Magpie The Almighty

It's been a while, life got busy, but I never stopped knitting. Finished those yesterday evening.

I kind of don't like the white one, I feel like the pattern isn't as visible. Colour dominance defeated me once again.

But no matter. I'm over knitting socks for a while anyway. I know it's by my own making, but lately I've been knitting a lot of gifts. It feels like I was doing something constantly and yet have nothing to show for it.

So I'm taking a little break - from socks, not knitting in general. I still have my sister's birthday coming up and I would like to gift her socks as well, but that's for later. Now it's time to knit something for me ✨

Turns out, they weren't lying about the sweater curse.

But, even though it's no longer in my possession, I think the sweater turned out pretty good. It's a gorgeous colour and a pretty nice pattern, I'm very happy with it.

Sometimes I look at the things I've done and I'm like,

Holy shit? I've made this?

Not to toot my own horn here, but I think this sweater could pass as something made by machine. And yet, I made it. It's so fun to be human. So many wonderful ways to create. I'm so happy to have found my own.

Another pair of mitts, once again for bestie. Yeah, I know I'm spoiling her, but some people are just inherently knit-worthy.

I knit this pair a bit more than a year ago and she's worn them so much they needed darning already. And that makes me so happy. To use is to love. I could knit her a new pair every year if she wanted me to. Hell, new pair every week. As long as she keeps wearing them, I'll keep making them.

Bestie appreciation post I guess lol

To all best friends in this world, you make it all worth it 🥂

My favourite pair of socks to date.

Of course, shitty photos are to be expected, I never think far enough ahead to take better ones, and it's too dark already, so those will have to do.

But look at my tension ✨ I don't like to praise myself too much, but holy fuck I'm proud of those.

I like wearing socks with flap heels a lot, but it's definitely not my favourite heel to knit. Short row heel is fun to make, but not so much to wear. Still on the hunt for the perfect heel to both knit and wear.

But damn was this pattern a fun one to make.

My magnum opus. My knitting final boss.

A few years ago I saw a pattern for a puppy plushie and thought how incredible it would be to be able to knit such a wonder. I looked at it and dreamt.

Then I grabbed some needles and started knitting. And I knit a scarf, a few pairs of mittens, a few sweaters, a few pairs of socks. And then I thought, hey, maybe I'm finally good enough to try. After all, this is how I roll. I throw myself into things that are above my level and then stare at them, gritting my teeth, until I figure it out.

So I found a pattern for this little guy. I liked him more than the puppy one, so... there he is!

For a change, I documented the process of knitting and sewing pretty well, so here's how I spent a few weeks playing veterinarian.

This post features exceptionally bad pictures. I didn't think of taking better ones; those socks were also a gift, as well as my first ever comission. Turns out I don't care about knitting for money. They are pretty, but left me burned out and I don't even have a finished pair to show off.

When I recover from my knitting slumber, I'll make another pair like this, in the same colours, this time for myself. And I think this is it for comissions. I can and probably will sell what I made, but never again making something at request.

They are really nice though! I visited Riga in September and fell deeply in love with the city. It's so beautiful I don't even have the words to describe it. To this day I get giddy when I think about Riga, and Latvia in general. I bought this yarn to make myself something in honour of that trip and I'm a little sad it didn't end up happening, but that's going to be my next purchase. I'm going to make it up to myself.

Bonus pic: yarn shop in Riga. I didn't buy anything because money, but I did look longingly at every single skein. I promised myself I'll be back one day to buy the entire stock lol

Another lovely pair of socks, again a gift for my bestie, this time for her birthday (let's hope she doesn't see this as it's still three weeks from now).

I can't post a pic of socks without gushing about how much I love knitting them, so - I LOVE IT. So much quicker than a sweater and I tend to wear one while making the other, so I can just look up to get that hit of motivation.

I still have a few things to show off, but the backlog is getting smaller and smaller, so let's get knitting! Currently on the needles - another pair of socks.

Now, finally, onto the projects I love.

My first pair of colourwork socks (and first time knitting colourwork overall)! A Valentine's Day gift for my bestie; first pic unblocked and second on her feet already.

I've fallen hopelessly in love with knitting socks. It's so incredibly rewarding and I can finally live out my love for mismatched socks. Two colours, so I'm not getting bored, and knitting a heel is a small act of magic - a few short rows and the fabric suddenly goes in a different direction! Creating clothes out of a long string and two sticks is truly witchcraft. Makes me really appreciate the human ability to just CREATE. It's a privilege to be able to learn a craft as old as knitting. And I'm one step closer to being more useful during a zombie apocalypse!

Also, I always had a feeling I'll be posting feet pics on the internet lol

This one turned out super fluffy. Double stitching the sheep, however, proved to be too much. There are three. There should be at least four times the amount. Will I ever finish? Ha.

Also, what's with me and knitting sweaters I'll never wear? This one is super cute, warm and soft (and unfinished, but let's not talk about that), but I'll never wear it. I keep choosing projects by what I want to knit and not what I want to wear and I have a sneaky feeling that'll be my downfall lol

But that's about it when it comes to my meh creations. Coming up are things that I'm really proud of!

This sweater was a real bitch to make, in more ways than one. First of all, k3tog is hell and I can't do it reliably. Second of all, I was knitting during neurology lectures and even though I was paying attention, I'm pretty sure it cost me some of the professor's favour. I should stick a disclaimer to my forehead - knitting doesn't count as doing something, I'm still aware and paying attention. And lastly, it was never meant to be so tight - but that one's on me for never swatching. When will I learn that my actions have consequences? It also wasn't meant to be this short, but the plain, boring stockinette was becoming a threat to my sanity.

Also the stretched stitches on both sleeves... I haven't yet learnt how to do magic loop to avoid this issue back then.

Yet another done, but not exactly finished project. I'm still slightly mad at how annoying the yoke was to make, and how, guess what, BORING the rest of the body was. Somehow in a craft that above all requires patience, I lost patience to just... knit. Give me colours, cables, patterns, just don't make me knit plain stockinette.

Task failed successfully - this sweater was meant to look entirely different. I didn't really understood how mohair behaves when held with another strand. I expected thick, stiff fabric and got this flowy, fluffy one instead.

And the colour. When in skeins, the two yarns didn't look like they would work, but I'm glad I stuck with them.

Another work that never got truly finished - no weaving or blocking was done as I'm a lazy bread roll.

Also, the frogs in the pond behind me scared the shit out of me and my photographer. We're truly two city girls.

I used this pattern, but it looks nothing alike lol

And this is the first big project I've completed. Now, looking back, I still consider it boring as hell, all that endless stockinette. But the pride! To have something big to show off! To prove to myself that yes, I CAN make myself a sweater, that was priceless.

Of course, it's been a year or two since then, this cardigan never had all the ends woven in and it still hasn't been blocked, but I guess such is the life of a knitter - I'm only interested in knitting and anything beyond that is a chore to be avoided lol