Knitting Workshop: Knit Cap

I bought Elizabeth Zimmerman's Book "Knitting Workshop" with the intention of going through all the projects this winter. Or for the next few winters. Anyway, I had extra of the Cascade 220 Blue and Yellow from the Nautical Hats, so I thought I'd use up the yarn. 

METHOD:
Done in the round, as per the book.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. The decreases must have been too close together or something because the top was bunched and gathered in an unpleasant way. 
2. While showing it off to friends, Tracy said he liked it, so I gave it to him. 

Desert Poncho

This bad boy took me a year to finally finish, but when I saw the pattern in a Lionbrand ad, I knew  I had to have it, to match my cowboy hat. I enjoyed the knitting of it but I had to do the fringing in sections, because I bore easily.

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Suede, in colors Coffee, Ecru, and Mocha, the colors from the original pattern (although this would be really pretty in a different colorway, I think.) Done on all circulars, this things was HEAVY. And it's super long when finished, but I think it looks quite cunning.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Bind off LOOSELY! This this is so tight, it almost shows.
2. Double the amount of fringe it calls for. It looks cooler.
3. LionBrand sizing calls for an insane amount of yarn. I have so much left over!

Sock Frenzy!

METHOD:
I've made 4 pair of these Lionbrand Magic Stripes socks so far:

1. Seablue colorway - 1 for Mom. Started 7-22-06, finished 8-8-06
2. Purple colorway - 1 for Mom. Started 9-4-06, finished 1-16-07
3. Seablue colorway - 1 for Me. Started 7-15-07, finished 8-15-07
4. Jelly Bean colorway - 1 for Me. Started 2-13-08 when Jeff was in the hospital. Finished 4-6-08.

I love the self-striping and I love working on double pointed needles. My only issue is that they never end up exactly alike. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. These would work better if I learned to make them two-at-a-time, since the two socks always end up being slightly different sizes.
2. I's always viewed socks as being THE hardest things to knit, so it made me happy to make the first set, and every time I make a pair, they turn out a little better!

Where did all the yarn go ????

I swear there's a black hole in our house. Or a yarn fairy, who keeps stealing it.

So Saturday I sit down in my big chair by the fireplace, ready for an evening of relaxing knitting and hoping to finish up my eggplant cardigan, which has been a UFO for far too long. Of course, the yarn is NOT in my basket, nor in my bag, nor in my tote.

Two hours later, after searching through darn near the entire house, I found the last little bit of one ball, but the other -- maybe 2 or 3 balls -- is missing.

Missing.

I KNOW I bought enough to finish this, mostly because the bottom was supposed to have this weird fringe, which I decided to ignore, and I ALWAYS buy at least one extra skein than what the pattern calls for, of the less expensive yarns. This project got bounced around a lot, and I was working on it while the DH was in the hospital, but I've checked through everything I can think to check through, and it's just not to be found. SO frustrating.

I did, however, find two balls of another yarn I'd forgotten about. :)

I'm still mad about not finishing the cardigan, but I did get some good practice time in with crochet. It still looks like a too-tight disaster, but at least I'm doing it. It doesn't feel so awkward anymore. Well, yes it does -- but it feels less awkward. It will come, in time.

New Year's Resolutions

(YES, I WILL get pictures up of all these things. I don't know what's taking so long!)

For years I've been telling myself I'm going to learn to crochet. Like a lot of knitters, I have a love-hate relationship with crochet. I love the way it looks but I hate the thought of actually wasting knitting time to learn to do it.

I'm tired of relying on my mom to do the crochet finishing on stuff. So I decided, for 4 hours a week, I'm going to practice crochet.

Here's what I got for an hour of my time last night:


Sigh.

***

In other news, I just signed up for the TKGA's correspondence course "Basics Basics Basics," which is supposed to help you get ready for the Master Knitter level 1 course. Yay! I got some money for Christmas, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it! I can't wait for the first class. I know I have a problem with binding off too tight (see the Cowboy Poncho for a great example of that!)

***

I have three UFOs in the basket right now, and they've been lingering there for way too long. I need to weave in the ends and do the fringe for the cowboy poncho, finish the edges on my eggplant cardigan (which is ANCIENT now), and finish the stockinette "Vintage" coat -- and either con my mom into crocheting the cuffs, or learn to do them myself.

Too much to do, and I want to start a new project!!! But I won't let myself do anything new until I only have 2 UFOs in the basket. The cardigan is the easiest to finish, but I dread the thought of picking up 180+ stitches. Plus, I need buttons, but I guess I need to make a trip to Joanns anyway. It's been at least 2 weeks since I've been there.:)