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Project 18: Thermal Gloves for Pants

I wanted a quick knit present for Pants, so I whipped up these thermal inspired mitts for him to wear under his snowboarding gloves.

He's not all that into them, though, the colour bothering him more than the shininess, so I don't think I'll be making him anything else any time soon.

I like them, though, and I'm going to use the remainder for a pair for myself.


Pattern: Made up, based on how I remembered Thermal, which was incorrect.

Yarn: Noro Aurora, colour 8, about half of two skeins (1 ball)

Needles: 4.5mm circ

Made for: Pants

Ravelry Link

Project 17: Evangelines

I made these Evangelines as part of Mmmmmalabrigo March over on Ravelry.

The pattern was well written and easy to understand, but I just don't like the cable pattern. Why I couldn't figure that out before I knit them, I have no idea, but I think I'll give them to mumsie instead of keeping them for myself.

I did an extra cable repeat but otherwise knit them as instructed. If I were to do them again, I'd give the thumbs more stitches and change up the cable pattern.

Pattern: Evangeline, from Magknits

Yarn: Mmmmalabrigo Worsted in Sealing Wax, about 1/3 of a skein

Needles: 4.5mm circ

Made for: mother, I think

Ravelry Link

Project 16: Nephling Hat

This teeny, tiny hat was made in Albury, for the nephling, who has us all completely under his spell.

Pretty simple project, made from my default hat pattern, the Spiraling Hat, to coordinate with the Kipling I made for his baby shower, it made a pretty good (if I do say so myself) Easter gift for a tiny who isn't allowed chocolate.

We're hoping it gets cold enough for him to wear them before they're outgrown. I'll try to get a modeled photo, he's very cute.

Pattern: Spiraling Hat

Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Aran in Seafoam

Needles: 4.5mm circ

Made for: our nephling

Ravelry Link

Project 15: Chocolate Spiraling Hat

Life got pretty out of control last month, so I have a rather large backlog of finished projects to get through, starting with this staple, a Spiraling Hat for the gift box.

I made this one in the car on the way to Albury a few weeks ago, where the godfetus was in hospital. She's doing ok at the moment, but it was scary for a while there and she will have to be taken to Melbourne for her birth, but we're taking each day as it comes. She's 24 weeks, so fingers crossed she chooses to stay where she is for a few more months.


Pattern: Spiraling Hat

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Chocolate, 1 skein

Needles: 10mm dpns

Made for: someone, surely

Ravelry Link

Project 14: Patriotic Socks (for [complainy] Pants)

SWTC's Karaoke, with it's renowned felting properties, is a dodgy choice for a sock yarn.

This is why I was making these footies for myself. I know they'll felt like the dickens, so I'll take care of them and only wear them around the house.

However, as I was knitting along, having just turned the heels, watching My Name is Earl, Pants started kvetching about the two single (sadly, unmatching) socks that I've knit him and bitching about the fact that I'm making these for myself while his giant (size 11!) feet go shiveringly naked.

They were turning out a bit loose for me, so when he grabbed them and forced his feet into them, they fit him, slightly stretched , but for being rather too short.

So I put the knitting away and the next day, on the train, ripped out the painstakingly crafted (ok, not really) heels, added a few inches to the foot length and reheeled them.

The following day, we set off for Newcastle to visit with friends and I finished them, but for the sewn cast-off, on the road. Hence the charmingly art directed (by pants, no less) photograph of an almost completed sock, artfully arranged upon manly foot, delicately nestled against Land Rover steering wheel (taken outside the Newcastle Ent Cent).

We had slept in the back of the truck at the beach the previous night, two fatties spooning on a single blow up mattress, nuzzled between hard steel wheel arches, so we were, shall we say, not in the greatest mood the next morning when we awoke.

I waited until I'd done something stupid (I can't remember what, but it's an unfortunate habit of mine, and one of the differences that keep our relationship strong, to have a logic that is truly my own and not necessarily reflected in the greater world's logic) before I told him to shut up, because I'd been knitting away on a PAIR!!! of socks for him all weekend.

It was a good ploy, and one that I must remember for when he has his cranky pants on in the future. I believe this is sometimes called bribery.




Pattern: toe up, two at once with a reverse heel flap

Yarn: South West Trading Company Karaoke in Gator, 2 skeins

Needles: 3.75mm circ

Made for: Pants

Ravelry Link

Why patriotic? Imagine (as I choose to) that the blue isn't there, which isn't too difficult when they're covered by giant (did I mention size 11!?!) cons, and you've got a green and gold sock that i knit 'Oi' into each ankle of. As in, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi! Oi! Oi!

Project 13: Tiny socks for Milly

A quick knitting interlude in the turbulent weeks just past, a pair of tiny socks for a tiny arrival in the family, my cousin's brand new babe.

Very simply constructed, wedge toes, heel flap, stockinette foot, ribbed legs. Nice, brainless knitting.

Pattern: made up

Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Miami in Miami Red

Needles: 2mm circ

Made for: Milly

Ravelry Link

Bumblebee

Hand-dyed merino/nylon sock.
Spiraling Bumblebee.

Project 12: Scarfly

I recently bought a rigid heddle loom. I know, rigid heddle! I got a good deal and I wanted to try it out, so...

I made a little scraf for a small friend.

Today is the last day of Feb, so I thought I'd have a look at my goals for the year and see how I'm going with them.

1 & 2 (off roading and more driving) aren't going so well, I've probably driven less than 5 hours this year, but I'm off to visit my godbaby next weekend (see #3) which means about 12 hours of driving for me.

4, to knit a project from each knitting book I own, is not doing too badly, I've done two, but I've also doubled my library, so I'm calling it a fail.

5, making 52 projects, or 1 each week for the year, well, I'm up to 12, in 8 1/2 weeks and I have another half dozen or more in various stages of completion, so I'm pretty happy with that.






Pattern: none, just a plain weave

Yarn: Louet Gems Sapphire in black, 1/2 skein & Emotive Classic in pink, 1 skein

Needles: rigid heddle loom

Made for: Surprise

Ravelry Link

Project 11: Ralph

Pants' sister is currently at the hospital, having our nephling cut out of her. As you can imagine, we're all kind of beside ourselves and twitching, waiting for news. Pants and I are going to be a little bit sheepish (no pun intended, but what the heck) if he ends up being a neiceling and we have to return all of the tiny blue things we bought.

I made this little sheepy, Ralph, to give to the tiny upon his entrance (visiting hours start in 1 hour, 50 minutes, so hurry up little one!).

More details and a pattern to download by the weekend.

Pattern: A Tale of Two Sheepies, by Spiraling

Yarn: SWTC Bamboo Feather and Louet Gems Sport weight

Needles: 3.25mm circ

Made for: the nephling!

Ravelry Link

I must go now and resume pacing and glancing at the telephone. Send good thoughts!

GAH!!!

I've developed a bad habit of pronouncing Edinburgh as though it were spelled phonetically. I'll admit it, it irks my hairy Scot, and that's generally a motivating factor, but yesterday I did it in front of his Glaswegian parents and felt like a tool.

It seems I'm incapable of posting without a photo, so here are some fuzzy feet that have been sitting in my 'to be felted' box for a few weeks. I've a few projects in there, I think I'm scared of ruining them.

Araucania Nature Wool Chunky

There was recently a yarn freak-out on the Aus Knitters forum of Ravelry over Ranco, the stunning sock yarn from Araucania. I bought four skeins, two of the multi and two of the solids (which are really varigated).

For me, the stand out feature of the yarn is the softness. It's absolutely gorgeous, so I had to try out another from the Araucania stable.

16 skeins of Nature Wool Chunky came home to me, 11 in a gorgeous green to make a faux fair isle (possibly overkill, but I didn't want to run out), four of the dark teal colour and one of the gorgeous aqua in the photo.

Have a good look at the photo, you can see a bigger version here, the first thing you'll notice is the different bands, the forground yarn has the older version.

You might also notice that the aqua is dwarfing the teal. The aqua is 147g, the teal 102g, both advertised as 100g.

I wish now that I'd bought them in a real store, rather than online. You can bet I would have bought every overweight skein.

I'm going to start knitting these this weekend.

Yarn Storage? Sorted.

I've begun the laborious task of logging and transferring my yarns over from my old workspace into the bunker.

This task is made slightly more bearable by the fact that a. I love counting stuff, putting it into spreadsheets and analysing data, and b. I've found the perfect storage solution for me.

I found these plastic shoe containers at my local $2 store, and picked up 35 of them.

They're particularly good for sock yarns (a good hunk of my 132 skeins can be found in the pile above). One of those boxes has 18 balls of Bendigo Miami in it!

Project 10: Cowgirl Slipper Socks

This is my box of Noro. It doesn't look like much, but there's probably 15 or so skeins of assorted Noro yarns in there, Kureyon, Kureyon Sock, Cotton Hill, Silver Thaw, Aurora and Silk Mountain.

I'd never tried Noro until I made my Woodland Shawl out of Kureyon Sock, quickly followed by the Maine Morning Mitts out of Kureyon.

Suddenly, I understood what the fuss was about, and why people would pay $20 a skein for wool that's full of knots and twigs. So, I set about building a collection.

Part of this collection included two skeins of Silver Thaw, which is a 10ply Nylon/wool/angora blend, one of which I made into a pair of Ann Budd's Cowgirl Slipper Socks.


This yarn is really, really nice, squishy and fuzzy and a pleasure to knit, however I soon learned that I was slightly allergic to it (hence the thick socks in the photos). I'm not sure what the problem is, considering I wear angora and used to own an angora bunny, I think it may actually be the wool used.

So, knitting something that made my hands swell up and my whole body itchy is kind of a motivator to get things done, you know?

These are for my grandmother for Christmas, so they don't quite fit me.

They were a fairly quick knit, heavy yarn with a short leg, and, allergies not withstanding, an enjoyable one.

As I was knitting, I couldn't figure out what the yarn reminded me of. I knew it was some kind of sweet from my childhood, but that sounds rediculous, so I didn't know what it was. Something about the way the tufts of colour pop out of the yarn.

I didn't figure it out until I was nearly done. CLINKERS!!

They're not *quite* done, the toes are held together with waste yarn because I can not find a single tapestry needle in my house, or in any of the stores at Miranda. It's my own fault, though, because I know exactly where my scissors and measuring tapes are.

Pattern: Cowgirl Slipper Socks, by Ann Budd, from IK Winter 06

Yarn: Noro Silver Thaw

Needles: 4.5mm circ

Made for: mormor

Ravelry Link

Project 9: Foliage

I haven't mentione it before, because it kind of makes me seem like a spoiled little princess, but my best friend is taking me around the world in September.

We're going to Prague first, then we're separating in Scotland, me to Glasgow for a pants family wedding and her to a friend who lives in Edinburgh, then we're off to Boston, NY, Chicago, Seattle and Vancouver, and wherever else takes our fancy along the way, but she's paying for my flights.

This is completely outrageous and kind of something that it's impossible to adequately say thank you for.

So, I knit her a hat. Yeah, lame. It's sort of for Christmas, but I'll probably give it to her for her Birthday so she can take it away with us. Last time she was in Prague, she got me a green flap hat, so it seemed kind of appropriate.

Anyway, this completely inadequate gift is Foliage from Knitty. Made in some Malabrigo Chunky that I happened to have laying around, this is possibly one of my favourite things ever.

The colour, Lettuce, is just perfect and the pattern is easy without being boring and I finished it in an evening watching dvds on my computer.

It's a pretty big hat, which was a complaint I saw on Ravelry quite a bit, but K has fairly big hair, so I think it will be alright. It came down over my eyebrows, which was a teeny bit annoying, but if I made one for myself (and I probably will), I'd just pull it down further at the back.

Modelled by my adorable mumsie, I'm pretty sure she wants one now!

Pattern: Foliage by Emilee Mooney, from Knitty

Yarn: Malabrigo in Lettuce

Needles: 6.5mm circ

Made for: K

Ravelry Link