31 December 2007

Christmas Gifts

This Christmas, I received sock yarn, yarn to make a vest/tank top, Sensational Knitted Socks, and other things. I've decided what I want to make with the sock yarn, but am not going to start them yet until I finish my purple ribbed socks. Since I haven't made socks before, I've decided to start off with something easy instead of something with an "elaborate" pattern. For Christmas, I got Lang Yarns Aktian sock yarn (color 0195) and am thinking of making the Crossover Rib (Four-Stitch Ribbing Pattern) from the Sensational Knitted Socks Book. After noticing how the sock is knitted up, I may want to choose a pattern for yarn that may work better with something that isn't so busy. I will have to knit up a swatch of the pattern to see if it will work or not. I also got Berroco Sox (color 1425) yarn and am thinking of making the Laburnum Stitch (Five-Stitch Pattern) from the Sensational Knitted Socks book. I might have the same problem with this yarn as well as the Aktian yarn. I will just have to knit up a swatch of the pattern too to see if it's too busy or not.

I ended up starting and finishing my vest/tank top within a few days after Christmas. I used three skeins of Rowan Big Wool (028 Bohemian) and followed the Tank Top pattern from Classic Knits. I am pleased with how the pattern turned out, but I was stuck up on the right side of the front part of the V for awhile, but in the end all is well.


16 December 2007

Fairly Easy Fair Isle

I'm almost done with my Fairly Easy Fair Isle sweater, I just have to fix the arms a bit before it's completely done. This sweater pattern is from the Stitch n' Bitch Nation book and I used the recommended yarn. This project was my first Fair Isle sweater and I must say that it was quite literally fairly easy. I am quite pleased with the project never-the-less.

Sorry, I can never get these pictures to post the way that I want them to.

11 December 2007

Cotton T

I've decided that I'm going to nix the cotton t project and rip the whole thing up, but first I must decide what project to make with the yarn.

27 November 2007

V-neck Cotton T













































































I finally finished the V-neck cotton T over the weekend. I must say that I am not pleased with it at all. The pattern is from Bernat and I ended up using Garn - Goa yarn which is 50% cotton and 50% acrylic. The darn thing is just too boxy; there are no curves to it what-so-ever. Currently it hangs in my closet waiting for me to think of something to do with it. I feel like sewing darts in it or something to get rid of the fact that it's too boxy. I don't know, but it will have to wait until Christmas break where I will have the time to think about what to do with it.

08 October 2007

Christmas Treasures


I must apologize for the shadow, but it wouldn't go away no matter how I angeled the camera. This is the only glimpse that ya'll are going to get of the Christmas Treasures that I'm making for my beloved friends until they are all finished. I still won't post them until each friend receives their gift. Isn't this just beautiful, marvelous, gorgeous, insert any beautiful adjective? I'm half done with this one and I can't wait to see the entire finished project. After this project, I only have six more to finish. Away I go.

24 September 2007

Christmas Yarn



The yarn that I ordered to make Christmas gifts came in today. Aren't those colors beautiful? I think so. The yarn purchased is Vally Yarn - Berkshire. I am sorry, but I cannot tell you what I'm going to make out of it because some of the recipients of the gifts are readers of this post. I cannot spoil the fun. I am not done Christmas shopping yet for yarn; I have to find some yarn for a different kind of project than what this yarn is going to be used for. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

14 September 2007

Beautiful Treasures

This afternoon, I went to la bella vita, which is a yarn shop in Mineral Point to see if they still had the yarn that I had adored and to get some dpn for a pair of socks. Sure enough the beautiful yarn was still there. I purchased five hanks of Unikat textile Handwerkskunst (made in Germany) and am following a pattern called Tweedy Vest from KnitScene Magazine. Just look at this lovely yarn:

Here are some more beautiful treasures for other projects:
For my First pair of socks - Hand spun wool from Sandy's Pallette


Silk/Cotton yarn for a sleeveless top and I'm not sure what pattern that I'm going to follow yet.

09 September 2007

Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival

This past weekend I had went to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson, WI (held at the Jefferson County Fair Grounds) and I'm really glad that I went. It was great to be around a lot of yarn lovers. To my surprise, there were two large barns full of vendors and I certainly did not walk out empty handed. At the festival, a lot of people brought their spinning wheels and I'm surprised by how much roving people were selling mainly because I haven't really seen it around in shops. To be honest, the first knitting store that I have ever seen roving was in Mineral Point and that was about two weeks ago. It was great to see what everyone had - there was so much to soak in too. A lady from Michigan taught me how to drop spin, which was fun and I ended up getting a drop spindle from her. I probably won't be able to start spinning until fall break or so due to classes. Until then I will have to stick to what I know, if I even get a chance to do that - knit. I had also got roving and yarn that is absolutely gorgeous.

The yarn that I ended up purchasing is from Briar Rose Fibers and they have hand painted yarns. I ended up getting six hanks of their "Collette." I originally saw a knitted vest that I liked on display and was going to find yarn for the vest, but then I saw the Collette on sale, so I purchased it instead. It was a real toss up because at the time if I had purchased the Collette, I had no idea what I was going to make and if I got the yarn for the vest, then obviously it was a done deal. I chanced it and ended up purchasing Collette and found a pattern right away once I got back to school and was able to look through my patterns. With the Collette, I am going to make a Wheat Ear Cable Yolk sweater that is from Interweave Knits (picture shown below). I think that the cables will look absolutely wonderful in the variegated yarn. Unfortunately next year I will be in Poland when the yarn festival is taking place. Instead, maybe I'll find lots of wonderful European yarns.

28 August 2007

Damask





































Some people have a passion for shoes and have a bazillion of them. I on the other hand really like purses, jackets/coats, and sweaters. I'm not saying that I have a bazillion of each, but I do like them. Of course, my collection doesn't consist of a $400+ Coach, or whatever other brand that would cost the same amount. As you may have noticed, I have posted a few purses/bags and I have another one to add to the list and the Damsak is one of them. I got the pattern from my weekly Berroco Newsletter. Awhile back, when I got my Fair Isle (post to come later) sweater yarn, I had also purchased yarn to make the purse. It's taking me awhile to collect all of the items for the bag, like what I'm going to use for the handles, and such, but that's all right because I want to find the right items. Tonight, before my 5 o'clock meeting, I had went to JoAnn Fabrics and walked passed the beaded section. Some of the larger wooden items caught my attention and I had purchased the items that are in the picture. I think that they are neat and will look good with the bag. I'm thinking of doing two of the smaller beads between each of the larger ones. My next step is to find something sturdy enough to thread through each of them and to decide if i want to add anything else to it. I know that my yarn color choice is very similar to the one in the picture, but I thought that the colors were very attractive. This project will probably take me awhile to finish, like all of the others, but I believe that I will be pleased with it once I've figured out my handle situation out.

27 August 2007

Hand bag


Here's my finished product for my hand bag. It's even lined and it has a zipper. The only downer about is that I wished that I would have made the handbag longer near the handles, so I could have lined around the handle openings to make it firmer. Other than that, it worked out well for the reception. I may try to reinforce the handles anyways.

31 July 2007

Bag/Purse

















This project took more yarn than anticipated, but it's nearly finished. This is the second pattern now where the yardage required is incorrect. I just have to tie in the loose ends, sew it, and line it. Hopefully it'll have a zipper too.

28 July 2007

Market/Grocery Bag



For one of Shelly's wedding shower gifts, I had knitted her a dish cloth out of variegated blue cotton. I had some left over and I made a market/grocery bag out of it. It ended up being a bit too long because when holding it filled with stuff it nearly shaves the floor by a few inches. At least I can reuse the bag time and time again though. The next one I make with this pattern I'm going to watch myself this time more carefully with the length.

20 May 2007

Red Scarf Project 2008


It's almost Fair time and also the perfect time to start/finish one of my scarves for the Red Scarf Project 2008 (http://www.orphan.org/index.php?id=40). My last scarf was lovely, although I want to take it up a step as far as my knitting ability goes for this next scarf. I started this Celtic Cable Scarf yesterday and it's rolling in at approximately 4.5 inches, only 55.5 more inches to go. In the middle of the scarf, there is the Celtic weave and at the edges there is a cabled braid. I'm looking froward to when this scarf is complete and I hope that I finish it before the Fair this July.

Fair? Well, in my youthful days, I was a 4-Her and entered lots of 4-H projects at multiple Fairs. Now that I'm too old to be an official 4-Her and enter the projects in the junior department, I enter projects in the open class department at a local Fair that I have been helping out at for years. This is why I said that it would be a wonderful time to start/finish a scarf for the Red Scarf Project, so I can actually enter one of my scarves. Obviously, I can't enter my previous scarf because it is in someone's hands somewhere across the nation. I would like to enter my shrug that I'm knitting, but I don't think that I will finish it in time before Fair, so I've decided to knit this scarf instead - I can probably finish this before I would have finished the shrug.

I just learned to cable this winter, when I was knitting my blue bobbled sweater and actually it's very easy. I've been looking at pattern books and have been seeing Celtic cabled sweaters and loved the pattern of the Celtic weave, so I wanted to give it a try, plus at the same time I'd be improving my cabling skills. I am very proud of this scarf so far, and I hope its future owner will be too.

During my lunch breaks at the hospital, I hope to be knitting a bit to make this process in finishing the scarf faster. Currently, it's taking awhile because I'm working on size 4 needles. It will be an enjoyable project never-the-less.

Off to knit some more.

11 April 2007

Stitch Holders


Last week, my mom went out to lunch with her best friend and my mom told her how I had made decorative stitch holders. As it turned out my "aunt - 'name goes here'" wanted some too. These are the decorative stitch holders that I made for her and I guess she just absolutely loved them and told all of her knitting friends at work about them.

I do have to apologize about the picture quality though, it did turn out kind of blurry - my camera wasn't acting the best that day.

Felted Purse


This was the original yarn chosen for my knitting needle case, but as it turned out the pattern was incorrect by a few hundred yards of yarn needed for the case. My mom knitted and felted this bag for me. The only thing I did was pick out the fabric for the lining, sewed it, picked out the button for the closure, and crocheted and felted the loop to go around the button. It is lovely, although I do wish that the handle was one large one instead of the two winding around, but it gives the purse character nevertheless. My part on felting was rather easy. I took the loop and just rubbed it between my hands in the bathroom sink under hot water for awhile.

Felted Knitting Needle Case







































My felted knitting needle case is now complete. I've been working on it for awhile now. During my spring break, I knitted, felted, and left it at home to dry. I had pictures from the start, but unfortunately I can't find those pictures on either of my two cameras. I can however find pictures of veins/arteries models and models of hearts that I was studying, but I'm sure that isn't as interesting to any of you guys since this is a knitting blog after all. Just this past weekend, I picked out fabric and something to close the case. I am very proud of my straight lines that I sewed. I also searched through the button stash at home, sewed some on to add some flare and I sewed snaps on to keep the flap from moving about. It was good project for my first time felting something. I especially like it because now all of my needles are in one place!!

06 February 2007

Chas' Hat part 2

I finished Chas' hat today and then took it out. It was too big. I'm still learning with getting the right guage. Must remember, yarn stretches. I probably won't start Chas' hat until tomorrow night or so.

05 February 2007

Chas' Hat


Here's Chas' hat so far; I just started it this past Saturday. I am not really following a pattern - just making things up as I go. Last December, I did make a swatch using 9 US needles, got the guage and measured around my head to get the approximate stitches. Other than that, I'm doing what looks good and what will work best. I think that this is simple enough for Chaser - I hope; if not I'm not how much simpler one can get. The hardest part will probably be the crown; I may have to do a lot of thinking on this one. We'll see. I just hope to get it done before next week Monday - that's when I go home next and I'm hoping to give it to my brother then.
Well, thus far it's turning out all right, I just hope that the crown won't be frustrating.

03 February 2007

Hat Complete




I finished the hat today and still have some yarn to spare, not enough to do anything major unfortunately, but that is to be expected. After awhile, the bobbles became easier to make. I do have to say that it is a cute hat, but I'm not in favor of it. The reason is because I like to wear hats more snug around my head (for warmth reasons - there's just something about a more snug fitting hat that keeps my ears warmer and that it blocks the wind more) and this one is too lose for my liking. I should have made the smaller option, but oh well. We all make projects that we aren't particularly fond of or rather just don't work for ourselves. I think that I am going to give it to my mom the next time I go home. She likes her hat looser and I think that this hat will fit her head better than mine. It's done that's what makes me happy. It was a free ball of yarn, I can't complain. The next project is finishing my brother's hat, which I certainly after all of the work that I put into it that it fits. I've now made two hats that are too big for the people that it was intended for. Maybe I just have this thing with hats. Oh well.

31 January 2007

Sweater





I am finally done with my sweater. To be honest, I am not quite sure how many balls of Berkshire Bulky I used. I would have to check the invoice and subtract how many balls I have left. I cannot find the pattern online anymore, so I can't show you what the pattern was supposed to look like. It's very similar minus a row of bobbles. Some of my cable "v's" aren't as define as I'd like them to be, but it isn't bad for my first cable project. Bobbles, yeah, the original pattern caught my eye, and here you have it, my finished project. I ended up finishing it last night at home where I was able to obtain size 11 dpn. It certainly is warm, and bulky. The sleeves are a tad bit too long, when stretched out normally, they come to the middle of my palm. When I folded the sleeves over this morning I couldn't put my jacket on because my sweater was obstructing my arm's path of getting through. It's a bright blue and I'm proud of it. It only took me roughly 2.5 weeks to finish as I've said before.

Now onto finishing my blue hat, and a black hat that I ended up taking out because I screwed up the pattern. I may start at the crown instead of the bottom, but we'll see. I'm basically making up a pattern for that, although the pattern can't be too fancy because it is for my brother and he is somewhat picky when it comes to clothes, etc. It has to be plain and simple, nothing too extravagant with cables or anything of the sort. I'm not sure if I'd want to make up my own cable/hat pattern just yet anyways, I'll have to get more proficient with making up simple patterns down first before I take the next step. I ended up making another charcoal grey hat over the summer to use up yarn and that hat turned out quite well for making my own pattern too. I've also made up a pattern for the mittens that I've been wearing lately (my blue ones with the snow-flake). Speaking of, I still have yarn left over to make a hat to match, although I'm going to wait for summer where I can really sit down and decide what I want to do; it's going to have snowflakes in the pattern, I just have to decide how big I want them, how many, etc. Which is for another day and not during this semester.

Anyways, my sweater is done and I'm happy with it no matter what anyone thinks of the sweater (some people may think that the bobbles are weird), although it isn't the best sweater ever, it certainly isn't the worst. My mom was right about people wanting to play with the bobbles, my roommate right off of the bat when I first tried it on liked to play with them. It's a warm sweater on these single digit days, which is what counts.

28 January 2007

Bobbi



I ended up getting some free yarn a few months ago and since I am pretty much done with my sweater (I had to get different size dpn, which are an hour away at home), I've decided to use the yarn up. I'm making the hat "Bobbi" from Hip Knit Hats and the pattern is published incorrectly. I've had to futz with the crown several times, until I figured out how to get the amount of stitches that was needed. I've found corrections to the 'Rise' online, which I am now using. I'm currently on the first row of the bobbles and they are a pain in the behind to do. Not that the act of making a bobble is incredibly difficult, but putting all of the stitches over the far most stitch on the left is difficult. My tension tends to be on the looser end of the tight side, so it's not like I can easily move 5 stitches over one stitch. I have a size E crochet hook that I'm using to move all of the stitches over, which makes it easier, but it is still difficult. I've done 13 bobbles thus far and it's going all right, but I can't wait until I complete the last bobble. My goal for today is to complete this row and do the following knitted rows, then I may put the project away for another day, since I have other pressing things to do such as homework/studying. I started this hat Friday, 26.01.07 night and I'm hoping that I don't have to take anything else out on this project since it's already been a pain with the incorrect pattern.

24 January 2007

Red Scarf Project, continued


Last semester, I had proposed to the group that I am in (Alpha Phi Omega) that we knit/crochet scarves for the Red Scarf Project and that I would be more than willing to teach people how to knit. It turned out to be a success - yay!! Here are our scarves (some people and scarves are not pictured). Tomorrow or Friday, I am off to the post, hoping that the scarves will arrive in time to Virginia.


07 January 2007

Red Scarf Project

I finally started and finished my scarf for the Red Scarf Project (orphan.org). I absolutely love knitting with this yarn, especially on bamboo needles. The yarn is from Valley Yarns, Berkshire Bulky (85% Wool, 15% Alpaca). I'm knitting a sweater with this yarn, although in blue. I've got the back of the sweater done, but stopped due to other projects that needed to be finished prior to my sweater. I started this scarf on Christmas Day, worked on it all during the drive down to Kentucky, during legislation while I was in Kentucky, and ended up finishing it yesterday night, so it only took me two weeks to finish.

I would have to say that the most time consuming part of the project was finding a pattern for the scarf. I didn't want it to be Plain Jane scarf of course. When I found this faux cable wave pattern, I thought it would work perfect with the yarn and it looks beautiful. It would look even more beautiful if the yarn were variegated, but the yarn chosen only comes in solid colors.

Here's the link to the scarf pattern if anyone is interested in making it:
http://yarndemon.typepad.com/demonic_progress/2005/05/rainy_day_scarf.html

It's a very simple pattern, just make sure to keep track of all of your rows. The finished length of my scarf was 58 inches and is 6 inches wide (I think I casted on 32 stitches instead of the indicated 28). I also used size 9 US needles and 3 balls of yarn.

Now, I just have to mail the scarf in and it'll be complete.

Enjoy.