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Warning: If you are FiberAlchemist, my partner on the Craftster Whedonverse swap, DO NOT READ THIS POST. It contains swap spoilers.
Sooo I held a contest recently, which means we need to have a winner! For the contest, I asked you to look at this picture:
and try to guess what I was making. There weren’t many entries, but there was one that was correct! Mimi of Eskimimi Knits said “Is it a doll or toy with red hair?” And that is the correct answer, so she will be winning a kit to knit some spats! Look for my email so I can send it to you!
But who is this red-headed doll specifically?
Why, it’s Willow Rosenburg!
I am currently participating in a Whedonverse swap on Craftster.org (because such is my love of Joss Whedon and Buffy/Firefly/Dollhouse), and I made this doll as one of the items to include in the package. Specifically, it is Willow from the episode “Doppelgangland” in which Willow’s vamp alter ego from “The Wish” comes to Sunnydale and tries to eat everyone. At one point, Willow and vampire!Willow switch clothes, which means….
I also made vampire!Willow’s clothes for her to wear!
The little leather clothes were kind of a huge pain in the ass to sew and they’re rather difficult to get on (so I’m sending Willow already in them). They did come out more or less exactly how I envisioned them though, so that’s awesome.
The doll itself is knit in acrylic yarn (from some estate sale or something) and the red hair is acrylic too, latch hooked in individual strands (which was also a huge PITA, but it came out looking really good).
Willow’s pink sweater is plainer than the one she wears in the episode, but I’m lacking in tiny butterfly appliques and anyway, the fuzzy pinkness is exactly as envisioned, so a score on that one. I used the machine on the leather outfit, but I sewed the skirt by hand (I wasn’t at my machine and I wanted to work on it).
I really hope my partner likes her! I’m really proud of how she came out, and I am sad to send her away. Maybe I’ll make myself another Willow doll with a different outfit from a different episode. : ) I have to finish up another item that’s almost done and then make one more thing, and my swap package will be ready to send. My partner says she should be sending this weekend too. I can’t wait to see what she made me!
Whatever happened to your __________?
Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.
There are a lot of different aspects to look at when looking back at a knitting project and it can make for interesting blogging, as much of the time we blog about items recently completed, new and freshly completed. It is not so often that we look back at what has happened to these items after they have been around for a while.
How has one of your past knits lived up to wear. Maybe an item has become lost. Maybe you spent weeks knitting your giant-footed dad a pair of socks in bright pink and green stripes which the then ‘lost’. If you have knit items to donate to a good cause, you could reflect on the was in which you hope that item is still doing good for it’s owner or the cause it was made to support.
Let me tell you a story. It’s a story about a sock. These socks in particular:
They are my only pair of woolen, hand-knit mid-calf high socks. I ADORE THEM. I’m still not crazy about the colors, but they are delightfully warm. Except there was a problem. If you recall the original FO post for these socks, I mentioned one of the legs was too small because I accidentally decreased too many after the heel. I wore the socks a few times; I really had to work to get that one on.
And then disaster struck.
Where I pulled the leg of the sock over my heel stressed the stitches so much that they popped! This was in December, right at the beginning of winter.
I put them in a basket and ignored them for a couple of months.
A couple days ago, when the weather was lovely and I was sick of knitting gigantic man socks, I pulled them out and thought, “Y’know, I might like to wear these socks. I think I’ll reknit the leg.” And so I did.
They fit much better now and I’m very glad I fixed them.
Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?
So over the last couple of weeks, I knit these socks:
(sorry this pictures is so bad, IDEK)
Pattern: Manly Aran Socks by Wendy Johnson from Knitted Socks for Everybody
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Paints
Needles: US 1s
Mods: None
Recipient: WWFY swap, presumably to go to a gigantic man. I knit the large size upon request and these are BIG SOCKS. And they TOOK FOREVER. And I have to KNIT ANOTHER PAIR.
So I knit these socks. And they were possibly the most complicated cabling thing I’ve done to date. Lots of twisting, lots of chart-following, lots of complicated little cables. But here’s the thing: I understand how cables work. I know how to get them to turn left and right and over and under. After I figured out how to do a basic open cable, I suddenly got cables. Which means once I’d finished a whole repeat of the cable pattern for these socks (I knit them two at a time like a boss), I pretty much had the pattern memorized. YES.
WHICH MEANS that the socks I mentioned during last years Blog Week (The Viper Pilots of complication and DOOM? TOTALLY DOABLE NO PROBLEMS AT ALL. Cable patterns, top down, heel flap, and all.
LIKE A BOSS.
This is going to be something of a short point as I’m currently dealing with some things (someone close to me in in the hospital). I can’t really get into it, but suffice it to say I don’t really have the brain space for anything except sleeping.
I am knitting a little though. I started these socks last week before all of this sort of exploded (before Thursday) and had/have been making pretty good progress. They’re not hard, which is good cause I can’t really do hard right now.
More on the socks later when everything has gotten back to normal.
In the time between finishing those knee socks and starting more WWFY socks, I managed to finish knitting a thing for ME ME ME! They are spats:
Pattern: Spiffy Spats, located further down this post and also ravel-able here
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool, about 50g
Needles: US 9/5.5 mm
These spats are great for A. keeping your ankles warm and B. looking awesome while piloting your airship. They are named for my friend Spiffy, who is the most steampunk-eriffic person I know and also likes knitting and ruffles. They come in one size (but the ribbing is quite stretchy) and knit up in just a couple of hours and are SUPER easy to make. They would look awesome in a variety of colors, but I made mine in grey to match things.
You will need:
– About 50g heavy worsted weight/light bulky yarn
– A set of 5.5 mm dpns or a long circular for magic loop
– A stitch marker to mark the beginning of the round
– An iron with a steam setting (trust me on this)
Things you should probably know:
– Knit, purl, increase (kfb), cast on, bind off, knit in the round
Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
CO: Cast on
BO: Bind off
KFB: Knit into the front and back of the stitch
SPATS (knit two):
CO 36. Place marker for beginning of round and work in 2×2 rib (knit 2, purl 2) around for each row), slipping the marker as you come to it for 20 rows or until desired length.
Increase row: KFB around.
Continue knitting ruffle: Knit in stockinette (knit every row) for 8 rows or until ruffle reaches desired row.
Work two rows of seed stitch:
row one: k1, p1 around
row two: p1, k1 around
BO in seed stitch.
Finishing: Weave in ends. Block the crap out of the spats (seriously, this step is important to getting them to lie flat). You could wet block too, but unless you were knitting them in mud, steam is sufficient. Sew on cute buttons, rock your spats.
That’s seriously it! I told you they were quick and easy!
As promised, this post is about knitting. I finished a thing!
(The recipient has larger feet and calves than me so that’s why they look funny on)
Pattern: Wicked Witch Stockings from the Sanguine Gryphon
Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Bugga!
Needles: US 1/sock needle, long circular for magic loop.
Recipient: WWFY person
Mods: I worked the socks top down cause that seems to make socks go by faster. It has to be a set length when I get past the heel and there’s no, “FUCK IT they are TALL ENOUGH” when I get bored.
Despite the Ravelry page for these socks saying they took me just shy of a month, they really felt like they flew by–I knit the second sock in about a week and seeing as one knee-high sock is similar to a pair of regular socks in knitting amount, that’s an accomplishment.
The stripes and calf decreases really made these socks fly–that and the fact that they’re in stockinette so I could knit them while internetting and whatnot. I’m really pleased I have them off the needles now though. I have two more pairs of socks to knit for another WWFY swap (one that I thought had been cancelled until the yarn–shipped in August–arrived with my parents when they came up to visit over winter break) and then I am FREE FREE FREE to knit for myself.
Seriously, I can’t wait.
I finished my last pair of shark mittens! They’re all packaged up, so no pictures, but I’m pleased they are finally finished. I’m leaving the listings up so it’s entirely possible that I’ll get more orders, but I haven’t gotten any in at least two weeks, so I’m done for now.
I’m also working on more socks. They are for the same WWFY swap that the red socks I recently made. They are striped knee socks, and here’s what the first one looks like so far:
I’m not crazy, so I’m knitting them one at a time and also carrying the unused color up the side (because otherwise I’d have like, 40 ends to weave in and… no. So yes. They’re progressing quite well and I’m enjoying the stockinette (with decreases and stripes to keep my interest).
I also recently began a sewing project that should be done later tonight, so there’s that to show too. : )
Yay, I finished a knitting thing! It’s these blasted red socks I’ve been working on forever.
Plus bonus fishnets! Because I like layering tights.
Pattern: Started out as Twisted, then I gave up and just made twisted rib socks.
Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Bugga!
Needles: US 1
Mods: None, since they’re just ribbed socks.
So, as I mentioned before, these are for a swap and I do not get to keep them. Which is disappointing, but they’re too big for me anyway as they’re for someone with larger feet than mine. The Bugga is, of course, lovely to knit with as usual, thanks to the delightful cashmere content and the squoosh factor of the plies. Yay.
Like I said, I started out knitting Twisted. That did not work out. I messed up the gusset then could work out how to modify the swoop for what I had and I didn’t want to pull out all of my gusset decreases, so I asked the person the socks are going to if I could finish them out in rib, and she said I could, so I did.
Of course, the twisted rib bit was a pain in the ass to knit. Any stitch pattern knit in the round that has more purls than knits is going to inherently be a pain in the ass. I HATE purling in the round. HATE. Especially when there are some knit stitches too. So these socks sucked to make, but they came out pretty well.
Still, I’m rather pleased they’re done. Now onto some striped knee socks for the same recipient and one last pair of shark mittens. Hurrah!
So, yes. I’ve been knitting. I’ve been working on a pair of socks for a WWFY swap:
Pattern is Twisted (from Knitty) in Bugga! That’s the cuff there and it’s FINALLY up to the heel flap. FINALLY. I’ve been working on these socks forever.
I’ve also been knitting shark mittens:
I’m trying a new yarn for the grey part (it’s Wool of the Andes, which is a bit thinner but it also cheaper and softer). It seems to be working out.
In other news, I think I’ve forgotten what it’s like to knit for myself.
So it snowed last night, and I participated in a snowball fight and made a snowman. It was dark though, so there aren’t any pictures. We still had class today though, but I made my own snow day and spent the morning finishing up some shark mittens:
That’s three pairs. I still have like four more to make, plus four pairs of socks.
So yeah. Knitting.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 