Leftie and Socks

Here are more projects I failed to write about contemporaneously.  My mom's birthday is on Christmas day.  It sucks having a birthday on a holiday.  Woe to person who gives a joint birthday/Christmas present or wraps a birthday present in Christmas paper.  So I knit two presents for my mom this year.

The first was Leftie by Martha Behm.

Isn't my mom cute?

This is a cool one because you actually start with just three stitches and add more each row.  It gives the shawl a slanted look.

Every tenth row, you make a leaf on the left edge.

I used fingering weight KnitPicks Chroma, which has a slow color shift.  I'm not sure this color way exists anymore, but you can see it goes from a dark pink all the way to bright orange.

The other thing I knit for my mom was a pair of socks.  The first pair I made was a little too small.  This pair I knit from the toe up (no pattern), so I knew they were going to fit perfectly.

The yarn was something on the fancier side, a merino/nylon blend I believe.  I can't for the life of me remember the brand.

Her feet seem happy, though.

Backdated Knitting

Looking at the blog archives, I realize I didn't post a single thing in 2013. I was knitting that whole time, I just never updated you all.

 One of the things I made was Funchal Moebius by Kate Davies.  Go ahead and click that link.  You will notice that it is a long, double-sided, two-color fair isle moebius scarf.  You can wrap it twice around your neck.

Mine doesn't look like that.

I did a few repeats of the pattern, said, "well that was fun" and decided it was a cowl.

I just put a little i-cord bind-off on both ends.

You can see how it was supposed to be a double-sided scarf instead of a cowl.  The colors are inverted on the opposite sides.

Wouldn't that be a pretty sweater pattern?  But if I get this tired of color-work this quickly I can't imagine doing a whole sweater like this. 

The Orchid Thief Shawl

What happens when you let a girl who is bad at taking pictures use a nice camera?  She still takes bad pictures.

But she feels fancy.

 

This is Orchid Thief by Ysolda Teague in a mystery hand-dyed yarn from Austin, Texas (I lost the ball band immediately after I got it).  Super well-written pattern like everything by Ysolda.

It was supposed to be a Christmas present for one of the mother-in-laws (yes, I am about to have two mother-in-laws), but I clearly didn't finish it in time.  Then she was out of town so I procrastinated until last night, when we were picking her up at the airport to finish it up and weave in the ends.

It is not nearly as long as I thought it would be.  But I still love the leaf motif (heh, that rhymes).  The edges ruffle.

They would probably ruffle more, but I ran out of yarn half way through my bind off (yikes!).  Because it was mystery yarn, had no idea what yardage I was working with.  I had to unpick my bound off stitches and do a yarnless bindoff instead.  It isn't a very stretchy edge, but I still think it makes for a pretty little scarf all the same....

...if you ignore the bad photography....

Shawls

I haven't shown a lot of finished items on here lately, but I swear they have been happening.  I've been thinking a lot about shawls the last couple weeks because I like to knit them for other people's special events.

For my Bestie's wedding a couple years ago, I made her a Euphrosyne shawl by Kirsten Kapur for her rehearsal dinner. She had told me she was going to carry lilies for her wedding. I thought if she was going to wear a white dress that a green shawl, the color of the stems, would be pretty.

I started with a skein of lace weight from A Verb For Keeping Warm. It's silk and merino, so light and squishy but a little bit shiny and very warm.  They hand-dye their yarn with natural ingredients, so the color really was "stem colored."

After about eighty million hours of knitting (and watching Bones on Netflix), I ended up with this.




I allowed it to block.  And I ended up with this:

These pictures were taken ages ago.  Sorry they are so dark!  Also, my blocking is lop-sided, isn't it?

 Yum!  Fun, easy to follow pattern, but lots of repeats of the same pattern over and over again.  Not sure if I will ever make another one of these.  But Bestie looked so happy trying it on!

So, now I am thinking about what kind of shawl I should make myself.  And should I make it in white or in a pretty color?  What weight of yarn?  What type of fiber?  Oh, the choices!

Merit Badge

I found this little pattern on Ravelry called Merit Badge.  Essentially, you knit little octagons,

take old buttons you have

Cover the button with the fabric and sew it tight around the back

And then decorate the front with anything you like.

I sent this one to my mom for Mother's Day (in addition to other things, don't worry).  It's kinda awkward-looking, but she was kind and said she liked it anyway as is the tradition of the day (I think she was just pleased it wasn't a macaroni necklace).

I am in the process of making about a million of them because they are a quick and easy way to use up yarn odds and ends.  I am not very artistic, though, and don't really know what to decorate them with.  Here is one I found online that I like:

Designed by AMANDA OCHOCKI, www.chalklegs.com & www.chalklegs.etsy.com

Taking suggestions.  A cow, maybe?  Hmm...

Holiday Recap: Part 2

Almost everyone got knitted items for their gifts this year.  Mostly hats.

My mom, her friend, my sister, and Nate.

Nate's and my mom's friend's were my own basic hat pattern.  Nate's is from the same wool as My First Sweater.  My sister's hat was the best, I think.

The hat is Simpatico! by Grace Mrowicki...nice cables.  Cascade EcoWool in Black.  I added the tassels without knowing how so they are my own design

Janey is nuts.  My understanding is that this look (as well as words like "wicked" and "sick") means she likes the hat.

My mom has big hair, so I gave her a big hat to fit on top.

It's a Shroom hat like the other million I've made this year.

My mom's birthday is on the 25th, too.  I gave her My First Sweater.  She looks a heck of a lot better in it than I did.  I'm glad she will wear it more often than I would have.  The weather in Atlanta wasn't quite cold enough.

I was wearing my Never-Ending Sweater.  All kinds of wool happening this holiday.

Happy New Year!

Holiday Recap Part 1: Knitted Goods

My family is awesome.  They are definitely catching on to the whole "knitters like knitting-related gifts" thing.  My parents both made donations to the I-want-to-get-a-spinning-wheel fund (also called the money-I-should-spend-on-groceries fund).  I got a felted bag.  Knit clothes (most clothes are knit, but these are sweater-y, so even more applicable).  Leg warmers.  And this book.

Can buy it here

And my sister got me some yarn, which I promptly put into action while running errands this week.

Counting change at the bank.  I'm so classy.

I also got a small air hockey table.

Completely unrelated to knitting, but AWESOME.  Also completely not going to fit in my suitcase.

Thanks you all!  I appreciate it!

Winner!

Hey Y'all!  I thought I would be in better touch over the weekend, but Christmas got in the way.  Just wanted to stop in to announce the winner of my hat giveaway.  The random number generator came up with the number 4.  The fourth comment on my blog post was:

Stephanie said...

Once upon a time I knit a scarf. It took me seven years.

Amen.  The only reason I ever get a scarf knit is because Civil Procedure is the most boring class on Earth.  I will be reaching out to Stephanie to see where I should be sending her hat.

My favorite poem was by Katie who said:

Hats don't suck out souls.
Unlike law school, they just
Keep souls (or brains) warm.

I might just have to make her a hat, too....

Happy Holidays!!

Hat Competition

I've been on a hat-making jag lately.  I've made about 10 of them this fall.  There was a blue one, a red one, a turquoise one, a green one, two gray ones, a black one, a brown one, a purple one in progress and this stripey one.

Hats are like crack with the much more pleasing side affects of warmth and fuzziness.

In honor of my hat-making obsession, I would like to offer one to you!  Leave a comment on this post saying why knitting is awesome (or why law school is lame) and I will choose one of the commentors at random to get a hand-knit hat.  If the winning entry is in poetry form (the worse the poetry, the better), they will have input on what kind of hat it is (otherwise, I get to choose, and you KNOW it will include a pom-pom).

Ok?  Go!

Things I Knit to Keep From Studying

D moved to Florida.  I made her a gator.  The gator's eyes are kinda cataract-y but I hope he will keep D company until I can come visit! (pattern from Anna Hrachovec's Knitting Mochimochi).

I should be putting pencil to paper doing practice contracts problems.  Instead, I knit a pencil (also from Knitting Mochimochi).  It all makes sense in my head.

My roommie wore her hat to England with her over Thanksgiving.  Yup, that would be Stone Henge in the background.

She also wore the mitts I made her to match.  My own pattern.  I stole this picture from her Facebook page.  She will probably draw a mustache on me in my sleep tonight when she finds out I used it (she does know where I live), but this picture of her communing with the ducks just cracked me up.

It's That Time of the Year...

...for procrastinating studying for exams.

And Secret-Gift-Knitting-Which-Cannot-Be-Shown-Here-On-The-Off-Chance-People-Actually-Read-This

Which means I have very little to show you. Forgive me

Hey Jha!

Hey lady,

Remember that birthday request you made?  Five months ago?

Wise Owl Toy from lionbrand.com

Well, this is sort of it....He is a lot lumpier than I had imagined.  And his wings are very much lop-sided.  Oh, and he doesn't actually have a beak or even eyes (the eyes looked murder-me-in-my-sleep creepy when I sewed them on...figured it was best not to send you that message).

But!  He is my own color-work modification.  I think his face looks super awesomely owly.

Oh, and if all else fails, he will make a great dog chew toy.

Hey B!

Hey B!  Remember how you and Jess won my poetry contest ALMOST A YEAR AGO?  Yea, I finally finished your prizes.  I hope you don't mind lime green?

Hat pattern is my usual.  I swear that it looks cuter once it's on a head.  I just have difficulty taking a picture of my own head.  And I feel weird alone in my bathroom trying to get the angle right in my only mirror so that my entire head (which seems much larger when you are trying to fit it all, not just one side, or minus a chin) is in the picture

I made extra slippers (*cough*obsession*cough*, while I was at it.  Pattern is my usual.

Because once you make one pair, you really can't stop...

And I think they are just the cutest.

So, B, where should I send them?