Another finished object

I finished my angora hat!

Isn't it gorgeous! But, notice how this is not a picture of it sitting on my head? There happens to be a very good reason for it. . . it looks ridiculous. It's too small. It will fit on my head but doesn't make it anywhere near my ears. I'm not about to tear it out since it's angora and I think the yarn would look like crap if I do. So, I'm making a skirt for my niece soon so maybe when that's done I'll send this up there with it as a present for my nephew. It'll probably be way too big though. We'll see.

So, a warning to my sisters who have the same pattern and kit. . . When it says knit until it's 5 inches long, you should really knit until it's 6 or 6.5 inches long!

Cabled sleeves

I have not worked on the sweater for my husband in quite a long time. I also have not been to my knitting group in quite a long time. So I figured what better project to work on when I finally went back to a meeting. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out exactly how the little tick marks I had made on the side of the pattern actually related to the pattern itself. Once I got myself all straightened out, I talked myself into frogging it before I finished a row. I've decided that I just really hate the cable pattern on the sleeves. So, I put it down and worked a little on the angora hat I've been slowly making progress on. I think I managed to put on 1/2 an inch (hey it's a lot when you're catching up with people you haven't seen in over a month!)

I am super excited about my new project. I'm going to make Hip in Hemp from the new knitty for my adorable niece! I called my LYS yesterday and they carry the yarn. They had everything I needed except for one skein. They sent out some sort of listserv e-mail thingy out to the knitting shop community and found what I needed within the hour! Now it's being sent to them and I will get a call as soon as it comes in. I'm busting to start it! I hope to have the yarn in hand by the middle of next week. Hopefully the fact that my niece is growing like a weed will be enough motivation for me to finish it really quick.

A finished project!

I actually finished a project this weekend! I made a baby quilt (almost 2 baby quilts). This is one of them:

The second one looks exactly the same, but I've only got the top pieced for that one. I had a litle problem. The pattern I had has a yellow center for the squares, but I choose a blue pooh fabric. So everything that was blue I switched with a yellow fabric and vice versa. I didn't quite realize that I would wind up with a whole bunch of yellow together. It turned out very girly even though they're both for little boys. But whatever, they're still cute and cuddly!
There was some issue about how to attach a label since it's minkee fabric on the back. I decided to buttonhole stitch it on with the hopes that that would hold a little better than regular applique.

OK, I'm off to finsh the other one, unless chores get in the way, which will probably happen!

Picture pages, picture pages, lots of fun with picture pages

OK, here are a few pictures with no updates from my last post cause I haven't even picked up a set of needles since then.

First of all, here is a picture of my husband's sweater. At least part of it. This is the back.
Here's the beginning of one arm. Yes the arm is supposed to be another color, see! The picture is pretty horrible, but there is a cable running down the arm. It's 3 cables, the ones on either side pass under the middle one making it look like it's just pinched.
And now the hat that I got as a kit when me, my mom, and my sister went to a quilt festival. It was supposed to be solid yellowish, but I was getting bored with it and I added a green stripe. Unfortunately it's getting quite a ladder when I change needles. I seem to have gotten a little lazy about 10 rows ago and didn't realize it until I went to take pictures. Oh, and the yarn is in a yarntainer I got from my mom as part of my birthday present. It's pretty handy already.

This is the yarn I spun all by myself! It's my first attempt so I didn't quite get it even. And there's less then 20 yards so I have no idea what I'll do with it. This is the yarn from my sister that I got as a Christmas/birthday present. I think this will become a hat. I need to spin something that coordinates to have enough for a hat though. If you can't tell, that's an orange and a brown spun together along with a shimmery orange strand. It's really nice and a yarn I can actually use to make MYSELF a hat since it won't clash with the red hair! I can't wait.

That's all for now. More stuff when I get around to it. My husband and I are trying to get our house ready to sell though so there isn't much in the way of free time here. I just spent all day today power washing our deck. It looks gorgeous and I have nothing else to do until 8 tonight, but I just don't seem to have the energy to actually knit. I think I'll lay on the couch and veg out for a few hours!

I swear I still knit

Really I do! But for now you'll just ahve to take my word for it. No FOs in a long time. But that's ok, I've had far too much other stuff going on in my life. My husband finally came home from Iraq, which of course required a week long celebration (read: sat around the house for a week, didn't go to work, didn't knit, didn't read, didn't watch movies, just spent time with him). Then I just had my graduation this weekend. While that doesn't really explain the lack of knitting given that my sister is even more of an obsessive knitter then me. But, we spent one day with the kids being scientists and the other at graduation.

That still doesn't seem to cover all the time since my last post (how many months ago was that?). So, I have been doing some knitting. I'm working on an angora hat, which got stalled for a while when I got so bored with the color and decided it needed a stripe and it took me forever to get to the yarn store. I'm still working on my husband's sweater. I finished the back and started a sleeve, but that also got delayed until I went to the yarn store because I needed some not-so-slippery cable needles.

I've also delved into the world of spinning. Last time I was visiting Long Island, my sister gave me a 5 minute crash course where I found out that I wasn't really drafting the fiber. All problems solved! I finished a skein of 17 feet. I really thought with all the work I put into it it would have to be enough for a hat, but it was a scrawny 17 feet!! Oh well. I started another skein, this time spun quite a bit thinner. It's roving I got when Joshua and I went to Jamestown for a day during our week of celebration. We'll see how much I have and if I can make anything from it.

The rest of my time has been devoted to reading and flyball. Thanks to bookmooch I have more reading material then I could ever want. And flyball is just about the most fun you can have with a psychotic, ball-crazed dog. Trapper is still just learning, but we sure have a blast at class.

So, my birthday/graduation just past and I got some fantastic presents. My little sister didn't get me anything, but she's excused cause she brought me 5 or so Marian Keyes/Helen Fielding books to borrow for a while. My parents got me a double helix necklace and bracelet from Cold Spring Harbor for my birthday. My graduation present is going to be a quilt storage chest! My older sister gave me some hand spun yarn (that matches my Christmas present). I should have enough now to almost make a hat, I'll probably have to do trim in a coordinating color. I really want to spin something to use with it so it's totally hand spun. Then for graduation she gave me (then quickly took back) a half finished shawl. It has a double helix down the center and lace panels on either side. It will be gorgeous when it's finished. I think it was a mustard yellow color but it may have been more green, I can't quite remember.

I'll try to remember to take some pictures tonight and post something a little more fun (but I added hyperlinks this time so you all can play around a little).

Fetch this!

I finally finished the fetching mittens that are supposed to take 2 days to make. Here's a top and bottom view:

Pattern: Fetching

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Needles: Size 6 double points

Now Blogger is totally messing up the spacing of this post, I hate it when it does that! Anyway, they turned out great. They don't need to be blocked, but I think I'll block them anyway since the top edge is a little curled and it looks messy when it's supposed to look like a nice picot edge. I'm very happy with them and they'll keep my hands nice and warm while I work in my freezing office. The pattern warns that it uses just under a ball of yarn and many people don't have enough with just one ball. Luckily I bought a second ball cause I ran out with 2 rows left on the thumb! And that's with weaving in my ends and using the scraps to knit the first 2 rows of the thumb. I'm going to attempt a skull cap hat with the rest of the ball and see if I have enough. Probably not, but it's worth a shot. OK, back to Joshua's sweater.

No knitting to report!

I have not been able to knit anything except a few rows on Josh's sweater since I made my first fetching glove. But I have a good excuse. . . I've been very busy training for my half marathon. Now that it's over I'll hopefully have time to knit again. I'm looking forward to a solid 2 hours tonight (if the dogs let me, which I have a feeling won't happen). So stay tuned, I should have my second fetching mitten done soon!

Dr. Knitter

I have not had much time for knitting lately. I just *successfully* defended my dissertation, I'm now a Dr.! I know, you're all very jealous. The best part of being a Dr. . . .I'm finally able to get some knitting done. I got a little done on the baseball sweater for my husband and I'm working on a pair of fetching mittens that I can wear at work since they don't seem to heat my side of the building.

I finished the first mitten this afternoon:

And here's a picture of it in action:

I like it and it's a quick knit, but there is no shaping and I think it pulls across the palm a bit more than I'd like. One day I'll learn how to adjust patterns, but until then I guess I have to suck it up. That's it for now. I'll post a picture of a piece of the baseball sweater once I finish the front/back (I forget which one I'm working on). I've got about 14 inches of the 17 before the arm holes. I'm making progress, kind of.

Back to the old grind

Things have been great for me the past month or so and now it's back to normal life again. I went to visit my family for Christmas which was lots of fun. I got to meet my cousin's baby son, who is absolutely adorable and sings "Merry Christmas to you" (with the help of his amazingly drunk Aunt Grace, my mom).

At Christmas I finally got to give away all the presents I've been working on. There were a million and one soap sacks (which I think I already posted a picture of) with homemade lemongrass soap. The soap was a total success. I'm very happy with how it turned out and have been using it in the shower and next to all the sinks since it's been cured. The soap sacks are another story. While they looked beautiful and made a pretty packaging, they were unfortunately not so practical. Of course I didn't find this out until after I'd given it to all the woman in me and my husband's families. The soap sacks were being finished right up until Christmas Eve, nothing like some last minute knitting. The soap was made about 2 weeks before Christmas, but would need to cure until January 1st before anyone could use it. Not a big deal, I just had to warn everyone to wait a week to use the soap. I thought the problem would lie in the soap. It was my first batch of soap ever and I didn't know if it would actually lather up or clean things. It does both quite well and as an added bonus it is much more moisturizing than ny store bought soap. So, you're wondering what the problem is, aren't I good at building suspense. The problem: the cotton that I used for the soap sacks does not dry in 24 hours! You shower in the morning and use the soap in the soap sack then your supposed to be able to leave the soap in the sack come back the next day and repeat. However, you come back the next day adn you have a mushy bar of soap in a gross wet cotton thing. I came up with a solution: remove the soap from the sack and use it as a washcloth that can be well wrung out after every shower and almost dries. It works, but without the bar of soap in the sack it's pretty small and flimsy for a washcloth. So I came up with a new solution: knit a bigger washcloth. Which I did for myself I love it, but then I came across problem number 2 which is hopefully just a problem for me since the lovely people who lived in our house before us were horrible do-it-yourselfers. My soap dish, which is attached to the shower wall, is crooked. The front tilts up and traps a puddle of water in the soap dish which, yep you guessed it, doesn't dry out in 24 hours. So I still have mushy soap. It's making me go through my soap at a very very fast rate. I've never had this problem because I've always been a body wash kinda girl and just discovered the joy of soap thanks to my home made stuff and my friends Erica and Jan who taught me how to make it.

OK, onto the next present, with considerably less problems. I've already posted pictures of this as well, it's the pink felted bag for my niece. I was worried it would be too long or too short since it had been a few months since I saw my niece and she's growing like a weed. It turned out to be just right so I'm very very happy about that.

Now onto some new things with pictures (so much more interesting when there are pictures involved). First a hat for my sister. It's the Odessa hat from Magknits. I love it! I made this for my little sister, a newly recruited knitter thanks to the Reinbeck Festival.
Here's the hat:

Pattern: Odessa
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft, color taupe
Needles: 16" circular sizes 4 and 6
And here's a detail of the stitch pattern:

I think she liked it. She called me a few days ago and left a message saying that she was wearing it. She has a green jacket that I think it would go very well with. Plus she's got a new job at a hospital and has to look all spiffy at work and I think this is a nice sophisticated looking hat. I also made one for my friend out of a reddish color. She just moved from NY to Minnesota and I think she'll need many more cold weather accessories! I'm a little tired of the pattern now, but once I'm ready to tackle it again I may make one for myself, althought my husband says that I look like a Flapper in it. I don't mind that at all though.

Next project, a keyhole scarf for my mom. I forgot to get a completed picture, but here it is in progress, almost done:

Pattern: Keyhole Scarf
Yarn: Blue sky alpaca Brushed Suri, color: whipped cream
Needles: size 13
And here's a picture of the detail:

It's a herringbone stitch which was lots of fun to do. Again this is a project that I want to make for myself as well. And given that I got 2 skeins of yarn and only used one to make this I will be making one for myself as soon as possible.

I made out like a knitting bandit at Christmas. I got a knit item from my older sister (see below) and some beautiful yarn that she hand spun. I need to find a project for the yarn. I think one will just come to me soon enough though. My mom got me a ball winder and a swift along with yarn from when her and my sisters went to Reinbeck in NY and another festival in NH and some cedar shavings and muslin to make moth away satchels (which I desperately needed, again, see below). She was way too good to me this Christmas, but I'm not gonna say I didn't deserve it, I am the best person in the whole world!

My current projects are an irish hiking scarf for myself made out of a yarn I got when I was in New Zealand. I got the yarn long before I was aware of the proper storage and treatment of wool. I has been ravished by moths and I feel like I'm doing a felted join every few rows (it's not really that bad, but it is very frustrating). I'm making this because: 1. it's about time I made a nice scarf for myself 2. it's about time I used this yarn that I think I've had longer than any other yarn and 3. my older sister made me a great headscarf (calorimetry from Knitty) that will match this scarf perfectly! My other WIP is a sweater for my husband. The front piece is some ribbing on the bottom, then 15 inches of stockinette stitch before I do any shaping. That's 15 inches on size 6 needles. It's so incredibly boring!! I'm getting there though. I refuse to keep a tape measure with me until I actually get close because I was measuring every row and nearly ran myself through on a sharp needle after I knit 2 rows and it somehow shrunk. I'm just too impatient. Well I don't know exactly how long it is now, but it's about the length of the sheet of paper the instructions are printed on from the cast on edge. Lots more to go but I've got plenty of time before next winter.

That's the other thing that was fantastic this past month. My husband came home for a visit! He has been in Iraq for 6 months and I haven't seen him in 7 months. He had 2 weeks of leave and I was able to take the whole time off and spend it with him. We had lots of fun. We mainly just sat around the house and watched movies, which is how we normally spend our down time. He got to meet the new dog and seems to like him very much even though he barks all the time and is very high strung. The other dog remembered him and wouldn't leave his side the whole 2 weeks. It was adorable! We also went to a BBQ, had a BBQ (the weather was in the 70s despite it being the middle of January!), went out to dinner with friends a few nights, went to an art museum, went to a maritime museum, and saw Night at the Museum. Quite a museum filled 2 weeks! We had tons of fun but it went by too quick and he's already on his way back to Iraq. We're hoping he'll be home in another couple of months, but he may be staying a whole nother 6 months.

I'll post pictures of my headscarf from my sister and my current projects soon.

No knitting to post, sorry

I can't post any of my knitting pictures, but trust me they're good! Unfortunately they are all of Christmas presents and the only people who actually read my blog are people who are getting knit Christmas presents from me and I can't ruin the surprises! So, here's a picture of the pups being very ambiguously gay!!