Big finishes

I have two major projects finished. The first one was a pair of mittens that really took me to the limit. I learned a lot from this pair and it was a labor of love. However, they are a gift, and even if I don't think the recipient reads this blog I don't want to post a picture here. However, if you have a Ravelry account (which she doesn't), you can check it out there. Hopefully I'll remember to do a proper post after Christmas but let's just say I damn nearly knit 2 pairs of mittens on 2mm (US size 0) needles ;)



I am, however, able to show you another finish. This one was finished this evening at the library, about 15 min before they closed! Those of you (you know who you are) that left early, you didn't get to see the blanket in it's finished glory. The photo is a little consolation for you ;) He he he

This blanket is another labor of love. I started it in April 2008 (not 2 years ago as I claimed at knitting) and have been taking it slowly. It's the April project from EZ's Almanac. I made it with 15 skeins of Lamb's pride bulky in Lemon drop (yellow), prairie goldenrod (yellow-brown variegated) and Persian peacock (blue) on 7mm needles (I don't think there is an US counterpart to that needle size, but it would be 12 or 13 maybe).

I'm so happy it's done and I have this beautiful warm blanket, just in time for winter and happy that today was a holiday (Veterans Day), which gave me extra knitting time as well as special one-on-one with the younger daughter (the older one was at school but the younger one doesn't have school on Wednesdays).

How to get started knitting again.

I didn't really stop knitting. I was just working so much I didn't have energy to knit when I came home and/or I came home from work so late that I went straight to bed.

Twice a year, our sponsor come and see what we have been doing, and it is always very busy right before. But now this is over for the time being.

During this busy time, I'd come across a pattern on Ravelry for slippers that I was dying to make for the girls. The pattern is called Peter Pan Slipper and was really just a diagram of a granny square that turns into these cool slippers.

I had no idea about the gauge or the weight of yarn/size of hook, but I ended up using worsted weight yarn and 5 mm hook. That fit perfectly for both the girls.



Kamilla got red ones but when I was going to make orange ones for Ása Sóley, she revolted. She wanted the slippers but not in orange (I was trying to use yarn I had). We ended up going to the LYS (prjónabúð) and Ása Sóley picked out pink yarn, that was more to her liking. With a little help from her mom she even picked out a yarn that was on a $2 discount.



We came home and I started the pair immediately after the girls went to bed and, voila, I had them ready before I went to bed, or about 3 hours later. These are so fast and easy. The girls love them. We call them their 'Elf slippers' and that's my name for them on Ravelry - Álfaskór (Ravelry link).

Ok, so the title of the post was 'How to get started knitting again' but here I am going on and on about a crochet project. Well, after finishing this quick and easy crochet pattern I was ready to start tackling my more demanding knitting projects again. I have a stranded colorwork mittens on the needles, that are destined for a Christmas packet and I better crank them out soon. The fact that I have to make the third mitten doesn't help. The first mitten was too small. I knit the second one with same size needles, but took care not to have the fabric pucker up too much and it came out much better. So now I have started on the third mitten.

I have other projects calling out for me. But I want to focus on Christmas knitting for now.

Crazy for towels

I have a finished object. My other projects were stalled so I started a towel. I really like it.



The pattern is called Chili Pepper Red Kitchen Towel and is a free Ravelry download. I made it in Lion Brand Cotton in the Avocado colorway on 4.5 mm needles.

Now I'm hooked on making towels. I started another one based on the garterlac pattern in red and orange. It should bright up the kitchen :)

My knitting is on display

That picture above is an announcement for a knitting show at the library where my knitting group meets. We got two cabinets to display our knitting in:



I sent in three of my knits. The sweater (cardigan) I knit for Clint (husband):


and couple of shawls (center)




Here are some of the other knitters knitted projects:




I love the duckie in the tub hat by Andi Stern. She is a very talented artist that hangs out with us mere mortals ;) ha ha. Here you can see some of her work

It's too much for me to document each and every project but in the pictures you can see some ossom (intentional spelling) knitting by the very talented knitters that meet at the Athens County Public Library (Ohio) every Wednesday evening.

Rip-it, rip-it ...

... is the sound a frog makes.

When I ripped out my knitting, it didn't make a sound.

First up was a shawl I knit 2 years ago. It is called the Woodland Shawl and it is made exactly as the pattern prescribes, with one 100gr ball of sockyarn.

It was too small. There was no way for me to use it. So I had decided to rip it out and last weekend I finally did.

Here is the before picture (Ravelry link to the project)



And here is the after picture (I frogged it straight onto the ball winder)

---

The second thing I ripped out was a mitten I had started. This is how it looked:



I have marked out three different sections in the photo. You can see that section 2 is slightly bigger than section 1, which is because I was being super careful knitting all the three colors at the same time. In section 2 I was also being careful that the knitting wouldn't pucker up when I switched colors.

First I knit the mitten up to section 2 and then they got some rest because I was focusing on another stranded project, the Space Invader socks. During the time I made the socks I learned a lot about knitting with two colors at the same time, particularly for the second sock as I wove in the color that was not in use instead of carrying it over long distances, but I also became skilled at knitting with one strand in the left hand and the other in the right hand. That method is both faster than what I did previously (which was to hold both strands in the left hand) and I also found that my knitting was more even and it didn't pucker in like before.

So when I started section 3, my stranded knitting skills had vastly improved. You can tell by comparing section 3 to section 1 that the knitting is more smooth and also that the gauge is different from previous sections, i.e. it is smaller around. When I noticed this I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to rip it out.

So needless to say, the mittens went on a hiatus for a while to ease the pain. I also knew that when I re-knit them I would have to use a larger needle. I had been using 2.25 mm needles (2 circs), but had had doubts that it would be large enough (they are not for me), so when I saw that the gauge was getting tighter, I realized I had to knit them on at least 2.5 mm needles.

I ripped them down to the cuff and they looked like this afterwards:



I was hard to pick up the stitches, not because they would unravel, but because I was using a slightly bigger needles on already tiny stitches. But I prevailed and ended up with the correct amount of stitches.

This mittens have more of a story behind them but it is not the right time to reveal that story now.

Teppi

Teppi is an Icelandic word that means blanket, throw, afghan and whatever else you would call a piece of fabric intended to cover up humans for comfort and warmth.

When my 4 year old started pre-school a week ago we were told we needed to supply a pillow and a blanket. The caveat was that the two had to fit in the child's cubby along with her backpack, extra pair of clothes and (in winter) coat.

I did find a smallish sofa pillow that she took with her for her first day (last Friday). We contemplating different blankets, but most of them were too big. One was small enough, but it was wool and my dear daughter has a very sensitive skin, so even alpaca scratches her (her sister has no objection to any fiber whatsoever).

Hvað gera bændur þá?

I briefly conteplating making a blanket but one weekend was not nearly enough time for me to plan, purchase yarn and knit/crochet a blanket. I had visited our local Walmart for the hope that they had something I could use, but they don't even have fabric anymore, let alone a small blanket. They have changed their whole store, so I might not have been able to find it even if they did have it.

I was getting worried and on the Saturday I was discussing various options with my husband when all of a sudden I remembered a piece of fleece I'd gotten at JoAnn's in Parkersburg, WV (our nearest shopping area). I'd gotten it because it was a remnant and it was a steal. The pattern is great too and I meant to make hats for the girls for winter and even something else. I even bought (later) pattern with hat, mitten, scarf and vest out of fleece but I never got around to making it.



The pattern is pink/gray camouflage with pink skull and cross bone on it. How cute! I had my daughter lay on the floor and try it on and it was a match! The width of it was perfect and I only had to cut off few inches of the length.

I wasn't sure how to finish it or if I should finish it at all. The fleece is not going to unravel after all. I contemplated zigzag-ing with the sewing machine around. But decided it would be best to handsew around the edge with blanket stitch, see below.



I decided to have the blanket stitch large so it wouldn't take too long. I also happened to have black DMC perle floss (thank you TNNA fairies) so I could get started immediately and was able to finish before the end of the day! Score!

The daughter was able to go to school with a blanket (and didn't have to share a blanket with someone else anymore) and the mom was relieved that she didn't have to worry about this anymore and proud to have made her daughter's blanket herself ;)

'Make do and mend' was a theme of a recent (or current?) series of podcasts by Brenda Dayne and I love that theme. I've made do (made a blanket out of fabric I already had) and mended (the socks that had snagged on a nail) and it feels great. Try it!

But speaking of blankets. Do you remember the yellow blanket I was working on. I made 24 squares and then I crafted them together and knitted up the hole that was formed where the corners met. This was a pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermann and appeared in Knitter's Almanac as the April project. Here is the link to my ravelry entry.

Well. Last Monday I was knitting up the last holes and thus finishing the main part of the blanket when my husband's allergies starts acting up to the point he has to get an allergy tablet in the evening time. I figure he is allergic to the mohair in the yarn. This is Lamb's pride, which is 15% mohair. :(

So I spent a lot of time and a lot of money on a blanket that my husband is allergic too and we don't realize until it is almost finished. I only have the border left at this point (and to craft stitches at the edges). So I'm not sure what will happen. My husband assures my he doesn't mind and that I can just use the blanket myself. But I still wouldn't be able to use it sitting next to him so that's only marginally better. I'm contemplating giving it away, but it would need to be for a VERY special occation and/or to a VERY special person, who will appreciate it. Hmmm......

Or maybe I can use it and it wont bother my husband so much when the actual knitting is over.

We'll see.

Darn-it

Look at that ugly mess in the middle of my knitting. I couldn't be more proud of it ;)

I just darned my first sock. Usually when my socks get holes in them I just put them away and don't use them anymore. These are my Hedera socks I made from corn yarn.

I really hadn't worn them that much when I got them caught on a nail in a doorway and it made a hole in the bottom :(

I'm also excited to be doing a little be of 'Make do and mend' courtesy of Brenda Dayne. She had a series of podcasts devoted to mending and finding clever ways of using things around the house and to make-do with what you have. It was very inspiring. I want to do more of that. In the past I've bought sweaters at thrift stores (nytjamarkaðir) and even partly unraveled them and tried to knit with the resulting yarn, but I want to do more of that. So watch this spot. Don't wait around. It might take me a while to get to it ;)

And not to forget. If you are thinking about darning your first sock, or freshening up on the technique; this is what I used: