First Christmas FO 2008

Christmas knitting has well and truly begun. I can even claim one completed finished project.

This is the Inner Truth (cashmere) Scarf, an old pattern from the now-defunct MagKnits. I say (cashmere) because I used plain old Knitpicks Gloss, in cranberry.



It’s lovely and soft and squishy, and will feel lovely and warm against my father’s neck while he wanders the frozen Little River Wetlands with his dog this winter.



I knit up the Reversible Cable Scarf for my dad last year. It was in a nice, neutral beige, and, as requested, was short enough so that it didn’t ‘get in the way’ all the time.



As my dad gets a wee bit older, it seems he’s valuing warmth and comfort over convenience, so this scarf is almost Doctor Who-like in its proportions, probably over seven feet long. It should wrap snugly around the neck at least a couple of times, and, in a pinch, can be used as an emergency dog leash.

More details on Ravelry, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Right?

How about a really pretty FO to make up for the time away? Something... lacy? Soft? Maybe a little... seasilk?

Okay then - I present the Shetland Triangle, from Wrap Style, pattern by Evelyn Clark.


This was a surprisingly quick and easy knit, and the perfect use for the single skein of seasilk that I won from a contest on Kirsty's blog last year.

Thanks to great notes on purlparable's Shetland Triangle project in Ravelry, I knew I'd likely get 11 pattern repeats out of the skein. And I was left with only a few metres of yarn at the end, so it worked out just perfectly. Not to the point where I was panicking that I'd run out before finishing the edging, but not with so much left over that I felt like I'd wasted any of the precious, precious seasilk.
The lace pattern was easy to internalize, and turned out very, very pretty.




The yarn has a lovely sheen to it, and it was just so wonderful to knit with.

This started out as a project for me, but when I saw how beautifully it turned out, I thought it should be a gift. This declaration was met with such severe scolding from my knitting group that I "reluctantly" acquiesced, and I've been enjoying wearing this on these many cool spring days.



It was fun to wear to the Knitter's Frolic. It seemed everyone jumped on the opportunity to show off their beautiful work to people who would appreciate it, and I almost wished for a 'show and tell' session, where I could see everything more closely, and it all could be probably admired.

Pomatomus Socks. But....

They are finally finished.

I love the colour. I love the texture of the 'scales'. I love the overall look. I even love the name.

I hate the fit. They are too big. They are far too big. In a general kind of way, too. Not too long, not too wide, just too big. The heel, in particular, seems enormous.

This makes me sad. And also brings me to a sad realization. All my socks have been too big. I use the needle called for in the pattern, and it doesn't matter how many books, blogs, and Ravelry posts I've read - I still think I can defy gauge. Or, it's more like my brain is thinking, "Well, sure - of course gauge is important for things like sweaters and even hats. But socks? No way! Gauge doesn't count for socks!"

My brain is wrong. It counts. And it counted after the first sock was done and I tried it on and it was too big. It especially counted after I was done just the leg of the first sock and I tried it on and it was too big. So now my decision is whether to just pretend that they do fit and go on with my life and a new pair of socks, or to rip these out and reknit them.

(Can you spot the difference between this picture and the first? I love my little helper.)

The only pair of socks that I've knit that turned out to be just the right size was a pair that I knit for someone else.

No. I know the right answer here. Sigh.



I like to knit. I like to knit.

Koigu Kismet

I think I shouldn't watch two episodes of Dexter right before bed. I woke up all night from nightmares full of violence. Anyway. On to sunnier things.

The last time I went to the Knit Cafe, I came across a yarn that I absolutely had to have. No choice. In fact, I've needed to buy this yarn ever since I heard that it existed, but hadn't yet come face to face with a skein.

This is the yarn.

The reason I had to have it? It has my name. Basically. This is Koigu Kersti (Ravelry link). (I am Kirstie.)

Then, of course, once I had my little paws on it, I had to figure out what to do with it. My first thought was socks, but the weight is maybe a little too heavy - for me, at least. I knew it had to be something for me, and a small project, since I only had two skeins.

The perfect solution - fingerless gloves. I had knitted myself a pair out of a bulky alpaca blend a while back, but I found them to be a bit too bulky for working with a keyboard and mouse. And they itched.

I clicked around on Ravelry and found that the fingerless mitts pattern by Joelle Hoverson (Ravelry again) from Last Minute Knitted Gifts was available free online, and everything fell into place.

The finished product:

I find these a lot easier to work in, and the colours are lovely. If I were to do them again (and I might), I might make a bit of a thumb gusset, rather than having just the slit. And I'd probably make them a little longer, so that they cover more of the fingers. As it is, they come up to just above the knuckles.

I have a few more projects to share - one bonus of falling behind in blogging for several months is that you have plenty to talk about when you get back.

Everlasting Procrastination

Like many people, I work well under pressure. If I have a looming deadline, my decisions become faster and more decisive; my fingers fly across the keyboard; my yarn across, under, around my needles is a blur.

But I need to be right up against that deadline for that incentive-fueled speed and agility to set in. So now, when I have Christmas projects planned, and the yarn is sitting hopefully on my shelves, it becomes vital for me to knit myself a market bag.

So I cast on the Everlasting Bagstopper, from Knitty.

To be fair, it is a very quick knit, and I was done in just about two days. At first, I thought it would be a serviceable little bag - handy, but not big enough to be used for a real grocery shopping trip. Until I was actually filling it. I kept adding more and more and more, and the bag just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I had three boxes of cereal, bread, bagels, salad, cans of soup, a pork loin roast, a brick of cheese, toothpaste...

The bag said, "Bring it on."

So shown here is the amazing, magic stretchy bag, full of pretty much a couple of weeks' worth of groceries.


(Large) cat shown for scale.

Overall, a very satisfying project. The only change I really made was to knit the handles. I did this because I didn't have any non-Christmassy ribbon on hand, and didn't want the bag to sit around forever, waiting for me to remember to buy it a handle. As a result, the handles really stretched out, but they're still not so long as to make the bag unwieldy.

I would definitely make this again. With shorter handles, maybe.

Sorry.

I find it both alarming and comforting that the time has come to begin Christmas knitting. Sorry. But, yes, Christmas is in 88 days. Sorry. Yes, I hate me, too, right now.

I have started some Christmas knitting, in the form of a pair of socks and a scarf. Neither of those recipients bother with this blog, so they don't need to be stealth-knit. But first, I've been doing some knitting for me.

For a while, I've been wanting a sleeve that I can slip my laptop into, to protect it from bumps and scratches. So I flipped through the first Barbara Walker Treasury book and looked for something that would be nice and cushy. I decided on the double basketweave, and chose a yarn that was kind of the starting seed of my stash. I fell in love with the colours at the time, but didn't have enough for a big project, and too much for a single small one. It's JJ's wools, bought at Romni Wools, on Queen West.


I did three repeats of the pattern across, some ribbing at the ends, and just knit until it was deep enough when folded in half. While I was knitting, I wasn't too crazy about the stitch pattern, and was always on the verge of ripping it all out. But once it was all finished and seamed and wrapped snugly around the laptop, it turned out to be pretty cute after all. I'm happy with it, at least.


The other ME project is something I've had on my mind since last winter. Once the weather turns cold, I find that every afternoon around three o'clock, my hands start to freeze. The rest of me is fine, and everyone else in the office is fine, too. I don't know if the buliding really does drop a few degrees, or if my blood sugar is taking the mid-afternoon plummet. Either way, cranking my heater seems like overkill. So I made myself these.




These are knit in Bernat Natural Blends Alpaca, using a free downloadable pattern from Tangle.com. They took me just a couple of days - a very satisfying little project. I almost look forward to chilly afternoons now. Almost.

Tonight it's back to the Christmas knitting. It's good to have another pair of socks going.