Write about your typical crafting time. When it is that you are likely to craft – alone or in more social environments, when watching TV or whilst taking bus journeys. What items do you like to surround yourself with whilst you twirl your hook like a majorette’s baton or work those needles like a skilled set of samurai swords. Do you always have snacks to hand, or are you a strictly ‘no crumbs near my yarn!’ kind of knitter.

The place I knit the absolute most is in my rec room, while watching movies or television shows. I am by nature a fidgeter, which is a big reason why I took to knitting so quickly. A way to keep my hands busy that winds up as completed clothing and accessories? Yes please!

On that same vein, I’m usually knitting alone – my roomies will watch with me, but they are all boys and none of them interested in knitting.

I happily knit in public. I take my sock in progress to pubs, and I’ve hauled the Doctor Who scarf to a few geeky venues. I especially like knitting on a pub patio in the summer with a cold pint.

We have a few awesome knitting groups locally, and I’m terrible at getting out to them. Ottawa Knit Nites at the Bank Street Bridgehead are ten minutes away, I am free Wednesday nights, there is no excuse. I’ve been a few times a few years ago and I loved them – I really want to get back out and knit with people. The Ottawa knitting crew is pretty awesome. :D

The good news? Ninja Boyfriend has the same laptop as me, and thus the same card reader. I shall ninja the card reader later and post photos then.

I finished the monster kitty baby hat, which didn’t take long at all. It was loosely based on the Bunny Hat from SnB Nation, with edits to initially make it a little monster. When I was done, however, the ears and style made it look like a cat. So I added a little cat face. It’s cute, and I love it.

Work on the Boogie vest goes smoothly, if not slightly boring. I’m glad I kept the yet-to-be-unraveled sleeves, because I may need more yarn than I thought. I have four big hanks right now, and I’m just starting on the second ball, with only 5 of the 15 inches of the back side finished. The yarn is soft and nice to knit with, and I have two blousesit will go well with, which is important!

I configured the Monkey sock pattern to have some extra stitches, two extra rows of pattern and a bigger heel area. I started working on it last night, and already I hit a small snag in the pattern and had to unravel. My own dumb fault of not remembering the tricks of the pattern. I fixed and am moving on it.

I need to start another baby project. I’m thinking a toy or two, to use up some of my cotton scraps and skeins. I have Kath Dalmeny’s World of Knitted Toys, and Jenn Hutchison’s Unusual Toys For You To Knit And Enjoy, so I have a good selection to choose from.

I turned to my trusty SnB Nation book, which I have to say, is an amazing resource for cool patterns(I’m using an edited version of the Bunny Hat for the monster hat) and an amazing resource for ways to alter patterns to gauge.

It’s the first time I’ve used a stitch/row ratio to determine the sizes everything had to be, and.. I think it’s going to work out. Which is exciting, because I do like this pattern.

I cast on for it yesterday, and have done three rows. I’ll post a photo when I’m through with a little more progress. The yarn is really soft, nice to knit with, and smells like the baby shampoo I used to wash it. Mmm. Photos will also follow of baby hat when I get more of it done. I need to draw up a little face to embroider onto it. I have a lot of scrap yarns I can use for that. I’ve been meaning to practice my embroidery.

Also, unraveled my Monkey sock, to start anew with the new pattern chart. I need to re-write the pattern to include the additional stitches.

Boring post today, apologies! Some photos and fun should follow in the next few days. This weekend is studytime, as exams are next week. I tend to intermingle studying and knitting to keep my sanity levels at a nice spot.

Doesn’t help that in going out for all-you-can-eat sushi yesterday, I missed out on my SnB. Augh! Next time, guys, promise.

Oh, also: Following in the footsteps of my knitting co-conspirator, the Pirate, I’ve set up an Etsy shop to use in the future. Any suggestions/thoughts on what I could sell? I have a few ideas floating around in my head that I need to write down before I forget.