Mountain Hat
Still using up the extra Cascade 220 from the shalom cardigan. This time I designed a simple black "mountain" pattern for the brim of this hat. Nice and cozy.

Globe Hat
I designed this hat from a stitch in The Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Volume 2: Cables. I think it turned out really well and I gave it to my friend Sarah for 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.

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!

My days are numbered

Four more days until school starts, and my knitting binge will have to come to an end. Until then, I am cramming in as much as I can. I started these mittens that I am designing myself tonight that are really cute.
Plus, I'm using up the last 2 skeins of sweater yarn. If I have some leftover after the mittens, which I feel like I might, I am going to make one of those headbands that I made for my friend Julia.
Also I re-did the bottom of the sweater and finally blocked it, so hopefully after this you won't hear much about that anymore. It's cute, but not exactly how I envisioned it. I think the yarn was chunkier than I imagined. Oh well.
And, I also churned out yet another hat last night.

I wasn't sure who it was for, and when I got done, I really liked it and couldn't think of anyone else that would wear a bright yellow hat, so I decided to keep it. I'm really proud of coming up with these patterns myself. I know I keep it pretty basic, but it's so much more enjoyable to me to knit something I'm coming up with rather than just follow patterns. I think that is why I have already gotten sick of the little green (blue) clutch It looks really good, and I've probably spent more time admiring the pattern than actually knitting it.

But when I get around to it, I think it'll be very cute. So, that's a real workload when my deadline is next Tuesday when school starts. We'll see how far I get. If I'm housebound by this 0 degree weather all weekend, I probably won't do too bad...

More Warm Heads!

Caroline's Hat:
This was made from my huge, annoying stash of Lion Brand Jiffy. It knit up in a night though, and turned out very warm and cute. No pattern, just figured it out myself. It was a request for some sort of patterned white hat, and I think she'll like it.






Will's Hat
This was another request--for just a really warm hat--from about a year ago that I finally got around to making. I believe it was well worth the wait since what I was knitting last year definitely wasn't this cute. I am really proud of the cables on this one, since I have seen hats like this a few times, but I just figured the pattern out myself without even looking at one while I did it. All from the noggin, and it worked out really well. I like the colors I chose from my narrowing selection a lot but I ran out of the gray yarn about two inches from the top and finished with a slightly different color (a little more shiny). You can see a little in the photo of me wearing it, but you can hardly see it at all in person. I gave it to him last night and he really seemed to like it!





Vicki's Hat
Lastly, I reproduced the exact hat that Jill made for me when she was visiting for Vicki so that she wouldn't steal mine. Since I was going to make the white hat for Caroline, I used mauve instead of white for the two narrowest stripes, which isn't quite as satisfying, but the spherocity of the hat is phenomenal on Vicki's head.

More Christmas Knits

A few of the smaller items I made for Christmas gifts...

Top: Mistake Rib Scarf for my dad, made with Paton's Classic Merino Wool.

Middle: Utopia Hat for my friend Mary, made with Classic Elite Renissance and a little of the Patons. I absolutely love how this turned out and I know Mary will love it too.

Bottom: Wisp Scarf for Jamie, made with Rowan Kidsilk Haze. I didn't put the buttons on it because I didn't think you would wear it like a caplet. I really love how this turned out, too. I think it will actually be pretty warm. I just love how mohair looks.

Keepin Folks' Heads Warm Since December '07

The first hat was supposed to be for my friend Dave but it turned out a little tight, so I'm going to give it to my friend Joelle for Christmas. The second one is my second attempt, and it's for Dave. Both original patterns, and my first time with cables, so I'm pretty dang satisfied! The yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy. A hat like that for $2.71? Not bad!!






Also a sweater update... I am soooo close. But with a calc final Friday, I probably won't finish until the weekend. Also notice the sweater is displayed on none other than.... my beloved blanket that I FINALLY got returned to me last weekend, with a nasty note, after three months of trying to get it back, after giving it to Brian the DAY he stopped talking to me/answering calls/ and went back to his exgirlfriend who he now lives with after moving to Chicago and moving back again three weeks later, (that's the short story, Jaime, if you haven't heard). Oy. It's super warm and cozy though. I'm so glad I got it back; isn't it beautiful?


Anyway, with the sweater, do you know if I block it if it will keep the bottom and the neckline from curling? If so, do i necessarily have to pin it down to something or can i just shape it and hope it stays? I don't have an ironing board.

Fall in Wisconsin

I've done very little knitting over the past three weeks... I just haven't had it in me. I did make this hat, it is the Foliage pattern from the most recent Knitty.com. It took me two nights of watching The Office reruns to finish it - and I love it. Even Frazier likes it.
On Saturday there was an owl festival at a local nature center that we went to. It was mostly for the kids, but they had a saw-whet owl that they released and they also had a barn owl there. I, of course, thought it was pretty interesting. I learned a new thing about owls - their ears are not across from each other on their head like ours are. One is up higher than the other, and that way they can hear better. That is why you sometimes see owls bobbing their heads up and down - so they can catch all the sounds! Anyway...

It was such a gorgeous fall day so my mom & I took Frazier out to our nearby state park for a swim (Frazier) and a stroll (the rest of us). The colors are really pretty right now, and they were having trick-or-treating at the park. All of the people camping decorate their campsites for Halloween and then the kids go out in their costumes... it made me wish I was a kid again. It looked like so much fun!

All Yarn Still Intact

Thankfully, the burglar didn't have a taste for yarn, so all my yarn and yarn paraphernalia are still intact. Last night I finished up this hat that I have been working on for a while:

The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed and I got the idea from a pattern in the book The Yarn Girl's Guide to Beyond the Basics, but I didn't really follow the pattern. It has a hemmed edge, which is tres chic :) I have lots of yarn left over, so I will be able to make more hats with this yummy yarn. Tweed is so fallish and I love it! It seems like around this time every year I get the itch to make hats. I have been seeing all kinds of cute hat patterns lately - cabled hats, lace hats, striped hats, berets... I want to make them all. But see, here in Alabama, I rarely ever need a hat, yet, I already have 3, no 4, hats. Oh well, some day I will move somewhere very cold where I will need many hats. Until then, they will sulk in my drawer with my ever growing collection scarves.

Oooh, speaking of scarves. I started a kinda fun, funky scarf a couple weeks ago, but it was sidelined for the aforementioned hat.
I'm not really sure who this is for. I'm not really a bright color person, but I do kind of like the funkiness of it. The pattern is Midwest Moonlight from the book Scarf Style and the yarn is Jaeger Monte Cristo. I got this yarn at the thrift store a while back and it has been sitting in my stash while I wondered what I could possible do with bright green cotton yarn. I saw this pattern and it just seemed to fit. What do you think?