I thought I’d give the whole WIP Wednesday thing a go. I’m not entirely sure where it originated, but it sounds cute. And if I don’t do a WIP post, no one will be seeing the socks that I’m working on for a long, long time!

I am currently working on the Knot Socks by Nancy Bush on 2.25mm/US1 circulars with Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett in colour #04453 which is self-striping/self-patterning yarn.

The pattern is from Sock Knitting Master Class: Innovative Techniques & Patterns. So far it’s knitting up fantastically, I’ve finished cable pattern 4 times and need to do it just once more before I go onto the heel. It’s a cuff-down pattern and written for dpns. I’m knitting it on my new ChiagoGoo Red Lace circulars (2.25mm/US 1 – 40″) with the magic loop method (which I adore now that I have needles with great cables). I haven’t decided how I’m going to do the heel yet, I haven’t figured out how to do the heel flap and gusset with magic loop so I may end up doing an afterthought heel.

Each pattern repeat takes about 2.5-3 hours, so I estimate that I’ve spent around 11-13.5 hours on Sock #1 so far. I knit whenever I’m watching podcasts.

I currently have no other knitting projects on the needles – I’m waiting for a Blythe friend to choose yarn colours and then I’ll be knitting two cardigans with pockets for her in exchange for a very lovely dress.

For crochet projects, it’s currently a secret… I’m designing an amigurumi so it’ll be secret for a bit until I finish it and duplicate it with the notes that I’ve got. I’ve been slowly working on getting the pattern shop for Chelle-Chelle.com up and running and have been tweaking with coding for the last little bit – but I hope it get it open at the same time that the pattern is finished.

Upcoming miscellaneous things: I’ll be doing a review on the ChiaoGoo Red Lace needles (I feel that 10+ hours is a decent amount of time to try something out before reviewing it) and also a post soon about all the podcasts that I listen to regularly.

There’s a delay in getting my cupcake hat pattern up- I only got my sample hats out to my testers today (for trying on for size, etc.) and I’m still waiting to hear from my test crocheter (which should be today, as she let me know yesterday that she’d get it done and send me her thoughts on it. So I’m hoping to get that done soon.

My little monster amigurumi is nearly done as well, I just need to make a few final touches and to take photos of it and then finalize the pattern before getting that up, yay! It’s going to be pretty interesting!

What would you name a monster with 3 eyes?

So I recently checked on the stats on number of visitors and hits for the month of January 2010 and gosh, was I ever surprised!

In December 2009, I had a total of 28,589 hits. In January 2010, I had a total of 69,717 hits. That’s more than double in one month alone and since revamping Chelle-Chelle.com into my crafts site, I’ve averaged 20,000 to 25,000 hits per month. And I would very much like to say thank you, thank you, thank you! For all the interest in this site and my work.

Part of the huge jump in visitors, I will admit, is due to the two free patterns that I have here (Crochet Ribbed Cowl, posted December 2009, and Ruse – A Cloche-Inspired Crochet Hat, posted January 2010). However, much to my pleasant surprise, some of my articles that I’ve written have also gotten their fair share of hits! Two of the frontrunners would be my articles on amigurumi and finding free patterns.

Despite my, ahem, lack of posts so far from mid-January to now, I’ve been busy with schoolwork as well as working on some projects which include a lace-work scarf (crochet) and a preemie hat (crochet, for donation). I also plan on getting a few preemie hat patterns (free!) to encourage others to make hats for donations to their local hospital as well.

I hope everyone’s been having a lovely February so far! Feel free to suggest article ideas or projects for me to try, I always like getting suggestions.

I have the greatest idea in the whole wide world for a crochet project. And it involves using those little aluminum tabs that are on pop cans.

And I’m sure you’re thinking “Oh, well, that’s an easy thing to get a hold of!”. Umm, wrong!

Because I rarely, if ever,  drink pop. And people in my house don’t really drink pop either.

So if you’re my friend (and know me offline and I actually see you from time to time…) collect them for me? I’d love you forever. And so will my future crochet project that involves those little aluminum tabs that are on pop cans. I would greatly appreciate it and would prefer the silver ones (I know there are some that are red and blue or whatever, but I would like the silver ones) that are rounded and not square-ish.

Please and thank you!

Last night, I stopped knitting right before I took that photo. I had 10 sets of yellow stripes. Now I’ve just stopped knitting for tonight and I have 12. I’m definitely going to get this scarf done soon! It’s way longer than I am tall now and I can no longer hold it up and not have it just touching the floor anymore. I can’t wait for it to be done! I’ll have to take a photo of it next to my Slytherin scarf. I’m pretty sure the Gryffindor

I have come to the conclusion that I own a lot of scarves. I have… 2 that were made for me by my sister (the Slytherin scarf and a pink and black one that has a matching hat), 2 that I’ve had since I was little (one’s baby/toddler sized, the other is small-child sized), 1 loopy boa that I received as a birthday gift from when I was in elementary school and 1 that I received as a gift in grade… 11, I believe.

Now, that’s already 6 scarves. And they’re all different lengths, colours and styles. Plus the one that I’m working on right now is scarf #7. I already have two coat hangers full of scarves in my closet, I’m going to have to start hanger #3 after the Gryffindor scarf is completed.

Plus… I have plans for more scarves.

My really soft and fun-to-pet Red Heart Whirly? At least one skein is destined to become a mobius strip scarf (crocheted, not knit). I bought four. Realistically, it’ll take at most two skeins. And not even the full two skeins.

I have 5 skeins of Moda Dea’s Dream in this light green… It was purchased with the intention of making this really nice filet crochet lace scarf/stole… But I guess if I can call it a stole, it doesn’t really count as a scarf, right?

And then there’s all that Bernat Satin that my sister and I have somehow accumulated (I really have no clue how we end up with it all…). I’m going to be making (at least I plan on it) a rainbow scarf. We already have red, orange, yellow, green and white in Bernat Satin. I’d just need a blue and purple and then I’d be set… The white is for clouds at the ends.

3 more scarves (… 2 if I can count one as a stole and not a scarf!). Which brings my scarf count up to 10 (… or 9).

And all this means the following: I either need to:

• Stop making scarves and make something else (… I already plan on making mittens! And lots of amigurumis!)
• Somehow grow a few more necks! That way I can wear more than one scarf at a time.
• Donate a bunch to a charity (… Probably not the ones that have been given to me as gifts, as that would be rude.)
• Start finding a lot of friends who have really cold necks (… in spring?).
• Start making more scarves, learn more stitch patterns (for both crochet and knit) and gift them all for Christmas (… I do have nearly 9 months).
• Go to a store, buy enough yarn for a sweater and start doing the most complicated sweater I can possibly ever make in my life (… or not?)