A New Hat

Well, this started out as a child's hat for our friends, whose son is turning one next month. I got gauge on this WW Hat pattern, but somehow the Lion Brand Woolease was not cooperating. It was so becoming way to large to fit a kid's head, and if I went to 7 inches before starting the decreases, it would have been too big for my head. So, I modified the pattern and stopped at 6 inches and then decreased. The hat's super comfy and will help me get through the last few cold weeks of running. I've started a new hat for our friends' baby. I should have that done this evening and ready for a post later in the week.

-B

Did some quick knits over the weekend

I sat down and did some quick knits (nothing too interesting, so I won't post any pictures). I'm determined to use up some of my stash. Unfortunately, I tend to only buy a few skeins of yarn at at time, or have 1 skein left over from a project, so it's not that easy to use up my stash. This weekend, I got really productive (partly to put-off doing some work). I made a quick dish cloth like the one B made with the letter A. I didn't have any solid yarn, so it's hard to see the nice A. I think I'll try to make this bag I saw with the rest of my Lily Sugar n' Cream yarn, hopefully that will help me use up the last 2 skeins that I have.

I also made a simple ribbed hat for a friend. that used up about 1 Skein of old Lion's Brand sport weight I had lying around.

Found a lace cap pattern that I might try next weekend. I have a couple of cross country flights coming up, so should have time to do more knitting.

-E

State of the UFOs

I've been plugging away on a couple of items and letting two other languish in despair. I thought that I'd post some progress photos and updates and talk about my plan for tackling these in the next two months.


First up is the Clapotis for my sister. I've been making it in Brooks Farm Duet in this beautiful black. I had originally bought 3 skeins of it, but think that one or maybe one and a bit will do the trick. I'm almost done with the big set of repeats and am making my way to the decreases. I work on it a bit each night, and always get a bunch done at Stitch n Bitch on Tuesday nights. This project has priority since I'd like to give it to her by her birthday (April) and cause I need the needles to do two more Calorimetries that a friend requested.



Next up are my Serendipity Socks from the January '08 Rockin' Sock Club kit. Well, these have been languishing, but they are second in line for finishing. For some reasons, socks have me nervous. I just need to bite the bullet and make 'em though or all of the gorgeous sock yarn that I buy is just going to be cute and not cute and functional.



This is the Tapestry Cowl that I have started and restarted five times. I guess that sixth time will be the charm. I messed up the join for the first row in the round and want to go back and fix it. I save this project for Knit Night at my LYS since that's where I bought the yarn and prefer to work with items that I've bought there instead of using outside yarn.



Finally, these are the Saartje's Bootees that I started last August. The intended baby has been born and already would have grown out of these. So, bibs and burp cloths were made in lieu of these and now I just have to make a bunch from the sock yarn that I'm using and keep them on hold for future babies.

So, that's it for UFOs. Hopefully, in a while I will have some FOs with which to update the blog.

-B

Finally finished my first pair of socks

So it too longer that I though it would, but I finally finished the other sock.  I'm happy to report I got the sizing right so they fit me perfectly.  Of course I know have left over yarn, that I'll need to fins a project for and the usual dilemma of what to do next.  

-E

Pattern: Jaywalker Socks By Grumperina No modification

Yarn: Knitpicks Bare Fingering Weight Kool-Aid Dyed 

Needle: Size 0 double points

Baby Knits, Baby Knits, Baby Knits

I have three friends who are having babies this year. Two are going to be second time moms, and the other is having her first girl. After the barrage of holiday knits, I had debated between making booties and making my go to bib and burp cloth combo. I decided on doing some easy knitting and chose the old standby. I'm actually starting to run low on my Lily Sugar n Cream stash from the great Rag Shop sale of '07. I really like this yarn (and keep my fingers crossed that they will someday launch on organic cotton version). It's easy to knit with, my fingers don't get too dry and the colors are fun. The first set of bibs are in the Summer Splash colorway, and the two sets of burp cloths are in Ecru, Pastel Delights and Landscape. For the Pastel Delights and Landscape ones, I made the pattern shorter because one ball of yarn only gets you to about 50 rows instead of 61 or 62. It still falls over the shoulder well enough to serve its purpose (or so I hope). The last two bibs are made in the Peach colorway from some gifted Bernat Gloucester Sport. A friend had originally bought the yarn for a sweater, but abandoned the project and gifted me with the remains when she saw me knitting baby items last summer. I like the Peach colorway and the yarn was smooth and easy to work with.

This weekend, I'll be venturing to my LYS on Sunday for their Super Bowl Sale. I've got to get some more T-pins for blocking and the creator of Black Bunny Fibers and author of Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn, Carol Sulcoski, will be doing a book signing. Hopefully, I keep the spending limited to the amount of yarn that I have used up this month. Wish me luck!!

-B

Static Be Gone!

I officially stopped using dryer sheets about 7 years ago. I figured that the excess waste can't be good for the environment and I didn't know what chemicals were on the commercial sheets. So, for years, I've existing without anything in my dryer except the clothes or towels being dried. This worked fine until we moved into the "House of Static" this summer. The laundry room does not have heat, and that is what causes the static. Suffice to say, when I leave the house, I always double check for any stray socks clinging to my pant leg. Over on Ravelry, I'm in the Live Simply and Green Craft groups and I decided to search to see if anyone had any static solutions. I happened upon this pattern for Felted Dryer Balls. I headed over to Joann Fabrics to get some inexpensive Patons Classic Wool in Paprika, New Olive and Blue Denim and set to felting. The result were these:



These are the three smaller ones. I have three larger ones too for a total of six. I must say that while not all of the static is gone, it is significantly diminished. We also have the pleasure of playing "Find the Balls" when we pull stuff out of the dryer. I've got some baby knits blocking and drying, so as they settle up over the next few days, I'll post the results.

I've also been lucky enough to find a great group of gals in town to knit with on Tuesday nights. I'll be taking the Clapotis that I am making for my sister with me this week. We meet at a coffeeshop downtown, so I get the pleasure of knitting, talking and having hot chocolate all in one evening.

-B

Yes, I've been doing some knitting

Despite the evidence to the contrary, I've actually been knitting. Since the summer, I've made a bunch of dish clothes with a star motif, but never remembered to take a picture before giving them away. I also re-did the white scribbling in hopes of using up more of the yarn, but that didn't work out. Instead I gave the left over yarn and a freshly made pair of homemade needles to my friend A's niece over Christmas and started teaching her to make her own mini scribbling. I also managed to make 1 sock from the jaywalker pattern that S gave me. Even with a few mistakes in it, I'm happy with the results. It's not a hard pattern, but it took longer than expected and missing a bunch of decrease rounds because I didn't read the pattern carefully didn't help.

I don't know when I'll have time to start/finish the other sock, since I'm going to be pretty busy at work the next couple of months. Maybe at the same time I get around to watching this season of 24, given that I'm already 4 hours behind.

Maybe if I find the energy, I'll post the picture of the 1 sock.

-E