Christmas Presents for Leo

I've been in a little bit of a knitting funk lately. It seemed like things weren't coming out right, or I had to redo everything several times (the hat and booties below are two examples), and I miss knitting with my knitting friends (although I love knitting with my mom and her cross-stitching).

This weekend, although not without some knitting frustration, produced these:



Reindeer hat, from the Yankee Knitter Designs "Pattern Hats"

Size: Children's

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash Worsted, 2 balls Baby Blue and 1 ball Deep Ocean (Baby Blue was leftover from the sweater, see below)

Source: KnitPicks

Needles: Inox 16" circular, US Size 5

Modifications: I knit the hat in the round instead of flat (subtracting two stitches from the cast-on number, since there would be no seam); I "redesigned" (didn't pay attention to) certain parts of the chart; I did parts in duplicate stitch instead of fair isle; I changed the decreases for the crown; I only did one row of single stitches above the reindeer instead of up to the crown. I also knit the entire thing on size 5 needles instead of switching to size 7 after the hem.




I'm still not thrilled with it because I'm a perfectionist and colorwork almost always has some issues (especially when knit by me). I just need more practice, and I think the hat turned out pretty good (and I won't have to look at it every day so it won't annoy me as much).






Child's Monogram Sweater from Hollywood Knits Style

Size: 4 years (and it came out smaller than I expected; I love Suss Cousins' patterns but I have yet to knit one without any issues--just a warning if you are not in the mood to play around with gauge and other aspects of the pattern)

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash Worsted, 4 balls (maybe 3) Baby Blue

Source: KnitPicks

Needles: Brittany Birch straight US Size 7, Crystal Palace Bamboo straight US Size 5

Modifications: I did a three-needle bind-off to attach the shoulders instead of seaming; I also made little adjustments here and there that I can't remember. As I said, her patterns are very cool and inspiring, but I always swatch and prepare to fiddle with the pattern (I even write in the book, something I don't usually do).


(I embroidered the "L" by hand. I photocopied and enlarged the letter from the alphabet provided with the pattern, traced it onto tracing paper, added interfacing to the back of the sweater for stability, used the satin stitch (a tutorial can be found here) and just stitched right over the tracing paper. After you stitch, you can just tear away the excess tracing paper. It helps to keep the tracing paper in place with an embroidery hoop. I am shocked at how easy it was and how good it came out).






Fat Baby Booties by Beverly Galeskas, from Interweave Felt

Size: Infant/Newborn. I originally made the toddler size, but after felting they were very large. If you substitute yarn like I did you might want to make a test swatch.

Yarn: Dalegarn Tiur, 1 ball green and 1 ball gold (when I made the toddler size, I just barely got away with one ball of each color with Dalegarn Heilo--there was just a yard or two of the main color left)

Source: The store closing sale at The Yarn and Fiber Shop two years ago

Needles: Susan Bates 24" circular needle, US Size 9; Susan Bates 16" circular needle, US size 8; Susan Bates 16" circular needle, US Size 10.5 (standing in as the bind off needle for a 10.5 DPN)

Modifications: On the first pair (which I will post pictures of soon) I didn't read all of the directions. The second time around I followed everything except the second bootie got turned inside out (before a really crucial point) and I didn't notice until the last step. I felted it anyway. It's on the bottom and not really noticeable--I love felting.





I finished the third clue for the Secret of the Stole KAL. I think they are on clue 6 now. Boo. Although I will have almost two free weeks before Christmas when school and work are done, to work on it; I guess I shouldn't stress about it.


Thanksgiving is almost here! I can't wait to make my pies from scratch, to curl up in front of a roaring fire, to sit and watch the Macy's parade with my knitting...

Getting Better All the Time

So I've officially survived the first six weeks of graduate school. I think I read somewhere that if you make it through six weeks of anything you're likely to make through the whole thing, but I could be making that up. I've adapted to a new way of life; different from the way I've been living for the past three years, but not definitely not bad. I still miss certain aspects of my college life, most of them people, but I realized this morning that I'm really happy with my new life (well, I could probably deal without the term papers).

Living at home again is turning out to be great. I miss living with my close friends, but my mom and I have been getting closer and closer since my sophomore year of college, and now we're much tighter than I would have thought possible when I was in high school. I feel a little guilty, since these past few weeks she's put up with a lot of whining and complaining from me. I like to think that she feels like she can whine and complain to me too though.

I am such a homebody. I love my house and spending time with my family, which is something I made a priority even when I was at school. The nice thing is now I don't have to pack up at the end of the weekend and drive back to school. I'm finally starting to get organized in my room, and I found the Landscape Shawl (good thing, it's getting very chilly!)

School is still stressful, for a number of reasons, but luckily I have great friends and family to support me (special thanks to Susan and her bolstering e-mails and Bethie for the Wednesday night phone calls). It will be all right, and if it isn't, it's only for a year. I am finally starting to feel like it's getting better, and my knitting and other crafts have been a constant source of comfort.


Things I'm currently appreciating about living at home: fires in the fireplace, crafting and excursions with my mom, good wine, homemade beef barley soup (waiting for me when I get home from work), the cat sleeping on my feet, baking bread, the hammock in the backyard, cornstalks on our lamp post.

I'm also thankful that the special issue of Interweave Gifts is coming out this week, because I still have a few gifts to figure out!

Stash Busting Like Whoa

Completed:

Felted Mohair Ballet Slippers from Felted Knits
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes 4 skeins (about 2 skeins leftover) in Fern and Mulled Wine, and less than half a skein of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Sage and Medieval Red, respectively
Source: KnitPicks and stash
Needles: Addi Turbo 24" US Size 13 circular, Susan Bates 29" US Size 11 circular
Modifications: None other than yarn substitution


I really learned my lesson with these slippers: putting a pair of jeans in the washer with them speeds up the felting process considerably. It took two times to felt the slippers for my mom (the red ones) but only once for my grandmother's (the green ones). However, it worked out for the best because my mom has smaller feet and needed that second felting to get them smaller. (My felting obsession has been refueled by the purchase of the special issue of Felt put out by Interweave).

Completed:

Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt from the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits

(Sorry about that lower photo, it makes my eyes hurt, but it shows the placket in pretty good detail. It's not that wonky-shaped in real life, I don't know why it looks like that).

Yarn: Less than one cone of Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in Twilight Green

Source: Stash

Needles: Susan Bates 24" circular US Size 2, Crystal Palace bamboo US Size 2 straight

Modifications: Gauge adjustment, yarn substitution (woo-hoo for stash busting!), knit in the round instead of separately and then seamed, added 2" in length, added waist shaping.

Awkward bathroom mirror shot, but you can see that it fits like a dream.

You can see the true colors better here.

I have finally completed the Treeline Cardigan from the Purl Bee. The worst part is that I have had the knitting finished for a few weeks, and I even dyed the cotton snap tape (my closure of choice) before I went on vacation. I was nervous that it wouldn't work so I put it off, but Friday I bit the bullet and pinned and hand-sewed the tape on. It took me all the way through the 1954 version of Sabrina and the better part of an hour-long episode of the fabulous show Mad Men to finish it (I went up and down both sides of the snap tape to make sure it was secured properly). Anyway, it was worth it. I have a beautiful sweater that fits perfectly and doesn't make me look like a gorilla and I learned some interesting new techniques.

Pattern: Treeline Striped Cardigan from the Purl Bee

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay, 4 skeins each light brown and light blue

Source: Stash and one skein of brown was from Knit New London

Needles: Clover 8" (yes, 8") circular US Size 8, Addi Turbo 32" circular US Size 8

Modifications: Added enough stitches to adjust pattern for 42" chest (the original pattern only goes up to 38"), left off some repeats for the button band, added 3.5" to the length, added 1.5" to the arm length, maybe a few other changes here and there (I kind of just did them as I went along).

I'm almost done Leo's Christmas sweater. I got both sleeves done on Friday at the open mic at the Bridge Cafe, and I even read one of my poems! Exciting for me, since I never read my stuff. I'll post that next week, hopefully along with lots of other finished projects. Next up, something for me: Fiber Trends' Landscape Shawl in the excellent organic Irish wool I bought a few weeks ago.

Vacation

The view from our back porch.

It was hard to leave.

So, vacation was great, except for a few spats with my brother (always to be expected).

This is the back and half of the front of Leo's Christmas sweater, which I finished before we left for vacation (he and my aunt and uncle were in the cabin with us, so I couldn't exactly bring it with me).

This was completed during vacation. I picked up the yarn just before I stopped working at Patternworks after I saw a shop model that Susan had made. And yes, it's crocheted. I finished it in one afternoon and took it out to dinner at the Danbury Inn.

Pattern: Easy Crocheted Bag (or something like that) from One-Skein Wonders

Yarn: Ty-Dy, one ball

Source: Patternworks

Hook: US Size F

Modifications: I crocheted the body 8" long (rather than 7") and made the straps longer as well. I'm also planning on sewing a lining for it, even though the pattern doesn't say to do so.

I also managed to finish three Christmas/birthday presents for friends, but I can't post them because they may or may not read this blog. I will post after Christmas. I had a very productive vacation (I realize that I am a type-A personality, the only kind of person who would be proud of being productive while on vacation). I also started this:

The Sleeveless Tuxedo Shirt from the Summer '07 Interweave Knits. I know it doesn't look like much now, but I have a very good feeling about this. And it is stash-busting, so I don't feel guilty. I got most of this done at the awesome Open Mic/NH Poetry Slam Team fundraiser on Friday night. The team, the first one from NH to ever compete at nationals, leaves in two weeks to compete against 75 other teams in Austin, TX. Go Team!

I still have three more days of Christmas in July to bust out more presents, so wish me luck on that. Hopefully I'll have a lot more to show on Friday.