Just in Time for Single Digits
This earflap cap for Miss P came off the needles just in time for the current single digit temperatures.
The pattern is the Danish Earflap Cap from Hats On by Charlene Schurch. The yarn is Artyarns Supermerino. The hem is knit on size 4 needles and the outer hat is knit on size 6.
I checked Ravelry and saw that her favorite hat that she still wears was finished FOUR years ago. It barely covers any of her forehead now. I made sure to allow for some growing room in this hat.
She loves the braided ties on this one and that it is SUPER warm with the double layer of the hem.In decreasing the top, I added alternate knit rounds between the decrease rounds to keep the top more smooth as I did when making D's new hat.
Here's hoping we have lots of snow to play in this year!! **links to amazon are affiliate links
Slip-n-Slide
Adele and I have finished another pair of socks! These are for ME.My sister gave me the book Sock Knitting Master Class: Innovative Techniques + Patterns from Top Designers
I like that the pattern continues down the heel flap.
They were a pretty quick knit and I learned a new technique to get the little butterfly looking stitches that go down the front and back of the sock.I am eager to knit some of the other socks in this "master class" book. I'm sure I'll learn more fun and interesting knitting techniques as I work my way through the book.
Pink Pixie Hat
I finished a larger version of the pixie hat for P to wear next year.
This one fits much better. The neck/scarf section is longer and will stay tucked into her coat better.
For this version of the Lyalya Hoodie I used Cascade 220 yarn. I do like the look of the more solid color yarn with this pattern. Miss P is thrilled with it.
I thought I might like one of these for myself but when I tried it on it made M laugh. I guess a second grader can pull off a pointy pixie hat look better than I can.
Pixie Hat
During our drive to Kansas City for Quilt Market, I did a bit of knitting.
I finished this super cute pixie style hat. It's really a pretty quick knit.
Miss Petunia loves it. I like that it comes down and covers her neck. I think that will be great to keep the wind off her neck next winter and will also make getting ready for recess a little quicker - no fussing with a scarf. This one is a wee bit small for her so I plan to make a bigger one and make the neck/scarf part a little longer. She has chosen a pretty pink yarn. She said I could give it to her for Christmas. Isn't that sweet?
The pattern is sized from baby to adult. I kinda want to make one for myself. M thinks that would be a little weird. I offered to make him one but he declined. Well, he didn't want the elf shoes either so what fun is he?The pattern for the hat is Lyalya Hoodie by Natalia Schaffer.The yarn is Artyarns supermerino.
Spinning out of Control
One morning last week a friend who raises llamas came over for a spinning lesson. She had a GINORMOUS bag of llama fluff to play with and said she had several more at home. She even has baby llama fluff! She offered to give me some but I declined until I have spun the rovings that I have already.I pulled out one of my big balls of roving and gave her a demonstration. We played for a while but I just couldn't stop when she left.
I spun all of this Border Leceister, kid mohair blend and ended up with five hanks of yarn. Here are two. I don't know how many yards this is.
I'm working on another ball of fluff now.
In doing this recent spinning, I have learned several things:1. I want a wheel that allows for larger bobbins.2. I should spin roving when I get it. Letting it sit around for 5-10 years allows for them to it mushed and start to felt. This roving has required more preparation before spinning that it would have if I had spun it right away.3. I am easily diverted from one project to another.4. Spinning in a room with a running ceiling fan gets little, tiny bits of fluff EVERYWHERE.
Endpaper Mitts
I've had these mitts finished for a while but haven't gotten photos of them until today.
The pattern is Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang.The yarn is a no longer available hand paint and cream baby ull.I love the look and fit of this pattern and the directions are great. The tubular cast on and cast off give a great finished edge. I know I'll be using both methods again in the future. Heck, I'll probably use this whole pattern again - It is THAT good. I don't usually knit the same pattern more than once.
The hand painted yarn lost a lot of color in the washing but I love the faded blue jeans look that they have now. The original color can be seen here.In addition to this photography, we attended three music events this weekend. B and D also replumbed the house so that we have water up to the new bath! The room has no fixtures or walls yet, but the water is there! They worked until 2:30 this morning so that we could have hot water in the rest of the house today. Someone even washed all the dinner dishes before going to bed in the wee hours of the morning. Thanks D.
Hooked
I got hooked on a new project. I was looking for something in the sewing room last week and found a basket of cotton yarn.
I had been planning to make some potholders, so, I started and then couldn't stop until I had used up the whole basket of yarn. A couple of these will be going to the kindergarten wing of P's school. When I was there making Little Red Hen Bread with them I noticed that they didn't have any pot holders and I had to use my sweatshirt to carry the hot pan from the oven all way back the to the classroom. Luckily I had another shirt on under it!
Cleaning up the slow way.Now, if I could just remember what I was looking for when I found that basket of yarn...
Sweetheart Socks
I am so happy that A and I have started back with our Two Make a Pair project. Here's the latest pair!
The pattern is Sweetheart Socks by Chrissy Gardener in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007. We knit them on size 0 needles with Knit Picks Stroll Tweed.I love all of the different cable designs around the socks.
They were not a quick knit. It was a little tedius to follow the charts and work in a darkish color yarn. Also, this yarn tended to split while knitting the cables. I do love the resulting socks but I'm also glad that I only knit one of them!And look what I get to knit next, Cookie A's Summer Sox in a fun bright yarn.
Periodic Orbits
I have to tell you that our super cold weather over the weekend did not make me want to sit at my sewing machine which happens to be in the chilliest corner of the house. Instead I wanted to snuggle under a blanket and knit. After finishing several colorwork projects in fingering weight yarn I wanted to knit something quick. So, here you have Karin wristwarmers, knit from a free pattern on ravelry.
The yarn is Q.E.D. from Sanguine Gryphon in the color Periodic Orbits. I had been eyeing the Sanguine Gryphon site for a while. I loved the look of bugga! yarns and that they are named for bugs. Go look at the bugga! page on their website. If you click to see a particular color you will also see a photograph of the bug that inspired the colorway - very fun.After seeing many beautiful projects knit with Sanguine Gryphon's hand painted yarns on Ravelry I caved and placed an order for some "mutant" yarns back in the fall. It was a grab bag of four different yarn bases that have some sort of flaw. (the flaw in this skein must have been the knot because I found nothing else wrong with it.) The Q.E.D. is super squishy and soft!
My grab bag of yarn also had skeins of bugga!, skinny bugga!, and edios which are all now jumping up and down wanting to be knit. I'll knit up a little more of my "aged" yarn before using another of this new yarn. Remember, if I stick to my stashpact it will be 2012 before I get any NEW yarn. That is unless I knit ALL that I have.I don't think that will happen.
I also made myself a pair of slippers that are ready to felt. Man, knitting with size 13 needles goes really fast. I sort of had the feeling I was knitting with handles of a couple of garden rakes.
The slipper yarn is Cascade 220 Quatro.Next up is the second mitten of this mustard and cream pair. Then I'll have made THREE pair of mittens for National Knit Mittens Month!After that will be another pair of slippers for B. I plan to use up leftover bits of worsted wool on those as part of the stash busting plan. I hope it works out without too many yarn ends to work in.I hope you are all staying warm (or cool if it's hot where you are) and busy doing things that make you happy.
The Edith Hat
Yay! I am thrilled that I finished the hat for M's girlfriend.
With single digit temperatures predicted for this week I wanted her to be able to wear it.
Knitting the lining out of Misti Alpaca Lace took a little longer than I expected. It is like knitting with a cloud and is so super soft. The extra layer should make for a warmer hat.M laughed last night when I mentioned that I was knitting with my turbo needles. He has no idea of the technology available to knitters and quilters.
I love the star pattern at the top of the hat! 
The picot hem edge is pretty nice too.
Yep. I pretty much love this pattern, the Edith Hat. My notes can be found here on Ravelry.I had mentioned earlier that M was going to design the hat but we tried a few things and the original yarn was too thick for a colorwork pattern that had very much detail. The two of them spent a few hours looking at patterns and projects on Ravelry and decided on this one. The yarns, Knit Picks stroll (lavender), Zitron Trekking (cream), and Misti Alpaca lace (lining) were in my stash.
Distraction
Olympic knitting update - I finished knitting the yoke and am almost finished the second sleeve. Still left - knit the skirt, block, finish the back opening and neck edge, and smock the yolk.This week I have learned that it is hard for me to work on just one project. Shiny things like new colorful yarn call to me.
Potholders are small. Just how much time can it take away from the Olympic knitting project?You should also read about Stephanie's Olympic knitting project.Fun stuff.
Excited About New Yarn!
Do you remember when I posted about this future project? Well, I sent the photo to Chris and she custom dyed this wool! I can hardly wait to get started! I need to finish up a few more things but this is really calling me.
Chris had a booth right across from me at the craft show last weekend. It was fun to be able to chat and catch up. Sometimes it was a little difficult to hear her over the screaming calls of the yarn. In addition to the custom wool I came home with a few other things.Three hanks of this fabulous wool jumped into my bag. Chris said she dyed it for me the same day as the rose yarn. She thought it would look good on me. I think she is right. I put it in my bag before I knew she had dyed it with me in mind! How perfect is that? I plan to make a pull over sweater for myself out of this.
I am eager to spin this Blue Face Leicester roving. I know it will look different from the dyed yarn.
And, because it called to me from across the hall, I picked up this pink and brown wool.
I think finishing so many projects in the last few weeks has me ready to start some knew projects after Christmas. I am looking forward to some comfort knitting this winter. I may even participate in the Knitting Olympics this year.Are you getting excited about any new projects?I hope you have a happy Winter Solstice. Remember, after today the days are getting longer. It is a good thing to keep in mind while shoveling snow the rest of the winter. Each day is a little longer than the one before. That is what gets us through until spring - that and the knitting.
John Moores Crew Socks
You would think I could have whipped out a crew sock pretty quickly. I have done it in just a few hours before. Well, not so this time. I have been working on this sock since back in July. I guess the problem was that I was NOT working on this sock since back in July. The end of summer brings so much to do with the garden and harvest that there just is not time to sit and knit. We work outside until it is dark mostnights which can be quite late in the summer. It is getting dark at about 8:00 now so I have been squeaking in a little knit time before going to bed. Ah, fall.So, here they are, the next in the "Two Make a Pair" series. These are A's. She has been very patient waiting for them. I think she has taken to finishing some of her own pairs in the mean time. Sorry, dear.
I do like the colors in this yarn. Very pretty. And the stripes matched up perfectly!
These crew socks were knit using Sox by Berroco in color 1425.75% Superwash wool, 25% Nylon.
