Eleven Stitches

February Quilt Blocks

My Flickr friends Chawne, Jocelyn, and I started a Virtual Quilting Bee this year.  We have 13 participants, and each month we make 2 blocks for one particular person.  That person picks the fabrics, the design inspiration, and all of us make our own versions. The month that everyone makes blocks for me isn't until December, so I've got some time to decide what I want!

Jocelyn is looking for a sampler-like quilt, and she asked for one traditional block and one improvised block.  Here's what I came up with.

 

The improvised block features some hexagon trees.  The hexagons I used are tiny; they're only 3/4 inch per side! 

The traditional block is from the book, 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars.  This happens to be the Connecticut star, chosen simply because I like it.

 

I did actually run out of the blue on the last point in the star, and I thought it would be fun to pop a little pink into the block.

If you're curious what everyone else is making, you can see photos in our Flickr pool, One Shiny Bee.  I think this will be a fun project for 2010!

Current Projects

I've got to admit, I haven't worked on Dulce de Leche at all since I last posted about it.  Here's what I'm working on instead.

 

I've wanted to make some Fiddlehead Mittens ever since they came out, and I finally got started on a pair.  Maybe I should have started sooner so that I could be wearing them in the cold weather right now!  I'm sure there's some cold weather left in store for me this season, and I think I've still got some time to finish up and appreciate them.

 

These are my current incarnation of purse/movie socks. I love these and I can't wait to finish and wear them!

 

I started these the other night because I didn't have the concentration to do colorwork (or crochet, as my Giant Granny is still in progress).  It's the leftovers from my Lucky Socks striped with some natural-colored yarn.  They're fun to knit, and the stripes make it knit up quickly.  I think it's that "one more stripe" mentality!

The Olympics are coming up very soon!  I have a great idea for an Olympic Knitting project, but I'm not sure if I'm in the right head space to do it.  It would be nice to finish up these WIPs just in case!

More Gifts

I have finally finished up and given away some "Christmas" gifts for my co-workers.  And I'm glad to report that they were all happily received!

Remember the cowl I made for one co-worker?  I liked it so much I made another one (in a different color) for another lady I work with.

Pattern: Darkside Cowl (pdf)
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia Quick
Needles: US 13
Modifications: Knit over 64 stitches due to gauge differences.

The lady who got the purple cowl said that she had been looking to buy a cowl on EBay, but hadn't bought one yet.  I was so happy that I gave it to her instead!  I love this cowl so much (and it knits up in an evening), that I might knit a third one in a different color for me.

I also knit up a pair of these for the teacher I work most closely with.  She's my supervisor and my mentor, and I love her.  Her favorite color is black (which I fail to understand, but I accept).  I thought a pair of Katinka mitts would be perfect.

Pattern: Katinka Mitts, by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight in Lenore, 1/2 skein
Needles: US 2
Modifications: None.

Unfortunately, I knit two left mitts and had to knit an entirely new right mitt instead.  Oh, well.  This yarn turned my yellow stitch marker a dull brown, so I gave it a vinegar soak before I gifted it. It was also happily received.  I think she said something like this: "Oh, it's one of those hand things!  I've wanted to get those!"

And finally, I knit this.

My co-worker said that she wanted to learn how to knit so she could make a Princess Leia wig. I decided that it would be the perfect gift for her. I also decided that I didn't really want a picture of me in a Leia wig on the internets, so you get to see me hidden behind a camera in these pictures :)

 

Pattern: Leia Wig
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8, 2 skeins
Needles: US 8
Modifications: I basically took the gist of this pattern and knit it up myself.  In my opinion, this is an extremely simple pattern written up extremely simply, and it is probably not worth $8. If you think you can guess how to make one on your own, you should probably go for it.  I'm just saying.

I think this was the most happily received of all :)  I love that knitting lets me make really great gifts for my friends.

Dulce De Leche Decisions

First off, I decided to frog my Dulce de Leche sweater in December.  After the problem I had with Betty, I could tell that I was on the wrong track with DdL. But I loved the design and decided to try it again with a larger needle and a larger size. I finished knitting the body of the sweater recently, and it fits! But, if you look at the original photo and the modeled shots on Ravelry, you might notice that this has a pretty deep neckline. 

This might not have bothered me a few years ago when I was a computer programmer, but now I'm a teacher who works with children who are about 3 1/2 feet tall.  Necklines definitely need to be considered. Ahem.

So, what to do?  I see several options here.

1. Rip out the front part of the sweater and re-do the neckline higher. This is my favorite option, I think.  But then, do I continue the short rows to make the gathering at the placket?  If I don't continue them, will it look dumb to have gathering on the lower part and straight on the upper part?

2. Rip out to the beginning of the placket and start over from there.  This would take away the problems from #1, but that would mean taking out a lot more knitting.  Also, I assume the short row shaping from the placket accommodates some bust fit issues, and taking them out might cause problems. If I rip back this far (about 3 inches before armhole shaping), I could basically make any sweater I wanted-- patterned yoke, seamless construction, etc.  But I was looking forward to trying the sleeves as written, and I think I'd like to go ahead with that.

3.  Stop worrying about it, and finish the sweater.  I can always wear a shirt under it.  Nope, I'm not going to do this.  This option is mainly here to prevent getting this suggestion :)  I think it's a hassle finding the right shirt to go under such a sweater, and it would be more likely that I don't wear the sweater as a result.  Also, I want DdL to look like it fits me, not like I have to do something to make up for fit issues. The great thing about knitting is being able to modify projects to fit the intended recipient!

I think this might just depend on trial and error, starting with the first option, and moving to the second if I can't get the first one to work.  Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?

Crochet!

I had jury duty a few months ago, and I thought it would be a great time to learn how to crochet. Fortunately, there was a lady in the jury room who already knew how to crochet, and she helped me make my first granny square. (I had a hard time realizing that with crochet you sometimes don't look at the stitches you've made, but look at the holes in between the stitches.) I made a couple of tiny granny squares, tried a hexagon or two, and then I went back to knitting after jury duty was over.

And then this group got started on Ravelry, the Giant Granny Crochet Along.  And I felt compelled to join. This looked like a great way to use up some left over bits and balls of yarn. Of course, I was in San Francisco and far away from my stash.  I went over to Imagknit and got some yarn just to get me started.

I only got four balls of yarn, and it doesn't take very long to do the beginning four rounds of a granny square. I decided to swatch.  A lot.

 

I decided that an H hook was the right size.  J was too big (I think I missed I somehow), and G was too small.  After that, I tried out 4 double crochets instead of the standard 3, and it didn't seem to be worth doing.  And then I bought 2 more balls of yarn so that I could add in 2 more rounds on my granny before I went home.

I crocheted almost all day on my first day back home!  And now my giant granny looks something like this.

I'm happy with how many partial skeins I've used up, and I'm planning to really decimate my stash of worsted yarn.

I'm thinking about adding crochet as an event in my Knitting Olympics.  You know, for when my knitting muscles get sore.  

How about you?  Do you crochet?  Does that Ravelry group tempt you, too?

Lucky Socks

Here is my first FO of the decade, and I finished them on New Year's Day!

Pattern: Basic Stockinette with an Improvised Fancy Cuff
Yarn: Zauberball in color 1536, 2/3 skein
Needles: US 1 DPNs

I'm calling these my lucky socks because I didn't do anything at all to make the color match up between them.  They just turned out that way.  I'm taking it as a good omen for the new year!

Looking at my skein of remaining yarn, I see that I have exactly enough for one more sock.   Perhaps I will stripe it with a different yarn to get a pair.

I saw this yarn at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, and I had to try it out.  Orange, red, and purple have been my three favorite colors for a very long time!  The yarn is soft, but it's a single ply, and not a very smooth knit.  I found I could drop stitches without even noticing.  But I do love the color effects!

Happy New Year!

Oh, 2009, what a year it has been for me!  During the spring and early summer of this year, I realized that I was probably happier then than I'd ever been in my life, and I tried to appreciate it as much as I could because I knew it wouldn't last forever.  Then I caught H1N1 in July, and my health still has not fully recovered. Adding in a lot of work and stress from being a teacher-in-training, I am one tired girl.

But I know that the teacher training will pay off in the end and that I'll figure out how to manage all of it better as I go along.  And I know I'll be healthy again sometime... I'm working very hard on that right now and I think it's paying off. I'm optimistic about this new year, and I will work to make it better than the end of this past one.

Here is the list of my resolutions for 2009.  As I look over them, I see that there are some I didn't do at all (designing? trying new techniques?), and it doesn't really bother me.  I actually wanted to knit a little bit less in order to make more time for other things that are important to me, and I did that.  I've read more books and seen more movies this year than in past years.  I've knit every single day, but sometimes it was just a few stitches, and that was OK.

Would you like to see what I did knit this year?  I found it interesting to note also how my hair has gotten progressively shorter over the year as well :)

The totals are:

7 sweaters (nope, didn't finish NaKniSweMoDo!)
1 vest
3 pairs of gloves/mittens
5 pairs of socks (and 5 singles)
4 hats
1 cowl

All but one pair of socks was plain stockinette. I'm finding that I prefer wearing stockinette socks! This year I was mainly focused on sweaters, and they're still what I'm finding to be the most interesting.

I also did some sewing and quilting this year.

 

Those totals:

4 shirts
5 dresses
3 big quilts
4 mini quilts
12 micro quilts
1 handbag

I'm disappointed that I still haven't done much cold-weather sewing, but I think that health and tiredness has factored into that this fall.  I still have some cold weather ahead in the next few months, and I'm hoping that I'll be at my sewing machine for at least some of it. I think the garments that I sewed this year were in general better planned and better fitted. I know I still have a lot of room for improvement, and I will keep working on that in 2010!

Whew, this post is long enough, so I'll get to New Year's resolutions on a different day.  I hope that you have a wonderful time welcoming in the new year, and I'll be back here in the new decade :)

A Perfect Cowl

Merry Belated Christmas!  I hope that you had a wonderful holiday, if you are one who celebrates it.  Yesterday, I spent some time making a cowl for another co-worker.

Pattern: Darkside Cowl (Rav link) by Sarah Fama
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia Quick in boysenberry, 1 skein (almost exactly)
Needles: US 13 circulars
Time to Knit: Dec 24 - 25
Modifications: Since my gauge was different, I only cast on 64 stitches for this pattern.

I love how all of this came together!  The yarn is very squooshy and it's a blend of several beautiful colors.  I don't often knit with super bulky yarn, but it's perfect for a cowl. And it knits up so quickly!

The cowl is a great size.  It fits and has enough body to cover my neck and keep me warm. My co-worker loves purple, and I think this will suit her well.

I ordered two skeins of the yarn because I wasn't sure if one skein would do.  Since I used almost exactly one skein for this cowl, I can make a second one! 

3 Years Later: Silk Sweater

I hear there was some type of snow event on the East Coast?  Well, this is what it was like yesterday in San Francisco :)

 

Actually, I was very aware of the predicted snow storm last weekend.  We flew out of Newark on Saturday morning, and I felt like the blizzard was right on our heels! But back to the lovely sweater in the photo above.....

I bought the yarn for this sweater at Art Fibers almost exactly three years ago.  I was a newish knitter, and I didn't know how to make my own pattern up for a sweater.  They wrote a pattern for me, based on this bloused dress they had on display in the store.  I got started on it right away, I believe, and I even talk about the sweater in my third post of my blog. 

The Art Fibers pattern started out pretty well. I didn't have circulars of the correct size to start the collar, so I knit it flat and joined to work in the round after a couple of inches.  This worked out well in the end.  I just added a button and a loop to the top and voila, the sweater has a keyhole opening in the back. 

As I was knitting the body of the sweater I realized that the blousing effect from the pattern would not work. The silk was too heavy, and it wouldn't have enough memory to do the ribbing to pull it in at the bottom.  This is, I believe, when the sweater went unknit for over a year.

Eventually I came back to it, and I finished the sweater with the same lacy ribbing that I had used at the collar. Then the sweater sat, armless, for another very long time.  

In November, I came across the sweater again and tried it on.  It fit.  I liked the color.  I liked the way it felt.  Why the heck did I never finish it?  After a few evenings, it was all finished up. I made the sleeves 3/4 length, and I finished them off with some deep lacy ribbing like you see in the rest of the sweater.  Since I hadn't knit that lace pattern in over a year, I had to re-construct it.  It's a good thing it was pretty simple!

It's so nice to have finished something that long in the making!

Pattern: Started out as an Art Fibers custom pattern, but then it became my own custom pattern
Yarn: Art Fibers Hana, 5 skeins
Needles: US 1.5 for the ribbing, US 3 for the stockinette
Time to Knit: January 2007 - November 2009

Breathe Deep

I have to say that I love the name of these mittens that I just finished. Several years ago, I had an anxiety condition where I would hold my breath.  That's a thing of the past now, but the words "breathe deep" make me instantly do so, and even now it calms me down.

Pattern: Breathe Deep by Through the Loops
Yarn: Brooks Farm Solana in 31
Needles: US 4
Modifications: None
Sizing: I used smaller needles and made the larger size. They seem to fit well this way.

I made these mittens for a co-worker.  She is often cold, and part of our job is being outside even in the cold weather! She also loves the color red.  She has told me that her entire house is decorated with little pops of red.

I find making holiday gifts for my co-workers stressful.  (They must be done by Friday!) But I do love finding just the right pattern, yarn, and color for a preson I know well.  I hope that she likes them!

PS. I decided to frog Betty.  It is a cardigan pattern already, so I don't think adding button bands would give me enough width for it to fit.  Also, the sleeves are too tight. It needs to become something else!