Finished Object! Now with Picture!

I have, at long last, finished the Boy Scarf. It is currently drying in the bathroom. Now the question will be how long it'll take me to mail it.

Pattern: Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf
Yarn: 2 skeins Takhi Sable
Needle: US size 9
The only pattern changes I made were to cast on 40 stitches and then I knit until I ran out of yarn. I didn't really block it, just shaped it a bit while it was wet. It's about seven inches wide. I don't know how long it is.

In celebration of the FO, I'm tempted to work on my own Queen of Cups sock, but I really should work on the Critters instead. I may work on the Critters for an hour tonight, then switch to the Queen of Cups. That would get me the best of both worlds.

1/31/09 Update: I can't find the Queen of Cups pattern print out. Yes, I know it's a Knitty pattern and I can just go print another one, but that seems rather wasteful of paper and ink, when I know there's a pattern here somewhere. Can you tell I really need to overhaul what I do with printed out patterns? That's high up on the list of de-cluttering/re-organizing tasks. I don't think I'll get to it this weekend, but perhaps next weekend.

Knitting Motivation

I am slowly regaining my knitting motivation again. I didn't get burned out with holiday knitting though. Mostly I just ran out of time to get knitting done on a regular basis. Time to finish up the niece and nephew's Critter Knits. They really ought to have them before winter ends, don't you think? Then I think I'll finish the 2nd Queen of Cups sock so I can wear the silly things. A gorgeous new pair of socks can't help but brighten one's day a little bit more, right? I'm beginning to get a hankering to work on the Errold's Grove wedding shawl again too. I haven't touched it since the yarn had that unfortunate meeting with the vacuum.

So, for a first step in returning to knitting regularly--I'm going to finish nephew's Gator Mitts by the end of the weekend. Then I'll work on the Gator Scarf. That will leave just the two hats and I'll be done! The hats ought to knit up pretty quickly.

Knit Compliments

I received compliments on the sweater I wore to work on Friday. It's a simple bulky pullover from a mid 1990s Vogue Knitting and, for several years, was my default favorite sweater on a cold day. It began its life as a men's XL pullover from Land's End. Of course, it was large enough to fit me and at least one other person at the same time, so I rarely wore it. I got the wild idea to unravel it and knit it up as something I would wear. That was a pretty adventurous approach to my very first adult-sized sweater, if I say so myself. (Oddly enough, I think I'm less adventurous about my knitting now that I know how much could go wrong.) Anyway, in this particular case it worked out quite well.

My coworkers were amazed when I thanked them for complimenting my sweater and commented that I knit it myself. I thought they knew I knit, but either they didn't or they forgot. I showed off my handknit socks too. This started a really nice craft/hobby discussion. One woman crochets afghans for her grandkids. We all did cross-stitching at some point. Someone else would like to try quilting like her mom and grandmother.

At the group movie I went to after work, I knit on the Boy Scarf. This led to all sorts of amusing comments, particularly since the theater appeared to be unheated. One woman leaned over and asked if I could knit her a pair of socks because her feet were cold. I replied that I could, but they wouldn't be done before the movie was over. I did get a good bit of the Boy Scarf knit during the movie. (We saw Last Chance Harvey, which was very cute and not nearly as sad as I expected.) I even managed to join a second ball of yarn in complete darkness, which I thought was impressive. I might get this scarf done in the next week!

Brrrrr!!

It's a mite nippy here this evening. My mousing hand got exceedingly cold at work today, mostly because the heat was off at work and it was 15 degrees out at 8am. With any luck, the boiler will be fixed during the night and we'll have heat tomorrow. Nonetheless, I'm taking my mouse hand's fingerless glove tomorrow. I knit this glove over five years ago and I have always intended to knit its mate. I even left one of the DPNs stuck in the ball of wool so I wouldn't forget what size needle I used. Yeah. Never quite got around to that one. I am, however, infinitely happy that I have the mouse hand glove. (My mouse hand is always much colder than my other hand. I'm sure it's a positional thing and the glove does really help.)

Project Update
This will be easy. There's really nothing to update. The Boy Scarf is about a foot long. I haven't knit anything else. Nothing. Between traveling and being exhausted in the evenings, until tonight, I just haven't gotten anything done. This may or may not change in the near future. You see, I came across a free, open source 3D animation suite today and I really really really want to play with it. Knitting may get put off a bit. I really should finish the niece and nephew's cold weather stuff soon though or else we'll run out of cold weather! *sigh*

New Books
I did acquire several knitting books recently. I was given Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines and Poems of Color as gifts. I bought myself No Sheep for You and A Fine Fleece. I have carefully put them on my bookshelf and am avoiding looking at them so I don't start yet another knitting project before I get a few other things finished (like niece and nephew's cold weather stuff).

I'm Baaaaaack!

Can you guess where I went?
Knitting did happen on two evenings. I now have a scarf which is about 14 inches long. I did not knit while at any of the Disney parks. I was either too busy taking photos of my surroundings or riding rides where it would have been disastrous to drop a ball of yarn. The lines weren't very long at all, which wouldn't have allowed for much knitting either.

Although I didn't get any knitting done, I did start percolating ideas for knitting patterns based upon images, shapes and colors I saw in the past week. Flipping through the Delta in-flight magazine today spawned a sock pattern! I have some loose ends to tie up in the next week or two, but will get to work writing after that.

On Vacation!

I'm out of town this week. I do have knitting with me (a black wool/angora version of the One-Row Scarf, aka the Boy Scarf), but am not getting much done. I didn't even knit on the plane, mostly because I got sucked into a pretty good book and was taking photos of clouds out the window.

Anyway, hope you all have a good week! I'll be back soon.

Well, That's Over

I did not give any hand knitted gifts for the holidays this year. I didn't even get the eyes sewed on the Caterpillar Scarf. I had hoped to finish at least the first Gator Mitt while I was out of town, but I discovered that I was short a spare DPN, which made it rather impossible to finish the claws on the mitts. So I worked on my One-Row Handspun Scarf. I did manage to get it finished while I was away.

And then I felt really odd because I had no projects with me upon which I could work. It feels strange to be without a WIP after years and years and years of always having some project with me.

Anyway, here's my scarf. The yarn is Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in the color Ruby River. It's a mohair blend. Personally, I would rather it was a bit softer, but it's not uncomfortable to wear against my neck. I will use the other two skeins of this yarn (in completely different colors) to make two more of these scarves to give away as gifts or donations.

Weeding Out the Stash
I have bundled up a selection of spinning fibers to send to my stepmom. Right now that selection includes some domestic wool roving, cotton roving (short staple and long staple), undyed silk and two pounds of a teal/multi wool roving. The dyed wool roving was one I purchased at a fiber festival over five years ago. At the time, I thought it was very pretty. Now it doesn't appeal to me as much, but I think the colors would suit my stepmom very well, were she to spin the yarn for herself. In any event, I'm sure all the fiber I send will be put to good use.

Half a Gator Mitt Done

I have discovered that the pattern is full of errors though. The numbers don't work out and the thumb stitches are put on a holder in such a way that the working yarn divides the thumb hole into two smaller holes. I'm glad I noticed that one before I got more than a couple rounds past the thumb hole. Now that I've looked for it at the Morehouse Merino site, I see that there is an errata sheet for the Gator Mitts. I'm a little disappointed that the errata wasn't included with the pattern, but at least this confirms that the problem is their math, not mine.

I might get a mitt finished today. I could get another one finished by Tuesday. Definitely going to be short at least one scarf and one hat this year. Niece will have her mitts and scarf. Nephew will have mitts and a hat. The rest will get shipped later.

I Think I'm Giving Up

I knit half of a child's mitten cuff last night. I didn't even pick up the needles tonight. I just don't have the energy. Today I realized I am definitely coming down with a cold. I was in denial about it last night, but it's unavoidable today. Between my newfound cold, stress from work and a general lack of exercise, I don't have much energy at the end of the day. I really needed to get the mittens finished by this evening so I could get two hats finished this weekend and a scarf done next week. I don't know when I might have the brain and energy to knit in the evenings. Right now I'm more interested in poking myself in the eye with a pointy stick and/or sleeping.

Now the question is, if I give up knitting these things to be done by Christmas, do I still try to finish them and send them later (like in early to mid-January)? I suppose I should, since I bought the patterns and the yarn.

On that note, I'm taking my mug of hot tea and going to bed.

8 Days Left

And I've only got a pair of mittens, one scarf, two hats and a Boy Sock to knit. I'm even behinder than the Harlot!! My goal is to finish the 2nd Puppy Paw this evening. I'll cast on the Gator Mitts as soon as the Paw is finished.

Fortunately, Boy understands that his socks will be late. I saw Boy this past weekend, but didn't have a chance to get his toe re-done for him to try on. I debated sending the first sock when it's done but that would be silly if it fit, so I'll wait and send them both together. I suspect these socks will be my airplane knitting when I go on my trip in January.

My spinning wheel is not tempting me nearly as much as it tempted me last week. This is good. I'd never finish my holiday knitting otherwise.

And now back to watching Shadow of a Doubt. Joseph Cotton is one of my favorite actors.

No, Really. Must Start Soon.

I have 1.3 Puppy Paws finished. I suspect the new, improved Puppy Paws will now be waaaaay too big. I have started to rip out the toe of Boy's Sock. I'll see Boy on Saturday, so it would be nice if I actually got the toe re-knit by then so we can have a fitting. I also need to actually pack and get organized to head out tomorrow.

So, since I'm supposed to be knitting, I've been spinning a little bit each day instead. That makes all kinds of sense, right? This is the sort of logic that works best for me. Avoid what you have to get done and do other stuff with no deadline at all that you've not even been interested in for months. Maybe I just like the whirring of the wheel.

Regarding the spinning, I had intended to spin a 3-ply sock yarn, but I had also toyed with the idea of a 2-ply laceweight. Now I'm leaning more toward the laceweight and considering making a shawl or stole out of it. The downside to this is that the yarn will be variegated with a lot of difference between the colors. I don't like lots of variation in color in shawls. Maybe it will be socks afterall.

Must Get Cracking....

I haven't been knitting very much. Well, I added an inch or so to my new winter scarf, but that was mostly done while resting my eyes/brain on Saturday when I had a headache. I still have Boy Socks to finish (and I see Boy in one week), the Puppy Paws, the Pony Tail Hat, and all the Gator Gear for the niece and nephew. I won't mention Boy's Scarf. Given that I have other things I need to get done this week, I don't think I'll be knitting every night this week. I'll aim for getting the first Boy Sock re-knit so that it fits better and then have the fitting on Saturday when I see Boy. After that, I'll have to really get cracking on the Critters. The Gator Scarf might take me a while, especially if I'm having to adjust the pattern for the gauge I'll get with the yarn I've chosen. Boy will understand if his socks are delayed until late December or early January. The niece and nephew may not.

Cleaning House
I've been making good progress on some long-delayed de-cluttering in my house. I am probably going to weed out my stash as well. Some of it I'll just donate either to a charity that solicits yarn donations or I'll take it to GoodWill. I may try to sell some of the better stuff that I just don't think I'll ever get around to knitting. Having a large stash is great, as long as it doesn't loom over you and make you think you aren't doing enough with it. I have, at least, managed to catalog it in an Access database.

Scarves

So, the Caterpillar is finished (except for having its eyes and antennae attached). Everybody who has seen it says it's really cute. As always, I added a few modifications. The pattern, as written, has two sizes for the body segments. I actually stepped down the size on the segments from the middle to the tail. I also had to adjust for having a tighter gauge than the pattern specified.

This is my soon-to-be winter scarf. I'm using the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf and Mountain Colors Mountain Goat yarn in Ruby River. The other two skeins are Juniper and Wild Raspberry. I'll turn them into One Row Scarves too and then give them away. I'm thinking I may turn a lot of my miscellaneous wool yarn stash into these scarves and then donate them. Either that or I'll make them into felted berets or other hats.

Yes, now that we're coming down to the wire for getting holiday knitting done, I'm feeling the urge to do a lot of charity knitting. This happens every year. I blame the cold weather. I love cold weather and snow, but I dislike being cold. I have the luxury of lots of warm clothes and a warm house, but not everybody is that lucky. So when it gets cold, I feel the urge to make lots of warm stuff for people who may not have any warm stuff of their own. It just seems like the thing to do.

Caterpillar Done!

But now the puppy paws need to be ripped out. I'm not sure which size I knit (the book and mittens are at home, but I'm not), but they're too short. I had my niece and nephew try them on over the weekend and they didn't fit either one of them. That's easy enough to fix. I'll undo the seam and rip back just to the thumb area, then add an inch of length. I'll make sure the gator mitts are nearly as long.

Ripping Ripping Ripping....
I discovered last week that I don't actually have a winter scarf any more. I apparently gave away all the fabric ones. I did knit a lace one over a year ago, but didn't like it as much as I'd hoped so I gave it away too. So I got out a ball of Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in the Ruby River colorway and set to work knitting myself the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf. I initially cast on 42 stitches. I knit several inches and then couldn't decide if it was wide enough. Finally I decided to rip it out and cast on 50 stitches. That was definitely wide enough.

You might guess what happened next.

Yep, not long enough. So I ripped a completed, but too short scarf out on Saturday night and started over. With the original 42 stitches.

Fortunately this is luscious yarn and a quick-knitting pattern. I should have myself a yummy warm scarf by the end of the week, which is good.

Because Boy has indicated that he might like to try wearing a winter scarf if I could find some soft, non-scratchy warm yarn. (I have two balls of Takhi Sable, which is 70% merino, 30% angora in jet black.) I really need to get the Boy Socks finished too.

She's Come Undone!

Last night, I frogged the Caterpillar Scarf back to the first body segment's increases. I decided that four inches was just far too narrow for even a five year old's scarf. I got a text message from my sister today telling me that she thought four inches was too narrow as well. Of course, I had already re-knit the first body segment by that point. I suppose it would be even better if the scarf was six inches wide, but I'm not sure I want to re-knit it again. Maybe I should let it sit for a while and work on one of Nephew's Critters instead, like the Gator Mittens.

Shawl Cravings
The desire to knit shawls is growing in me again. This may well be growing out of the chilliness in my house in the evenings. Snuggling under a shawl while reading or writing or knitting would be just enough extra warmth to keep me from having to bump the thermostat up a few more degrees. I should really finish the Errold's Grove Wedding Shawl before I start a new shawl project. The shawl after that, however, will be a heavier weight one. I could use a bit more warmth than is afforded by a cobweb weight or lace weight creation. I have some cones of heavy fingering weight wool that should work nicely. I'll troll my queue on Ravelry and see what I've already had in mind as a future project or I could just dive right in to MMario's Spanish Armada. I'd jump into the Queen Anne's Lace Shawl, but that's going to be another cobweb weight yarn and I really do want a heavier pattern than that.

Oooooh! I know! I'll finish up my holiday knitting and then start on Spanish Armada as my reward, regardless of the status of Errold's Grove. I'll just have to make darned sure I don't start to collect shawl/stole works in progress that stall out.

Working Out vs. Knitting Time

I have recently started setting my alarm clock for 4:30am in hopes of getting out of bed shortly after 5am and leaving for the gym around 5:30. I've only been trying this for two days. So far I've gotten out of bed at 5:15am and left for the gym around 6am. The end result is that I am setting my alarm clock 45 minutes earlier and getting ot the gym only 15 minutes earlier.

What's this got to do with knitting? No, I do not knit while running on the treadmill or lifting weights. But I am now going to bed shortly after 9pm instead of 10pm, which is cutting out an hour of possible knitting time. Dang it!

Caterpillar Progress....
I have finished the 4 large body segments. I am about to start the first of three small body segments. Now I'm worried that the scarf is not wide enough. I am, of course, not quite achieving gauge so my scarf is only 4 1/4 inches wide instead of 5 inches wide. I am now seriously considering ripping the caterpillar back to its head and adding 2-4 stitches to the longest rows and a couple extra rows to allow for the extra increases. I keep trying to tell myself that a 5 year old's neck isn't as tall as a grown-up's neck but the voice in the back of my head says it's too narrow.

Caterpillar is Inching Along....

Well, it was. I started it with an orange head and a pink body. Now I think it needs a pink head and tail and an orange body. I had only knit one body section and the head, so I won't be ripping out very much. It will be good knitting while I watch Blade Runner and Paths of Glory tonight. I had a thought the other night that it would be really funny/cute to add legs to each body segment and turn this into a centipede or millipede.

I think I'll finish all of Niece's critters before I start on Nephew's critters. These are really fun to knit and very fast to knit as well. The patterns are clearly written and well photographed. I really like that the whole set was put in a binder too.

Missing Mitt
Some time ago, I knit a fingerless mitt for my right hand. When I'm on the computer for an extended period of time, my mousing hand gets cold. My hypothesis is that the position of my hand on the mouse compresses the blood vessels so my right hand doesn't get as much warm blood as my left hand. The result is icy, numb fingers. The mitt really helped keep my hand warmer longer, along with regular re-positioning and flexing my hand. I had intended to knit a second mitt for my left hand, but never quite got that done.

I came across the remaining yarn recently. I think it is Paton's Classic Wool, but I'm not positive about that. I did, however, have the sense to leave one DPN stuck in the yarn ball so I know what size needle I used. Perhaps I'll get the second mitt knit after the holiday knitting is completed.

Too Cute!
I may have to learn how to crochet SOON. I was sent a link to this Snowman Coffee Cozy earlier this week. Isn't it just adorable? I can think of a couple of coffee junkies that could use these.

Two Paws Down....

Now I just need to figure out which of the critters I'll go for next.  Part of me wants to do the Gator Mittens because they'll be fast too, but then part of me says I ought to get one of the bigger projects (like a scarf) done instead and save the quick mittens for last.  Maybe I'll cast on the Caterpillar Scarf while I watch the shuttle Endeavor launch tonight.

An Almost Oopsie

One of the first pair of socks I ever knit was a pair of Lealt Socks from the first Vogue Knitting Socks book.  I knit them in a yummy orange yarn made by Stahl called Sunshine.  I don't wear these socks very often because they are very warm and a bit too thick to wear with most of my shoes.  I did end up wearing them a week or two ago and washed them this past weekend.  For some reason I had it in my head that this yarn was superwash so I didn't pay any attention when I put them in the washer and dryer.  I am almost positive that I have washed these socks in the washer before.  Apparently I was mistaken.  

The foot portion of these socks is now awfully short looking though it does stretch out enough that I can wear them.  They fit more snugly than they used to, but that's ok.  They were a bit too loose.  When I knit these socks in the early 1990s, I didn't really understand the concept of gauge.

Needless to say, I will definitely remember that these socks are NOT to be washed in the machine or dried in the dryer.

One Puppy Paw Down....Five and a Half Critters to Go!

I whipped through an entire puppy paw mitten last night in just a few hours. It was much faster than I expected. I should get the second one finished this afternoon or evening.

In the interest of time, I elected to go with acrylic yarn. The Niece had requested orange and fuschia for her Critters (Pony Tail Hat, Puppy Paws and Caterpillar Scarf). The Nephew will get a dark green Dinosaur Scarf, Gator Mittens and Dinosaur Hat. I still need to get felt or fleece for the pads on the puppy paws, the eyes on the scarves and the spines on the Dino hat. I think I have some black polarfleece somewhere in my fabric stash.

Surprisingly, I wasn't able to find a nice bright pink yarn locally. I found a light pink and a rose color, but nothing that approaches Barbie Pink. I settled for the light pink and then found two skeins of a bright pink at home that I had purchased for Niece when I intended to knit sweaters for Christmas. Fortunately it's a "no dyelot" yarn so I can get another skein of the hot pink when I do get to the sweaters and not have to worry about the new skein not matching the old one.

While out yarn shopping, I debated purchasing two skeins of the new (to me) Patons Stretch yarn. It's a cotton blend and I found two skeins in a nice green/khaki color. I picked a skein up twice to fondle it, but ended up deciding against purchasing it. Now, of course, I'm having some non-buyer's remorse. I may go back and buy it today. I wanted to double check to make sure I hadn't overlooked the bright pink yarn at this big box store anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Update: Yep, I overlooked the pink yarn. I found it when I went back today. It was hiding behind a stack of hanging freebie patterns. I now have an additional skein of the pink yarn, just for the Critters. And I succumbed to the Patons Stretch yarn. It was a treat for me just because.

Fuschia Socks!

I have finally finished the Fuschia Socks. I cannot remember what yarn this is. I'm nearly positive it is not Mountain Colors. I'm pretty sure it's also not Lorna's Laces, but beyond that I don't know. It is wool and a light worsted weight. Anyway, my feet are quite toasty at the moment, which is quite nice.

I wove in the ends on the Fawkes Socks while I was at it and I might just weave in the ends on the one Slippin' Stripin' Sock I finished from Sock Madness 2. I've got a pair of socks I need to mend as well. I managed to rip a hole in the bottom of one foot. Part of me says to just let it go since the socks are at least 5 years old, but the other part of me says the tops have plenty of wear left in them and it's just a little hole right now. No doubt the mending part of me will win.