Shovel, knit, rinse, repeat

We got hit with about 18 inches of snow overnight, the upside of which is that since I work at a college, it was closed and I got a snow day. I'm not sure if I'm a masochist or just a true Northeasterner, because I love a good storm. In bad weather I take a perverse sort of pride in being prepared for the weather. On go the lined L.L. Bean boots, the Smartwool socks, maybe some long underwear, my boiled wool sweater, and best of all, my hand knits. There is no greater feeling than stepping out into whatever weather mother nature throws at you and actually being prepared.
Plus cold, blustery weather just reminds me of why it is so awesome to be a knitter. I can stay cozy and stylish in my hand knit cowl, hat, mittens, or fingerless mittens. Even with all the hard work I did on my snow day (aka watching No Reservations and drinking hot cocoa) I've been able to get some knitting done. I recently finished a bulky garter stitch cowl in a lush single ply and a winter white hue, it was knit side to side and then kitchner stitched together. Then I fulfilled my dreams of having a slouchy beret. The pattern I made was inspired by folk knitting motifs and was knit in Beroco Ultra Alpaca (stash from the MIL mittens I made for Christmas). After blocking it's a little too slouchy and I tried soaking it in boiling water to get it to shrink down a little. Might have to give that a second go since the brim has lost all elasticity, or I could try sewing some elastic thread into the brim. I'm even thinking of ripping out the brim section and working it again on smaller needles since I have had visions of this hat dancing in my head for so long that I want it to be perfect!
As for the fuzzy creature above... no, I did not knit her. But she is a good tool for measuring our snow accumulation. "Look, we got belly-height inches in the last 12 hours." If hoity-toity kings can make their own feet a standard form of measurement, why can't the distance between my dog's belly and the ground become the new standard? It can be called the Ruby system and I'm sure it will be all the rage within the next couple years!

Now to get back to swatching my next project. More on that next post.

Baby Clothes!

My friend's baby shower was yesterday so I can now happily post the finished objects!! It was a wonderful shower, and another friend of mine made a beautiful blanket and bibs (sewn), and there were also a few other knitted sweaters and blankets (this boy will be the most well dressed baby ever!)

The sweater is Sheep Yoke Cardigan by Jennifer Little (a free pattern!) and the hat is Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt and the buttons are little sheep I found at A Good Yarn in Brookline MA.

This was my first time knitting baby clothes and it was so much fun. You have to love working on something that is instantly cute, plus a very quick project! Although for anyone else working on this project I would caution two things. First, beware the floats; I chose to do the sheep stranded rather than with intarsia and I was working with cotton so there wasn't wool's fantastic tendency to stick which always makes my colorwork much more secure. My other recommendation would be to be careful with your color selection. While I love the colors I chose, the black of the sheep heads and legs, do not show up well against the dark green of the field.
At the shower I got some really positive feedback about my projects, women kept coming up to me telling me I should be selling my work (although obviously not this set since I didn't write the patterns for them) which was really nice to hear. While their comments were very flattering I feel like I'd have to become a much better knitter (there are still a number of things in my technique I'd like to improve) before I could actually sell my finished work. Also, right now I love knitting, and I love making gifts for people and seeing how happy they are. I'm not sure I would feel the same if I was selling my work and I would hate to lose my love of knitting. Finally there's always the price issue. How do I charge something that is an adequate reflection of my effort? I'm not sure many people would pay 60$ for a baby sweater, but I feel that's what I would have to charge for something like this.

Any thoughts or comments from anyone who has sold their craft or artwork?

Progress

I'm sitting here with 40 days between myself and graduation (33 days before classes are done) and I have no motivation to start tackling my pile of work, although I did clean our apartment this morning so that should count for something.

Even with the stress of job searching and finishing school mounting up, I have had some time to knit. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that knitting has become a very necessary stress reliever. Either way, above is my finished beret, it's not as slouchy as I'd like but another blocking session or two might bend it to my will. It was gross and rainy while I was knitting this, making me very much crave a cute cap to see me through to spring, and of course now that it's completed it is beautiful weather here in Boston. I guess that means the hat did it's job huh?

More to come on knitting projects: my friend and her husband are currently expecting their first child. This of course gave me free license to look at baby knitting patterns which I have done. I'll post the pictures of the full set after the baby shower in late April.

Happy Knitting and Happy Spring!

Back to the grind..

As some of you may know I had a class in Nicaragua over spring break. The class went well (volcanoes and earthquakes non-withstanding) and then we got stranded in Miami for several days due to weather issues in the Northeast. While we ended up making the most of it I was positively itching for my knitting! Airports are the worst in that there's all that idle time that's calling, nay SHOUTING, for a little productive knitting, at the same time airport security is far too much of a bother for me to risk it.

Luckily I am now back in Boston and among other things this means I can keep working on my Selbu Modern beret (shown above). I made a modified version for my future-MIL for Christmas. That one was worsted weight and more of a snug cap than a slouchy beret. I loved the pattern though, very easy to learn but still interesting and a pretty quick knit, and wanted to take a second go at it. The cream yarn is Knit Picks Palette and the purple is a handspun my mom purchased for me. The purple is a super light lace weight and the two skeins I was given were apparently the same colorway but drastically different, my solution has been to knit the two together and it's creating a lovely heathered effect if I say so myself (and I do!).

My calendar shows that I have 57 days between me and my master's degree. This means that sadly the next several weeks will most likely need to be light on the knitting and heavy on the homework. As it is I must now go an analyze HTML code and CSS.

Oh and for anyone interested in pictures from my Nicaragua/Miami trip they are available on my other blog Lulu Abroad, enjoy!

Ravelympics are over

Le sighhhh. Both the Ravelympics AND the Olympics are done, finished, over. I don't think I have ever enjoyed the Olympics so much before in my life and I had a lot of fun watching and knitting. I would say it was a success, I did a knit monster in a week. Then managed to pop out two hats and am halfway through a third. This might not seem like a lot, but between being a full time student, having a number of part time jobs, planning a trip to Nicaragua for next week, and starting to plan a wedding I'm feeling a little tapped out. Oh, I was also pretty ill with a cold last week and had a beautiful 24 hour bug or something yesterday. Ick!

Well that seems like a sufficient pity party. Time to get back to the knitting homework!

P.S. you may notice my blog now has a spiffy background that I think makes it oh so purty. I got the idea from Plantress who is a fantastic jewelry maker and my future mother-in-law! Go check out her etsy site.

Here comes a curveball

See the stash parade. See the crazy yarn take over my office. See me decide to do something about it...

The magnificent Opus Spicatum by Kate Gagnon. A truly amazing FREE pattern available at kelbournewoolens.com

Sitting here looking out at the snow, I realized that once my monster was done I would still have a week left of the Ravelympics. Now, the whole point of Ravelympics is that it's supposed to be a challenge and it just didn't sit right with me that I would have all that extra time. Didn't seem like it was much of a challenge.

This sweet pattern is Zooey, designed by Cassandra Dominick

That got me thinking and as I watched the snow fall down I realized my Ravelympics didn't have to end with Seamus. I love making hats and have a great deal of stash (excess/unused yarn) that needs to be used up: my yarn basket overfloweth. So I decided I could challenge myself to see how many hats I could make once Seamus is done.

Garter Stripe Beanie by Terhi Montonen, don't these look deliciously edible?

As an added bonus all the hats I make will be donated to charity to help keep people a littler warmer in Boston and other parts of the country.

Neglected Project

So I just realized that there is one project I have not yet shared!! The Boyfriend Hat, otherwise known as the pattern "David's Hat" by Kenny Chua. I stealthily knit this for my fantastic boyfriend this summer, telling him that I was making it for my step-brother. This way I was able to brazenly knit it in front of him and have him try it on saying I wanted to see how it fit. Well due to all this stealth this lovely hat had not yet been featured and it is totally owed it's due!
This was a great easy knit! Very fast and satisfying but also with some fun features to make it more than your ordinary hat. This was made at the beginning of my colorwork phase so the simple chart was a fun challenge and not too overtaxing. I think the best part about this hat though is the hem. This was my first encounter with the rolled hem or lining that you can see. Essentially you knit the lining on one or two sizes smaller needles, then once it's as long as you'd like, you change to the color you will want for the outside of the hat and knit two rows, you then purl one row and this is the brim of the hat and "turns" it. Then changing up one needle size to the size you will use for the rest of the project you continue on your merry way. You can either knit an entire hat lining (following the sizing and decreases for the "outer" hat, you knit a very slightly smaller duplicate that is then flipped inside the hat and blocked into submission) or as this pattern calls for, knit the outer section until it is the same length as the lining, and then use a three needle bind off to join the two layers (as shown above). Once the layers are joined you continue the rest of the hat in normal fashion.
While this all might seem like a fussy added step I am now totally addicted to this technique on my hats for several reasons. First, this means that there are two layers of fuzzy goodness covering your ears and this is nothing to scoff at in frigid climes. Secondly, I think that this method for the brim looks much more polished than ribbing. Third (and probably last, don't worry), I like the added structure it gives the hat and find the lining more comfortable against my face than ribbing. So do as you like but if you choose this method for brims I think you'll like what you do!

Errant blogger

The Bird in Hand pattern by Kate Gilbert makes for a drop dead gorgeous mitten, if not the most satisfactory or fast knit. This one is done in Debbie Bliss Fez which is part camel and pure joy to knit!

I was going to call this post "catching up" but then I realized that my last post, that one way back in October, had that same title. I guess that means I'm a regular irregular when it comes to maintaining my knitting blog. Even if my blog has been neglected of late, my knitting has not been. I was a very busy Christmas knitter and have some projects to display.

I did an adapted Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon Osborn. This was more of a beanie than a beret but was the most fantastic project to knit: fast, beautiful, and deceptively easy, plus it's a free pattern to boot! I forsee many more of these in my future!

Speaking of fantastic free patterns, this is my second Inga by Sheila Macdonald. The first was in snowy shades to match my monogrammed mittens, this one however is a neopolitan confection that looks just as sugary as it is snug and warm. Did I mention this pattern is fast, easy and FREE?!?

In addition to the Inga being a great project, it used up very little of the Rowan super wash wool I had so I decided matching herringbone mittens were in order. Now that I think about it this should be the posting of great free patterns since these beauties come gratis courtesy of Elliphantom's Elli Stubenrauch (she also has one of my favorite knitting blogs!)

Finally, this is one I'm very, very proud of. Designed and made by Moi this Argyle hat is achieved with fair isle knitting rather than intarsia and used only one skein of each color (it's fully lined with the blue shade you see here). I'm thinking of writing up the pattern for distribution, those interested say Aye!

I guess that pretty much covers my knitting conquests of late. I will try to be more faithful to this blog in the future, and as a testament to that I am deleting the my wordpress knitting blog which I was toying around with.

Finished Mittens and Started Mittens

The christmas/birthday/gift giving knitting factory has been busy! Here's a whole train of mittens, some which have been seen before, some which are new, all of which are cozy! Above are the Owl mittens, all done for my sister's birthday (they do still need some eyes but those will come)
Remember these little guys? Four leaf clover christmas mitts!
The start of my bird in hand mittens (knitting these VERY VERY tight leads to sore cramped hands but pretty stitch definition)
Finally finished my self-designed monogrammed mitts!! Shown with matching Inga Hat. These dragged on forever and knitting your own pattern is much more stressful than knitting a published (and test-knit) pattern! But I love how they turned out with their icey colors and their cozy interiors. Bring on the inclement weather because I am prepared!!

The Mittens are coming!!!

Remember the great hat adventures? I believe I am entering into their mitten counterpart. This time though not for charity but for Christmas. Meet the first arrival, mittens for a Christmas Eve birthday of an Irish girl.
I am becoming hopelessly addicted to Fair Isle, plus it makes the projects so much warmer and cozier. Not to mention you get a lot more attention and comments from strangers when you're working with two colors.
Next up will be my own mittens which I designed, Hooray! The mittens are coming the mittens are coming...

Just another Ipod Bag..

This is my sister's Christmas present, I designed the pattern (graph paper is my new best friend) with some help from the Harmony Guides: Colorwork Stitches. It's a simply 2x2 rib pattern, then one or two plain rows of stockinette stitch before an eyelet row which I threw some I-cord in for a little bit more contrast. It was a little fiddly doing the color changes while also carrying the green and I had to do some fiddly float traps since the pattern has long stretches of main color in between the contrast color. I finished it with mattress stitch up the back, Kitchner stitch along the top, and rather than weaving in all those fiddly ends I secured them and trapped them under the lining (cheating I know! mea culpae). My favorite part of this project is that it is lined (I used the material shown in the photo) so that nothing will snag on the floats and it has an extra bit of fun pink. My little sister is into music and band so I figured what's better than a music note Ipod bag or small purse.

Now that I've gotten through the easy part of my Christmas knitting it's time to start on sweaters, scarfs, and purses OH MY!!

Happy Knitting!

Ipod bag extravaganza

On the left is Smariek's Four Cable Ipod bag in self striping sock yarn and on the right is my Cascading Leaves Ipod bag in rowan cotton

Both my boyfriend and I have a lot of sisters. Which means I have a lot of knitting for Christmas. Which of course given my OCDness means I have already started knitting and have finished his sister's presents (stocking stuffers will commence in October). Ipod/Cellphone bags have got to be God's gift to Christmas knitters, done in a day or two they're cute little stash busters that also give you a great opportunity to practice new techniques.

Rick's Masculine Ipod bag (maybe he won't "loose" this one)

For these projects I've actually been able to try (and even perfect one or two) important techniques. I've dabbled in cables, lace, and color work, memorized the Kitchener stitch, and finally have made it to the point where my mattress stitch is not embarrassingly bad. The above piece is actually the first color work I've ever done!

I am prep monster! Champion to all things PREPPY!

This little guy was the second color work piece I've ever attempted, and also the first chart I've ever done!! Once I get a cleaned up version of the chart for the pattern I will share it with all of you.

Happy Knitting!