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So if you read the subject, you’ll know what I’ve been up to lately in the craft world. Mostly, I’ve been working on my Girl Friday sweater, which now has half a sleeve:
I also started spinning the superwash merino I got from my boyfriend for my birthday:
(Yes, it’s hella pretty)
My goal for this is about 400 yards of a fingering weight single. I’d like to make a shawl, probably something Ishbel-like (with a stockinette section and a lace edging). I might even just buy the Ishbel pattern and knit that.
So that’s what I’m working on currently. I also just finished a pair of fingerless mitts, but I’m going to wait on showing those to you because I want to at least mail them first. But they’re really pretty. : ) Knit Picks Palette in Fog and Heart and Sole in Spring Stripes (I was seriously worried I wasn’t going to have enough contrast color, but I did).
Pattern: Toe up socks. Short row heel. And I threw some cables on the foot.
Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Sole, Watercolor Stripes
Needles: US 1
So I finished the cabled socks I was working on. Once I got the yarn, the second sock took like, two days to knit up. Win. They fit pretty well, though one is a lot more snug than the other. As for the yarn… I like Red Heart’s sock yarn. It’s cheap and it’s no-frills. What I don’t like about this particular batch is the colors. I dunno. I don’t like this colorway. It was really pretty in the skein but it looks kind of crappy knit up. Which is unfortunate, since I LOVE the Spring Stripes colorway (in a shawl I made) and the Toasted Almond colorway (the last socks I made). I’ll just avoid this one in the future. **shrug**
Anyway, I know I said after I finished the socks I’d go back to Girl Friday, but I joined another round of Ongoing Wish Swap over on Craftster, so I’ll be knitting some wristwarmers for that before I go back to the sweater. The mitts are super cute though, and I will definitely have pictures of them when they are finished. : ) Stay tuned!
As anyone who knows me will attest to, I have a serious love for baby knits. They’re small and quick, they don’t take much time and they’re SO CUTE. So when my friend Sarah told me her cousin was having a baby (the shower being this weekend) and asked if I would be interested in a commission from her for several baby things, I jumped at the chance. Also cause it meant I got to buy nice sock yarn. : )
So here’s what I came up with:
Pattern: Top Down Bonnet with Anime Character
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: US 3/3.25 mm (or whatever the metric is)
Mods: I followed the size for the child using a smaller yarn and needles, hoping it would come out about baby sized. I think I accomplished that. I also, obviously, left off the face features.
Pattern: Mostly an amalgamation of various baby sock patterns. Mostly I made it up. No idea when they’ll fit the kid but I imagine they will at some point. Also, I did one cuff down (I started with a pattern) then did the other toe up, as I prefer. Both have a wedge toe and short row heel.
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: US 1
Pattern: Steggie Bib
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Lime
Needles: US 6/4 mm, which made for a super squishy and wonderful seed stitch.
Mods: Changed the icord ties to crochet chain/single crochet because it was faster that the icord would have been.
I totally love this bib. The pattern was fun, it’s super cute, and the cotton-ease is SO wonderful and squishy on the 4mm needles.
Anyway, I hope the parents-to-be like the things I made for Sarah to give to her cousin. At the very least, they were lots of fun to make.
So I finished spinning the green BFL I got from lapoli in a recent OWS.
(Sorry for the crappy webcam shots… the camera pics DID NOT come out well at all.)
It was lots of fun to spin, though plying seemed to take forever, I only had a very tiny amount of singles left too. Going from hank to ball kind of sucked cause it was sticky and a little fuzzy, but the resulting yarn is great, though I’m not entirely sure what to knit with it yet. I thought cowl, but that wouldn’t use it all, and I kind of what something largish to show off the pretty colors. And the fact that my spinning has gotten much more even.
(Yes, I’m very silly.)
It’s a 2-ply sport weight (though in some spots it goes down to fingering or up to dk). I managed to get about 430 yards, so it’s enough for a substantial project. I’m beginning to think maybe lace tam or smallish shawl. If I use large needles, I can stretch the yardage even more.
I love how this yarn came out. : ) I can’t wait to start knitting it.
In non-crafty news, I am back at school, and I’m totally thrilled about it. Classes start today and while I’ve gotten a specific “NO KNITTING” from one of them (it was written ON THE SYLLABUS), but it’s fine in the other four classes I have(one I went to today and three with professors I had last semester who didn’t mind). So knitting will be happening. Currently, I’m working on some stuff for a friend. Her cousin is having a baby shower next weekend, and she asked me to knit some things for it. So I am. I am more than halfway done (I finished a hat and one sock and have another sock and a bib to knit still), so that should be happening soon. And then there’s that sweater, which needs sleeves, a good stern blocking and a button band/collar. Yay!
So I’m knitting a sweater. It looks like this:
(Well, it’s a little farther than that now–I finished one of the fronts too.)
It’s Girl Friday from the Fall 09 Knitty. The yarn is Valley Northampton, which was originally earmarked for a Berocco pattern, Mayer. I didn’t really care for the waffle stitch, though, and the ribbing was written oddly–it has you cast on for a ton of stitches then just says “decrease 45 stitches evenly” across a 118 stitch row. No thank you. Frogged and debated over other cardigans before settling on this one. I think it will be nice. I am changing a few things though, most notably the lace pattern. I don’t really care for the purl stitch tabs, so I’m changing all the purls to knits. Makes my wrong side rows nice and easy–they’re just purled all the way across.
I’m knitting the smallest size, even though my bust measurement is 32″, and not the 29″ that is the smallest age. The designer says the lace is stretchy and I presume it’ll open up when it gets the severe blocking I’m planning for it though, and I’m going for negative ease anyway. I’m hoping for a longish sweater coat style that I can wear as a jacket or under my winter coat or when I’m chilly (kind of like how I wear my owls cardigan). I’m highly looking forward to wearing it. : )
Here’s something I do not have on the needles:
It’s a sock. Yep, one sock. One little cabled ankle sock. Why am I showing you this sock, and not a pair of socks in an FO post when I usually don’t bother with WIP posts? Because it’s only one sock. And it will be a while before the second sock is completed. Why is this?
Cause I freakin’ lost the rest of the yarn.
Yeah. I brought the socks to knit at Seaworld in lines and such when I was in Florida over Christmas and New Years. I finished the first sock in a line for a roller coaster (the new Manta, which, by the way, is AWESOME) and must have left my fanny pack open somewhere in the park and the ball rolled out. I mean, I bought the yarn at Michael’s with a 40% off coupon so it was only like, $3.50 and it’s definitely not difficult to find more, but I’m totally bummed because of the rigmarole. It’s doable, just annoying.
So that’s what I’m knitting. In addition to that Featherweight Cardi which is taking FOREVER. It’s definitely not my only project. I don’t think I could ever be in a serious, monogamous relationship with a cardigan knit in lace weight yarn in stockinette. Can you say boring? The finished thing will be awesome… I just have to finish knitting the damn thing.
The pattern for the Jurassic Mittens is available for purchase through Ravelry! (Ravelry account not required for download.)
Jurassic Mittens: US $6.50
Included in the pattern are directions to make the following dino mittens:
– Triceratops
– Stegosaurus
– T-Rex
Sizes: Children’s S (Children’s L, Adult) Shown in Adult
Children’s S: Ages approx. 5-7, 5” palm circumference
Children’s L: Ages approx. 8-10, 6” palm circumference
Adult: Should fit most adult hands, measures approx. 8” around palm, length is to fit.
Finished measurements: 6” (7”, 8”) (palm circumference)
Gauge: 5 sts/7 rows per inch stockinette
Yarn Required:
MC: 150-200 yards worsted/aran weight yarn, green (sample used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride)
CC: 20 yards worsted weight yarn, red (sample used Ella Rae Classic)
CC2: 10 yards worsted weight yarn, off-white (sample used reconned thrift store sweater yarn)
CC3: 4 yards worsted weight yarn, white (sample used Lily Sugar ‘N’ Cream)
You will also need:
-Set of 5 US 7/4.5 dpn’s
-Stitch marker
-Stitch holder or waste yarn
So I claimed sunspotted for a Calorimetry, some hair things, and some scrapbook paper.
Pattern: the ubiquitous Calorimetry
Yarn: Cascade Eco Wool, Coffee
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm metal straights
Mods: CO 88, fewer short rows, closed up some of the holes.
Here are the hair pins I made:
They’re glued and sewn onto bobby pins and they were kind of a bitch to make, but they’re cute, I think. I had a hard time getting the bobby pins to stay in the glue straight. It was a learning experience, at least.
There were also a couple sheets of scrapbook paper, but you don’t need to see those.
Coming soon: A couple more swap things. Some knitting. And the dino mittens pattern!
Pattern: My own, which will be available for sale… soonish. I need to knit a steg mitten.
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride in Kiwi, Ella Rae Classic in Red, scraps of white Sugar ‘N’ Cream
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
So these are finally finished and gifted to the boyfriend for a birthday/early Christmas gift. They came out really well, I think, and he loves them. : ) I suspect there will be epic dino vs. shark battles this winter (especially since I might knit my sister a pair of one dino and one shark for Christmas).
As for the pattern: It’s mostly finished because the base mitten is the same as the sharks. Really, the only thing that’s holding it back from being done is that I have to knit up a stegasaurus both because I need to knit the plates to write up a pattern and because I want some pictures of a steg to put in the pattern.
So I’m sort of working on it. I suspect it’ll be available sometime in the next month (cause I’m home for winter break).
Coming up more immediately: Swap stuff. I’m spinning away. A couple of finished knits. You know.
It’s been a stash-building couple of weeks. Last week, there was the green roving from the Ongoing Wish Swap (which I’m already halfway through spinning). Then, for my birthday, it was a fiber-pallooza! First, there was this wonderful handdyed green fingering weight:
(Unplanned Peacock Studios, Superwash Merino Fingering, Frog colorway, 100g)
It was a lovely birthday present from my good friends Jon and Sarah. (Thanks, you two!)
Then there was this GORGEOUS merino superwash roving from Fiber Optic on Etsy, from my fantastic, amazing boyfriend:
And THEN there was a new spindle! Whoo! Also from my fantastic boyfriend. : )
(Faux Jade whorl, .9 oz, from KnotMyDayJob on Etsy; yes I had to test it out.)
And then there were the Ravelry destashes. Let me give you a word of advice: Do NOT browse the destash board at two a.m. when you can’t sleep. It is BAD for your bank account. Exhibit A:
Crown Mountain Fiber Farm, In the Skies colorway, 8 oz.
Exibit B:
Regia Silk sock yarn.
Exibit C:
Five skeins of Knit Picks Palette.
So… yes. Stash-hance.
Alright, y’all, the pattern for Geometric Spirals is up and ready! Since it includes a chart, I’m not going to post it here like I did for Lilith and the Tissue Cozy. This means you’ll have to mosey on over to Ravelry to pick up the pdf. Deets/Link below.
Geometric Spirals
A free pattern, available for download.
Yarn: 100-150 yards worsted weight in MC and 30 yards in CC
Needles: US 8/5 mm dpns and 16″ circular needle
You will also need a tapestry needle and a stitch marker.
Finished size: To fit 20″-23″ head (should fit most adult heads)
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 