The Forgotten Slouchy Knits

Since I've recently taken up knitting again, after a hiatus brought on my lack of pre-planning and sheep having to grow me some more wool, I got distracted by updating my Ravelry profile with projects that I've done over the last couple years. I am super bad at keeping up to date with Ravelry, much like can be with blogging (haha), but I realized that there are two projects that I have never mentioned before!

The first is actually from a while ago, back when I was still living in AB. The pattern was posted by a favourite artist of mine: Azure cabled slouchy hat. The yarn I found at a farmers market in Kelowna BC in October of 2013. Alpaca I'm pretty sure. And I Loved it and how soft it was. I kept the yarn around because I wanted a slouchy hat pattern with a cabled star. Azure's pattern was Perfect! Made it in April 2015 and have been wearing it everywhere since.

The second is a pattern and yarn I had specifically sought out. The yarn, Classic Elite Yarns Liberty Wool, came from a store in Edmonton (now closed -GASP-). I fell in love with the yarn and, more specifically, the pattern for the slouchy that came free with purchase! It felt like space invaders. Love! I actually ended up at Romni Wools in Toronto to get a contrasting colour to complete the look. But after I'd finished it, it was so very tight that it looked more like a beanie than a slouchy hat. So it got stuffed into my finished pile where it lay until I fished it out for this post. I decided, disappointed memories a thing of the past, that I'd take the time to actually block it. I took the 20 minutes to soak it and got stretching. It's still not as slouchy as I'd hoped but it's much better! And hopefully with some wear it will relax a bit.

Knitting all the things! Just in time for the warm weather...? I suppose I could wear wool ironically?

No. Not.

XD

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

From Box to Box to Neck

Like many others, I am rather procrastinate-y when it comes to finishing my knitting projects. Before the new year, I made a beautiful irish mesh cowl (Curtesy of Purlavenue). It's had a rough time coming into being. 

I bought the yarn from a shop waaaaaay back in Edmonton. Alpaca yarn died the most beautiful shade of blue. Then it was promptly put into my knitting box and ignored. Then put into a moving box and ignored. It became very forgotten. I was not friendly to my yarn. And it payed me back. The tangled mess that resulted from the neglect took me 3 days evenings to untangle. 

Finally free from it's purple friend/fiend, I followed the lovely purlavenue's pattern (adding a couple extra knits for my wide shoulders) and finished a lovely cowl. But it's sat finished waiting to be blocked for ...  two month now. 

Since I've been home sick a week now I finally got up the motivation to finish the project! Haha. Time and opportunity! So I started by soaking my project. 20 minutes was good enough (in cold water so the colour didn't run), and then I squeezed out as much water as I could (no wringing allowed!!). Placed it on a towel, rolled up the cowl, and squished more water out. Then, with a new dry towel, the pinning began. I seem to have lost my ruler, or I think the process would have been less guess work and more actual square-ing. Highly recommend using a ruler when stretching out a project! Regardless though, it worked out! Go half-assed blocking! (Still technically blocking, haha.)

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist