Voila!

:)

Hurrah for Closure

Hey Robin,
I had serious second sock syndrome, but I buckled down and finished this pair of socks! I have no excuse. It's a wonderful pattern by a fellow Malabrigo-Junkie and I was testing it for her in a larger foot-size (since I walk on flippers and she has the wee-delicate-foots). I loved the pattern, and loved the yarn (Dream in Color Smooshy, my first project with it and I highly recommend it!) but for some reason was a bit reluctant to cast-on #2. Then it hit me, this pair would make a phenomenal gift for someone I know (who shall remain nameless until she gets the package) who also has large feet. As soon as that hit me I knitted like the wind and haven't looked back!

Here's the pair together...
The Pattern is "Well Travelled" (Ravelry link) by Kelly Herdrich and it's a good-knit! The DIC smooshy is in a lovely colorway called Dusky Aurora. I have lots leftover but not enough for another pair unfortunately...

Now I can cast on another project! And with my little helper here (doesn't he look thrilled?) I can get to it that much faster!

Later!

Victory!

Hey Robin,
Sorry for the delay, I actually finished something on Sunday! Actually I delayed my errands because I had only half an inch to go on my long-time sock project and I REALLY wanted to wear them out that day. It didn't take too long all things considered and I had the joy of bopping-around town wearing them and feeling just-a-little smug. They are so comfy and I don't care that they aren't identical. I do wish I had some open-top shoes like some Mary Janes or something to show off the purdy colors!

It's kind of hard to tell here, maybe I can get some off-the-hooves pictures later but if you look carefully... the foot on one matches the leg on the other (as far as the pooling or color-repetition goes) and vice versa. You can see it better if you concentrate on the yellowey-green parts. I really like how the foot on the right sock is striping, but when i got to my wavey-rib pattern on the leg, it got very "pool-ey". Not as nice. Interesting how that happens!

"One of these things is not like the other!"

Project notes: I used Wendy's generic toe-up sock instructions for foot/heel, used ripple-rib stitch pattern for leg. Yarn: Hazel Knit's Artisan Sock in the Green Lake colorway and size 1 US (2.5mm i think) needles.

Next sock project is for DH. I am going toe-up again because I just like how that works, but this time I am going to see if I can do a gussetted heel because I think those are tougher-wearing and I would like to see how it works! I started yesterday but already have to rip back a bit because the Hubster's feet are narrower than I remembered. Woops!

Later!

Heeeere fishy fishy fishy...

Hey Robin!
Finished my first FO of 2009! The Fish Hat from Knitty. I swear to you as soon as I saw this hat I knew I had to knit it for Little Guy, whether he wanted it or not (and the jury is still out on that one).

How awesome is this hat?!

I mean seriously. How can anyone with a kid not want to make one too?

It's awesome because you really can make it by stash-diving for scraps. I happened to have just purchased some Cascade 220 superwash. Nice stuff by the way... it's the darker blue up front there.

I love this hat. If I have my way he wears it every day... but so far we have yet to get out of the house with it ;)

Later!

Rockin' the Swap-bah

Hey Robin!
(Yes, I know the title sux, cut me some 80's slack ;)

Doood! I sewed! Lookey!

The pattern for the kneedle roll was simple enough for my brain to comprehend (even so, I made a couple of mistakes but SHHH!! You are sworn to secrecy... oh hello world wide web? Were you listening??) And ended up with a TON of fabric left so I whipped up a project bag from the seat-of-the-pants region and it's cute if I may say so.

If it isn't already obvious, these items are going to be in the posession of a deserving malabrigo swappee sometime next week I believe. Along with some other fall-themed goodies! I had an awesome time with this swap because it's seriously the first time I got a Chatty-Kathy and she made it SO EASY to stalk her and figure out what her loves are!

In other news, I made a hat with the most difficult cast-on that I have attempted to-date. I kid you not I re-started this thing 7 times.

The first time the cast-on didn't work, i frogged and looked on the hallowed www to find another way of doing the same thing. This is a tubular cast-on ladies and gents. The one from the book was VERY different from all the ones I found in my frantic Ravelry-search that were recommended. I finally settled on an Italian version, with a video! (I heart you Fluffbuff!). After many aborted attempts to get it right, I finally got SMART and used a different yarn, bigger kneedles and cast on fewer stitches (listen, when you are trying to make a hat with 132 sts, ANYTHING is better than having to try to do that 5 times in a row!) and magically it just started to WORK! I held my breathe, cast on the 132 sts needed for the hat and gave it a go. It worked!!

He loves the hat btw. Has worn it every day since (well it HAS been chilly in the a.m.). I think the only thing I will change when I do this again is do that cast-on row in smaller kneedles. I saw that recommended somewhere and I have to agree. It makes for a super-stretchy edge, and so his hat is a little 'flared' at the edge, but it still looks great. I plan to use this cast on lost and lots even though it's a p.i.t.a. ;)

On to the holiday knitting!! :D

Later!

I'm waiting for someone to call it a "scowl"

Hey Robin!
Finished another! I've got cowls coming outta my ears. Perhaps I should put some aside as gifts! Oh if only most of the people I know-and-love didn't live in the Southwest!

This is the Beechwood Cowl by Ilga Leja. Feast your orbits!

It's a 100% Alpaca from Spunky Eclectic in the Mahogany colorway, which i got from a recent swap-buddy. Luuuurves it!

I'm sorry the pictures suck... AGAIN. I would take a pic of me wearing it, but it's stuffy around here lately and I just can't be bothered. Not complaining though! The cool weather will be here sooner than I like and I can model some items then...

See the pretty pin?!

Plus having your school district's teachers on strike put a bit of a wrench in the works when it comes to projects.... my Dad and I made elaborate plans to have him here soon after school started in order to add some insulation to the walls on our bedrooms (we had to do it backwards, that was fun) and possibly re-arrange the cabinets in the kitchen so that the room could be opened up and a kitchen table be added! W00t! I finally got the kitchen-flow that I have been wanting since we moved in! Hey, it only took 4 years.

Here's an extraordinarily-bad picture of "before" but you can kind of see the "u" shaped countertop. Which made a peninsula that was for food prep and eating (there's a little ledge on the other side which allows people to sit and eat).

He was so widdle!

So the peninsula is gone, the dishwasher is moved against the wall so that I don't have to do contortionism to get dishes put away (it was either that or open the door/take the dish/close the door/put the dish away... not fun) yay for easy dish removal! The new countertop is a butcherblock from IKEA that I am oiling so it can be used for food prep and it's an imminently more usable space. It's amazing... seriously.

Woohoo! New space!

The floors have een changed from half linoleum/half carpet to ALL laminate click-it-type floating floors. It's cheap but functional because it was recommended not to get the floor I REALLY want until I am also getting the cabinets I really want... so now I have 10 years to decide (the warranty on the new floor)

Look ma! No floors!

And lastly, when we were done, the Doodle bug christened the new floor in the best way he knew how. I love this picture.

Seriously, I am the luckiest gal in the world to have a Dad who will fly 1000 miles to help me work on my house! I mean he's supposed to be on vacation and this type stuff is what he does for a LIVING!! Thanks Dad, you really are the best!

Here's hoping you and Emme can come up and see the new layout sometime!

Later!

Hot Vegas Sands

Hey Robin!
I think I had already mentioned that I made a cowl out of the Silky Merino Malabrigo that my Malabrigo-Swap partner sent me. It's such a gorgeous color and I luuuurve the silky (evidenced by the fact that I have since ordered 5 skeins of silky and make a Clapotis out of it... but that's another blog post on another day). Anyhoo, I wanted to share the deets about the cowl because I am pretty durn proud of it.

There is no lack of cowl patterns to be found on Ravelry. Seriously. Tons. And yet none of them was exactly-right for what I wanted... so I looked in other places (scarf designs) and found the perfect pattern. I have been wanting to make the scarf for so long, this was a way to temper that desire and still get something I wanted. I give you: Vegas Sands! (Thought it was pretty perfect as the pattern I "stole" from is called Shifting Sands and the color reminds me a LOT of the neon entry at the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas.)

I used the basic dimensions found in many cowl patterns, extrapolated a stitch count from what Grumperina said about her stitch and went to town. It was a seriously fast knit and very satisfying! I highly recommend Grumperina's tutorial on how to cable without a cable kneedle. And now, for the first time I will share my own pattern! Enjoy and please feel free to make your own version and share a picture with me!

Vegas Sands (the cowl)

Materials:
1 skein Malabrigo Silky Merino in Amoroso colorway (or Intenso)
Size 7 circs, 16” length
Tapestry kneedle

Gauge: approx 5 sts/inch in stockinette, approx 22 sts/4 inches in pattern

Finished size: about 8” long by 18” around

Pattern stitch (adapted from Grumperina’s Shifting Sands Scarf):
Worked over 4 rows:
Row 1 (RS): *1/2LC, K2, repeat to end
Row 2 and 4: knit
Row 3: *k2, 1/2RC, rep to end

Pattern:

CO 105 sts using whatever method you like to give you a nice-edge, but remembering not to start too tightly as this does have to fit over your head! The edges will curl a little, but I consider that part of the charm. If you would like it to not-curl, perhaps go with a picot-hem at both edges? I haven’t tried that yet, but it would probably work well.

Knit first row, joining the ends and being sure to place a marker at the beginning of the row.

Next row: begin the pattern stitch and continue knitting in the round until the piece measures approx 8”. End with a row 4 if you can, but I really don't think it matters all that much. Bind off loosely in your favorite manner, I used a bobble-style picot bind off because I like to know which edge is the top:

Work picot bind off as follows:
*Knit 1 st. Slip knit st back to left-hand needle. Use cable cast on method to cast on 2 sts. Bind off 7 sts. Repeat from * until all sts are bound off. Cut yarn. Using yarn tail, connect the first picot point of the round to the last bound-off stitch.

Finishing: Weave in ends, block if you want (but I didn’t) wear around the house and look MAGNIFICENT!

Abbreviations:
1/2LC: slip 1 st to cable kneedle and hold in front, k2, then knit1 from cn
1/2RC: slip 2 sts to cn and hold in back, k1, then k2 from cn

cn: cable kneedle
co: cast on

Note: there were no test-knits so if you find any errors please let me know!

Later!

Mirrors can be fun!

Hey Robin!
Didn't want to wait too much longer to get a picture... besides it is chilly in the house and I wanted to wear it anyway. Later!

All done!

Hey Robin,
I got two quickies for you and then i gotta get back to work!
Finished the Vinnland socks! They ROCK. I don't think i can express how much i love these socks. Between the yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock) and the pattern (Vinnland) i am in sock-heaven. Seriously. Can you look at these and not feel love?
Yesterday... or was it the day before. I finished my koolhaas for the Ravelry KAL. I really like this Pollen colorway, unfortunately I didn't have enough yarn to do the hat right. So I just 'finished' so i could say I was done. Fortunately I have all of March to make another one so I might "trip" on my yarn diet and get one skein of Malabrigo so i can make a whole-hat. Heh. Anyway, it's real pretty and mostly fits! It's just a little short is all:
I really really really like this pattern and I was almost able to do the whole thing without a cable kneedle, but it was a bit stiff so i used one off and on anyway. I WILL make another one of these and go stand outside the library downtown to see if anyone notices the similarity ;)

Next projects: still gotta make headway on the Rogue hooded sweater and i am working on a little Easter surprise for the Little Guy... in Malabrigo so I seriously hope i have enough for that. And i also wanna make another kitty pi and some felted clogs, and more socks, and, and, and... will my queue ever get any shorter?!?

*sigh*
Later!

Sock off!

...the kneedles that is.

Hey Robin!
I finished #1 of the Vinnland set (or the Greenman Socks as I named the project on Ravelry.... how could I NOT?) and luuuuurve it. It's a pain-in-the-butt to cast off but wow the results. I mean, have you ever seen instructions to graft a hem to itself?? As in kitchener-stitch of a single edge. It's a new one for me and I was a little unsure that the designer knew what she was saying here... but I had trust so I followed the well-written instructions and lo-and-behold!

Here's the set up for grafting the ribbing... which by the way is hiden so well as part of the pattern... it's breathtaking... anyway, you move the purl stitches to a back kneedle and the knit stitches are on the front. then you kitchener the ribbing TO ITSELF! I was so weirded out by the whole thing but LOOK:

Isn't that a pleasing result?? It's my second toe-up sock, but since the first was an infant-sock I really don't count that one so much...

My main issue is since I was in "kitchener mode" i ended up binding it off too tight so it was trying to choke my calf. However with a little maneuvering it fit fine. See?

Ooooh Aaaaah...

I can't wait to have a pair!

Later!

Harlot may be on to something...

Hey Robin!
As this might be my last post for a week (depending upon my willingness to plunk down in front of the laptop while I am at Disneyworld... what are the chances?) I decided to cram as much stuff in this post as I can.

Got another FO!
Allie's "Strawberry bag" based on Daisy from Debbie Bliss Junior Knits. With changes of course. I can't say i like her idea of a good time... too much sewing man! I changed the purse part to be knit in the round and decided not to change the kneedle size when knitting the stockinette lining. I reduced a couple of times to make sure there was no puckering inside the bag. Although the green inside DOES look a bit like a sour apple candy :) Feast your eyes:

I haven't sewn the little flowers on yet, i want to wash the bag first. I hope that's not a stupid idea. The bag is Lily cotton in strawberry and hot green? (hot lime? i cant be bothered to get up and go look at the ball band sorry) and the flowers are from the Elsbeth Lavold Hempathy (rose) which i used to make Karin's Adornment. It worked nicely for these little things! I can now understand why the Harlot was so obsessed with the leaves! The flowers were right addictive and it was all i could do not to make 3 more for the other side (I really must move on to something else... really). I'll use a little of the green to sew them on with a French Knot like DB suggested.

OK and since i will be gone so long I have some promised yarn pr0n. Here goes:
Wendee of Hazel Knits fame managed to sequester one last hank of the Greenlake for me. Woohoo! Thanks Wendee!! Ain't it wonderful to see? I must have the perfect pattern for it. maybe I will use this for Vinnland... hmmm... tough one.

Then there's this for this:

I don't think I have to tell you how difficult it is not to take this with me on the trip. But it's going to be bloody-hot (in the 80's and i am currently acclimated to the 30's) so i am going to play smart and take a sock. Or maybe a hat..

Finally, today i got my Uraguayan wool (no it isn't MmmmmMalabrigo, but it's close) purchased on eBay from the manufacturer I think, for excellent price. Though it took way-long to arrive, it is quite nice! The aqua will probably become Loafers for my Aunt (who i will get to see this week but who probably won't get her loafers while i am there... i'm just not THAT fast!). And the green yellow... i have no idea why i bought that. I thought there was some pink in there. That's what I remember, anyway I think it might become a koolhaas or a Pithy Hat. What do you think?

I think i just want to roll around in it for a while...

I hope that is suitable to hold you until next week! :D
Later!

Stress!

Hey Robin,
I really wanted to take some time to post pictures of the FO's but i am up against some technical difficulties. There are alien objects in my pictures! I give you example #1:
and example #2

They are the Maine Morning Mitts and the Sasquatch Earl Grey socks respectively. The mitts are for Little guy's teachers. He's in a preschool that's at a Jewish Community Center, so the class celebrates Chanukah... i had to get these done SUPER fast (as Little Einsteins would say) as soon as I realized what had happened to my calendar.

Next up: I decided that just wrapping the hand mades wasn't enough of a "presentation". Is it vain to want to announce that I made each of these things by hand with thoughts of the recipient dancing in my head? I hope not... so I made these little wrappers:

I got the idea from a blog that I visited WAY back but I can't remember which one it was! It was all about making little sleeves for hand made socks. Excellent idea. Kudos to the blogger!

This is how far I am on my Best Friend's Hug. This was meant to be her birthday present (May people!!) and so if I can get it done for Xmas, I'll only be one gift behind! Yay me!

I think I told you that Little Guy was supremely concerned that his "pet" puppy, Libby Lu, didn't have a stocking for Christmas. "How will Santa know where to put her gifts?" I must admit I was confounded by that logic. We set to correcting that enormous error on my part. (I won't mention that yours truly doesn't have a stocking and that news wasn't met with nearly the same amount of concern).

Here she is with her newly-made felt stocking (no, I didn't knit and felt it. There's just no time!) decorated by Little Guy. Such the artist! And in case you didn't notice, I posed her with Santa's soon-to-be revealed present for her stocking. To match Little Guy's hat!
Libby didn't seem to mind knowing ahead of time....
Later!

Phear My 1337n3$$

Hey Robin,
PHEAR M3! Me'n'my leet Nikon rokked the hizzouse today hunting down them WIP's and... y'know... some other stuff. OK I can't do that anymore. Anyway! Here's some pics of stuff I've been dragging out for far too long. I think I've posted a lot of FO stuff lately because I'm in crunch-mode to get Christmas stuff done... but I haven't really "exposed" my WIP-Jungle in a while so here ya goes:


Here we see the indigenous Blobberific-Baby-Blanket (aka wonderfully squooshy, yet acrylic Baby Blanket) recognized in it's natural habitat (my desk) . The pic is blurry not because of the photographer, no, it must have just moved... or something...

In our next habitat... we have the chameleonlike "Best Friend Adornment" (aka Lacy Kerchief from IK Holiday '06) previously (and incorrectly) known as the "Best Friend Hug". The latter became something very unlike what was desired... or even intended... so it sacrificed itself on the altar of the Frog Pond and has emerged looking like this. Much better yes?
And on our left you may find the elusive "Vestible". No, not vestibULE.... that's a room. This is the object that has been languishing on my unused dining table (we eat in the kitchen) waiting for it's creator to become enlightened regarding the application of a zipper... I promised Dad a vest and I am so very proud of this one. It's from an awesome pattern (Oregon Vest) but it has absolutely no instructions about adding zippers to a knitted item.
It's like that cartoon (was it Non Sequitir?) Where the scientist stands before a chalkboard with an incredibly complex formula on it, but smack in the middle of all the calculations is written "and then a miracle happens". I love that. But yeah... thats a lot like how I feel about this pattern right now.

Anyone got any suggestions where I might find some good fool-proof instructions? Yeah, thanks.


Aaaaah... here is where the leetness will overwhelm your virgin eyes! Have you never seen such a beautiful picture? Is it not the epitome of the picture-of-all-pictures?!? (psst... the Emporer is naked!) What? No! Pay no attention to that child!
Yeah OK. So this is the start of my Uncle-the-Sasquatch's sock. I fear it may not be up-to-scratch but I am willing to give it more time... it's a slog though... a bit. It's still nice yarn to knit with though, gotta love that Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere!

Oh yeah, remember back a bit? I may have mentioned I was making a Jayne hat... here's the recipient of said-hat in his Jayne Halloween costume. He was so happy with it, and mentioned that everyone who saw him knew exactly who he was. Awesome. Must make one for the Hub.
Lastly, i have a funny story that may enlighten you more regarding the understanding of my Mom. Or it will do what it did to me and confuse you even more.

The other day i got one of those pesky ad e-mails from Dreamweaver. I can never afford anything they have, but I do like to ogle. That day I saw this. Go ahead, go look, i'll wait. Nice eh? Very practical looking for the knit-world right? So I send a e-note to Mom, who i respect greatly when it comes to the sewing skillz. I ask her, "can you make a bag like this?" and I ask "Is it hard to make?" She replies after not too long, "No it's not hard at all. I've already made something like it, i'll send it to you. Don't worry the colors aren't too loud." (?!) I'm thinking to myself WOW! Score!

Then yesterday I got this in the mail:
Now I ask you... (seriously, do i need to complete that thought?)

Later!

Loafing around

Hey Robin!
I finished the Malabrigo Loafers! What breeze that was. I finished the first one in a day and #2 took a little longer because I dropped a stitch way-back and couldn't figure out how to repair that through all the short-rows. This pattern, from Coco Knits, is usually done with two strands of worsted Malabrigo (and two circular needles), but I had the Chunky and swatched it (gasp!) to see if I could get the same results. Close enough, so I cast on!

When I finished part one of the first loafer (the sole) I was hit with a feeling: I didn't like how square the toe was when I bound-off. But I had trust because I had seen many finished ones on Ravelry and knew that so many people couldn't be wrong! So I finished the loafer, tried it on and said "aaaaaah". I was hooked. Cast on for #2 and thought to myself: "Self, why not leave those toe stitches live and see how that looks when you are done?" So I agreed to try it, since this is such a quick-knit! If I totally botched it I could bind off those live ones and do it the "right" way.

What usually happens is, you make the sole and pick up the stitches around the edge, starting at the heel (so that you end at the heel also, duh!). The live stitches were at the toe though, so they had to hang on a bit. Since i had two circular needles in my lap, I left the live stitches on one of them and started picking up stitches at the heel, when i got to the toe, I knitted 5 of the 9 toe stitches, then keeping the other circular on, knitted the other 4 and continued on my merry way. I must point out here, the pattern calls for just 8 sts at the toe, so i fudged it and picked up one less on the first edge. It wasn't that hard because I usually miss something somewhere along the line.

When i finished #2 i was so jazzed! The toe looks great. See my pictures below to find the differences. It's subtle but I like it! Yay me! :) I hope Coco doesn't get fussy at me... like she would ever find out anyway right? You and I are the only ones that read this blog. Right?

Why are you looking at me like that?

I cannot tell you how comfy these are. And WARM!
My feet are already sweating in this picture and it's the first one! (Sorry Mom)
The one the right has the "live toe sts"

side view... not pretty but you can see how it is shaped

Here's #1, with the bound-off toe sts. I love how it looks like it's sniffing the lense

This one was done with the live stitches at the toe of the sole.
It makes a slightly smoother transition from the garter-sole.

Oh I wanted to add that this pair took ever-so-slightly more than a single skein! Curses! But this means I can make one more pair if I can find something suitable in the stash to make up for the difference! I can't wait for you to make a pair too!

Later!

Dates and other "ups"

Hey Robin!
I am so happy to hear that the fires in your region are beginning to show signs of being "under control". Also very happy to hear that none of my family/friends were de-housed. Though I am awfully sorry to hear of those who lost it all. I wish I could knit you a new house you guys! I really do! My thoughts and hopes go out to those who have a long hard struggle to get a new home... wherever that may be.

In completely different and less-significant news: I finished a thing or two and of course started about five others. Heh.

I definitely finished the "You don't know our women" hat. Love the yarn, love the hat. Not sure I like the two together. I definitely don't like it on me. I think I should have stopped at one pattern-repeat shy of done. It's a great cable though... so i might try again with a different yarn.

I really like how the tip-top is finished. She doesn't give up on the cables and it comes out quite finished-looking.



















I am almost-almost done with the first-pair of Earl Grey socks. I gotta put them away, every time I ask Hub to model them for me it becomes more clear that I might not get them back! Sorry Babe, you gotta wait for Christmas!














Oh eyeballs! Whyfor do you not tell me what is in focus and what is not in that teeny-little 1" LCD screen?

And now I have begun one-of-two baby blankets for Hub's boss (twins) because it's all garter-stitch and I wanted something I could do without thinking... inbetween all the other more complex things. I have to decide whether to make another pair of Earl Greys (in actual grey!) for my Uncle or go forward with the pattern I had chosen out of Sensational Knitted Socks

So much to knit! So little time! Oh and I am still trying to work-out how to sew a zipper into the purple vest... so that I can take a picture of that one too! Whee!!

Sorry for the markedly uncreative post. But I feel much better getting those FOs off my chest! :)

Later!