Holiday Knitting

So I haven't been knitting much this past week as I've been busy working on other projects.  Today new yarn arrived (yippie!) and I get to start a newly commissioned blanket.

The beard hat for DS's boyfriend was a huge hit:

Here's the beginnings of the blanket: 

The pattern is called Garter Stitch Ruffle and is being knitted in Bernat Baby Coordinates and Softee Baby.

I'm also working on my first sweater.  DH has volunteered to wear the sweater no matter what it ends up looking like... :) Pics to follow soon!

Recycled Plarn Tote

In my effort to try new patterns and new ways to use my crafting skills, I have created a bag out of recycled plastic bags--you know, like Wal-Mart bags.  Crocheting with this kind material is called Plarn.  Having found the pattern I wanted to use, I gathered all the plastic bags around the house and began constructing the plarn.

Cutting up the first bag.

Chaining 28

 The First Round

Bottom complete

  Close-up of the bottom

Round 10

Check out those half double crochets!

The inside of the bag

Complete bag, side view

Inside of bag

Glacial Billed Beanie

It's starting to get cold here and I realized I didn't have any hats for myself.  Of all the things I have made and given away, I, the knitter, had no hats to keep my noggin' warm on blustery days.  This oversight was not something I could stand for any amount of time. 

I had some beautiful Thick & Quick yarn in the Glacier colorway and set out to make my new hat.  The problem was to find a pattern that was more interesting that your basic hat.  I found a billed beanie on Ravelry that suited nicely.  The hat took no time to knit up as Thick & Quick is a bulky yarn that knits up as advertised--very quickly.

I misread the pattern and made the body portion too short.  When I finished the top of the hat, I added two rows to the bottom of the hat and then added the bill as the pattern stated.  I wish I had made the bill a little bigger, but am still very pleased with the end result.  Adding the two rows created a band around the hat that I quite liked too! So yay for happy misreadings!

Here is a picture of the hat:

Kami Hat and Nyan Scarf photos

Well, it's been a productive week despite traveling.  I completed my last paper on Tuesday, finished the Kami Hat today, and got to deliver the Nyan Cat scarf to Ms. J.  And as promised, PHOTOS!!!

The Kami Hat

 The side of the hat

 The top of the hat

Nyan Cat Scarf

WIPs No More

So updates:

Finished the Nyan Cat Scarf for Ms. J and bonus: I get to deliver it in person as work is bringing me back to Phoenix this week.

Finished my heather shrug; the lace work turned out beautifully! Pictures to follow soon.

On round 14 of the Kami hat, so progress there! :)

 

I would like to thank the 2009 miniseries of Emma for giving me something beautiful to watch while I knitted this weekend!

Moss Stitch Cowl

Decided to give my wrists a break last night and started this cowl.  After doing homework all afternoon, I took a break and knitted a hat for my lil sis's guy and finished the cowl.  The hat was knit in Lion Brand Thick & Quick in grey marble, simple pattern I just made up on the fly.  I add the purl round to keep the hat from curling due to the stockinette stitch.

Cast on 40 and join in the round, using US 13 circular needle, 16" long.
Round 1: Knit
Round 2: Purl
Knit every round until the hat covers the crown of your head
K6, K2tog, repeat to end of round
Knit to end of round
K5, SKP, repeat to end of round
Knit to end of round
K4, K2tog, repeat to end of round
Knit to end of round
Cut a long tail and thread yarn needle with tail
With hat still on the needles, thread tail through loops
Remove needle and pull tight
Weave in loose ends

This pattern took me about 2 hours.

Here's picture of the cowl:

Saturday in the library

Today is the perfect day for working on J's Nyan Cat scarf, but I have too much research and paper writing. I am on the last color for the ripple portion and then I will start on the poptart cat portion. I finished the Autumn in Eugene hat, and I will post photos soon! I am still trying to decide what to knit for my Parisian friend and for my lil sis's partner. I also need to finsh my other Ugg bootie and make my handwarmers.

Here's what the Autumn in Eugene ended up looking like after blocking!

Autumn in Eugene, Cont'd

I am now on Round 43 of 49 and the hat is coming along beautifully! 

In other knitting news, a friend and i have decided to participate in a knitting swap for Christmas this year.  She lives in Paris so I have to think of something warm and fashionable and fabulous! :)

Autumn in Eugene Hat

Yesterday I began work on a hat commissioned by my sister.  As I made a swatch to ensure my gauge/tension was right for the pattern, I realized I had purchased the wrong Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn.  I bought the light, which is a sport weight, when I meant to just purchase the Ultra Alpaca, which is a worsted weight.  So back to the yarn store I went.  The ladies at the store helped me quickly and before I knew it was I swatching again.

Swatch made, gauge met, I began knitting.  I am currently on round 22 of 29 and have just switched from DPNs (double-pointed needles) to 16" fixed.  Here's my progress so far, and here's the pattern I'm using:

Weekends & Knitting

The past few days I have been baking, cleaning, gaming, and knitting. Less knitting than I would like though.  My slippers are coming along nicely.  The first slipper is finished based on the initial pattern, but I have some modifications to make.

First off, I don't know who measures a 8-9 shoe in the size for that pattern, but it is HUGE.  I mean, I can get both of my feet easily into the one slipper.  So the next time I make these Ugg Booties, they will be MUCH smaller.  Second, I stopped knitted back and forth on straight needles after all the decreasing and switched to knitting the round to avoiding having to sew up the seam.  I hate sewing the seams.  And my finally change was that I also shortened the slipper to only 6" of stockinette and then switch to contrasting color for about 1.5".  The penultimate row was purled to help reduce curling of the slipper.  I am quite satisfied with the slipper, over than the ginormousness of it.  Next up, I am going to be "tufting" the slippers to compensate for the extra-large-ness of them and to make them extra warm.

I also visited a new yarn store yesterday.  The hubby and I were supposed to go to Portland for some yarn shopping, but we decided to stay close to the house so that we could spend more time relaxing!  The Knit Shop is a great store. They have a large selections of yarn and the prices weren't too expensive, though I did see a skein of sock yarn that I wanted--it was $36...it will have to wait... While I was there, someone called for assistance with a pattern for a sweater and they were very helpful. 

Here's what I got for my $36:

1 skein of Flounce--color 20 and the clerk offer assistance if I need any using the yarn.  I will be knitting this with the yarn.

2 skeins of Happy Feet--color 10 and it is SUPER soft.  I'm posting two pictures as one is tiny and the other is not true to the vibrant colors in the yarn.

2 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light--color 4201. This yarn is for a hat I have been commissioned to make.

All in all, a good knitting weekend despite not actually knitting that much.

Knitted Ugg Booties...for me!

Today I started some fantabulous slippers for myself since the hubby confiscated my slippers (they were man slippers so it's ok).  Since Oregon equals cold feet, I decided I would make my own slippers instead of buying generic ones that anyone could have!

So here's what I have so far:

And here's the pattern I am using:
Size 10 needles
Lion Brand thick and quick yarn or similar to obtain gauge
I am using Oatmeal as the main color and Sequoia as the contrasting color for the top of the booties!
gauge: 12 sts and 20 rows = 4"

With main color co 44 sts. Knit one row.
ROW 1 (RS) K1, yo, K20, yo, K2, yo, K20, yo, K1
ROW 2 and all subsequent WS Rows: Knit all stitches, but knit the yarn over twisted, ie. into the back loop of the yo.
ROW 3 K2, yo, K20, yo, K2, yo, K2, yo, K20, yo, K2
ROW 5 K3, yo, K20, yo, K7, yo, K20, yo, K3
ROW 7 K4, yo, K20, yo, K5, yo, K4, yo, K20, yo, K4
ROW 9 K5, yo, K20, yo, K6, yo, K6, yo, K20, yo, K5
After row 10, continue in stockinette stitch for 8 more rows.

INSTEP
ROW 1 Knit 40, ssk, turn work (ignore remaining stitches on needle for now)
ROW 2 sl1, p14, p2tog, turn work again (again ignore remaining stitches)
ROW 3 sl1, K14, ssk, turn
ROW 4 sl1, p14, p2tog, turn
ROWS 5-12 Repeat Rows 3 and 4 four more times.
ROW 13 sl1, K14, knit to end of row, turn
ROW 14 purl to middle of row. there is a gap. purl2tog to close gap. (i neglected to count which number these two stitches are.. I will update on my next pair. it is very easy to see!!) purl to end of row.

Work 8-10" in stockinette stitch (if your tween likes low Uggs or high Uggs) and switch to contrasting color and work another 2" in contrasting color. BO Knitwise. Sew seam using mattress stitch. Give to teen and be met with squeals and giggles. To fit approx. size 8-9 foot. they will stretch a bit. Put some dots of puffy paint or what ever you like to put on your slippers to prevent them from being "slippers" and enjoy!

Excited today

Today I am working on a scarf for my hubby.  He needs a scarf to match his favorite coat and his birthday is coming up, so a scarf he gets.

I also got some kind of spectacular news. Someone I have never met, but know my sister, has requested a hat made by me.  ME SPECIFICALLY, no store item would do.  This simple request has made my flipping day!

Also, I am making a dear friend a NYAN Pop Tart Cat scarf.  I had to google it to find out what she was talking about...boy was I sorry. Nonetheless, I am off to yarn heaven for supplies!

Lazy Sundays

I am still working on my movie-night shrug, but more importantly homework...

Today the hubby got me the Jane Austen Knits 2011 magazine and Weekend Hats.  I got them in the digital format so I could look at the patterns via iPad.  Once I have made a dent in the Kami hat and the movie-shrug is closer to done, I might start a new hat from my book!!

Also, I've been commissioned to make a NYAN Poptart/Cat scarf and a beret, each for a different wonderful lady.

So no pictures today, just words!  :)

Mary Jane Pithy Hat - DONE!

The hat is finished; I am so excited!  Super duper glad that I did not have to use DPNs at all for this project!  The hat is so loose at the top that I easily finished without issue!

This hat was knitted with Red Heart Soft yarn in Mid Blue.  The yarn is as the name says, very soft to the touch and the hat is quite stretchy thanks to the lovely purse stitch!

A link to the pattern used: Mary Jane Hat

 From the front!

 From the back...though a little off-center!

Kami Hat Cont'd

This evening I cast on my Kami Hat in lovely eggplant! The pattern had a 13 + 3 repeat 5 times per round, so I am using place markers for the first few rounds. I normally don't use place markers for patterns repeats; I just memorize the pattern and say it to myself as I knit.  But something about counting to sixteen 5 times just didn't sit well with me.  The first round was atrocious as I cast on so tightly, but by round two things are moving along nicely.  I am using a homemade place marker to signify the new round.

Dishcloth Cont'd

About a third of the way complete with the dishcloth, I count my rows by the garter stitch edging.

Here I am exactly halfway done, 17 rows of stockinette stitch plus my 4 garters rows at the bottom.

All of the stockinette is complete, you will know you are done when you have 18 ridges counting the two for the garter stitch rows.

Finished!

Now I have to do the fancy stuff that you don't get to see until the recipient gets his/her dishcloth!

Swatches

It is very important to create a swatch...most of the time.  I usually create one, but I rarely keep the swatch.  I will frog it to conserve yarn unless the yarn is delicate and won't look good post-frogging.  What you see above is an on-the-spot swatch for the dishcloth pattern below.

Using Sugar'n Cream in Ecru, I am going to make a 7"x7" dishcloth.

It will have a half inch garter stitch border to prevent curling as it is going to be plain 'ol stockinette stitch.

My swatch is 8 stitches and 11 rows = 2" square, using US9.

My pattern:

Cast on 30

Rows 1 - 4, knit all stitches

Row 5 - knit all stitches

Row 6 - k3, p to last 3 stitches, k3

Repeat rows 5 and 6 for 31 more rows ending on a WS row, aka you would be about to do a Row 6 and should have a total of 33 rows in the Row 5 & 6 pattern.

K 4 rows

Bind off

More steps to follow, but as this is a gift for someone, I will be holding on the rest of the pattern until after s/he receives it.

Heather Shrug

This morning I decided to cast on a shrug...so here goes my first shrug attempt, ever.  I am making this movie night shrug in Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes Tweed in the colorway Flagstone Heather.  Using US10 10" needles, I have to add any extra repeat of the pattern and one extra knit stitch on each end.  I'm glad that I did a swatch on this one, because I would have been pissed off it was too small...
Here's the cast on row with 1 row of Ks.

A Kami Hat

So on I love Yarn Day, I went to my LYS, Soft Horizons. I picked out a beautiful ice blue silk yarn, which I will show you all later, and an eggplant Aran made by Lang Yarn. 

Having no particular project in mind, I decided I would make a hat with my new yarn. I started scouring the internet for a one-skein hat pattern, but nothing was right. I had almost given up, but I pulled up Foxflat's latest blog and found her Kami Hat used the exact same yarn. 

Being a recognizer of coincidence, I decided I would use my yarn day yarn for a Kami Hat of my own. So be on the lookout for updates to my Kami Hat.

This picture does not do the rich eggplant color justice...

Pithy Hat

Currently, I am working on a pithy hat that uses a modified purse stitch for knitting in the round:

round 1:*yo, p 2 tog* repeat til end
round 2: *YO, k2 tog (TBL)* repeat til end

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until desired length.