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So, yesterday I had to run some errands around Fredericksburg (return some library books, buy a frying pan, locate part of my sister’s birthday present), and I swung by a thrift store I had not previously been to. Not only did I locate what I needed for my sister (a small photo album I’m going to turn into a ticket album–more on that later), but I also scored big in the craft department:
First, I found this lovely tan shrug from The Limited I’m going to frog.
Oh, why did I pick up this lovely little shrug?
That’s right– wool, angora, and CASHMERE. This is totally going to become a cozy cowl (and other things). Oh, and how much did I pay for this beauty?
BAM! A dollar, sucka!
I also picked up this mostly-felted argyle sweater (made of Shetland wool, as the tag says) that was also a dollar. I’m going to felt it further and turn it into a bag that I’ll either keep or sell. We’ll see how it turns out. : )
I also picked up ALL THIS FABRIC for under ten dollars. I KNOW. There’s a couple of fair sized pieces of canvas (I’d estimate about a quarter of a yard), some quarter-yard pieces of cotton fabric, and several yards of thin stretch knit that will probably become a dress at some point. There’s ALSO about a yard of the blue canvas-ish stuff, about a yard of veggie/garden fabric, and a couple yards of a pretty green sheerish fabric that will become a floaty summer skirt. And something else, cause there’s a fair amount. The best buy, in my opinion, was the two-ish yards of brown brocade-ish fabric. Not sure what I’ll do with that, but there’s enough for something substantial.
Yes. All of that for under ten bucks. I’m THRILLED. : )
Sooooo I claimed PheonixFireDesigns for hand knit house socks! And they are great.
Pattern: Get-Together Cable Socks
Yarn: Some vintage orange wool I got at the thrift store that I’ve had forever.
Needles: US 6/4 mm Knit Picks Options Circular
Mods: Knit toe-up, left out some of the cables. Basically, I took the k1 rib and the 2×2 cable and threw them into my own socks.
I like how these came out. : ) I absolutely despise the color, but despite that, they’re cute. I worked these two at a time on Magic Loop. I don’t hate the technique, but I don’t think I love it either. I almost certainly wouldn’t bother for fingering weight socks, but these took practically no time at all, so it wasn’t too bad. At the very least, I’m fortunate to have done these on my Knit Picks Options because if I were still working on those cheap Susan Boye circular needles, there’s no way I would have finished these magic loop. I love my bendy Knit Picks cables. : )
Pattern: Basic toe up socks.
Yarn: Ella Rae Solid and some random red wool I probably got at the thrift store.
Needles: US 7/4 mm Knit Picks Options circ
So I love these socks. And if they weren’t size 6.5 and knit specifically for the swap, I’d keep them for myself. As it is, I think I have enough yarn to knit another pair for myself anyway. They remind me of spiderman. : ) I have more of the red than the blue left over, so I think for mine, I’ll do one row of blue and two of red.
Anyway, I hope Phoenix likes her socks. I certainly do. : )
Whoo! I made it! I completed my sweater, steek, zipper and all, in under 17 days!
Pattern: EZ’s Icelandic Yoke Sweater (Rav link) from Knitting Workshop
Yarn: Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool in Oatmeal, Lion Wool in Purple and Dark Teal, and Ella Rae Classic in Navy.
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm Knit Picks Options and Susan Bates dpns
Mods: Made it me sized (more like 34″ instead of 38″ or 40″), left out the neck shaping, did a steek (only sort of a mod), added a zipper.
So…. this sweater. It was an adventure. The knitting wasn’t especially difficult at all, although I haven’t had as much practice at colorwork as I’d like, so my floats are a little tight and it’s a little puckery. But I still love it. It was my first time doing a steek and putting in a zipper, both of which were nerve-wracking. I wasn’t sure about the tension of my sewing machine, so I was sure the whole thing was going to unravel after I cut it. It didn’t though! The zipper was also difficult. I ended up sort of basting it on and then top stitching it in place. Not the neatest job ever and it’s a little wavy, but it’s in there and it fits and it’s great.
The sweater is still drying as I’m typing (I snapped photos while it was a little dark; I wanted to catch the light), but I think by tomorrow, it will be ready for wearing. Very exciting.
So who else got the gold?
…about this Ravelympics sweater thing. I steeked it. And it was scary. And I’m still not convinced the whole thing won’t unravel.
Before steek:
(Nice and safe.)
After steek:
(Holy Christ, it’s all gonna come apart.)
Hot hot steek action:
(I shouldn’t even touch it.)
Hot hot colorwork action:
(Awww yeah.)
Ahem. Anyway. So. Let’s snag a peek at the calendar. It’s Thursday, February 25. This sucker is supposed to be DONE on Sunday. Cast off, finished, caput. Wearable. And my thought on Tuesday, when I did the steek, was that it would be. Except for one thing.
I BOUGHT THE WRONG ZIPPER A MONTH AND A HALF AGO.
Cause I thought I could fiddle with it and make it work. I though I could fix one side of a regular zipper and make a separating zipper.
Turns out, you can’t.
So I have a sweater with an OPEN WOUND.
Fortunately, I was able to get to Walmart and get a new zipper. It’s not the color I wanted, but I suppose it’ll do. And it means I’ll still be able to get gold with my sweater. Cause that’s totally happening.
Look for a FO post on Saturday or Sunday cause this sucker is gonna be DONE.
I know all of you guys do. And I am all too willing to oblige:
One sleeve totally done and attached and the other sleeve up to my elbow. Which means I have about 8.5 more inches of sleeve to knit and I will finally be up to the colorwork. O hai thur, gold medal. You’re so gonna be mine.
So I claimed for another round of OWS, as I said before. This round, I claimed luckdragon for Domo-Kun fingerless mitts and some amiguruimi, both of which turned out to be for her daughter. So this is what I made:
Pattern: My own, which I based on pictures of mitts on Craftster.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in brown and some random red wool.
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
They’re cute. The eyes were a pain to sew on. The teeth are quilt batting since I didn’t have felt. They were also sort of a pain. Also, I tried out a new thumb gusset on these, and I think I’ll be using it from now on since it makes more sense.
And now the amigurumi (which I knitted, mostly):
Pattern: My own, which I made up mostly on the spot.
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US 4/whatever metric size that is
He’s a little top heavy, but super cute. I started him before the Ravelympics started, then took a break from my sweater on Saturday to finish him up. I like him. His body and head/trunk were knit in one piece, and I crocheted the ears and legs. It was much easier that way than dealing with five dpns to knit four little legs.
Pattern: My own, which I totally just made up.
Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Sole in Watercolor Stripes
Needles: US 1
He’s cute too, with his little button eyes. I took more pictures of him than the other things:
He likes to play the piano!
With his favorite movie!
HE WILL HAUNT YOUR DREAMS.
Or just be cute. Here’s one more:
Pattern: Monster Chunks, sort of. I made it up, but I based in on this pattern.
Yarn: Lily Sugar ‘n’ Cream in Hot Pink and Serendipity Tweed in Water Lily Leaves
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm dpns
I wasn’t going to do the teeth, but I cut them out and they looked so cute, so I left them in. : ) This little guy is my favorite.
So now I’m expecting two OWS packages (plus some various other things I’ve ordered which I’ll probably show you whenever they get there). One of them was sent out today. The other isn’t due for another week (though I haven’t heard from her either, even just about my address). I really dislike getting flaked on, but at least the people I sent to are productive swappers that don’t flake (as far as I know).
(By the way, here’s what the Rav sweater looks like today:)
Body is done up to the armpits. Now need to finish and attach the sleeves, then do the yoke. I am flyin’ through this baby.
Okay, not really. But the main crafty portion of the package I sent to spolowitz gave me some hell. I claimed her for a knitting project bag and a learn to spin kit.
First, there was a spindle and some roving, part of the stuff I ordered when I was first starting to spin:
And then there was a lovely little book of spinning instructions, which I drew and wrote by hand. The directions probably aren’t the best as I haven’t been spinning that long myself, but I tried, and I like how it came out, especially my little spindle diagrams:
And then there was this bag.
I tried to make a round-bottom bag with a lining and that turned out… poorly. For the sake of my sanity, we’ll leave it at that, but suffice it to say that it was bad. The finished version is cute though. I especially like the applique:
Yay, swappage.
PS: Here’s the Ravelympics sweater:
(I got bored with the long rounds and started a sleeve. The body is about halfway done (well, halfway to where I join the sleeves, anyway). It’s about 9″ long and I want it to be close to 17″.)
So I’ve decided that I will be participating in this year’s Ravelympics. The idea, as far as I know, started with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the Yarn Harlot) and involved completing some sort of fibery thing in the 17-odd days of the winter Olympics. The Ravelympics operates in the summer now too, but as the winter Olympics are what’s happening, that’s what I’m talking about.
There are various teams you can join (I’m on a team for sweater knitters) and there are a whole list of events. I’ve already decided what I’m going to attempt to finish, and it involves this pile o’ yarn:
That’s two skeins of Fisherman’s Wool in Oatmeal and various skeins of wool in other colors. And also a zipper. I’ve decided to do the Sweaterboard Cross, the Nordic Colorwork Combined, and the Stash Compulsory Dance (some of those various other skeins I’ve had for a while). I’m making a colorwork yoke sweater using EZ’s Icelandic Yoke Sweater with a zipper. And I’m gonna STEEK IT. And it might be scary. Anyway, it’s worsted weight, so it shouldn’t take me that long and I might finish. If I do, I’m throwing my hat into the Lace Luge and the WIP-dancing and attempt to finish Featherweight. I won’t, of course, but I’m hoping the extra motivation will encourage me to get some of it done.
My cast on time was nine p.m. yesterday (Friday, Feb. 12), and I did cast on. Between last night and my post today, I managed to get all the way through the ribbing of the bottom band and begin the miles of stockinette.
And here’s where my steek is going to happen:
(It’s even marked off by my pretty pretty star stitch markers from the quotes swap I did a while back.)
Yes. Exciting. I’m so getting gold. : )
Oh, and also, I have a couple other things to post (a scarf I was working on, some swap things), so I’ll have non-Ravelympics stuff to post about while I’m knitting away on my sweater, but I’ll be sure to include a shot of the sweater in those posts so you can see how I’m coming along (and if I appear to have any hope of success).
I’ve been knitting lots of small things lately, so it seems like every post recently has been a FO post. As such, here’s another small thing I finished:
Pattern: My own. I’m thinking of writing it up mostly because I like the decreases.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, about half a skein
Needles: US 7/4.5
I made this hat for Joe, the boyfriend, because the previous hat I made him was acrylic and did not cover his ears. Since he only wears it in the snow (I swear, it’s like he doesn’t cold–it’s a curse, being a knitter dating such a person), earflaps are a good thing. I can’t imagine he’ll wear it often, but at least I know that he will if it’s cold enough. And that he likes it. : )
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I love Cascade Yarns. This was my first time using the 220 Superwash (even though I’ve had it in the stash since probably June), and I LOVE it. It’s a little pricey for me to use a lot (poor college student, you know), but it is all kinds of soft. And superwash! It was so wonderful to knit with. And I have half the ball left. Not sure what I’m going to make yet, but whatever it is will be enjoyable.
And as for my pattern: As I said, I’m considering writing it up and offering it as a free/cheap (like a dollar or two cause I’m a college student and am poor. See above note about poorness) pattern. If you want to test knit, shoot me a comment with your email, an email, or a Rav pm (link in the sidebar). If you need convincing, look at the pretty decreases:
(In the pattern I’m writing up, the ribs will go all the way to the center. I just got lazy when I was knitting this for Joe.)
Anyway, coming up, there are swap things and a scarf thing I’ve been working on in between the small projects. And then there’s the Ravelympics, which I am doing. More about that later. : )
Pattern: French Press Felted Slippers, available for purchase on Ravelry.
Yarn: Ella Rae Classic, about a skein and a half.
Needles: US 15/10 mm Knit Picks Options
Mods: I think I knit them as written?
So… this was really my first experience with felting, though that’s not even the problem with these. The first one came out the proper size from the washing machine. It needed to be felted a little more, which I did by hand, but it wasn’t difficult. I had to cut a triangle out of the toe to make it smaller and fit better, but it came out alright.
The other one… hoo boy, let me tell you about the other one. First, I wasn’t paying attention when I was knitting it, so all of the pieces came out too big. Then it didn’t felt as much as the other one in the washer/dryer, so I had to felt it by hand more. THEN, even when I felted it as much as I could, it was still too big, so I had to Frankenstein it and chop the slipper in half and resew it back together smaller:
(It’s deceptively well-hidden. Felt is pretty forgiving.)
Yeah. AND THEN they still didn’t work right, so I had to sew a Frankenstein seam in the heel. AND THEN I had the hardest time getting the strap straight. And when I finally got the strap straight and the button on, I realized I SEWED THE STRAP ON BACKWARDS. Rip out, redo. And when I finally get the whole thing put together, Frankenstein seams and everything, it looks like this:
It’s functional but ridiculous. I guess I’ve never really had an epic knitting fail or a too-big sweater or whatever, so it’s about time. I’ll definitely be making this pattern again, but I’ll be paying closer attention to the row counts so they come out a proper size.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 