done next week, as there is a lot happening. I'm also doing some volunteer work next Friday/Saturday so I know I won't get anything done then. Till next time.

Tatting Hiatus 2016: What I Have Been Up To, Part 2 Crochet

As promised, here is part two of my post about what I have been up to while not working on the Monsterpiece Doily. This is about the crocheted projects I have been working on. For the record, these were done a few weeks ago when I started my short break from tatting. I've been working on knitting projects this week, and will hopefully continue to do so until the end of the weekend.

The first couple of crocheted projects are, of course slippers. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I go through a lot of slippers as I don't really care for socks, and I'm not a fan of bare foot.

I'm trying to move out of my colour comfort zone with these. The top pair, the ones I'm currently wearing, are made using Lion Brand Fun Fur in the "Tropical" colourway. I don't need to say that I used Lion Brand "Red" Fun Fur for the second pair. Both used Patons Classic Wool in red. If you're new to my blog, these slippers are made using two strands of wool yarn and one strand of fur or eyelash yarn together. The finished slippers are felted or fulled in the washing machine to shrink them and make them all warm and comfy. I love making these!

These next two projects are part of my Mom's Mother's Day present. I will be giving them to her this weekend. Mother's Day was last Sunday here in North America.

The first project is a crocheted cactus and succulent garden. It utilized patterns from June Gilbank from her shop PlanetJune.  She has two collections of four different cacti each and two more collections of four succulents each. If you buy all four, you can mix and match between 16 plants. She also a large and small pot pattern in each collection to make your own customized garden. This was pretty easy to follow and lots of fun to make. I won't link to the collections directly in case the links stop working but they are in the Flowers and Plants part of the crochet pattern section. The link to June's shop is above.

The second project is a crocheted Primrose, another one of June's patterns. For some reason the colours are not quite right in the photos. The primrose flowers are a dusty rose. This was also pretty easy to crochet. If you haven't seen June's patterns before, she make mostly amigurumi style animals and plants/flowers. I love her designs and have purchased a number of them. Most are stuck in my to be crocheted list for one reason or another. Most, I think, need eyes purchased in order to make them and I just haven't done it yet. Hopefully I will get them crocheted.

That's about it for now. Since I posted twice in less than a week, I probably won't post again for a week or two. Unless something important happens or I get a lot done. Anyway, till next time.

Tatting Hiatus 2016: What I've Been Working On, Part 1 Knitting

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to take a short break from tatting, specifically tatting on the Monsterpiece Doily. I guess I might still do some tatting, but I have many other non-tatting projects I want to work on first. I've been working on both knitting and crochet projects since I last posted. Instead of making one long post, I will post it in two parts. This first one will just be about the two knitting projects that I have been alternating between and that I will probably keep working on for the next week. I'll try to post the second part, the crochet projects later in the week as I will be away over the weekend.

The first project is probably going to take me awhile to complete.

It's a t-shirt style garment. It's called the Egyptian Desert Tee from the magazine Knitting Traditions Spring 2015. I'm using Knit Picks Lindy Chain yarn in the colour Linen to knit it. Lindy Chain is a linen/cotton blend yarn. I chose it because the recommended yarn, Louet Euroflax, would have cost me close to $200 to buy the required amount. I really can't afford that, considering I would still have to knit it after receiving the yarn. The Euroflax yarn is a 100% linen yarn which would be nice to use if it wasn't so expensive. Lindy Chain is 70% Linen and much more affordable. I think I paid about $50 for it. It isn't an exact match though. It is a little finer so I will have to try to factor that in as I'm knitting. I'm using the recommend needles, and it seems to be working. It might be a bit on the open or lacey side, but it still looks very much like the photo in the magazine. You can see a closeup of the fabric in the middle photo. The model in magazine is wearing the tee over top of another shirt, so I don't think the laceyness will be a problem if I did the same thing. If anyone is curious, the tee is made using the Mistake Stitch Rib pattern which looks really cool and easy. I'm going to be working on this for a while, so don't expect to see any update on this any time soon.

The next knitting project is going a little faster. Though, not that fast since I'm using sock yarn.

I started another pair of socks. This time using actual sock yarn and really fine needles.Well they are US 1 (2.5mm) needles, but that is still pretty small. I'm using Patons Kroy Socks yarn in "Route 66". I'm really loving how these are turning out. They look so complicated, but it's not me it's the yarn. I guess this is a self-striping yarn, but it looks like I'm changing colours like a boss, and maybe even throwing in some Fair Isle colour work for good measure. You may have also notice my new knitting needles I am using in both this and the Egyptian Desert Tee above. They are Knit Picks new Majestic interchangeable and fixed circular needles. They're a gorgeous mix of dark purple, blue and green laminated wood with black cables. I've been avoiding wooden interchangeable needles, but I really like these. I bought a few tips, cables, and the fixed circulars for socks. I really needed them! I also bought a case to hold all my interchangeable needles and most of my required odds and ends. I'll have to share a few photos later as I need to retake one of them.

That's about it for now. Like I said above, I plan on working on these two projects for the next week or so. I'll have to write out the next row of the Monsterpiece doily. I will hopefully start working on it again next week. Till then, I'm enjoying my break! Till next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily: Round 11 Complete!

Well, I finally finished the last scallop of round 11 this morning. I am very happy to have it finished, as I really didn't care for these last two rounds. Between the two rounds, there were over 40 ends that had to be dealt with. Since I used Magic Threads for most of them it sounds worse than it is. I have one end that needs to be sewn in. The Magic Thread broke when I tried pulling it. I'm going to say that it was probably my fault, as I forgot to replace it. I usually replace the MTs every 2-3 uses since I find they weaken from use pretty quickly. Anyway, here is the doily:

Hopefully its obvious, I used my regular camera to take the picture. My iPhone just wasn't doing the doily justice; it's too big now. The doily, not my phone. For anyone who's curious, the doily measures approximately 18 inches (45.72 cm) in diameter, tip of scallop to tip of scallop. I know I keep saying it, but I think I really should block it before continuing on. I am looking forward to the next round, but I think I will take a week or two break from it. I still have several knitting and crocheting projects I'd like to finish. Thread stats: Manuela size 20 in colour #a022.

That's it for now. My next post probably will not have any tatting in it, but I think that's OK. I'm sure you guys might want a change too. Till next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily: Round 11, Half Done!

This round is taking a lot longer than I thought it would. Granted, I haven't been working on it exclusively. I have been working on my mom's Mother's Day gift. I've also been playing with some yarn/thread that a coworker gave me. I made several granny squares to see how many I could make per ball. Probably more on that at a later time.

Not really much to say about this round.

I am tired of tatting these short rows. You getting going, then you have to stop. I love Jan's designs but I wish he had some how had all the scallops connected so you didn't have to stop and start all the time. Oh well. I'll just power through them as they are. I'm almost done the sixth scallop. Hopefully I'll have it done tonight. Thread stats: Manuela size 20 in colour #a022.

That's it for now. Hopefully I can get these finished soon. I will keep working on my other projects so I can keep my sanity. Till next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily: Round 10 Complete!

I finished round 10 of The Monsterpiece Doily yesterday, as expected. I had no issues with this round. I want to thank everyone who commented and provided suggestions for tatting this round. I didn't really follow most of them. Sorry. I didn't have issues with which picots to join to, so I didn't mark which ones to join to. Bernice mentioned that she did rounds 10 and 11 together and used split rings to do it. I wasn't quite sure how that would work so I waited until the last scallop of round 10 to try it. With great care, and reorganizing the pattern on the fly in my head to make regular rings into split rings, I did it. It works, but I don't know if I love the result. I can tell that a split ring was used in round 10, and I'm not happy about that. I like split rings to look like a regular rings. With careful blocking and shaping, it might look OK. You be the judge.

It's getting harder to photograph the beast. My new background will be too small after round 11. I have to be further away from it each time to get it all in frame. I am looking forward to getting round 11 finished. I don't want to sound impatient though. Might be a sign that I should work on another project for a while. Thread stats: Manuela size 20 in colour #a022.

That's it for now. I'll probably keep working on the doily for a while yet. I started another pair of socks a few weeks ago, using actual sock yarn. I could work on that for a while. I also ordered some fur yarn online earlier in March. And I bought more wool yarn last Friday, so I could crochet some more slippers for myself as well. I shouldn't find it difficult to distract myself from the Monsterpiece Doily for a while if needed. Till next time.

PS: I love your comments, even if I don't always follow the suggestions. Keep'em coming!

The Monsterpiece Doily: Round 9, Complete!

I finished tatting round 9 of the Monsterpiece Doily Saturday, but I guess I got sidetracked yesterday and forgot to blog about it. I was understandably a little nervous as I neared the end of the round. I kinda feared it would not work out again. However, I finished it with no problems.

It looks like nothing happened. It's a little wavy but I think that's less of a problem than cupping and I'm sure it'll flatten out more rounds are added. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a055.

I have started tatting round 10. This round begins the scallops, so it's not a full round. Just 10 small half circle shapes. They're each pretty quick to tat, but because each is tatted separate from the others, I have to hide ends on each one as I go. I currently have three done. Hopefully I can get the remaining seven finished by next weekend. That's it for now. Till next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily: Repair Update

As expected, I finished the repair of round 8. No issues except for a few more ends that need to be sewn in.

I think it looks awesome! Minus the few extra ends that need to be dealt with. Granted, I thought it looked awesome before I found the mistake. But it doesn't cup anymore, which is great. I decided that I should sew in a few of the ends that need it before getting round 9 back on track. I hope to finish that tonight and then I can get threads reattached to round 9.

That's it for now. With any luck, I'll have round 9 finished, again, by next weekend. I'll be sure to post again then. And, thanks for everyone who has commented over the past several days. Your encouragement and help has been greatly appreciated. Til next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily: And So It Begins

After a few days of calming down and reflecting, the scissors came out. I spent some time Friday morning carefully cutting and undoing some of my tatting. The squeamish should probably look away. It isn't pretty.

It actually looks worse than it is. As you can see, I only cut out what was necessary. I saw absolutely no reason to have cut off all 3-4 affected rows. Once that was done, I began the repairs. Round 6 was easy to do, and was done before I had to go to work in the afternoon.

I don't know if it is obvious in the photo but the now correct section makes an immediate difference in the doily. It may be a bit premature, but I might not need to worry about blocking it after round 9 is done after all. I finished fixing round 7 today after work, though most of it was tatted Friday evening.

No major issues with this round. I think the only problem with this repair work is that I will have several extra threads that will need to be sewn in. I have managed to hide most of them but not all could be hidden with magic threads/tatting over.

Since I'm about halfway done the repair of round 8, I will try to post a quick update tomorrow. I should have it done by then. Then I just have to retat the part of round 9 I cut off. After that, I'll decide if I will take a break before starting round 10. Since blocking may not be needed more, and, despite this setback, I'm still enjoying the tatting right now, I don't feel the need for a break. Till next time.

Houston, We Have a Problem....

I'm kinda pissed off that I have to write a post about this. Well, I don't have to, but I guess I should share that I am human that makes mistakes and not a machine. I really hoped I would be able to write a post today showing off the finished round 9 of the Monsterpiece Doily. Instead, I get to share with you all how I made a major mistake that I just noticed last night. On the plus side, I think I figured out why the doily is cupping a bit.

I was nearing the end of round 9. It was going really good. Because not all chains had picots on them, I thought it would be harder for me to keep track when I had to make a picot and when I didn't. I was a little nervous that when I got to the end something wouldn't work out. Well, something didn't work out.

I'm sure those of you who have tatted this pattern before can tell, the last repeat is too short. I checked the row for errors. Then double checked and triple checked and I couldn't find any problem. I checked the diagram and then checked the row again. Nothing. I decided to check the previous rounds. It didn't make sense to me, but what the heck, right? Guess what I found?

That's right! A mistake! Each motif on round 5 is supposed to be joined to two picots and on one motif I only joined once. Round 6 is missing three chains and rings because of this error. What both fascinates and infuriates me is that despite this error, rounds 7 and 8 still worked!!! If I had ran into problems with round 7, I could have fixed the error earlier. As it happens, each repeat on round 7 needs, you guessed it, 3 rings from round 6. I just want to scream. Still.

That brings me to what I'm going to do now. Well, I think I have that figured out already. Right after I found the error, err, right after I finished swearing, my mind went into overdrive thinking about what I should do next. I think the best solution I could come up with will involve carefully cut a section of the doily though the three affected rounds. I will have to cut off about half of round 9 since new section will screw up all the picots after the inevitable repair. After the cuts, I will have to hide and reattach thread and, one row at a time, retat the missing sections. Hopefully I make some sense here, I'm not in a right state of mind right now.

If anyone has any suggestions and/or concerns about my plans, please leave a comment. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work. I don't think the repair will cause any problems with the rest of the doily. I don't think it would be necessary to cut of the whole rows. And just to be clear, I have NOT cut anything yet. As tempting as it was to start cutting last night, I really didn't think it would have been a good idea. I still don't think I should cut anything yet. I'm going to wait at least a couple days until I'm in a better mindset. I'm going to distract myself with some knitting for now. Although, I should probably think about powering down and getting ready to recharge for the night. Um, getting ready to go to bed! Till next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily: Round 8, Complete!

I finished round 8 of the Monsterpiece Doily today. I would have finished it yesterday but I got called into work Saturday night, so didn't get a chance to work on it then.

Nothing really to say about this round. I tatted it with no major problems. I almost ran out of thread on the shuttles near the end, and had to finger tat the last couple rings and chains. I really enjoyed tatting these last two round. I'm kinda sad to be done tatting them. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a044.

I've written up and began tatting round 9. I might keep tatting just to get the round finished. As those of you familiar with the pattern know, round 10 is where the scallops begin. That might be a better place to stop and take a short break. I have also decided that I will definitely steam/block the doily before moving on to round 10. If I wait much longer, it's going to be bigger than my blocking tiles, and I'll have to get more, delaying the blocking. Till next time.

The Monsterpiece Doily, Round 7: Complete!

I finished round 7 of the Monsterpiece Doily last Saturday. I snapped a quick photo and began round 8. These two rounds proved quite easy to do, and they are interesting enough to keep me tatting. I won't bore you with too much text; not much to say otherwise.

Nothing really to add about this round. Finished it with no major issues.

I agree with a comment Carollyn left on my last post. The doily looks great as it is and I agree it would be a good place to stop for anyone who doesn't want to make the whole doily. I won't stop though; it's starting to get interesting. I'm sure other people probably figured it out before I did, I'm looking at you Jane E., but one could go from round 7 to round 8 by starting with one of the chains that connect to round 6 instead of the small ring and make two split rings to jump to round 8. I noticed it when I only had a couple of repeats to go before I had to join the last ring to the first. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a044.

As you can see I've completed about half of round 8 already. Despite being almost a mirror of round 7, I think this round so far is easier to tat. Probably because there is only a slight difference in stitch count for most elements and it's pretty obvious where round 8 joins to round 7. Thread stats: same as above.

That's about it for now. With any luck, I may have this round completed by next weekend. I think at that point I may take a short tatting break. I want to knit another pair of socks.

The Monsterpiece Doily, Round 7: Two Thirds Done

I didn't mean to go so long between blog posts. I guess I've just been busy and blogging was put on the back burner. I was also sick for a few weeks, and I really didn't feel like posting. I have managed to get a fair amount of tatting done though. I also worked on a few other non-tatting projects, including a knitted scarf, a crocheted hat and bow tie, and I started a knitted blanket. The blanket will probably be my alternate project for when I'm tired of tatting. I do have to do a bit of finishing on the crocheted hat and bow tie before I can show you a photo. I didn't get a photo of the scarf yet, but I'll try and get one for my next post. I really like how it turned out, but I haven't really needed it yet as it's been a pretty warm winter. There were actually a few days near the end of January when I didn't need a jacket to go out.

I've tatted a large portion of round 7 of the Monsterpiece Doily. I haven't had any issues tatting this round, so far.

I definitely need to block it soon. That will probably happen after the next round. As you can see, I've changed backgrounds for photographing. The one should work for the next couple of rounds. Not really much else to say about the doily. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a044.

That's about it for now. I didn't plan on posting on Valentine's Day, as I'm not a fan. It just happened to work out that way. Till next time. 

The Monsterpiece Doily, Round 6: Complete!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I didn't mean to go quite this long without a post. I finished the socks I was knitting and felt the desire, probably more of a need to get back to the Monsterpiece Doily. I wanted to finish the round before I posted again. I didn't want another knitting only post. I realized after I started working on the doily again, that while round 6 was easy, it was very boring. I think that's why something else caught my eye, and fingers.

I'm happy I finished this round, finally. Here is the doily as of early this afternoon:

I haven't blocked it yet, though I think it could actually use it. Or at least a quick shot of steam. I might do one or the other later in the week. I started the next round already, as I wrote out the round last night after I finished tatting round 6. For anyone curious, the blocking tile the doily is on is 12 inches (30 cm) wide so the doily is about 11 inched (27ish cm) in diameter. Not much else to say right now. Thread stats: Manuela no. 20 colour #a055.

Finally, here is the latest pair of socks off my needles.

I think these are probably my best pair of socks yet. The colour is pretty close compared to the previous photo. However, the size is a bit off. I guess my original thoughts were wrong about the size for these. I probably should have cast on a couple extra stitches per side to make the circumference a little bigger. I want to thank those of you who commented on my last post and left sock knitting advice. It is very helpful, and I'm sure I'll get better as I go. I didn't specify last time, but it's not the length that's the problem. All of the socks I have made (for me) are knitted to the correct length for my foot. The pattern I'm using has us knit the toe first, then you knit until the sock is 1.25 inches less than your foot measurement then you work the heel. The heel is knit exactly like the toe. On this pair, the top of the cuff is a little tight and a bit hard to get over my heel. I'll keep knitting socks though. Practice makes perfect! All the socks I have knit are still wearable, so it's all good. The yarn is Patons DK Wool in Welsh Coast

That's about it for now. I do plan to continue working on the Monsterpiece Doily since it's interesting for me again. I do plan on getting back to knitting socks as well. My next pair is going to use actual sock yarn! Till next time.