Your Cart
Loading

Deep Dives, Beautiful Garments and a Touch of Whimsey!

Our Year of Finished Objects has been going well! We're pleased with the progress made so far and looking forward to the half-way mark coming up in June. Our friends (you) have been working diligently too and we're absolutely-over-the-moon with the collection of Finished Objects that you can see on Ravelry. Click here to have a look at the projects tagged "yarniversity2025" and click here to read the back stories.


Barb has completed not one, but two, beautiful finished objects this month. Her primary project is her own version of the Tavia skirt, designed by Ann Budd. Barb challenged herself to work this skirt on her knitting machine. She had to work the skirt in panels, in order to fit them on her flat bed knitting machine and she had to learn to use the ribber attachment for her machine (no easy task!). Barb said, "I've been wanting to make another Tavia Skirt designed by Ann Budd, for some time now, and was inspired by Cynthia's beautiful plaid custom pleated skirt, made from Wollmeise Pure. The Merino wool fabric had a nice weight and drape to it, perfect I thought, for the all the purl stitch pleats that start around the lower hip of the skirt, and run all the way down to the bottom."


And by the end of the month, Barb had it completed. You can see her project notes and more photos on her Ravelry project page: "The skirt is now completely done, washed and blocked and I’m really happy with how it turned out and with the yarn. I used a little over half of the 3rd skein. (They are generous 150 gram skeins) I picked This grey green shade is a good neutral that I feel will go with some of my favourite knit sweaters. When fall arrives, I will be ready!"


As Barb became more proficient with her adventures in using a ribber on her knitting machine, she took on another challenging project: a ribbed hat. But no ordinary hat! Here's what Barb had to tell us about this project: "Also inspired by a Fisherman’s Rib Beret Hat called “Zesty” and with support from the Machine Knitting Community, in May 2025 I took a deep dive into learning how to set up and use the ribber on my Singer 360 knitting machine. It was quite a learning curve, with many trials and errors, and even a self imposed “time out” but my knitting machine colleagues supported and encouraged me to continue going. I'm really happy with the project outcome."


We agree that Barb's "Red Hot Chilli Pepper Beret" is stunning. For more details and photos, check out Barb's Ravelry Project page.


And what has Cynthia been up to? She took a deep dive of her own, into the world of Mochi Mochi. She told us: "I’ve been hoarding two kits from Anna Hrachovec of Mochi Mochi Land. One is s “Tiny Viking” and the other is a “Tiny Owl”. Each tiny kit comes with a pattern and tiny bobbins of yarn as well as a little bag of stuffing. I’ve been wanting to make this cute little mochi mochi for years… literally. This month, I’m making time for it."


Cynthia found her small knitting needles and opened the kits and began. She found that it was a perfect project to work on while waiting in the car or while watching tv in bed. "I started with the Tiny Owl and finished it in a short time, even with picking up stitches for the wings and embroidering the eyes, beak and feet. Then I noticed that the pattern said I could make three owls... so I set to work at making bodies. When I made as many bodies as I had yarn for, I set to work at giving them all wings and features. It was so lovely seeing my flock emerge!"



"And then I started my Viking kit. I managed to make three Tiny Vikings and I gave them all their own "look". I think two of them may make their way to Iceland, in the company of friends. Wouldn't that be cool?"


Cynthia thought that making tiny things in the month of May would be quick! She forgot that these tiny things tend to beget more tiny things! Now she has a flock of owls and a horde of Vikings. We hear she's musing about making Tiny Emotional Support Chickens.


How are your projects coming along? We'd love to hear from you. Please post a comment below and tell us a story about your Year of Finished Projects (or anything else you'd like to chat about!)