All of a sudden it seems I have completed a lot of projects, and when I say a lot of projects, what I really mean is that I completed one project of long standing, a simple project with four items and a fiddly project with multiple fiddly bits.
The project of long standing was a pair of socks for my father-in-law. I'm not sure why they took me so long - according to my Ravelry page, I started them four months ago! The pattern did require fairly close attention, as it was just knits and purls and I never seemed to be able to memorize it. I also used size 0 needles, which aren't really that much smaller than size 1, but it sure felt like it some days. Anyway, they're finished and I can't wait to give them him when I see him in a couple weeks.
The simple four-item project was another Fair Isle hat & legwarmers with matching mittens. This time I used University of Louisville colors (or pick your school with red, white & black) in Cascade 220 Superwash. The knitting went very quickly as it was worsted-weight and I'd already made this set at least twice. I think the hat took two hours at most, the legwarmers about 90 minutes each, and the mittens maybe 3 hours, just because the i-cord was a little tedious. I still haven't decided whether I'm going to add a pompon to it - I think I'll make one up and see how it looks.
The last project, the fiddly one, was a black-faced sheep and his shirt, kilt, and sporran. Last post, I wrote about how I ran out of yarn for both the shirt and the kilt. Since then, new yarn arrived and I was able to complete those bits. Once those were done, I started thinking about how I was going to make the sporran. The pattern called for knitting up a blank, felting it by hand in really hot water, and then cutting out the pieces. As I'm not a big fan of hand felting, I bought some crafting felt, cut out the pieces, and glued them together with my glue gun. (I was pretty excited about this, as I haven't had an opportunity to use it in a long time!) Once I'd assembled the sporran, I found some perl cotton and crocheted a little chain to tie it around the sheep's waist. I've decided (with the help of some friends) that his name is Angus Shepherdsbain. We suspect that he'd be a pretty charming guy (you can see for yourself how handsome he is), frequently escaping through the fence to meet up with the lassies at the next farm, and forcing the shepherd to go looking for him well after his suppertime. He's clearly a mischief maker.
As for beginnings, I've started thinking about Kentucky State Fair stuff. For this year's Fair, I'll be entering my lopi sweater, the UofL hat set, and our loveable scamp, Angus. Next year's Fair is a completely different story. I'll be eligible for the sweepstakes points prize next year, so I'm hoping to submit an item in each category and see how many points I can rack up. There are 16 categories (4 of them for adult sweaters), so I have a lot of work to do in the next year.
In that vein, I've cast on for next year's first project, a baby sweater. It's the Archie vest from Kristen Rengren's Vintage Baby Knits book. I've had my eye on this pattern for a long while, and now that I have plenty of superwash sock yarn, I can make it without purchasing any. I've just gotten the bottom band to the right length, so I'll post update in future posts. I expect that the colorwork will go pretty smoothly - I just have to check my math and make sure the pattern is centered and pretty.
Well, that's almost all I've got for tonight. Until next time, Friends.
The project of long standing was a pair of socks for my father-in-law. I'm not sure why they took me so long - according to my Ravelry page, I started them four months ago! The pattern did require fairly close attention, as it was just knits and purls and I never seemed to be able to memorize it. I also used size 0 needles, which aren't really that much smaller than size 1, but it sure felt like it some days. Anyway, they're finished and I can't wait to give them him when I see him in a couple weeks.
The simple four-item project was another Fair Isle hat & legwarmers with matching mittens. This time I used University of Louisville colors (or pick your school with red, white & black) in Cascade 220 Superwash. The knitting went very quickly as it was worsted-weight and I'd already made this set at least twice. I think the hat took two hours at most, the legwarmers about 90 minutes each, and the mittens maybe 3 hours, just because the i-cord was a little tedious. I still haven't decided whether I'm going to add a pompon to it - I think I'll make one up and see how it looks.
The last project, the fiddly one, was a black-faced sheep and his shirt, kilt, and sporran. Last post, I wrote about how I ran out of yarn for both the shirt and the kilt. Since then, new yarn arrived and I was able to complete those bits. Once those were done, I started thinking about how I was going to make the sporran. The pattern called for knitting up a blank, felting it by hand in really hot water, and then cutting out the pieces. As I'm not a big fan of hand felting, I bought some crafting felt, cut out the pieces, and glued them together with my glue gun. (I was pretty excited about this, as I haven't had an opportunity to use it in a long time!) Once I'd assembled the sporran, I found some perl cotton and crocheted a little chain to tie it around the sheep's waist. I've decided (with the help of some friends) that his name is Angus Shepherdsbain. We suspect that he'd be a pretty charming guy (you can see for yourself how handsome he is), frequently escaping through the fence to meet up with the lassies at the next farm, and forcing the shepherd to go looking for him well after his suppertime. He's clearly a mischief maker.
As for beginnings, I've started thinking about Kentucky State Fair stuff. For this year's Fair, I'll be entering my lopi sweater, the UofL hat set, and our loveable scamp, Angus. Next year's Fair is a completely different story. I'll be eligible for the sweepstakes points prize next year, so I'm hoping to submit an item in each category and see how many points I can rack up. There are 16 categories (4 of them for adult sweaters), so I have a lot of work to do in the next year.
In that vein, I've cast on for next year's first project, a baby sweater. It's the Archie vest from Kristen Rengren's Vintage Baby Knits book. I've had my eye on this pattern for a long while, and now that I have plenty of superwash sock yarn, I can make it without purchasing any. I've just gotten the bottom band to the right length, so I'll post update in future posts. I expect that the colorwork will go pretty smoothly - I just have to check my math and make sure the pattern is centered and pretty.
Well, that's almost all I've got for tonight. Until next time, Friends.
