is 35 years old "vintage"?

When I visited my mother-in-law in New Zealand in February she let me raid her HUGE box of old patterns. One of the magazines I took from her was an issue of Stitchcraft, published December 1972, the month and year Aidan was born. I liked the idea that she was sitting there, 9 months pregnant, waiting for my husband to be born, flipping through this magazine.



Maybe she came across this scarf pattern and thought how cute it was, and how she'd like to knit it for herself, but it was summer (seasons reversed down under) and she'd wait a bit, but then her baby was born and she had no time to knit for herself.



Okay, maybe it didn't go down that way, but I think it's a totally cute scarf, so I knit it for her.





I used the last of my Interlacements Oregon Worsted Merino Wool in Tapestry. I LOVE this yarn. Love love. And I love the baby born 35 years ago last week, who's the psycho in the photo above.

warm and wooly

I finished Aidan's socks! They turned out well. Sooper doopter (as Bickie says) thick and warm.



I followed the Comfy Socks pattern pretty closely. To make the yarn bulky enough, I held the Treliske Organic Merino doubled. I made the large size, on size 11 needles (long circular, magic loop) and they fit him pretty well. Funny thing is, he has one foot that's half a size longer than the other, so I knit one half an inch longer. I guess that's one of the benefits of hand knit socks. :) To differentiate them, I double stitched a large L in the bottom of the longer one, which works out well, because it's also his left foot.



The one silly mistake I made was that I decided to make the socks ribbed, instead of just stocking stitch all the way. With 28 stitches cast on, I divided with 14 on each half of the magic loop. And I k2, p2 across the first 14, then k2, p2 across the second 14. I didn't even realize until I rearranged the stitches after knitting the heel flap that each set of 14 was beginning and ending with k2, so that I had 2 ribs that were k4. Oops. I'll just pretend I did that on purpose. It was on purpose on the second sock, after all. ;)

knit like the wind

Coming up to the holidays, I had a lot on my plate. I had to study for a big final exam for one class, and write a 10 page paper, prepare a 5 minute presentation, and finish a take home final exam for another class. So all that left very little time for knitting (and blogging about knitting). But knitting had to be done. I wanted to give Bickie's preschool teachers (all 5 of them) hand knitted end of the year gifts. I'm quite pleased with the resulting collection, though there were a few missteps along the way.


Top row (left to right) - Fingerless Mitts, Fuzzy Scarf, Cabled Neckwarmer
Bottom row - Boucle Hat, Striped Wooly Hat

The Fingerless Mitts were the most time consuming, partly because I had to rip out to the thumb on one of them. I had thought that my yarn was giving me larger gauge, so I made a smaller thumb hole and thumb. But it ended up much too small. I should have just followed the pattern. Which, BTW, was Dashing from Knitty. So I did follow the pattern for the second one, it turned out perfect, so I ripped back the first one and redid it to pattern specs. One thing I did change from the pattern was the length of the arm. I just shortened it a bunch, mainly to make knitting it quicker. I was short on time.



I'm really happy with how they turned out in the end, I might actually make myself a pair. They were knit for a guy, and I had my husband and brother both try them on to make sure they'd fit a guy, and they did, but these are my petite lady hands modeling here. They actually fit me pretty good too, though I'd probably knit a smaller size for myself. For these I used the first yarn I ever bought, over 11 years ago, when I had my then-future MIL in New Zealand teach me to knit. It's a totally basic, hard-wearing undyed 100% wool called Thorobred Farms Stormy Ridge Station Triple Knit 12 ply. I bought a whole bunch of it for a sweater, and never finished it. I got halfway up the back and decided it was ugly. So I bound off, felted it, and I think ended up throwing it away. But I still have a whole bunch of this yarn left. I could make 50 pairs of these mitts.

The Fuzzy Scarf was just a made up pattern. I have all this feathery yarn that I got from the 2006 Boston Knit Out for registering my blog with them. A whole bag of it. But I don't know what I'd make out of a whole bag of nylon eyelash yarn. So I knit it with a strand of Jaggerspun Zephyr on size 19 needles. Knit, knit knit. Knit, knit, knit. It became a scarf.



Kinda cute, right? I made the ends wider than the middle, because I cast on too many to begin with (20 stitches) and thought it would be too wide, and take too long to knit. Have I mentioned I was in a rush?

For the neckwarmer, I followed this pattern. I really like it, and the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky is super soft. The only thing I would change is to make the next one a bit tighter. This is just a bit too loose. So I would take out one repeat of the cable I think.



And then there're the hats. The first one, in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan, is totally cute, right?



I copied this idea to do the Tychus pattern from Knitty in this boucle yarn. I took Knerq's suggestion to start with 26 stitches, but it was still too short on me, so I added a garter stitch border, plus a picot cast off. It used almost exactly one ball of the yarn.

Last but not least was the Noro Big Kureyon Hat.



I used the Zen String Pro Bono pattern exactly. It ended up a bit short. Or a bit long, depending on how you'd want to wear it. Enough on me for a tiny little rolled edge. But too long to wear down. Oh well. Considering I started and finished it in the 2 and a half hours between dropping Bickie off and picking her up on the last day of school before break (the last chance to give the gifts) I think it's pretty awesome.

So that was my knitting world for a bit. I took a day off, and then started a pair of warm wooly socks for the hubby for xmas. I finished one just in time, so I had something to give him. LOL I'm working on the second now. I show you the pair once I've finished.

my first (real) socks!

I love socks!



Just finished this, my first pair of real socks. I'm not counting the Class Socks I made months ago. This new pair, are real because they were knit for real, not hypothetical, feet. And they were knit on size 1 needles. That's serious sock knitting.

From Sensational Knitted Socks, the Elongated Corded Rib socks. A 4 stitch pattern. Took me less then 2 weeks to make the pair, which is pretty quick for me. I used Rio de la Plata sock yarn, a merino/nylon blend. It went really well, and I'm looking forward to knitting 4 more pairs. I'm giving all my family socks for Christmas, assuming I can get them done in the next 2 weeks. Wish me luck!

one sweater down...

Hey, it's done!



A bit too small for Bickie, but she loves it anyways. I made a mistake and sewed the collar in the wrong way, with the seam showing on the outside, but since the collar folds down and covers it most of the time, I'm not going to bother fixing it.




Marya went to the yarn store with me to pick out buttons. After a long time looking at all their pink buttons and not finding any we liked, we found these perfect ones. Little leaves and berries to go with the leaf motifs in the knitting.

i have been knitting

It may not seem like I've been getting any knitting in, due to my lack of updates. But I have been! Mostly, I've been working on the pink cardigan for Bickie, which is now SO close to being done. I finally finished the sleeves, re-knit the right front, blocked it, knit on the button bands, seamed it all up, and now I've just finished the collar. I need to sew that on, block the button bands (they pull in a bit) and sew in all the ends, and I'm done! Whohoo.

more last minute gifts

Why do I always seem to be cranking out last minute gifts? I guess I appropriately named this blog, eh? I had a trip out to Cali to see the rellies, and wanted to bring a few nice hand-knit items. I had this scarf (the Airy Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts) laying around that had been knit as a last minute gift months ago.



I never gave it away, because I didn't like how it turned out. I decided to resurrect it and make it a bit nicer by adding a beaded fringe.



I like it much better now. My 15 year old first cousin once removed liked it very much, and wore it around all day after I gave it to her. :)

The other gifts I made super quick from a couple of Be Sweet Magic Balls. I so love this yarn. I very loosely followed this pattern.







Let's see, how did I change it? I used size 19 needles, a long circular because by the end there are a lot of stitches in each row. I cast on 45 stitches, increased at the beginning of every row for about 5 inches, then increased at the beginning and end of every row for about 5 inches, then did a row of (kfb, k2) repeated all the way across then cast off. The first one (the whitish one) I guessed pretty well, and ended with only a yard or so of yarn left over. The second one (the bluish one) I finished too early, and ended with quite a bit left, but too little to do anything with. I tried knitting it into a very small, very thin scarf, but it didn't really work. Oh well.

too girly for a boy

The cashmerino astrakhan presto chango is done. Well, virtually done. I finished sewing it all together, and went to put it on Little Sis Nys to model it, and the seam ripped. Ooops. Because of the nature of the yarn, I obviously couldn't use it to sew the seams, so instead had used a standard sewing thread in the same color. It clearly was not strong enough for the job, even doubled up. I'll just have to get stronger thread for it. I still managed to get a picture of it. I had been planning on this as a present for one of my many baby nephews, but the boucle makes this just too girly. I guess I'll just keep it for Nys for now, and then when she outgrows it send it on to a random baby girl.



As you can see, I modified the pattern, making it all one piece, rather than having the detachable front panel. Here's what it looked like before it was (inadequately) sewn up.



I think it looks like a thneed.

new puppy

The Presto Chango sweater is going along well. I'm getting more used to the yarn, and it's kinda fun to knit now. I'm almost halfway done, having almost reach the neck edge (it's knit in basically one piece from the bottom, up). Here's a pic from before I started the sleeves.



In other crafty news, I recently won a contest over at Bittersweet for this absolutely adorable crocheted puppy.



I asked Big Sister B what she wanted to name the puppy, and completely on her own she said "Hannah Bizarre!" Which is kinda bizarre, because the puppy's creator's name is Hannah.

local yarn store

Finally, after touring yarn stores all over the world, I finally paid a first visit to my local yarn store. Seriously. I buy most of my yarn online, and when I'm home I usually have 500 other things to be doing, so I've never made the 10 minute drive before to A Good Yarn to check out in person some lovely yarns. Well, my best friend just moved back from NYC and her new apartment is right down the street from A Good Yarn, so the other morning we went, with Little Sis Nys in tow. They've got a nice selection, and the best part is they have a few old toys to keep the kiddos occupied. With supervision of course, provided by my BFF. :)

I went without a project or pattern in mind, which is usually the way. The way I knit is I get yarn I like, then I search for something to make out of it. So I was just browsing to see if there was any yarn I liked. There was a lot, but since I'm a bit budget-constrained lately, I limited myself to some sale yarn. I got 6 balls of this super soft Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan boucle type yarn. And then I wanted to knit something out of it right away.



I searched and searched for a cute, basic baby sweater to make (basic since the boucle won't show any sort of knit patterning). I didn't want a hoodie, because I've come to the realization after knitting a few hoodies, and buying my kids countless other hooded items, that kids generally don't like to wear hoods. I settled on the Presto Chango. It looks simple (I'll just stocking stitch the front panel) but of course I'll need to get a bunch of buttons at some point.

So far I've knit the first 3 inches or so of the back. The yarn is so slow to knit, because of all the loopy bits, and the 2 plies keep separating, but I love the way the knitted fabric looks. I'm happy to be working on something that seems like it will go quickly, because as I mentioned before I'm bored of the other big project I have on the needles. This break from it will hopefully get me back on track.

crap

I was cruising along on the pink cardigan for Big Sister Bou, finishing the front panels, and starting the back. Something, not sure what it was, caused me to pull out the two finished panels for a sec and line them up to each other to see if they matched. Crappity crap crap.




They didn't.

On the right side (left in the photo above) I had used size 5 needles instead of size 6 for the leaf motif. So the top portion is actually correct, it's just the bottom that needs redoing. Of course, there's no way to reknit the bottom without frogging out the top. Gah.

Oh well. I'm almost done with the back, and then I'll knit the right panel again before tackling the sleeves I guess. This sweater is starting to bore me. Maybe I'll work on the Mystery Stole for a bit.

trying my hand at needle felting

While on my trip up north to Canada, I thought I'd visit some wool shops. In the end I only made it to one, but it was quite the shop. Shuttleworks is just minutes from my sister-in-law's place in Okotoks, Alberta, but she had never been, so we shot over there one afternoon with her little one in tow, while my little one napped. The shop is in a bit of a weird spot, and we couldn't quite tell which door on which building to enter, but once we made it inside we were impressed. It's kinda a big warehouse type building, filled with yarn. And knitting books. And spinning wheels. And roving. And all sorts of other supplies.

The man who ran the shop was very friendly and knowledgeable, so I thought I'd ask about a new craft I had been thinking about trying - needle felting. See, I need a whole bunch of very small sheep dolls (don't ask why just yet). I had been planning on knitting them, but I don't think that'd work as small as I need (like 1 inch long). So someone mentioned needle felting. Well, at Shuttleworks I was able to get an intro on needle felting, and all the supplies to get me started. I even got a book (Needle Felting: Art Techniques and Projects (Feltcrafts)) to show me what to do. But it didn't work so well. I think needle felting objects can't really be so small (without much more experience at least). My little sheep took ages to make, was pathetic, and was still way too big. Oh well. I left it for baby Lilah. Hopefully it's head will stay on.



Maybe I can crochet a tiny sheep...

close call

Literally on our second to last day in Canada, I finished the little lilac sweater for little Lilah Mae. Since I was running out of time I didn't bother blocking it, which I totally would have had I had the time, but oh well. It actually fits her perfectly right now, which is great, but odd, considering I was thinking that it would fit Baby Nyssa (not such a baby now at 20 months) and Lilah is a teeny tiny 3 month old.


Front




Back




Back




Front

travel knitting

Today's the day we leave for our trip to Canada, and I still haven't finished the lacey angel top for my new little niece. But I'mm close to being done. I'm working on the sleeves now, both at the same time, the first time I've done that, and it's going well. I've got to pack it all up to take with me, and hopefully I'll be able to finish while traveling. :)

And of course I've fallen way behind on the Mystery Stole, which is fine, because I was never planning on bringing it with me. I don't know why I bothered early on to keep up, I guess I hadn't realized that for 2 weeks I wouldn't be working on it at all anyways. Oh well, it will get done eventually.

ripping back

Remember this angel top project? Yeah, I had virtually forgotten about it, too. All the mistakes I had left in upset me so much, I had put it away when I was just rows away from completing the back. I actually had thought that I would just frog the whole thing eventually, when I got up the nerve.

But then earlier this week I realized that next week I'm flying up to Canada to visit my sister in law and her newborn daughter, and that I haven't knit anything for said newborn yet! I racked my brain and my stash for a bit thinking of what I could finish in a week, and I came across this discarded angel top. I briefly entertained the idea of frogging it at that moment and starting something else with the yarn from scratch (the yarn being a sentimental choice for baby Lilah, seeing as she's half Kiwi, and the yarn is baby wool from New Zealand), but then it dawned on me that I could actually just finish the item I had started. Duh. But the errors on the arm hole decreasing still upset me. So I ripped it back. About 15 cm. And I continued from there. And I'm SO happy about it now. I've finished the back, and I'm chugging away on the front. Should be done in time. There's nothing like stepping away from a piece for several months and coming back to it to give you new motivation. Yay!



The other neat thing that this experience has taught me is how much I learn with each successive knitting project. Coming to this much simpler lace knitting piece from the Mystery Stole (of which I am halfway through Clue 2), I can tell I've already come a long way in my lace knitting skills. It all just makes more sense to me, which impresses me. What can I say, I'm easy to impress.

can't do math

Apparently I can't do math. Adding and subtracting the number 1 is too much for my brain to handle. Last post I mentioned trying to finish Clue 1 of the Mystery Stole in time so I could remain 2 clues behind. But since Clue 3 was the one being released, I needed to finish so I could stay 1 clue behind.

Not that my math error means much now, because it's almost a week later, and I still haven't finished Clue 1. I've got 6 rows left. So my goal is to finish by Friday, when Clue 4 is released, so then I will be in fact 2 clues behind. Hee.

I have gotten some other knitting accomplished as well. My hot pink sweater is coming along. I've finished the front left panel, and I've started on the front right panel. I really like it. It's a fun knit. And Big Sister Bou will love it.

2 clues behind

I'm spinning wheels here trying to finish clue 1 of Mystery Stole 3 tonight so that when a new clue is released tomorrow I'll still only be 2 clues behind. I'm loving knitting this so far. I love lace. Working with beads for the first time ever is fun, too. Not good TV knitting though. Watching DVRed Age of Love the other night (I know, totally cheesy gimmicky reality dating show, but I kinda have an excuse because I was actually a huge Philippoussis fan back in the 90s when he was big on the world championship circuit) I didn't fast forward through the commercials, so that I could concentrate on knitting every now and then.

I totally see a face. Do you see a face? I think it looks like a screaming Medusa, with snaky hair, but Aidan thinks it looks like an antelope with antlers.

my first KAL

We've been working on Baby, trying to get her to sleep in a bit. We've figured out that the earlier we get her to bed, the later she'll sleep. Counter-intuitive I know. But it's true. The problem is getting her to bed earlier than 7:00pm. It's hard to fit in cooking dinner, eating dinner and bathing all before 6:30. So it's been off and on waking before 6:00am for me. Which is nice in a way (just this one way), because I get some early morning knitting in.

The knitting I started early this morning was my first ever knit-a-long. And did I pick a KAL. It's like the KAL to end all KALs. It's the
Mystery Stole 3 KAL. I followed Yarn Harlot over there, it was the first I had heard of it. I joined. I just didn't want to be left out. I picked yarn from my stash (Taiyangshan laceweight 100% lambswool, sold as Jade Sapphire's Lacey Lamb in the US) in a gorgeous plum color. I bought beads (shiny black size 6/0). And for some reason I already had the super tiny crochet hook needed to get the beads on the stitches. I was good to go.

I wasn't sure what size needles to use, so I actually knit swatches. Two of them! Below you see size 3 needles used on top, and size 5 on the bottom (and yes, the bottom has one extra repeat of the pattern).



After knitting these, I kinda felt like I wanted to use size 4 needles. Only problem is, I don't have size 4 needles. When I've needed them in the past, I always figured - how big a difference can .25 of a millimeter make? And then used my 3s. And I guess I kinda figured the same thing this time, as I ended up using my 3s. Maybe someday I'll get some size 4 needles. Here's the first 17 rows (out of focus, sorry).

very early, very pink

None of the 3 PBS channels we get, the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon air toddler appropriate shows before 6:00 am. How do I know this? For the past several weeks, Baby has been waking up around 5:30. Not bad considering she goes down easily at 7:00 pm and sleeps soundly through the night. But when she wakes up she's grumpy, and she slowly revs up to a maniacal scream if she doesn't get what she wants. And all she seems to want is TV. Rather than have her wake everyone else in the house up, we usually give in and let her watch. So before 6:00, it's Baby Shakespeare. Gotta love Bard the Dragon. (Of course, according to the AAP no TV is appropriate for Baby since she's under 2. Oops.)

So here I am, in the wee hours of the morning, with some time on my hands. I guess I'll show you what I started last night. It's the Leaf Motif Jacket from Patons endless days pattern book for kids. It's an old book that my MIL had and I photocopied off of her. Shhh. Don't tell anyone.

I was going to knit a gauge swatch, really I was, but then I figured out how many stitched to make the swatch (35) and then I looked and saw the number of stitches to cast on for the first section of the project (35) and I decided to just start on up. If the gauge is wrong, I'll start over. So far, after a couple of inches, it seems good.

my baby's got class (socks)

I finished the Class Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks, my first ever knit socks. They turned out really well, and they were fun and easy. Check it out...

Wicked Cute Baby Feet

Wicked Cute Baby Feet Wearing Hand Knit Socks

Yes, Baby is also wicked tired in those shots. Here she's looking a little more lively while modeling the socks.

One more shot without the wicked cute baby distracting you from the cuteness of the socks...


Knit on 2 size 6 circulars (ghetto style) in Henry's Attic Gaia 100% Organic Merino Wool. Because I was using what was left of the skein after finishing my Cloud Bolero, I only made the cuff 2 inches instead of the 3 the pattern calls for.

Oh, and though she happily wore them, the socks are actually a bit small on Baby (who's almost 19 months old). Plus, they're way too slippery for her as she runs around on our hard wood floors. Plus it's summer here, so she doesn't need to wear wool socks. So I'm sending them on to a younger baby who will fit in them perfectly this winter, and most likely won't be walking yet.