The year 2011 in knits - Part 4

I've not quite forgotten this series. Here is the next project. It's a bathmat. Not just any bathmat, but the great Absorba bathmat of Mason-Dixon fame. I'd wanted to make this bathmat since the book came out, but double worsted Peaches'n Creme is hard to come by. You have to order it from the producer and when they were going out of business I figured this was my last chance to make the bathmat out of the yarn it was designed with. It didn't hurt that there was a 50% off sale to get rid of inventory!

The pattern is knit in the log-style knitting Mason-Dixon made so popular, but with double worsted (ca. bulky weight) cotton yarn held triple! Triple! The fabric is thick and squishy and I love it. I even have yarn for another one! Hopefully that will be knit sooner rather than later.






I learned how to do a version of double knitting where you slip the stitch in the back while you knit the stitch in the front so you can knit a tube back and forward. This is really neat for small circumferences, like these soap sweaters. I made 3 pairs of soap sweaters and granny dishcloths for gifts. Very quick project and makes a nice present for someone. I only took a picture of one of the soap sweaters and here it is:





The next project I finished in 2011 actually got it´s very own blog post. It's a pink wool dress blogged right here.

The yellow jacket

I was very excited about this one jacket called the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I even had my mom send me plötulopi to make it out of. Apparently, I started it in November 2008. That's over three years ago! I worked on it for a while, finished the back, but then it hibernated for a bit. It came out of hibernation in 2009, and I made one sleeve (and front) before it hibernated again. I finally finished the second sleeve and front in September 2010. That was 1 and a half a year ago. I had started to sew it up when I stopped and set it aside.

I figured I didn't have much work left and that it was silly to let this jacket lay in the closet when I could very well need a nice and warm jacket in dead of winter. So yesterday I decided to take it out and see how the pieces fit. First I noticed that the back wasn't all the way done and then I noticed that the two shoulders were far from being even (see the photo below).




Actually, on of the shoulders was much bigger than the other. The two red lines should be the same size in the photo below.



After looking at it and pondering this for a while I noticed that the gauge was hugely different from one piece to the other. It obviously doesn't pay to do one part one year and the other the next! In the photo below the blue and the red box are the same size and you can see the difference in the gauge.



So what to do, what to do!!!!

After talking it over with my mom, I think that the best solution is to frog the bigger half and try to re-knit it, or frog the entire thing and use the yarn for something else!

p.s. this is approximately how it should look. So close, yet so far away!

The year 2011 in knits - Part 3

Next up are 3 little fun projects that I just had a blast doing. They are all from the same book: Amigurumi knits. I can't believe I never blogged about these. They are the perfect blog fodder!

The first one was a cucumber (Ravelry link). It must have looked very yummie, because the dog ended up 'eating' it.





The second one was an earthworm (Ravelry link).





I actually made two earthworms, one for my kids and the other for a birthday gift for friend's son along with a kids' fishing pole.





The third was a garlic(Ravelry link). Obviously the dog doesn't like garlic because this one has been completely untouched unlike the cucumber - or could it be because it's made out of acrylic while the cucumber is made out of wool!

The year 2011 in knits - Part 2

Ahem, in my last post I was chronologically showing you my projects from last year, but I discovered I have finished 3 projects before the socks I started the first post with.

The first project of 2011 was started on Jan 1st and finished the next day. It was a dishcloth that was gifted before I remembered to take a picture. It was a dishcloth based on the granny dishcloth but with a twist. The pattern is from Ravelry. I used Sugar n'cream in 'warm brown' apparently. This project was 'obviously' not blogged (since I didn't even take a picture).

My next project was fun. It got a life of its own and ended up as Oscar (ravelry link), the e-reader (Kobo) cover. Oscar was blogged here.

Oscar was a rectangle knit out of Lorna's laces Shepherd Worsted in seed stitch (alternate knit and purl). He is very soft.





So far, these were small quick projects I left out, but the last one was neither. It was Tomten for my daughter. The yarn was plötulopi (icelandic unspun wool) held double and most of it was gifted to my by a dear knitting friend in a birthday game in 2008. I don't know who loved this yarn more, me or my dog, she chewed it at every opportunity.

The tomten was blogged and here is the ravelry link.

The Year 2011 in knits - Part 1

I can't say I was a prolific blogger in the year 2011. From Ravelry, I count 40 projects I finished in the year 2011. Although these are mostly small projects, it's a lot more than I made in 2010. However, I only had 24 blog posts in 2011, so a lot fell between the cracks.

The first project I finished in 2011 was blogged. It was the socks Sam by Cookie A (ravelry link). Made out of yarn I had previously knit up in a shawl, but resused and some yarn from a friend of mine (see if you can see it in the picture).





Next project was about 7 potholder (counts as 7 in the total number of projects), 5 of which were used for the 2011 Crochet Potholder exchange. The yarn was sport weight mercerized cotton, Reynolds Saucy Sport, which has since been discontinued :( This project was blogged and here is the ravelry link.





The next project was not blogged. It is a sweater called A by Védís Jónsdóttir from Lopi 26, made out of plötulopi (unspun icelandic wool) held triple on huge needles. Very quick project (took only a week), and the shoulder decreases are very interesting. This sweater was made from my coworker who is always cold and ordered the yarn from Iceland for me to make it. A knitter can't resist to knit for someone that's perpetually cold. (Ravelry link)





The next project is one that I've used quite a bit even if it's fingerless mittens. I never took a picture of the finished product, but they match a shawl I made in 2010. I actually have accessories that match! Public Ravelry link but no blog post.





I did blog about the next project, but I never told you I made 2 more. Perfect project to learn knitting backwards. Ravelry 1, Ravelry 2 and Ravelry 3.







This is enough for now. I want to get back to my crochet blanket (afghan for some people) which is almost done!