Yopping Update Twelve - A buddy for the bookworm

This post will be short and sweet and to the point.  I just got home from travelling all day, and I am leaving for more travelling tomorrow so I am tired and my cat needs cuddles.  Let's begin:

Here is my Antarktis off the blocking mat.

I am so happy with this sparkly project:

I did get my Yukon Hococo sewn together - oh my there were soooo many ends to sew in once he was all put together.

But I did it!

I made my sister promise to talk me out of any more little knitted animals - but then she gave me this book.  (She is not to be trusted!)

So maybe - after the Iona is done...... 

I resisted casting on anything new after Hococo was done and I went on to complete six more squares of the Iona.  I have entered a WIP down to finish her by the end of October.   Ack!  I think I can do it. It takes me about one evening per square - and I only have fourteen more to go! (Well, then there is the putting it all together part, too).

I really want to finish her because I am certain I will have quite a lot of left over wool from it and I can't wait to knit other things with the beautiful colours of this very smooshy bluefaced leicester  wool.  I am sure I have mentioned before that bfl wool is my absolute favourite.

This bfl has been dyed by Kinfolk Yarns - her colours are so fantastic - she is a true artist with those dye pots.

If you are a spinner/weaver/knitter/crocheter do you have a favourite wool and/or yarn company?

So that is my week - I was away for the weekend and just got home so I am quickly getting this post done before bed.

We are off for a camping trip tomorrow - but the Iona is perfect camping knitting.  Small and portable.

And yes, there is still no picture of the test knit - but a little birdie told me that probably next week. 

Stay tuned.  I can't wait to share her with you. 

To follow other yopper bloggers go here. Their posts are always an inspiring and entertaining read. 

Yopping Eleven - Finished Objects

First of all the secret test knit is still under wraps but it is done and I can't wait to show it to you.

(Get the pun - under wraps?  Cause it is a shawl....oh never mind.)

But, not yet!

After the big finish I went back to poor Mr. Bookworm, who, if you remember, I had left all in  pieces!

So I started:

This first pic is somewhat x-rated and rude comments abounded in my house.

This sat on the coffee table for a day or so and my husband plaintively asked WHAT was I knitting.

Things improved with a few accessories.

And by the time he had on all his clothes (and his arms) he was almost done!

The pince-nez spectacles were the final touch!

See the cute detail of words on the pages of his book?

Also I checked on Ravelry and I think I am the first and only person to have made this pattern.  

So once he was all put together I returned to my Antarktis shawl which I finished with zero yarn left over.  I had to fudge the bind off of the last fifteen or so stitches, but it looks fine.

Here she is on the blocking mat before blocking. The headache I have had off and on all week really took a turn for the worse on Saturday so no blocking happened.

So now that was done I started to knit all the rest of the pieces for Hococo the Lemur.

Once knitted I couldn't bear the thought of starting to put it together (my least favourite task) so I knit another twenty rows on my sixteenth Iona square that has been ignored for far too long.

I swear once this lemur is sewn together and stuffed I will:

a) not knit any fiddly toys that required sewing together for quite some while, and

b) get back to my Iona blanket before I (God help me) cast on these really cute socks in the Simply Knitting magazine that Mr. Bookworm came from. Oh, and there is a really cute sweater in there too!

So there is my week.  Three finished objects, and plans for new cast-ons.  (Don't tell my Iona.)

I will leave you all with a link to The Knitting Song  which I discovered this week.


And the link to follow other Yoppers who are as crazy as me - some even crazier as this is their seventh year of yopping along.