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

FO: Commuter Mitts

I finished my Commuter Mitts!



Pattern: Commuter Mitts by Stephanie Sun

Yarn: Sirdar Click Aran With Wool

Needles: 4.5mm (I had to go up a couple of sizes to get gauge)

The buttons were in my button stash - I think they came off of a jacket of the bf's, or his grandfather's - I'm not sure exactly. I know they came from the grandfather's house, and they've been in this house forever. I nabbed 2 of them for these gloves (after asking permission, of course!). If he wants to use them for anything else, I can always take them off and use something else, but I'm liking the slightly militaristic look the metal buttons give to these gloves.



I really like these mitts! I love the foldover at the cuff - such a great design element.



The yarn knit up really nicely. It's an acrylic/wool blend, but it feels really nice, nicer than some of the other yarns I have with the exact same percentages of the fibres. It is more expensive than those yarns, admittedly, but still affordable. I'd definitely use it again, I really like the flecks of colour/heathering.



They're very easy and quick to make - the main reason it took a bit longer for me was because I always procrastinate on sewing on buttons. I sewed on buttons on the palm side too, so I could do the folding over the fingers thing that you can see on the pattern page, but I didn't take a photo of them like that.



My only (slight) quibble about the pattern is that it has afterthought thumbs instead of gusseted ones, but I didn't notice till I was at that point, and couldn't be bothered ripping back and working out a gusset. But really, they're comfortable, and the thumb is on the side of the hand, not on the palm, so I just went with it, and I do really like these mitts. I'd definitely knit this pattern again, probably still with the afterthought thumbs.



The only thing about knitting all these winter accessories is that I just can't wait till it's winter!! It's going to be like, 4 whole months before it's cold enough to wear all these things I've been making. I'll just have to pet them and look longingly at pictures of snow till then, 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

Some Actual FOs!!

It feels like ages since I posted much about knitting here. I have been doing lots of it, I've just been really lazy about taking and posting photos. But now that autumn is officially here, I'm feeling much more motivated. I always feel more lethargic during the summer, and pick up again as soon as the weather turns colder. And now it's time for my picking up, yay!

My ravelry profile page still seems to be full of photoless entries, but I've been catching up a little at a time. Firstly, I got photos of my feather and fan shawlette




Pattern: feather and fan comfort shawl by Sarah Bradberry. This has been waiting for months to get photographed. It's kind of small to wear around the neck, but it is wearable (I was getting a bit fed up with knitting laceweight on 2.5mm needles, and just bound off when I felt like it). It's really good as a headscarf though, I should get some photos of it like that . . .

Next up, my sparkly white snake amigurumi:




Pattern: Ayame The Snake by Mary E. Smith I used a sparkly white boucle that I got off ebay. I actually wanted the black sparkly boucle, but it came with a ball of white as well, but it turned out fabulous for this project! I love this pattern, it goes so quickly, and as you're stuffing it as you go, there's hardly any finishing at all! It's a really good stashbuster, and I totally want to make more. I want stripey ones, and different coloured ones. My house is going to be filled with amigurumi snakes if I'm not careful!

I also got a photo of my Berry Hill fingerless mittens



Pattern: Berry Hill fingerless mittens by Liz Thompson. I love this pattern! It's one of those ones that I got obsessed with as soon as I saw it on the recently added patterns page on ravelry. I "fixed" by BPT jacket, which deserves a whole other post (I cropped it and added ribbing, it's now perfect for me!), and this is what I used the leftover yarn for. The pattern is really well written and easy to follow, and these are now my favourite pair of gloves. I've been wearing them loads because the weather has turned so cold so quickly!

There are a few more FOs that require photos being taken, but that's plenty for just now! And here's some pics of my latest WIP




Pattern: Owlmittens by SpillyJane.

I LOVE this pattern! I thought I would manage to resist the whole owl craze thing that's going through the knitting world right now, but it turns out I couldn't after all! I saw this pattern on her blog (link above), and just went nuts over it! The little owls are so cute! It's a good re-introduction to my Year of Colour 2009 (that kind of fell by the wayside over the summer. I don't think that's a good time of year for me to be knitting colourwork. It's too fiddly when I lost concentration like that).

I can't believe I'm knitting something so pretty! I keep looking down at it and marvelling. Colourwork seems like some kind of magic to me, it's just amazing to follow the chart mechanically then look down and see THAT! I want to make another pair already, this time with a white background and black owls. I want to experiment and see how the colours change and how the owls will change. I'm interested to learn more about the way the colours change when they're on top or bottom. But first I'll have to finish these ones! I started them yesterday, and that's how much I did in one evening! I would have done more, but my left hand started to get sore. I remember that happening when I first started doing stranded colourwork at the beginning of the year. It's just because my hand isn't used to that type of motion, but it's very inconvenient having to stop! If it wasn't for that, I think I would have kept going till I finished the whole first mitten, it's very addictive!

A Whole Month With No Posts :/

I wish I could say that I've been having a wonderful summer holiday somewhere, lazing on the beach, swimming in the sea, and generally travelling around all sorts of wonderful places, but . . . no, I haven't. I've been lazing in my house, starting many projects and not finishing many of them. The hafla we're organizing is getting a bit further along (only 2.5 weeks now!), but I'll write another post about that.

Honestly, this past month has been taken up with startitis (not just knitting, all sorts of projects and hairbrained schemes!). I just haven't been able to concentrate on anything. I have three (!) patterns on the go that I want to publish, I just have to write them up, lol! And take pictures. But the samples are finished. :)

There is another pattern which is probably to blame for my lack of concentration - a design I was working on till it kicked my ass! Here's a sneak peek of a part of it



The design seemed simple enough in my head, but working it out has been an ordeal! It's currently sitting on the table at the side of the couch just now, where I'm trying to ignore it, and pretend it doesn't exist. The three other patterns are completely different from this, and that's the only reason they're finished, lol!

Even my Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup projects this month were quite uninspiring. I made wrist cuffs for Potions (something sparkly to show the use of Felix Felicis (lucky potion))



and more for Charms (to represent the workings of a duplication charm)





Oh, sign ups for the new term of the HPKCHC are open now, if anyone wants to go over and join in the fun! Rav page here: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/hp-knitting-crochet-house-cup/755049/1-25

I made a pair of Glynis socks (from Cookie A's book Sock Innovation)




It's just a random yarn from my stash. I'm not even sure if it's a washable wool or acylic, it seems to have tendancies of both. I got a big bag of it from a charity shop ages ago, and was lookng for something to make with it. I still have enough for another 2 pairs of socks, lol!

So, I guess I have actually been doing stuff. I also have a bunch of WIPS on the go, which I'll write about later. I think it must just be the heat and that dratted design which made me unable to concentrate, even to notice that I was doing things, lol!

Free Pattern: Rib Stripe Armwarmers

I've been getting really into this pattern writing malarkey recently! A while ago, I wrote about some armwarmers I made (post here), based on ones that I saw worn by a dancer in a belly dance workshop. I promised then that I'd write up the pattern, but it seems to have taken me ages to get around to it. But I'm in the pattern writing up mood just now, so I've finally done it!



These are now officially known as the Rib Stripe Armwarmers, pattern available for free on ravelry.com. download now

Enjoy!! :D

Quickie Handwarmers

I've been working on a design recently (isn't it a bit annoying how designs have to be secret till they're done?) and I've had to knit the same thing twice, in a different yarn, and also to check the pattern I've written up. Well, I'm 3/4 of the way through the second one, and to be honest, I was getting a little burned out. Not because of the pattern, cos I really like this one, and I loooove the yarn I'm using for the second version, but more because, well, I've already knit it once. Like, last week. And because it's secret, I feel like I've got nothing new to blog about. (even though I've got about four projects waiting for photos, or simply for something to be written about them. We'll just forget about them for the time being ;) They'll get their turn in the spotlight soon!)

So, I needed a quick project to rejuvenate me :)

This pattern (Crocheted Hand Warmers by Nadine Borovicka) came up on the Ravelry new patterns page a little while ago, and I just haven't been able to shake it from my head. The pink and brown combination, and the cute little flowers really caught my eye, and kept shouting to me. So I started my version yesterday, and finished them today.



I used James C Brett Super Soft Baby Double Knitting in pink, and some Stylecraft Special DK in brown. Small amounts of both, and a 4mm hook.

I made some small modifications. I added in an extra row of DC before the thumb opening, an extra row in the thumb opening, and a few extra rows at the top. I wanted them to be a bit longer in the hand :) I also picked up some stitches round the thumb opening, and did a row in pink SC, and two rows of brown SC. I didn't do any decreases around the wrist opening. The flower embroidery was improvised. The first one went really well, then I had to try and match it on the other glove. Which I did! The first time I did it, I made two left gloves! :D I didn't get a photo, unfortunately. So I had to pick out the embroidery and do it on the correct side of the hand! It didn't take too long, though.

I really like them, they're very cutesy :) I kept the colour combination the same as the original pattern, because that's part of what was sticking in my head, was that combination of brown and pink. Hopefully now they'll stop shouting at me, and I can get on with other things! :D

Salvaging Trystero

The saga of the Trystero socks is finally over!

(Actually, it was over in December, I've only just decent pics of them now, so I hadn't blogged about it)

After casting on the first time, I got thoroughly confused and had to rip :( The second time, I decided to use Socktoberfest as a motivation to get these socks knit, because it's such a lovely pattern, and I didn't want it to just disappear into the ether of projects that will never be knit. So I cast on, knit down past the heel, halfway down the foot, and it was too small :( I hadn't accounted for how the cables would pull in, and no, I hadn't done a gauge swatch ;)

Not to be outsmarted, I re-cast on quickly, going up to 2.75mm needles (I'd been using 2.25mm the first and second times. I knit down to the toes this time. I tried it on when I was just past the gusset, and it seemed OK, so I just kept going. However, it wasn't OK. This time,it was too big!! The sock was too wide, and looked like it was going to stretch a little more with wear.

I gave up. The nearly completed sock, and the yarn (purple pure wool 4 ply by Rennie, off of ebay) went into the corner. And there it sat till December, mocking me. Every time I looked into the corner of UFOs, my mood dropped, because I was so annoyed with these socks. I swear, it was laughing at me!

Eventually, I got fed up being annoyed with it. I picked it up, to see if there was anything that could be done. Maybe I could rip back to the heel, and use a smaller needle from there on. Or something. Anything to get the damn socks done!

I put it on over my hand to look at the stitch pattern, and pulled it up so that the foot was over my hand, and the cuff was over my forearm. And then it came to me. Fingerless mittens! I could rip back to before the heel, and just continue from there, with no heel turn, knit a few stitches later in waste yarn to attach a thumb to, knit a few rows of ribbing at the top, and hey, presto, a fab pair of mittens!

So I did just that:




Basically, I repeated chart A until I was where I wanted the thumb to go, knit a few stitches in waste yarn, then did another repeat. I decreased stitches at the hand ribbing, to make it a big snugger. Basically, I just decreased wherever there was a p3, to make it a p2, so that the ribbing from there was k2, p2. Then I bound off, and picked up the stitches for the thumb and knit a few rows in ribbing, until the thumb was as long as I wanted.

I made the mittens elbow length, which I love. They're super warm under my jacket, which is good because I wear vests and t-shirts normally, so extra long mittens means I don't have to put on another layer under my jacket. They're quite gothy too in the purple. ;)



I really like the Trystero pattern as gloves (pattern here, by the way). It's made me look at sock patterns in a whole new way now too. I've been browsing ravelry ogling sock patterns and imagining them transformed into gloves and mittens.

Hopefully one day I'll be able to actually knit the Trystero pattern as a pair of socks! I don't think I'll try it for a while though, I'm all Trystero'd out at the moment! :D

Arka Hat and Mittens Pattern Up!!!!!!

Yay! The pattern for these mittens and the hat is up on The Inside Loop, here.

I was so excited when it went up this morning, I was planning to spend all day refreshing the page to see when it came up, then it was up at 8 in the morning!

This issue of The Inside Loop is fab, and no, not just cos it has my pattern in! There are a ton of other great patterns too, and some really interesting articles. I particularly liked the article on photographing knits and yarn. It's something I need to work on and this article is super helpful! The whole magazine is great, a whole bunch of the patterns got queued!

Kate and Diane did a really great job putting this magazine together. Thank you to both, they totally deserve a rest and lot of chocolate now! Go and check it out, if you haven't already! :D

Rock Star Dashings

My bf has been playing a lot of guitar recently, and it's been freezing! So I figured he needed something to keep his arms warm, but still leave his fingers free to play the guitar. And after seeing the YarnHarlot's Dashings, I figured these would be perfect. And good for stash busting too! So I went ahead and made them.

I really like the cables on them. The kind of remind me of wood - bare tree branches winding around each other in the autumn. Something about the pattern seemed a bit un-intuitive, but nobody else seemed to have had any problems with it, so I carried on and just knit the pattern as it was written. And it worked out brilliantly! They're black (the bf doesn't like colours) so the cables are really hard to photograph, but they look really nice on. I knit them with 2 strands of 4 ply wool held together cos I didn't have any black wool thick enough to hand, and wanted to make them right away. They're really warm and cozy, just the thing for the cold winter!

Of course, the bf doesn't like patterns either. I figured he might like these cables, cos I didn't think they were too girly. But, apparantly they are. So these dashings now belong to me. Not that I'm at all bothered. I love them! So he's getting another pair, the same pattern but without the cables. Basically a tube with a thumb, but he's happy with that. And more of the stash gets used, so I'm happy too! :)