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.

October Knitting - for fun

I needed to make a little something last year in red and gold and had found a cute little amigorumi lion.... and I gave it to my son. Who promptly asked me to make him a little house. I thought it was silly and was NOT going to do it. Until I got tempted to participate in a gnome-home-along and thought, what they hey, why not?

And then he asked for more... so I came up with this story line (and it's probably not done yet... as there are other things he's asked for. I'm just waiting for the right moment, and then I'll add to this.




If you give a little boy a toy…..




a cute little amigurumi little lion…



he will hug it and play with it and name it Lionel….

but before too long, he’ll come around…



Lionel Lion needs a house, mom!



Lions in the wild don’t have houses, why does this lion need a little house?



Lions in the wild sometimes find caves, mom.



You could make him a cave, with an opening just right-sized for him, couldn’t you?



But why does Lion need a house?



Because sometimes he gets cold. And sometimes he gets scared. And he could hide in the cave from our dog who wants to chew on him.



// Very sound reasoning, don’t you think?

If you give a boy a house for a lion….




He will hug you and run and get the lion and show Lionel Lion his new home.



And then he will come back to you and inform you….very earnestly:



But, MOM! He needs dinner!!!



Why?



BECAUSE EVERYONE needs food, including little lions.



But he’s a stuffed animal, does he really need food?



Yes, MOM! EVERONE needs food… you don’t want him to staaaarve, do you?



So, here you go, little lion… a nice, raw T-Bone steak dinner just for you. Enjoy!!

October knitting - Ambiente

Now that I'm tracking my knitting on my blog more (and have actually posted more than once a year, lol)... I'm kind of thinking I'm going to try to post each Finished Object (FO) as it gets finished instead of waiting for mid-month or end-of-month progress reports. I might still write a progress post at each of those points, but perhaps those will just be a text summary that helps me track my plans against my results.

Besides, when I read knitting blogs, it's mostly to see FO's (and maybe a little to see how crazy they are getting with what they are making).

I'll label each of these posts with FO and wham-bam folks should be able to quickly see things I'm making (if they are so inclined).

First up, Ambiente (rav) - Sweater #12 of 12 for the year (with at least three more planned because who stops knitting sweaters during the Year of the Sweater in October?).

I had hoped to finish her up on the 30th... but there was about 2 more hours of knitting and an hour of weaving in ends when I crashed on the 30th. Instead I finished her up on the First. I LOVE, LOVE, the fit on this terrific top. These pictures don't do her justice. I'm hoping to take some pictures with it on as it's a very flattering look for me.

Just enough shaping for the hips, just enough stretch for the girls without it looking stretched.

She's made with NaturallyCaron.com Spa which is Acrylic and Bamboo. It's got a great drape on size 5 needles, incredibly soft yarn. It's shown post-steaming which is my blocking method of choice for acrylic or bamboo yarns. There's no garter stitching, so there is a bit of a roll at the waist and sleeves, but intentional rolling at the neck to match.  The yarn was quite splitty, so I probably won't select it again for that primary reason. I was using my Addi Clicks to make this and just think it's the best thing I've made lately.

Issue is that the temperatures dropped a good 20 degrees today and short-sleeved sweaters? In bamboo? Not warm enough to wear these days. She'll get put away until spring.

Cotton yarn

This is supposed to be fingering weight yarn. I suppose it is. But looking at it and thinking about making a sweater for myself out of it? I am feeling a bit intimidated. I am only going to have about six weeks to make the sweater... and I am starting to doubt that I can do it in just six weeks.

October Planning

• Finish my Ambiette for Detention - WIP the First, I hope; but the second will work if I can't quite get it finished.
• Small crochet item for fun for my Son - Oct 2nd - Food related item for Quidditch
• Get part-way through the colorwork section of the current project:  OWL - Velvet Morning (whole month)
• Dye yarn for the gradient yarn for Fingering Weight sweater - Chromatic
  (pre-October Planning) - Oct 6th -- turn this into Charms to get my yarn to blend in with my current rainbow colored stash
• Quick Hat #1 - Oct 6th -- turn this into Herbology for the "go-to" pattern that brings comfort
• Start (and hopefully get half-way through) said Fingering Weight Sweater (whole month) - For my mission of blending in with Muggles in the Order Mission
• Start and finish - Avril in April (rav link) (whole month) -- still don't know what class this would fit into
• Ten baby- or preemie-sized hats for the Period of Purple Crying project - Oct 10-26 Quidditch
• TKGA Submission Hat - Oct 13th -- still don't know what class this would fit into
• Baby ball -- Muggle Studies, I'm sure my dog will help me sell that this could also be used as a dog toy
• Christmas Stocking for Charity Auction - Pattern selected by winner (whole month) - Snowman stocking

So, one full adult sweater, a third of another adult sweater, plus half of a third adult sweater (in fingering weight, no less).

Plus 2 Adult hats.

Plus 10 baby hats.

Plus a couple of other small and not-so-small items?

Another busy month for me.

Plan on using stash for all but the Chromatic sweater. That yarn has been shipped, but not yet received. I am actually working from home today as it is supposed to be attempt number 2 at delivery.

September End-of-Month Progress Post

Finished items:

 - Washcloth (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - Tardis Kindle Case  (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - Brioche Hat  (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - Rose bookmark  (picture in mid-month progress post)
 - 12" blanket square

  - a's Sweater (a test knit out of the Yarn-that-must-not-be-named)

On the needles:

Two sweaters - the first I had hoped to finish for September (and it's OOOOH, so close, but did not get finished in time).

Ambiette in Caron Spa:

I'm hoping to squeeze in the last ten rows of sleeve two today and the two rows in the neckline, and the weaving in of ends... and get it turned in for WIP the First for October.

And my OWL project - Velvet Morning converted to top-down contiguous sleeves:

FO - a's Sweater

Amazing how fast boys grown once they hit a certain age.

This was made in that yarn that I won't be buying any more of.

It was a test knit and knit at a far tighter gauge than I'm used to working in. Figure it'll never wear out as tightly as it was knit.  This is a size 8 for boys... but honestly? The sleeves before joining to work in the round had to be 15" - so it's not much smaller than an Adult female sweaters I make for myself. Add the extra tight gauge and it easily had almost as many stitches as an adult sweater.

I'm probably going to be a little more cautious before signing up for more test knitting. Maybe ask some questions... it was good to try test knitting, and I wouldn't mind trying it again - but this sweater is almost stiff it's so tightly knit. Yet, in order to properly test, you knit to the gauge specified.

But, then again, it should be really warm, right?  So, all good in the end.