Knitting the Last Piece of the Sweater, Kerchief, and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It has been so humid and hot the past few days that it has been a struggle. My boyfriend and I are in an apartment with no air conditioning and we are finding the humidity difficult to deal with. We have a plug in air conditioner/fan that has a dehumidifier but we didn't have the cord for it to drain the water so we got one last night and we were amazed how much water it collected.

Reading:
 I also had a wonderful weekend spent with my family, and my boyfriend and visiting his family.  I went to visit my boyfriend's mom for her birthday a couple of days ago, and I had a chance to read more of My Not-So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella while waiting for the subway and later on that night and yesterday. So far it is very good, and I can tell it will be a fast read for me. I love books that I feel like I can relate to the main character and she is trying to figure out her career and life so I can understand that. I am glad that I am enjoying it so far because as I mentioned in another post, she was one of my favorite authors when I was a teen so I wanted to check out this new book of hers. I have been reading Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy and that is such a fun read too. I will be finishing these up this week I am sure. Then I will read Into the Water by Paula Hawkins who did an excellent job in her book Girl on the Train, so I have high expectations for her latest book which I am hoping is just as good if not better.

Kerchief and sweater sleeve

Knitting
In knitting, I have been knitting up the second sleeve again. I had gotten stuck for a bit at increasing on the purl side without making a hole in the knitting, and looked at some YouTube videos on how to best do that. Now I am working on it again because I figured it out.  I am looking forward to being done this sleeve because then I will be finished all the knitting for my 3timesChic sweater, my very first sweater. I will be so excited to finally wear it this Winter.
I have been knitting the Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief as well, I had to frog some of it, which is why it is not that much longer since the last post. I frogged it back because I noticed the middle was not lining up right with the first sections and I realized it was because one of my stitch markers had fallen off and I put it in wrong on the opposite side one stitch over so all the work was shifted over after I did that but only realized it after about 5 rows. Oh well, it was annoying at first when I realized I had to frog all my work, but once I accepted that I have to frog it, and picked up all the stitches again it wasn't so bad. I am enjoying knitting it anyways, so it gives me more time to work on it.

I am joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and The Little Room of Rachell for Yarning Along. If you would like to share what you are working on this week you can link up too!

Thank you for visiting my blog! If you would like to keep updated on when I post new blog entries, please follow me on Bloglovin' and Google Followers!

Hope you have a great day!

Knitting, Reading, and Summer Knitting Plans

Hello Friends,


I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with school work and did a quiz for Accounting yesterday, it was a little harder than the one before but I got a pretty good mark I am happy with. It has been beautiful here recently, I still don't really feel prepared for Summer, but it is here so I better catch up! Today I am wearing shorts so that is a good first step! Summer comes and goes quickly here in Canada, so we have to start enjoying it right away.

I have been knitting the Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief and am onto the stockinette, 21 row repeat after knitting the second eyelet stitch row. I like how it looks now with more length and width and the two eyelet rows. I am still debating whether or not I will add some extra sections on to make it longer, but I will be able to decide one I am finished the last two sections. I have a lot of yarn left, I have the skein shown in the photo below and I have another one. We shall see.

I have not been knitting the sleeve very much for the sweater, but I will be working on it this week and I will share some photos of the sleeve in next week's entries.

My Summer plan for knitting is to finish knitting the 3timesChic sweater pieces, and sew all the pieces together. I also would like to knit a couple pairs of socks, I think I will find a pattern that adds more of a challenge from the basic socks which I know now after knitting six pairs. Socks are great to knit up in the summer, they are a small project and can fit nicely into the bag you pack for a trip or a bag packed for the beach. Does anyone have suggestions for a good sock pattern to try after knitting basic socks? for now I will browse Ravelry for some ideas.

I am still reading Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding. I like how this book takes place after the latest movie that came out and in the book her son Billy, is a child. It is interesting to see how her life plays out after she and Mr.Darcy got married. I will also be starting to read My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella this week, since I had put it on hold at the Library online and it has recently automatically borrowed it and I have it in my loans section. I will read that as well so it doesn't go away before I have a chance to start it. I love Sophie Kinsella's books, I started reading them when I was a teenager and loved her writing style and stories. I will let you know how I like it next week!

I received a peace lily from my boyfriend's parents back in March and it is doing so well! there are four flowers growing on the plant now. I love how it does so well when not in direct sunlight because it is too big to be in the windowsill so I like its spot on the side table. My other plants are doing well too, my Rhoeo plant decided to tip over to its side, which initially I thought it was tilting towards the sun but it stayed on its side even facing away from the sun. I want to encourage it to stand up straight again. I will have to research how to do that or if any of you ladies with green thumbs know how to do that, let me know!

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On, and The Little Room of Rachell for Yarning Along. 

Thank you for visiting my blog! if you would like to keep updated on my latest posts, you can follow me on Bloglovin' and through Google Followers!

What are you working on and reading this week?

Have a great day!

Kercief and Sleeve Knitting and a Little Reading

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It is a gloomy day here in Toronto today, it is so dark as I type! It feels later in the day than almost five. I have been busy today working on an Accounting assignment and also going to be submitting an assignment for Project Management as well. It is a lot of work sometimes all at once and I am all over the place thinking about my courses and thinking of posting to my blog.

I am reading Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy by Helen Fielding, and it is so funny I am really enjoying it so far! I am also working on finishing the Nest at the same time, plots with the characters are moving along quicker now so it is more interesting to me.

I have been really enjoying knitting the Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, it is so much fun. I think I will be hooked on knitting shawls after this for sure.  I am knitting the kerchief quicker now as I am getting more familiar to the repetitive pattern ,and it is such a relaxing knit while I am watching shows or podcasts. I love knits like this that I can learn the pattern eventually and just grab the project to go watch something without worrying about looking at the pattern all of the time. 

Bridget Jones book with the Kerchief

The kerchief so far 

I like how the kerchief is looking with using the Loops & Threads Chameleon yarn, I love the gradient effect going on with the change from brown at the beginning to gray, then it will be switching back to brown soon. This makes the kerchief way more interesting to knit and I love how it is looking with the two colors.

Close up of the details in the kerchief, the eyelet stitches are going horizontally across the piece, I love this detail

I am still working on knitting the second sleeve for my 3timesChic sweater, I got caught on increasing on the purl side and making a hole in my yarn and haven't picked it up since. I will give it another go because I did not really have an issue with this on the first sleeve. 

Beginngs of the second sleeve 

I am joining in with Frontier Dreams for her Crafting On link up, and with Rachell at Little Room of Rachell for her Yarning Along link up!  If you would like to post what you are working on this week please join in!

 Thank you so much for visiting my blog! if you would like to keep updated on my posts, you can follow me on Bloglovin' or Google Followers.

Have a great day!

Knitting The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I revealed on Tuesday that I was going to be knitting the "Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief" by Orange Flower Yarn. I found this pattern on Ravelry and I loved the look of it when browsing finished projects and how it looks on people who have knitted the kerchief. I started knitting it yesterday and I really love knitting it! I began knitting it on regular straight US 8 (5 mm) needles because I did not have large enough circular needles yesterday, but I could not wait to get going on the project. I went out today and bought a long circular needle from Michaels, so the work will fit more comfortably on the cord. I bought a cord that is 36 inches long so it would accommodate the kerchief if I decide to make it larger. Also for future shawl projects, it would be good to have a longer circular needle. I am enjoying learning how to knit this project as I go. I looked up how to knit the garter tab, that was all new to me and found a great video on YouTube to explain how to knit it. I liked how it was getting more repetitive the more rows I knit in the stockinette pattern which is a two row repeat and I feel more comfortable with what to expect next.

Beginnings of the Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief

The next row is the beginning of the garter/eyelet section. The piece is still small, measuring at 7 inches wide and 2.5 inches high down the middle. I am using a larger yarn than required in the pattern, it is the Loops & Threads Chameleon yarn which is Aran Weight. I knitted a swatch to check the gauge and it was very close to the gauge measurement they suggest, but the pattern says that exact gauge is not important. I suppose it is because you can make the shawl larger or smaller if you want depending on the size of yarn and needles you choose and that is personal preference. I really like working with this yarn, it is so soft and feels light even though it is Aran and thicker than worsted weight yarn. 

I also started knitting the second sleeve of the 3timesChic sweater and it is coming along nicely. I am looking forward to being done all the knitted pieces, so then I can focus on seaming them together and blocking the pieces. 

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Sweater Sleeve Finished, Next Knitting Project, and Reading

Hello Friends,

I hope you are all doing well. I had a good weekend seeing family and my boyfriend's family too. It is such a stormy, gloomy day today and raining off and on. There was just an explosion of thunder that made me jump. This weather is crazy! hopefully Summer is on its way...

Knitting
Yesterday I finished knitting the first sleeve of my 3timesChic sweater from Knitty.com. It was pretty easy to knit up and I cannot believe that after the second sleeve I will be done knitting the sweater! Then I have the job of seaming all the pieces together and blocking the sweater. I have never blocked anything before, so I will be researching to find out more about what is needed to block and how to block garments. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated!

The front piece of the sweater with the first finished sleeve

The sleeve piece looks so wide and huge, but when folded down the middle it looks like a decent size sleeve. I think there will be some extra material in the sleeve which will make it more comfortable. I am looking forward to seeing these pieces once they are blocked, they will look much larger than they do now.

Next Project!
I found a pattern on Ravelry on the weekend for a kerchief which looks like a smaller triangle scarf/shawl. It is called "The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief" by Orange Flower Yarn. The pattern is free on Ravelry if you would like to check it out! I chose this pattern because I have had some lovely yarn in my stash for some time by Loops & Threads called Chameleon, and this project seems perfect to work with the yarn. It called for size 5 mm US 8 needles which my yarn calls for and the project can be knitted in worsted weight medium yarn.  I am excited to knit this, it looks so nice and I am used to knitting either infinity scarfs and regular rectangular scarves so this is something new for me.

Screenshot of the pattern. Click here for Pattern by Orange Flower Yarn

The yarn I will be using by Loops & Threads, Chameleon, color 'coffee'.

Reading
I am still working on reading The Nest and Little Book of Hygge, I am enjoying them, but I have been really slow in reading them. Once I am finished The Nest, then I will move onto Bridget Jone's Diary: Mad About the Boy which will be later this week!

I am joining in with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and Little Room of Rachell for Yarning Along. 

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and seeing what I am working on this week! what are you working on and reading? If you would like to follow my blog to keep updated, you can follow me through Bloglovin' and Google Followers.

Have a great day!