1.5 FOs!

Yesterday I seamed up my Drops Jacket just in time for the 50 degree weather expected this week!

Pattern: Drops Jacket 103-1
Needles: Denise US 11
Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky bought at Webs ~7.3 skeins
Mods: Three needle bind off at shoulders

Hubby is really busy this weekend but I got him to snap a few quick pictures of me modeling the jacket. I love this jacket so much! It is warm and cozy and so cute. I made the medium size and used just over 7 balls of the Berkshire Bulky yarn. The last 2+ I bought go into the stash and await future inspiration. I really like this yarn, it's soft and not at all itchy. I plan on wearing this jacket until the cold temperatures return so I'll be sure to report on how it wears. The pattern was confusing but easy enough to follow after reading it a few times. The only problem I had was that the sleeves turned out way too long. Maybe I didn't understand the directions well enough, or maybe I have short arms but they look cute folded back so that is how I'll be wearing it. This was a very fun knit and went pretty quick. If it had been my only project I doubt it would have taken more than a couple of weeks. I managed to get one sleeved done in two evenings for a time estimate. Seaming this wasn't too bad either but I am glad that my next sweater project won't have any seams to sew. I don't particularly mind seaming especially with selvage stitches but it definitely isn't my favorite part of a project. Weaving in the ends would be my least favorite part. The collar keeps my neck nice and warm but flipped down is a nice look too. Here is a close up that shows the buttons I picked up from JoAnn Fabrics on the way home from work Friday. I think they are glass.

After the jacket was done I finished the thumb on my right Bird in the Hand mitten and did the seaming and weaving in on that Saturday too.

I love this pattern too, very very cute. I used some embroidery floss I picked up for sewing buttons onto my winter coat and my Drops jacket to embroider the wing and eye and to sew up the picot hem. I of course forgot to embroider the beak on before I closed the top of the thumb is I decided to wait on that until the next one is done. The rest of the yarn necessary to finish the second one should hopefully arrive this week so I'll be starting the second one soon. I really hope I can finish these before it gets cold again. I was really wanting them when the temps were in single digits this week!. I'm thinking of making some less dense ones in pink and brown eventually, maybe in a DK weight yarn. We'll see, the worsted weight yarn on small needles hurts my hands and can be frustrating at times. It is probably a good thing I had so much sewing to do this weekend, it gave me a chance to rest my knitting muscles.

My Tangled Yoke cardigan has been growing quietly in the background all along. Today I finished the body and cast on for the first sleeve. Below is a crappy picture. I'm excited to devote more time to this, I think I will really enjoy the finished product. The next sweater will be the Tilted Duster, the project I bought the magazine for has been waiting patiently to be knit and I really want it as a spring coat. I'm trying to keep from swatching, having two sweaters on the go makes me a bit uneasy and I want to make sure I enjoy everything I knit this year. I guess it's kind of my resolution. That and to knit up everything I have already bought yarn for. I've been good about buying yarn with a project in mind but I've built up a queue that has me a bit intimidated and knitting for me should be a stress relief tool. So I'm going to be good this year and have fun. On the to do list for me is more colour work, felt something (on purpose :) ), and finish my print O'the wave stole for my friends wedding in June.

Home Sweet Home

It's good to be home, not so good to be going back to work tomorrow. We got back from the inlaws Sunday night. It wasn't a bad trip other than the 8 hour drive up there in the snow storm. It usually takes 2 hours from Webs, this time it took 5 and was not fun at all. Webs was packed. We picked out our yarn and got a couple things from the warehouse and were on our way. Hubby wants a sleeping cap with stars and one crescent moon (way to make it easy on me) so he picked out some Filaturia Di Crosa Zarina, a fingering weight yarn in blue and white.

I picked up some Valley Yarns Sugarloaf in a nice rust color for a moss stitch beret, I don't think now that I bought enough but we'll see.
Some Rowan 4 ply soft and Mondial Extrafine for Eunny Jang's Endpaper mits.

And finally some olive Valley Yarns Sugarloaf and some cream Ella Rae Classic for the Bird in Hand mittens. I'm stupid and can't do math so I didn't buy enough of the green yarn. I should have stuck with the Cascade 220 or Ultra Alpaca but I had my heart set on this green. Stupid me. Now I have to order one more skein. I do have to note that the sugarloaf is not good for this pattern, it is too thick and hurts my hands on the US1 I am using. this is the progress so far on one mitten. Maybe I'll finish it tonight, I only have 1 sleeve left to the Drops jacket and I really want to wear that.

These were my knit related gifts. The latest Interweave and Knitter's magazines, Fitted Knits and Lace Style. Hubby got me the needle size checker thing and the thimble for color work (another reason for the Webs stop, just had to try it). The thimble is cool, I really have a hard time holding the yarn in my right hand so I used it for about half the mitten. I really don't care if it is cheating or not. I'm really excited about Fitted Knits, I think the cover sweater will be first. Once I've knit all I have already bought yarn for...

FO: Banana Republic Knock off hat

Pattern: Banana Republic Knock off hat by metaphysical muse

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!

FO: Trinity Stitch Hat

Here is my new slouchy Trinity Stitch Hat!

Pattern: Trinity Stitch Hat from Craftster

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!

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...

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 :)

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.