It's a vicious cycle, using up leftovers.

So last post I showed you the cute baby blankie I made for my new nephew (who is now a couple weeks old and as cute as can be!). Once I finished the blanket, there was plenty of yarn left over, so I thought I'd try using it up.

The first project was a wee sheep hat for a charity's silent auction - our group had a cute little baby fingerprint kit thing, but we needed to beef up the basket, so I made the hat. I only needed to purchase one skein of green yarn, no biggie. Once I finished the hat I thought it would be nice to make some wee mittens to match it, so I cast right on. Sadly, I ran out of the cream colored yarn after the first mitten, so I had to go right back to the shop for some more. And, just my luck, they didn't have any. Nor did the other two shops in town, so I ordered it online and hoped it would arrive in time for me to complete the mittens in time for the auction. It didn't.

While I was waiting for the new yarn to arrive, I thought I'd try out another pattern from the book with the sheep hat. The Fair Isle hat and leg warmers pattern looked like a good one to help me use up some of the yarn I had, so I cast on and mere hours later, I'd finished a cute little hat. The leg warmers went pretty quickly too. I had enough of the green, brown and tan yarn left to make some mittens to match the others, so I did those too, which worked out just right. I've since sent the set out to my new nephew.

I thought I give the same set another try, with the orange, black, and white yarn leftover from the blankie. I was able to finish the hat and mittens according to the pattern, but I ran out of orange before I could finish the legwarmers, so the last bit of cuff was finished with a bit of white. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this  set. I may decide to enter the hat and mittens in the State Fair this summer, depending on whether or not anyone I know turns up pregnant between now and then. On my Ravelry project page, I named them after Finding Nemo, because they're the same colors as a clown fish, and I imagined that if Nemo & Dory had made their way to the North Sea, they'd be wearing Fair Isle sweaters. Or at least Dory would, but I didn't have yarn in her colors.

So that's all I have for now, Friends. I've been knitting all kinds of things lately, but I haven't been especially meticulous about photographing them. As I catch up on the pics, I'll write up the projects. Until next time then.

Finally. The effing mittens are done!

At long, freaking last, I've finished the Chawton Mittens. What's kind of sad is that each thumb only took an hour or so to knit. I don't know why I was dreading them. That seems to happen to me a lot. Anyway, the thumbs are done, I've washed and blocked the mittens. Too bad they're a little on the long side and my floats are a little short. On the plus side though, they did soften up beautifully after washing. And they don't look too bad from a distance.

I also added a little something to the Big Cuddly Bunny: a pompom tail! I had yarn left over and knew I probably wouldn't use it for anything else, so I whipped it up and stuck it on the back. I'm nearly breathless from the squee on this.

And as promised last time, I had myself photographed in the Raindance Sweater, and I have to admit that I'm very pleased at how it turned out. I've finally knit myself a sweater that fits correctly, and, even better, it's not the biggest size listed on the pattern. It's two sizes smaller than the biggest size. This working out thing (and watching what I eat) is pretty cool.

Now that I've gotten three projects finished, I felt like it was safe to start another, so I cast on for the Jasper Diamond Hoodie, by Kristen Rengren. I had enough yarn leftover from Raindance to make the smallest size, and one of my friends had just finished one (it's so cute!), so I thought this would be a quick, fun project. Of course, almost immediately after I cast on, I found another pattern I just have to knit, so I'm trying to get this done as quickly as possible. Since I cast on Thursday night, I've managed to complete the body of the sweater and start the sleeves. It helped that I had an hour to kill this morning while I waited for my husband to come jump start my car, then another hour while I waited at the car battery place while they installed a new one for me. The diamond pattern is easy to memorize, so it's almost like it's flying off my needles.

Well, I think that's all I've got for this time. Maybe I'll have Jasper done by the next time I post. Until next time, Friends.

I'm having a little trouble finishing things.

On Saturday I got the mittens mostly finished - all I have left to do is the thumbs. (There's no photo, because I didn't think of it until it was dark. Next time. I promise.) It really isn't that much to do, but I'm not really feeling it just now. I'm hoping I'll feel like it this weekend - I have a day off because there are a few horse races coming up. One of them is described as "the most exciting two minutes in sports." Anyway, there will be plenty of leisure drinking time, so I'll definitely be getting some knitting in. But it might have to be something mindless, with endless stockinette.

Thank goodness I cast on for Raindance yesterday. My husband and I had to go to Indianapolis, so I had a good 90 minutes of knitting time each way. This sweater is short sleeved, with really interesting construction. I'm knitting it with the SMC Select that I picked up while I was there for my triathlon two weeks ago. What I'm most excited about, though, is that I'm making a size large for myself, rather than the XXL that my last two sweaters have been! I've already knit my way through a ball and a half of yarn, so it's moving right along.

The other thing I'm having trouble finishing is the giant stuffed bunny I started on a whim on Saturday after I got off work. I put in one movie, then another, and the next thing I knew, I'd knit up all of it except for the second ear. The next morning, I started the second ear, got halfway through and ran out of yarn. Luckily, a friend has some of the yarn, so I'll be purchasing half a ball from her. I did manage to get the pink bits duplicate stitched onto the first ear, which looks pretty good, so as soon as I have more yarn we'll be able to call this bunny finished. It'll probably only be a total of 7 hours of actual knitting on this project. Quick and easy with big yarn and big needles!

Well, that's about all I've got for tonight. Until next time, y'all.

Inertia

It seems like the longer I'm gone from the blog, the harder it is to get back to it. Over the last few weeks I haven't been knitting all that much because I was training for my first triathlon in five years. The race was on April 15, and I put in a pretty respectable performance: I placed 7th out of 15 participants in my group. I would have like to have placed a little higher, but in the end I'm just happy I wasn't last. One thing I liked about this race was that it was a Personal Record for me at more than 8 minutes faster than I completed it last time. But the best thing was the nametag my 8 year-old niece made for me. It was all her own idea - she wanted to make sure the race people knew who I was.

In knitting news, I've been making slow, but sure, progress on the Cameo Mittens. This is my first real attempt at Fair Isle knitting and I think it's coming out alright. They don't look great right now, but I think they'll improve after they're washed and blocked. It's looking like a few of my floats are a little short, but I hope a good, long soak will improve them some. I only have a few more rounds to go before I start the decreases which will close them up. After that, I can do the thumbs and call them done. Even though I haven't been writing, I have taken a few photos, so I hope you'll enjoy them. Until next time, Friends.

Something to aspire to.

Wow! Day Six of Knit & Crochet Blog Week (2KCBWDAY6) and I'm still here! If you listen carefully, you might be able to hear the sound of hell freezing over. I'm pretty surprised I've made it this far. Today's post is about aspiration, and for me, the technique I most want to try is Fair Isle. There are a few reasons I haven't attempted a full-on Fair Isle project.

Firstly, there's my indecision about which project to start with. The Christmas before last, my mother-in-law gave me a gift card to Joann's, which burned such a hole in my pocket, I had to spend it right away on the reissued Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting. Every last one of the projects is one I want to try, especially the Water Lillies jacket. I also like the girl's sweater & tam, as well as the boy's scarf & mitten set. See what I'm talking about?

Secondly, there's a problem with sizing, specifically that patterns (especially those from the time the book was written) just aren't written for women of my size. It must be 18 months ago that I began to try to adapt the Water Lillies Chart to fit me. It was not easy. In fact, it was so Not Easy, that the project has been hibernating for some time. I had even used colored pencils on some special knitting graph paper to chart one of the fronts of the cardigan. It looked lovely on paper. I had even taken the time to write out the instructions for a cardigan to fit me, based on the stated pattern gauge, from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. I wrote a lot.

Thirdly, there was the question of the yarn. I really want to use Jamieson & Smith 2-ply to knit it. That will certainly involve my ordering it online, which is a dicey proposition, as color is so difficult to judge on a computer's monitor. Which is why I actually ordered a shade card from the folks at J&S (they're currently sold out) for something like 5.99GBP. I'm also concerned about my gauge, which will make a difference in the charts, so I really need to do some swatching. I will probably end up ordering a ball of each color I want to use and do my best with the charts. I'm a little afraid of how expensive a project it will be for me to make myself a Fair Isle cardigan. I'm not a small woman.

And the last thing that's kept me from Fair Isle knitting: steeks. The mere idea of taking a pair of shears to my knitting makes me want to pee my pants. Seriously. I've heard from those who've done it that it's not so bad, but I'm not sure I believe them. They're nice people, my friends, but it may be that I have some Trust Issues in this regard. Maybe I can work my swatch in such a way that I can do a steek without throwing up.

So there it is. I aspire, one day, to complete a Fair Isle project. I'm not sure what or when it will be, but I suppose the best plan will be to start small and work toward my epic cardigan. Until next time, Friends.