Stephen's Blanket and Seattle Fingerless Gloves

Well, it's long over due, but I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of some projects I was working on in 2011!!   First up, Stephen's Baby Blanket!!! 

The last picture I posted was of the completed squares-on the off chance that Brigitte might see, I didn't want to post any pics of the completed blanket before I gave it to her!

First I sewed the squares into rows:

 

Then the rows were all sewn together-ta-daaa!   

Here's the blanket with a little friend ;)

 Brigitte loves the blanket-so does Stephen! :) I think I might even have enough leftover yarn to make another one to donate to Maggie's Place. :)

Another project I worked on last fall was a pair of fingerless gloves.  When I walk to work my hands may be cold early in the morning, but about halfway to work they will get overheated so I'll remove my gloves, then the get chapped (ouch!)  The fingerless gloves are perfect-they keep my hands just warm enough and prevent them from getting chapped.

So I was looking for a pattern for fingerless gloves that could be knitting on straight needles (although I really need to get over my fear of knitting with dpns. ;) ).  I found this pattern for Seattle Fingerless Gloves-they are perfect! (I have to dig up the link and post it in my next post, which hopefully will not be 9 months from now. ;) ). 

The yarn I used was Boku from Plymouth yarns.  The color on the tag simply says #2, but I'm sure there is a name for it somewhere...  Anyhoo, I picked this color because it reminded me of the wonderful multitude of colors as the leaves change in the fall. :)

Here are a couple of pictures with some color detail:

 The completed squares:

Finished gloves:

Aren't they pretty? :)

I started working on a light scarf to go with the gloves, but alas, it has fallen into the UFO basket (at least for now!)

For the beginning of 2012 I worked on headbands for our library's  Relay for Life team, a pair of socks, two more pairs of fingerless gloves (using a different pattern), and a couple of washcloths for a friend of mine who was traveling to Africa and was creating some care packages to give away (details and pics coming soon!)

Of the projects I started in '12, I've finished the headbands, one pair of fingerless gloves (for Good Friday-more on that later!), and the washcloths.  Ahhh, I do love UFOs! ;)

Wraps and babies-baby wraps?

Ahhhh, my poor, poor little neglected knitting blog. Someday I will truly post more on a regular basis. Alas, 2011 was not the year to do that!

Actually, I was looking at my goals for 2011 post, and, well-yeah. Haven't even begun to try to organize my stash, I don't think I finished any UFOs lately. Eh, it's only September, right? ;)

This year has not been a total waste craft-wise. I did sew a purse and make a Steampunk Elephant pin (which I need to post on Wandering. I've also been working on several different projects this year.

Here's an updated pic of the Rainbow Wrap I started in 2010, using Jo-Ann's Rainbow Boucle yarn:


I don't know why I continue to try to work with boucle yarn-it's difficult to work with-thin and tangley. Yet I keep trying! I've already put one boucle project on hold-I'm determined to finish this one!

In March and April (actually, I may have started as early as February this year), I worked on headbands for our Relay for Life team at CWRU. I thought I had some pictures uploaded, but apparently not-will have to get some!!

This summer I have been working on a baby blanket for Persephone! She is due towards the end of this month. So far I am 1-1 on finishing baby blankets before the little tots are born. I finished Mal's baby blanket a mere hour before she was born-and poor Bella-her's is not finished yet!! As with the Rainbow Wrap, I am determined to finish that blanket-even if it has to be a babydoll blanket. ;) As long as Perseph's little one decides not to come early, I should be okay. This time I picked a simpler pattern to work on-a blanket which has 81 3 inch knitted squares, like so:

(square knitted in Lamb)

The yarn is Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice Baby:

It may be a simple blanket, but it is being knitted with love, and, as an added bonus-part of the proceeds from the purchase of this yarn is donated to St. Jude's Childrens Hospital, which I think is really awesome. :)

I have finally finished the squares:

(Colors from top to bottom are Sweat Pea; Duckie; Goldfish; Bluebell; Pink Poodle; and Lamb)

I'm currently working on sewing the squares into strips, then sewing the strips together. Since my squars are not perfect 3x3 squares, I may end up crocheting a border around the blanket, to make it look more even. In any case, I did not need all the required yarn at all-in fact, when the pattern called for 2 skeins, I ended up only using one. I'll have some more yarn to add to my stash (which I really must organize, LOL).
(and no, I am not posting a pic of the completed blanket until I give it to Persephone!) ;)

Bleeding the Green and Gold: Super Bowl XLV Hat &Scarf

Okay, so not being a native of Green Bay (or Wisconsin for that matter), maybe I don't have the right to say I bleed green&gold. However, The Green Bay Packers have been the team that I have rooted for for as long as I have been a football fan (much to the dismay of my Viking-lovin' sister). :) Was I excited when they made it to the Super Bowl? Heck, ya!

I decided in honor of the occasion, I would make a hat and scarf in Green Bay colors (very practical for when my dream of seeing a game at Lambeau Field comes true. ;)) Since I loved the Ribbed Earflap Hat pattern so much, I decided to use it again for this project.

First I checked out Lion Brand's yarn to see if they had colors in their Wool-Ease Thick &Quick line that would work out...I thought Cilantro and Citron would work well. Unfortunately, when I went to JoAnn's, the only color they had in stock was the Cilantro, and I felt Butterscotch was too orange. Not to be outdone, I wandered around the store to see if I could find the equivalent (or another display, as the T&Q was on sale). Instead, I came across Lion Brand's Hometown USA, a 100% acrylic super-bulky weight yarn. Picked up a bright yellow skein labeled 'Pittsburgh Yellow'. I hesitated a bit-was it right to make a hat for the BIG game in a color named after the opponent? Then I spotted these shiny green skeins near the bottom of the rack. Picked one up and discovered it was called 'Green Bay'. No. Freakin'. Way.

This was just too perfect.

Casting all doubts aside, I purchased the yarn. Even the cashier appreciated the irony of it all. :-D (of course I purchased more green-it needed to be the dominant color!)

To adjust, I simply started knitting in yellow, then switched to green when I had knitted enough to make the brim:

(click to embiggen, if you like. :) )

I made the ear flaps green as well, but added a strand of yellow for the braid:


Of course, the pom-pom was yellow, with a hint of green:

(isn't it cute?)

Put it all together: Ta-daa!


I made the scarf out of the yarn I didn't need for the hat. I made a guess and divided the yellow into two smaller balls. The plan was to knit a k2, p2 rib-2 rows green then 2 rows yellow for one end, then knit the rib in green for a bit, then switch back to green and yellow stripes. I almost had enough yarn for 8 yellow stripes on both ends! (the last stripe of yellow is only one row).


The results weren't too bad:

(I like it!)

Some details:
Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA: #130 Green Bay, #135 Pittsburgh Yellow
Needles: Size 13 (14" straight for hat, 10" straight for scarf)

Hat start date: 01/29/2011
Finished: 02/01/2011

Scarf start date: 02/01/2011
Finished: 02/03/2011



And just because I think it's cute:

(Krismutt, Fashion model extraordinaire :)

I'm also linking to this for the first time:

Super Bowl XLV in a word: AWESOME!!!
Go, Pack, go!

Ear Flap Hat and Scarf

Yay to finished projects!!! Even though I purchased the yarn for this hat just before Thanksgiving, I really didn’t get around to starting the hat until the 17th of January. This pattern was super easy-I finished it in a week!

Starting out:


Finishing the crown:


Yay, earflaps! (seriously, whoever came up with the idea to add earflaps to hats was genius):


Ta-daa! (click to embiggen):


So the pattern called for 2 skeins. Looking at comments from folks who had already worked the project, I read that if you left off the earflaps and the pompom, you’d only need one. I kept the earflaps and the pompom and still had yarn left over from the first skein (which did worry me a bit-turns out I had nothing to worry about at all!) Since I always seem to follow up a hat with a scarf, I decided to use the second skein for a scarf (good thing I didn’t purhcase yarn for the scarf before I had finished the hat!)

I didn’t use a specific pattern for the scarf. I just decided to combine a k2, p2 rib with garter stitches making a border on each end:


Since I wanted the scarf to match the hat, I added pompoms to both ends:


I managed to finish this in 4 days! :)

Me modeling the hat:


Kristmutt modeling both ;) :


Details:
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick& Quick #154 Gray Marble (2 skeins)
Needles: Size 13, straight (14 inch for the hat, 10 inch for the scarf)

Hat start date: 01/17/2011; Finished: 01/25/2011
Scarf start date: 01/25/2011; Finished: 01/29/2011

Notes: only used one skein for the hat-I would still by 2 skeins-use what you don’t use to make a scarf. Only problem with holding off on purchasing yarn for the scarf is that if you need more for your scarf, you might not get the same dye lot.

Pattern said to fold 3.5 inches for the rim-I only did 2.5.

I finished this scarf just in time for that mega winter storm that hit most of the U.S. earlier this week. They win my approval!!!!


I loved this hat pattern so much I decided to make one for the Superbowl! Details on that project coming next week!

Welcome, 2011!

Happy New Year!

December got away from me in terms of knitting-I didn’t get the chance to post anything, but that’s ok-I didn’t get the chance to knit at all. (good thing I wasn’t knitting any Christmas presents this year!)

So back in September I started a wrap with yarn I had purchased a few years ago: JoAnn’s Rainbow Boucle (dark blue). Back in November, I traveled to Kettering with the Ice Hawks so I could hang out with K while her mom played hockey. I brought my knitting with me and K was fascinated with my big ball of yarn (which, at the time, was bigger than her head...in fact, it probably still is bigger than her head. LOL)

BIG ball of yarn

The wrap itself is a very simple pattern-garter stictches, yarn overs, dropping the yo’s. It’s a great thing to me to work on while watching tv, riding in a car, and hanging out wiht people because it’s easy to find out where you are in your work if you get distracted and loose your place. ;) Here’s one of the first pictures I took of my progress:


Here’s a more recent one, with more distinct color changes:

(I love blue!!)

While in Kettering, we had some time between hockey games, so we stopped at Hancock Fabrics (they have them in Minnesota and Southern Ohio, but there aren’t any here in Northeast Ohio-boo!) They happened to be having a sale on Lion Brand’s Wool East Thick& Quick, so K and Tina helped me pick out some yarn for the ear flap hat I want to make:

Ear Flap Hat Yarn-not the pattern, the yarn. LOL

The pattern looks simple enough. Next weekend is me and Perseph’s annual Girls Weekend-I’m planning on starting this hat during the weekend (as well as continuing with my blue rainbow wrap). Who knows-I might actually finish the hat-after all, last year I started and completed a knitted scarf. :) I can’t wait!

picture updates

In an effort to keep this blog more active, I thought I would post some pictures of projects I have been working on. :-D


Although the other two projects I will feature in this post are still UFOs, this is an actual finished project!! Every January Perseph's husband goes to the CWRU Film Society's Scifi Marathon. Usually it's right after the students return from winter break, around MLK Day. That weekend, Perseph and I have a girls weekend, and usually have a marathon of our own. :) Last year it was Family Guy, and I wanted to knit while watching-but it had to be something simple, as I didn't want to loose my place at the slightest distraction. Hence, this scarf was born. Knitted with Lion Brand Homespun yarn on size 13 needles. I used two colors knitted together: #85 Fuchsia & #386 Grape, in a straight garter stitch. This yarn was actually given to me by a friend who had trouble working with Homespun yarn (it tends to fray). I love pulling yarn out of my stash and finding a use for it! Dunno what I'll make next January-maybe I'll get adventurous, or maybe I'll just play it safe. ;)

Speaking of patterns that need to be done with minimal distractions, I know I've talked about it, but never have posted any pics. Well, here is proof that I really am working on a baby blanket!


Although Bella is getting big, I am determined to finish this blanket for her-even if it's just given as an heirloom, she will eventually get this!! This pattern tends to give me a hard time because I can be easily distracted, then loose count-I need to find a nice quite afternoon so I can work on it some more. Here is a little more detail:


Isn't it pretty? Even though I'm not a Vikings fan, her folks are, and I'm sure she's becoming one. (btw, the pattern just happened to call for the yellow and purple-or rather, Lemonade and Grape. ;)) The pattern is one I found in a Creative Knitting magazine, and is being knitted on a size 6 circular needle.

I do crochet!! I've had a couple of successful crochet projects (purses for my nieces). I don't remember how I found this-it was featured on one of my geeky lists. A crocheted Dalek!!!! The creator was on LiveJournal, and after she finished making one of her own, graciously shared the pattern with the rest of us crafty scifi geeks. :) I don't know why I have so much trouble with crochet, but I do. Here's the current status of my Dalek:


Kinda looks like a PacMan Ghost with a funny nose. ;)

I haven't completely abandoned it-I hope to one day create an army that can roam about a fuzzy Skaro. ;)

A finished project! (Steampunk spats)

I finished a project! I decided I wanted to make up a steampunk'd theme costume for Halloween this year. Unfortunately, thanks to my thick calves, it's really hard to find boots that go beyond the ankles.

I was browsing the web, looking for alternatives, when I came across a pattern for Steampunk Spatterdashes (check out the pattern here) Although the pattern calls for Moda Dea Bamboo Wool, I used Red Heart SuperSaver yarn, and it seemed to work out pretty well:




Aren't the buttons awesome?!? I found them at JoAnns. :)

Love the button straps with the seed stitch pattern!

They might be a little longer than I would like (it stretches quite a bit when I put them on), but I figure I can make a new shorter pair for Marcon this year, depending on how these work out. I can't wait to try these out at the Halloween party tomorrow!

In other knitting news, I joined Ravelry earlier this week. At first it was just so I could download a cool Tardis amigurumi pattern that was featured on Craftzine recently. But then I discovered it had alot of cool features-so I started to get more involved, adding projects (a grand total of 3 so far-but I'm working on it!), finding friends, looking at all the cool free patterns they have. It's an awesome site-I don't know why I didn't join it before! ;) If you're on, look me up-I can be found as romana1977. :)

To a new year!

Well, it's January 2010!!! Guess what-I actually completed a project!

Unfortunately, it wasn't one of the many I had started prior to 2010.

Perseph and I had our annual girls weekend last weekend. Our marathon this year was Family Guy OMG, it was the perfect marathon for both of us-it's the one show we both can watch over and over and not get tired of. ;)

Anyhoo, during our marathon, I started a scarf Friday night, which I finished up during the AFC Jets/Chargers playoff game. My friend Kim had some yarn her mother gave her-Lion Brand's Homespun. Kim and her mom really don't like using it because it frays too much. I love it-knit with two strands and it knits up to some soft and warm hats and scarves. I usually don't have a problem with the yarn-but I tend to use size 13 (or larger) needles when I knit with Homespun. Since I wasn't sure how much had been used, I decided to make a scarf. It turned out a little shorter than I would have liked, but it's not too bad.

Now I must take a picture so I can prove to you that I did! ;)

Once again, I have on my resolutions list to give this blog's template a makeover-lets see if it happens this year! lol

slow progress on the baby blanket

Oooh! another long bout without any posts here. Shoot.

Work on Shanna's baby blanket is coming along...albeit slowly. In fact, the baby came before the blanket was finished! (well, i sorta expected that to happen)

Welcome, Isabella!!! Your blanket should be ready by Christmas!!! :)

Must post pictures of it's progress. Despite the fact that it's coming along slowly, I'm really quite happy with the way it's turning out. The lace pattern isn't too bad, once you get the hang of it. ;)

still knitting...really, I am!

My UFOs are numerous-if I were to tell you the number of unfinished projects I have, you would sit there and laugh at me and say, 'you're no knitter!'

Ok, maybe you wouldn't. ;)

I started a baby blanket for Shanna-it's slow going, 'cause silly me, decided to knit one with a lace pattern in it! The pattern is "School Colors for Baby" from the September 2007 issue of Creative Knitting. Oooh! It's a good thing I looked up the name on their website-a correction had been posted!!

Still working on the same K-9 toy that I was last year. It's not a difficult project-I just haven't had the time to finish the poor guy!!

Now that Persephone has graduated with her Masters in social work (you go, girl!!!) we are hoping to start up our Saturday night coffee shop knitting/crochetting outings again. We also should be able to start going to crochet club on a regular basis. Hopefully this will inspire me to post here more (with pics!) as well. :)

Just wanted to post a quick update to let you know I'm still here!

summer knitting and moving!

Yikes-I didn't post at all in August. I have a good excuse-really I do!! I am moving at the end of the month-so I've been packing like crazy.

Of course, since I haven't had time to post, I haven't had much time to knit (or crochet-still working on that Dalek!) either. I'm still working on a K-9 and a Dalek-progress is slow, but I think the pieces of K-9 are coming along nicely. The jury is still out on my Dalek, though-it's head kinda looks like a hat for a very tiny baby. LOL It's weird, I think it may be inside out...but I'm going to wait to see what it looks like when I get to the popcorn stitches before I frog it (if I decide to frog it) I've been working on my projects at the crochet club Perseph and I go to every month, and at Starbucks (we try to have a weekly gathering at starbucks, just to hang out). I haven't worked on anything at home practically all summer. In fact, about 95% of my yarn stash is all packed up now. LOL ;)

Well, it's getting late-dont' know when i'll have time to update this again. Pictures will have to wait until after I move. (sorry!)

A midsummer's night update!

I'm back from vacation! Well, I've been back for a week now, just didnt' have time to update this blog.

I didn't do any knitting at all while I was away-I brought a couple of projects, but didnt' work on them. (That was usually happens when I go on vacation). So all of my current knitting projects are in the same state as they were before I left. ;)

However, my Mom did teach me how to do more than just single crochet, so we both started a crochet Dalek. She is much farther along than I am-I only have about half of the head -a few rows after the eye piece-done. I'm not sure how far my Mom is now, but she was farther than that the last time I saw her Dalek. LOL.

I discovered that I am a very tight crocheter-Mom and I were using the same size hook, same type of yarn, but her Dalek was much bigger than mine. I have to work on easing up on the tention a bit-either that, or get used to using a larger sized hook.

Hey, I'd like to give a shout out to Persephone!! While I was on vacation, she learned to knit!!! I"m so excited-she showed me the scarf she's working on, and it looks beautiful! I'm so proud. :) She asked me to help her with ribbing-she says everytime she tries it, it looks funky. I told her no problem-as long as she helps me with some of the more difficult crochet stitches. ;) She agreed!! :-D

Well, that's about all for now-hopefully I'll get some pictures up of my progress soon.

Summer knitting projects!!

My [new] summer projects (so far) are as follows: K-9 toys, Daleks (crochet), and a lace scarf (pattern from my calendar). I was thinking about adding an afghan that I want to make for my sister, but that might be bumped down to a fall project. I have no idea if I'll be able to finish what I have on my plate (especially since I haven't gotten any crochet help yet! LOL) I've already told my mom I'm bringing my yarn and crochet hooks and the pattern up north with me-I asked her if she'd help me with the Dalek pattern. :-D

Speaking of up north-I'm heading up to Minnesota this weekend! YAY! Finally!!! I've been looking forward to my vacation for a long time now. I just need to figure out what projects I'm going to bring with me.

I've already started working on one of the K-9s. I finished the first side on Thursday and started the second one Saturday night at Starbucks (Perseph and I decided to try to get together every Saturday night at a coffee shop to work on our projects-like a little mini stitch-n-bitch. As excited as I am to go to MN, I'm a little sad that I'll be missing it for the next few weeks). I doubt I'll have time to post pictures before I leave (it's not all that exciting yet!)

TAFN!

pictures!...of completed projects!

It's June!!! I meant to post these some time ago. Yikes!! LOL. Click on the thumbnails for a slightly larger pic, if you like. :)


my slouching socks
Okay, I started these ages ago-they were the first pair of socks I ever attempted to knit. My pearl-ribbed slipper socks were actually the third pair of footwear I've attempted-and the first ones I finished, all three pairs!
The skinny on the socks:
Pattern: from Easy Knitted Accessories by Jeanette Trotman
Needles: size 5& 6, straight needles
Yarn: Lilly Sugar&Cream, 100% cotton. Salt-n-Pepper print
Started: late 2004; Completed: January 2007

I started these way back in late 2004-I liked the pattern because it didn't require knitting in the round-since I was still fairly new to knitting when I started these. Other projects kept coming up-and since these were low on the priority list, they kept getting moved into the UFO box. Every once in a while I'd take them out and work on them, but something always came up, and back in they'd go! They are a little big-I started these before I had learned the fine art of yarn weights. If you're not gonna use the same yarn as the pattern-you should at least try to match the weight!! ;) I actually finished these this past January-see? even when they are completed, the pics don't make it to the blog for nearly 6 months!!

My Strata Hat
Taa-da!

The skinny:
Pattern: Knit Cap from the back of the yarn label
Needles: size 6& 8, straight needles
Yarn: Red Heart Strata yarn: Cascade
Started: Feb. 3rd, 2007; Completed: April 27th, 2007

I was dying to try out this yarn ever since I saw an ad for it in one of my catalogs back in January. Self-patterning yarns-fair isle like pattern? Sweet! So I bought some, and had no idea what I'd make with it. Then I noticed the pattern for the hat on one of the yarn labels-yay!!!

slightly more detailed pic:

Hopefully I'll get around to making a scarf to go with it by next fall/winter.

Coming soon: summer of scifi...projects! ;) LOL

April knitting- a month in review

I finished my Strata hat!! Now I just have to get pics up. LOL. I'm planning on making one for one of my coworkers-no hurry. She just wants it done by next winter. *hee*. I want to make a scarf to go with the hat-I just have to come up with a pattern...

Speaking of knitting for people-a while ago someone who found my main blog, Wandering Through E-Space discovered not only was I a Doctor Who fan, but enjoyed knitting as well. He asked if I'd be interested in knitting a K-9 for him. *hee* What a great excuse to try a new pattern!!! :-D I just ordered the yarn-so hopefully I'll be able to get started on it soon. I also ordered some Bernat Galaxy yarn (Mary Maxim had it on sale for 97 cents/ball!) There's a crochet pattern that I want to try. I would like to broaden my crochet skills.

Oooh! Speaking of crochet, Shigella, over at LiveJournal, should have her Dalek pattern out soon!! I can't wait! I want to make an army of soft, cuddly Daleks. *heeheeheee* >:-)

I started another prayershawl-using a standard pattern and some pretty yarn. This one has an unusual story behind it that I'm not quite ready to share...

TAFN-still working on trying to update this blog more often than I do!!! ;)

holy smokes-a new entry-with a picture!!!

I have really neglected this blog-and that was never my intention. :(

Oh, well, enough lamenting over the past-time to move forward!! ;)

First of all, a picture! I've finally posted a picture!! These are the slipper socks that I knitted for my mom, my sister, and myself for Christmas:

(well, at least a picture of the pair I knitted for myself)
I know it's a little gray-sorry about that. My digital camera isn't the best in the world-but it'll do. ;)

Unfortunately, I lost my digital camera just 2 days before Christmas (I actually was able to track it down-thanks to the nice people of Perkins in Blaine, MN-it's now home, safe and sound)so I don't have any, what I like to call, 'instant gratification' pictures of the other gifts I knitted for Christmas-but there were other cameras on the scene-so hopefully I'll be able to track some pictures down.

I have to take a couple more pictures-one of the slouching socks I finally finished, and another of a hat I'm currently working on. :)

I'm creating a new section on my sidebar. There have been several patterns that I've really wanted to try, but just didn't have the time for-so I've decided to create a 'future projects' section in the sidebar. If I see a pattern I really, really want to try, but don't have the time for, I'll list it in the future projects section-the name of the pattern, and where I found it, so I can find it again. :)

Speaking of templates, this template is kinda boring-simple, but boring. I really need to think about finding a new one-or ways to spruce this one up a bit. Ahh...so much to do, so little time. ;)