Tag: WIP

FO Friday: Socks for K

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January 18, 2008

2:21 pm

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I was catching up on one of my mailing lists yesterday, and I realized that I’ve pretty much managed to avoid a problem that seems to plague knitters everywhere.

Unappreciated Gift Giver Syndrome.

Those of you who have experienced the UGGS know the symptoms all too well. Aching hands and tired eyes (from hours of knitting), only to have your beautiful gift insulted, abused, or sent off to the local thrift shop, leading to sore throats (from screaming about the unfairness of it all) and strange bruises (from kicking walls, curbs, or other stationary objects in an effort to relieve the frustration).

In these post-holiday weeks, scores of tales of knitters (and crocheters) suffering from the UGGS have appeared on mailing lists and blogs and Ravelry boards.

I have avoided this by protecting myself from the sole disease vector: I very rarely knit for other people. I knit for myself, and if I don’t like it when it’s done, well, I’m not insulted. And I knit for the Little Miss, who, being pre-verbal, can’t complain about what I give her. From time to time, I’ve knit for K, who reminded me several times before the holidays that I still hadn’t knit her a pair of socks.

How could I refuse a wish for handknit socks, I ask you?

So, I cast on in mid-December, and before midnight on New Year’s Eve I was able to present these to K:

 

100_1735.JPG

 

  • Pattern: Retro Rib socks, from Favorite Socks
  • Yarn: Lime & Violet Sasquatch Superwash in Connect 4, from the Loopy Ewe
  • Needles: Set of 5 Brittany Birch size US1.5 dpns, one of which snapped just rows from the end of the toe of the second sock.  They’re sending a replacement, because they are spiffy that way.
  • Comments: I really liked this yarn, and I really liked this pattern, although I always wonder if ribbing is easier for those who knit Continental.  I’ll have to try it sometime.  I liked the yarn and the pattern so much that I’m working up a matching scarf for K, using the pattern from the ribbing at the cuff, on US3 needles.  That may be ready for next winter.

I haven’t cast on a new pair of socks yet.  I’m still hard at work on the Hooded Jacket – all the way up to the beginning of the hood now.

WiP Wednesday: Hooded Jacket

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January 9, 2008

5:54 am

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Sometime early last year, the Black Sheep Knittery had a ridiculously big sale on their entire in-shop inventory. By the time I got there, a lot of stuff was gone, but I did manage to walk out with this:

 

DB Cashmerino Aran

Two bags of Cashmerino Aran in a pretty shade of gray. I wanted to make the Cardigan for Arwen, and I decided to make a hooded jacket for Little Miss to go with. There’s a cute pattern in Simply Baby for a hooded jacket with a single button closure, made from Cashmerino Aran. Perfect.

Of course, time passed, as it does. I realized I was not going to have enough yarn, so I managed to find 4 balls of the same dye lot from someone on Ravelry. More time passed. I realized that my baby, who at 9 months was the size of the average 18-month-old, was going to quite quickly be too big for the jacket.

So, I cast on.

 

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I’m hoping to get this done with time for her to wear it before the weather gets too warm. I am not likely to finish Arwen anytime soon (especially since I haven’t started it), but at least the baby will get a cute hooded jacket.

Stashdown 2008

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December 14, 2007

11:11 am

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Last night, as I was outlining a candy cane in Santa’s pocket, I discovered a mistake.  Three little red stitches, painstakingly placed… one stitch to the left of where they should have been.

I adjusted the outline and moved on.  I am so not ripping out three stitches less than two weeks before Christmas Eve.  I did, however, rip out two French knots that have been bugging me ever since I did them.  They looked sloppy and wrong, and they will be redone.

While my crafting energies are focused on the stocking, I’ve also been fiddling with my Queue over on Ravelry.  I’ve been matching up projects in my Queue to yarns in my Stash, and I discovered that I already have the yarn on hand for 30+ projects, including two sweaters for Little Miss that may not go up to an appropriate size now.

Given this situation, it’s time for a Stashdown.  In the New Year, I’m going to focus on the projects I’ve lined up and the yarns I’ve got tucked away.  I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Progress, Progress

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December 13, 2007

10:46 am

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Checking His List Progress

 

I’ve been trucking along on Checking His List. The cross-stitching is done (except for several rows at the top, where Little Miss’ name goes), and I’ve backstitched the little bunnies, the bag full of toys, and Santa’s legs. My goal is to finish by Monday, including cutting out the frontpiece and the two felt pieces, so that it can be all sewn up before next Friday.

I always think the backstitching will take longer than it does.  (I hope I didn’t jinx anything now!)  As I got down into the bottom half of the cross-stitch chart, K kept saying, “You’re almost done!” And I kept saying, “No, I still have all the backstitching.”

“Skip it,” she suggested.

But now that those little yellow blobs have outlines that make them look like stars, the glory of backstitching is apparent.

While I work on this, I keep eyeing the three skeins of Smooshy that arrived earlier this week.  Lovely, lovely yarn.  But there will be no knitting until this stocking is done.

Pictureless

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December 5, 2007

7:09 pm

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I meant to take a picture of Checking His List this morning, I really did.  It’s coming along nicely.  I’m way down at the bottom, stitching in the toys in Santa’s bag.

I am well aware that it’s less than 3 weeks ’til Christmas.  Maybe I should have bought that little pink Baby’s First Christmas stocking I saw at the grocery store.

I’ve been so wrapped up in cross-stitch these days, in fact, that I missed the deadline to download the final clue for Secret of the Stole, but DK emailed me a copy.

I have to say that the SotS knitalong was really excellent.  The pattern was lovely, the guessing game for the theme was fun (although, man, I was way off on those first few clues), and DK has been wonderful in offering advice and support through the Yahoo! group and commenting on individual members’ blogs.  I’m already signed up for SotS-II.

But, first, the stocking.

WiP Wednesday

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November 7, 2007

2:10 pm

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I had Halloween off from work, so, while Little Miss napped, I finished clue #3 of Secret of the Stole.  I seem to be falling farther and farther behind.  And I’m okay with that.

 

Secret of the Stole Progress

I have no idea what the theme is.  For a while, I thought the large motifs might be flowers, and then someone said they looked like spiders, and that’s all I could see for a while.  And that little X at the top looks sort of like, well, one of those guys who waves in the airplanes at the gate.  I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

Last week, something very bad happened to my lovely MacBook, and the widget that was counting down the days until Christmas Eve went with it.  (Since my iBook is still running Panther, there are no widgets on that one.)  But even without the clock, I know there’s not much time left, so all crafting efforts are currently focused on one thing:

 

10/25/07

 

That’s “Checking His List”, as of two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve finished the red portion of the coat and started on the trim. I might manage to finish this stocking yet.

FO Friday!

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October 19, 2007

1:03 pm

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pinwheel

That’s the Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket, all done and washed and dried and laid out and sat upon by the cat and brushed off and taken away from the cat and laid out again.

I put a bit of a rush on it early in the week so I could take it to a meeting on Wednesday to show the folks who might want to purchase it at next month’s fundraiser.

Pattern: Genia Planck’s Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket, a KnitList pattern I found through Ravelry.
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Colonial and Williamsburg, a bit less than one skein of each.
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size US10.5, with a cord that just kept getting longer
Modifications: None
New Technique(s): I used the Lighter Circular Beginning (scroll down) to cast on.

Since I was pushing to finish the baby blanket, I thought I was going to fall way behind on Secret of the Stole, but I finished Clue 2 this morning while Little Miss was napping.

 

Secret of the Stole, Part II

The picture quality isn’t very good. The sun was a little too bright for the light yarn on the white blanket. I’ll get a better one after I finish clue #3, which I’ve just printed out.

Clue #1, Done

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October 8, 2007

3:44 pm

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Bright and early on Friday, I downloaded the first clue for Secret of the Stole. I like a pattern that begins by advising, “DO NOT PANIC.” Always a good sign. I did not panic, and I was glad to see that my inability to wind my hank of laceweight into a single ball actually turned out to be a good thing.

Over the weekend, this:

 

Materials

turned into this:

 

Clue 1

I had a little issue with the beads.  I didn’t bother to look up the technique for attaching them, and I was several beaded rows in before I learned that, no, you’re not supposed to knit the stitch first.  I’ve decided to go with it.

I think next week’s clue will go a little more slowly, since I’m working Friday and Saturday, and knitting lace is definitely not an appropriate activity for the Reference desk.

Wednesday Again?

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October 3, 2007

7:02 pm

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Oh, I have been busy. But first, an important announcement.

Very, very soon (like, this weekend) Aimee is doing the Lupus Walk. This is a cause near and dear to my heart, so you know I’ve already contributed. She’s getting closer to her fundraising goal, but let’s push it over the top. Besides that warm and fuzzy feeling of doing some good, you could win a prize!

Go, Aimee!

Things have been a little rocky on the health front around here, too, lately. Not, not me, or K, or Little Miss – we’re all fine. (Aside from the pain of teething, that is.) K’s mom, who cares for Little Miss on the days that both K and I are at work, was hospitalized last week. She’s home now and recovering, but I’ve gotten an unexpected week’s vacation. During naptimes, I’ve been working on this:

 

meida1

Nancy Bush’s Meida’s Socks, from Favorite Socks.

It’s a quick knit – ankle socks in sportweight yarn. I memorized the lace pattern pretty quickly. My only real complaint is that only one size is given, with a note to adjust sizing by changing needle size and adjusting the length. I went up to US2s. I’m using Lang Jawoll Sport, which turned out to be a little short. I got down to about 40 stitches around in the toe decreases when I ran out of yarn. I ripped back and redid the toe, decreasing every round (instead of doing the alternating even rounds). This makes for a short toe, but the sock is almost perfect on my foot. I did not continue the slip stitch pattern on the underside of the heel – I just ribbed it.

With 81 and a fraction days until Christmas Eve, I’ve also been working on the stocking:

 

santa071003

There was an incident involving a knot, a tangle, and a bunch of ripped stitches, but I’m back to making progress.

Progress is also being made on the Pinwheel Blanket, but no picture of that today. It looks just like the last time I took a picture of it, only bigger, with more stripes.

WiP Wednesday: Colonial Williamsburg

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September 19, 2007

5:46 pm

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Yes, that’s what I’m going with. The Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket is on the needles. The plan is to donate this to a fundraising sale. Twice before, I have donated to this particular sale, and I was frustrated both times by the fact that the items were sold for less than half of what I paid for the materials. It seemed that it would be more practical to just donate the money. But this time, I am knitting out of my stash, from Lion Brand Homespun bought way back sometime in the first year or so I was knitting.

pinwheel

Doesn’t look like much, does it? I did the Lighter Circular Beginning after all, but I’m not entirely sure how I did it. And trying to get 5 stitches of Homespun to stay on 4 size 10.5 bamboo DPNs was an adventure. But I seem to have a circle, rather than a Klein Bottle, so I think I even managed to avoid twisting the stitches.

On the financial front, I’ve decided to go back to using my familiar Quicken 2004. I tried several different money program demos, and I didn’t find anything I liked better, although MoneyWell came close.