Monday, December 31, 2007

Christmas Hangover

Here is what I have been working on. Firstly the FO. An IPod cozy for M. I am really happy with how it turned out and I love the fact the he wanted the funky lime buttons. This is the first time he has wanted/asked for anything knitted. The lighting isn't great in the photos with this being winter it's dark when he's home so no sunlight. I used a tiny bit of three colors of Cascade 220, blue, black, and reddish brown. It's just a 2x2 rib with the button flap holes made by well placed yo k2togs. He really liked it. I could change it up pretty easily if I wanted something

a little different. I'm still thinking on how to add a pocket for ear buds with out having to do any sewing. He didn't want a pocket on his so it wasn't an issue for him.



Here are woodins or at least they will be once they are felted, have eyes and tails and stuffing. I made them in different colors. Three colors as a matter of fact I must have a thing for threes. We have a green woodin, two white woodins and two brown woodins The white and brown woodins will have the leaf tails and the green woodin will have a twig tail. They were going to be for A for xmas, but obviously they didn't make it. I'm just going to give them to her when I finish the set. The last part of the knitting is....


the log that they live in. I know it looks just like a hollow log doesn't it. I'm getting ready to switch it to some circular needles since it keeps trying to jump off my dpns in my knitting bag. I have made a few modifications to the pattern on the woodins. Mine are different heights due to leg length. I wanted them to be more unique. I also used Knit Picks wool of the Andes instead of Elann.com Peruvian Highland Wool that the pattern called for. The bonus was that I had to order a book to make free shipping. You know 'cause I saved money that way. I would have gotten the book anyway eventually.

Friday, November 02, 2007

"Bob"bles and Cables


Here he is in his sweater. He is lying there because of the sweater. Bob wouldn't actually walk with it on, only crawl a little. I'm glad it's done and he's glad the photos are done so he doesn't have to wear it any longer.

A's socks are coming along nicely and I have a hankerin' to make myself some more socks. I've been wearing the pair I finished last year quite a bit and wish they fit better. They are a little big. I have thought about frogging them and starting over, but I think I'll make a new pair first and see how I feel.

I'm going to be out in the cold tomorrow night and now I wish I could knit faster. Mittens would be really helpful and all I have are some thin gloves. Really what I would like is fingerless gloves that have flip up mitten tops. I just don't have that kind of time at the speed I knit. Oh well, I guess that's what pockets are for.

The sweater is also further along. I had a dream about spinning the other night. The gist of it seemed to be that I need to spin more so I can get better. Probably good advice.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Catching up

Okay so I've been back from vacation for a few months and thought wow I should really post something. I finally got my Ravelry invite. I've uploaded a few pictures there. There has also been some knitting, quite a bit of it for me actually.

Here is the Notre Dame


That's the back and I've actually started the front. Good thing I live somewhere that stays warm until January. Well, November, at least. I'm hoping to have it done before the really cold (insert chuckling here) weather arrives.

For some reason lately the idea of moving is hard to push out of my head. I know that it probably won't happen since M wants to be close to his folks. I haven't figured that one out since we don't do much for them and they don't listen to our advice, but what can you do. Weather that isn't hot or windy sounds really appealing right now. I could even live with rain if the people were a little less zealotous. Yeah I made that word up, but you know what it means don't you. All this restlessness has resulted in a very clean house.

We also have more socks for A.
They are actually several inches longer than this, but I'm too lazy to take a picture right now.

There was dyeing of roving. I still need to spin it up. I'm going to take some pictures before and after I spin it since it is the first time I've done hand painted yarn rather than pot dyeing. Hopefully it will end up sock weight since that is what I want to make with it.

I also went to a fiber event and only purchased some books, soap, and a little bit of alpaca roving. Pretty good I think.

Lastly, I am going to attempt to make a cat sweater for the Crazy Aunt Purl contest. We'll see how Bob feels about it. He is usually game for most stuff for a few minutes at least. If I get it on him I'll post a pic.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Summer time

Or what I did on my Summer Vacation. This would be misleading though since I don't leave for vacation for a couple of days and I hope to get lots of knitting done since we will be driving around a bit. Here is the first.

Which became this.
EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket. Knit in Berroco Touche. Modifications: none except that instead of buttons I used I cord. Oh, I also followed the instruction on the knit wiki to avoid color "blips". This picture is pre-blocking and, of course, I forgot to take a picture after I washed it before I sent it off. I do this a lot with gift knitting. This was a gift for a friend of M's who happens to be married to a knitter. Who better to appreciate a knitted baby gift and it's machine washable, a first baby must.

What you ask will I be knitting on vacation. Why this of course.


Particulars: Notre Dame De Grace by Veronik Avery Interweave Knits Summer '07
Yarn: Reynolds, Andean Alpaca Regal in Color 2 (Light Heather Grey)

I am also going to bring some socks to work on. We'll see if I can pull myself away from the sweater. I won't even be able to wear the darn thing until December or January with the way our weather has been this year. We've had an unusually cool summer (barely in the 90s) which usually means a very long warm fall. Not that it gets cold enough to wear alpaca here to begin with.

I'll post pics of the knitting when I get back. I may even get a photo of the BSJ with an actual baby in it. I'm not sure if it fits the baby so we'll see.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Rainy Spring

Well, I finished A's socks and have ordered yarn for two sweaters. Sweaters for me. I have knit many things, but never real life adult size sweaters. I am going to try and get ahead of the game for A socks for next winter over the summer. Surely with swim lessons and park dates etc., I will have time to knock out a couple of pairs.

One of the sweaters I want to make is a summer sweater. Something lacy to wear over tanks and summer shirts so that I won't be cold in restaurants. I haven't found anything like what I want so I am going to have to design it. Having never made or designed a sweater I have a feeling this will be a challenge. I'm going to see how the yarn is first and then figure out the sweater. I'll post pics of the socks and more about the sweaters when the yarn gets here.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Wow! has it really been that long?

I keep meaning to post and then getting distracted. Easy enough I guess. My Xmas projects are done and I didn't take any pictures. I can tell you about them though.

For Dad's leg warmers I ended up using Knit Picks Swish in Truffle. (Don't know what that sock weight yarn I picked originally was all about.) It is a superwash Merino worsted weight. They went pretty quickly and unlike when I make socks one at a time they ended up the same size. Perhaps because I finished them in less than a month. The pattern is just in my head a simple 3x1 rib with increases at the knee and again at the thigh. They are close fitting so he can wear them under his pants and still be comfortable.

Mom's green stripey socks turned out great. She even got them on her birthday, last week. You know cause that's when they were done. I was very excited they fit her so well. Plain stockinette foot with a 3x2 rib leg. I still haven't figured out what size my feet are and I don't care for the fit of the last pair of socks I made for me. I'm going to use the same formula for my next pair that I used on hers. I have also decided that I really like the metric system and the USA is crazy for not using it. How many times do I need to convert .4 inches to 2/5 and then try to locate that on my tape measure? It's one frickin' centimeter.

Currently I am making socks for A. She decides periodically that she doesn't like the seam in commercial socks. While I can understand this I don't think it is actually physically painful and deserving of tears. I am wrong. It only seems to be an irritant about every two weeks. Hopefully, if I can manage to have two or three pairs of socks without seams for her she can wear those on the days the seam is a nuisance/painful. She may not be rational, but she has the smallest feet in the family so I don't really mind.

I have realized that since I like making socks that seems to be what I think of to make for everyone. In fact the yarn originally purchase for Dad's leg warmers (Essential Solid in Dusk) is now destined to be socks for my brother. The only person who requests knitted or hand made items other than A is my dad so he ends up with variety, mittens, leg warmers. Perhaps I should make my brother a blanket or something, but not out of the sock yarn.

Lace is still on my mind if not on my needles. I purchased some crochet cotton to practice with. A friend loaned me a book so I can design my own lace. I even found a pattern online for a 1940s doily and coaster set that looks interesting. Now I just need to jump in and start. Perhaps after I finish sewing A's jammies...