before i begin my last blogpost of the year, i want to wish all of you happy holidays and a wonderful 2014! :) may it be wonderful, woolly and crafty!

the last weeks of the year are always so busy! first my birthday (25 already, everybody hates me for saying it but i really feel like i'm getting old), then christmas eve and christmas... days filled with parties, family, lots of food and christmas shopping. and i try to find some time for knitting, maybe some sewing or cleaning up the house... (priorities first, right?)

and ofcourse all is well with paulie! i'm now halfway the second sleeve, and it's looking more and more like a cardigan with every stitch i make. i'm also really curious how my stitches gonna look after blocking the whole thing!

 

ahh, notice my new coffee cup? it's from pip studio, a birthday present from my sister. so cute with the gold trim and the little birdie! :) my new knitting companion.

my boyfriend gave me the interchangeable circular needle set from knitpro for my birthday! i couldn't be happier with my new knitting equipment, no more wasting time and money searching for the perfect circular needle, now i have them all!! 

in 2014 i will knit like a PRO! ;)

ohh dear, has it really been more than a month since my last blogpost? oops! ;) 

i wish i could give you a big update but unfortunately not much happened; i resisted the urge to start new projects and my mind is now set on finishing things... you know i've got a lot of W.I.P.'s, so this is actually a really good thing!

and ofcourse, i've been working on paulie! i finished the first sleeve yesterday and started on the second sleeve today. i had quite some trouble with the sleeves... i didn't measure my arm size and thought the S that i'm knitting would be fine. i already knit 1/3rd of the sleeve when i decided to try it on and it was so tight, i just couldn't believe it. turns out i have to knit the L size for my arms to fit... so i ripped back all of it and started over, picking up way more stitches than i was supposed to for the S size.

long story short, one sleeve is now finished and it fits perfectly. lesson learned: measuring is important! here is a photo of the sleeve a couple of days before i finished it.

i've also been knitting and crocheting little hats for the innocent smoothies campaign. they collect small hats to sell with the smoothies, and the profits go to charity. i made 25 hats, which is not so much but every little bit counts, right? i had a lot of fun making these and finishing them with different pom-poms and crochet flowers. :)

 

that's all for now! :)

i'm back with another blogpost about paulie! :)

  today, i finished the body and started knitting on the sleeves. i love how it looks already, the fit is great and i love those bright stripes. i only hope blocking will even out some of my wonky stitches.  

 

 

 

sorry, picture overload.. :) 

it's not finished yet, but so far, i can recommend this pattern to anyone who's new to knitting sweaters/cardigans. it's well written, easy to follow and a good tv-knit once you're knitting the stripes. those stripes also make a bit more interesting. :)

finally some pictures of paulie and the progress i made so far:

now it's really starting to look like a cardigan! 

i also tried it on one day and... it fits!!! yay!!

 

 

it's so magical to see how some stitches, increases and decreases start to form a shape to something wearable and pretty. :) happy happy!

my scrappy socks are coming along quite nicely! one is finished (except for weaving in all the ends, i'm not looking forward to that part...) and the other is about 1/3rd done. knitting stripes is really motivational for me, i can't wait to see what it will look like with the next stripe, and the next, and the next... :)

i also received my yarn for paulie, and made a swatch (my first swatch EVER) to check gauge. my gauge is a bit off (the swatch is a tiny bit too big), but i'm knitting size S which is a bit too small for me (but i'm definitely more a size S than a size M according to the size chart...) so i'm hoping this problem will solve itsself. as for the colours: i shamelessly copied the colours from the original design, but i'm using a lighter shade of gray and a bright, almost neon kind of yellow.

i already cast on and started knitting, but no pictures yet. :) i'm soooo excited though, and i'm having the hardest time putting it away!