Category Archives: knitting

Distractions

 

Although it was only two small projects, I’m proud to say that I’ve finished my Christmas Knitting!

 

"Pfffft!"

"Pfffft!"

Henry even helped!

henry-knitting

I had to put my Shredded Wheat Scarf on hold while I knitted the Christmas gifts, but as soon as I was done, I felt a strong desire to start something new.  Something that’s been floating around in my brain since it first started getting cold around here…

iheartny2

Uh oh.

W…W….Wool!

I can’t believe I’m doing this.  I’m Christmas knitting.  I swore off knitting Christmas gifts after my first Christmas as a knitter, when I bought so much yarn and had planned a hand-knit for almost every member of the family.  Of course I failed miserably, not even taking into consideration the amount of time it takes- especially for a newbie knitter.  

But there I was, trying to figure out what on earth I was going to get my parents for Christmas (even though my mom said that they didn’t need me to get them anything).  She did mention that my dad would wear a snowcap and that every time she knits a pair of handwarmers for herself she ends up giving them away.  What’s a knitter to do?  Of course I want to knit something for my parents.  

So my scarf is on hold while I crank out a couple of gifts.  Here’s a peek at my dad’s snowcap-in-progress.

dadshat1Nothing too flashy or showy- that’s not his style.  I’m probably pushing it with the stripes.  I’m using the same pattern I used for the R2D2 hat, but  changing the stripes up a little and definitely not doing the duplicate stitching.

And I have to show off my new nephew in his February Baby Sweater:

 

Doesn't it look like he's trying to say "Wool"?

Doesn't it look like he's trying to say "Wool"?

My sister said that this is the first time he hasn’t cried when she dressed  him.  I’m so proud.

Undecided

So I finished the first ball of Brooks Farm Four Play (270 yards!) on my Shredded Wheat scarf last night.  Then, I started to think I could squeeze out a pair of mittens from the second ball, as well as finishing off the scarf.

shredded-wheat2

But if I made the scarf to just any old length, I couldn’t guarantee to have enough to make a pair of mittens.  So I decided that I could do the mittens first, then use all the leftover yarn to finish off the scarf since scarf length isn’t as crucial as having enough yarn to finish off that last inch of your second mitt.

So I scoured the ‘net and found a pattern for flip-top-mitts and cast on this morning.  Now that I’m almost done with the cuff of the first one, I’m having second thoughts.

cuff

I just don’t know how well 50% wool/50% silk mitts will hold up.  My fingerless dashings are made with a pretty hearty wool and they are already starting to pill.  Maybe I should just finish off the scarf and make a hat with the remaining yarn.  (Though I don’t know how much I like matchy-matchy hat and scarves…)

Thoughts?  I really want to do some knitting tonight, but I just can’t make up my mind!

R2D2, Where Are You?

r2dd22

Hanging out with Chewie, of course!

Quite a while ago, my friend Josh was perusing his Google Reader and came across a post about a knitted R2D2 Beanie that was all the rage among a certain genre of folks. My friend, being a male born in the late-seventies couldn’t resist, and forwarded a link to the pattern to his knitting friend (me). I promised to knit him one, and then waited 10 months or so before I finally decided to bite the bullet and kick this thing out.
Thoughts? Well, I’m not very pleased with the duplicate stitching. This pattern requires you to do quite a bit of it. My inner perfectionist-knitter has a small problem with the way the color underneath peeks out here and there, but I’m sure any non-knitter could care less. (Stranded knitting was also an option which I tried the first go-around. I kept those strands extremely loose, but they weren’t loose enough to stretch over my head and I knew they wouldn’t stretch enough to fit over Josh’s 23 1/2″ noggin.)
I am pretty pleased with the KnitPicks Swish Superwash yarn I used. This is my first time working with it and it was perfect for this project: soft and machine washable. Exactly what a guy needs.
Would I knit this hat again? No way. Not because of the pattern or anything, but just cause it was a pain in the ass. Only for Josh.

3 Things

First things first: I am so happy that I get to snuggle with this cute face again:

Henry thoroughly enjoys the golden beanbag.

Henry thoroughly enjoys the golden beanbag.

Henry made it into NYC yesterday and we’re all excited he’s here. I think the plane ride wore him out, though.
Secondly, Joey and I celebrated our 7-year anniversary last week. We had a great evening out and had to snap a pic with the date in the background as we passed by this building on our way home:
This photo took 14 tries.

This photo took 14 tries.


Lastly, I am knitting an R2D2 hat for my friend Josh. Right now it is just a striped hat, but it will become R2 by the magic of duplicate stitching. I had originally started making it using stranded knitting but it just wasn’t working out. My strands weren’t long enough to accommodate the amount of stretch when wearing. So this is really R2-2.0:
Bee-boo-bop-beep!

Bee-boo-bop-beep!

Books, Dogs, and Knitting. Three of my favorite things.

I went to see the Yarn Harlot’s book reading last night at Barnes and Noble with Erin.

Sorry, it’s kind of hard to take a one-handed iPhone photo!

We knitted, we listened and we laughed.  It was a great time and now I have another book to read!  Reading is part of the reason that I’m still not finished with these dang socks.  (That… and the fact that they’re guy socks which are inherently bigger than the normal sock.)  

Yes, I’ve been sucked back into reading a lot and really enjoying myself.  Some of my recent reads:

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, all by Stephenie Meyer: I highly recommend these books- I’ve gotten my sister and my mom to read them, and my sister in law just bought the first one the other day.  My favorite of all the books is the first, though I didn’t really like the way the series ended.  I read all four of these hefty books in the period of about one week- I couldn’t put them down.

Two of the Women’s Murder Club Series by James Patterson: 1st to Die, and 2nd Chance.  Both of these are about a group of four women who help each other solve horrible murders and help each other with life’s problems.  They also happen to be good page-turners to keep you busy on the train.

 Marley and Me by John Grogan:  Joey was browsing a bookstore and picked this one up for me.  It was definately cute, but it made me miss Daisy and Henry.

Speaking of dogs…. HENRY’S COMING TO LIVE WITH US AGAIN in a little over a week!  If you don’t know the story- when we moved to Brooklyn we had to leave the dogs back with my parents in Texas because our landlord wasn’t sure he wanted us to have pets.  Well now that we’ve shown him that we’re good tenants he’s allowed us to bring a dog.  We’re just bringing up Henry at first cause he’s a little easier to handle: he doesn’t cry or howl when you leave the house and he doesn’t try to bite strangers.  Plus I know Daisy is living the life and being spoiled rotten by my parents.  Seriously- she and my Dad have bonded and she waits patiently next to him every morning while he eats breakfast and he always saves the last bite for her. Not to insinuate that Henry’s not being spoiled- he definitely is getting the free run of the house and farm. He’s even gone down the road a few times to meet the neighbors (another reason why he’s the one we’re bringing up first.)  I can’t wait!

Knotty

So I’m happily knitting along on Joey’s Stripy Socks, when I come upon this:

 

(growl)

Dang!

The Conversion

First off, how bout a little back-story?  About two years ago, I signed up to be a vendor in a local Dallas craft bazaar with my mom and sister.  We were in a mad rush to knit up all sorts of armwarmers, scarves, hats, and felted purses.  For about three months straight, I was knitting every spare moment I had.  I think the wool-fumes must have gotten to my brother in law, Aaron, cause one night he asked me if I would show him how to knit.  I quickly cast him on for a felted purse and taught him the knit stitch.  He picked it up pretty quickly, but had trouble with knitting way too tightly.  I promised him it would be okay, since we were going to felt the purse and you wouldn’t even be able to see the individual stitches after the felting.  So along he went, knitting in the round (he didn’t even flinch!) with some Lamb’s Pride Bulky for a few weeks.  And out came a great-looking grey felted purse that he allowed me to sell at my bazaar.

I thought that had gotten the knit bug out of his system, because he didn’t immediately want to cast on for another project.  He seemed content with what he had made and left it at that.  Now flash forward to about a month ago:  we are all hanging out watching tv or something while I am showing off the first of my Stripy Socks for Joey, and he mentions he thinks he wants to knit himself a scarf for this winter.  And to my even bigger surprise, our other roommate Eric chimed in that he thought he’d like to give it a try as well.  (I’m sure they were inspired by the excitement of a FO.)  So we made plans to head to the yarn store the next night to pick out yarn.  

I already told you guys about how inept they were with the swift and ball-winder, so I’ll just jump right to the progress shots I promised:

Eric knitted a few rows, got frustrated because there was some weird mistake he didn’t know how to fix, and ripped.  All hope is not lost.  I think if I cast on and get him going again, he’ll give it another shot.

And here’s Aaron’s progress.  He even stayed up late the other night, probably thinking “one more row…” Folks, I think that’s called a Conversion.

Stripy Socks

You made it!  Thanks for visiting me at the new place, I really hope to make it feel more like home soon.  In that vein, lets move on to the knitting:

 

mmm... stripy goodness

mmm... stripy goodness

I finished the first of Joey’s Stripy Socks, and have made minimal progress on the second sock

I’m chalking it up to two things:

  • I started a new job last week.  Yes, my three and a half month vacation had to end.  (And not a moment too soon, financially!)  I’ve been trying to adjust out of my sleeping-till 10:30 routine and get used to sitting in a chair for 8 hours again.  Knowing that my knitting is in my purse that is sitting just a foot away and the fact that I’m working again means I can buy yarn again keeps me happy.
  • I have been teaching my brother in law (Aaron) and roommate (Eric) how to knit!  Last night we went to the yarn shop around the corner and they both picked out some yarn for scarves.  We ended up going with New England Highland 100% wool yarn, which the store owner suggested, in green and brown for Aaron and in green and black for Eric.  I promise to show pics once they get a few more rows done.