Finished size: about 5 1/4″ square
Yarn: Classic Elite Flash (held double) in a yellow-orange marl
Needles: Size 7
Pattern: Grrr by Alice Bell, Knitty, Summer 2007
Started: June 2007 …
Finished: knitting - January 2008, embroidery - 23 August 2008
made for: me
more details on Ravelry
so, I’d been happily knitting along on the Nagini socks more or less through St Patrick’s Day weekend. I’m steadily working my way through the cuff, when last week (or was it two weeks ago?), I finally decided to try it on. it is TOO TIGHT (damn cables) to get over my heel without much effort. it fits fine once it’s on though. there is frogging the cuff back in this sock’s future. I’m going to try going up a needle size and see if that helps. if not, I’m going to have to do something funky to get it to cooperate, since the stitch pattern doesn’t seem to have an easy way to add stitches to it.
to add insult to injury, I picked up the Fair Isle mittens again around the 18th. finished what little was left on the first one, and then started the second one during the Guild meeting and had them prety much done by the end of the week. I’d been trying them on off and on, and figured that any tightness would go away once the thumbs were added. yeah, not so much. they are still too tight. I’m not sure if the pattern as written is too small for my hands, if my poor stranding technique is pulling in too tight, or if it’s a combination. so, they too will be hitting the frog pond. I’m thinking they fit ok up to the thumb area (before the major stranding kicks in), so it won’t be a complete frogging. maybe I can work some gussets in for the thumbs while I’m at it.
in the meantime, I’ve picked up the scarf mom picked out at WI Sheep & Wool last fall. it’s a lot of short rows, but it was easy enough to memorize the pattern. the downside is that it’s a lot of short rows and is (seemingly) taking forever.
I also picked up the felted penguin again and worked on it Thursday during knitting group. go figure. (it’s a new group that just started up in Excelsior.) I’m actually sort of surprised at how easy it was to work on (aside from rotating the balls of yarn to prevent the mass of tangles that happens when I attempt intarsia).
This weekend I’m heading down to WI to craft with friends - the usual quilting crew. I’m trying to decide if I want to take the spinning wheel too or just focus on the sewing (with a knitting project for downtime). Then it’s on the the Yarn Harlot’s shindig and Yarnover the following week/weekend. I’m taking the afternoon cables class at Yarnover - should be fun.
and yes, I’ve been spinning. more on that later.
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease … leftover from various projects
Needles: Size 5
Pattern: Juggle Your Pleasure. Knitters Summer 2003.
Started & Finished: 20 July 2007 … 20 January 2008
made for: my husband
These went pretty quick - I did the first two the weekend of 20 July - each one took about 3 hrs. I had hoped to finish the third one that weekend as well, but the day didn’t quite go as planned. I started the third one yesterday (after having issues reading the pattern for the Afghan square I decided to start) when I wanted something a bit simpler to work on (yes, reading a fair isle chart is easier to handle than Knitters magazine’s unstandard cabling abbreviations). Finished it today.
and for once I’m going to post a WIP update on Wednesday.
since L’s mittens are finally finished (and in the mail) and the baby bonnet went way fast, there’s not much to show. I’ve been working on dad’s hat again (after a bit of a break). I’ve decided I’ve made enough ribbing, so the ribbing continues. (it’s a doubled hat - start at the crown, end at the crown, stuff one inside the other. voila, double-thick reversible hat.) I need to work on charting out the design for the second half - though, on the plus side (if you can call it that), this ribbing is still taking forever.
other WIPs: I cast on for some odd CookieA sock pattern. I think I need to go down a needle size, so they just sit here taunting me. I’ve wound up the KP Superwash to start the GAAA. I’m thinking I’ll start with the Julie Levy square (it’s in the Winter 2000 issue of Knitters, which I just got off of someone’s destashing efforts on Ravelry. I have no idea what order it’s in if you have the book.)
in sewing news, I’m working on a quilted table runner from the book Quilt a Colorful Christmas (thank you HCLib). I’ve got the borders done (though I think the sides are off a bit and I need to rip and re-sew a couple spots), and am at the point of needing to make snowflakes to appliqué to the center background panel before I can sew my borders onto it.
Finished size: Child’s 6-8
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Purple & White
Needles: Size 6
Pattern: Fox & Geese mittens
Started: New Year’s 2006/2007 …
Finished: 7 January 2008
made for: L (was supposed to be her xmas 2006 gift. just a year late.)
I don’t know what took me so long to finish these.
The cuffs curl more than I’d like. I think one curls less than the other (I used long-tail on the first, and the Maine cast on from the book for the second one. that one curls a bit less). I think I managed to swap the dominant color on one of them - if I look close enough I can see the difference. My stranding leaves a bit to be desired.
but overall, I like them, and they fit L, so all’s good.
