Quick Beanie Break

I decided to take a break from another project so that I could make a hat for Mike.  I was beginning to worry that by the time I finally had time to make a hat to match his fingerless mitts that it’d be too warm.

Also I knew that knitting up a hat in the middle of the other projects that are on my needles would be quick and satisfying. I chose the Regular Guy Beanie because I knew I needed something simple for the yarn.

It turned out great.

I cast on 8 extra stitches because after reading some notes on Ravelry.  Knowing what I do now, I’d probably do 12 although it fits Mike perfectly.  It would have made the decreases make more sense even though I think it turned out good.

I’m pretty pleased with this project.  It only took a couple nights and Mike already wore it today.

 

Finished Baby Bear

It’s hard to post a lot when most of the things you are working on are going to be presents.  Not that everyone I know looks at this blog, but sometimes you just don’t want to ruin the surprise.

When I first bought this High Society Sock Yarn, I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with it.  It is very bright and colorful which always appeals to me but besides making socks (I haven’t finished the first pair that I started over two years ago) it wasn’t clear what I’d actually wear in such bright colors.

But then I realized it would make a great stuffed animal for my newest nephew and I found Susan B. Anderson‘s Baby Bear in her book Itty-Bitty Toys.

For my bear I mostly followed the instructions except that I increased the needle size to a US 5 and I waited until the end to put together all the parts.

The other thing I didn’t do was put a face on this bear.  I started with a nose and besides not liking covering his cute little yellow nose, I decided I didn’t like how my poor hand stitching made for a sort of scary face.

Knitting a whole project on DPNs is not my most favorite (see sock comment above) and you can see in some spots that the knitting could be a little bit nicer. But mostly I just love how he looks like a rainbow.

The pattern was so easy to follow and all of his parts look so great.  I especially love his cute little tail that took maybe five minutes to knit up.

Overall, I am very pleased with how he turned out.  I hope that he becomes a cherished toy that my nephew drags all around the house and snuggles with at night.

Lehigh Valley Yarn Stores

This past week I was traveling around the Lehigh Valley area in Pennsylvania and got to visit two different yarn stores.

First I went to The Knitter’s Edge in Bethlehem.

This was a really big store and it was so crowded with people knitting together and buying yarn and other supplies. The selection was amazing and I can see why it was so busy.  The staff was also very helpful.  I was excited to find they were having a sale on Noro and bought myself some Taiyo Sock and Kureyon.

My next visit was to the shop at the Kraemer Yarns factory in Nazareth.

I’ve bought and used Kraemer yarns for other projects and knew it was made in this town in Pennsylvania and on a whim I googled to see if they had a store since I was going to be there.  Their store isn’t huge but it is packed with their yarns.  I ended up getting some of their Perfection Worsted with the plan to crochet it into a granny square blanket.

First finished project of the new year: Fingerless Mitts

When we were in Savannah, the yarn we picked up was for Mike.  He request fingerless gloves and so I began searching for something to make for him once we were home.

One of my friends had made Camp Out Fingerless Mitts for herself and they turned out great. So I modified the pattern for Mike’s giant hands and this week I finished the second one.  He loves them.

2012 Knitting Recap

It’s really fun for me to look at all my projects from this past year.  Compared to 2011, I knit a few less items, but as a whole, I’m impressed with what I accomplished.

Starting from the top left here are the links to their project pages.

1. Super Simple Baby Tunic  2. DNA Scarf  3. Honey Cowl  4. Bow Headband  5. Cozy Cap  6. Augustine Shawlette  7. Owlie Hat  8. Nittany Lion Hat  9. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat  10.  Sunday Market Shawl  11. Inspira Cowl  12. My So Called Scarf  13. Dolores Park Cowl  14. Knitted Reading Glasses Lanyard  15. Dolores Park Cowl  16. Owlie Sleep Sack  17. Lady Godiva Cowl

As for those goals I set up last year, I’m never doing that again.  Two of the three things on my needles are still on my needles but I am not ready to frog them just yet.  And of the four items I wanted to knit, I managed to do one of them twice. I’m much better at deciding as I go because what I want and who gets gifts sort of gets decided along the way.

Update on two finished projects

I recently finished two projects that I’ve not yet posted pictures of here.

The first was a Sunday Market Shawl for the Secret Santa with my Bring Your Own Craft friends.

This pattern is awesome and I will probably use it again and again.  You get so much bang for your buck and it’s quick.  One skein of worsted weight Araucania Nature Wool and two weeks later it was done.  And it might have gone even faster if during those two weeks we weren’t traveling for Thanksgiving and our trip to Charleston and Savannah.  I just can’t say enough about this pattern.

The second finished project is my Lady Godiva Cowl made from yarn I got in Charleston. The pictures aren’t great but it is a nice, festive looking cowl.

By the way, I am never buying novelty yarn ever again.  Or at least not for a very long time.

Yarn from Charleston and Savannah

On our trip a couple weeks ago, I made sure that there were some local yarn store visits as a part of our plans.

In Charleston, we stopped at Knit. While I shopped around, Mike sat down and spent some time with the Schnauzers that were in the store.

They had a huge selection of yarns and everything was organized by weight.  Usually I try to buy something local to commemorate the visit but they didn’t have that much in the store while we were there. I looked at some of the store samples and decided to buy something completely out of the ordinary for me.

Alp Exquisite is a novelty yarn made with 30% cotton, 30% polyamid, 14% merino, 10% cashmere, 6% baby alpaca, and 5% kid mohair.

The pattern that came with the yarn is for a cowl that changes stitches every time the yarn changes.  I thought this would be pretty to wear for Christmas and decided to get it.  Knitting with it is kind of weird.  I’m not so sure I’ll be getting any more yarn like this any time soon, but I am loving the results.  If today goes as planned, I should have it finished tonight.

In Savannah we went to The Frayed Knot.

This store was much smaller than the one in Charleston but I loved it.  The people working inside were really friendly and pointed us to yarns from The Copper Corgi Fiber Studio made in Savannah.  Mike selected this colorway of a worsted weight yarn called Bloody ‘ell and has requested fingerless gloves.

Finished an Owlie Gift Set

My friend Jenna has a baby due to arrive on Christmas day.  Later this week, this adorable set will be arriving in the mail at her house so she has it ready for her new baby.

I knit both the Owlie Sleep Sack and a matching Owlie Cable Hat in Cascade 220 Superwash.

I stuck with the pattern for the most part for the sleep sack, except I knit the body to fourteen inches.  Here it is before blocking.  The cables needed to be better defined but otherwise, it was great.

And here it is finished.

With the hat, I made a few more modifications. Because I wanted it to match the sack exactly, I used a US 7 needle and changed to four purls between each owl. I think it turned out great too and as you can see, it just need a little blocking to make it perfect.

And here it is finished.  It’s definitely a bigger than newborn sized hat, but this way one gift will be able to be used for a little bit longer.

I’m so excited for my friend to get it and then see it on her new baby!

About that card catalog

Well, it’s finally almost fully finished and being used exactly as planned.

This is the story of my card catalog. After being washed down with stiff old towels cut into rags and Murphy’s Oil Soap, most of the grittiest dirt came off.  I was pretty sure I was not refinishing it and I’m glad I didn’t.  Sure, there are still some pencil marks and dents but it’s clean, useful, perhaps even charming with signs of years of use in the Cincinnati Public Library.  I love it.

I have it situated between the two windows of my room (man cave, studio, dressing room, whatever it’s being called).  I am not sure it’s the best spot aesthetically but it’s fine for now.  It’s a room with many different purposes that don’t always work together. That said, do I need curtains?  Because the windows look so naked.

Anyway, on top there are some knitting and photography books and this mega vase that I bought to store unused yarn ends.

One thing I’ve started to do is fill in the front of the drawers with yarn labels.  I haven’t done them all and will likely move them around for color purposes.  And I might end up tossing some out (how many Cascade labels will I need on there even if I knit with a lot of it?) as I use up more of the unique yarns in my stash.

So what’s inside? Well the whole bottom half is dedicated to knitting.

There are my needles.

And yarn, of course.

A lot of the drawers on top are still empty, except for the ones that have been set up to hold all of my jewelry.  Since most of jewelry is costumey and large, it was all shoved into a jewelry box and it was so hard to find anything.  I lined all sixty drawers of the card catalog with foam board so that the surfaces were level.  And in the row for my jewelry, I picked up a bunch of different organizers from The Container Store.

Sure it’s great that all my knitting stuff is in here.  But really, using the card catalog for jewelry storage has changed how I wear my jewelry.  I forgot I owned some of these things but I can find them now and actually use them.

This was such a great find and it makes me happy to see it every day.  It’s just so useful and so neat.

And now to find a use for the twenty plus drawers that are still empty.

1.5 Finished Projects

I say 1.5 because one of them really didn’t turn out how it’s supposed to and it’s not going to be able to be used for it’s intended purpose.

The first project turned out great and it’s recipient is a secret.  So if the person who will be getting it (a secret gift exchange among my friends) reads this, they’ll get a sneak preview.

This is My So Called Scarf made in Austermann Murano.  It was a quick knit which produced a nice, heavy fabric.  I love how the colors stripe in this yarn.

Here is my disaster.  It was supposed to be for a silent auction to raise money for scholarships for Penn State students but I can’t really expect that anyone would pay money for this hat.

I was so pleased with how it looked until I finished and both Mike and I tried it on.  It did something like this on both of our heads.

So I gave it a nice cold soak and tried to stretch it.  Which sort of worked on some of it but it’s still much too tight at the very top.

The wraps look nice inside.  It’s a shame they are too tight.

But I know it will fit a small kid head so it will get some use.

That’s okay but this is a learning experience.  I just think to raise money for scholarships, this would be a nice way for me to contribute, so I’ll try again for the future. Things I’ll do differently would include making the hat top so the decreases aren’t in the middle of the logo.  I might also try knitting it flat.