Playing Catch Up

As you can already tell, I’ve been a lazy blogger. I just haven’t been in the mood, yanno? Work is stressing me and draining all my creative juices but I refuse to let it get to me. Since I’m not in a very talkative mood (which is rarity for me), I’m leaving you guys with some testaments to my horrendous photography skills. Enjoy!

Past

I finished these socks a while ago but I’m just getting a round to posting a pic. I told you I was lazy.

Socks for Cuzn Suga

Specs:

Yarn: STR in the Fairground Colorway purchased at Rhinebeck

Needle: US3 Addis magic looped, two at a time of course.

Leg Pattern: You can’t really see it but I used the Eyelet cables pattern (pg 159) from this book

Started: November 2006, Ended: December 2006

Verdict: I.Love. Socks.That. Rock. Nuff said.

Bed socks for my Dad

Specs:

Yarn: Who knows, I got it from my stash. I think its Patons Décor but I’m not really sure.

Needle: US7 Boye , magic looped (which I do not recommend)

Pattern Slipped Stitch Rib from the Sensation Knitted Socks Book.

Started: January 2 2007, Ended: January 16 2007

Verdict: I was on a deadline but otherwise I loathe using worsted weight yarn for socks. It may only be in my head but it seems harder to magic loop with worsted weight yarn. My father loved them anyway.

I’ve been spinning a little:

Specs:

Fiber: Superwash Merino Acquired from a co-op via my knitta in crime Necia

Preparation: Roving was dyed by the microwave method using Wiltons

Spun: Two-ply (my favorite) from a center pull ball.

Yards: Approx. 200 yds.

WPI: Somewhere between 12 and 14 so let’s just say 13.

Verdict: It’s super squishy and it has a wonderful sniff factor. (You yarn addicts know what I’m talking about)

Specs:

Fiber: New Zealand Leicester purchased in the grease from R. H. Lindsay.

Preparation: Fleece was washed then dyed while still wet using Wiltons. Microwave of course. I then carded the colors together with big stripes lines up on my hand carders so the colors wouldn’t muddle too much.

Spun: What else: Two-ply from a center pull ball.

Yards: Approx. 70 yds

WPI: 18

Verdict: Soft and lustrous but not that squishy. Has a nice little halo thing going on. It just screams “lace” to me.

Present

Hat for my DB hereby known as Mr. DJ

Specs:

Yarn: Plymouth Encore D.K. I lost the ball band so I have no idea what the name/number of the color is. Purchased from Smileys a while ago.

Needles: US 5 Denise Interchangeable needles.

Pattern: 1X1 ribbing for two inches then a 1X2 seed stitch pattern

that he picked out himself from this book.

Verdict. It’s a wool/acrylic blend which doesn’t chafe my hands (yay). I already found two knots which pissed me off a bit but other than that, it’s cool. Hopefully I’ll be done by this weekend so he can have it before winter really puts a hurtin on us.

Started: January 23

Sweater for my SF Dream KAL

Specs:

Yarn: Patons Décor in the New Green color

Pattern: This is the Diagonal ribbed wrap cardigan designed by Oscar for Oscar De La Renta from the back of the Vogue Knitting Ultimate Knitting Book.

Verdict: So far, so good. This yarn is also an Acrylic/Wool blend and I’m really feelin it. I still can’t believe that I’m actually going to knit a sweater for myself. I even swatched the full 4 inches if you can believe it. I’ll definitely keep you posted.

Future

I cannot believe that I’m not knitting a pair of socks right now. I feel like I’m going through sock withdrawal. Hopefully next time I post there’ll be some toe action (maybe even foot) going on.

Yarn: Trekking, color #108

Happy Knitting!

E.T.A.

I started a different boyfriend hat before the brown one pictured above but I fudged it all up. I forgot to go down a needle size when making the hemmed edge and just slipped so deeply into knitters denial. It took me a while to suck it up and just take that L for the team. It looks so purty that I still haven't frogged it. I'm still contemplating ways to remix it into something usable. Stay tuned.

What do you do when you can't knit.?

You crochet! And spin and dye and any other crafty thing you can think of. More on that later but right now lets talk crochet.

Once I started this torrid love affair with knitting, my crocheting kinda fell by the wayside. I used to crochet like mad before I learned how to knit but once I got those pointy sticks in my hand, it was all ovahhh. It just makes sense that I would turn to my first love as a muse andit would only be right that my first dip into pattern writing be in crochet.

As a little background, I found this small knitting group that meets on Mondays in my area. The good thing is that it’s right across the street from my apartment building, *sweet*. It’s a small group, maybe 8 people the most, mostly beginning crocheters but I’m working on converting them. Well one of the ladies said she wanted to crochet a mitten to match this hat she made. During that session, I walked her through the anatomy of a mitten and just freestyled a pattern. It came out kinda funny looking but I told her she could play around with it when she got home. Well when I stepped into the next meeting, the first thing everyone asked is “Can you show me how to make a mitten?”. I really didn’t have that much time so I told them I would write out a pattern for them to follow. Especially since they also want to learn how to read a pattern so I can kill two birds, yada yada you know.

So without further ado, I bring you the Milkshake Mitten. I named it so because I used some plain vanilla yarn and the point on top reminds me of an ice cream cone. This pattern is meant to be like an empty mitten pallet that you can embellish and personalize til your hearts content. They’re really roomy which is kewl with me. I ‘m not a big fan of front post and back post double crochet but I like the look of it so the cuff is kinda short. Feel free to extend it if you like. I’ll keep you posted of how the pattern faired at my next meeting. I’ll update you as to my other fiber escapades next post but for now, here’s the pattern. Have fun.

For this project you will need:

Yarn: 1 skein approx 5oz, 256 yd Medium Worsted Weight .

For this project I used less than a skein of Red Heart Soft Yarn in the off white color.

Size G crochet hook (or size to obtain gauge)

Darning needle for weaving in ends

Gauge: 8 hdc and 6 rows = 2”

Finished Dimensions:

From cuff to tip of mitten: 9”

Circumference: 8.5”

Stitches used:

Ch = Chain

DC = Double Crochet

Sl st = Slip Stitch

Fpdc = Front Post Double Crochet

Bpdc = Back Post Double Crochet

Hdc = Half Double Crochet

Hdc2tog = Half Double Crochet Two (2) together.

Pattern:

Chain 35

Row 1: Dc in third chain form the hook and each chain around. (33 DC). Sl st in top of chain 2 to join.

Row 2: Ch2, *Fpdc, Bpdc repeat from *, end with Fpdc, join.

Row 3-4: Repeat row 2

Row5: Ch1, hdc in the back loop of all stitches across, join. (33 sts)

Row 6-7: Ch1, Hdc in each stitch around, join. (33 sts)

Row 8: Ch1, Hdc 14 stitches. 2 Hdc in next 2 stitches. Hdc 17 stitches. Join. (35 sts)

Row 9: Ch1, Hdc 14 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 2 sts. Hdc 17 sts. Join. (37 sts)

Row 10: Ch1, Hdc 14 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 4 sts. Hdc 17 sts. Join. (39 sts)

Row 11: Ch1, Hdc 14 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 6 sts. Hdc 17 sts. Join. (41 sts)

Row 12: Ch1, Hdc 14 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 8 sts. Hdc 17 sts. Join. (43 sts)

Row 13: Ch1, Hdc 15sts, Ch 2, skip 10 stitches and hdc in next 18 sts. Join

Row 14: Ch1, Hdc across including in ch2 in the middle of the row. Join (35 sts)

Row 15-21: Ch1, Hdc across. Join (35 sts)

Row 22: Ch1, Hdc2tog, hdc 13 sts, hdc2tog, hdc 1 st, hdc2tog, hdc 13 sts, hdc2tog. Join (31 sts)

Row 23: Ch1, Hdc2tog, hdc 11 sts, hdc2tog, hdc 1 st, hdc2tog, hdc 11 sts, hdc2tog. Join (27 sts)

Row 24: Ch1, Hdc2tog, hdc 9 sts, hdc2tog, hdc 1 st, hdc2tog, hdc 9 sts, hdc2tog. Join (23 sts)

Row 25: Ch1, Hdc2tog, hdc 7 sts, hdc2tog, hdc 1 st, hdc2tog, hdc 7 sts, hdc2tog. Join (19 sts)

Row 26: Ch1, Hdc2tog, hdc 5 sts, hdc2tog, hdc 1 st, hdc2tog, hdc 5 sts, hdc2tog. Join (15 sts)

Row 27: Ch1, Hdc2tog, hdc 3 sts, hdc2tog, hdc 1 st, hdc2tog, hdc 3 sts, hdc2tog. Join (11 sts)

Row 28: Ch1, Hdc2tog, hdc 1 sts, hdc2tog, hdc 1 st, hdc2tog, hdc 1 sts, hdc2tog. Join (7 sts)

Turn inside out and finish off by slip stitching across stitches.

Thumb:

Join yan in one of ch 2’s in thum opening. Ch1, Hdc 14 sts around. Join.

Row 1-6: Ch1, hdc across, Join. (14 sts)

Row 7: Ch1, *Hdc2tog, hdc1, repeat from *. Join.(9sts)

Row 8: Ch1, *Hdc2tog, hdc 1, repeat from *. Join (6sts)

Turn thumb inside out and finish off by slip stitching closed.

Weave in all ends.

For Left Mitten: Follow pattern as above except replace the following rows:

Row 8: Ch1, Hdc 17 stitches. 2 Hdc in next 2 stitches. Hdc 14 stitches. Join. (35 sts)

Row 9: Ch1, Hdc 17 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 2 sts. Hdc 14 sts. Join. (37 sts)

Row 10: Ch1, Hdc 17 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 4 sts. Hdc 14 sts. Join. (39 sts)

Row 11: Ch1, Hdc 17 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 6 sts. Hdc 14 sts. Join. (41 sts)

Row 12: Ch1, Hdc 17 sts. 2 Hdc in next st. Hdc 8 sts. Hdc 14 sts. Join. (43 sts)

Row 13: Ch1, Hdc 18sts, Ch 2, skip 10 stitches and hdc in next 15 sts. Join

Since this is my first time writing a pattern I hope it’s understandable. I’d love to hear any feedback (good and bad) so I’ll know for next time. Just in case I also want to elaborate about my idea of “Join” when working in the round. (as if this post isn’t long enough already)

So here’s what my swatch looks like when I just finished a row. My last stitch of the row is usually in the join space from the row below.

I just went into the space to join and pulled the yarn through. It’s the space to the right of the first stitch of the row.

There’s my chain two.

And I put my first stitch in the next space.

Sorry for the crappy pictures but hey, I'm no Cara. Like I said, I hope this pattern makes sense and I’d love to hear what you guys think. Greys Anatomy is on so I'll end this post here.

Happy New Year.

In case you were wondering, my knitting mojo's back, Yipeeeee!