Finished Objects

In my last post, I mentioned that I have been doing a lot of knitting in my absence on my blog. So I thought I would update everyone on what I have actually accomplished in that time. I sometimes even amaze myself.

First up, the Sweet Pea Shawl that I did as a TEST/Sample knitting for hire. I don’t recall the yarn right now (I will look it up and post it later), but I can tell you that I loved it. I would definitely work with it again.

I also completed this One-Shoulder Tunic as a TEST/Sample knitting for hire project. This yarn is a new yarn that will be out soon, it is Atlante made for Naturally, and I believe it will be sold by Fiber Trends. I love this yarn too. It is so much fun doing TEST/Sample knits because I get to work with so many different yarns that I may not get to otherwise.

I also started two new projects, which I don’t have pictures of just yet. I started another Kitty Pi to match my newly redecorated basement, and I also started the Eye of Partridge Shawl. I will take some pictures of both of these and post them in the next few days.

I also still have my Central Park Hoodie on the needles, which hasn’t seen any progress since I have been trying to get these other projects completed. And I am almost finished with the MotherLode Socks, which seem to be taking forever. Hopefully, I will completed these socks before I start another pair.

Finally, happy mii

This weekend didn’t provide all the knitting time I anticipated, yes I joined a good friend of mine to knit Friday night and I got a lot accomplished, but knitting time on Saturday and Sunday was scarce. Saturday brought a nice visit with my in-laws to celebrate Steve’s b-day, and Sunday we got this.

Needless to say a lot of time was eaten up, but Steve and I had a blast. One thing I never expected was that the boxing would be one of my favorite games. Steve and I really worked up a sweat trying to knock each other out, and I kicked his butt in bowling. I also found out I suck at baseball, I was never good when I played softball when I was a kid so I sort of expected that. Now we need to decide what game to get next. We already put a deposit down on the upcoming Wii Fit which is due to come out in May, but we would really like to get at least one more game to keep us busy until that comes out. Any suggestions? We also purchased Wii Play, but neither of us were impressed with those games.

Even though I didn’t get the sweaters done this weekend I had some extra time at work today and I cranked out these babies.

I only had the buttons to add to Taylor’s, the pink one, and I had to sew on the sleeves and the buttons on Chace’s, which took longer than expected. As I went to sew on the second sleeve I realized that I didn’t do the decreases for the cap of the sleeve so I had to take out the bind off and frog back 8 rows. However, in just over an hour and a half I had both sweaters complete, and they will be going in the mail to my sister tomorrow.

Now I don’t have to feel guilty if I want to knit on another project. In addition, to the Central Park Hoodie, and Pink Fetchings, I am also working on a new sock pattern. I also have another shawl to finish up as a TEST-Knit so I will have plenty to keep me occupied. Although, I can’t see that I will be getting much knitting done at home in the coming weeks, with the new gaming system and all. Steve has already challenged me to a bowling tournament, and claims he was letting me win yesterday. We will just see about that. 
  

How can this happen..

As you may be aware I have been working on two sweaters, one for my niece Taylor and recently I started the matching sweater for Taylor’s twin brother Chace. I have just about finished Taylor’s sweater; all I need to do is sew on the buttons that I picked up yesterday.

It is a very cute sweater but I like the colors so much better in the version for Chace. I don’t think I had enough contrast between the colors in Taylor’s sweater. Live and learn. I am not knitting it again in different colors. She will still look very cute in these colors.

One thing that puzzles me is I am working with the same yarn, the same pattern, and making the exact same modification, but Chace’s sweater is almost an inch longer. I just pray that the arms will still fit on Chace’s sweater. I may have to make some additional modifications to get it to work out okay.

It just seems very odd that I can do everything identically and come out with something so much larger. Now, I am not complaining because it just might be that Chace can wear his sweater longer than Taylor can, but I just cannot believe there is that much variation. I realize that sometimes it has to do with how loose or tight you knit, but I can’t image I varied this much.

Anyway, I am glad to be nearing the completion point of these two sweaters. One thing that I have not had to worry too much with other projects is that in this case if I procrastinate to long on finishing the object the recipient will grow out of it before it is off the needles. I just hope that has not already happened.

Finished Objects

I am a little behind on posting these finished objects because it took me so long to get the pictures off my camera and into Flickr.com. I know that is no excuse, but anyway, here is what I have officially finished.

Roll the Dice Bag, here it is drying. The cool thing about felting is that if it doesn’t come out exactly the way you wanted it the first time you can throw it back in the wash for another go round. I had to do that with this bag as well as the ones to follow. I guess the first time I didn’t want to let them get too small, but I really like how they turned out in the end. These pictures were taken over Memorial Weekend, but I haven’t had a chance to take additional pictures because I felted them a second time over this past weekend, and they are yet again drying.

French Market Bag - complete and in use

Machine knitted Bag before and after felting

I also finished the Turquoise Socks and wore them too. I love making socks. I cast on two more pairs this week, and will have some pictures soon.

The Baby Jacket, which I started in January just after the baby blanket was complete, is finally finished and gifted as well. I also made some cute little socks to match. The color of the sweater is a really nice shade of lavender, but this picture just doesn’t do it justice.

This week I have also done some gauge swatches for three new sweaters. The Green Gable, which will be made with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in a berry color. I haven’t started this one yet, but hope to get started this weekend.  Day at the Beach Sweater in Twist by Knit Picks, I am not sure that I like this yarn, but I will probably make this sweater anyway. It looks like it would be great over a tank top on a cool night. I did start a sleeveless sweater with a cable in Aerie by Moda Dea. This yarn is so soft and yummy. I can’t wait until I finish this sweater so I can wear it. Pictures to come of all three as soon as I get more than just the cast on done.

So at this very moment here is what I have on my needles:

Brown Ribbed Sweater - a little further along on the arms, but still a ways to go.
Pink Short Sleeved Sweater - not sure I will ever finish this one, I don’t really like the yarn.
Pink & Green Basic Toe Up Socks made in Panda Cotton
Hill Country Sock Pattern Contest Sample Socks
Sleeveless Sweater with Cable made in Aerie
Green Gable - not started yet but soon to start
Day at the Beach Sweater - not started yet but soon to start

I can’t believe I cleaned up so many of my UFOs in just a few weeks. Now on to some new UFOs.

Chock-ful-of-knitting

I said there was going to be lots of knitting this weekend and there was. As I mentioned last week, I took Friday off and I started out the day by finishing my second pair of socks. I only had to do the kitchener stitch to finish them off so it didn’t take me very long.

 

Then for pretty much the rest of Friday I was experimenting with different stitches for the sock pattern I am working on for the Hill Country Sock Pattern contest. I started by graphing out a few different ideas and then I knit them up to see how I liked them. I think I finally found something I like and it is easily changed for different sizes.

On Saturday, I attended a crafting day with about 15 other ladies. Most everyone else was working on scrapbook pages or stamping cards, but of course I was knitting. After working on my third pair of socks with striped cables, I completed the assembly of the Roll The Dice Bag.

 

 

The bag still needs to be felted, which I hope to do tonight.

After finishing the Roll the Dice bag I got right to work on my French Market Bag, which was also near completion. I just had to complete the handles and graft them together. This bag is also completed except for felting.

 

One thing that I didn’t work on this weekend, but should have was the baby sweater I am making for a friend’s new baby. Since it is still in pieces I give you small little taste of it with the pattern. I will probably focus my attention on this for the remainder of the week in hopes that I can finish it up to give to her in two weeks.

It is a simple moss stitch, but it really turned out nice. I am even considering making myself a simple cardigan using this pattern and the same yarn, it is very light and would make a great spring or fall sweater.

The other projects that I also have on the needles but didn’t work on this weekend are the Brown Ribbed Sweater and the other felted bag that I knitted up on the sweater machine. I did work on the Brown Ribbed Sweater last week at knitting club, but the felted bag has been tucked away for quite some time. I started seaming up the bag a month or so ago, but haven’t like how it was coming out so I stopped. After seaming up, ripping out and seaming up the Roll the Dice bag 4 times this weekend I finally found a method that I like and I think I will also use it for this bag too. Which means there is going to be some ripping of the seam before I can make some more progress on this bag.

Needless to say I am well on my way to finishing up with my WIPs. Three down and four more to go. Okay, five if you count the pink sweater I started in January, but haven’t touch since. I have been thinking about just frogging it, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I will probably pick it up and work on it ever so often to finish it off, but who knows at this point. Or 6 if you count the socks, which I haven’t started for the pattern contest. Even so I have made some great progress this weekend, and I am feeling pretty good about it.

I even knit for most of the day on Sunday, but I don’t have much to show for it because it was all practice knitting, which we all need every once and awhile. I was working on the construction for my sock pattern. Having only done a short row heel once before I wanted to practice and determine exactly how I wanted it to look. Although I was able to complete a short row heel without a problem, I didn’t like how it was turning out so I kept trying different things until I got exactly what I was looking for. Then I had to write it out with enough detail so that anyone knitting the pattern would get the exact same result that I did. I took me at least 6 tries, but I am glad that I took the time to test it out. It was actually fun trying different things without feeling as if I was doing something wrong.

Hopefully there will be more knitting for me tonight. Steve and I have been saving up the episodes of Lost, Medium, 24, and Heroes so that we could watch the last few episodes of the seasons back to back. So this week will be jam packed with TV since some of the season finales are this week.

Finished Objects: Kitty Bed

Okay, did Mother Nature go on vacation or what? The weather here in southeast Michigan has been quite screwy this week. Tuesday I thought spring had finally arrived when the temperature was nearly 70 degrees, which incidentally is unseasonably warm for this time of year in Michigan, but I was happy that I didn’t have to wear a coat. Then this morning we wake up to a fresh layer of snow. WHAT! I knew the warm weather wasn’t going to last but this is ridiculous.

Anyway, it was very pretty and I am very glad that is it just about al melted now. I love winter and all, but hay it is time for spring, and I can’t wait much longer to see all the bulbs I planted last fall. It was my first attempt at planting spring bulbs so I want to see how the placement turned out, and I am starting to get impatient.

Here is a picture of what the snow looked like this morning, and because it was still pretty early the neighborhood was very quiet and peaceful. I wish I had time to just sit and enjoy it.

Enough about the weather, let’s get into the knitting talk.

I have another finished object to post. As I mentioned earlier this week, the kitty bed was done and was drying after being felted. Tuesday night it was completely dry and I put it out for the kitties to try out. At first no one really paid much attention to the new bed, which really disappointed me because I spent so much time making it. But it didn’t take long before they were actually fighting over it.

In fact, there has literally been a kitty brawl for control over the bed. Crystal, who mind you is this smallest of all my cats weighing in at around 7 lbs, was sleeping comfortably in the bed when Sami, who is twice Crystal’s size weighing between 14-15 lbs, came along and decided it was her turn to sleep in the bed. She basically pounced on Crystal, who promptly ran screaming from the bed. Sami was happy that Crystal was gone and immediately laid down on the bed very content with herself. Since then I have caught those two having words over the bed.

By the end of the first night everyone had spent some time in the bed, everyone except Mickey, who is a 22lb bowling ball of a kitty. I don’t think he could fit into it if he tried. I would have to make a bed twice the size for him to comfortably fit. Now, just two days later, it is very rare that I don’t see someone taking a snooze in the new bed, which encourages me to make additional beds so everyone has their own.

One thing this bed has solved is Crystals need to always be sleeping on either my lap or Steve’s. You see, Crystal has had a habit lately of always wanting to sleep on one of our laps while we watch TV. Since the bed has been completed we have been able to very easily coax Crystal into the kitty bed instead on our lap. That is until Sami comes along and tries to take over. Then it is back on the lap for Crystal while Sami sleeps in the bed. Soon we will have kitty harmony when there are enough new beds to go around.

Here are some pictures of all the kitties trying out the new bed.

Cody

Crystal

Sami

Marty

Lots of Knitting

With my mom in town I seem to find lots of time for knitting, and this weekend we did a lot. It all started on Friday, when my mom and I traveled to Canada for a day of knitting and fun with my Friend Janis.

Here is my mom working on her first project in the round, Convertible Mittens. She has picked up this technique quite easily, and she is already experimenting with changing the pattern slightly.

Here is Janis starting a French Market bag.

Diane also joined us late in the afternoon for some knitting time. She finised a beautiful purse, all she had to do was felt it. I can’t wait to see it once it is complete. Diane started her French Market Bag too.

For me, I finally finished the sweater that I started more than a year ago, and it turned out perfectly.

With both Janis and Diane starting a French Market Bag, I decided that I should go ahead and take the plunge too, so here is what I completed of my bag so far.

Then on Saturday, I worked on the bag I knitted up on the sweater machine. Here are a few pieces while I was sewing up the seam.

I also finished knitting the kitty bed, it is currently drying after being felted. This picture is when it was just a few rows away from being cast off.

And of course we must have kitty shots too. Cody was so happy to get the spot next to me on the couch that he didn’t care what I laid on top of him.

I probably would have gotten more projects completed, but I spent a lot of time on Sunday working on my knitting scrapbook. Like this blog I am creating a scrapbook of all my finished projects. I had at least 8 projects that I have finished earlier this year that I had not put in my book. Now I am caught up, that is until the kitty bed is finished later this week. And who knows what else I might completed this week.

That’s it for now, I will have a picture of the felted kitty bed as soon as it is dry. More knitting on the way for me, this week I hope to finish my brown and black ribbed sweater, as well as make some good progress on the French Market Bag. I also want to start a pair of socks on two circular needles.

Hope you all have a great knitting week. I know I will be enjoying my knitting time.

Progress Update: Socks FINISHED

Well, I finished my first pair of socks. Actually, I finished them last Sunday, but this is the first chance I had to post a picture.

They are a little big, but I hope that I will be able to shrink them a little, does superwash wool shrink?

The first one I cast on 76 stitches, and after finishing it I decided it was a little big so for the second I cast on 72, which I have found out is still a little too big. Oh well, better luck next time.

Anyway, I still wore them and felt mighty proud with my accomplishment. The next day, I talked to one of the ladies at my LYS and she said that she usually chooses one size smaller than what she thinks she might need. Now you tell me! But I would rather my socks be a little big then too tight to get on my foot. At least this way I can wear them. It was definitely a learning experience and I do love my socks even though they kept falling down and were very loose around the ankle.

I will be casting on for my second pair just as soon as I can clean up som of the other WIP items I have had on the needles for awhile. I am nearly done with my snowflake sweater, which was my first attempt at fair isle. I hope to have it completed soon. I haven’t made any progress on the brown and black ribbed turtleneck, because I was so dedicated to finished my socks.