A few finished things...

I'm not really one for the type of knitting that some would call "the new yoga", that is, knitting simple and repetitive things for relaxation. My favourite type of projects are those where I learn a new technique, or where I have to give a little bit of my attention to it. I also like projects that are out of the ordinary or that incorporate some sort of clever construction. That's why I liked working on the following two projects: because they taught me new techniques and yielded a hilarious result. (The second one might not be appropriate for work. Not that you should ever be looking at blogs at work... you bad bad people.)

First of all, there's Celine (the Diva Squid) who has been know to have her way with Strong Bad. It's the Skylla design by Dale Hwang from the Anticraft book. It was especially interesting because it starts off with a back and forth double-knitting design, which produced a little pouch, and then when the decreases on the head do-hickeys is finished, you put it on double-pointed needles and work it in the round. There's also some interesting i-cord work for the tentacles, and some fairly complicated sewing for the lining (which I had to do twice because I cut the wrong size of fabric the first time). I'm very happy with the result!







Secondly, just for the hell of it, I decided to try out the Knitted Boob pattern by by Marte Fagervik from Shhh! I'm counting! It's pretty damn awesome as well. Besides the fact that it's a boob (teehee!), it also incorporates some previously unknown techniques such as the provisional cast-on and short-row shaping (unless you count the heel of that sock). It turned out pretty well too, except maybe if I were to make it again, I would use wool or acrylic instead of cotton because the fabric wasn't as tight as I'd want.





Thirdly, I cheated a bit and worked on something that was super simple and mindless... Though the real purpose was just to use up some yarn. It's a 1x1 ribbed scarf with alternating colours every two rows. It was really easy, but I added a bit of interest to it because I put fringes on it, which I had never done before.



And finally, since I needed somewhere to keep all my notions, I quickly crocheted myself a little baggie. It's more or less from the Crocheted Notions Bag by Pam Grushkin (Ravelry link), though I started following the pattern and then abandoned it because it was just too simple to need a pattern. I guess it's good for beginners, except for the mistakes... Anyway, I'm happy with the bag, and I got to use up the rest of the yarn from Celine.



Next on the hooks and needles will be Christmas presents! Hurray!