How’s that for alliteration?
I finished the second Pippi hat, and took notes this time! I played around with earflap length and placement, and added a larger size. I just finished editing the pattern; it is available as a Ravelry download. See pattern page for details.
Good night!
I finished my log cabin blanket last night.
This blanket began with leftover yarn from four entrelac felted bags (pattern and yarn from knitpicks.com). After a while I ran out of leftover yarn, and had to buy more to keep the blanket going. Then I got sidetracked when I designed and made three felted slip stitch totes last spring using the yarn I bought for the blanket.
That meant I had to buy more yarn, again. As I got close to finishing the blanket, I used leftover yarn from the blanket to make socks, and Pippi. I had to dip into the blanket’s last ball of hollyberry (red) to finish Pippi. And when I finished binding off the last log on the blanket in hollyberry, I only had one yard left. That was close!
The details:
Log Cabin Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiner & Ann Shayne
KnitPicks Wool of the Andes worsted (a great inexpensive workhorse of a yarn)
Lantern Moon US size 7 ebony circular needles (last one was 40 inches long)
Finished size: I knit until there were 10 stripes of color on each side of the center rectangle. It came out to be 44″ x 46″
Started: July 2007
Finished: Jan. 2, 2009
I didn’t put on an edging. I’m leaving open the possibility of making it bigger, somewhere down the road. For now, it’s a nice snuggly hanging out on the sofa afghan.
I love how this turned out. The colors make me really happy!
I spent part of New Year’s Day working on my log cabin blanket; I’m on the last planned color strip. I’m ready for this project to be done. I’ve enjoyed working on it, and it’s been cozy to sit under while knitting it. I know I’m not the only one who thinks so!
We had a little surprise snow last night/this morning. It was 1 a.m. I took a picture because it was so magical, and I was afraid that it would all be gone when I woke up.
Guess I didn’t need to worry. I’m glad we still have seed for the birds. (Can you identify this bird? I don’t know what it is, but it’s a regular visitor at the feeder. It’s kind of chubby and cute.)
I found this lone hydrangea bloom this morning.
I’m working on Pippi 2 today; the colors are very different from the first hat but I really like them, too! I’m writing the pattern this time. Still working from the stash. I’m using Plymouth Galway in navy and white, and the green and medium blue are KnitPicks Wool of the Andes.
Knit on!
The hat is finished! DH says I look like Pippi Longstocking in it, so Pippi is her name.
Crochet edging took care of the curling issues. I tried single crochet, but it didn’t have enough oomph to tame the curl, so half double crochet is the winner here. The hat is really fun to wear, even though I don’t wear hats.
Now I want to make it again, a little bigger, a few tweaks…but I have another project that I promised myself I would finish by New Year’s Day, so that one is first in line.
I finished my Ukrainian Socks last night. Here they are, unblocked.
I used an afterthought heel, so the heel is basically another toe. It fits well. It should, because it took three tries to get it right.
Feet are the best sock blockers!
And I have happy feet. I wore these to work today, in snow boots.
Worsted weight socks, adapted from Ukrainian Socks in Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. Knit from stash yarn, KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, and US size 5 dpns.
I really like how these turned out. But there were a million ends to weave in! So my next socks will have fewer colors. I’m considering the Finnish Socks from the same book, adapted again for worsted weight yarn. Did I just say “next socks?” Me, the non-sock knitter? Hey, it’s cold out there!
What’s wrong with this bird bath?
Well, they will be, when I get them done. I’m knitting them with worsted weight yarn, KnitPicks Wool of the Andes.
Yes, that’s an insane number of needles in that sock. Eight, to be precise. The sock is based on the Ukrainian Socks in Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. I love the color pattern on those socks. Since the stitch count is different, I had to choose different stitch patterns that would fit into a 10 stitch repeat instead of a 16 stitch repeat. I’m keeping the peasant heel, sometimes called an afterthought heel, but messing around with it a bit. I’ll do a plain blue toe, no pattern on it for me. I don’t want them to be too bulky.
I didn’t want to go all the way to the toe and find out that the sock would be too long or too short, so I’m doing the afterthought heel before I finish the toe. I put the heel stitches on my short dpns before I took out the waste yarn, because I like the security of having the stitches accounted for before pulling the waste yarn.
Enough needles for ya?
We’re snowed in here in PDX, and are having freezing rain on top of that. There’s a crunchy crust of ice on top of the snow, but it’s not so hard that I can’t crunch through and walk somewhere. It’s just a lot of work. I’m hoping it all thaws gracefully when it should. I’m glad we played in it yesterday before it got crusty. I was glad to have these.
These are the Selbu Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. I made them years ago, but they’re still in great shape. They were a bit big when I made them, so I felted/fulled them a bit in the sink. This made them fairly wind-proof, too. Perfect!
I think the birds are hungry. I threw some seed down on the snow/ice under the bird feeder. There have been birds all day, and Mookie has been enjoying the view.
“Hey, it’s me!”
“Here, under the bird bath.”
“Wanna come out and play?”
I finished my second Athena entrelac neck warmer last night. Purling back backwards (not turning the work each row) makes this go pretty quickly. But it looks like this Athena won’t be for me. She’ll be going on to her new life as a shop model. Shannon and Emily will be selling the hard copy pattern at Twisted, and they’d like a sample. Done! So I picked up more Taos and will make another one for myself, in a bit. Check out this color:
And I bought myself a little present for the next one: 16″ ebony circulars from Lantern Moon. Mmmmm, I love these needles. I didn’t realize that they made 16″ circulars, but now that I know, I had to get a few. Great tools make knitting even more of a pleasure!
I’m also dreaming of some quick worsted weight socks, because it’s cold and snowy, and my boots are just a tad big so there’s room. I think I’ll use some stash KnitPicks Wool of the Andes and make something fun with a color pattern, because I have a lot of bits of different colors left from other projects.
I guess I should be cleaning my house for Christmas, but if I clean it now, it will be messy by Christmas Eve. Maybe tomorrow!
Posted in Knit, pattern design
Tagged Athena, cowl, entrelac, Knit, knitpicks, lantern moon, neck warmer, twisted
It’s finished! Introducing Athena, an entrelac neck warmer.
This yarn really lends itself to entrelac. I did try four other patterns, but ended up having to come up with something on my own. I knew I didn’t want to knit a long scarf; time was of the essence. I thought about knitting an entrelac scarflet, but I’ve only knit entrelac in the round, and didn’t feel like learning a new trick in a hurry (it’s just learning about side triangles for flat entrelac, but a mood is a mood). My next thought was a hat, but I didn’t think the intended recipient would wear a hat. And it would be floppy. I went to bed thinking about it, and the next morning I woke up with this neck warmer idea springing from my head. And I love the name Athena for it.
I did have to start it three different times. The fun of designing is making all the mistakes for you, so you don’t have to! The pattern is available as a pdf download for $5 US through Ravelry. See the pattern page for more information.
Here’s Carole with her new neck warmer!
Posted in Knit, pattern design, ravelry
Tagged crystal palace taos, entrelac, entrelac cowl, entrelac neck warmer, Knit
The Taos project continues. The idea popped into my head as I was waking up the morning after I abandoned the Pioneer Braid. It wasn’t quite as cleanly executed as Athena springing fully formed from Zeus’ forehead, though. The first cast on was enormous! The second cast on, still pretty oversized. The third attempt appears to be spot on. It’s an entrelac project (yes, this yarn is perfect for entrelac!) so it’s hard to tell how large the project is going to be without working through at least two tiers of blocks. That’s a lot of knitting and ripping. But this yarn is a bit fuzzy, and ripping doesn’t adversely affect it at all. Thank goodness. No picture yet; it’s a surprise.
So what can I show you? Not Hey, Teach; she’s been languishing while I’ve been playing with Athena. How about something I found in my yard?
I think it’s a fungus, next to a weed and between some dead iris leaves. It’s so vibrantly orange! It caught my eye when I was leaving the house.
Oh, a bit of knitting news: I’m going to be teaching some classes at Twisted in February and March. I’m signed on to teach a class on basic hats in the round (will knit up a sample soon), and a class on my felted slip stitch tote! Schedule should be going up soon.
Or, behind the scenes in the process of choosing a project.
The new yarn (Crystal Palace Taos) is being a bit difficult. It’s lovely stuff, very soft, and the colors are beautiful. But I’m still not sure what to knit with it. Nothing is singing to me.
At first I thought a bit of feather and fan would be fun. I’ve always wanted to knit a feather and fan lace pattern, and Two Weeknights with Warrick looked like it would be perfect. Great pattern, easy to memorize. Alas, it doesn’t do justice to the yarn. I’ll knit this pattern with a different yarn somewhere down the road.
So I cast on for the checkerboard scarflet. But the checkerboard was getting lost in the color changes, or the color changes were getting lost in the checkerboard. I’m not sure which.
I poked around on Ravelry to see what other people made with this gorgeous yarn. A lot of entrelac! And some mitered scarves. Aha. How about the Pioneer Braid Scarf? I cast on this morning and knit for a bit. The pattern is ingenious. Here’s what it looks like. And this is a much better depiction of the true colors.
It’s better than the first two tries, but it still doesn’t sing to me. And I’m not sure I want to knit an entire scarf right now. Tempus fugit! I’m thinking that I’ll play with some entrelac. I’d make a Quant, but the intended recipient isn’t a headband sort of person. On the other hand, I’m not sure she’d use the entrelac item I have percolating in my mind, either. But at least I’d get a design out of the yarn. If I do it. What I thought would be a straightforward project, isn’t. Le sigh.
Well, the yarn isn’t singing to me yet, but I was singing yesterday! The Day Old Pastries, my folkie group, played and sang carols at our church Advent Festival in the afternoon. From there I went to sing with the Everyone Welcome Community Choir at Artichoke Music, and that was a blast. Here’s a clip of one of my favorite songs from yesterday, Siyahamba. It’s South African (Zulu). Enjoy!
Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, music, pattern design, ravelry
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