In the Works

I’m sorry to say I don’t really have anything new to share at the moment (okay, that’s not entirely true…I have a few things, I just haven’t had the time to tell you about them…). 

So instead of showing you a finished object, I thought I’d share some of what I’ve had in the works for a little while. 

I finished a scarf a little bit ago and love it to pieces, although it hasn’t been cold enough to wear it much lately (it’s very warm).  The stitch pattern intrigued me enough I wanted to make a matching hat.  So I set out to design a pattern around it.

This is what I have so far…wha’d’ya think?  The sample is knit from some of my own handdyed, variegated yarn.  If it works like I want it to, and I have enough yarn, I’ll make it in the same yarn as the scarf. 

p.s. I’m so glad tomorrow is Friday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't have anything extremely exciting to share at the moment, but just wanted to stop and say Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday Favorites: TV Shows

Today is the day I put myself out there a bit and admit that perhaps we watch too much tv in our house.  Although, it's not as simple as to say we sit down and watch anything and everything.  Instead, we have a group of shows we regularly stay caught up on.  I thought it'd be fun to share a few.

Glee 

Yes, we watch Glee.  Who doesn't love a good musical number sung in the  middle of a show?  I've always enjoyed musicals and singing.  Music has been a big part of my life for a long time.  Makes sense I would enjoy Glee.  Even Mr. man enjoys it.  "High Schoolers" singing and dancing every day?  Yes, please!

Leverage 

I don't know what got us hooked on this show, but we love it.  Funny with some drama and romance thrown in, there's something for everyone.  My favorite characters are Hardison and Parker, Elliot coming in at a close third.  You can find this group of grifters and theives on TNT.

Bones 

What's not to love about Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz?  I've followed Boreanaz's career since his days as Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  He's what originally drew me in to the series.  Now I can't enough of Deschanel.  She's beautiful and clever and quirky.  As partners in solving crime, I think these two have great dynamics on screen.

New Girl 

Which brings me to Emily's sister, Zooey Deschanel.  This lovely lady always plays a role that's a bit different.  And I love that.  The role she plays as the awkward new roommate to three men is fun and fresh.

So...there are lots more than that...Gold Rush is strangely addictive...and don't even get me started on the addictive properties of Storage Wars!   What shows do you like to keep up with?

Just Because I Can

 (Uptown Babe hat I designed awhile back.)

(And if I share one, I must share a picture of the other! :) )

Super Simple Superwash Scarf

A friend of mine has her birthday mid-December.  So what's better than a warm knit scarf to keep her cozy?

I had found a pattern on Ravelry a while back that I really wanted to try.  It calls for bulky yarn and knits up quickly.  I looked through my stash but didn't have any colors I was very happy with, so instead I went shopping.   I decided on Yarn Bee's First Love in the Lovely colorway.  Turquoise and dark purples and a little bit of green, with splashes of fuchsia thrown in.  Perfect for this kind of scarf.  

And to say scarf is really misleading.  I know the pattern is called Super Simple Superwash Scarf, but it's knit in the round and intended to be a cowl.  The one I knit L can be wrapped twice around your neck, being stylish but warm. This cowl is made up of  3 knit rows, then 3 purl rows, and so on.  I ran out of yarn befor the pattern really ended.  I needed 7 repeats but only got 5, although I don't think it detracts from the look.

The yarn is pretty squooshy and hopefully soft against L's neck.  I'm always worried something will be too scratchy or irritable.   I really want to make this again, except for myself.  And I really want to try it in a variegated yarn.  Some patterns, in my opinion, just don't mesh well with variegation.  But this scarf is so simple, I think instead it will make it more visually appealing.  

On a side note, now that I've had a bit of a breather since Lovebug's birth and now that we're getting back into a routine...I'm going to try and get back to some weekly posts like WIP Wednesdays and Friday Favorites.   I've had a ton of Finished objects to share recently but that will start to slow down very soon.  So stay tuned!

Wee Mittens

A cute little pattern found in Vintage Knits for Modern Babies, these were finished in a matter of hours (well, split over 2 days because I didn’t have time to do them all in one sitting).  Knit with Spud and Chloe, Moonlight. (Pattern calls for DK weight but I used worsted.)

The pattern, Wee Mittens, is written to knit these flat and then seam them together.  It’s an interesting construction but I hate seaming so I converted the pattern to knit it in the round. With tis in mind I cast on 30 stitches instead of 31. 

Initially, I knit the length for fingers and thumbs as directed by the pattern.  But I had to go back and take the tops of the fingers and thumbs out and lengthen them because they were far too short for Squishy’s hands (he gets that from his mamma….).

I dislike it when I have a pattern that requires knitting 2 of something and it tells you to knit for “x” inches.  I don’t trust my measuring skills to be so great that I will get the pair the same length (some might also tell me it’s my need to be a perfectionist…).  So instead I labor over counting the rows as I go to make sure they are both the same.  Not hard to do with tiny mittens!

Anyway, I ended up adding 6 more rows to the fingers and 4 more rows to the thumb.  That’s a lot of length when you’re talking about toddler fingers!  Do you see the difference between these two pictures?

Now they fit...well…like a glove!  Squishy loves them and keeps talking about “my new mittens.”  That’s the mark of a job well done.

And to any of you out there who don’t like seaming…don’t be afraid to look at a pattern and decide whether or not it can be knit in the round.  Not everything is as simple as these mittens and would be harder to convert, but this saved me a lot of time, especially considering that if I had knit them flat, I couldn’t have fixed Squishy’s mittens and just would have had to make a whole new pair.  

Cozy Thermal Mitts

A year or two ago, Mom & I visited a somewhat local farm that had advertised a selection of handspun yarn, weaving, knitting, felting, etc.  While it wasn’t what we were expecting, and definitely not what I was hoping for, I did pick up a few goodies.  I found a couple skeins of handspun yarn, direct from the sheep raised on the farm.  One skein was an undyed, natural color.  I knit Lamb from Scratch with it, about this time last year.   

The other skein was a pretty, variegated purple, blue and pink skein.  It also had a couple strands of sparkly thread spun throughout. 

I have been wanting to knit this yarn for a long time but could never come up with a project I was happy with.  Every time I thought I had it, I changed my mind.  The yarn isn’t particularly soft so I knew it couldn’t be a cowl or anything like that.  I considered a hat, but wasn’t really thrilled about that either. 

Which left me wanting to make fingerless mitts.  I found the pattern Cozy Thermal Mitts, shown in a yarn with a similar appearance to handspun.  I liked how the example looked so I cast on myself. 

Are you noticing a trend with the recent items I’ve knit?  They’re all simple.  Quick.  I guess instant gratification is what I need at the moment.  These mitts are no exception. 

Once I had them knit, I put them on to test them out.  I won’t lie when I say I was a bit disappointed when I started feeling a little irritation on my wrists.  The mitts are a bit scratchy, not soft like I’m used to. 

Originally, the yarn was purchased with the intention to gift something to Sis.  Then I never found a pattern.  When these were finished I decided I would try them out, see how they looked when complete and then decide.  If I was uncomfortable, I knew she would be too.  (She’s a very tactile person.)

But I decided to send them to Sis anyway.  I think she may be able to wear them over another pair of gloves.  She got glove liners from Mom & C at Christmas, and since she lives in Colorado, these would be perfect to slide on over top of her gloves.  Added warmth, with the ability to manipulate her fingers.  Win-win in my opinion! 

I enjoyed the pattern and the textural interest the stitch pattern created.  They took a small amount of yarn – I only had 124 yards and I didn’t even use it all (although there’s only a tiny bit left).  I would recommend this pattern to those of you who have one skein of worsted weight yarn that you just don’t know what to do with.