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!