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.