First FO in February

I finished the 4' alligator (officially). This was ALMOST done in December, but with one last yarn end to weave in.

Nine yr old added for scale!

Wooops - FO, but not a good FO

I finished the baby blanket. But it's going into the charity pile instead of going to my co-worker. I should know better by now that if it's a pattern I do, and it's log-cabin style? That something is going to go wrong.

This is not square, not rectangular, not diamond-shaped either... more trapazoid. sigh.

It's pretty though. I liked the colors and the play off of them. but the upper-right hand corner started off un-square... and it got worse with every row. Since I had two edges 'on the needles' at all times, it wasn't something that you could see until it was almost finished. By that point, I'd put 1200 yards of yarn in and spent three weeks on the project. But, it'll work for a charity gift.

If nothing else? I know my cat likes it.

Blanket square

Finished the cable-licious square for Herbology.  I'll be making several of these in shades of blue and/or white.  Hoping for a nice blanket when it's all said and done.

This was the January square from the Woolen Collectibles pattern set. I'm not a huge fan of bobbles (to have and even less so to make) but I went ahead and decided to try it anyway and try to step outside my comfort zone.

I think it turned out pretty cute.

It's a full 14" x 14" which should work out with the 12 months turning out about the same size. But to make a blanket I will probably make more than 12 squares - so some of the other squares will have to get adapted to end up this big.

January mid-month Progress post

FO's:

1. My failed Potions OWL cardigan - DONE - and worn on a regular basis ever since!

2. Penelope the Empathetic Monster - by Rebecca Danger for the 600 Monsters charity - DONE - just waiting to send off in the mail, should be able to get it sent off this week yet.

3.  Hat #1 - I caved to the Muse when I saw the Angry Birds Hat pattern - and it makes a terrific mascot for a quidditch team. - not planned, DONE - set aside for charity donation this fall - NOTE: since this was intended for charity, it turns out it's a very good thing that I made this as a small hat... as both my 9 yr old son and my 5 yr old grandson have both REALLY wanted to steal it. They didn't ask me to make one for them, but they are definitely jealous that someone else is getting it.

4. Hat #2 - Flying. After I posted my ideas for Quidditch and found out there were bonus points to be had in Quidditch if you tie your project to Flying option 3 (create a quidditch uniform) AND bonus points to be had in Flying if you also do Quidditch... AND a dear pride-mate was ALSO doing an Angry Birds hat, well, whipping out a quick, simple hat sure seems like a really good tie in for some extra points! - not planned, DONE - set aside for charity donation this fall.

5. Hat #3 - Basic 2-color Brioche hat for charity - will be turning this into Potions along with my Slytherin beast-quest team mate as we banish the beast that is colorwork - DONE - set aside for charity donation this fall.

Only 47 more hats for charity to do for 2013!


WIPS:

OWL - the Stained Glass Windows Afghan - 10% done. I have 5 squares finished (and am eternally grateful that while they seemed to want to curl and pucker while I was making them - that they smoothed out pretty well when they were squared off and finished). I do have some concerns that they aren't as 'squared' off as I would like - but I'm thinking that I'm just being too picky. I have 5 more squares started and should have them about half-finished by the end of this week. My goal is to make 5 complete squares every two weeks... which gets me 25 squares by the end of 10 weeks and leaves two weeks for seaming and bordering.

Each finished square is approximately 9" x 9".

Classes -

DADA - 25% done on blanket #2 of 13  on a small baby blanket from from Cascade Cherub in DK - two shades of blue + white. Using the Lion Brand Log Cabin Pocket Blankie pattern (link requires registration/log in). It's turning out cute, but the initial corner isn't looking very squared off. But I'm hoping blocking will help. Plus when I seam the pocket over the top, you won't see the initial square at all except from the back of the blanket.  I am loving the light-ness of the yarn and how nice the fabric is turning out. The baby is due this spring and I think it's going to make a great summer blanket. It seems like it's taking forever, but it really is going well. I just need to get more time to work on it - and I will have time this next two weeks, so I'm hoping to finish before the end of the month.

This is about 20" x 20".

Herbology - 33% done on my blanket square - I am using the January square which includes a ton of bobbles which made me hesitate. But I'm liking them a lot better than when I made a baby hat COVERED with the darn things. Still not my favorite thing in the world to make or to have them on a blanket, but it does bring textural interest. This is at the 1/3rd point after just starting it this last Sunday, so it should be easily finished before the end of the month.

When finished, I believe this will be about 12" x 12".

TO DO:

BROOM - Chocolate Passion Cardigan, won't get my starting whistle to start this until the last week of the month. But I've got the yarn and the needles and I am ready to cast on when the whistle blows. Since I'm not making any other sweaters this term, I'm kind of itching to get started.

Yet Another Hat - FO

I finished the next hat - a simple baby hat using my 'standard' Brioche two-color pattern, but with  plain ribbing on the bottom section.  This will be going to winter clothing drives next fall.

I used leftovers from my Brown sweater that I have almost-finished and just waiting for a WIP the first date.

Two FO's - charity hats

The first is an ultra cute baby hat - pattern from The Summer Opossum. I used stash worsted weight yarn in red, white, black and yellow. A little fiber fill for the nose. The 'feathers' at the top aren't stuffed with anything except the yarn tails - but still feel are small enough in circumference to feel soft, squishy but still stand up well.

And then, a simple little worsted weight cap - about toddler child sized that's a nice coordinate for the angry birds. Red with a fairly simple white stripe.. I knit 1 white, slipped red for the first stripe round. Then knit two rows white. Then on the first red row, I slipped one white and knit 1 red stitch through to the end. Simple, straight forward and quick to knit.

These are both charity hats - #1 and #2 of the year - only 48 more to do for 2013.

2013 First FO of the year

I WIPd the First with my Cardigan that I was trying to make last fall...  Here's the ravelry project link with details (open to non-Ravelry users).

It's the Velvet Morning Cardigan made with Knit Picks Shine Worsted that was custom dyed at Yarntopiatreasures.com.  Beautiful colors, beautiful pattern.

I did A LOT of mods.

• Converted to top-down, contiguous sleeve (though the button band was knit separately and seamed)
• The only seaming was the button band
• Skipped out on the button holes since I probably wouldn't button it even if I had buttons
• I never did flippin figure out how on earth her repeat lines in the chart would EVER work math-wise; so I did the repeats however I felt moved to do them (but then tried to stick to the style as a section would repeat later in other rows).

These pictures are the best that I've gotten so far (for true to color). I'd love to get some shots with it on, but didn't have anyone to help me do them and trying to do cell phone pictures by propping up the phone? Not high on the success rate.

I just love the style of the colorwork with the variegated yarn. I realize that it makes the design harder to see, but I love, love, love that it's all just 'color' and a hint of pattern instead of a strong pattern. I'm wearing it to work today and getting tons of compliments and can't wait to share it with knitters. Too much to love.

I've also finished to the point of a final end to weave in two more bigger projects. But the intent is to finish one in February and a second one in March so I can keep WIPing the First.

Last Christmas gift on my list

Over a month ago, I wanted to make something for my future daughter-in-law. I wanted to make a scarf or cowl... and I ran out of time during the cup term. But, with a favorite color of red, the next thing was to find a pattern. I wanted something somewhat traditional - and couldn't find a pattern that felt mindless enough, or quite just-right. So, I landed back to an oldie - the mock cable scarf. I found the stitch pattern AGES ago and have made a couple of scarves with it. I included the pattern I used for this particular scarf on my ravelry project notes here.

This scarf took 370 yards of Red Heart, with Love yarn. It's a little narrow, but nice and long. A good 5" wide by 70" long.

Here's a close up to the mock cable stitch pattern:

The reverse side looks a little like uneven ribbing.

There is no cabling involved, the 'slant' and the part that looks like it's crossed over? Is a stitch that gets slipped then passed over a couple of stitches. This ends up with a decrease, but on the next row, you add a stitch for each spot where you'd decreased. This results in the little 'dot' which is the yarn over above the slant that helps with the 'look of' a cable.  I found that I could do about 6" an hour, so that makes this a super-fast knit.

FO - Mario Hat

This hat is a Christmas gift for my 9 yr old, DS-addicted son.  I started it last month, but didn't get to the duplicate stitching for it until this month.

Side 1:

Side 2:

Snowmen on parade

So, the angel has been shown before.

As has the red-hatted snowman.

And the mochimochi snowman on the far right.

But this is the first time you've seen the other seven snowmen.

I made all of the white bodies, first - and started skipping a few rows and a few increases to get them just a hair smaller. It took about 30 minutes-ish each to make the bodies. I used the-yarn-that-is-not-to-be-named that had a little sparkle in it... and stuffed it with some wool fiber that I'm working at eliminating out of the house to try to remove some of the allergens in my home.

The hats were made in about 15 minutes each yesterday. The scarves were converted to Icords and took about 10 minutes each.

Then it took me a little under an hour to seam the bits together, tack down the scarves and add french knot eyes.

These turned out pretty cute, were fast and easy to make and I love them. I might had made more angels, but "a" didn't like it as well as the snowmen and since most of these are going to school to be gifts for his teachers, I figured he could dictate it. He's getting the mochimochi snowman for his ornament this year. That leaves an angel which will probably go to future daughter-in-law and three snowmen for myself, my eldest and my new grandson.

Woot! One more set of Christmas knitting OFF THE NEEDLES!

Which leaves  me with a hat and a scarf for Christmas knitting. I can deal with that and not feel overwhelmed.

First December FO's

The mochimochi snowman was super cute, but man - it was kind of a pain to work with. Very fiddly at least in the beginning.

I found a couple of free Ravelry patterns and these aren't as tiny, but are still seriously cute.

First my snowman:  Rav link - Snowman Ornament

He's about 3" tall and uses leftover scraps. I used a little of my initial homespun yarn (very poorly done) - which is a great use for it since I won't ever turn it into something I can use.



Next my angel: Rav link - Quick and Easy Ornament

Also right about 3" tall and using left over scraps along with a little gold crochet thread. Also using a little handspun wool for stuffing for the head.

Per "a" he likes the snowman best, so I plan on making about six of them for him to take to school and hand out to his teachers, aids, and the nurse. Then I will make five more for myself and my immediate members of my family. It's a family tradition that's 25 years old this year to make home-made ornaments and share them with loved ones.

I figure now that I have the pattern sorted and the idea, I'll probably work on them a bit assembly style. Hope to have the first six done before too long so he can get them distributed.

November EOM Progress

ARRRGGG! Again, I didn't manage to finish my OWL.

The Hat Time Trial followed by the enui that followed it, cost me. I knew it was going to be close and the OWL was the only thing I worked on for the full last week of November (sadly this includes housework, so, um, yeah - now I get to clean house today - lol!).  By Friday at noon, all I had left was the button-less button band. Approx. 93" of 22 stitches of K2, P2 Ribbing. I did 3" during my 30 minutes of lunch, getting me to 38". Which left me with 57". At 3" in 30 minutes, or 6" in 1 hour.... that would be 9-ish hours of knitting left... plus seaming and weaving in the final ends - so approx. 10 hours. I was only going to have 8 hours left before HPKCHC end of term.

SO CLOSE. SO DARN CLOSE.

But, if I wasn't going to finish, I wasn't going to stay up all night trying to finish.

So, instead... I tried to tackle some of my other class ideas.

COMPLETED:
1 mochimochi snowman

This took a LOT longer than I anticipated and I had a lot of trouble with it. I didn't have any fingering weight white yarn to use - so I used sport, but same size needles recommended (even though I'm a loose knitter -with the idea larger yarn would compensate).  It's certainly cute. And my son claimed it 2 seconds after I finished it. But I will most certainly NOT be making more like this. I might end up trying to see how big they end up with worsted weight yarn on size 3... but if it's as fiddly to start as this is? I probably will come up with a different ornament to make for my son's teachers at school.

Previously posted:
41 hats
2 cowls

ON THE NEEDLES:

My so-close OWL
This is a shot of the body being blocked pre ends woven....

Here's a close up on the colorwork, for a night shot, it's actually somewhat true to the color.











The Mario Hat (hat is finished, just none of the duplicate stitching yet):

And lastly, one little leg (all alone) of a teddy bear:

I also had my TKGA Master Knitter Level 1 hat to start... but it was 10:30 pm, I was tired... and that is NOT the time to try to start a master knitter project.

I may sigh and whine about what I didn't finish. But, honestly? I got a TON done this month. I just need to remember that being a single mom working two jobs? No matter how cupper-crazy I may be, I have boundaries and it's ok. Because... lookie what I did get done!  Seriously? I have a lot to be proud of, you know?

So, my plan for December is to rest and recharge! There will be knitting. And there will be FO's posted. But they will be whatever they will be based on motivation and moments. And no official plan.

FO's - Julee's cowl

A co-worker had bought one of the charity hats originally intended for the homeless shelter... she plucked it right out of the donation box. I tried convincing her otherwise, but she insisted. I agreed for the sole reason that I could take the money to buy mittens/gloves for children for the donation box with the proceeds.

BUT THEN she proceeded to declare that she needed a matching cowl. sigh. I hate making things on 'command'. And it's for charity... which means more gloves and mittens... which should be a good thing. But, it didn't help much.

This should have taken only about two to three hours to make, max. It took about ten. It got frogged at least four times. But I finally finished it yesterday.

It doesn't help that it's made with Wool Ease Thick and Quick... which is a wool blend. Which I'm now pretty allergic to. I'd been able to work with it before; but after the Hat Time Trials a couple of weeks ago... not so much any more. Now, it's triggering my allergies to even pick up wool, let alone knit with it. (but it had to match - she said - sigh).

This cowl was knit with me taking my benedryl each time I picked it up to work on it.

November - mid-month Progress post

Ugh. Definite lack of mojo going on around here. This past week has been disappointing.

But here goes.

I posted last week that I exceeded my goal of 30 charity hats and managed 40 instead.

My OWL?  I'm onto the sleeves!  I still have a ton of work to do and not nearly enough time.

FO:

Ancient Runes - Changed my mind to do an infinity COWL with my corn yarn.

A new project I cast on for History of Magic - in honor of the booby... A bulky weight cowl for a co-worker who bought a charity-intended hat and wanted a matching cowl. I used the proceeds of the sale for mittens and gloves for the clothing drive.  And of course, because it has to match - it's in a wool-blend which means I can only work on it for a little while at a time. AND of course, because it's a paid order - it's not going well and I've had to frog it multiple times - and need to frog it again... sigh.

Not started yet:

Muggle Studies - assignment is to craft something inspired by games - a Mario hat for my 9 yr old son.

Headmistress Challenge - create swatches on the knook.

Charms - craft something to reflect a favorite season - a handful of mochimochi snowmen

Potions - that stubborn old TKGA Master Knitters hat that I keep procrastinating working on.

Flying - craft something inspired by a flyer - teddy bear....

Yeah. sad, I know. I knew that I'd have trouble making everything I wanted this month... but I didn't expect so much trouble with knitting mojo after that hat time trials.

FO's - and then some

Quidditch Hat Time Trials was a seven day challenge to make as many hats as you possibly can.

So I did nothing else except make hats for a solid seven days.

Saturday - I used Wool Ease Thick & Quick and started making child-sized versions of my basic Brioche watch cap.

But, I actually reached a point where I needed to take a little break from the pattern. I've rarely been tired of working brioche... after 100 hats last year and 40 hats earlier this year in this pattern - I still think that if I haven't gotten tired of it yet, I'm unlikely to. But, I did need a break and wanted to do some crochet.

So, Sunday - I started with a simple crochet hat pattern - still using the Wool Ease Thick & Quick. I adapted it for a child's size... but it was more involved than I wanted ... I was in the mood for fast and quick.

So, I switched to another pattern and whipped out a baker's dozen ... most of these were intended to be child-sized... but I was regularly distracted and ended up with several larger hats - perfect for an adult.

And then, my wrists got sore. So, it was time to switch back to knitting. Back to the brioche stitch. Sadly, apparently two dozen hats in wool ease in less than 48 hours was enough to kick off my allergies... lol.

So, between Monday and Thursday - I managed another handful of hats.... the remainder of these hats were knit with various worsted weight acrylics - held double.

Friday, I decided to kick it up a notch and did my best to exceed my own expectations... and landed with seven more.

Final tally - 40 hats. All of these hats are going to charity. My son took the first 33 to school with him on Friday for a school winter clothing drive... the last seven and the 40 I did earlier this year along with a few scarves and cowls are heading to a winter clothing drive at work.  Definitely fun and a stretch for me. A little nuts, but what good is being totally sane?

That said - nuts is relative. I'm not sure what the maximum number of hats knit for this competition was - but the biggest number I saw was 100... and I'm certain there were other, equally nuts numbers. 100 hats in 7 days? Yep. Nuts.

November Planning

DETENTION - November 1st

I started a hat for the class I teach on making these hats on Oct 25th (first night of class).  And finished on the evening of Nov 1st (last night of class).

Yes, I know - it looks just like a few others I have made. This is actually the 50th charity hat I have made this year (and I'm not even close to being done yet).


Defense Against the Dark Arts - Create something from your own design.

Yet another hat - same style, new color. Hope to start and finish tonight.

Then, I'm going to work on my OWL for the rest of the evening (Velvet Morning)... here's where she was when we left off a little over a week ago.

Sadly the colors are a little washed out in this photo. It's so hard to take a decent indoor shot and honestly? The weather hasn't been that great to try an outdoor shot.

But then ..... starting tomorrow.....

I'm going to dive DEEP into the Quidditch Hat Time Trials.

My goal?

Are you sitting down?

30 Adult Hats for Charity in 8 days. I have from the 3rd of November to the 10th of November. I'd like to do the bulk of them this weekend. And I probably won't work on anything else all week.

Then, the next focus will be working on the OWL. I have to finish it by Nov 30th... and there's 40% of a sweater to work on....so I will be busy!

I have NO idea if I will find time to do anything else... but if I need something to carry around and/or need a break, I will be working on the following:

Muggle Studies - assignment is to craft something inspired by games - a Mario hat for my 9 yr old son. It's crafted in two colors - then all the decoration is done with duplicate stitch afterwards, so it should be pretty portable until you are adding the colorwork.

Ancient Runes - craft with fiber containing a minimum of 50% cellulose-based fiber. I have some lovely corn yarn that has been itching to become something. I'm going to make a scarf for my daughter-in-law.

Headmistress Challenge - create swatches - I've been wanting to learn how to knook. And I can create ten sampler swatches that in the future could be seamed and turned in for detention as a scarf.

Charms - craft something to reflect a favorite season - I'm going to make a handful of mochimochi snowmen as Christmas Ornaments for my son's teachers for gifts.

Potions - that stubborn old TKGA Master Knitters hat that I keep procrastinating working on. It takes three colors (but doesn't specify which three colors) and the prompt is to craft something with a complementary color scheme.

Flying - craft something inspired by a flyer - I'm picturing a little girl in pigtails with her birthday balloons tied to the lawnchair getting carried away, but clutching a teddy bear. So now I can make a teddy bear that has been on my list for quite a while.

---

Yes, I know there's no way I'm getting through this list during the month of November.

There are a few items on this list that I need for gifts that can wait until December.... and there are a few items on this list that do not HAVE to get made at all, but that I'm eager to try to get to.

Basically, I'm going to be happy if I get through the Charity hats and the OWL. The rest of it? Just icing on the cake. And I'm pretty sure I can get through the pile of hats and the OWL as long as I make them the priority.

A few more little FO's

I finished the custom-ordered Christmas Stocking:

Tons of fun to make. I had a lot of seaming and embroidery to finish it.  The pattern has you knit all of it in as intarsia - and I do make the hat and the snowman like that. But I like adding the others as duplicate stitch, embroidery or actual physical items sewn in - I like the 3-D effect from all of that. 

Last time I made this, I thought I would do all of the colorwork as sewn-on... but this is going to the same family that got the last stocking in this design... and I figured it would be better if they match.

I also completed a braided ball. Very cute, very fun, very easy.... well, except for the braiding part. I think I still messed up a little on one side, but it's close. And it really was a 'huh, can I figure it out - kind of project'. I might let the little guy or my dog take this one and pick different color options for the next one.

While I get the premise that you knit in stockinette (and it curls under) and that part of that helps build the bulk of the ball - it still seems kind of wasteful to knit 18 stitches and only have 7 stitches visible because the rest is all curled under. But I did love that after I finished seaming that I just tuck the ends in under the curled edges and pretend like they don't exist instead of weaving them in. I'd rather do that any day.

Two FO's

I finished the test knit ... it's a great hat, though it did turn out a little big for me. Since it's for charity, it's perfectly ok to be a little big as they need lots of sizes.

And then, I ended up joining an Ood-a-long. I know, I'm a lemming. I was NOT going to participate. I wasn't, I wasn't. I had plenty of things I wanted to make and didn't need an Ood... no matter how much I love Dr Who. But then I got to thinking how awesome it would be to have an Ood finger puppet. And a Dalek finger puppet. And a Doctor (10) puppet... and a Doctor Donna puppet. And they could all be in a Tardis case that's bigger on the inside (hence having room for all the finger puppets).

And next thing you know.... I made an Ood.

Yep, I'm a lemming. But it's cute. And even though the two little boys in my life have NO CLUE what an Ood is... and are quite disturbed when they find out they're holding a brain in their hands.... it's a-ok. Because I have an Ood Finger puppet. And that is awesome.

October - mid-month progress... with a few FO's

For quidditch, we were challenged to produce no less than 5, and no more than 10 items of the same object. I chose to make baby hats for Click For Babies campaign

These vary from preemie to newborn sizes - I started out knitting, but those were the tiniest. I figured I'd switch to crochet to get a little bigger sizes and hopefully less time to complete.

Next I wanted to play a little with some suede cord I had purchased ages ago. I'd seen some leather bracelets at the mall and wanted to try to make one for my eldest son. The pale beige wasn't dark enough for his taste, so I thought I'd keep it. But about five minutes post-completion, my youngest son decided it needed to become his.

This was a simple I-cord made with Berroco Suede. Simple, quick, and cute. I ended up turning this in for DADA - thanks to common room advice that it could be a parasite (lives inside bodies) that I've stunned.

I've made some progress on my Velvet Morning cardigan. I'm about two rows shy of completing the first pass of flowers in the chart. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this yarn. I love the pattern. I am confused by the chart as there's a red line indicating (I thought it did, anyway) a section of the pattern to repeat across and then there's a section past the red line that one would think would be how you finish out the end of the row. Apparently, it doesn't mean that. So, I basically have half a flower on one side. It's not the end of the world.

I did have to frog a few rows, as my first pass at the colorwork still showed a little puckering from the strands across the back being too tight. I went up to a size 6 needle for the colorwork and added in a little bit more due diligence to get the colorwork very loose... and it seems to be working out better. This isn't due to be completed until November, so about eight more rows to go next week, and then I'll probably set it aside for a week to get my homework finished.

Last, I threw out all my other plans for sweaters (for now) and have cast on the following sweater. It's a yoke-style raglan top knit in the round from the top down. I am using dark brown for the crew neck collar, then a self-striping  browns/blues/beige yarn for the yoke. When I divide the sleeves from the body, I'll switch back to the dark brown again for the rest of the body, sleeves, etc.  The brown is my first use of Knit Picks Brava Worsted yarn. The self-striping is the yarn-that-won't-get-named. It would be far too overpowering if I did a full sweater in it, but I'm thinking a colorful yoke with a dark brown body will be a good balance of color.

Simple, straight-forward, and great for when I need a break from focusing too much on Velvet Morning. Not sure exactly which class I will turn this in for, but I'm leaning toward Flying - and finding a heavily forested country/destination as inspiration.

I am rethinking (again and again) the third sweater I had hoped to start by now.  I'm looking at maybe making Jaden with sport weight Brava... so much knitting to do, so little time.