Some Actual Knitting Content!

In my quest to slowly get back into blogging etc, I took some photos of some FOs that I finished at the end of last year/beginning of this year. Gloves and mittens are easy to take relatively decent photos of, so I started with them :)

First off, last year at some point I frogged my version of the Druid Mittens that I had started to make with fingering weight yarn (I posted about them here) They were just a bit too small, and I never got round to finishing them, because I kind of knew that I'd be unhappy with them. Then I thought of making them with DK weight yarn instead, as it would be an easy way to make them larger without having to mess about with the pattern. So I used this green yarn (it's wool/acrylic, possibly Stylecraft Life DK, but I've forgotten exactly. I'm about 80% sure it's Life DK though), and slightly larger needles I think. See, this is why keeping blog posts and putting things on ravelry is much easier when you do it directly after making the item! :D Anyway, I just knit the pattern as written, since I didn't have much brain space for modifications, and I just wanted to get them done and out of my queue. Here's some photos:





And here's a photo with one of them steam blocked and the other not:



Pattern: Druid Mittens by Jared Flood, from Vogue Knitting Fall 2008
My ravelry project page: here

I did another re-knit as well. I don't know if I'd ever posted about the Something Floral fingerless mitts, but I'd started to knit them in some fingering weight yarn before - in black and white. But again, they were small. So I decided to just frog them (I went through a bit of a frogging phase in my knitting slump!) But I really like the pattern, and wanted to make them, so I cast them on again. This time I used different yarn - it's possibly Regia sock yarn, but again, I've forgotten and lost the ball bands :)

This is the project that made me figure out that I need to knit colourwork either on very large needles compared to the pattern recommendation, or go up a yarn weight. They're still snug, even using larger needles, but they can at least go on now :) They'll be perfect for autumn days either with T-shirts or under a cardi or something.





Some detail shots:







And mid-steam-blocking:



Pattern: Something Floral by Miranda Grant
My ravelry project page: here

And finally, a pattern I'd been wanting to knit for ages, in a yarn that I'd been wondering what to make out of for ages :)









Pattern: Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts by Susie Rogers
Yarn: a colourmart merino (DK?) that I got in my goodie bag at Knit Camp. I'd been wondering what to make out of it for ages, because I wasn't sure how much there was. Then I saw this pattern in my queue and the two matched together! I had a teeny bit left over, it just went in my scraps bag :)
My ravelry project page: here

Yay, a post about actual knitting! I'm going to try to photograph some more stuff later on or tomorrow - it turns out that even though I considered I was in a knitting slump, I still managed to get quite a few projects finished! :D

Some Small Projects: Fingerless Mitts

I've still not been knitting a whole lot, but here are some pictures of fingerless mitts I've made over the past couple of months.







Back in July (!) I made these Cratchit Garter Mitts - pattern by Susan Newhall . The yarn is something by Lana Grossa - I got it a few years ago and promptly took off the ball bands :/ I really like the colour of the yarn, and how it worked up in this pattern.

This pattern was really good - easy to follow, and they're so scrunchy and stretchy, really comfortable. I like how my thumb ring peeks out over the top of the thumb gusset :)

I enjoyed the pattern so much that I made another pair:







These were made with some yarn by Ba T'at Yarns. I got a 75g skein of it at Knit Camp in 2010, and this pattern seems to use around 58-60g, so I decided this was the pattern for this yarn. Again, I like how it shows the variegation in the yarn.

Then last month I made these:





The pattern is Verdigris by Romi Hill, from knitty. These were made for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. The task was to make something from knitty, and by the time that I had time to knit, I needed something small that could be finished quickly. So I looked through knitty's pattern browser for mitts, and these came up - I hadn't even noticed them before!

I made the small size, they're definitely smaller on the cuff that I would normally make, but I kind of like it with this pattern, it makes them look cuter :) I really like the cables and lace stitch pattern, it reminds me of leaves, so I had to make them in green. Luckily I had some green sock yarn leftovers. These mitts weigh 37g, they didn't use up all of my leftovers, so I'll need to find something to do with the remaining small amount.

I changed the pattern a little - I just did a normal cast on, and ribbed for four rounds, and at the end I ribbed for four rounds then did a sewn bind off. I couldn't figure out how the other cast on was supposed to work, and it was late at night and I didn't have the energy to try to figure it out. But it works :)

Now I need to get photos of the other projects I've done over the past couple of months :)

WIP Wednesday - Knitty Startitis Extravaganza!

Have you seen the new knitty yet?

So many lovely patterns!! I followed the link from Laura Chau's blog (she made the lovely Darrin cardi pattern)and immediately queued a whole bunch of them. Then I cast on two :)



First of all I cast on the Lingerie socks out of Patons Fairytale Dreamtime 3ply wool. I went up to 2.5mm needles because I think the 2mm called for would be far too tight around my cankles, even if it is ribbed lace :) I've knit the top of the cuff so far, so down to where the ribbed portion begins. It looks very cute so far :)



Then I cast on the Commuter mitts out of Sirdar Click yarn. I tried it on 3.75mm needles first, but my gauge was too tight - I was getting 24 sts to 4 inches instead of 21. So I went up to 4.5mm needles, and all seems well now :) I love the folded over cuff on these mitts, can't wait to have these on my hands!



I also cast on another pattern, although this isn't a knitty pattern - the Something Floral mitts by Miranda Grant. I'm using stash yarns for these, but I don't know what the yarn is. The ball bands disappeared long ago! These are knitting up nicely, although not as nicely as they would if they were in my handspun (I'm totally spoiled now as far as colourwork mittens are concerned! They'll never be the same again!)

I knit a few more rows on my Willow scarf this week, and finished my afterthought socks, which I'll write about in another post, so I have a feeling I'll be casting on more of them this week. Also, I have a severe case of startitis in case you couldn't tell. I'm itching to cast on Dunes from the new knitty. I'm trying to hold off till my willow scarf is done, but I don't know how long I'll be able to hold out :) Also, I'm looking at my stash wanting to cast on cowls and socks by the dozen.

Other patterns from the new knitty that I'm drooling over are Rhodian, Darrin, Leaflet, Undercurrent, Chasing Snakes, Double Heelix and Inlay. Half the patterns in this issue, basically! And if there were any little girls around me to knit for, then I'd be casting on Kindling right now! So cute!!

Add to that my massive ravelry queue, and I'm feeling very inspired to cast on bajillions of projects just now. It's lots of fun! :D

FO: Galileo Mittens

My very first ever project knitted with my own handspun!!!



Pattern: Galileo Mittens by Laura Chau
Yarn: My own handspun :D Corridale, orange and black spun into a heavy fingering weight

I love these mittens!! Ever since I first saw the pattern come up on ravelry, I've wanted to make them. I was going to use my pink handspun as the contrast colour, but it turned out too thin, as I've blogged, so I spun up some orange that I had left over from another spinning project, and deliberately tried to make it the same size as the black. This was my first spinning project intentionally spinning my yarn to a certain size, and it turned out pretty good!



I really loved knitting with my handspun. I would have written "enjoyed" there, to break up the monotony of the word "loved" which I've used about ten million times in regard to this project, but that really is how I feel about it. I didn't just enjoy knitting with it, I really, really loved it! I kept saying to my partner about how I was knitting with yarn that I had made, and that I'd actually made knitable yarn that I liked. It got to the point where he was fed up hearing about it :D

It turns out that I really like my yarn to be tightly spun and plied. It had never even occured to me before, but it turns out that I naturally spin yarn how I like to knit it. How awesome is that?! There was no splitting, none of the twist fell out as I was knitting with it, as has happened with some commercial yarns. And not just the cheap acrylics!

I just can't get over that I spun the yarn, and then knit it into these mittens! I'm already spinning for another pair of mittens - I'm going to have quite a handspun mitten collection at this rate. The only thing is that spinning on a drop spindle is quite slow, so it'll take me a bit of time to get enough yarn to make a pair of mittens, but I'm knitting some colourwork fingerless mitts out of commercial yarn in the meantime. It's just not the same now though! I've been totally spoiled!



I think what I really like about this pattern is the (almost)random/abstract-ness of the design. Geometric repeating patterns are good, but this pattern looks so different that it was the first pattern I thought of when I decided to knit mittens out of my handspun. Not that that stopped me from queuing loads of others for the future! :D They fit really well too, the first pair of mittens I've knit where the fit is just perfect and not too tight or anything.



The pattern knit up really well, no errors or anything, and I really like how it was explained and written out. Laura's an excellent designer, one of my favourites - I really must knit more of her patterns. I have a major desire to knit the Cityscape pullover - a larger handspun project, perhaps? ;)

I think I will definitely knit these again. I just love the pattern (there's that word again, but it's true!) and I had a lot of fun making them. Now if only December would hurry up and arrive so I could wear them outside!! :D

Some HPKCHC FOs

I rejoined the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup on Ravelry :)

I love this group, but I'd dropped out for a few "terms". Then I head Rachel on the KnitCents podcast talking about it, and it reminded me of how much I'd enjoyed it last time, so as soon as the new term was about to begin, I signed up.

In this group, they have "classes" where you get a task - kind of like an inspiration idea, some loose idea, and you craft something that's connected to that idea. This month I did Defence Against The Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Ancient Runes.

Ancient Runes: The task was to craft something that would enable or aid communication. I made some top-(fingers)-down fingerless mitts to "help keep my hands warm when I was texting or phoning my muggle friends on the tellyfone" :D





Defence Against The Dark Arts: This task was to craft something you would wear to the beach. I made a poncho/coverup using Cindy Kamps' Medallion Poncho pattern.



Astronomy: The task was to create something irregular (based on the asteroid belt) I made a cowl using chunky yarn, just going round and round in SC/DC (depending on what country you're in and what terminology you're using), and working bobbles randomly, just whenever I wanted to make one. I think the final effect turned out quite asteroid-y :D It looks quite interesting as a hat/head-covering as well as around the neck (actually I think it looks better that way!)











I turned them all in today (the last day of the month), so I could get my points for Ravenclaw. I'm in Ravenclaw, my favourite house, BTW!! Last minute as usual, it's just like when I really was at school, lol!

Mitten Knittin' (and a rant about thumbs)

I haven't been knitting much recently. I've got a serious case of spring-clean-fever and have been going nuts washing windows, cleaning skirtings - if you knew me in real life, you'd be so shocked! So, it's good that the house is getting somewhere near clean, but it means less time for crafting :(

What I've been knitting are mostly mittens. I'm about to start some Galileo mittens with my handspun - black and orange, should turn out pretty funky! :D What I have been knitting is the #03 Green Autumn (Druid Mittens)by Jared Flood, from Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008. I'm using yarn that I bought from the Yarn Yard at knit camp last year - I don't know what particular yarn it is other than it's fingering/sock weight merino/nylon and is brown :)

First off, I have a rant about mittens and gloves with thumbs on the palm. My thumb is not coming out of my palm. My thumb sticks out at the side, just like most other humans'. Why designers feel the need to put thumbs on the palm I have no idea. It just pulls the mitten all out of shape when you put them on. Sure, they look just beautiful in the photoshoot where they're lying on a table, but as soon as you put the them on, your mitten is twisted halfway round your hand and just looks kinda fugly in my experience. I don't want to give myself some RSI by holding my thumb round in front of my palm all day just to make my mittens look pretty.

So, I decided to change the thumb placement. Also, I like gussets. It's just shaped more like an actual thumb. So, I thought, I've done thumb gussets before. I know the general theory, I'll just stick one on the side of these mittens and be good to go.

Ha!

This pattern is one of those that inserts a thumb gusset onto the palm. You cast on half as many palm stitches as you actually need, and knit the thumb in the remaining stitches. So the thumb is on the palm, AND it'll be too tight because it doesn't have enough stitches. *facepalm*

I didn't realise this about the stitches until I'd knit the cuff, and frankly I couldn't be bothered ripping it all out and casting on the right amount of stitches, besides the cuff would be too big then. So I increased the palm stitches till I had the correct amount needed for the entire palm. Then I put in some stitches for the gusset and increased from there. These are the notes I wrote on my ravelry page for them about my mods. I think they're vague enough to satisfy any copywrong worries, but if you have the pattern, you'll be able to follow along, I hope.

On the increase round, I increased till after the 2nd sl1,p3,sl1, then increased the remaining stitches to the full amount needed for the palm. After that, I added two more stitches for the thumb. I worked the palm as on the chart (minus all those thumb stitches - again, palm thumbs grrr!), and increased a stitch on each side of the thumb on rounds 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25 (as numbered on the chart) so I ended up with 20sts between the palm and back of hand. I knit these for one more round, then put them on hold to pick up later.

For the other hand. I placed the thumb stitches just after the second sl1,p3,sl1 on the inc round, then increased the palm stitches.

I just knit the thumb stitches, no patterning. Will see how it turns out when I pick them up as to whether I keep them plain or not.

So that's my mods and my rant. It's just that it was my first time substituting a thumb shaping, and I got more than a little miffed at it. Here's a pic of how the mittens are looking so far:



Despite all my whinging, they're actually looking rather nice :)

The colour is actually a little darker and browner that this. I love the cabling, and it was fun and interesting to knit once I'd worked out all my issues with the thumbs. I just need to pick up those thumb stitches and knit them now, but the call of the Galileo mittens is becoming too much... :D

Spring Is Here :)

We've finally had the last cold snap here, and it is now officially Spring - well, I say it is and that's what makes it official ;p

I've been wandering around my garden looking to see what has come back. We had a really cold winter, and the ground was covered in inches of snow for weeks. So I didn't hold out a lot of hope for many of my plants. But most, if not all of them, came back! Yay for hardy perennials! :D




These are the ones I was most surprised at - Asiatic Lilies. There was no way I thought these were strong enough to survive the winter, but I went out my back door the other day, and there they were! I can't wait till they grow and flower, I love lilies!



Another surprise - Dicentra or "bleeding hearts" If you'd seen the mess this was in a few weeks ago, you'd be surprised too. There was nothing, not even a green sprout, just a mess of brown sogginess. Then, all of a sudden, this appeared! :D

A couple more growing pictures:




And some water droplet macros:




And what do you do when it's warming up, and nature is blooming all around you? Why, you knit colourwork mitts of course! ;)





These are the Starstuff mitts by Amy van de Laar - a free ravelry download. I knit them out of Stylecraft Special 4 Ply, using 2.75mm DPNs for the cuffs, and 3.25mm needles for the hand. I like them :D They knit up quite fast, and the pattern was easy to follow once I got the hang of the "extra" stitch at the end of the chart. Basically, you just follow the chart and knit till the last 8st repeat is finished, then you knit stitch no 9 from the pattern, substituting in the "extra" stitch colour. That makes more sense if you're actually reading or knitting the pattern, I wouldn't bother trying to understand me if you're not :)

I'm having a real mitten craze just now, browsing ravelry like mad for colourwork patterns, and I've got 2 other pairs on the needles just now. Just the thing to knit in springtime :)

Dipping My Toe Back In

Hiya :)

Gosh, it's been nearly two months since I last wrote here :( I've been having some issue with confidence and general motivation, so it's been hard for me to take photos and write about what I've been doing or making. I think I'm coming out of it now (fingers crossed!), and I've been really missing this little place on t'internets!

I have been knitting a lot of things, I just need to get around to taking pics of them all! I had a brief spell the past couple of weeks where I couldn't knit anything - I hurt my elbow ironing :( Too much repititive motion lifting the heavy iron up and down for 2 1/2 hours trying to get it all done. I've learned my lesson though, I'll never do that much ironing again (if any,lol!) It was so hard not to knit anything, but it just was so sore if I lifted my arm anywhere near my body or straightened it, and I didn't want to injure it any more than I had done already. I'm back to knitting now, but not too much at a time. My arm still hurts when I first get up in the morning, kind of a dull ache up from my elbow, and sometimes throughout the day, so I'm taking it easy for now!

I couldn't believe how many things I use my right arm for - just about everything! I couldn't even lift the kettle at one point to make a cup of tea! :( And I also couldn't believe how I just cannot sit and do nothing. I get so bored and antsy, it's quite ridiculous. So I read three big books instead :)

Let's see, I've got a few photos of my knitting on flickr, what is there?

I made a couple of pairs of socks from self-striping yarn:





The yarn was Fortissima Socka Mexiko, bought from Twist Fibre Craft Studio. I did a short row heel with the yarn from the other end of the ball so that the colour repeats would keep going. I like these socks, but I've decided that I'm really not a fan of the short row heel. It's fun to knit up, but it just doesn't sit right on my feet :/

I made the World's End Fingerless Gloves by Deborah Gall of the SavvyGirls podcast. I love this design, as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted them! My pic is a bit rubbish, very overexposed. It's only on flickr because I liked the effect. I'll take better ones soon :)



And lastly I have pics of the Rippenschal scarf that I made. This pattern is by Margarete Dolff, and is another one that I wanted as soon as I saw it.





The wrong side looks pretty cool too :)



I made this from a blue acrylic yarn, possibly Robin DK but I'm not sure.

Wow, that was a longer, more involved post than I thought I would write! It all comes flooding back! :) I'm planning to take more pictures, and get more involved in the online world again :) See you all soon!