Finally Organized my Stash!

OMG it took me like 5 hours, but I finally organized my stash and got it all listed in Ravelry. Now I have to find photos of everything. But that's for later -- next up is to make sure my pattern library is current with the library list I have in Ravelry, and to check the magazines for baby and toddler patterns I like. Eventually I'd like to actually do some knitting again...

Clearing out what was the "sewing room" and making it into a nursery meant that fabric and yarn were everywhere. Organizing it in the hall closet was the best thing I think I could ever accomplish, although I think this is a result of nesting, and I'm sure there were other things that needed doing. Still, it's done.

OMG I'M PREGNANT! Baby Jacket

OMG the cuteness!! I have a baby!!!

I started this project April 1, 2011 after finding out a couple of weeks prior that I was PREGNANT! No more making baby blankets as gifts - now I can knit for my own baby!! I joined all the "Expectant Knitters" groups on Ravelry and now I have a long list of projects to make, but this one was queued up first. My due date is November 10, so I'm planning some warm fuzzies for baby!

METHOD:
This project is called "Adorable Baby Hoodie" and it came from Creative Knitting, May 2008. The yarn is Sugar N Cream in Violet Veil Ombre and it was worked on size 8 needles. I added yellow buttons so as to not have blue overkill but either purple or yellow would have worked. Baby is a boy!

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. As usual, the hardest part was finishing the silly thing.
2. WTF is up with these Creative Knitting patterns? They have so much weirdness to them. What is up with the hood???
3. Working from a schematic is so much easier than just instructions. Remember that for your next project!

Tarot Bag for Jeff

I'm pretty sure we got the yarn for this around June of 2010, but I don't think I ended up actually finishing the bag until I think spring of 2011. I'm calling this one a March 1, 2011 finish, just because I have no idea. I'm fairly certain I finished it before I found out I was pregnant, but since I neglected to write anything down ... !!!! 

METHOD:
I found the pattern on Mary Greer's website, and since Jeff said he was looking for a cool tarot bag, I volunteered to make this one. He bought the yarn: Plymouth Yarn Kudo, in colorway #41. I have a ton of it left and would like to make something pretty with it. There's nearly a skein left.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. KEEP NOTES! I hate not knowing when things were made.

Baby Blanket for Morgan

The best laid plans... I originally intended to give this to Morgan for her baby shower, but I didn't get it finished in time, so I gave it to her for Christmas. I'm going to call this a Christmas finish, since I didn't write down the actual completion date.

METHOD:
The yarn is called Heaven (and it's oh so heavenly soft) made by Plymouth and I picked it up on sale at KnitWitts. It's done on size 15 needles because the yarn is so fat. The pattern was a free pattern by Plymouth, but it's garter stitch and nothing fancy.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Those huge needles HURT! I don't care for that size.
2. Take a picture of stuff before you give it away! This is the sample photo from the pattern, but the actual looks exactly like it.

Plum Cardigan

I absolutely LOVE this thing, It's so soft and cuddly. I put off finishing it once I'd made the pieces because I was afraid of sewing in the sleeves, but that part was actually easy! I started it on March 3, 2007 (!!) but ended up losing the yarn when I went to back to finishing, so it got put aside for another year. When I finally found the yarn, I did the neckband and button band in one day.

METHOD:
This is a Moda Dea pattern, and this is done in Moda Dea "Dream" in colorway "Plum." It was done entirely on size 6 needles. I added Swarovski buttons and cut out the fringe. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. So it's more like a cropped sweater, since the fringe was probably supposed to add length, but as it is it makes a great cover up for dance class.
2. I ended up having a lot left over so I'm drooling over maybe making a beret or something to match.
3. The bottom wants to flare out and makes my waistline look bigger than it is, but it's so soft and fluffy I really don't care!

Lace Amore Scarf

I made this for a lark, out of the leftover "Amore" yarn from the Bow Ponchette. The lace pattern was just one of the samples from the Knitting for Dummies book.

METHOD:
Just done in whatever needles happened to be handy, from a lace repeat pattern in the For Dummies book. Nothing complicated. I think I finished this around June 24, 2009, but I didn't get around to taking pictures until later. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Have fun and play with your yarn! Also, for acrylic yarn, this is really soft.

Knitting Workshop: Color Pattern Hat

Destashing and learning at the same time. This is another project from the Knitting Workshop book by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The white key pattern I took from the book "Here There Be Wyverns," and its a Swedish border design from the 11th-14th century. 

METHOD:
Done on size 10 circulars, with leftover Brown Cascade 220 and leftover Cashmerino from the Nautical Hats.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This is a fun and easy hat.
2. I probably should have made the ribbing white. Oh well.

Green Lace Socks

More socks! Started April 7, 2008 and basically forgot about them until finishing January 4, 2009.

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Microspun, which I quite like, these are from the pattern "Green Socks" in the book "Ultimate Book of Knit Socks."

The recommended lace was done on #7s, but when I swatched it, I ended up using #6 dpns.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. I really kneed to pay attention to the repeats when I'm doing lace knitting.

2. These don't fit quite right. I'm not sure why. 

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.:)

Ribbed Tank Top

Having discovered "Ravelry," I have been posting over there, rather than keeping up here, so these projects are going to be post-dated a bit. 

METHOD:
I started this on 4-23-07 and finished 8-18-07. 

This was a LionBrand pattern, from the website, and I had it in my head I would make a bunch of these, to fit the new "reduced" body I have now :) (20 pounds lost! and 5 inches gone from my waistline!)  It's done on LionBrand MicroSpun in color Turquoise. I purchased four skeins and had a lot left over. The piece was worked on #6 circulars and modified from the 2-piece pattern, so I wouldn't have to seam it and the sides would be even. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. I had issues with the ribbing and the decreasing. The count looks off and decreasing by one means you have an off-rib pattern.  
2. It didn't end up quite long enough, but that's my fault as I had tons of yarn and I need to remember I'm not a teenager. 

3. I liked this enough I bought fabric for a matching skirt I hope I can finish in the near future!

4. For something that only cost $6.64 I'm pretty happy with it!

A special gift for Captain Phil

Yeah, I'm a geek. So what. I love the show "Deadliest Catch" and for kicks I thought I would make my fave Cap'n a hat like the one I made father-in-law. So here 'tis.

METHOD:
Exactly the same as before. This is a pattern from Knitter's Magazine. It's garter stitch all through, with grafting so it's seamless. Or rather, it's supposed to be. I did this on #4 circular needles, just like before. I hope it fits! The base yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, and the flags are done in what I had leftover of the Cascade Wool.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. To slip the darn first stitch on short rows!!!!! I didn't notice I had forgotten this until the hat was like halfway done.
2. There is definately a right and wrong side to garter stitch, when you're putting two colors together. Starting on the wrong side will give you a thin line of color before you're supposed to have it. Starting on the right side eliminates the line.
3. My floats are too tight. The flag for "P" is pulling in so much, but there's not a lot I can do.
4. Grafting in garter stitch. Looks good!
5. Each one of these I make still look amateurish, but they're getting better.

Here's hoping you like it, Phil!

Lace-Edged T-Shirt

Finally finished this one last night, after leaving off for a while because of

A. Christmas
and
B. The pattern is TOTALLY screwed up.

METHOD:
The yarn is from KnitPicks, a cotton frise yarn called "Crayon." I used color "periwinkle." I had to use a little larger needle than recommended -- #s 6 and 7 circular.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
The pattern is royally screwed up. That's the last time I'm buying a pattern from them, but the yarn is very nice and I may buy more of it. Someone on one of the knitting forums also had issues with the pattern.

Something went wrong when setting in the sleeves. One side of the lace is not connected properly, I think. That armhole is also a little smaller than it probably should be.

I enjoyed knitting in the round, and would have enjoyed it more IF the pattern instructions hadn't been off on the decreasing. I had a couple of questions about reverse shaping, which the local knitting group helped me to figure out. This was definitely a harder thing to knit, but I do feel like I learned a lot.

Semaphore Hat

Another late Christmas present, but I just couldn't figure out how to do intarsia in garter stitch. I tried SO many times, and frankly I'm still not happy with how it turned out. I'm hoping to get a pic of him wearing it soon. I chose this design because he goes fishing in the Ozarks and since he's bald, I figure this would keep his head warm.

METHOD:
The pattern was in the Knitter's Magazine Spring 2006 issue. The semaphore spells out MIKE for my pop-in-law. The base is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky (YUM!) and the flags are done in Cascade Yarns 128. The whole thing was knit on #4 circular needles.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
How to do intarsia in garter stitch, that Cashmerino is FUN to knit with, and that I really really need to pay attention when I'm counting. Also, this was my first experience with short-row shaping. The hat itself looks good, it's the flag (actually the first one) that needs work.

Boucle Poncho

I loved the colors in this yarn so much I ordered some of it from Smileys to make this poncho.

METHOD:
Done in Lionbrand Funfur "Lava" and LionBrand Boucle "Snow Cone," I used 10.5 needles, which seem to be my favorites for bulky yarns. It's one of Lionbrand's free patterns, and I had a devil of a time trying to figure out what color fur would match those weird purples in the boucle.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. That I should have seamed this with thread instead of the boucle, as the bulkiness of the boucle made the seams overly bulky.
2. How to pick up stitches around an edge.
3. That LionBrand tells you to buy waaaaaaay more yarn than you will actually ever need.
4. I don't care much for hoods.

More socks! Now I want some for me.

Sock redux. Another gift for mom. She was supposed to get these for her birthday. In September. Of last year. I'm SO bad.

METHOD:
Lionbrand Sock yarn Magic Stripes again, in the purple color. Done from the pattern on the label, on #3 dpns.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
One is still shorter than the other. Maybe I need to knit for people with odd-sized feet?

I can't wait to make more socks, but I want to keep them for myself!

First Abandoned Project

I started this tank top at the monthly knit day at Borders, and was all excited about it for a week, until I started wearing the other one and realized I don't like the way it fits.

This is the same yarn, Caron's Jewel Box, only I thought I'd actually try to knit it to gauge this time. I'm just not keen on having no shaping around the waistline and under the ribs. I mean, I HAVE a waist, and I'd like to see it! The white version looks dumpy. The pattern is not flattering.

I took the jump. I frogged it and rewound the yarn back into a ball.


AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
It actually feels good to rip out and abandon something hideous. Now I can devote my time and energy to something that looks better.