I finished my first Elijah. Thank you, Ysolda Teague, for a great pattern.
Category: Gifts
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What My Husband Also Calls Knitting
So Matt calls cross-stitching “knitting”. That’s okay–as long as he doesn’t complain when I spend money on it, he can call it whatever he wants. The knitter/crocheter animosity runs so deep that I’m more offended when people get those confused even though they are at least both yarn arts. I’ve got my priorities confused–so what?
I love adding the backstitching to a project. I think it really helps picture come together. Before the backstitching, you have a big, jumbled mess of colors, but after, you can see where one elements stops and another starts and the pattern really makes sense.
Of course the best part of finishing a project is going to the craft store to pick out another one.
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New Addition to our Household
Don’t panic Linda, I’m not pregnant. But I’m not sure I could love a child more than I love this:
Matt got me a swift for Christmas. He, Matt M., and I struggled for 2 hours trying to untangle 2 skeins of Noro Daria, and to preserve our sanity, he got me Mr. Spinny up there to prevent that from ever happening again. So now when the ladies at the yarn shops ask if I’d like that wound, I proudly say, “No thanks. I’ll just do it at home.” (The yarn on the swift is Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock in Ashburn purchased with a gift card from Mom–thanks Mom!)
All of my female family members got a Daria bracelet at Christmas time. That is some slippery, slippery yarn. The skeins got tangled, the wound balls collapsed. I ended up winding the yarn around some size 19 needles and knitting them off the needles like spindles.
But the results are so shiny, no?
Today during finals week boredom, I started some socks out of stashed Sockotta.
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This Must Be What Knitting Feels Like
Finished the Simon Tam. Had to knit it sneaky like, on my planning period. I had no papers to grade and no lessons to plan, so what else was I to do? Looks purty darn good too. This is the hat still blocked over a dinner plate.
Once I got the hang of the brioche stitches, I loved this pattern all the way up until I reached the decreases. Getting the needle in the right place to k2tog under the yarn overs was some of the most physically taxing knitting that I’ve ever done. I broke out in to a sweat–I huffed and puffed like a freight train. But I still like the pattern enough to want to knit it again for myself in some more Lorna’s Laces Bullfrogs and Butterflies that I have in a pink color. Of course, it helps that I would be knitting a…sing it with me now…Raspberry Beret!
Reader Auntie P turned me onto the Sock Wars. Sounds like it could be some fast and furious fun. What do you think?
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Away Goes A Gift
I finished the Moc-A-Socs. They are so cute that I think I may need insulin.
Time to drop them in the mail. Although I am very excited about giving my very first handmade baby gift to my cousins, it’s always a little hard to send something you’ve made away. At least at Christmas gatherings I get to see people open what I worked so hard on so the separation anxiety is eased a little. But when you put them in the mailbox, you just have to hope that they arrive and imagine that they are pleased.
To ease the pain, I bought The Sheep Shawl pattern with the intention of buying the yarn in a month or two as a summer project. Then I saw this–
on a shelf at The Woolie Ewe. They didn’t have any Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 the last time I was there. What a lovely surprise. Poor Linnea had to watch me debate yarn colors for at least fifteen minutes. Since this was the yarn I was going to buy eventually, I decided to make then be now. Seize the yarn!
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It’s All About The Feet
I finished one of the Moc-A-Socs.
The shoe part is done in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino–colorway: tan. The cashmerino line is always a very nice yarn to work with no matter the weight. This is the first time I’ve used the sport weight but I’ve used the dk and the aran before. Although I wouldn’t advise it, my Fetching mitts went through the washer without felting. I assure you that this wasn’t my mistake–I would never be so careless with my own handknits. The sock part is done in a yarn called Schewe Filigrana. Haven’t heard of it? I’m not surprised. Until I received it in a secret Santa gift, neither had I. It is a German yarn. As near as I can tell (the label is in German which I can’t read) it is 100% mercerized cotton. Usually I try to find something to love about every yarn, but this one is difficult. Filigrana is just not fun to knit with. It’s so stiff and knits up like a cord. But if I rub it with my hands, it softens up considerably like linen yarns do so that it feels more like a regular cotton yarn–which is what I wish I was using. However, it is pretty and soft enough on the sock which is why it didn’t get frogged and replaced; I’d never give someone a gift made of a yarn that didn’t feel good on them.
Speaking of gifts, my husband’s sock yarn came in. No, Matt isn’t taking up knitting; he’d have to put down the Xbox 360 controller for that. I bought yarn to knit him some socks. He has huge feet. Size 14. And he likes tall socks. That’s larger than a 100g ball, or pair of 50g balls, of yarn can handle. Luckily, I found Fearless Fibers and her sock yarns come in hanks of 550 yards which should be enough for a pair of Matt socks. He picked the Tiger’s Eye colorway.
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Spring Break
It’s the last day of spring break which never lasts long enough. I got a lot of knitting done but not as much as I would have liked (but what knitter ever gets as much done as she/he really wants). I purchased the yarn for the Voyager Lace Stole and began it.
Those who are familiar with the pattern will remember that it calls for a provisional cast-on that you pick-up and bind-off later. Notice that there is no provisional cast-on attached to this fine bit of knitting. That’s because I can’t stand trailing around all that extra yarn and I think it looks tacky to boot. So after I knit the six rows of garter stitch, I went ahead and picked up the stitches, unpicked the crochet chain, and performed the longest picot bind-off that I’ve ever managed to date. No more trailing, turquoise waste yarn. Behold–a close-up:
During my visit home to see my folks and my sister, I managed a feat so spectacular that I still get breathless and my pulse races just thinking about it. Are you sitting down? I talking them into an LYS crawl. And none of them knit or crochet. Even my father went (although he didn’t go into the stores–that might have been expecting a bit much). At Sealed With A Kiss In The City, I scored some Sockotta yarn. BTW, when the directions say to look for a green house, they aren’t kidding–the house is margarita green. Then we moved on to The Gourmet Yarn Company, where I found my real prize–
Earlier that day I found out that Matt’s cousin Blair and his wife Andrea are expecting their first child. In fact, this is the first kiddo on my husband’s side of the family since his cousin Sara was born 18 years ago. This means that I get to start knitting baby things. It’s a good thing my mom was at the store to reel me in; otherwise, I would have walked out with the yarn for a blanket as well. As it is…well…I noticed later that the Soup Socks by KnitWhits are for ages 3-6 and it’ll be a while before the sprogling will be that old so I bought this pattern:
Don’t know what yarn I’ll use yet–maybe Baby Cashmerino or Knitpicks Shine. Hope to have both the Soup Socks and the Moc-A-Socs finished by the time we see Blair and Andrea in Captiva.
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He Did Well
Matt is my hero. For Valentine’s Day, I got a dozen roses and this-
a ball winder! , no more hour long, tangly, tedious wool winding sessions =:>) Now, I can neatly wind a ball of yarn in just a couple of minutes. So I have been. Lots of it. Nothing takes the edge of my Jeep being in the shop–that’s right, my brand-new Jeep >:( –like winding sock yarn. Also, here is the progress on the Eyelet Links sock which felt very pretty today.
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Finished x2
I am finished times two. First, I am finished with the @#%$ing essays. And second, I am finished with this:
That my dear friends is a knitted hat in a pattern called Foliage. This means that I have a Christmas present completed in January! Feel free to hate me. Now I vow to work on this:
which is a Persephone Scarf designed by S.M. Kahn. This scarf is a present to me, but I always feel guilty when I make something for myself. Don’t know why–only know it’s silly.
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Harry Potter Hats
So the knitting fairy gave out her Christmas presents this year to the family who received Harry Potter hats in the House colors they favored most (or in Matt’s case, the left over House since he refused to pick one). I’m still making my Slytherin hat. Represent!
Adrienne requested the Ravenclaw book colors. Do you know how hard it is to find bronze colored yarn?
Dad looks so gosh darned happy in his hat–makes me proud!
Isn’t me mum so cute! Very photogenic.
The Hufflepuff hat turned out to be more of a Charlie Brown hat.
