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So I’ve been accidentally radio silent for a bit. In my defense, it was finals weeks. Which is now over! Now I am officially free on winter break, which is full of TV watching and knitting and reading and generally bumming around. HELL YES. Which means I’ve had time to finish a thing that isn’t a pair of shark mittens:
Pattern: My own, but I might write it up cause it’s bitchin’.
Yarn: Some fluffy acrylic nonsense plus white acrylic and black cotton.
Needles: US 6/4 mm
Sorry for the crappy pictures. The view from my window today is this. It’s been raining since last night.
I made this hat on commission for a friend to give as a Christmas present to a friend of hers that really likes foxes. It’s based on this hat from Urban Outfitters. I think I did a pretty good job at copying it.
I really like how this hat came out. The floats where I changed colors are just a liiiiittle tight, but it’s totally still wearable. The fluffy yarn worked out perfectly, and I think the hat looks just like a fox. The yarn I used is a lighter orange than the UO hat, but I think foxes are actually pretty orange, so I made a good color choice.
The earflaps are in acrylic as well (the recipient has a wool allergy), so after I knit them, they were really curly and stiff and unpleasant looking. I took a change and brought out my iron and steam blocked the whole hat. As you can tell by the pictures, it worked out SO WELL. Seriously, why didn’t anyone ever tell me how magical steam blocking acrylic is? It’s much softer, lies flat, and the stitching is much looser, like a commercial knit. WONDERFUL.
So I daresay my friend’s friend will enjoy her Christmas present. I certainly had fun knitting it. : )
In other knitting news: I am still making shark mittens. So there’s that.
It’s been cold for the last couple of days and I’ve been itching to do some knitting that isn’t just scarves and rectangles. The result? I’ve cast on for two sweaters, only one of which I actually have enough yarn to make.
The first sweater I started is the Mrs. Darcy Cardigan. I’ve heard that the pattern is rife with error, but it’s really cute and I figure I can just wing it and see how it goes. I’m doing it in black with yarn I bought at the thrift store, so it will be really easy to match. I’ve finished the back and blocked it:
(Sorry the lighting is terrible; I didn’t feel like hauling a large piece of cardboard outside for a progress shot.) I’ve since put this aside in favor of another sweater.
On a recent trip to Walmart, I picked up four skeins of Bernat Softee Chunky on a whim (they were like, $1.50 each. Can you blame me?) and had no idea what to do with them. I wandered around Ravelry for a while and eventually stumbled upon this ballet-style wrap sweater from Lion Brand which uses bulky-weight yarn and large-ish needles, which I just happen to have. It also only calls for 500 yards of yarn, and I have about 600. Perfect. Here’s a progress shot, in the crappy lighting of my window sill:
It’s actually a solid grey color-not mottled at all, as it appears here.
I’ve also been working on various Christmas things, including a scarf in school colors (depressingly blue and grey, for Mary Washington) for a friend. Most of my Christmas presents will probably get done over winter break and will be given in January when I return for spring semester (mostly because I will have more time due to not have exams/class).
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 