Christmas Knitting Round-up

Whee Christmas is over!! I got most of my knitting done, the only things left on the needles is one half sock for my Grandpa, and about three quarters of a scarf for my FIL.

All told, I think that makes this Christmas a successful one.

On the finished side, we have:

Specs:

Pattern: Generic sock pattern, see Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Rules, random stripes added

Yarn: Paton’s Kroy in Black and orange varigated (colour 54567)

Needles: DPN 2.25 mm

Started: December 10, 2007

Finished: December 18, 2007

Thoughts: This was the last minute socks that were requested of me from my Step-mom (she of the amazing knitting bag which apparently came from Regal online). In an email I was hinted at that a black pair of socks with stripes that weren’t too bright in a size 5 would be perfect.

So I broke out my sock stash and whipped these up. She really loved them and wore them for the next 3 days that I saw her. She lives in British Columbia so while she might not have the extreme cold of Ontario, she does have the extreme dampness.

These were top priority for me because she is the main family member who encourages my knitting habit (even more so than my Gramma). I knew she would absolutely love them and would wear and take care of them. She is definitely going to get more of these in the future.

Next up:

Specs:

Pattern: Arrrrgh-yles from Moth Heaven

Yarn: Paton’s Kroy in White and Black, Lily Chin Chelsea in Green, and Dalegarn Baby Ull in Orange

Needles: DPNs 2.25 mm

Started: August 25, 2007

Finished: December 6, 2007

Thoughts: These were made for a friend of C’s in Singapore. They play the online game Puzzle Pirates and when I found these socks I showed it to C who showed it to his friend who asked for a pair. She’s going to be heading out to BC next fall to go to school so again, see damp wet winter which wool socks are perfect for.

I really enjoyed this pattern, it was another attempt at intarsia and fairisle, this was better than some of my previous attempts. I had fewer holes to sew up, and I was really happy with my back seam on the socks, you can see it in the sock on the right in the picture. I’m really bad at finishing so I was proud that I buckled down and did it right. I also conquered Kitchener Stitch in these socks and then re-conquered it in the stripey socks… I might not have such a war with it from now on.

Can you tell this was a year of socks? :

Specs:

Pattern: Generic kid sock with short row heel and normal toe

Yarn: Lang Yarns Jawoll Cotton Jacquard

Needles: 2.25 DPNs

Started: December 5, 2007

Finished: December 10, 2007

Thoughts:This is one of two pairs of identical socks for the granddaughters of family friends. This was a bit of a struggle because I was just given the age of the girls and the approximate size of their feet. So I went and grabbed a chart of foot sizes and the corresponding stitch amounts, and away I went.

Luckily both pairs of socks fit, and I was quite proud that I managed to match up both pairs.

Hopefully the girls won’t fight over who’s socks are who’s.

Last but not least, a baby blanket that wasn’t actually a Christmas Present:

Specs:

Pattern: Snowdrop Shawl by Yarn Harlot

Yarn: Some mystery yarn that I inherited.

Needles: 5.5 mm Straights

Started: November 28, 2007

Finished: December 22, 2007

Thoughts: This was a really fun lace project. It was my first time adding an actual edging to a shawl. I was really pleased by how it ended up.

Due to the different yarn and the fact that I had absolutely no info on what this yarn is, I did fewer repeats for the bulk of the shawl because I was worried I wouldn’t have enough for the edging. In the end I had over half a ball left so I can make baby hats or whatever from it.

This poor baby girl is the first girl in the family for 13 years, she’s got way too much pink already, I need to make her something yellow or such.

So that’s my Christmas knitting. Now to get back to the unfinished boring socks for my Granpa. I got a really cool present as well that I will talk about next time.. It ties in with the end of my BC trip.

Till next time.

FO! And a Book Critique.

I just read through some of my past posts and realized that I didn’t finish what happened on my BC vacation…. I’ll do that later, there wasn’t really all that much but I will get to it.

Today however I bring you the promised FO! This is a gift for a friend of mine who came to me last year and asked if I would help him reach geek level 5. It is a Tom Baker Dr. Who Scarf!

(as always, click the pictures to see bigger)

This scarf is LONG! I’m 5′5″ and it’s wrapped once around my neck loosely. It’s probably about 11-12 feet long all told.

The specs for this:

Pattern: Season 13 (first) Scarf from The History of Tom Baker’s Scarves

Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool Merino

Needles: 4mm straights

Started: February 2007

Finished: October 2007

Thoughts: This scarf felt like it was never ending. At times it was quite fun, I’d finish a colour section and start the next, realize it was only 8 rows and try to get to the next section. It became a bit of a race with myself. However, it was also completely in Garter Stitch and made for very boring knitting after a while. Especially when I interrupted it with the Mystery Stole. Going from interesting lace back to garter stitch was hard. The pattern is sort of interesting though, in that it just gives you the colours you need, then lists which colour comes next and how many rows to do. It was fairly simple to follow.

That is until I skipped a line of the pattern and forgot about 10 colour sections. I ripped it out, cursing all the while, and added in the colours I missed. Looking back on it now, I realize that I could have just done some surgery on it, leaving the sections I’d completed to the side (cutting them off) knitting the ones I’d forgotten, then grafting the section back on. But I didn’t think about that until after I’d ripped it all.

My friend should be careful, because after that lovely picture up top, the garter stitch monster decided it wanted it’s revenge on me for taking so long.

But I beat it into submission and snapped a couple of pictures to warn you of any impending doom you will have if you make this scarf.

 

Sobering isn’t it.

On the plus side, I have at least one full ball of each colour left over to figure out what to do with. I’m pondering a colour work sweater but I’m not sure yet. We’ll see. Any ideas? There are 7 colours, I would probably have to do this sweater in the round to make sure I had enough, but I might be able to split the balls.

Book Critique!

Recently I went out and bought the book Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair  by Crazy Aunt Purl. This was a book that I was really looking forward to. I’d been reading her blog for about 6 months and had almost fallen off my chair laughing through most of it.

When the book finally came out, my local book store didn’t get it in stock for a month or so. When I finally found it, after reading great things being said about it, I snatched it up and bought it before the words “can’t afford it” could go through my head.

I was reading it in the car on the way home (my fiance was driving) and pretty well devoured it over the next few days.

This book is fantastic. It had me laughing, crying, agreeing, and emphasizing. I’m only 25, not married and never been through a divorce as one of the married people. I have however been a child involved in 2 divorces, one involving many acts of adultery and abuse, and do know how trying it can be on a person and a family.

This book is not a tale of woe, it is not a pity party or a “he was mean to me so I wrote this book”. This is a history of a woman caught in a tough time and surviving it. Finding strength in herself and moving forward. Plus, it’s got knitting included.

Totally my kind of book.

Oh and Laurie, if you’re reading this, you may say you decided to “not bring back the leg warmer trend of  1987″ but looking around the stores… you LIED!!

Till next time!

WIP’s and FO’s

Today I’m going to discuss some of my WIP’s and a couple of FO’s that I’ve been working on lately. You all know about the Mystery Stole 3, and you’ll get updates on that on Fridays as I complete each clue.

This is for other things I’m working on because I’m very much not a monogamous knitter in any sense of the word.

To start off let’s look at my FO’s. These are my charity FO’s that I’m working on to try and rid my stash of extra yarn that I don’t need.

To start off with, here is my pinwheel blanket

This blanket is made with 3 colours of Red Heart Acrylic. I started this about a year and a half ago, and it would have been finished quite quickly, but I kept getting distracted from it. It was nice mindless knitting for a while. I finished this with a plain stocking stitch edging.

It still needs to be blocked, but that won’t take long.

This next project you might need to put your sunglasses on for. Any retinal burning you may experience has been forwarned.

This is the picture without flash. This hat is the Center Square hat from knitty. It was my first successful attempt at colourwork with the yarn held in both hands. There is little to no puckering and all the colour switches worked very well. I altered this pattern by using a worsted weight yarn with only one strand, and extending the bottom ribbing. It’s longer than just a beanie, but it’s small enough for a toddler or small child.

My WIP’s at the moment are mostly socks.

This is the Grasshopper sock from the Socks that Rock sock club. Don’t expect this to be done any time soon, I’m making the knee high version. I’m really enjoying working with the silkie though it’s a beautiful yarn and the colours are gorgeous.

This is a completed Jaywalker, calmly waiting for its mate that is currently on the needles and just past the heel. I’m hoping to get this one done within the next week. They yarn is Paton’s Kroy Stripes and I love the colourway. Even better is that without meaning to, the colours on the second sock are very close to matching.

This is my Pomatomus sock. It’s an old picture as I have now worked my way around past the heel by now. This is worked in some extra Trekking XXL that I had laying around. I made some plain stocking stitch socks out of this yarn previously and I’m slightly worried I won’t have enough yarn.  Due to that I’ve only done two repeats on the leg instead of three, but it’s a long enough leg for me right now.

This is just scratching the surface of the projects I have on the needles, but some of those will get their own post in the future.

Till then!