Glittens

Pattern: Minnesota Mittens from Folk Mittens

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden

Needles: US 2

Start: November 11, 2008

Finish: December 11, 2008

I really have not been doing much knitting lately. About a month ago I cut my little finger on my right hand, right on the back of my nuckle. I cut it with a piece of glass and it was a pretty bad cut. I use my little finger to 'grip' the needle, and although it has healed, it hurts when I knit. These mittens are knit with worsted weight wool on size 2 needles, so they are REALLY tight, which made it even worse.

But, I think it was worth it. These mittens are awesome. They are super warm since they are knit so tightly, I love the colors, and they are really nice for riding my bike to the bus stop at 6 in the morning!

They are definatly a winner and I'm even thinking of making another pair for a Christmas gift... except there's less than 2 weeks until Christmas!!!

Christmas gifts

In the recent weeks, I have been knitting away at Christmas gifts for friends. These are some finished products. They are all original patterns using leftovers from the Shalom Cardigan! I am so sick of this army green, but I still have more than one more entire skein left (over 200 yards) so it looks like I'll probably be staring at it some more in the coming weeks. I have changed gears a bit after this and started a lace shawl project, also an original pattern. It is using some leftover wool in a gorgeous dark cerulean blue. Don't be too impressed; the lace pattern I am using is pretty simple. If it turns out it should be really nice, though. Pictures to come soon!

Green Cable Hat

Just your typical cable hat.

Norway Mittens
A first attempt at multiple-color patterns (is there a name for this?), and it turned out to be pretty easy, but some of the looped white yarn on the inside are annoying when it catches on your fingers/jewelery. Overall I'm impressed. These are inspired by the patterns in Folk Mittens: Techniques and Patterns for Handknitted Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski.

Chevron Hat
I really like chevron patterns. So I decided to make a hat with one. This stitch pattern came from the clutch that I finished earlier this fall. I made it into a hat with only minor flaws (knitting this stitch in the round was a little challenging for me).

Moonlight Mittens
These are knit from the pattern I wrote. In knitting them I realized how terrible the pattern is. It is dire need of some revisions, but I don't know that I am up for it. eek.

Thing
This thing turns out to be a trivet, I think. It was an experiment that didn't necessarily turn out the best since some of the "wool" yarn I had did not felt. But, it is still pretty cute I think, and will serve its purpose.

Mystery Solved and Decisions Made

Pattern: Mystery Socks by Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Koigu KPPPM

Needle: US 2

Start: October 7, 2008

Finish: November 11, 2008

I made these socks not knowing what they would look like in the end; they were 'mystery socks'. A designer (Kirsten at Through the Loops) posted a part of the pattern once a week for the month of October. It was a fun project and I tried to keep up with the weekly 'clues', but of course, I got distracted. I always do. They turned out nice - a little fancy for my taste, but it was a fun to watch the pattern appear as I knit along. They will find a good home, I'm sure.

And since I know you all were really worried about my brown dilemma, here's what I came up with (and thanks for the suggestions!): start one project with fun bright colors and start one project in brown.

So, I am making some of those fingerless mitts with the flop-over mitten thing in Noro (like these):

still havethe flop-over part to do

And I am making a vest with one of the browns. I am making up a pattern as I go, so we'll see how it turns out. It will be a zip-up vest; I am aiming for something like this . This is what I've got so far:

Brown

I have a problem: too much brown. I look in my closet and see lots of brown, especially in the sweater department. I decide I want to make a sweater, something in blue. Or maybe green. Or red. I take a look at my yarn stash. This is what I have in quantities large enough for a sweater:cream. tan. brown. brown.

When did I become so boring (no need to answer, Molly)? Ugh. I am trying so hard to be good and use up the yarn I have. But its all so blech. See, the thing is... I am always drawn to the natural colors of yarn, but that's not necessarily what I wear. I mean, I can only wear so many brown things.

So whats a girl to do?

Dreaming

Pattern: Dream in Color Shrug by Kay Dahlquist

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy

Needles: US 10.5

Start: 9.19.08

Finish: 10.7.08

I finished this shrug almost a month ago. I really love the pattern and the yarn, but I'm not sure if I'll really wear this very much. I haven't worn it yet, but the weather hasn't really been appropriate. The sleeves turned out to be a little bit too big - they are kind of loose and I wish they were tighter. I guess I need to bulk up a little :) And the bind off is too tight. So really what I need to do to make it wearable is to undo the bind off and do a sewn bind off so that it isn't so tight under my armpits. But that involves undoing and finding/picking up A LOT of stitches, which is not one of my favorite things. And the doing the bind off itself will probably take forever. Its one of those things that I will eventually do, but it might not be until next spring when I actually want to wear the garment. The shrug itself was really simple to make - its just a big square that is then folded and the sides partially sewn together to make the arms. The lace pattern was really easy to memorize, too. Its a really is a cute shrug and I love the color of the yarn. I think it will look really cute over a black dress.

Speaking of black, I dressed up as a raven for Halloween. My costume involved hot glueing a lot of feathers. Sister dressed up as a picnic which involved a lot of fake grass. Our house was a mess for a couple days during the creative process, but it all got cleaned up. Molly didnt' get a photo of her costume, but I did!

You're right, I have been knitting

I've been knitting and not writing about it. Time has just been flying lately... I don't know where October went. Or September for that matter... I don't even remember September. Anyway, I've been doing a little knitting - mostly smallish projects. I made a Koolhas hat for my friend Seth when we met up in Wisconsin for a little adventure a few weeks ago. I used a ball of Cascade 220 that I had leftover from my Tree Jacket and I lined it with fleece so it wouldn't be scratchy. I was happy because Seth really liked it - he wore it the whole weekend and kept showing it to other people. I tend to knit for other people whether they appreciate it or not - and I wasn't sure if he would - but its always a good feeling when people really do appreciate it. I only got one really crappy photo of it, though:

The photos from the beginning of the post are from my trip home. I had an terrific time. I packed a lot in for the short time I was there. And for missing my flight to WI. But we won't talk about that. Anyway, we went to a wedding of one my high school friends and saw lots of other friends there. We took a little camping trip up to Door County, where the weather and the colors were spectacular. And we went to a Packer game and tailgated with some other friends. The Packers won and the UW band played during half-time. It really was a blast! It was a perfect fall getaway... it made me all the more homesick, though :(

I made another hat, this one for myself. Its the Urchin Beret pattern by Ysolda Teague. The yarn (Lumpy Bumpy by Farmhouse Yarns) I picked up here in Albuquerque when I came for my interview. It was 'souviner' yarn because at that point, I wasn't sure if I'd be coming back. I absolutely love the yarn and the pattern suits it perfectly. I've been wearing this hat quite a bit already.

And now I'm working on a pair of socks... it is the Mystery Sock pattern that was part of Socktober fest. Right now I am about 70% finished with them. I wanted to finish them by the end of October for Socktoberfest, but now its November and they're not done... I've only got the feet to do on each sock, so I should have them finished pretty soon.

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend - the weather is lovely here. I hope it is wherever you are too!

...I know I'm not the only one knitting.... where are you?

Little Blue Clutch is finished! Remember, from back in January? Of course you do.... Well here it is, finally finished! I really really really like it, except for one thing; my giant wallet doesn't fit in it. Oh well. The pattern for it was from Interweave Knits and here's the ravelry page for it. They called for some sort of shiny string to be knit along with it, but I definitely prefer it without. I also lined it with an old tablecloth that Jill had laying around that matches perfectly. It has giant blue, green, yellow, and red flowers on it. They're my colors.

And.... the Shalom cardigan. It grew about a foot long when I blocked it, and now it goes down to my thighs, so I may have to re-block. I've also got to sew the buttons on yet. I got simple plastic black ones because buttons are outrageously expensive, even at places where they should be cheap (JoAnn Fabrics?)

As for modifications, I obviously turned it from a one-button cardigan into a full-fledged button down cardigan. I thought I'd be ok, but then I haphazardly had to add a bunch of stitches right under the yolk pattern because I realized that the sweater as it was would have trouble stretching around my chest. It makes it a little strange in the armpits, but it's not noticable when I'm wearing it. The pattern was really fast; I finished most of the knitting in less than three weeks. I'd definitely recommend it.

Shalom Cardigan