Wednesday, December 26, 2007

FO: Banana Republic Knock off hat

Needles: Denise US 10.5
Yarn: Red Heart Grande in Country Blue

This would have been a quick knit if I hadn't had to rip out and make some adjustments. Probably my own fault for not doing more math. I followed the pattern but kept 54 stitches for the body of the hat. I don't remember how many rows I did before the decreases but I knit 9 stitches placed marker and repeat around the hat to give me 6 decrease spots evenly spaced. I didn't have a button so I stitched on a snowflake. It's fine for what it is. The yarn cost me $1 at Ocean state so this is a fine machine washable hat for outdoor activities.

I was going to post on my Christmas gifts but paypal has royally pissed me off. We are off to the in laws tomorrow and are stopping in at webs for some yarn for a sleeping cap hubby requested. I need mittens and he got me this cool gadget for colour knitting so I wanted to treat myself to the Bird in the Hand mittens. I remembered I had a few dollars left in an old paypal account from several years ago. So I got in and tried to order the pattern. Not a good experience for my first pattern download. It took like a half hour to get the transaction to go through. Now I have no patience left. At least I have the pattern and can hopefully knit the mittens this weekend. Happy Holidays!


Sunday, December 23, 2007

FO: Trinity Stitch Hat

Here is my new slouchy Trinity Stitch Hat!

Needles: Denise Interchangeable US 8 and US 10.5
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Sable, less than 1 skein

If I hadn't had to knit this twice it would have only taken one longish evening to make. As I was joining the second ball I decided to try it on, the hat fell down over my eyes and was huge the first time I knit it (yeay for being able to try things on as you go). Apparently I have a tiny head so I had to rip out the entire hat and make a few mods the second time around to make it work with my yarn. Here they are:
Mods: Instead of the US 9 I used for the ribbing the first time around I used US 8 and made the ribbing using 64 stitches. I did the ribbing for 1.5" and when it came time to increase I switched to US 10.5 and did *K2 increase one by knitting into the stitch below* all the way around to end up with 96 stitches. I worked the stitch pattern (k1, p1,k1 into the same stitch not the indicated p1,k1,p1) until the hat measured 6". I then followed the instructions for the decreases until I had 32 stitches. Then I did one pattern round (row 3) and then K2 together for the next two rounds. These will use just less than the 125yds in one skein.
I really like the way that the hat came out and am glad I ripped it. I probably could have cast on even fewer stitches but it has stayed on fine the few times I've worn it since Friday night. I even learned how to finish a hat with 2 circulars instead of going out to buy 10.5 dpns. I put one 10.5 and one 8 at each end of two cords from my Denise set and it worked great. I can't sing the praises of that set enough. I also really like the way the looks inside out, maybe even better than the right side. Yeay for a reversible hat! I may make another some day in a more drapey yarn.
Work may cause me terrible amounts of stress but I am lucky enough to have the next week off so there will be much knitting going on. Since my gifts are all done (after a slight unraveling incident with my Mom's gift today, I almost had a heart attack but I'm not ready to talk about it yet) I've been knitting my old WIPs. Today I finished the right front of my Drops jacket and it is blocking away while I knit the sleeves.
Penny was helping me with my knitting and Christmas preparations but it just became too much for her and she passed out. Poor tired puppy :)
Some work has been done on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan but I'll hold of a picture until I break for the sleeves. A post on my gift knitting soon to come!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Victory is mine!...almost

My mom's gift was finished on Sunday night and is all blocked. Unfortunately I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'll give more details later but here is a teaser. More pics on ravelry.

My Dad's gift is almost done but I ran out of yarn of course. I'll be making a stop tomorrow to get some more. On the bright side this means I can knit for myself today :) I'm thinking it will be on a trinity stitch hat. It is ridiculously cold out and my current store bought hat doesn't do anything nice to my appearance. Perhaps I'll even get some knitting done on my drops jacket, I really want to finish that and wear it.

Finishing these gifts feels so good. I'm relieved to have all my holiday knitting done before Christmas this year, unlike when my sister got un-assembled parts of a sweater...let's not talk about that. If I get around to it I may make some mug cozies but thankfully there is no pressure on those. I hope next year to have better projects to give, I'm a little unsure of how these will be received. I know my family will appreciate them I just hope they like the styles I picked. Well, I hope all of your knitting is going well, mine may be all but done but that doesn't mean my shopping is...

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Ouch

What do you get when your husband is out of town, it snows 16 inches in 4 days and your neighborhood looks like this?

A really, really sore back. These pics are after Thursday's storm. I'm too tired to take any of the almost freshly shoveled yard after last night's snow. I went out this morning but I need to scrape off the driveway again before my husband gets home so he doesn't slide into my car. I have shoveled 5 times already since Thursday afternoon and I have one more time to go. It looks like it is stopping out there so after this post I'm off again. I feel like I am going to die. My poor husband has been traveling since 8pm last night on planes and cars and should be leaving the airport to come home soon. I hope the roads are ok. I personally have had enough snow for this winter, my back can't take anymore of this.
Alright, enough of my complaining. I still haven't finished my mom's gift, too much time shoveling and my arms have been too sore to knit at night. I'm hoping for today or tomorrow. My dad's hat came out way to big and is now being re-knit. I should finish that in time. I knit a little bit on the drops jacket and a few inches on my tangled yoke while at my parents house yesterday since I obviously couldn't work on their gifts.
My sister and I hit some outlets in Clinton CT in her wonderful car with heated seats (my back loves her) and we stopped into Saybrook Yarns while down there. It was a nice shop in a very cute town and conveniently near the Starbucks we were stopping in at. They have a decent selection but Woolworks and the Knitting Knook are still my favorite CT stores. It was my sister's first time in a LYS (not a knitter) and she thought it was pretty cool. She spent the time asking me for items made of this and that yarn so I don't think she minded the stop. The woman who helped us was friendly and I picked up some Lamb's Pride Bulky in sable for a trinity stitch hat. Maybe if I get at least one Christmas gift done today I can cast on. We'll see how I feel after my last shovel of the day. Sigh, I don't want to go but husband is thankfully an hour away now and he needs room to pull in. I think I deserved that yarn yesterday :)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Ugh

What is Penny staring at you ask? My Dad's coronet hat that I am not going to give him. This thing came out huge and just doesn't really look good at all. Wrong yarn. I've already started another hat for him but I don't know about that one either. Ugh, we'll see. In other Christmas knitting my Mom's gift is almost done which is really great and being so close is actually motivating me to finish it. I'm hoping for tomorrow.

I haven't done much else, I finished the left front of my Drops jacket awhile ago and did a three needle bind off at the shoulder. I did this for my minimalist cardigan and I really like how neat the seam looks. I really like this project and I can't wait to get back to it. I doubt I'll make the Christmas deadline I had hoped for but it shouldn't take too much longer after that. I'm still a little worried about it being too loosely knit but we'll have to see.



Have you seen these trinity stitch hats appearing online? I love them and I desperately want to make one. Add to that my mom suggested I'd look good in a beret type hat and that I really needed a new one and the temptation in almost unbearable. Once I finish my gifts I will allow myself to pick up some yarn. I can't wait.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Progress :)

I love it when a weekend comes along and I make some good progress. I finished my Dad's gift and the back of my Drops Jacket.I've never made anything on needles so big before but the almost instant gratification is really nice. If this were the only thing I were working on I bet it would be done in a couple of weeks. My photos do no justice to the color, it is a beautiful olive green and I can't wait for the finished product. When we were at webs I initially had a brown yarn in my hands but the only had one skein, I am so glad I wanted this jacket bad enough to pick up the green yarn, it will be so much better for me. I hope to have this done by Christmas too if possible, it would suit the occasion. I may be overly ambitious though. I also worked on my Mom's gift and knit one row on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I have more gift knitting tonight but I may mess around with a hat pattern, we'll see how the evening takes me.

I got up yesterday and noticed how addicted to knitting I am, this is how my couch looks all the time, I can't remember when anyone last sat in this area :)

The only good thing about winter is the excuse to sit inside under a blanket with a movie, hot beverage, and your knitting. That and sweaters of course :)