Catch Up

I've been working on a few different projects the last week or so.

The first is a pair of socks.
I'm trying out a new pattern called Monkey and really enjoying it. It's a simple lace pattern, but challenging enough to keep my interest. I've got the first sock finished, and next time I'd go down a needle size from #2's to #1's. It's just a bit baggy. I'd also use a yarn that doesn't have such a bold pattern. You loose the beautiful lacing in all those glorious stripes!







The second project I'm working on is a new purse. I know, I know..I don't even use a purse so why am I making one??? I liked the pattern dammit!

The pattern is called Brea and it has all these lovely cables. I've gotten the back panel and the seemingly never ending seed stitch sides/bottom panel finished. I've got to tell you...all that seed stitch will drive a person mad!

I've already cast on for the front panel and plan on getting started with it tomorrow.





Last, but certainly not least may very well be the coolest thing I have ever knit....Felt Clogs. I can not express how freakin' frackin amazing these things are. I Love, Love, LOVE them!! Felting is like magic!

Calorimetry

Today was stash busting day. I had a little of this and a little of that left over from my two pairs of gloves and Seth's gloves. I went through my queue on Ravelry and decided on a this winter headband/ear warmer called calorimetry.


http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/calorimetry















It's a super easy project that took me about 5 hours to complete. I modified the pattern by casting on 80 stitches instead of 120 as the pattern suggests. The yarn I used was larger than the pattern called for and many people had commented on how large it was. It turns out that 80 was the perfect number. It fits fabulously covering the top half of my head and my ears.

















Going though my Grandma's buttons was fun too. I finally decided on a plain creme button as it would be hidden by my hair anyhow. I want to save the pretty buttons for something that will be seen.

As always, Tali makes a perfect and willing model!

Knitting and Firefly.. A lovely combo

Today was a good knitting kind of a day. I finished the thumb on the purple glove this morning and than got started on my second fingerless glove this afternoon. Same pattern, just no fingers.



My original intention was to make the gloves in the rust color, but I neglected to make sure I had two skeins before casting on. So I got all but three fingers finished before realizing I didn't have enough to finish the second one. So I ripped off the two completed fingers and added some ribbing at the top. Throwing caution to the wind, I started the second glove and guess what?! I had enough to finish with quite a bit to spare.

The best part, was that I sat and watched episodes of Firefly on the computer while knitting. Jayne's Hat got me craving the crew of Serenity. Very happy indeed.

Gloves

My brother has only asked for ONE knitted thing and that's gloves. I've finally gotten around to them. Do you know how hard it is to guesstimate the size of another person's hand? Well, let me tell you, it's not easy. I did my best and hopefully they'll fit him. He's coming to visit next week so everyone keep your little knitted fingers crossed! I think they're going to be too big on him.




After completing Seth's gloves, I decided I wanted a new pair too. I love my fuzzy purple one's, but they look like I'm wearing a muppet on my hands.

I found a beautiful pattern for fingerless gloves called Evangeline and just added fingers.
http://www.magknits.com/Jan08/patterns/evangeline.htm



Needless to say, I LOVE them. I've finished the first and will be starting the second today. It's a quick pattern and I am enamored with the cables.

I did make a few modifications. I made the cuff longer by ribbing 2x2 for 14 rounds and completed 3.5 patterns of the cable before starting the fingers.

The distribution of stitches for the fingers are as follows.

Index: 13 Stitches and CO 2 for the gusset

Middle: 10 Stitches, CO 2 and Pick up 2 from the index gusset

Ring: 9 stitches, CO 2, Pick up 2

Pinky: 8 stitches, CO 2, Pick up 2

They fit...well, quite frankly, like a glove! I'm really excited to get the second one finished so I can start wearing them!

Not so Jayne Cobb Hat

Well, now that the never ending shawl is finished, I'm back to my speedy projects!

The hat I made for my Dad was looking a little ragged. Partly because it never fit him particularly well and partly because yarn just doesn't stand a chance against the little velcro patches on his pockets!

So a new hat was in order. I finally decided on a pattern that was first seen in the much missed TV series "Firefly". One of the characters wore this garish red, yellow and orange hat.



The following is dialog from Firefly, The Message.


JAYNE
How's it sit? Pretty cunning,
don'tchya think?

KAYLEE
I think it's the sweetest hat ever.

BOOK
Makes a statement.

JAYNE
Yeah, yeah!

WASH
A man walks down the street in that
hat, people know he's not afraid of
anything.

JAYNE
Damn straight.

Now while I admit that no on wants to see my Dad in those colors (although it would be mighty hard to lose him in a crowd) I did in fact find many merits to the style of hat. The ear flaps for his always cold ears and who doesn't love a pom pom?!

So here is MY version of Jayne's Hat for Dad. It's Green tweed for one and has a smaller, but totally kick ass pom pom. I also made the ear flaps a bit smaller too. Hope he likes it!! And I must say, I do believe Tali makes an EXCELLENT hat model!!

FINISHED!!!

I finally finished the shawl for my mother....there's really not much else to say except that I hope she likes it and I'm so happy she'll have something made by me to keep her warm.

Not as Difficult As I Had Expected

For some reason, I had it in my head that gloves would be a total nightmare. Not so. The only really difficult part was working around the needles as I knit each individual finger.



I will say that it was the first time I've actually sworn at my knitting and let out yells of rage. Stitches kept slipping off the unused needles. Normally this wouldn't be the end of the world, but as the yarn was fuzzy, it made if very difficult to find the wandering stitches. Once I had it all under control however, the fingers zipped along with no problem.

There was one other tragedy as well. I realized the body of the glove was too big AFTER I had made the thumb hole. With a heavy heart, I ripped back over 15 rows to the correct length and than persevered. I'm expecting the second one to move along at a quicker pace!

What is Human Made and Can Be Seen From Space?

The Great Wall of China AND Nina's new sweater!

Oy, what a freakin' mess. First of all, using misc. yarn from your stash SUCKS! Second of all, my intention was to try to work up a new four legged pattern I got from a designer on Ravelry. It all looked exciting and fun, however, it just didn't knit up well for me. Even though I followed the pattern AND measured correctly it didn't fit Nina at all. I finally just gave up on it and ripped it all out. I decided instead to go with my own sweater design just so I could use up this yarn.



Well it all went to hell. The damned thing is way to wide, shaped miserably and quite frankly, UGLY! I tried to figure out how to put back legs on but those went down in a flame of glory so I ripped those off too and called the sweater officially finished.

It looks like Rainbow Bright vomited on her. You know what it will be good for though...the park. There's not chance in hell I'd lose track of her in this monstrosity!



She's so embarrassed by it that she's decided to go Incognito when I put it on! Poor Neener Neener.

It's been awhile since I've completed anything. Mostly because the Fibro has been kicking my ass lately. In my knitable moments, I've been working on Mom's Shawl. I've finished three skeins, so three more to go.

But I decided last night that I needed some instant gratification. So a Dog Sweater was the perfect choice.
I'm trying to avoid buying new yarn for awhile and instead try to use up my stash. I think it's safe to say that there will be some oddly colored things knit up in the weeks to come! Why is it that a yarn looks so much fun sitting in the clearance rack and yet, once it gets home, you can't think of a damned thing you want to produce with it?



Anyway, today's selection is a Lionbrand Homespun...the color isMediterranean to be exact. I HATE using homespun. It feels terribly synthetic in your hands and the yarn separates in a most annoying fashion. However, it does produce and interesting texture so at least that's something.



I whipped up this little number in about 11 hours. I basically know the shape it needs to be so wing it as I knit along. The shape of this sweater came out great for Eli. It covers enough of his tummy to keep him warm, without being so far down that he pee's on it. And the back is nice and roomy so it falls over his thighs.



Wait until you see what's on the needles now...it's something to behold I tell ya..

I keeps going and going and going...

LOL!! Ok, really. I'm busy working on a shawl for my Mom. And she's working on one for me! Each of us picked out the pattern we liked and the yarn we wanted and off we went.
The one I'm working on currently measures about 34 inches long. Hopefully by the time I'm finished it will be 72 inches. I'm 2.5 of 6 Skeins down.

I decided not to start anything else until this is completed. That has been quite a change as I'm generally starting and finishing a project in a matter of days. I estimate it will take a few weeks to complete. The good thing is that it's an easy pattern that I don't have to pay much attention to. So it's no problem to watch TV or listen to Audio Books. Plus I haven't been feeling well lately. So this allows me to still knit w/o needing to engage my brain.

One Done

I have finally completed the first (and possibly last) thrummed mitten!!!
All shall rejoice and be thankful



Here is a comparison of the mitten vs. my hand so you can see how large it had to be to fit all the thrum inside!

Misery

OY...do I hate this mitten! I've decided that thrumming SUCKS!! It could also be that I don't like this yarn. The yarn keeps separating which is driving me NUTS! I've just got the thumb left to do, which I will out of principle. I'm not so sure about it's mate however.... I may need to wait for a day when the trauma of this one has faded into a distant memory.
I do have to say this though...it's SUPER warm and I would very much like to have a matched set to wear. Oh well. Someday.

Here's the inside of the glove


It looks like a muffin top


Here it is...minus the thumb.