Finished that Noro Stripe scarf!

I finished my 1x1 rib Noro Cash Island scarf and I love it! It's super soft (duh, cashmere) and doesn't make my neck itch. Ok, if I think really hard about it, I can feel a little itchy-ness, but I'm sure it's imaginary. Like when you think about little creepy crawly critters like ants and all of a sudden you can feel them on you. [Shudder]

I've decided that this is my favorite section of the scarf, because I love the turquoise color, and the way it transitions into pink.

This is the whole scarf, or most of it. It's pretty skinny, as scarves go, but I like it better that way. I tried a bunch of different widths during the 'Knit 6" and then change my mind' part of the process, and this one was perfect. 36 sts wide, on size 7 straight needles.

P.S. There hasn't been any pilling, but if I keep petting it, it might felt. Oops!

P.S.S. Also pictured are the pretty bathroom towels that no one is allowed to use.

Irish Hiking Hat = British Driving Hat

"You know, I don't think you've ever knit anything for me." -- Dad

Well, we can't have that!  My dad really needed a warm hat as he likes to take his MG roadster out for a spin with the top down on a regular basis.  Baseball caps just don't do the job when the chilly air is rushing past your ears.

I used this pattern right off of ravelry (Irish Hiking Hat-Archived) and knit it to the letter.  [Side Note: The only modification that I made was to the title, since my dad won't be using it for Irish hiking but British driving.]  

This was the feel-good project of the weekend because I cast on Friday afternoon and finished blocking and all by Sunday afternoon!  This might be the fastest project I've ever done.

This is the hat with the brim folded down.  I love how dimensional those cables are!  And yes, it is sitting on a silver charger plate.  The hat was clean, the plate was clean, I'm not bothered by it and the colors seemed to want to be together.  So there.

This is the top view of the hat (which looks like a flower to me) graciously modeled by my brother.  "Jeez, did  you use a watermelon for size?"--Brother 

It's going to fit my dad just right though, and I didn't use a watermelon for size :-P

Here comes the ice age...

It was a "snow-day" in Las Vegas yesterday. The snow came down heavily on Monday and again Wednesday, but it never stuck around for accumulation to happen. They closed the schools anyways, thereby triggering a bright sunny day with no snow! Good job CCSD. This is the only snow-day I've ever seen in Las Vegas and it didn't even pan out. I'm not complaining though, snow and I aren't exactly compatible (you know, in the "I really really hate it" sort of way).

In other news, the blog managed to fix itself. Really. I didn't touch a single thing and all of a sudden it loads again. Story of my life.

I have been up to so much knitting: The Never-ending Afghan has eaten two more yarn cakes, I've jumped on the Noro-stripe-scarf bandwagon, I invented (not designed) a sock pattern for the Draco yarn (with no green), and I've begun and ripped a worsted weight slipper-sock for my brother twice (they aren't a Christmas gift, so I'm not in a hurry). [Side Note: Don't feel bad for him though, I made him a chunky ribbed hat for a quick & easy gift!]

These could all be blog posts on their own so consider this a glimpse into the future.

Why am I so absent?

It has been far too long since I've sat down and blogged about anything. We had a great Thanksgiving here, including the best, most moist turkey we have ever made [Side Note: I will brine everything from now on. If it stays still long enough, it will get brined. Seriously.], and pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie!

That doesn't mean that there haven't been bloggable things going on, far from it. I just haven't. Oops!
Let's get back on track then shall we?

This tiny knitted tube is made on US 1 dpns, from a yarn sample that was sent out with a yarn purchase I made. It was a Halloween colorway, something like "very scary" but I lost the little card that came with it. While it looks purposeless from this angle, I assure you, it is a highly functional little knit-ring!I made it for the purpose of holding onto my cable needle when I'm doing cable work. Instead of putting the cable needle in my mouth. Which is unsanitary, blech! And I needed that cable needle to make myself a Koolhaas hat! I have had the pattern in my ravelry queue for a long time and I'm so glad that I finally got around to it. I really really tried to learn to cable without a cable needle for this project, but it just wasn't happening. Notice also the vase with decorative pebbles where my needles supposedly reside, ha! The needles have migrated all over the house by now, oops.

The hat is too big for me, but that won't stop me from folding up the brim and wearing it anyway! This was one fun and challenging pattern to knit, so I expect that I will make 3 or 4 more before it's out of my system. Perhaps one of them will end up being the right size?Also, a bookmark! Made on US 1, 16 sts, 1x1 rib out of HP Opal Dumbledore remnant.

Hey, I can blog with photos too.

So, the camera was located under my nightstand. Of all the places it could have been, why there? Oh well, I found it. I also dug out the book it came with to see if I could "adjust" the settings. I think I should have read the booklet a long, long time ago. It would have prevented much camera related angst. [Note to self: Read the instructions. Really.]Now there will be an inundation of photos. This set is documented proof of the Golden Snitch ornaments I constructed (courtesy of Charmed Knits, once again). They don't have a hanging string yet, but I'm not in any rush.
Haha, don't they look like they'd rather be out in the yard, zooming around in the air?
I really like the 3-toned effect (though knitting with yarn that thick was a real challenge), and the colors aren't quite as true as they could be. But hey, this is as good as it gets without professional photography knowledge.Here's a little sample of the three colors together, though the 'white' is actually butter yellow, the 'uber-golden' color is really goldenrod, and the 'brown' is much brassier in real life.

As you can see, my Sophie bag is complete! It felted marvelously and is super thick. I'm enamored with the charcoal gray color as well as the small-ish size of the bag. It's going to be very useful and get a lot of wear, I can tell already! Joy!
I put a fabric-covered piece of cardboard in the bottom for stability and it's just perfect! I might stitch the straps together to help them stay more balanced in their twistiness, because the twists have a tendency to congregate to one side of the bag or the other. I would make this project again in a heartbeat! Love (1)!

ACHOOO!

I have a cold. Again. And it's making me miserable. Again.

On the upside, it means plenty of couch time for knitting. On the downside, it means I'll have to Lysol any Finished Objects. And the couch.

I knit up a couple golden snitch ball ornaments (out of Charmed Knits. Yes, I realize that this is becoming an obsession. No, I don't mind.) I held together three golden shades of scrap acrylic; light yellow, goldenrod, and a brassy brown that would look gold if it were really shiny. It's a beautiful effect I think. [Side Note: 3 x worsted weight is GIGANTOR! And really hard to knit with. Thankfully I'm out of scraps.]

And I got my box of yarn and stuff from webs today, so I immediately cast on for a footie sock version of my Patriot Socks to use up the leftover yarn. [Side Note: One of the new needles was broken when it arrived :-( the little plastic tip on the end had broken off, but I've made do with just 4 dpns.] I don't know if there's anything webs can do about things damaged in shipping, but it can't hurt to email them, right?

And I'm using one of the Karabella balls to make a sweet little felted purse based on the popular MagKnits Sophie pattern. Mine will be much smaller than the pattern suggests, because I just don't need that much space. If it's too big I probably won't use it. As a matter of fact I could get by with just my wallet, cell phone, and keys. But I love this pattern and the results it has produced (ala ravelry).

Well, the cough medicine just kicked in so I guess that's it for zzzZZZzzz

Crossing the finish line!

Yay!!! I've crossed the Ravelympics finish line in the Scarf Stroke!

My Cable Bobble Scarf was great fun, probably because of the Ravelympics. I enjoyed the pattern a whole lot and the finished scarf is great! It's soft, has good stitch definition, and is warm but light.

Each pattern repeat ended up being 4" in length, so I did 10 pattern repeats + 2" of garter stitch on the ends for a 42" scarf. Now let's give this yarn a bath!

Olive this hat!

I love puns. They're witty and cheesy and they pop into my head all the time. When I saw the cute Olive hat on The Blue Blog the other day I chuckled to myself at the cleverness. Then I realized that I have olive green yarn lying around from a yarn project my mom started in about 1975. [Side Note: My mom doesn't knit but I think she did a reasonable crochet impersonation on a throw blanket for my grandparents. (I've never seen it, probably because it was made of olive green, Brady Bunch kitchen orange, and brown.) Also, my mom has forgotten how to crochet since then, I've asked.]

I pulled out my trusty hat pattern and made a size small hat in under a few hours out of the old olive acrylic. It's too bad the ancient acrylic makes my forehead itch like it's made of steel wool. This will need a lining, which I've never done on a hand knit hat (just a store bought one). No rush though, it's JULY.

I used duplicate stitch to put the pimento on (and stitched around it to even out the border). Sometimes it looks like a green hat with a red dot, but if you get the right perspective it looks just like a manzanilla olive. My dad got the joke right away, "Oh, is that a cocktail olive hat? Olive it! Haha get it?" yes dad, I get it ;-)

My Practice Sweater is actually finished. No really this time.

Yeah, I know I've hyped this sweater waaay too much. But it's a personal victory. Yay me! [Side Note: My camera has stopped being 'difficult' and has begun an all out mutiny. Sorry for the lacking picture quality.]
And this is the neckline that gave me so much grief. Sure, it looks harmless now ...

Has it really been that long?

The days seem to slip by so quickly between blog posts! It's not like I'm short on things to blog about either; I started my first piece of lace work (now just a few repeats from being finished), I finished the neckline on that pesky practice sweater (it turned out just great once I stopped being a spaz about it), I made a pun into a hat, I ordered some yarn from Webbs, and I worked on the Never-Ending Afghan. I'm going to write about all of these things in detail right away. As soon as I can take some pictures. It's dark now.

50th post! Already?

I'll admit that the blogging has been slow around here lately, but this is due in large part to the fact that it's rather difficult to blog from one's cell phone (no matter how iAdvanced it may be).

Still, I've made it to 50 posts! I have finished objects to share and new things already on the needles! (No, mom, your afghan is not one of the finished objects. Simmer down, it's only June!)

I have finished my first* sock. One Red Sock. My brother immediately commented that it reminded him of the Red Sox's red socks, so I don't know if I'll bother making a second. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Yankees fan. I just resent that my little brother thinks it's ok to have a backup team. What is this nonsense! "But they're in a different league, and all the way across the country" he says. Like that's some sort of a defense. I am a True Blue Dodgers fan (I bleed BLUE during baseball season. No really.) Occasionally my mom will threaten to defect to the Padres or [shudder] Giants, but we don't take her seriously. Sorry mom.

My practice sweater is all but finished because I am having quite a bit of trouble with the neckline ribbing. First I picked up stitches like a maniac (some 120 when the pattern called for 78, I lost count) and it had a hilariously ruffled collar look. Not quite what I was looking for, really. So, on the second try I picked up exactly 78, made it through 3 or 4 rounds and realized I had dropped a stitch somewhere, messed up the ribbing twice, and had some unsightly gaps along the neck edge :-( So, I ask you, is there anything inherently wrong with leaving the sweater as is? I mean it may be a little uneven, but being completely honest with myself, this sweater wasn't intended to be worn, you know, outside of the house. Perhaps I've reached some sort of frustration quotient and just need to give it some time. My inner scientist is urgently reminding me that failed experiments are how we learn. [Side Note: It's platitudes like that one that make me want to plunk her in the head with an Erlenmeyer flask.]

And I've got a new sock project going! This one is flying off the needles, I've already got the first sock finished and I immediately cast on for the second sock (fearing that I would lose the inspiration). I found some Opal sock yarn to play with and practice on and I'm impressed with how easy it is to work with. It may not be the softest, squooshiest, or most lovely yarn I've ever worked with, but it's German; utility before frills, I get it. I'll bet that a little blocking and some fabric softener will work wonders. This colorway (don't ask me what it's called, I don't read German) struck me as particularly patriotic for some reason, I'm going to call these my Patriot socks. [Side Note: Not to abuse New England teams today or anything, but I'm most certainly NOT a Patriots fan either. It's the Steelers for me, thanks!]

Ulterior (Sock) Motives

I have a confession to make: I have only soldiered on in my sock attempts to prepare myself for some Opal yarn in the Harry Potter colorways. They come out in the fall, sometime before the movie. Since I've decided that I must possess them all, I feel a little obligated to actually make them into something. Though the prospect of just keeping the lovely skeins around (or having them framed) is quite appealing to me :-)

This got me thinking about the role the HP series has played in my knitting. After reading the books and having myself sorted (via sortinghat.com or something like that) into Slytherin I decided that I must have a scarf. [Side Note: Again, I'm not a bad person; though I suspect that my ambition can sometimes set my moral compass spinning, it does find itself again eventually.] I put aside the fact that I seldom visit latitudes North of, oh, Southern California or so, and sought out a Slytherin scarf for myself.

When I finally found a store selling them I couldn't bring myself to pay some $27 dollars for it. The USC bookstore sold a lovely Gryffindor 'SC scarf that fall for the bargain price of $10 and I caved, but it still wasn't the same. I felt like I was misrepresenting myself by wearing it to the movie premier. Weird huh? I found plenty of other things in WhimsicAlley to amuse me for hours on end (including a quill pen and ink, and a Dark Mark temporary tattoo), but the crafty part of my brain was whirring along at full tilt. "How are scarves made? They look woven together, not sewn up patches of color. Gee, I wonder how they do that. OH, knitting would do that ... right?" is how my internal monologue went. TO THE INTERNET!

After some brief googling I discovered that people can, in fact, knit these things themselves! I dashed out to Michaels, bought a skein of green and one of grey and a pair of needles. I had no regard for the type of yarn, it's gauge, or even the size of the needles really, so you probably know how this turned out. I worked diligently on my very first project and once I had mastered the Knit and Purl stitches (and realized that Knitting on BOTH sides means you end up with garter stitch) the scarf seemed to fly off the needles. Of course I was using US 10s (because 10 sounded like a nice round number at the time). I was very proud of my efforts, but not so much of the scarf. I had picked up reading a few knitting related sites and had learned so much that, despite the lacklustre scarf, I was hooked (or knitted, rather, as this isn't crochet afterall).

The scarf eventually ended up being ripped out and used to make Salazar the Bear. And I've never gotten around to making myself a proper Slytherin scarf either, but this doesn't trouble me much anymore because of a) the climate I live in and b) the fact that my halloween costume robe is Gryffindor too. [Side Note: this is because I could not find a suitable green lining fabric last year to save my life, but red was everywhere and on sale!]

Speaking of Sal though, I've found that his neck is a bit floppy which makes him look as if he's puzzled by something. Rather than busy myself with reinforcing his neck I decided to take a page out of Nearly Headless Nick's book and make him a scarf to hold his head up instead, haha! I took the book scarf pattern as it was originally posted and just kept knitting it until it was long enough for Sal. I'll have him try it on when I get home. [Imagine him with his head cocked to the side as if to say "For me?"]

Just Keep Pedaling!

I'm sticking to my vow to seam as I go, which meant putting down the needles and seaming up the first sleeve of my "practice" sweater. Happily, everything went smoothly and I'm so glad that I can finish projects in a neater, more professional way now :-)

[Side Note] I love that acrylic doesn't have to be blocked. I don't like blocking either. Fancy yarns are nice, but there's all sorts of extra involvement (added cost, swatching becomes necessary, the blocking, the careful washing, etc.) I like some acrylic instant gratification sometimes! That sounded dirtier than I meant it to ...

Today the training wheels come off.

I don't derive any joy from seaming things. I actually avoid projects with lots of seaming because I know that they will lay in finished but not-yet-sewn-together pieces for an eternity and I don't need that kind of guilt. That all ends today. From this day forward I hereby vow to seam as I go whenever possible.

I finally learned how to properly seam knitted objects with the mattress stitch, which is surprisingly simple and has nothing to do with mattresses (at least as far as my instructions went). I'm sure that the way I used to seam things violated several deadly sins of knitting, so this is a vast improvement. The way that the stitches pull together to create a new row along the seam is nothing short of a miraculous event to me right now.

Book Scarf: for keeping books warm

I once saw a sweater pattern that was double-knitted so that it would be reversible and thought to myself "That's like knitting two sweaters at once! Who would do that to themselves?" And I've never had any desire to double-knit anything since.

Until now. I saw a cute idea for a bookmark scarf somewhere in the blog-o-sphere and decided that for an object no more than an inch wide I could make an exception and give double-knitting a try. It was surprisingly easy to keep track of, more efficient than knitting something so small in the round, and turned out great! I don't think I'll be making any reversible sweaters, but I'd sure make this little project again and again (it only took an hour, and that includes the time I spent pondering the long-tail purl cast on).

P.S. As I was tagging this post I decided that this project could be related to the Tiny Weasley Sweater because they are the same scale and would probably go well together :-)

Aran with it.

I've said before that I like to take on challenging projects in order to a) improve existing skills or b) acquire new ones and this Aran pattern was certainly challenging on both fronts! I may not have the length of attention span necessary for all of this cabling, but it was a joy to finally finish it. This piece is without a purpose for now (mostly because I can't imagine making another one in order to have a pillow). It's just the trophy for my triumph over Aran patterns.

Hats off to me!

I've finished knitting that hat for my brother, and to top it off I'm pretty sure that he likes it!

It did have to spend a few days in the BIN OF UNFINISHED KNITS, which is just fine because he won't get to use it for quite a while. The "House Hats" pattern from Alison Hansel's Charmed Knits was amazing once again! It has earned a place of honor among my knitting patterns because I've used it twice with the same satisfying results. Remember, experimental results are only valid if they are repeatable. So this pattern is a homerun, scientifically speaking.

Fair Isle (in the round no less!)

I like to take on new projects that challenge my knitting abilities, but this one was probably one of my most ambitious. It took me a few weeks of on-and-off knitting, but the satisfaction upon completion was well worth it!
This Gryffindor-inspired fair isle bag (that I've made into a pillow instead) came from the freebie pattern site I mentioned before: http://www.freshislefibers.com/Patterns/hpknittinglinks.htm
but was created by Rosemary Waits, of Quietish blog fame.

It's knitted in a plain ol' worsted weight Caron yarn on a 29" set of circular needles. I'm not precisely sure what size they are because I didn't buy them, they just sort of got passed down to me (though nobody in the fam. knits ...) They worked out just fine as far as the gauge went, so I'm not going to worry about it.

I pirated the pillow insert from one of my bed pillows though, just for testing/sizing/picture purposes, so it will have to be put back. Once I get another insert (16" please!) I'll sew up the ends and finish the pillow.

"He's a sweet little owl, isn't he."

I just knew that I could turn the pom pom technique into something! I've created a pom pet pattern, dubbed the Pigwidgeon Pattern for it's obvious resemblance to a certain tiny grey owl, to follow:

The Pigwidgeon Pattern
One 4-finger-pom
One 2-finger-pom
Two knitted wings

• Using 4.0 mm needles and the long tail cast-on method, cast on 5 sts and leave a long tail for assembly purposes!
• Purl 1 row
• Knit 1 row
• Increase between the 1st and 2nd sts and 4th and 5th sts, using your favorite increase method. (I chose to pull the stitch up from below.) [7 sts]
  
• Knit 1 row
• Purl 1 row
• Knit 1 row
• Purl 1 row
• K2tog, K3, K2tog [5 sts]
  
• Purl 1 row
• Knit 1 row
• Purl 1 row
• K2tog, K1, K2tog [3 sts]
• Purl 1 row
• Cast off and weave in the end.

For a detailed pom pom production instructional video, see this post.
Begin 4-finger-pom by wrapping your chosen yarn around 4 fingers. Don't do this too tightly or you won't be able to extricate your fingers when you're done!
I wrapped the yarn around 75 times in order to get a very fluffy pom.
Cut the end of the yarn and then cut yourself a piece (sufficient in length) to tie around your yarn bundle. I like to use a self-cinching or surgeon's knot (which just means making your regular shoe tying over-under and then going over-under again). Tie it tightly because this is what holds your yarn critter together.
Snip the yarn through the loops where your fingers were. You have removed your fingers by now right? Good.
Time to fluff up your pom pom and give it a little trim so that it is round and even all the way around. Don't get overzealous with the hair cut though!
Make another pom pom via the same method using just 2 fingers this time. There, you've got the body the head and the wings!

Assembly

Using a yarn needle and some of the same yarn from the critter construction, sew on the head pom (smaller) by going up through the body pom (larger), back down through the head pom, and back through the body pom. You can do this as many times as you think are necessary to make it sturdy, but I've just made 2 passes and tied it off. [Make sure that you're going through the centers of the poms, otherwise the yarn will just pull through the sides!]

Threading the long tail from one of the wings onto the yarn needle, pass the needle through the body pom (at the desired wing possition) and use that end to secure the opposite wing. Do this by sewing through the 5 sts on the opposite wing and then back through the body pom and knot the yarn so it won't slip back through. Trim it to blend in with the body pom. Thread the tail from the opposite wing on the yarn needle and use it to sew on the first wing in the same fashion. Make sure that you pull the wings in close enough to the body, you don't want them to be too floppy!

Now you just have to find something for the eyes and beak. Little googley eyes from the craft store are easy to work with and you just have to hot glue them in place. Some felt glued on for the beak works quite nicely (just 2 little triangles, trimmed to fit).

Hats, Hats, Hats!

Here's the House Hat I said was already finished (minus the washing and blocking). Spring has definitely sprung where I'm from though, so it doesn't much matter until hat season rolls around again. We're probably just a few weeks from having the "Is it too soon to turn on the air conditioning?" debate. [And with utility costs being what they are, the answer is always yes, but we usually lose our resolve around the beginning of June.]
I am a big fan of the decreases at the top of the hat, it looks much cooler this way. There's a time and a place for pom-poms and I just don't think that it would be right for this hat. And they were easy to work in, even without those fancy markers. [Note to Self: Why don't I have those yet?]

My brother's hat is coming along quickly too, though I don't think he'll have any opportunity to wear it until next winter.