Knitting as Necessity

I knew moving to Seattle would affect my knitting. Not the actual process, but rather the types of things I would create. Over the past few days, it have become shockingly clear how little I was prepared for a Pacific Northwest winter. Granted, the weather we have been experiencing has not been seen in fifty years. Still, snow and freezing temperatures at sea level have prompted me to take drastic measures.



That's a hat. For me. The first I have knit for myself. An entire hat in one evening is not a terrible accomplishment. It's Hannah (rav. link), formerly of MagKnits and now available on Ravelry. I like it for 3 reasons. 1) Bulky alpaca; 2) Ponytail hole; 3) Snowflake buttons.

Let the snow fly!

The rest of the Christmas cheer...

Yesterday, I gifted my family with their yearly dose of knitted love. And we spent the afternoon turning these:



into this:



And the joys of felting were experienced by all.

A little Christmas cheer...

This year I decided to knit gifts again for my family, what with last year's successes. So I present Knitted Christmas 2008, part I:

I knit a lap blanket for my Dad.



It's based on the Ombre Alpaca Blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used Red Heart Soft Yarn (acrylic, I know, but easier to care for) in chocolate, teal, seafoam and cream. It was a relatively quick knit on US 13, but man... my hands hurt. I knit the entire thing in one week. Merry Christmas, Dad.

Knits of Christmas past, part 2

This was another Christmas knit for my baby sister, from maybe 3 years ago (it's so hard to remember!). I absolutely ADORE this hat, which I made from Sugar & Cream and Kitchen Cotton -- I think it's one of my favourite knits ever. The ties are SUPER long, and end with multi-colored tassels, and look SUPER over my sister's gorgeous, long hair. But she was napping and I needed to snap a picture, so my brother kindly agreed to be my hat model.

The pattern is a modification of two favourites: the Kitty hat from Stitch 'n Bitch, and the rather generic "Kim's Hats" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Circle of Friends Blanket

A few months back, I found out one of my work knitting circle was pregnant. All the ladies wanted to co-create a knitted item for her, so being the leader of the pack and "Teacher", they looked to me for guidance. I selected the Circle of Friends Blanket (Ravelry link) from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. All the ladies could knit garter stitch and I knew changing colors would be no big deal.

So...I finally recieved all needed components and spent the first weekend of the Olympics sewing, weaving in ends and knitting an applied I-cord border.

Pictures tomorrow when I block the thing...

Brief Update

In the last 14 days:

Items Knitted on: 11

FO's: 9

Items gifted: 8

Knitting for me: ZERO

FO Parade: Extended June Edition

So these last few weeks have been very busy and slightly insane for me. And how have I countered the craziness? Knitting of course. I have managed to finish 6(!) things in the last 3 weeks. All baby sized of course, but FO's none-the-less.

FO's 1-3:

A layette set for my co-worker:


The sweater is the February Baby Sweater from Knitter's Almanac. The bonnet is a modification of the Juniper Bonnet (I substituted the Gull Lace for the Feather & Fan) and the booties are Saartje's charming creation.

FO #4:



The Petal Bib from One Skein. This was knit in KnitPicks Comfy in Honeydew.

FO #5:



The Baby Hat from One Skein. (I love this book!) Knit in Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel, an altogether heavenly cotton yarn. Doesn't the lace detail look like bluebells?

Tomorrow, FO #6 and a free pattern!

FO Parade: June Edition

I have been crazy/busy... or maybe just crazy the past few weeks, but there are many FO's to prove my time has been well spent:












Details of each to follow. Or check my Ravelry.

Adventures in Whimsy

I knit this for a co-worker. He likes to dress up for his yearbook photo. I can safely say this is one of the coolest and defiantly the quirkiest thing I have ever knit. In order to get a good picture, I took advantage of Mother's Day and had my family model for me.

First up, Older Sister:

(She's wearing the Knucks I knit for her.)

Next we have my younger sister:

She wasn't happy when I told her she was going to be on the Internets. Hi Autumn!

Rounding out the siblings, my brother-in-law:

I think he wants one, too.

Next we have Mom:

Mom insisted on wearing a housecoat for her photo shoot. Doesn't she look fancy?

And my favorite model of the day, Dad:

Cool and collected as always in this wonderful tribute to his three daughters. (We used to style his hair when we were little. The wig seems less invasive and achieves a better look.)

Pattern: Desperate Housefrau from Knitty

Mr. Felker: I hope you like it.

February Baby Sweater, The Conclusion

The February Baby Sweater from Knitter's Almanac

Like every other EZ pattern, this one is fantastic. As I am wont to do, I made some alterations. EZ would approve, I think. Seams were completely eliminated with the following modifications:

On RS row, knit in pattern across first 25 sts (right front) + 28 (sleeve) =54 sts. Put last 28 (sleeve) sts on hold. Continue in patt for next 70 sts [42(back) + 28(sleeve)], placing last 28 on hold for other sleeve, finish row as established (25 sts-left front) . Next row: using backward loop cast, cast on 14 sts over each sleeve gap. Continue on with body.

Sleeves- Starting at midpoint of underarm seam, pick up 7 sts, then put held stitches on needles, and pick up 7 more stitches at underarm. Knit one round, then continue in lace pattern. For the Gull Lace pattern in the round, knit the purl rounds.

This eliminates all seams! Now go run and knit one out of the sock yarn that you will never make into socks. I'm off on button-adventures.

Baby Sweater #47

I have completed baby sweater #47 (for a co-worker). It is another variation of my favorite baby sweater pattern (Child's Placket-Neck Pullover from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts), in my favorite variation (baseball tee). I think I have finally perfected the variation and can now do it with my eyes closed. And I have done this just in time because the next wave of babies that are coming my way are girls and are going to be girly girls. (Sigh.) Back to the baby sweater drawing board...

Atonement, Part 2

The FO parade continues:


Basic Baby Hat
Inspired by Grumperina
I was fascinated by Grumperina's post about helix stripes in the round and wanted to add a hat to the Blue Baby Sweater. It was amazing to watch the spirals form.

See?


I have also completed 1/5 of my Christmas Knitting. Everyone is getting the same thing this year.


FiberTrends Felted Clogs

(They haven't been felted yet. I may wait until they are gifted and turn Christmas into a felting party. Yes?)

I hope this effort appeases the knitting gods. Mostly because I want to knit this.

Atonement, Part 1

In order to atone for my recent bad knitter behavior, I have taken the following steps:

Finished:

Blue Baby Sweater
Pattern: Child's Placket Neck Pullover from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
Recipient: Work Friend # 37
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted in Wedgewood
This is the seventh baby sweater I have knit in the last 6 months. And I have at least two more on deck. One for a baby that was born a few weeks ago and one for a baby that is still in the oven.


Oatmeal Knucks

from Knitty, Summer 2006
for: Older Sister

I ran out of yarn to finish part of the second hand and cuff, so I frogged the first cuff, used that yarn to finish the other hand and dug through my stash to find pretty colors to knit both cuffs. They are done in 2x2 ribbing and thanks to a great post by TECHKnitter, there are no pesky blips of color in the purl ridges, making them look even better.

There are more FO's the share, but I will save those for another day. Tomorrow, probably.

Success!

That’s right. I did it. I knitted the Baby Bolero. Maybe not entirely like the pattern said, but it is DONE. But first, pictures of the second major screw up…

When last we spoke, I had re-knit the back twice. I had to do it a third time. The first time, the center eyelet motif was too high--it ended in the neck ribbing. The second time, it was too low--only a third of the way up the back. The third and final time, it was still a tad low, but looked fine. And I was sick of it. Time to move on.

I finished the other front and chose to use a three needle bind off on the shoulder seams after all. It lent stability to the final sweater and I was worried about the yarn. Didn’t want it to stretch too much. I knit both sleeves, correctly, the first time and was so excited to attach them. But I suck at seaming and the yarn is very drapy. The last thing I want is for this thing to stretch out of shape, so--- three needle bind off to the rescue! I can do this! I love a three needle bind off! I’ll pick up stitches around the arm opening, undo the bind off on the sleeve and then bind them off together. Ta da! The first sleeve went perfectly. See?

But the second…

See that? That is a sleeve perfectly attached using a three needle bind off on the PUBLIC side of the sweater. Don’t ask me how I did that. I still don’t know. But I do know I was not happy. I marched it in to my DH and told on it. He was very good and didn’t laugh. Even when I gave him permission to. But he did smile. It is a good spouse who can enjoy your foibles while supporting your endeavors.

In order to teach the sleeve a lesson, I refused to pull it out immediately. I knit the ribbing, (after picking out the cast on, having missed the direction that said “Provisionally cast on…”) seamed up sleeve one, wove in all my ends and put the thing in time out for three days to think about what it had done.

But look at this…

That’s right. Fixed and beautiful. That’ll teach me to follow directions.