This Is It

I got busy over the holidays. I know you did, too. I was busy knitting, which I know is a surprise for you because I haven't posted for months and months! But I realized that these were gifts for people and showing them all over the internet before Christmas kind of defeated the point. And then all of a sudden, it was December 23rd and I had four projects to go. And then I was wrapping them as I was leaving for Christmas dinner and had No Time to photograph any of them.

And then I was having a beautiful New Years in a Galena, Illinois, a town that was CRYING OUT for a dusting of snow, but instead got some drizzle and looked like the old mining town it actually is:

 Quaint-adjacent

But now. I'm back to knitting for fun and general merriment. And I look forward to sharing with you guys, because I love writing, fiber arts and attention. Oh, MAN do I love attention - thank you so much for giving it to me so freely.

As a token of my esteem, have a little "pattern" that I developed while watching every 30 for 30 ESPN documentary with my boyfriend over the holidays.

One Skein Seed Stitch Cowl

Materials:
1 skein Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick
Size 17 Needles (I used Circular, but straight would be preferable)

Gauge:
8 stitch x 9 rows = 4 inches
Note: Gauge is not important - use whatever you needles you have on hand)

Cast on 26 stitches. I recommend using Long Tail Cast On.

First row, K2 then P2 to end.
Second row, knit all purls and purl all knits.

Repeat Row 1 and Row 2 until end of skein (approximately 18 inches) leaving yourself enough yarn to seam ends together - (approximately enough yarn to wrap around your work twice). Instead of binding off, seam live stitches to bottom of work. Weave in ends. Steam block if desired.

Final step: Take insanely unflattering photo of yourself in the mirror before walking your dog. Enjoy!

Unflattering: Accomplished!

Hello, Again, Hello

A-hoy, mates!

I haven't had a ton of time for knitting, for I have been socializing and RSVPing to showers and attending Christenings. In short, being a person in my late 20's. But now, it's time to return to being a woman in her late 70's and hit those needles HARD. It's almost November and it's time to grow that Present Pile. I've been knitting lots of tiiiiny things for tiny people, so I needed something fast. I cast on this guy Sunday morning and on Sunday night I had a hat. It's in my high school's colors for my brother who is currently a sophomore at said high school (Go Greyhounds!) The pattern can be found here and can be done by anyone. For real, you can do it.

Cool hat, bro

So, now it's back to tedium with BF's Niece's Stripped Jumper Dress:

Almost a skirt

I really want to make this amazing Herribone Cowl featured on The Purl Bee (and I WILL, mind you), but I'm trying to do that thing where I don't have the exact right supplies to make what I need and it's been really messing me up on this particular project. I have started and restarted this particular project 4 times now. I hope I'll have something to show you before I throw my size 15 double pointed needles out the window for not being size 17 cable needles. You know, because it's their fault.

FO: The Damn Sweater

I had a blast this weekend traveling to Bloomington, IN and taking in the best of IU with my cousins, sister and boyfriend. Lots of adventure, by which I mean, lots of drinking. I'm just now feeling back to normal (seriously). The following photos sum up the weekend nicely:

I think I've made my point

But now that I'm feeling back to normal, I really need to share my big news. I FINSIHED MY NEMISIS SWEATER. That's right, That Damn Sweater has been vanquished. Sadly, I wasted the nice weather we had being outside and whatnot and NOT taking pictures of said item. So, you have to deal with more bad photography. But I'm willing to subject you to that, for I have vanquished:

BAYAM

 

Ok, lame pose, but it *does* feel like I gave birth to this thing.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

And no, I didn't realize the closet door was behind me, ok? And I could have put a little more effort into my hair. But that all must be ignored and we must celebrate, for I have made a sweater. And I will actually wear it. Feels good!

Hitting the Road

I was really hoping to share my finished Damn Sweater this week, but I'm blocking it and it's taking quite a while to dry. It looks like it won't be fall weather this weekend, so I'm not that upset.

Here it is, drying and waiting for buttons:

Dry, you damn sweater!

This weekend, I'll be hitting the road to visit family and take in a college football game at Indiana University. I'm super excited, especially because my boyfriend has offered to drive part way! That means it's time for a new project! I'll be working on the Nova Dress, a stripped dress for the aforementioned boyfriend's 2 year old niece. So far, this is what I've done:

Oh, Hi El Platform!

Bad photo, but the colors are really rich in person.  I love working on it and seeing the stripes grow and grow.

I'll be sure to share my Dispatches from the Heartland. In the meantime, here's a picture I took this past weekend at the Ferris Bueller's Day Off screening at Wrigley Field in an attempt to improve the overall photo quality of this blog!

Happy Columbus Day :)

Football'd

Well, it was turning out to be a good weekend... until I settled in for some Sunday afternoon football. My dear Colts lost to the... I can't even type it without wincing... Cleveland Browns. That the BENGALS just beat, for heaven's sake. I mean, I love Ohio. I really do, but ouch. OH-IO = OU-CH.

Simultaneously, I was treated to watching the Bears weak Offensive line blow chance after chance in New Orleans. It was not a proud day for the Midwest, you know?

But some knitting finally happened this week, so there's always a silver lining! The theme for last week and this week is "experimentation".

Up first, I tried to take a fingerless mitt pattern and turn it into mittens.

The original:

The DoogMod version:

So, it looks... ok? I guess? But I have some problems with it. One: I wimped out on the thumb. I was going to continue the pattern up the thumb until the about the thumbnail, but it was getting too tedious, so I just went for solid blue. Two: the mitts are supposed to fit snugly, so the mitten feels pretty constricting. I'm not sure my mom would love wearing these, no matter how much Thought I put into them. Third: Doesn't it just kind of look like a sock I jammed a thumb into? Maybe I should keep it simple and use an *actual* mitten pattern. Crazy thought, I know.

My next trick project seems to be going a bit smoother. I'm attempting to reverse engineer a hat that I saw on the website Nerd Boyfriend. The hat in question is as follows:

This baby costs 39 British Pounds. I'm sure shipping would tip that price well into Super Fancy territory. Meanwhile, I have some grey sock yarn lying around and leftover yellow sport-weight yarn from another project. I'm totally going to reverse engineer this puppy for PENNIES on the pound. (Is that a saying?)

So, here's the start. A few things I decided on from the beginning:

• The original is knitted flat and then seamed up the back. I want to go for seamless construction (I hate sewing up knitting - I think I'm allergic to the metal in my tapestry needles #firstworldproblems)
• The bottom band seems to be knitted separately and then attached after the hat is seamed together. Again, I'm going for all one piece. 
• The original looks like it's made with fairly course wool. The yarn I had on hand is 70% wool and 30% silk, because I'm CLASSY AS HELL. It creates a smooth fabric, but it's pretty lightweight. I hope it's warm enough for a Chicago winter!

 In other news, I have a shipment of yarn coming that I'm extremely excited about. I know I SAID I was trying to use up the yarn I already have... but I swear, half of it's for gifts. Promise. Don't look at me like that.

Remembering & Planning

It was kind of a rough weekend. I watched too many 9/11 documentaries and saw the Colts' disastrous season opener while the Bears simultaneously were rocking Solider Field. Therefore, I was not as productive as last weekend. I didn't have a clear idea about what I would make next, so I did a little too much pattern selection and reading and not much knitting.

To give myself some time to think, I pulled out some yarn I received as a birthday present - wool from Ireland! The original plan was a sweater, but I've got yards and yards to spare. I came across this pattern for the Hemlock Ring Blanket and thought it would be a nice challenge. Some lace to keep it interesting and knit from the center out. Good thinking work, at any rate.

Here's what it will/ should look like:

And here's my progress so far:

Hemlock-down

It's a fair start. I've enjoyed it so far and only had to rip back once.

During this little side project, I thought through my yarn selection and my various Christmas needs. I decided to try a pattern I've had my eye on for a while: Endpaper Mitts. I have colors that my mom would love, but I'm trying to figure out if I can convert the pattern into mittens for her. It might not be too hard if I can stand the slow progress. After a day and a night, this is what I have:

Mittsletoe

I'm having fun with it, so maybe the slow pace won't put me off that much. I also bound of a sock for the boyfriend that I was working on, but it's just one of two plain black socks and isn't super exciting - really, I just needed to free up the small needles for the mitts. We'll see how they knit up before I try to modify anything...

Ballad of the Green Beret

The holidays are far down the line. I want to make that clear because these posts are in no way meant to guilt you into doing your holiday shopping in the first week of September.

I'm changing up my Christmas routine  for the first time in my life and will not be traveling to Florida with my nuclear family. I'll be staying in Illinois and visiting my boyfriend's family on Christmas day. He has more people in his family than I do, so it put me in a bit of a panic.

Then, during a Hoarders-marathon-induced cleaning frenzy, I realized just how much yarn is in my home and how it needs to be put to good use. With football season starting, I can cheer on the Colts while knocking out a few projects each weekend.

So here's another finished object (FO) from the weekend: the Green Beret from the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret pattern.

100 Men We'll Test Today

But Only Three

Win the Green Beret

I'm not sure who this is for quite yet or if I'm going to make some kind of companion piece to go with it. But it's done and it feels good to add to the gift 'arsenal', if you will.

For your toe-tappin', America lovin' pleasure:

Fashion Plait and Poor Photography

I had a marathon evening of Dance Moms and Toddlers and Tiaras last night. I am not proud of this but this is what I have been reduced to watching as I start more and more knitting projects. But who isn't on pins and needles wondering if Candy Apples Dance Studio is going to steal Abby Lee's 'national titles'? We all are, I'm sure.

Such mind-numbing television is served well by very fast projects. This can only mean one thing: Big Needles and Thick Yarn! The pattern Anthropologie Inspired Braided Headwrap was perfectly suited for this purpose. I started off with some alpaca yarn that was just too thin and switched to some ancient Lion Brand Think & Quick I had laying around from the first ugly beret I ever attempted.

The original inspiration:

Expert Photography

The result of an evening tuned to Lifetime:

Poor Photography

A note about my photos: I did a horrible job trying to take a picture of this thing. You can't really see the braid unless I make it black and white. Maybe if I took two seconds to take my earphones out and set a timer, things would be more aesthetically pleasing for you. Instead, I took a series of awkward photographs that poorly illustrate an evening's worth of work:

Exhibit A

A delightfully half-assed smile, out of focus and no detail whatsoever on the headband. What a pro!

Exhibit B

Out of focus, in a MIRROR, random closet items in the background and troll-like posture due to the fact that I'm taller than the aforementioned mirror. What is this, a mail-order bride posting on Craigslist? Way to class up the internet, Doog!

And always the headphones - believe it or not, I forgot I was wearing them. Delightful, polished presentation from start to finish. That's why you click these hallowed links - I've got your number, reader.

Aaaaanyway, this is another potential Christmas gift. Is this still considered cute? Would you wear it?

FOs: Labor Day's Labor

I hope you had an excellent holiday weekend. I did - some chores, some study prep with the ol' boyfriend, Coin Star-ing some pocket change.

And a head start on Holiday Knitting!

First, I finished the knitting portion of the Maile Sweater for bf's goddaughter. It looks a little something like this:

Baby Love

This guy took two days to finish up and I'm pretty happy with it! I just need to find some buttons that might cheer up this bruise-colored yarn.

Raglan Detail

Baby Sweater in the wild! (closer to the actual color)

I've never knitted clothing for a baby before, so I kept checking and re-checking the pattern measurements. The sleeves were only supposed to be 4 1/2 inches long - that seemed so tiny, I couldn't get past it! But once I decided to just go with it, it all looked right in the end.

I also finished up a beret that is currently blocking (aka dunked in water and had a plate shoved in it to give it that 'beret' shape), so I haven't photographed it quite yet. It's a lovely green: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport weight in Grass. Sport weight is thinner than the bulky yarn the pattern calls for, so I doubled up the yarn on nice big needles which made the fabric much thicker than previous versions I've whipped up. It's really nice to go from a tiiiny lace project to big ol' Done In A Day needles. The only downside to doubling up my yarn is that it made me run out of yarn faster than I should have, but I think the blocking will still make it pretty and wearable. I'm not sure who this is going to quite yet, but it should keep someone pretty warm and stylin'.

This is an early version of the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret pattern that I made last year:

Prototype of Ballad of the Green Beret

So that's two gifts in one weekend! Not too shabby. I cast on the beginnings of a braided cable headwrap and another Make Up Your Mind tank for my little sister at her request - in green, in order to "make my eyes pop". This is a direct quote. No embellishment.

I also studied-by-extension for a teaching certification exam, played some tennis, made some Barefoot Contessa mac & cheese, got to turn off the AC and open the windows while watching a great deal of television. All in all, pretty great.

FO: Make Up Your Mind Tank

I finished something! It's been a rare for me to finish something larger than a dishcloth lately, so I'm pretty excited to share my finished Make Up Your Mind Tank:

Fin

The result isn't 100% perfect (there are some mistakes in the lace pattern that I didn't notice until I'd joined the straps) but this is the first wearable FO (Finished Object) that I've made. That is - I might actually wear this. Maybe.

All the mistakes are, sadly, in the front, so let me show you the back! It turned out great!

Racerist!

Forgive the styling here and the few strings you might see - I was excited to show a finished project and still have to weave in a few ends. Now it's time to start Holiday Knittery 2011. I know you're excited.

First up is a cardigan for the Boyfriend's darling goddaughter. The pattern is the Maile Sweater and it looks like this:

Cute, right?

Part of the joy of holiday knittingis getting rid of the yarn I've over-indulged in during the year. That is the case with this sweater - I ordered the wrong color of yarn for the endless cardigan project I never finished and just held onto it.

Mine looks like this. Well, actually, that's a misstatement. This is the worst possible picture of the project at the moment, but I have to have SOMETHING to show you:

Pretty? Ugly? or Pretty Ugly?

The yarn is way less obnoxious than that, even though I'm still not 100% sold on it. I need more than just the border to know for sure... Jingle Bellz,  ya'll.