Works In Progress

The last post was about Finished Objects. This post is about objects that I hope to have finished soon. We'll start with the oldest, and most time critical (and of course the one I keep neglecting.)

A friend of mine recently had a baby girl. I decided to knit her a baby kimono sweater, using the pattern out of Mason Dixon Knitting. It's a great pattern, this is my third baby kimono sweater. (Actually, the entire book is wonderful - I want to make everything in it and can't wait for their second book to be released!) I finished knitting the sweater, but needed to get ribbon for the ties, so I didn't sew up the sides. Instead, I cast on some matching bootees. Then sewed up the bootees. And last week I finally got some yarn for the ties, but still haven't sewed up the sides of the sweater. If I wait too much longer it's not going to fit the baby, so I guess I'd better get crackin'... Here's how it looks as of now.

And just what am I working on when I'm not sewing up the sweater? A scarf, of course! I have no idea who I'm knitting it for, but I've been wanting to knit it for a while now. I've had two balls of this yarn in my stash and have been waiting for just the right pattern. And the other day when I was poking around in Ravelry I found it! The Drop Stitch Scarf! It is perfect. I love the pattern, it shows off the yarn beautifully. Only, it takes more than just two little balls of yarn. So of course I had to buy more. But I couldn't remember the color that I already had. So I decided to buy colors that I thought were pretty, even though they aren't the same. We'll see how it turns out. Here's what I've got so far and the remaining balls of yarn.

Finally Finished Objects!

Way back when, before I moved over here, you'd given me a pattern for some mocs. You had even ordered really nice yarn for me. And my first month over here I started knitting them. Originally, I was going to make a pair of mocs for Tipton (hence the color choice.) I got about 3/4 of the way done with the first one and got stuck. The pattern called for me to do something I'd never done before. Something I had no idea how to do - something I'd never even heard of. And since I had no internet and no phone and knew nobody whom I could ask, I set it aside and forgot about it. Then a month or so ago I (tried to) organize my stash and came across the almost finished first moc. I decided to finish the pair.

However, it seems in the past year and a half my knitting tension has loosened up a bit. And the mocs came out two very different sizes. I thought maybe they'd magically shrink to be the same size when I felted them, but no such luck. So I cast on a third moc. (Remind you of anything, like oh say - mittens?) And I had so much yarn left over that I decided to make a pair for myself as well. So I did. Here are my mocs before felting:


And here they are after felting:

The green really faded! Don't get me wrong, I like it. It's more of a sage green than the bright pea green. Unfortunately...

when I felted the first (mis-sized) pair of mocs, they did not fade as much. So now, although I've got two mocs that are the same size and they were knit out of the exact same wool, I still do not have a "matching" pair.

It makes me wonder... what will happen when I attempt a pair of socks?

And then we've got another giant hat. I bought the Lucy pattern from Little Turtle Knits*, because the hat would look absolutely adorable on Lilli. I knit a gauge swatch and made gauge and measured Lilli's head... and knit a hat that was enormous - way too big even for me to wear. So I cast on again, for the smallest size of the pattern. It was still too big for Lilli. I threw both hats in the top of my yarn closet and forgot about them. Until I started felting the mocs. Then I though - huh, wonder what will happen if I felt the biggest Lucy hat?

Before:

After:

It lost the pretty stitch definition (obviously - I FELTED it!) but it now fits, and still looks pretty darn cute!

*Just checked Little Turtle Knits - was gonna link to it, but didn't. They no longer seem to have the Lucy pattern.

Always good

Dear Jenn,

sometimes when I'm wading through a sea of used kleenex, I find it hard to smile. So I watch this. And it always works.
I might even find the will to knit again.

Dishrags - A Still Life

This month my house has been filled with germs. Germs that prevent me from knitting on the cute baby sweater and baby bootees that need to be knitted. But being housebound and sick and watching an endless stream of childrens videos - I needed some knitting. Some mindless knitting. So I knit dishrags.

First I knit a simple moss stitch dishrag in the denim ombre colorway. Then I knit a ball band dishrag with denim ombre and cream. Then I knit another ball band dishrag in cream and denim ombre. And finally I made up my own pattern - cream knit in moss stitch with two bands of denim ombre knit in seed stitch. And then I ran out of denim ombre. Still have lots of cream, though (it was a jumbo sized ball.)

Hopefully we have come to the end of the germ pool. Honestly, there's really not much left that we haven't already had this month. But I've got lots more dishrag cotton, just in case.

Just in case you didn't know that...

Apparently, milk conatains milk.

UFO (Unintentionably Felted Object)

The good news is - I have felted my first knitted object!

The bad news is - I did not mean to felt anything.

The kids winter suits were caked with mud, so I washed them. Lilli's pink hat somehow managed to get into the washer, too. Along with one tiny little lego. The lego made it all the way to the filter, which caused the washer to quit working - it would not drain the water out of the drum. Now, I have a front loading washing machine. I could see that it was half filled with really, really dirty water. I also saw that Lilli's pink baby alpaca hat was floating in all that dirty water. After I drained the water and removed the lego I was able to open the door and rescue the little pink hat. Little now being the key word.

The good news is - the hat was too big for Lilli's head before (I know how shocked and surprised you are to hear that.)

The bad news is - now the hat is just a little too small. It fits, circumference-wise. But it is just a little shorter than it should be.

Still, she wears it and loves it.

You tell me

Dear Jenn,

John came across this description in a book.
"Sweden dangles like a flaccid circumsized phallus. Finland bulges scrotally underneath." (Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson)

For some reason, it made him think of you immediately. I don't know why. You don't have a penis.

All that latex makes me shudder

Dear Jenn,

You need to show this to Jenni.

hat thing

My friend Kerry sent me this link.

Part 1 of the 8 trick pocket hat

A good one to have.

Tipton's New Hat

Tipton has been wearing a hat that I did not knit. A hat that was bought in a store. I just have never found the right hat pattern for him. Until you posted the pictures of the hats that you made for Rowan and John. What a great hat pattern!

Of course, I didn't follow the pattern, not for the 'embellishments.' I don't know how to crochet, so for the edging I used an attatched i-cord. And instead of a pompom on the top, I attached three braids. Oh yeah, and I added a stripe to the body of the hat. And I used a thick "Winter Cotton" instead of wool.

When I make it again (and I will - Lilli wants one now) I will probably go down a needle size and knit with 9s instead of 10s (guage-schmage.) And I will add the stripe sooner. And not make the hat so "tall/long."

But overall I am very happy with the end results. And Tipton LOVES it - and really, what more can a mom/knitter ask than for my son/the recipient to be thrilled with what I have made for him.

Entrelac Exposed!

At long last, here are pictures of Danica, the entrelac scarf. I have yet to get an accurate picture fo the color. Really, it is not bright red, brown and turquoise. It's not. It's burgundy, olive and peacock blue. Much prettier than it sounds, I assure you.

The question remains - to fringe or not to fringe?

ick

Dear Jenn,

No worries on the no pictures, we're sick too. High fevers and all that happiness. Wee. I did manage to escape today for a quick haircut, but the picture I took is not flattering. Lots of forehead and couch hair. Will take a better one another day.
But here!

Jo came over last Thursday night for her first knitting lesson. She was cracking me up, all saying how she was not the most dexterous person and then being happy that she could do each new task. It was fun.
Other than that, not much new. It's hard to knit when you have to hold child A or child B, or entertain them in some fashion. And now I'm feeling gross, so it won't be long before I'm turning on the tv just so they'll leave me alone for a while.
Speaking of tv, this was our favorite of the commercial offerings for the super bowl.

Three Little Words

Sorry that I haven't posted pictures of the Danica scarf. But I've got a decent excuse...

Winter. Vomiting. Sickness.