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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.
A couple of days ago, I finished the hat that matches the Kitty Hawk mitts I made.
Pattern: Kitty Hawk
Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Oak Timberworm and Oleander Hawk Moth.
Needles: US 2 and US 4.
Mods: None, knit as written
So this hat was a lot of fun to knit. It has a really interested construction, and it goes by REALLY quickly. Each of the panels for the top were done in roughly an hour each (I knit them in class; the front and back took a little longer than the sides). I sort of used mattress stitch to sew everything together, but the top seam looks a lot better than the side seams.
When I finished the hat, I showed it to my boyfriend (as I do, and also because I intend to make the hat for myself eventually), and he wasn’t crazy about the shape or the points at the top. I personally LOVE the shape–it’s so interesting and it’s different from the usual rounded top hat. It’ll definitely stand out in a crowd. I can’t wait til I have a moment to knit for myself. I want to make this hat (in addition to a million other things I want to knit for myself).
Til then, it’s shark mittens and socks for other people.
Heeeey, remember that sweater I was making for my boyfriend’s birthday? Well, I finally finished and photographed it. Over a month after it was supposed to be done (the boy’s birthday was December 9). But now it is done!
Pattern: EZ’s Seamless Hybrid
Yarn: Six skeins of Knit Picks Comfy Bulky plus a skein of Comfy sport and half a skein of Comfy fingering, all in Planetarium.
Needles: US 9/5.5 mm
Mods: It’s a very basic sweater pattern. None.
So this sweater… it was an adventure. I started out with high hopes. “It’s in bulky weight!” I thought in October. “It’ll take no time at all!”
And then I ran out of yarn. Six skeins is apparently not enough for a man-sized sweater. So I contacted Knit Picks, the ISO forums, mentioned it in-blog. Nothing. One person had half a skein, which wasn’t gonna cut it. Knit Picks apparently DISCONTINUED the Planetarium line of Comfy Bulky. IDEK. I ended up ordering a skein of Comfy Fingering and two skeins of Comfy sport and using half of it to finish the sweater. Fortunately, the gauge is very similar.
It turns out, though, that six skeins might have been enough after all. It’s a bit too big on Joe, as you can possibly see. I think it’ll shrink in the wash (it’s mostly cotton) and it’ll fit, but I originally knit the sleeves way too long and there was a lot of waste as I picked out the cast on edge and tried to ravel up (apparently decreases will NOT frog in either direction and will, in fact, make you cry sad, sad tears).
Overall, though, despite all the struggles with this sweater, I think it came out well. Joe likes it, and that’s what matters to me, really. He loves cotton, and the sweater is indeed very soft and smooth. Knit Picks Comfy is a pretty good line of yarn–I have a sweater made out of the worsted weight. The first sweater, I actually ever designed, Lilith, which I still wear pretty often.
Anyway, a very happy (belated) birthday to my love, Joe. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go back to knitting a hundred pairs of shark mittens (I got a ton more orders yesterday).
As I mentioned the other day, I am currently working on the hat that matches the Kitty Hawk mitts I recently finished. I’m using the same yarn (Bugga!). The hat has a really interesting construction technique: You knit the hat band (in the round like a stockinette scarf knit in the round) then pick up stitches for a front panel, back panel, and side arch panels, finally seaming the panels together to form the crown of the hat. I think it’s turning out super cute so far:
That’s the back of the band and the back panel (about 1.5 repeats of five done). I have to do some creative stitching to clean up the back seam (the directions should direct you to graft it but it doesn’t), but other than that, I think it looks nice. Here’s what the front looks like:
It curled something awful when I was done knitting the band, but HOLY GOD STEAM BLOCKING IS AMAZING. I’m pretty sure I’ve extolled the virtues of steam blocking before, but let me just say again: AMAZING. You lay out your knitting, hold a hot iron over it, push the steam button and push everything into place. And then it is DONE and it is BLOCKED. No waiting forever for it to dry. No pinning. No desperate squeezing to get excess water. Steam and DONE.
Amazing.
So the other day I took a couple hours off from knitting because I was sick of shark mittens and I wanted a different sort of project. So I whipped out my Styrofoam mannequin head, my collection of yarn labels, and a container of mod podge, and a couple of hours (and MANY little bits of dried mod podge everywhere), the result was this:
I’d been planning this project for a while, at least generally. I’d been saving my yarn labels to decoupage something, and I’m really pleased with how the mannequin head came out.
Now, instead of just a prop for modeling hats, it’s also a decorative conversation piece. : ) The making of the thing was pretty simple–glue on labels, smooth down, coat with mod podge. I originally tried to use an old credit card, but that wasn’t really working on a rounded surface, so instead I just used my fingers. It was super messy (I was COVERED in mod podge), but it was effective. The mess wasn’t helped by my upending the bottle of mod podge all over the floor (glad that stuff dries clear), but it was fun nonetheless.
In knitting news, I am still doing it. Though thankfully, not shark mittens. I am almost finished with a pair of Kitty Hawk mitts, and I just started the matching hat. It’s cute, but I’ll be pleased when I’m done with it.
Don’t worry, dear readers, I have indeed been knitting. I’ve been knitting a lot. It just so happens that I’ve been knitting the same thing over and over and over. I’ve been working on approximately a million pairs of shark mittens. Here’s a pair I finished this morning:
Same yarn I always use, Cascade Eco, and some red Valley Northampton for the mouth. They went pretty quickly and were mostly unremarkable. Fortunately, I only have one more pair to knit and then I can start working on other things. Other swap things. I can’t wait to be knitting for myself again.
A non-shark mittens thing I have been doing is some stashing of yarn. I had to order some more yarn for my boyfriend’s birthday sweater (which is still not done), but Knit Picks is discontinuing the Planetarium colorway of Comfy Bulky (why, I have no idea) but I ordered some comfy sport and some comfy fingering to hold together to finish the sweater, which will hopefully work. Since I was already paying shipping and I like yarn, I also threw in some sock yarn:
Stroll in Shoreline Twist (which is Ravenclaw colors, which will result in bitchin’ Ravenclaw socks)
Stroll Handpainted in Tea Party
I also recently bought a couple wool sweaters at the thrift store to unravel for the yarn. I finished the first one yesterday, resulting in four skeins of a very pretty red worsted yarn:
It’s about 514 yards, most of which will most likely be used for mouth parts of shark mittens. But maybe something else. The sweater was like, four dollars, so I’m thinking this was a pretty good deal. I washed another sweater this afternoon, an undyed beige, and once that dries, I’ll have some more yarn to unravel (and also dye). Yay!
So… yeah. Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been on vacation this week (since last Thursday and through Saturday) and haven’t had a lot of blog fodder. But I hope everyone had/is having a lovely holiday. Mine’s been pretty low-key so far, lots of shopping and resting, and my boyfriend and I are currently going through the Joss Whedon show Dollhouse (I’ve seen all it of it; he hasn’t; I think it’s brilliant and I love it).
I’ve been knitting, but mostly shark mittens. I currently have I believe three more pairs to knit, and then I have a bit of a break. Still lots of WWFY/swap knitting though. I recently received a package that had been sent to my house in like, September for a WWFY swap so now I have two pairs of socks to add to the queue. Fun. Like I said before though, once I’ve finished this round of swapping, I’m going to take a break and knit for ME ME ME.
I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year’s tomorrow. I’m attending a costume party (a fairy tale-themed murder mystery party) as Little Bo Peep. It should be lots of fun. : ) And as for resolutions, I don’t really have any other than to do better and be happy. How about you? What are your resolutions?
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 