Tons of knitting and crocheting

Everyone was very pleased with their knitted gifts. I made a scarf for Steve, hat for Craig, booties for Anne, and legwarmers for Catherine. I am so happy to be the recipient of a whole set of Knit Picks Harmony interchangeable wood knitting needles. So what am I doing now? I'm crocheting like crazy! I've got these two afghans that I'm working on to give the girls as graduation presents this year. Plus, I just had to crochet a scarf pattern that I saw in the winter Interweave Crochet magazine. I'm even using the recommended yarn. It is SWTC's Karaoke in a fabulous multicolor blend of rusts, golds, and blues. I also got some curry-yellow chunky wool blend yarn for a baby blanket. I've probably got a year's worth of projects queued up. And I can't stop buying yarn. The picture is of my latest project, the Mitered Scarf.

Started Leg Warmers

I was going to knit some socks for Catherine for Christmas. Then the plan was wrist warmers. Now I've decided on leg warmers. She has started taking dance lessons and spotted leg warmers in the Knit Picks catalog. The pattern is from One Skein by Leigh Radford. The top is an easy lace pattern. I had difficulty getting it started because the pattern starts with a YO. I'm knitting using the magic loop method and the YOs kept falling off between the 2 needles. Then I had the brilliant idea to start with the LAST stitch of the pattern repeat, a k stitch. Problem solved. I had one leg warmer finished in a day. Now I just need the time to finish the second.

The Gathered Green Pullover is finished!

Oh, this turned out much better than I could have hoped! I'm so excited. The sweater looks great and it even fits me! I was worried that the yarn would relax too much during blocking. I needn't have worried. Click on the image to get a good view of the cable pattern. It turned out quite nicely.
Now I have to finish up the Christmas knitting. I don't have much to go!

Gathered pullover, chapter 1

The pattern for the Gathered Pullover is pretty easy, so far. I've done 9 inches of stockinette in the round and have completed the first 4 rows of the design. The yarn is driving me crazy, though. It is Lily Chin Gramercy that I got on sale at Webs. It is a fabulously soft and drapy DK superwash merino that is constantly winding up on itself. I'll be working along and all of a sudden I'll have a big knot of yarn wound around my fingers. Grrrr. I have to stop and untangle every minute. It also has a MAJOR tendency to curl up in stockinette. When I got to around 4-5 inches done, I put it on the ironing board and steamed the heck out of it. At least I seem to be maintaining gauge!

Progress on many fronts

On my needles right now, I have my 3rd dishcloth, another stab at baby socks and the beginnings of this beautiful gathered pullover from knitty. I've also crocheted up some very easy purple booties for Anne. I just need to attach the felt soles. Yay!

Little to show for my efforts

I seem to always be knitting or crocheting, yet I feel as though I have accomplished very little. I think I may have swatched about 6 different times using a lovely Lily Chin merino. I just can't get the stitch gauge right for the butterfly stitch sweater that I wanted to make. I have given up on it. I've found another sweater that I can make with the yarn, but I need to practice using cables first.

I did knit up a "calorimetry" headband using some pretty Lion Wool Print in ocean colors. It came out very nice. I'm going to try another one, perhaps using double strands of some sock yarn that I have.

I've been developing my own baby sock pattern. It is coming along. My goal is to make baby socks with the least amount of purling possible.

Finished socks for me.

I made myself a pair of simple knitted socks in Lana Grossa Meilenweit. I love the colors. It made a very happy striped pattern. I've also been working on two squares for a top secret baby blanket. My next project is to teach myself to knit continental style. I hope to be able to improve my row gauge and to knit faster. We'll see.

Beautiful blue and gray socks

I'm so proud of these socks.  I used the basic pattern for 7 stitches per inch socks from the book Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd. I modified the pattern by taking the ribbing all the way down the leg and the top of the foot. And I used a circular needle instead of dpns. So much easier!

  I need to take a better picture.

Flow top is finished!

Ta da!  The pattern was pretty easy.  I learned a lot more about decreases because I had to make so many.  I modified the pattern slightly be doing a crocheted edge on the arm and neck holes instead of picking up and purling a few rows as the pattern instructs.  I'm so glad I finished it while it is still warm enough out to go sleeveless.

A new afghan

I've decided to make a couple of afghans for my daughters. They are to be in crochet because knitting a blanket would take me the rest of my natural life. I've started the Circles in Squares pattern from Lion Brand for daughter Catherine. It is in Vanna's Choice acrylic. Hey, it's cheap, colorful, relatively soft and can stand up the rough treatment a teenager dishes out.

Almost finished with Flow, First knitted sock complete!

Flow is knitted! I just need to put it together and then do the edging. I hope I get it done while it is still warm enough to wear! I've also finished my first knitted sock. I got about a third of the way down the leg of the second sock and had to rip it out because I kept making lame mistakes. I decided to continue the ribbing down the entire front of the sock. It's pretty cool.

Flow

I've got a really nice drapey pattern for a top called Flow from Berroco. I bought some elann yarn to work it. It's a small gauge yarn knit on size 8 needles. It makes for a slightly sheer fabric. The whole thing is done in stockinette. I'm knitting a gauge swatch now.

Heel

I've been wanting to try to knit socks. So I cast on to some dpns and it was a DISASTER. I had sticks flying everywhere. I decided I would try using a long circular needle (magic loop) and I've been getting the hang of that pretty quickly. I cast on some leftover yarn just to see if I could do it. I really just wanted to try a sample heel. I was able to cast on, knit in a rib stitch, knit stockinette, do a short row heel turn and work the gusset! I did all of that at the same time that I was trying out continental style. My stitches are all different sizes, but I really think that I could get the hang of it. Cool!

Green cloth and organic towel.

After finishing the beachcomber sweater, I worked on a couple of very quick crochet projects. The green washcloth was made with Peaches N Cream ombre that Elizabeth gave me before she moved. The dishtowel was made with some leftover Lion Brand Organic Cotton. They provided me with the instant gratification that I've been missing.

Finished Beachcomber

I spent 6 intensive hours finishing this ... on the hottest day so far this year. I think it's 92 degrees outside right now and I'm wearing a wool sweater! I love it, even with all of my boo boos.

More than half way

I've been working in diligent bursts on this damn Beachcomber Tunic. I would have liked to have it finished for my trip to the beach. I am finished with the knitting. All that is left is to crochet one sleeve and the front and then to construct it and the do the finishing. That's all. Well, it was too hot to wear it anyway.

25% finished

I finished the back piece of the Beachcomber tunic. I am blocking this in pieces in the hopes of making it easier to stitch all of the parts together. The knitted part turned out okay and the crochet part was easy!

I fixed it all by myself!

Pictures go from bottom, up.

Debbie Stoller is the BEST! Her Stitch 'n Bitch Knitter's Handbook gave me the idea for how to fix my knitting. I decided that the only way I could fix it would be to unravel to the row below the errors. Debbie illustrates how to do this by running a very thin needle threw a row below the errors and then unraveling to that point. I don't have any other needles. I do have darning needles and plenty of yarn.

First, I had to take the work off of the circular needles. I did that by running piece of yarn through the stitches that were on the needle. I removed the needle and laid the work flat. At that point the piece became very curled up. So I pinned it to the ironing board and applied steam. That worked great, it still curled but not quite so much.

Then I ran another needle and thread through the stitches in the row below the error. I removed the top thread and unraveled. Voila! I was able to put the piece back on the needles with only one dropped stitch. I can't believe I did it!

Sushi on the Potty

To take my mind off of my miserable knitting abilities, I whipped up a bathroom Sushi Toilet Paper Cozy. It' s cute!

ARGH.

So, I've started making this pullover that is half knitted and half crocheted. Not being much of a knitter, I still thought I could tackle this as the knit part is pretty straight forward. Except that I am an idiot. I don't know how I managed to do it, but I stuck some purl stitches in the middle of a row of knit stitches. I need to find someone who can help me fix it. :(

My first KNITTED wearable

I have knitted a gauge swatch for this Beachcomber Tunic from Interweave Crochet magazine. The top half is knitted and the bottom half is crocheted. I'm using Knitpick's Gloss yarn in the color Sahara. It is a wool and silk blend. Nice! The gauge swatch came out just right, even though I dropped a stitch and did a brute force job of picking the stitch up again. It's obvious on the back but not on the front. I need a REALLY beginner knitting book to help me with these basics. I also realize that I have to keep the stitches nice and loose to stay with the gauge. One more thing I've learned is that cable needles are very weird. I feel like they're trying to pull the work out of my hands half the time. !

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to keep up with my blog. I've started the Barbados Tee in elann's Cotolino, a cotton/linen blend. It will be a boxy tee. I'm hoping it will be cool enough for summer. The shell stitch is very small and I'm taking my time. So this could take awhile.

Pink Cloud Cowl

I whipped this up over the weekend from a free pattern available at Interweave Crochet. The yarn is elann.com's Super Kydd. Super easy, cute, and warm!

Finished Boteh

What a great pattern! It never got boring but wasn't too difficult either. I may make this again only in a variegated yarn. Or maybe I'll go all out and try it in Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock yarn. The Elann Sock it to Me is a fine yarn, but not as luxurious. I've already worn this a few times, even when it got to be a little too warm for scarf wearing.

Boteh Scarf

I found this scarf pattern through Ravelry. It is in the spring issue of Interweave Crochet, which I ended up buying. The yarn is elann.com Sock it To Me sock yarn in wool and nylon. I am about half finished. I really like the pattern.

Amy's Hat

I wanted to to something nice for my friend Amy. When she said she would like a Tam O' Shanter to go with her new coat, I said yeah! I helped her pick out the yarn, Lion Brand Wool Ease, and I have her a choice of free patterns to choose from. She chose the Square Tam O'Shanter from the Lion Brand web site. The top of the hat is done in a "flat knot" stitch which is rows of sc on sc and dc on dc. I like the way it looks. The top is crocheted in an octagon, then four of the sides are joined together to make a band with sc. Amy did not want the bobble border or the flower, so we left those off. The way the hat is assembled, 4 of the octagon sides are left unattached. I didn't like the way that looked, so I stitched them up. I added the pom pom. Now she has a hat to match her coat.

While I've been home...

I've finished the Sweet Pea Shawl from the Stitch N Bitch Happy Hooker book. The yarn is Olympic from Artful Yarns, a blend of viscose, cotton, and acrylic. The strands of the ply are a blend of natural colored cotton and shiny bits of blue, pink, and gold. The yarn is surprisingly light - perfect for a summer shawl.

The tank is the Designer Wannabe Tank Top, also from Happy Hooker. I changed the pattern quite a bit, using one color instead of three. I had to lengthen it by 4 rows and I probably should have done a couple more. Why can I get the gauge right for width but not height? The yarn is the delightful Callista from elann.com, a blend of viscose, cotton, and linen. I'm really liking these viscose + cotton blends. I just need to add some picot stitches to the hem and neckline to finish it.

Easy peasy projects

I'm home recovering from a minor surgery. I finished some fingerless mitts that I had started earlier with leftover sock yarn. The pattern is a freebie from Alexandra Lockhart. I also made another felted diddy bag using a colorful Zitron Loft yarn in blues and purples. I've started another tank top, more on that coming soon.

My first wearable!

I crocheted this shell using this free pattern from Lion Brand. The yarn is a lovely Cascade Pima Tencel that was on sale at Webs. It is super soft and pretty nice to work with. It held up quite well the numerous times that I had to rip out a row. If I make this again, I will add a few rows to make it a wee bit longer. My next attempt at a wearable will be something with sleeves. Right now though, I have to finish a pair of socks that I promised my daughter.

New Socks are finished

Two balls of Paton's Kroy Socks in Kool Stripes were just enough for these short cuffed socks. They were fun to make with all the variety of stitches (sc, sl, dc, hdc, fpdc).

Happy New Socks!

After a brief respite for the holidays, I am at it again. These socks will be for daughter Anne. They are the Confetti pattern from the book Crocheted Socks. They have a rolled cuff composed of back loop single crochet alternating with slip stitches. Weird. The rest of the cuff is half double crochet. The heel is front post double crochet alternating with sc. Finally, the foot is rows of sc and rowsl of sc alternating with dc. I'm sure getting to practice a lot of the basic stitches!