Week #1 of 52 Week Challenge & Some Finished Objects

First Glove….From a Chart!

Oh how my hubby had no idea what he was doing when he picked out his favorite pattern out of my newly acquired book. 60 Quick Knits was a Christmas present this year from my dad, his adorable opinion on knitting is that it all should be quick! I am actually really enjoying it so far, just remember to check Ravelry for errata – I have found a lot of entires that were just a little off. So this is the Cabled-Cuff Mitten Pattern, knitted with Patons Worsted Wool. So where did I learn something new this week? I learned (try not to gasp) how to read a chart!

~ You Couldn’t Read a Chart Before this Past Week? ~

Well, no. I have no problem following a chart in the round, at least in the past few months – but a chart knitted flat – akin to bamboo shards under my fingernails. I hated the idea that one symbol having two meanings, I just couldn’t understand why on earth they couldn’t just make a “knit as written” chart.

When they hubby pointed to the mittens that he liked the best, I saw that flat chart and cringed. I’m not gonna lie, the first 7 rounds were….difficult. I pushed through and by the end of the first repeat I finally understood the purpose. I was getting the hang of it after the second repeat and by the third I was gladly going left to right, right to left and realizing that there was a ligament reason for making a chart this way. Final thoughts – YEA FOR FINALLY BEING ABLE TO READ A CHART!

~ How About Some Finished Objects! ~

Christmas, birthdays, New Year’s …. blah blah blah…. has slowed my FO list down quite a bit. However, I still feel like sharing.

Smushed Together.

Blocking.

Close Up.

Thick and Folded.

It may not be super interesting to look at, but this is a custom order for a new customer. Her sister-in-law went to school in Jamaica where her school colors where purple and gold. I took one of my stitch dictionaries and found a way to combine a standard rib with a zig-zag. I know that it would show better on smaller needles and s solid color, but it actually turned out really well. I added a slip-stitch border to keep the sides nice and clean and she was very pleased. *Dramatically wiping my brow!*

Stocking number….8?

10 Dishcloths.

OSU Ruffle Scarf.

SInce WordPress isn’t letting me preview the post – and I cannot remember which order I put these in – please just roll with me.

1. The three (rather boring/ rather repetitive) things I have been commissioned to do this week is  20 dishcloth – 10 Christmas Colors and 10 Pink (these are not done yet).
2. Another Christmas Stocking – which is actually quite nice, but you’ve already seen a gazillion pictures of them. Sorry friends and neighbors.
3. AND of course, a few ruffles. I have an order for 5 OSU Buckeye Ruffle Scarves – all done *insert deep sigh of relief*

Yea Cables and Bobbles!

This is yet another concoction of the genius that is 60 Quick Knits – with some big changes on my part. The pattern is the Bobbles & Cables Cap by Suvi Simola and is a decent pattern. I changed the 1. The cast-on 2. The bobbles (which I made bigger) 3. The cable progression was continued another round 4. and I slightly felted the hat when I was finished (no pic of that yet…because I suck).

I made the hat larger and longer to felt the pattern because it does wonderful things to bobbles and finicky cables. It tightens everything up and gives is a delicious fit. I made the cap with Ella Rae Classic Superwash in Kiwi and chucked in into the dryer. The result? Pretty amazing – slight felting give the hat a denser feel and makes the bobbles seem more natural and less like a hanging hemorrhoid 😉

I need a Post-Felt Picture….bad Rachel.

Okay friends and neighbors, that’s all for me today. I will be back with more on my sock stashing, thanks to Knitting Sarah and her #sockswithsarah year-long Sock KAL. I am working the instep on my fourth pair of socks – pretty epic! I need to finish those mittens (yea for reading charts!) and I’ve unearthed my Fiori Autunnali and my Jayashri Pullover. Until next time – remember, if the gimp can try it you can too! 🙂

With WIPs to Keep Me Warm

I just love snow!

It appears to be Wednesdays again, funny how that seems to sneak up on me every week! With the holiday weekend coming up and Trevor, Max and I celebrating alone for the first time every, I am tickled pink to have plenty of projects to keep me warm. Wanna see what’s on my needles? Brace yourself, there are quite a few projects going on!

– The Projects –

In keeping with the different projects on different needles theme I have more WIP than ever….and I kinda love it! Being a monogamous knitter (or just knitting ruffles) gets so incredibly dull. I guess I will start with the smallest needle and move my way up.

Second Pair of Socks

• Pattern: Patons Jacquard Socks Pattern #104
• Progress: Sock 2 of 2.
• Needles: Size 2US (2.75mm) 5″ DPNs
• Yarn: Lion Brand Sock-Ease in Toffee (100% wool)

The second sock is well on it’s way, which will be completing my second pair of socks ever!

• Pattern: Fiori Autunnali by Rosemary Hill’s Craftsy Class
• Progress: Still on the second chart.
• Needles: Size 4US (3.55mm) 
• Yarn: Patons Lace in Dove Grey
• 124 size 6/0 Iridescent Beads

If you’ve read this blog before, this is where I was in the lace pattern BEFORE I had a nosebleed and had to frog the entire thing. I still love knitting it and my Mom is chomping at the bit for me to finish.

• Pattern: Hinagiku Hat on Ravelry by 87cafe – It is pretty heavily modified by still very much so their pattern.
• Needles: Size 4US (3.5mm) and Size 6US (4mm)
• Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Sport Multis COL. NO. 108
• Progress: Hopefully finish tonight.

I am in love with this hat, and since the OSU Buckeye’s are planning annihilate the 7-4 Michigan Wolverines I want it ready to wear by Saturday. 🙂

Pattern: Jayashri Sweater from Craftsy
Progress: What is the word for a frown-y face? 😦
Needles: Size 6US (4mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss DK in Fedora

My KAL sweater (a knit along that was MY idea) has been sadly languishing in my knitting cabinet. I am hoping to finish the ruffle order after work tomorrow and play with it this weekend. I am hoping to finish it by New Year’s Eve….we shall see.

This is a truly horrible picture – my apologies!

• Pattern: Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West
• Needles: Size 9US (5.5mm)
• Yarn: Bernat Mosaic in Aura
• Progress: I’ve done 9 of my intended 12 repeats – on the second ball of yarn (≈  410 yards)

I needed a piece I could take to work when I am “sitting” with a patient (I’ve been picking up hours sitting with confused/suicidal patients at night). It is the kind of knitting you can do without looking and the pattern is super simple. I started with hand spun but whimped out and switched to the Bernat (which I don’t endorse at all). I can’t wait to finish this one so I can make another one.

And finally….

• Pattern: Double Knitting Baby Blanket from my noggin!
• Yarn: 2 strands of Lion Brand Pound of Love in Antique and White
• Needles: Size 15US
• Progress: I am currently in a black hole where it doesn’t seem to be getting any bigger, I’d say 1/4 of the way through.

A friend asked for a big, fluffy blanket that could be used as a floor mat as well. I know the stigma on Pound of Love but you can wash it everyday and nothing happens to it. The double knitting is practice for a Lucy Neatby design I want to try, and after this blasted blanket I should be ready.

– You’ve Made It to the End! –

So that’s it for me friends and neighbors, loads of things to do and not enough hours in the day – just how I like it. I wonder if I am the only knitter with so many WIPs going at once, I mean really – what is a normal number of WIPs to have on the needles?

In case I don’t talk to you before the (US) holiday, Happy Thanksgiving! Oh! and since I am currently down a LYS do a little Black Friday yarn shopping for me, I can live vicariously through your purchases! 😉

Last Night I Dreamt of Ruffled Scarves Again…

So with – nope not gonna tell you how many of these things I have made – ruffle scarves under my belt I can finally say that all the ruffle yarn has been stash busted! Of course, I think there is actually more hiding in the bowels of my stash somewhere, a gift from someone who didn’t know what a pain it is to work with. The scarves are fun, frilly, ruffley goodness though.

Friends and neighbors, let’s go look at some pictures courtesy of Flickr, Instagram, Phototoaster , Photoshop and of course my trusty Canon!!

** Monotone Ruffles **

This is, of course, the ruffle that started it all. A gift from a friend that turned into something that reminds me of The Great Gatsby a bit. I do love how this stupid  scarf looks.

It is so airy and flow-y, feminine and girly, delicate and gentle. Basically, it is a bad ass scarf.

If it sells, I will gladly make as many of these as needed – but I just doesn’t feel the same way I do when I am knitting. Time will tell!

** OSU Buckeye Ruffle Scarf – Shades of Gray, Red, Black and White **

After the first ruffle scarf in monotone colors were made, I received a lot of questions from fellow Buckeyes about whether or not this could be done in our football teams colors. We bleed scarlet and gray here in the Buckeye State and everyone want to wear the colors with pride – at home, tailgating or at the game. It’s like a state law.

So after visiting a few more yarn shops I found this beauty waiting to come home with me. I can’t say I was super excited about working with this yarn again (it doesn’t really feel like knitting – more like unraveling a ball an errant yarn) but the idea is to bring people into the shop right?

After a few curse words mumbled under my breath I gathered some momentum and pumped out a few of these bad boys. Football season is not all that far away – gnarled fingers crossed!

OSU Ruffle Scarf.

A Duo of OSU Buckeye Hats

Last week I had this very sudden, very overwhelming urge to knit for fall. It seems quite silly considering it is still spring here in the Buckeye State, but all I could think about was cuddly sweaters, tailgating, hot chocolate and my OSU Buckeyes. So I went through my yarn stash, which happens to be full of fall colors, and found the scarlet and gray that screamed “Football Season!” as loudly as possible and casted on.

Thankfully this time I remembered to take pictures of my progress, just to see how the hat came to life. If it worked, fantastic! I would always have these to look back on and take gauge measurements on. If it didn’t, I would be able to see where the mistake was.

Three Sections Down

Four Sections Down

Six Sections Down

Finished!

There was no need to worry however, the hat turned out fantastic! I had taken a pattern I have written about before (the Etta Hat) and heavily augmented it to fit the yarn I was using and the color changes that would be necessary. I still would never call this my own pattern, but I believe this is a step in the right direction. Sitting down with graph paper and rewriting to fit my needs was a bit scary at first, but I am thrilled with the results!

Up Top Sharpened.

A Bit Blurry on Top.

Facing Left.

Close Up Facing Left.

Back Decrease Natural Light.

Back Decrease Sharpened.

Mostly Gray OSU Buckeye Hat.

Trying to Show the Slouch.

Up Close Showing Dimensional Lace.

So with a successful hat cleaned, blocked and photographed I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then I started to stare at the hat, my Panic Monster going “Well, it certainly is GRAY isn’t it?”. I started to worry that there wasn’t enough color, not to mention an overwhelming (it isn’t really, but the Panic Monster thought there was) amount of gray. I checked the yardage I had left, figured if I prayed to the knitting gods there might just (barley) be enough for another hat. I was off and running, casting on hat number two with more red than gray.

Back Decrease-Natural.

Back Decrease-Sharpened.

Front

Up Top Front.

Facing Right.

Facing Left-Sharpened.

Mostly Red OSU Buckeye Hat

Facing Left-Natural.

As it turns out there was 5″ of red and (oh my!) 2″ of gray left to finish the hat. I just made it and I am aware of just how lucky I am that I did. I loved the new hat, it had more warmth to it with the scarlet framing the face. Then I started to stare at these two hats and I was perplexed, which one did I really like better? I loved how both the hats turned out and liked them both for different reasons. The hat with more gray seemed to be more akin to most OSU athletic colors and the red was warmer with that beautiful red framing the face and popping out with the lace. Stupid Panic Monster, I like both!

Mostly Gray Collage.

Mostly Red Collage.

So I am going to leave it up to you friends and neighbors to tell me which one you think is better, if you would like to share that it. Do you like more red in the hat, or do you like more gray? I would love to hear from you, your input and influence is making me a better knitter!

Red? or Gray? YOU CHOOSE!!

So I am going to leave it up to you friends and neighbors to tell me which one you think is better, if you would like to share that it. Do you like more red in the hat, or do you like more gray? I would love to hear from you, your input and influence is making me a better knitter!

And yes, I am paying homage to House of Leaves here by changing the colors on the post, I was feeling puckish!

 

Stitch Pattern Week 10 – A Misbehaving Hand & WIPs & Photos for Fun…Oh My!

I feel as if I have been quite neglectful of my blog here recently. Since the little setback with my hand I’ve lost a bit of my knitting confidence, afraid that I’ll make a mistake on something simple and feel utterly lost on how to proceed. Luckily I did this weeks stitch pattern on the 12th, so here it is friends and neighbors – The Chevron Stitch!

The Chevron Stitch

I’ve gotta tell you, GG really gave it to me when I found this pattern. She called it the Triangles Stitch (no help there) and the instructions….I thought I would rather curl up and die than try to figure this out. Once I figured it out, which admittedly took way to much time, I was on a roll. It is a simple, dimensional and textural stitch, and now that I know what is going on I think I want to try to work with it in another way.

Trying to identify the textures.

Edited to death trying to find stitch distinction.

The Chevron Stitch.

The Chevron Stitch shot upwards.

*Please forgive me in advance if there are any errors in my typing, I am going at this using the hunt and peck method to avoid straining my hand. I am normally a decent editor, but after a while I get tired of finding all these stupid mistakes caused by my misbehaving appendage.

 * * So GG, What Torture Awaits Us This Week? * * 

My notebook on how to discern crazy.

r1 k1 p7k1 – Row 1: K1; *P7, K1; rep. from * till end (okay, not to bad so far, she even gave me a space between row and pattern. I doesn’t last but hey!, I will take what I can get)

r2 p1 k7p1 way – Row 2: P1; *K7, P1; rep from * till end of row (what does way mean? all they way? way to go? I am way laughing at you? I think it’s the latter.)

3 k2 p5k3 –  Row 3: K2; *P5, K3; rep. from * till last rep., P5, K2. (We’ve given up the niceties of putting “r” in front of the row, I am sensing a deterioration! Not to mention that the last repeats of the rows are not as written, I am filling in the gaps here.) 

4 p2k5p3 – Row 4: P2; *K5, P3; rep from * till last rep.. K5, P2. (Okay, now we’ve almost given up on spaces. Luckily the pattern was obviously starting to take shape, so an intuitive leap wasn’t that far)

5 k3p3x5 – Row 5: K3; *P3, K5; rep from * till last rep., P3, K3 (I am sure the “x” was a “k” at some point or another, or maybe she just got tired of writing down the letter “k”? Your guess is as good as mine.

6p3k3p5 – Row 6: P3; *K3, P5; rep. from * till last rep., K3, P3 (All right, GG is getting really, really tired of writing this pattern. Even her handwriting is starting to take a nosedive, she just wants to knit people!)

7k4p1k7 – Row 7: K4; *P1, K7; rep. from * till last rep., P1, K4 (Almost there, hang strong!)

8p417 – Row 8: P4 *K1, P7; rep. from *till last rep., K1, P4 (While I am sure she understood this jumble of numbers (and if you think about it, it does follow a pattern) but how on earth could she share this with anyone?)

* * THIS IS ABOUT TO GET REALLY FUNNY, PREPARE YOURSELVES * *

R9 to16. work beg sets backwards. (Umm…SERIOUSLY! This was how that pattern ended, with a cryptic instruction so insane the CIA couldn’t crack it. Thank goodness for the internet.)

• Row 9: Rep. Row 2.
• Row 10: Rep. Row 1.
• Row 11: Rep Row 4.
• Row 12: Rep. Row 3.
• Row 13: Rep. Row 6
• Row 14: Rep. Row 5
• Row 15: Rep. Row 8
• Row 16: Rep. Row 7

* * WIP it Baby, WIP it All Night…ALL NIGHT! * * 

There was no WIP Wednesday this week due to my hand, but here is a run down of what’s currently on my needles.

1. The Fault in Our Stars Scarf
2. Baby Blanket
3. A Duo of OSU Buckeye Hats (I cannot wait to finish these!)
4. Knitted Necklace (certain to be a disaster but I can handle 3 stitches at a time.)
5. Magical Thinking Scarf (I really need to think about where I put it, I can’t find it!)

Magical Thinking Scarf

Roman Pillar Baby Blanket

The Fault in Our Stars

Knitted Jewelry.

OSU Buckeye Hat part 1. Mainly Gray.

* * Photos For Fun * * 

I may not be knitting all that I would like to, but that hasn’t kept me away from taking photos and playing with filters. These are some truly bad photos I admit, my hands are shaky and my positioning is for crap. This will not deter me however, I love taking a walk and just snapping away. Enjoy!

Rain on Elephant Ear.

Sunrise.

Orange Roses.

Rain on Leaves.

My Slice of Heaven.

My ridiculous arthritis glove.

Downpour on Leaves.

Bedside Table Study.

Pink Roses.

Orange Flower- Full Sun.

Two Birds, SO Lucky I got this!

So here we are friends and neighbors, at the end of a labor of love post. I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen and read. As always insight in welcome and I hope to hear from you soon!