Saturday, November 24, 2007

In progress projects

Here is a list of the In Progress Projects:

Fingerless mitts- One Skein Wonders
TLC Cotton Plus Solid- Green
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Drop Stitch Scarf- Stitch and Bitch Nation
Recycles Silk from ebay
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Yo! Drop It Scarf- Stitch and Bitch Nation
Lion Brand Chenille in Red
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Brian’s Projects:
Wavy Scarf
Cascade 220 Wool- salmon pink will use 2
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Friday, November 23, 2007

One Hour Hat

One Hour Hat
I used Filati FF Funky yarn in a variegated blue and knit 2 together to get the right gauge. This hat was easy to knit and it looks great. I knit it while chatting up the family and cooking dinner on Thanksgiving. That's my little brother modeling it.

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Thursday, November 22, 2007

Cable Hat- made just for me!

My husband knit this hat for me using Bernat Alpaca Natural Blend. It can be found here:
You Don’t Know Our Women Hat

He cast on 108 stitches and he is a really tight knitter. He didn't like that the cables didn't line up with the ribbing, so he isn't doing ribbing-this makes it flare out a bit at the bottom, but when it stretches over the head you can't tell.He did the first inch in k6,p3 and then started the cable pattern (adjusting it to line up with the first inch, he is starting with a cable, and ending with a p3 rather than starting with p2 and ending with p1).

The decreasing was a bit different as well. Each decreasing round he decreased something different, starting with decreasing the purls from 3 to 2- then decreasing the odd cables from 6 to four, then the even cables. So it looks like the cables are getting smaller (which they are).

The decreasing went as follows:

Cable round
Decrease purl stitches (-12 stitches)

Knit in established pattern
Decrease odd cables (-12 stitches)

Knit in estabished pattern
Decrease even cables (-12 stitches)

Knit in established pattern- cable round
Decrease purl stitches (-12 stitches)

Knit in established pattern
Decrease odd cables (-12 stitches)

Knit in estabished pattern
Decrease even cables (-12 stitches)

Knit in established pattern- cable round

There are 36 stitches left
K1, k2tog (24 stitches left)
Knit
k2tog(12 stitches left)

Knit
k2tog(6 stitches left)
Bind off.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Brians FO's- catnip mouse and mittens

Brian knit these two projects:
First, a Catnip mouse from Stitch and Bitch Nation for the Helping Hands for Homeless Animals project with some scrap yarn. I stuffed it for him with some scrap yarn and a catnip pillow
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He also knit mittens from the book One Skein Wonders out of TLC Cotton Plus Solid in red for my uncles girlfriend for Christmas.

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Both were pretty straightforward and easy patterns. They were great projects for him to learn increasing and shaping on since the only things he has knit so far are beanie style hats. I’m so proud of the progress he is making!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Travel Pillow

I knit the travel pillow from the travel issue of Knit.1 magazine for my father-in-law out of some random acrylic that I had. This was a tough one to pick out because he is not much of a knit wearer. I think this will be nice because he works hard and needs to relax. Also he and his wife travel a lot. I filled it with a pillow I made and stuffed with pearl barley, which is very heavy, something I should have though about first since we have to mail it. I didn’t stitch the clouds on them because I think that he would prefer it plain. After washing the acrylic was super soft.

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Monday, November 19, 2007

Biggy Quick Knit Caplet

This one I knit in an evening. It was literally- my husband went to bed, and when he woke up it was finished, laying out on the table for his inspection. I wanted something for my grandmother that she didn’t have to fuss with, that would keep her warm without taking up space or needing to be wrapped around her several times like a scarf. She’s in a wheelchair and only has the use of one arm so I think this caplet will be perfect.

You can find the caplet here:
Biggy Caplet
I used Filati FF Funky yarn in purple and ended up using about 4.25 skeins. I knit 2 together to get the right gauge. I had 6 skeins available to use and I think I should have used them all, but it’s long enough to cover her shoulders. The only problem I had was that it was a tight squeeze to keep all the stitches on one needle. I spent way too much time squishing them together.

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Sunday, November 18, 2007

Harry Potter Mittens

The Harry Potter mittens are from the Charmed Knits book by Alison Hansel and they are for my mom for Christmas. I used Cascade Indulgence in bright red. This is the yummiest yarn I have ever felt. I want a whole blanket in it, although imagine how expensive that would be! It is an angora/alpaca blend. I used some scrap green yarn to do the stripes. In the end I used about 1.2 of the Indulgence.

Even though the gauge was right (actually, the yarn I chose was much finer so I made the large size to fit my hand) it seemed a little loose in some places. I decided to felt it to make it fit better. OMG! What a difference that made! I’ve only felted the first one but it is PERFECT! I’m so excited!

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Saturday, November 17, 2007

Foliage Hat

This one is for me. I was feeling a bit neglected and since I bought the green and orange banana silk yarn with the intention of making something that reminded me of fall, I figured that waiting until winter or spring was not on the agenda.

The Foliage Hat was the perfect pattern for this yarn, although with the variations in size and texture the leaves don’t show up as well. I plan on making another one later, but for now this one is perfect. I used up one skein of orange and the border is in green. The green bled really bad all over my fingers and now I’m afraid to wear the hat, but since it’s a pithy hat style (I modified the pattern a little bit to be- just did less foliage and decreased the ribbing to fit my head snuggly) the green lies over my hair, so bleeding will only be a problem if it rains or I sweat a lot.

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Friday, November 16, 2007

FO's starting with Santa Hats

So much has happened in the past few weeks that I have not been able to keep up with blogging. I have been knitting like crazy trying to get Christmas projects done, and not feel neglected myself by throwing a personal project in here and there. I’ve gotten so much done that I’m going to write a quick blog for each completed project and mention my WIPs later on in one blog. Here we go!

I’ve completed 2 santa hats found here:
Santa Hats
They are for my dad and stepmom. I used Cascade 220 wool and heathers in gorgeous maroon and wheat shades. Also, Crystal Palace Kid Merino in wheat was thrown in there to make the brim and pom fluffier. I only used ½ a skein each of the wheat colors and about 1 and 2/3 skeins of the maroon for both. I made one slightly smaller than the other, even though the pattern is only written for 1 size, since my step mom is so much smaller than my dad. Here is a new photo of a finished santa hat.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

R.I.P. Raja

So, tonight my husband and I made the decision that it was time to let our cat Raja go. I had only had him for a few years, but he was old when I adopted him. He developed cancer, which we found out about a few months ago. We decided then that we would do everything we could to help him be comfortable, but when he showed signs of being in pain that we would put him down.

He maintained his wonderful spirit, but a few days ago he seemed to be very tired and was struggling to breathe. Yesterday we took him to the vet, got some pain pills, gave him fluids, and discussed our options. Last night he stopped purring when we touched him and he could barely walk. I spent today taking care of him but I knew it wasn't right to let him suffer. We took him to the vet this evening and let him go. He and Ginger are buried next to each other.

On the counter at the vet they had a quote of the week. It read something like "If I had a star for every time my cat made me smile I would hold all the stars from the night sky in my hands". That is so true.

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Rest in peace Raja (11-13-07) and Ginger (10-25-07)


I'll post knitting updates soon- I do have quite a few ;)