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.

Alex's Mario Hat

It's been bitter cold the last couple of days... and my little boy's last hat is just a little too small for him. He's been wearing some old ear muffs of mine, but I couldn't bear to let him go Christmas shopping with his big brother this weekend with a girl's ear muffs nor without any hat. And I had that Mario hat finished early... and he's big on Christmas gifts, but not as big on hand-knit clothing for Christmas. I figured he'd appreciate it more if it wasn't under the tree.

He was pretty happy about it (although it is just-a-bit too big). He's wearing it with the little Mario front and center (because that's his favorite in the hat). He's also wearing it cuffed up so it fits just a bit better.

He got a ton of compliments on it when he was out with big brother. Then he and I did our shopping together and he got even more compliments. He wasn't paying any attention when the cashier at the grocery store complimented him. So I stepped in and said, I'll take the compliment since I'd made the hat. She got really excited and couldn't believe it and told the other cashiers and the men working the bagging to take a look at the amazing hat.

Alex has been on and off the knit-worthy list lately, so I'm thrilled he likes his hat. And it's always nice to get good compliments on something you've made. I tend not to get many compliments, but the Mario hat was definitely a big win.

Red Heart, with Love

So, my latest FO, a scarf that is a Christmas gift.... was made with Red Heart with Love yarn.  It was presented to me as an alternative to the yarn-that-is-not-to-be-named.

The other yarn runs around $3.65 for about 350 yards.
The Red Heart yarn is around $5.00 for about 370 yards.

The other yarn comes in almost a hundred colors.
The Red Heart yarn comes in about a dozen colors.

The other yarn is softer, and has a better all-over-evenness to the yarn that isn't BAD in Red Heart, but isn't quite as good quality-wise. If I ranked the first yarn as an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 in quality; this one is closer to a 7.

But, it is a good 'almost' alternative. And it would be better if they came out with more colors. When it boils down to all else? The limited color options is probably the biggest detriment to me.

I absolutely LOVE that it's made in the US and for the price difference, I'm ok with the barely higher price if it's going towards American workers.

Now, most Red Heart yarns soften with the wash. So, I'm hoping a trip through the washer and dryer will help take this scarf to the next level of softness.

All-in-all? I will use it again... but it probably will be when I need something I can go and pick up quickly (as opposed to ordering on-line or special ordering through an LYS) and when the color matters very little.

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.

Next Years big projects - blankets and making them affordable

While I'm looking at my big projects for next year... I'm also looking at affordable yarn buying options AS WELL AS keeping an eye toward working with buying yarn from a dear friend who just opened up a new LYS in town.

She's been kind enough to offer to special order for me 'big' orders as well as offering a discount on big orders... and I'd love to do my shopping there all the time... but let's face it. Her wool collection has to be larger than her non-wool offerings for sale - that's just common sense. But she is trying to make sure she offers me options as well (which is VERY kind and considerate). So I do want to repay her kindness.

Generally speaking, if she's going to order yarn for me (in bulk) she'll have to get on average 10 skeins of yarn for each color ordered.

So, first out of the gate, one of the blankets I'm planning to make next year only needs 2 skeins of 5 colors and 7 skeins of a 6th color. If she already had in stock the colors I needed, I wouldn't feel bad asking her to order the sixth color in a larger batch for me. BUT she doesn't. I'm looking for rainbow-color-bright with black as the sixth color. I don't think it's fair for me to ask her to order five other colors if I'm only going to want 2 of the 10 skeins from each package as then she has to have someone else around who is going to want to make something in your face BRIGHT.

But, another project I'm thinking about making requires 15-18 skeins of the same color. THAT one I think I should order through her - she'll get to sell most of the order immediately and I wouldn't worry as much about the few skeins I wasn't using being sold as I will be picking a much more muted/in style tone of color.

But let's look at pricing (not including tax - simplify my math).

At the LYS - I can get about 250 yards/skein for $5.40 - but my LYS owner now hopes someone else wants to make a rainbow in your face BRIGHT blanket
At Knitpicks - I can get about 220 yards/skein for $3.00.
At the hobby shop - I can get about 350 yards/skein for $5.00.

For the 6-color blanket - I need about 400 yards for each of the first five colors and 1700 yards for the sixth color.

Knitpicks - 17 skeins - $51.00
Hobby Shop - $75.00 (2 less skeins for the sixth color)

In this scenario - Knitpicks is going to get my order because I can't get away with only one skein of the hobby shop yarn - I'd have to buy two to get 400 yards; which ends up costing me more in the end.

For the 1-color blanket - I need about 3600 yards.
At the LYS - if I order 16 skeins (to ensure enough yarn) $86.40
At Knitpicks - 18 skeins - $54.00
At hobby shop - $60.00

In this scenario - I'm still tempted to buy yarn at the LYS. Yes, I could save about $30 at knitpicks, but the LYS yarn is EVERY bit as nice, if not a bit nicer to work with AND I get to figure that a good portion of that difference is money that is staying in my local economy.

AND yes, I'm fully aware I can buy blankets cheaper at Walmart. This isn't about the end result blanket. It's about finding ways to invest in my hobby, make something beautiful and not go broke while doing it.