Endings and Beginnings

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.

Two Reasons Stashbusting Projects Can Suck It.

Exhibit A:

This almost-finished shirt for a stuffed sheep. 360 measly stitches short of completing the parts. Maybe another yard to attach the sleeves. It was supposed to be a little thing I could do in an evening or two. I called 5 yarn shops in the area, 4 of them didn't have the color I needed. The fifth didn't answer their phone, so I ordered it online. Now I'm waiting for a new skein to arrive.

Exhibit B:

This half-finished kilt for a stuffed sheep. I clearly underestimated how much yarn I needed for this wee kilt. The pleats really eat up the yardage. I've ordered more yarn for this too.

At least I had enough yarn leftover from my lopi sweater to make the sheep! The pattern called for bulky-weight lopi, but I had plenty of lett-lopi so I used it doubled, which knit up quickly. The assembly was a little tricky, but since the stitches were so nice and big, it was easy to see what I needed to do. I still need to knit the eyes and attach the ears, and once those tasks are done, I think my wee sheep will be pretty cute. While I'm waiting for the new yarn to arrive, I can work on his little belt and sporran. These two pieces will require felting, so I'll have to do a little digging to make sure I've got just the right bits to do these up right.

I addition to the sheep, I've also knit up a couple hats and mittens from the lett-lopi left over from my sweater. The first hat was the Baa-ble Hat, which is a free pattern from the Shetland Wool Week website (oh, how I wish I could go!). I was able to use leftovers in green, blue and black, but I had to stop at my LYS for a ball of cream to make the little sheep and the snow in the sky. I definitely should have gone down a needle size (or maybe two!), as the hat turned out too big to fit even my big head. Luckily I have a cousin who not only has a bigger head than I do, but is fun enough to wear a such a sheepie hat.

The second hat was Helene Magnusson's Brynja hat, and I adapted Vedis Jonsdottir's Handtak mittens to match. Of course, I ran out of the maroon yarn halfway through the hat, so I order another and wait for it. Both projects were quick knits, and I'm happy to have been able to give the set to another cousin (who happens to be a knitter herself!). So I guess I really have four reasons stashbusting projects suck. I've been developing a hypothesis about how yarn quantities work out perfectly when you're a new knitter, then thwart you as you gain experience, but it's still half-baked, so I'll have to think on this some more and see if I can articulate it in a way that makes sense.

Ah, well, I think that's it for tonight, Friends. Until next time.

Santa's little sweatshop is closed for the season!

I finally finished all the owls! Like, half an hour ago. All of them now have eyes and beaks, though none of them have pupils - I'm not a masochist, after all. So now I can get to the enjoyable part of Christmas by spending time with family, sharing good food and drink, and exchanging gifts!

Merry Christmas, Friends!

Joy to the World!

I have my laptop back and can post regularly again, instead of shivering in a cold corner of the basement, trying to make do on my husband's desktop. It seems like ages since I've posted, and I've missed it. Every so often, I would think, "I should post that on the blog." But I didn't.

Anyway, I've been knitting Christmas owls like crazy since I was last here. Fourteen total. Fifteen, if you count the one my mom admired so much that I let her take it home with her after Thanksgiving. Six of them have eyes and beaks, which means I have to make 8 more sets in the next few days. This is achievable. At least I think so now. I'm not sure if I'll be singing the same song come Monday evening. Cross your fingers for me.

I also managed to finish my father in-law's socks (just yesterday!) and I'm really pleased at how well they came out. This is the first time I've ever knit socks on size 0 needles, and I think I might want to do more. That size needle is perfect for Cascade Heritage, and my husband is actually kind of coveting those socks, so I think he'll get a pair too. I can't believe I'm committing to making more stuff on tinier needles. I may just start getting manicures so I can get my hands massaged after all that fine-gauge knitting. I wonder if that would qualify for my health savings account. I'll have to check that the next time I'm in the office.

Now that the socks are done, I've cast on a project on big(ger) needles: Cabled Hat by Yuko Nakamura. This will be a belated gift for my trainer at the gym, whose favorite color is purple. The only purple yarn I had in my stash was one lonely skein of Nashua Isabella (now discontinued) in amethyst that I bought before the Knit Nook closed. Since that yarn only has 109 yards to the skein, I had to have a good look through the Ravelry pattern database before I found a hat pattern I could make with so little yarn. I'm really hoping I have enough! This will be a nice project to work on while visiting with all our family at Christmas, especially since it's on size 7 needles. I have one skein of the Isabella in topaz as well, which will come in handy if I finish this hat before the holiday is over.

One other crafty thing I've been working on is getting some art prints I've had for awhile framed and matted. Sometime last year, I bought this set of prints from my friends at Madpixel and have wanted them on the wall ever since. Finally, last weekend, I went to the art supply store, bought some mat board and got busy! I also managed to buy some frames and spent the weekend getting each print in a frame. I hung all the prints this afternoon and was so happy about how good they looked that I staged a little bourbon tableau and took the photo you see below. Of course, now that I've taken another look around their website, there are plenty more prints I need to have.

Well, that's all I have for now. Merry Christmas, Friends.

So much for turning those heels three weeks ago.

Okay. So I intended to keep flying along with my progress on the Salted Caramel socks. Then I signed up for 3-day-a-week Boot Camp classes at my gym. Which is just as tiring as it sounds. I also had a couple sick days in there. And then my mother came for a week's visit over Thanksgiving. And while all these things might sound like excuses, I prefer to call them mitigating factors as to why I only got the heels of these socks turned yesterday.

Yep. It took me until yesterday to get those heels turned. And it's not like the knitting was difficult. It was two heel flaps, two little rounded heels, and two gussets to pick up. Nothing to it. Ah, well. Now they're turned and I can work on the gusset decreases for awhile. I still expect to have them finished well before Christmas, but now I might be defining "well before" as "just enough time to wash, block & wrap them before I get to Christmas" instead of "oh, cool! I have time to cast on for something mindless to knit on while I'm there." I just hope it doesn't turn into "maybe he won't notice me weaving in the ends before I give them to him unblocked."

In other news, I have completed a few more owls, if you consider "completed" as being stuffed and closed up, but not yet having eyes and a beak. After about the fourth owl, I decided I would just get as many knitted as I could and do the eyes and beaks later. Like maybe in the car on the way to Christmas. I don't think it will really be that bad, but I'm definitely starting to get a little nervous about there only being 25 days until the Big Day.

My yarn estimates for these guys have been coming out just about right: 15 grams of wool yarn is plenty. The cotton ones are taking a little more like 18 grams. And then the faux Fair Isle yarn one took a whole lot more because it turns out that yarn is probably a little more like sport or dk-weight than fingering weight. I wasn't sure at the beginning of that one how I'd like, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. I think once it has its eyes and beak and I hit it with a little steam, I'll like it a whole lot. I'll be sure to post new photos once they all have all their bits. I just hope for my sake it's before Christmas.

So, Friends, thanks for your patience between posts. Until next time.

Sometimes, the knitting is like magic.

Really. Sometimes I'm just mystified by the stuff I knit. Take these Scylla socks, for example. I am so amazed at how the heel flap on these toe-up socks looks just like the heel flap on most of the cuff-down socks I've ever made. See, on cuff-down socks, you knit the heel flap back and forth, then you pick up the selvedge stitches to make the gussets. For this sock, I increased along the sole and for the flap I did decreases every row, which produced the appearance of picked-up stitches. I'm sure it's a matter of how the decreases were stacked that made it look like a straight line rather than a slant, but I'm really impressed. I'm so glad there are people who have worked this out for me!

 Anyway, despite my amazement at my own work, I've managed to turn the heel on these socks and am in the home stretch on these socks. The knitting should move pretty quickly since the front and the back of the leg have the same stitch pattern. I hope to be binding off the cuff by this time next week.

As for the Christmas owls, I've completed three of them so far, but two of them need their eyes done. I seem to have found my groove on these guys. Of course now I'm worried that I'm going to run out of sock yarn leftovers before I run out of owls to make. It's taking about 15g of yarn for each owl and I have enough 15g leftovers for about 10 more owls. If I'm lucky, I will finish the FrankenScylla socks with enough yarn for one owl. I might even have enough of another color (in two balls) to get one more. That would get me 15 owls, which should be enough for my middle school-age and younger nieces and nephews. I'm not sure yet what we're going to do for the big kids. I'll have to ruminate on that for awhile. I'm not sure I'll have time to knit for them.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. See you next time, Friends.

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.

So cute, I could puke.

I never wanted to become one of those bloggers who start every post with an apology about how they meant to post, but got too busy, or had something come up, or whatever. I don't really have anything to say for myself except that I didn't really have anything to say for the last (more than) three weeks. All my knitting was going along as usual, some of it stalled at the same place as I last wrote about it. There was just nothing new.

But now I have stuff to write about: I have two finished projects! Well, the second will be finished as soon as I attach the buttons and wash & block it. We'll just consider that one finished for our purposes today.

The first finished project is the Big Snuggly Bunny that I started on a whim nearly a month ago and nearly finished before I ran out of yarn. It really should have been a quick, easy project, but for my inability to estimate the amount of yarn I had. This seems to happen to me a lot, and yet I never learn. I just keep taking my chances and coming out on the short end of the ball. Anyway, just last Thursday, my friend Tonya bailed me out by bringing a full skein of the Lana Grande to Stitch 'N Bitch. As soon as I got home, I finished up that poor, neglected second ear and started the duplicate stitch to make it match its mate. Last night I finished up the duplicate stitch and then added the button eyes and embroidered nose while I was watching television. It is the cutest freaking thing I've ever made, I think. Seriously, I can't stand it. I'm dead from the cute, as they say in LSG. It's cuddly and squishy and makes me want to OMG SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!! I think I'll have to give it to my two year-old niece to keep myself from going into a diabetic coma from the sweetness of it. All in all, it's a high-reward project for not much knitting.

The second finished project is my Raindance Sweater, designed by Heidi Kirrmaier and knit with SMC Select merino/cotton blend yarn. For the most part, the knitting was simple: miles of stockinette, with simple increases and decreases and minimal seaming, if you can call 8" of Kitchener Stitch and one three-needle bind off seaming. Where the complications came in was with the many times I had to deal with the "at the same time" directions. I got into plenty of trouble with those, having to rip back after three balls of yarn the first time, and after one ball another time.

I kind of learned my lesson after the first time I had to frog. I actually sat down and typed up the directions for my size, row by row, and (wonder of wonders) it worked. I did the same for the next section, but somehow managed to make the shoulders something like 6" long, rather than the few rows it required. I don't remember now how I did this, I seemed to have blocked it from my memory just from sheer disgust. I guess it's enough to say that I can stand to take a little more care in reading the directions - just highlighting the number of stitches didn't help me in the end.

Despite all my self-inflicted frustration, I managed to complete this sweater in less than a month, and best of all, it fits! I actually made a sweater that fits the way it's supposed to, that is flattering on me. Most of the garments I've made tend to be a bit oversized, mostly because I wanted to hide my gut. But now that I've lost 30 pounds, I've decided that I should stop wearing sack-like clothes. It's been a real treat being able to wear clothes I haven't been able to put on in at least 8 years or so. I'm not sure if they're still in style, but I like to think that my taste is timeless, so I hope that I look respectable, even if I don't look fashionable. I don't actually have any photos of myself wearing it, because I only bought the buttons today and I still need to attach them, wash & block the sweater, then find a time during daylight hours for someone to take a picture of me wearing it. I'll do my best to make that happen sometime before July.

I'm hoping that, having finished these two projects, I can get around to finishing the other
two projects that have been languishing in my craft room. All I have left of the Chawton Mittens is thumbs on both, as well as washing and blocking. The Hydrangea Bag just needs assembly, and as soon as I find (or purchase) the zipper foot to my sewing machine, I'll be well on my way to calling that project finished too. Just this week I got the email from the Kentucky State Fair folks that my entry has to be submitted by July 2, so I'll have to start thinking seriously about what I'm going to enter this year. I definitely want to defend my blue ribbon in socks and maybe earn a blue ribbon in another category as well. As soon as I know what I'm going to enter, I guess I'll let you all know too.

I guess that's all I've got for now. Hope all is well where you are. Until next time, Friends!

Cat and Mousies!

The mosaic cat is finished! It looks pretty cool - I can't wait to get it hung up. I think it's going to live on the faux-brick wall in my dining room, along with its peacock friend. I have also been checking out Etsy & Ebay for more of their friends (mainly the pheasant that goes with the peacock & the Siamese cat that goes with my black cat), so that the wall will look a little more filled in. I've found all kinds of neat examples of these kits and I'm having a hard time deciding what to get. Most of the completed mosaics I'm finding are priced at around $40, some as high as $65, and then shipping. What's blowing my mind is that when these kits were originally sold in stores, the peacock kit went for $10 and the cat kit went for $5. But then, according to this inflation calculator page, in current dollars, the peacock kit would now cost $60.24 and the cat would now be $30.12, so I paid just about the right price for the cat when I bought it in an antique shop two years ago. I feel like I should go back and see if there are any more. If any of you happen to see the Siamese cat out there anywhere, please let me know - I am happy to reimburse you for it if you buy it. I'd really like to have the pair.

In knitting news, I've made a couple more stuffed mice, as two of my nieces requested them at Christmas. They didn't get any in their stockings because it was thought they were too old for stuffed animals anymore. They were very sweet about asking for a mouse each and hoped I could make them in pinks and purples for them. I think that of these two, the lavender one with the peachy-colored ears is the more successful - I think the other is a little too dark. I think I'll try to make a pinkish one, this time with a bright contrast for the ears. I'll have to do a little digging through my stash, though, these mice have been great for using up remants of sock yarn!

Well, that's it for this one, y'all! See you next time.

Making Mischief

Since the last time I posted, I've been busy knitting up lots of little Mousies - a mischief of mousies, in fact, which is what a group of mice is called. Like a parliament of owls or a murder of crows. Anyway, my mother-in-law asked if I'd make a few for my nieces' and nephews' stockings, so I've been knitting like mad for the last week or so. I'm not sure which kids will get these mice (there are 24 nieces & nephews), but I'm half tempted to knit up a few more than she asked for, so she can choose from among them. They've really turned out to be the cutest little things - I especially like the ones I made out of variegated yarn. The stripes add personality, I think. I've been able to make each mouse in about 3 hours, cutting two hours off the time it took me to make the first one.

I've also made some progress on my Vilai socks, which I've been doing on my commutes to and from work. The stitch pattern is easy to learn, so I've been able to make quick work of the first chart repeat. I'm also loving how the semisolid yarn is creating a nice marbled effect through all the yarn overs and twisted stitches. Shibuisock is one of my favorite yarns! I expect I'll be turning the heel by the end of the week, and if I'm lucky, I'll have the pair finished in time to give to my mother for Christmas. I think she'll like them - I just hope she isn't tired of purply-blues, since the last pair of socks I gave her were a similar color.

In other news, I received some very good news over the weekend: I got my scores back from my NCIDQ exam, which showed that I passed! Finally! I guess the third time really is the charm. Or maybe my having actually ordered the study materials and preparing for the test had something to do with the results. Whatever it was, I'm thrilled to have passed and can be a certified professional in my field. It's pretty exciting!

Well, that's all I have for tonight. Goodnight, Friends.

I've finished a few things!

It's true. For a minute there, I was feeling like I'd couldn't seem to complete a project, but all of a sudden, my WIPs count has fallen and my FO count has climbed. I'd say it was a Christmas miracle, but it's still only the 8th of December, so there are still 17 days left for that.

The first finished object was the little stuffed mouse. It's so cute! I even did the X's for the eyes, which made all the difference. He can't see that shortbread cookie he's eating, but he could probably smell it.

I also finished my Glacier gloves and I'm very happy with them. So happy, in fact, that I think I won't wear them this winter so that I can enter them in next year's State Fair. It's never too early to start plotting my strategy to dominate at the fair.

I also finished my intarsia-in-the-round socks. What was most surprising about finishing these socks is that it only took me a few hours to do it. All that agonizing! And for what? The three hours or so it took until I ran out of one of the colors, knit an inch of ribbing, and bound off. It might have been another hour to weave in all the ends, but it went much faster than I expected. I really could have finished these months ago. I don't know why I felt like I needed to put them off for so long. I'm sure there's a lesson in here somewhere, but damn if I know what it is.

Anyway, with getting so many things finished last weekend, I was able to cast on for a pair of socks. I wanted to have some commuting knitting, something casual that I didn't have to think too hard about. But it had to have an interesting stitch pattern and look good with a semi-solid yarn, so I cast on Vilai, one of CookieA's patterns from Sock Innovation. I'm using Shibui Sock, which is one of my favorite sock yarns. I love the color - a nice periwinkle blue I picked up while I was on vacation this summer. It's such a nice, squishy yarn! The cuff is knitting up nicely, so I hope I can get some photos during the day tomorrow.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. Next time I hope I have some sock progress to show off, as well as some Christmas knitting. Until then, Friends.

I keep making things on small needles.

It's true: most of the things I knit are made on small needles. I've knit 10 pairs of socks so far this year. If I ever finish my intarsia socks, it'll be 11. If I make a pair for my mother for Christmas, it'll be a nice, round dozen. All on 2.5mm needles. It's not that I'm especially fond of knitting thousands upon thousands of tiny stitches, it's that socks are very portable, and therefore good bus knitting. They're also inexpensive compared to knitting sweaters. A skein of really nice sock yarn can be had for $25 or so, but to purchase enough quality yarn to make a sweater in my size starts at around $100. This is why I make so many socks. That, and the (almost) instant gratification that comes with making socks.

Gloves hold a similar appeal to socks: they take roughly the same amount of yarn and use the same size needles. They take a little longer to knit, as each finger has to be articulated and there many more ends to weave in at the end, but that's a small price to pay to have gloves that fit your hand perfectly. Over Thanksgiving weekend I made lots of progress on my Glacier gloves. So much so that all I have left to do is knit the fingers and thumb of the left hand. I've finished the right hand glove, with only then ends to weave in. I ended up using 2.75mm needles for the fingers, as they were a little snug with the smaller needles. It seems like such a small difference, but that little bit was all it took!

Over the long holiday weekend I also finished the Owl-paca baby hat, which was knit on 4mm needles. That size, while larger than sock needles, would still be considered on the small side by most knitters, I think. Instead of making the owl's eyes as called for in the pattern, I used the technique from the stuffed owl I recently knit for this hat because I didn't feel comfortable putting buttons on an accessory meant for an infant. I was able to attach the eyes and the beak to the hat at social knitting and tried it on my friend's one year old, but I didn't have my camera, so I only have photos of it lying flat on a table. I'll try to get a photo of a real baby modeling it as soon as possible, so you can see just how cute it is.

Of course, no owl would be complete unless it had a mouse in its talons, so I cast on for Ysolda Teague's Mousie last night. This project is on 2.0 needles and has knit up really quickly. In two evenings, I've finished all but one ear and the eyes. I think I have four hour's total knitting in this little rodent. And it's just the right touch for the hat. Circle of Life and all that. Maybe I'll make X's for the eyes for comic effect. Actually, I think I just talked myself into it. I crack myself up.

Well, that's all for tonight. Until next time, Friends.