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.

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.

Finished: Augustine Shawlette

I finished the knitting portion of my Augustine Shawlette on Sunday and by Tuesday it was blocking and finally today I took some pictures.  I love the way this turned out.

When it came off of the needles, it was all curly and the dropped stitches were tight.

It blocked beautifully.

And here it is finished.  I ended up doing ten full repeats because I was worried that if I did an eleventh, I’d run out of yarn.  I was weighing it the entire time, but somehow, I wound up with a quarter of my skein left at the end!  I think that some of the yarn might have been a bit thinner in parts of the skein.  Could I be making that up?

I really loved this pattern.  I really love dropping stitches and seeing the results like this.  This yarn, Kraemer Yarns Sterling Silk & Silver, was nice to work with and I love the sparkly result.

Beginnings: Augustine Shawlette

I started my Augustine Shawlette almost two weeks ago and was out of town for almost an entire week with little to no knitting time.

So this is all I have.

But I am loving this pattern and I hope to find some solid knitting time to watch it grow. Comments on the other projects seem to indicate it only gets better when you start decreasing and dropping stitches to open up the stitches between the long rows.

I’m using my Kraemer Yarns Sterling Silk and Silver that I got at Yarn Garden. I love the subtle sparkle in the yarn.

WIP Inventory

In the spirit of actually finishing some of my projects, it was time for an inventory of my current works in progress so I can really see how far I’ve come and how much knitting I’ll be doing to finish them.

Last night I decided to frog my second pair of toe up socks. I love the Mini Mochi but I think it will be best used on a different project maybe a Spectra (if only my hands could knit as quickly as my brain plans!).  The only thing I really loved about this particular project was the name Our Stock Would Plummet because they were toe up. Get it?

Anyway, I have another sock project still on the needles that I will finish one day (can you sense my lack of enthusiasm for socks?).  Right now, they are 25% complete.

I also have this Fishtail Lace Scarf that I started last April that I’d like to prioritize and finish. It’s 30% complete.

I love the color of this Kauni yarn and can’t wait to see it finished and blocked. This one requires a bit more attention so I prefer to knit this while I’m watching mindless TV.

I have my Honey Cowl which is half way there and could probably be completed within the week or so depending on the kind of knitting time I have.  This is great for movies.

And finally my One Row Lace Scarf which I’ve mostly been knitting on airplanes and long car rides where I’m the passenger because it travels so easily. It’s an easy lace pattern and it doesn’t take up any room in my bag.  It seems like I’m traveling so much but mostly I’ve been driving which makes knitting impossible.  It’s 40% complete.

All of a sudden, I feel like I can finish these projects and get started on new things. Taking inventory and frogging that half a sock really made me feel great. Hopefully I can get in a lot of knitting today.

The finished DNA Scarf

Friday over lunch I finished the seed stitch border and got the DNA Scarf blocking as soon as I got home from work.

And now my dad can take his scarf home with him today. He tried it on last night after we got home from a day filled with many things like running at the indoor track, shopping at TJ Maxx and grocery shopping for a delicious dinner. The finished scarf is about six feet long and five and half inches wide.  I did twelve cable pattern repeats and omitted the ribbing at the neck so it was more like a traditional scarf.

Look! He struck a pose in his new scarf!

I have this bad knitting habit

I am making great progress on the DNA Scarf.

Tonight I should finish up the tenth pattern repeat and start on the eleventh (hopefully).  Tomorrow night I’ll have a lot of knitting time and finish the eleventh and will see if I have enough yarn for a twelfth repeat.

Even thought it’s taking me a while to knit, it’s totally worth it.  It’s such an interesting pattern and the DNA cables look great.

So I’ve fallen into bad habits.  Even though I have a few other projects I’d like to finish like my honey cowl and Fishtail Lace Scarf, I started looking through patterns on Ravelry with my stash in mind.

I keep thinking about how sparkly and pretty this yarn is and how I need a pretty shawl made out of it’s loveliness.

And I found what I think will be the perfect pattern. The Augustine Shawlette stuck out and I kept going back and forth and telling myself to be patient. I love the way it drapes and the way it can be worn loose like a shawl or tighter like a scarf.

My curiosity got the best of me and I had to read the pattern.  So I bought the pattern the other night just so I could read it.

I clearly cannot start this project but I couldn’t help myself.  It’s such a bad habit because there is so much joy in actually wearing the finished objects and I can’t keep tempting myself with new projects.

I guess there are worse habits.

Progress and a goal

I’ve made quite a bit of progress on my two most recent projects.

My Honey Cowl is coming along very nicely.

As I knit the first few rows before the pattern and was a little worried that I selected the wrong yarn but the color changes make the pattern even more interesting.

I’ve also completed over three repeats of the pattern in the DNA Scarf.

I predict that I will have twelve pattern repeats (maybe fourteen?) by the time I near the end of my yarn.  I’ll probably weigh my yarn when I finish this section to be sure.  My goal is to have this completed and blocked in two weeks.  My parents will be visiting and I want to give this to my dad. I’m hoping by writing this out, I take this goal very seriously.  We shall see!

WIP: DNA Scarf

Well I’ve finally started a DNA Scarf for my dad. I mentioned back in the fall that I thought he’d love it. After that post my dad said that he’s worked with Dr. Thomas Montville, the original commissioner of this pattern. So even better.

My dad picked the redwood mix colorway of Berroco Ultra Alpaca and I’m knitting the scarf on size six needles.

I’ve worked on this two nights and I’ve finished one repeat of the pattern.  I had to rewrite the directions a bit so it would be easier for me to follow but I’m finding a groove. The twenty stitches of the DNA cables in the center are made over about 36 rows.  Each row is different so I’ll really being paying attention to this one.

So far so good!

2011 Project Recap and 2012 Goals

2011 was a really satisfying year in knitting for me. I finished 20 projects.

From right to left starting at the top:

1. Star Crossed Slouchy Beret; 2. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 3. Killington Scarf; 4. Stitch DC Infinity Scarf; 5. “Spring” Baby Headband; 6. Sunday Market Shawl; 7. Cable Braided Necklace; 8. Pretty Twisted; 9. Saartje’s Bottees; 10. Quick Cable Slouch Hat;
11. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 12. Baktus Scarf; 13. Alice in Wonderland Gloves;
14. Boneyard Shawl; 15. Sun Kissed Neckwarmer; 16. Honeycomb Hat; 17. Easy Cable Headband; 18. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 19. Berry Baby Hat; 20. Lady Kina

I am almost finished with my Bow Headband and it should be my first finished project of 2012. I’d also like to finish a few projects that are currently on my needles:

1. Fishtail Lace Scarf; 2. One Row Lace Scarf; 3. DNA Scarf

And start (and finish) a few other projects from my Ravelry queue:

1. MC2; 2. $5 in Paris; 3. Shalom Cardigan; 4. Dolores Park Cowl

There will be other projects and hopefully this will be a prolific knitting year.