That's one good lookin' mitten, I think. Not bad for a girl who has not knit any real Fair Isle before.
It's some hand dyed yarn in colors she thought I would like (Like? Um, I love them) and a project bag. I have been eyeing those little project bags for awhile, so I am quite excited to have one. Thanks, Ruth! (Btw, Ruth has an Etsy site with lots of good stuff....just sayin').
The cable, or I should I say 'faux cable' I took from a stitch dictionary, modified it a tad, and put it on my sock. I really love the way it came out. I was already to knit the second one, but then I got distracted. By this:
It's a Bears sock! I don't know why, on Sunday I felt the urge to knit a Bears sock. So, I got out some of my Superbowl Shuffle yarn and started a-knittin'. A-knittin' the Bears right into a victory, I think! I have noticed when I am knitting Bears-related socks, the Bears do well. I mean, I don't want to say it's all my fault for the bad season, but, well, it might be entirely my fault. I wasn't knitting any Bears socks until Sunday. Sorry!
This is my first real attempt at Fair Isle. It's going well, I think. I only have a tiny bit of mitten, but I am loving it so far. This is likely what I will be knitting on this evening. I think this mitten might be addicting! :)
Well, that's all I have for knitting, but now, a contest!
Ok, so my dear friend, Mel (the one that I am teaching to knit), is going one of those Polar Bear Plunges in February. I think she is nuts, but it is for a good cause. It's for Special Olympics Wisconsin. Mel is such a good egg and does all kinds of stuff to help people with disabilities, and I thought it would be nice to try to help her. So, here is what I am going to do. It's all on the honor system here, but I figure knitters are pretty honest. You can donate to Mel's Polar Plunge here. Once you donate to her, send me an email (jenATknittinglikecrazyDOTcom) or a message on Ravelry (I'm knitlikecrazy) and tell me your name and that you donated. It doesn't matter if you donate $5 or $500, your name is going to be entered into a random drawing for some fabulous prizes.
The prizes?
Prize number one will be two skeins of custom dyed Knitting Like Crazy yarn. You can tell me the weight of yarn you want and the colors you want and I will dye it up for you. I typically dye with 100% Superwash wool or a Superwash Wool/Nylon blend.
Prize number two will be one skein of yarn from my etsy site. That's right, baby! Once I have emailed you to say you won, you can go to my etsy site, pick one of the available yarns and it's yours...for free!
The contest starts now and will end on January 26 at midnight, central time. The winners will be notified on January 27.
So, let the donating begin!
Hope everyone has a good weekend! Happy knitting! :)
Panda Wool...yum! I may have a wee toe of a sock with this stuff. So nice! My package came from Kris in PA (quiet1 on Ravelry). Thanks Kris!
These will be gifted to someone this Christmastime. I do love them so. It will be hard to see them go.
The yarn is some that I dyed especially for my sister. She requested some yarn in the Bed of Roses colorway, and then she informed me that I am to take the dyed yarn and knit her mittens, a scarf, and a hat. What a nice sister! As it turns out, I love knitting mittens. Like socks, but faster! I am planning more mittens in the near future, especially these ones.
Other than that, I have been knitting a little on the Morning Glory Wrap and I am going to be starting on my sister's scarf tonight. I am going to knit My So Called Scarf. I have been dying to knit it for sometime, and I think the yarn will look nice with it. We shall see.
Anyway, that's probably going to be it on the blog before Christmas, so Merry Christmas and happy knitting! Hope Santa brings you lots of yarn!
Come Fly With Me Socks
Faux Cable Socks
download now
Mock Cable Rib Socks
download now
A very easy two row pattern repeat. Just as stretchy as 2x2 rib but so much more pretty!
Look at that crap-tastic lining! I tried my best to sew/stitch it in there neatly, but I am no good at these things. I think it is good enough though! I love this little purse and I think the recipient will love it too.
The Specs:The Pattern: Toe up, modified stitch pattern from stitch dictionary. I swear, one day I will finish writing up the pattern. It's getting there.
The Yarn: Koigu KPPPM, that I bought at Mosaic earlier this year
The Needles: Size 2, my standard sock knitting needles
The Results: Pretty good. I love these socks, but the foot is slightly long for me. Next time I would start the gusset/heel parts a little sooner.
That's all for the FOs for the last week. I have been working on existing projects and not starting new ones, which is good. I am almost done with the Fetchings I have been working on, and hope those are done tonight. I have about six-seven more rows and a thumb to knit. That's about an episode of Friends, I think. I even picked up the Morning Glory Wrap again. Well, I picked it up, realized it was all sorts of messed up, had no idea where I was, ripped the whole thing out (only about three inches) and started over. It's going much better now. There are post it notes involved this time.
Hmm, what else? Well, I ordered some more yarn to dye, and I don't know what happened, these somehow came in the box too:
Harmony needles! Hooray! I will be knitting with these babies soon!
And, finally, I just updated my etsy site with this:
It's called Sunset Dreams. It makes me think about taking a vacation somewhere warm.
That's all for now. Have a good week. Hope it doesn't go by too fast! :)
Happy knitting!
One of my coworkers has indicated that she wants a knitted purse. So one ball of Patons Chunky Shetland Tweed later and we have almost a completed purse. I even bought fabric to line the inside. I am hoping maybe tonight I can finish this.
The yarn is Koigu (yum...Koigu) and the pattern is my own. Remember the blue Lacy socks of earlier this year? It's the same pattern, but I went toe up this time. I am still trying to write the pattern to maybe put it on my website. One day. One day. These socks are going pretty fast. I started the first one on Sunday and had it done by Monday night. Of course, on Sunday I went to two knitting groups so there was a lot of knitting done that day!
Finally, there are the Fetchings:
I knit the first one in a day, but Fetching number two has been sitting at the bottom of the knitting bag for a week or so. The goal for this week is 1) finish purse, and b) finish Fetching. These will likely be gifted as well.
There are a few other WIPs around here, but I am ignoring them for the time being. Someday they will have their turn. It's so hard to not cast on for new things. I bought a new pattern this week and I am so in love with it. I even bought some yarn to go with it, so when I have finished some things, I will be ready:
This is my first skein of Fearless Fibers and holy crap it is nice. So soft, so pretty. I want more!
Like I said earlier, on Sunday I went a-knittin' all over the Chicagoland area. First I went to the Northwest Suburban Knitting Group in the morning then it was down to Strands in the afternoon for some more knitty goodness. While I was at Strands I delivered much yarn:
It's all superwash worsted weight. I am really liking dyeing the heavier weight yarns. Hmm, I might have to dye more of that soon!
Anyway, the rest of this week is going to be a little low key. Tomorrow there will be some yarn dyeing and possibly some more Christmas shopping. Maybe I can squeeze some knitting time in there too!
Happy knitting!
It's a small tree, but living in an apartment there is not a lot of room. About three years ago I started a tradition of having a Christmas village, just like my mom:
I buy one new house each year. My town is growing. I hope one day it will have a yarn shop! So that's what's under the tree. On the tree we have these:
Knitted/yarn related ornaments made by me. The two "balls of yarn" I made by glueing some yarn onto a styrofoam ball and then winding away. I think I saw it on the Michael's website. I also made that red bell (it's one of the first things I ever knit) and the snow man. Usually they are not all bunched up on the tree like that, but I moved them--for show.
Can we please talk for a minute about my knitting Christmas lady!?!?! She said she got it somewhere in the Pigeon Forge, TN area. She saw it and had to get it for me and got the Santa to match for Alex. I love all my decorations, but this new addition is obviously the best one!
I have some other stuff too that I didn't take pictures of. I made a couple of Snowman pillows with some fleece and I have a collection of snowmen all over the place.
That's it. That is Christmas in my apartment!
No knitting has taken place in the last three days. I must do something to fix that soon. Tonight might be the night for knitting we will see. If I can get the printer to work there may be yarn labeling tonight as well.
Happy knitting!
P.S. Sarah--I saw that you tagged me, but I was having a very hard time coming up with answers to the questions. I may take a stab at that again in a couple days. :)
The yarn factory has been in full swing! And it's going to be open again in about ten minutes. I am excited about all the yarn I have been dyeing for Strands over the last few days, but I am even more excited about this:
Bears yarn!?!?! Yes, please! There are a few skeins of this on my Etsy site. Perfect for all the Chicago Bears fans in your life! :)
Sock yarn from Perfect Day Yarns! The colorway is called Nevermore. Sarah and I became Ravelry pals, and she just opened her own online yarn shop with her hand-dyed yarn and I just had to get some on her opening day. It's so beautiful and I can't wait to see how it looks knitted up!
My Candy Cane socks! Here are some specs:
The Pattern: My own. Well, kind of. I used a mock-cable rib like the one for the scarf in Stitch N Bitch Nation. They are knit toe-up and I kept the mock cable going when I started the all around ribbing on the top. I think it was a nice touch.
The Yarn: Claudia Handpainted Fingering Weight in Peppermint Mocha colorway. I think this colorway might be a Loopy Ewe exclusive.
The Needles: Size 2 DPNs
The Results: Great. I think I might start knitting my socks exclusively toe up. I am liking it so much better. These socks are going to look great when I wear them for my Christmas Eve events, which includes hanging out at Alex's parents house drinking and being merry.
Well, that's all I have for now. This week is going to be a CRAZY one. A giant box o' yarn just arrived to dye for Strands, there is Thanksgiving Eve at the Last Chance Saloon in Grayslake, and I have to work three out of the four days of Thanksgiving weekend (I have Thursday off though...hooray!) Friday I am teaching my friend Mel to knit, so I am super excited about that! I can't wait for her blog to turn into a knitting blog. :)
Aren't they pretty! I highly recommend this yarn. Non-pooly goodness of wonderfulness, how I love this yarn! I am back to working on the Peppermint Mocha socks. I am sock number two.
A Chevron Scarf!!
And now the back side in all it's purly goodness:
I love love love this scarf. It's loud and bright and happy and doesn't match anything I own, but I don't care. I am going to be wearing this baby proudly.
Calorimetry, The Second:
The first one I followed the pattern exactly except for using a size 6 needle instead of the recommended size 8. It looks pretty good, but I did not want such a gigantic headband (although it will keep my head warm). For the second one, I used the same needle, but went to 100 stitches instead of the 120 in the pattern. And I did fewer short rows. I like the second one better.
