Resolutions, KALs, and other possibly bad ideas
It's Friday! This is highly relevant, because I have recently aligned myself with a new KAL!
It's called Finish or Frog It. Basically, on Fridays in 2009 (however many Fridays you like, not necessarily every Friday, you look at a WIP and you either finish it or frog it. This is good, because I have entirely too much stuff sitting around on the needles. Maybe this will even motivate me to block the tons of lace knitting that has been sitting around NOT BLOCKED for over a year. Talk to this knitter if you want to be involved in the KAL.
Of course, I first heard about this on a Saturday, and I was eager to get started, so I decided to finish Snowflake's socks by the following Friday (that would be today.) However, the foot went way faster than I thought it would, and I finished it by Sunday.
Yeah, these pictures are terribly blurry. I really need a camera that does small things. Like knit stitches. Anyway, it's the Yarn Harlot's Earl Grey pattern, and has a cute little cable running up the side. It's done in black Valley Yarns Huntington from WEBS.
This is really a great pattern. I think the only thing I would change if I were to do it again would be to change how the ribbing goes into the cables. But it's really very lovely. Some firsts in this project: first men's socks, first socks two at a time on magic loop. The magic loop thing worked out nicely, except that I had to rearrange the stitches partway through, which sucked. Anyone have a good way of doing this when you're doing two at a time on magic loop? Oh, also I'm wasn't really sure how to handle the heel turning. I ended up slipping a bunch of stitches to get from one sock to the other.
I'm thoroughly pleased with these socks. I love the gauge. It's 9 stitches per inch, which I achieved with large size 1 Knit Picks Harmony needles. And the best part... Snowflake loves them! He wants more socks! He is looking forward to the day when his hand-knit socks outnumber his hand-knit sweaters.
Next, I finished up a pair of mittens that my friend Misato commissioned from me. And here they are!
I LOVE how these turned out. This is the second time I've made this pattern, and the first time was me learning to do stranded knitting. The first time, I held the two colors in different hands and the gauge ended up very uneven, probably because I am a totally incompetent knitter in Continental. Also, my attempt to even out the gauge for the second mitten resulted in a significantly smaller second mitten. This time, I did the mittens two at a time on magic loop and held both colors in my right hand. The result was that although keeping the yarns from getting ridiculously twisted up in each other was a total pain, the gauge is beautifully even, the mittens are the same size, and I'm thoroughly pleased. I also LOVE this gauge for stranded work. I used small size 2 Harmony needles and ended up with a gauge of 40 sts and 40 rows to 4". I'm so excited about colorwork now! In fact, I'm thinking of making Snowflake the Bauhaus sweater (Ravelry link.)
Oh, the inside looks really pretty too.
In other news, I added some length to Snowflake's second sweater, which has made it much more wearable.
What else am I working on? I've got a long-sleeved Yogini Bolero in the works. I'm using purple Elsebeth Lavold Bambool, which is 80% bamboo and 20% wool. I usually hate working with plant fibers and... I sort of hate this. But it didn't start getting to me for quite a while. It's going nicely, I'm working on the sleeves right now.
I'm also working on another Sheldon. The first time I made this pattern, it was for charity through a project with Knitting Liberally. It ended up at Tina's house for quite a while, where her husband Tom developed a bit of a complex about it. Later, Gina-Louise (of Knitting Liberally) decided it would be a great present for Tom, and commissioned one from me. So I'm working on a replica. Right now, I've done almost all the knitting I can do without involving Poly-fill, and I've also recently acquired Poly-fill, so I should be able to finish it soon. Hence, this is my choice for Finish or Frog It Friday!
We'll see how it goes!
It's called Finish or Frog It. Basically, on Fridays in 2009 (however many Fridays you like, not necessarily every Friday, you look at a WIP and you either finish it or frog it. This is good, because I have entirely too much stuff sitting around on the needles. Maybe this will even motivate me to block the tons of lace knitting that has been sitting around NOT BLOCKED for over a year. Talk to this knitter if you want to be involved in the KAL.
Of course, I first heard about this on a Saturday, and I was eager to get started, so I decided to finish Snowflake's socks by the following Friday (that would be today.) However, the foot went way faster than I thought it would, and I finished it by Sunday.
Yeah, these pictures are terribly blurry. I really need a camera that does small things. Like knit stitches. Anyway, it's the Yarn Harlot's Earl Grey pattern, and has a cute little cable running up the side. It's done in black Valley Yarns Huntington from WEBS.
This is really a great pattern. I think the only thing I would change if I were to do it again would be to change how the ribbing goes into the cables. But it's really very lovely. Some firsts in this project: first men's socks, first socks two at a time on magic loop. The magic loop thing worked out nicely, except that I had to rearrange the stitches partway through, which sucked. Anyone have a good way of doing this when you're doing two at a time on magic loop? Oh, also I'm wasn't really sure how to handle the heel turning. I ended up slipping a bunch of stitches to get from one sock to the other.
I'm thoroughly pleased with these socks. I love the gauge. It's 9 stitches per inch, which I achieved with large size 1 Knit Picks Harmony needles. And the best part... Snowflake loves them! He wants more socks! He is looking forward to the day when his hand-knit socks outnumber his hand-knit sweaters.
Next, I finished up a pair of mittens that my friend Misato commissioned from me. And here they are!
I LOVE how these turned out. This is the second time I've made this pattern, and the first time was me learning to do stranded knitting. The first time, I held the two colors in different hands and the gauge ended up very uneven, probably because I am a totally incompetent knitter in Continental. Also, my attempt to even out the gauge for the second mitten resulted in a significantly smaller second mitten. This time, I did the mittens two at a time on magic loop and held both colors in my right hand. The result was that although keeping the yarns from getting ridiculously twisted up in each other was a total pain, the gauge is beautifully even, the mittens are the same size, and I'm thoroughly pleased. I also LOVE this gauge for stranded work. I used small size 2 Harmony needles and ended up with a gauge of 40 sts and 40 rows to 4". I'm so excited about colorwork now! In fact, I'm thinking of making Snowflake the Bauhaus sweater (Ravelry link.)
Oh, the inside looks really pretty too.
In other news, I added some length to Snowflake's second sweater, which has made it much more wearable.
What else am I working on? I've got a long-sleeved Yogini Bolero in the works. I'm using purple Elsebeth Lavold Bambool, which is 80% bamboo and 20% wool. I usually hate working with plant fibers and... I sort of hate this. But it didn't start getting to me for quite a while. It's going nicely, I'm working on the sleeves right now.
I'm also working on another Sheldon. The first time I made this pattern, it was for charity through a project with Knitting Liberally. It ended up at Tina's house for quite a while, where her husband Tom developed a bit of a complex about it. Later, Gina-Louise (of Knitting Liberally) decided it would be a great present for Tom, and commissioned one from me. So I'm working on a replica. Right now, I've done almost all the knitting I can do without involving Poly-fill, and I've also recently acquired Poly-fill, so I should be able to finish it soon. Hence, this is my choice for Finish or Frog It Friday!
We'll see how it goes!
posted by Anisa at
11:17 AM
3 Comments:
These are amazing FOs. Congratulations. Thanks for spreading the word. Good luck with all your knitting projects.
Oooh love those mittens! I really must start trying colorwork this year... :-)
Loove your Anemoi. I'll have to make them one of these days. Finish Friday is a great idea and nice scrabble pics.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home