Hofsós Hat

Hofsós Hat, by West Knits was interesting and kind of challenging. The yarn is held double in three colors for a worsted gauge and tweed effect. The hat’s body is worked sideways in diagonal lace, ridges, and seed stitch. The brim and crown shaping are worked in the round. I strayed from the pattern a bit and used a provisional cast-on with kitchener stitch seam that was recommended by a blogger, and a different diagonal lace technique I thought of. The pattern required picking up stitches which I tend to avoid, but it wasn't too bad.

Friend's Hoodie

I made this hoodie for a friend.  The pattern comes from Textured Knits by Connie Chang Chinchio.  I love her designs.  Most of them (besides being cute) are made in one piece with the sleeves being knitted from the shoulder down so there's the bare minimum of clean up afterward.  Though this is the 1st pattern out of her book that I've knit, I was also impressed by the instructions: no mistakes & she anticipated everything!!

Old Shale Baby Blanket

IBaby blanket for my niece's baby boy using the Old Shale knitting technique.

I made a matching hat for Christmas out of the leftover yarn. It looks a lot different since I used a different stitch.

Okay, so I finally emptied my camera.  Before, it would take me forever to drop a few rolls of film off (remember those days?), but now with digital cameras, I can literally store thousands of pictures & just forget about them.  Bear with me, I have quite a bit of knitting to share :-).

Little Audrey was born to a friend just a few weeks ago.  I went a little crazy with the cutesy girl stuff.  Of course, there were the requisite pink booties (do babies still wear them?), a light sweater with color work, ribbon-tie sleeves, and side open collar (I made this up), and a hooded Victorian coat.  The coat was a plain pattern and I added the pink embellishments, skirt flowers, and the hood.  I wanted something other than buttons so I used some pretty jewelry clasps.  The picture doesn't show it, but each clasp is different and looks like a charm: one is a heart, another is a bouquet, and I forget what the last one is.  The whole time I was making this coat, I kept thinking of old-fashioned ball gowns.

My purse was falling apart, but I've been refusing to buy a new one.  I was determined to make my own purse, and I happened upon this Lily Chin pattern.  I think the book was called Knitting with Beads, and I checked it out of the library.  The pattern is called "Mosaic Madness Bag."  I hung it on Butch's perch, and he decided to pose with it (actually, he wasn't particularly pleased with my use of his space, but he was a good sport).  The picture shows the colors, but there are also beads worked into my version of the bag.  Lily did something very clever:  you string your beads on nylon beading thread.  You carry the beaded thread on the back and only bring it forward with the bead when you mean to have the bead in front.  It's a great way to use beads with holes that are much smaller than your yarn.  For my bag, I used a hemp/cotton/synthetic mix.  I really wanted a hemp/linen mix, but this was the best I could do.  I made a lining and lined the interior with stiff facing.  The only thing I'd change would be my choice of handles.  With the handles pictured (the closest I could find to the original pattern's handles), the material slips & slides.  To prevent this, I had one of the guys at work drill small holes into the handle & Jim used fishing line (10-lb test!) to secure the material.  It works fine.  Next time, I'd probably get round bamboo or wooden handles.  Anyway, it's fully functional, and I love it.  Now that I know how to do this, I can also expand the bottom and make the purse bigger (as Jim would say, expand the bottomless pit).

Front

Back

 

I made myself a top!  It's an Iris Schreier pattern and I believe the book title was Lacy Little Knits.  Again, I checked this book out of the library.  The pictures are bad, but on the front, there's a lacy knit pattern that graces the wide V-neck that mimics crochet.  I didn't like her back version, so I changed it for a higher V-neck, with just a small eyelet.  I wear it alone with jeans, but for work, I wear a tank top underneath and pair it inside a jacket--it works both ways!  I don't usually like orange but for some reason this fine wool "Haiku" yarn became a must-have for me.  The color is lightly variegated.  The only thing about this wool is that if I rub against anything--a jacket, a seat belt, etc.--it pills, and I've already had to shave off some fiber.  Iris used a silk blend, and I'll have to try that next time (or maybe a linen would work?).  Anyway, it was fun to knit (modular) and it's fun to wear.

 

Until next time...



 

Birch Hat

This Birch hat by KnitWhits was an interesting pattern with charts. Everything made sense until I reached the decreases. I followed the chart and it didn't make sense and just wasn't right. I looked at it over and over and did the math and even had my husband look at it. After putting it down for a day, I just decreased in a way that made sense to me and it worked out fine. I used Freia yarn again, which I love.

Plumeable

Oceanside Hat

I really liked this "Oceanside" hat pattern by KnitWhits. I loved the Freia Handpaints Ombré yarn, too. 

Stranded Colorwork Hat

Lately, I have been wanting to delve into more complicated knitting patterns and colorwork. This pattern is called, "There's a Rabbit on my Head" by Westknits. I made a modified brim, because I didn't really like the look of the short garter stitch rows of the original pattern. I like how the hat turned out, but I must say I didn't really enjoy the stranded pattern. I constantly had to untangle my yarns and it was a really slow process. There must be a secret to not getting the yarns tangled, but I don't know what it is.

Jelly Bean Socks

These socks make me think of jelly beans. I am trying to knit with new colors schemes that I don't usually pick. Also, instead of using "Judy's Magic Cast On" for the toe, I tried a new technique for a rounder toe, instead of the usual bucket toe look. I watched a YouTube video and followed along: http://youtu.be/KAgcVb-vsEI It is demonstrated by Cat Bordhi. Also, I found the cute knitted coffee mug at Starbucks at Christmas time.

Jim's New Socks

Lizards, Lizards, Lizards!

Belated Happy New Year!

I started off the New Year with another pair of socks.  Do you see the lizards?  Cool, huh?  (Although I don't understand what happened with the sole (middle) and heel (bottom) picture colors.)  When I saw the pattern for these socks I just had to try it out.  The book is Op-Art Socks by Stephanie Van der Linden--a real master!  The actual pattern is called "Maurits" after Maurits Cornelius Escher.  The entire book of 19 patterns showcases her inspirations from various visual artists.  These aren't your ordinary run-of-the-mill socks.  An added bonus:  I was able to make the socks pretty much as per the instructions--no fiddling to make corrections.

Getting Back to Socks

Ribbed Hats and One "Fairly" Isle Hat

 A couple leftover Christmas hats and my first try at fair isle color work.

Rasta Hats

Promised months ago to a friend.

Christmas Beanies

I finally finished my Christmas beanies for the kids and my brothers. I tried to pick somewhat "manly" colors, so hopefully they will work out.

Christmas 2014

This year's Christmas socks are warm and woolly.  We're putting gifts in the socks.  (As you can see, my nephew with the size 12 feet has a distinct advantage over his mom and dad.)

 

It seems to me that all I've been doing is knitting socks, but they're so portable, and in just a relatively short amount of time I have something warm and bursting with personality to give.  It has been cold lately (well,...for CA), and who couldn't use a nice pair of comfy, cozy socks?

 

My Christmas cactus hasn't bloomed in years.  I repotted it, gave it new soil and more fresh air.  It surprised us!  The profuse flowers here are white, but although not pictured here, they're turning pinkish (originally, the flowers were a vibrant hot pink/red).  Butchley is something of a ham.  He couldn't resist getting in on the photo shoot.

 

Anyway, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (where did 2014 go?)!!!! 

 

 

Tis the season to knit like CRAZY!!!!

 

I mentioned socks that match but don't quite?  Well, I just recently made a pair from bits and pieces of scrap yarn.  The pattern came from Sock Art by Edelgaard Janssen and Ute Eismann.  They worked it from the leg down, but I worked my own pair 2 at a time from the toes up and I didn't continue the pattern up to the legs.  It was called "Stripes, Lozenges, and Spikes" although my pair is more like "Stripes and Spikes"--no lozenges here.  I really like the spike part.  I even mixed lofts of yarn.  That is, I made sure that I maintained the same gauge/thickness by pairing thicker yarn with thin yarn, etc.  Working with scraps like this also allows me to experiment with colors, and I get a feel for the kinds of colors I gravitate toward.  Sock Art was inspiring:  It seems to me, I need to expand my color choices.

Fiber Festival, etc.

I forgot to post these pictures from the fiber festival in Vista last month. It was pretty cool. They had tons of yarn for sale and demonstrations of people spinning yarn.

Also, I made these hats for a friend who works in a hair salon as a trade for her services.

And, I have joined the gigantic yarn trend and bought some loopy mango big loops yarn and size 50 knitting needles. I have been trying to knit a blanket for a while now and keep starting over. It feels a bit clunky knitting with the giant needles and heavy yarn.

Plumeable

This was a fun, quick hat pattern I downloaded from Ravelry. I used thick and thin yarn, which I would not use again. To me it makes the stitches look uneven. Overall, I like how it turned out.

HEY!!!  I know it has been a long time, but as you can see, I'm still knitting.  I'm actually too addicted to stop.  I made up the pattern and knitted the hooded sweater (above bottom) for a friend's grandson.  It was still warm in Carlsbad when I finished it, and I think I made it large enough.  Hopefully, now that the weather is cool, the baby will (still) fit into it.

It may have seemed like I disappeared, and in a sense I did.  When our beloved cat, Cricket, died in August 2013, I just didn't feel much like communicating.  I know, it might seem odd to some that I mourned so much for our pet, but Jim and I have been married for 25 years, and Cricket lived for 23 years.  We were so used to having her around.

You might be wondering about the picture of the grey kitty (above top).  Well, in May 2014, an abandoned kitten chose us as his new parents.  I guess you could say we needed each other.  Jim named him Butch because he has these "invisible" stripes (most noticeable toward the tip of his tail) that reminded him of a character from "Little Rascals."  He's a sweet adorable boy!!!

I'll try to post more as I knit.  I've been working on some "scrap" socks.  Weird...I've been making scrap "mismatched/matched" pairs for a while now and we saw some for sale in some catalogues.  It's a great way to use up scrap yarn.  If you don't know what I mean, I'll just have to show you in my next post.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!