A Shawl, a Surrender, and Some Hope

Alright, I’ll admit it. I missed a class Monday morning. I just kinda… slept instead. However, I jumped right back on the horse and haven’t missed anything since. There. That’s off my chest.

So let’s talk about another one of my horses. In my last post, I asked for free help from the accountants of the world. Well, I won’t be needing that anymore. I bombed my first test in income tax. Bombed as in Hiroshima. Or so I think at least, because I dropped before I bothered to find out what I made. Effort-wise, I spent more time slogging through tax law and writing papers about tax court than focusing on my major-specific classes. That’s a waste of time and energy in my book. So, I’ll take a lower-level accounting elective over the summer. Summer classes… ugh.

Is everyone ready for some hope? Okay, well my rabbit chewed through my phone and TV cables, so I can’t watch movies and have to be careful with the phone. That’s not the hope part. This is: I’m knitting again. I hadn’t realized how little I’ve knit since the beginning of school or how much that’s stressed me out. I mean, I still haven’t finished Christmas presents. I realize knitting cable covers isn’t exactly tackling my to-do list, but I’m doing something I love again that will protect the sanctity of my film watching, ensuring the goodness of mindless knitting in the future. So there’s that.

And then there’s this: Mom’s Shawl. Yes, the one I finished BEFORE my Christmas deadline. Sometimes I’m not totally slack. I used a simple feather and fan pattern and several colors of I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby. I Love This Yarn is much softer than Red Heart but just as cheap. And since I refuse to use Red Heart for anything that goes on or near the body, this is the best basic, cheap acrylic out there. It doesn’t block well though. I’m not sure if it was because I knit with two strands held together and it was too thick, or you just have to douse the hell out of it. Otherwise, I think it worked up pretty nicely and both me and my mom are very happy with it.

Washcloths

I feel like I’ve sucked royally with the updating bit of keeping the blog. Looking over the last few posts, it seems so long ago. Okay, I haven’t actually finished a whole lot, but I have been working. And finally, I finished the damn washcloths. I’ve even moved onto the other projects that really need to get done in less than a month. Imagine that.

And here they all are. All three sets. These small things took me forever. The blues are for my dad and step-mom, the citrus for my sister, and the pinks for my grandmother.

 

I did kind of a sucktastic job seaming up the pink circular one, plus I think I should have done another section so it wouldn’t curl up. The ballband turned out nicely, but I couldn’t figure out how to weave in my ends nicely, so the back looks messed up. The star… well, the color scheme looked good in my head. At least they coordinated. Redo them, you say? Hell, no! They’re done. They have CHARACTER. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

FO: Pink Petals Scarflette

This amazingly simple scarflette is my favorite creation to date. Seriously. My mom gave me this yarn and, while cute, I had no idea what to do with it. You can imagine my amazement when this too-novelty, too-pink yarn turned into a swath of petals before my eyes. I learned my lesson not to judge too harshly until I’ve swatched. Plus, I got to use another button. You know how happy that makes me.

I’ve got several more projects in the works, most for Christmas, some not. I’m hoping to get a real pattern up for the diagonal drop stitch scarf soon since* no one understood that post. If at first you don’t succeed and all. That and I don’t want my mom hounding me.

*Mess of sounds you know you want to say out loud. Do it. Doooo it.

FO: Ms. Poppins

AKA, Mom’s incredibly late birthday present. Well, I’m finally getting around to telling you about it. I started working on the pattern for the Ms. Poppins bag nearly 6 months before her birthday and finished about a month late. Yay me! But I had reasons! She told me to make this for her “when I got good enough” just as I was starting to knit. Well, the whole thing is in stockinette, so I could do that. I was so excited to get started. I bought my first skeins of “fancy” yarn at the first yarn shop I’d ever been to. I also had my first round of sticker shock there too, but that’s to be expected. Then, in the height of my exuberance, I cast on! Mesmerized by pretty, pretty yarn and the feeling of accomplishment at tackling a bag so soon after learning a new craft, I slowly became aware of the honking huge ache in my hands. Dude, this crap was heavy and I was using the only pair of 10.5s I had: two long straight needles. I didn’t know any better. Plus, the thrill of stockinette soon turned to complete, mind-numbing boredom. It was then that love turned to hate and doomed this snappy little bag to a lifetime of backseats and sideways glances. Then I realized that it was going to be late. Crap. In my haste, I bought a pair of circs to ease the pain in my hands and grudgingly knit away.

But! I did get to make my own purse handles! I got excited about the idea of making them and had a plan and everything! That took just over a day and I think they turned out pretty well.

Since I’m such an awesome daughter, not only did I tell my mom that it was going to be late, I also declared I wasn’t going to finish it. I thought it would be better for her to finish it to her own tastes. This was the honest reason though obviously tinged by hatred! and laziness. So happy birthday, mom. Here’s your assemble-your-own-purse kit. Complete with extra yarn so you can finish it yourself, purse handles, a cooler than shit button, and a tin of breath mints. Pattern? Oh, I’ll get that send that to you soon. Really. Only I didn’t and she had to search for it herself.

I promise she loves me. That’s the only reason she hasn’t throttled me yet. And to prove her love, she even wrote me a guest post! So here, in her own words, you can read about the second half of this poor purse’s life.

——–

My #2 daughter surprised me with a package in the mail last week. It was the finished, knitted parts to a bag I had asked her to  make me when I first found out she was learning to knit.

.

I was so excited when I saw it! I LOVE IT. I don’t know what yarn she used but it was a perfect choice.* Color and weight. I had wanted something heavy because I’m extremely hard on everything I own- especially handbags and the color– well, I’m a “fall” gal…. any shade, every shade.

(Bag Parts)hahaha sounds like bagpipes! 

So, yesterday I finally finished a crochet project I’d been working on and pulled out all the materials I needed to get started finishing my Ms Poppins bag.

.

Luckily, I had some brown, heavy weight fabric in the ole stash bin for my lining. I took my bag measurements, cut out the lining along with a pocket and got to sewing. I had the lining finished in about 10-15 min. THEN, I actually took the time to block the bag piece! When it was ready, I whip stitched the sides together, inserted the lining and hand sewed that down.

She (#2) had given me a bit of extra yarn, so I found my center and crocheted a loop for the beautiful button that she’d included in my package. Then I sewed on the button and handles and WALAA– my finished “surprise” bag. 

I love how it turned out and will use it FOREVER.  The only thing I would change if I got another one for summer use (hint, hint) is that I’d read the online pattern finishing instructions first.  I didn’t follow theirs but who cares! I love my new bag. Thank you so much “Blue”. It’s a wonderful gift and I know how long and hard you worked on it. You must really love me!   Well, DITTO.

* I held together a strand of Lamb’s Pride Wool in Espresso and a strand of Berroco Foliage.

Make sure to check out my mom’s blog full of her own crafty adventures at M’Lady’s Ponderings.

Tip of the Wave Cowl

Tip of the Wave Cowl

Originally uploaded by Zylo Lugosi

 ~~~~

My latest FO, though technically it was done a week or so ago. I haven’t felt well here recently and haven’t been knitting. Ergo, forgot that I totally finished something. I used a skein of Louisa Harding Illusions yarn. It’s almost like ribbon yarn plied with black thread. On buying it, I figured this would be hell to frog, but this is good quality yarn. I used about a hundred crystal beads on this that were too small to slide easily, plus I had to rip a few times, but the yarn never broke. The feathery mohair didn’t even flatten out. I found it quite amazing.

This was my first time working with beads as well and I couldn’t figure out how to use them within the body of knitting. However, I did manage to use them on the cast-on and bind-off edges through lots of experimentation. No, I couldn’t just read a tutorial on it. I would have had to sit down and concentrate for more than three minutes.

The cowl is on the loose side, so I crocheted a simple gathering cord that can be woven into the lace pattern itself if it’s cold or someone wanted the tighter look. It was just a simple chain stitch with a loop of beads at either end. I couldn’t find a neck-width model to show it in action, but I think this shot on my grandmother’s lamp is kind of provocative.

First cowl, first full feather and fan pattern, first lots of stuff. Overall very happy with it.

Oh, guess what. I have another FO waiting in the ranks. More to come on that once my mom is home from vacation.

FO: Diamond Scarflette 2

Diamond Scarflette 2

Originally uploaded by Zylo Lugosi

It’s finally done, washed, blocked, and accessorized. The fuzz that I was hoping would go away has died back a bit. Even though I washed as gently as possible, all that fuzz is either laying flat or it felted just a tid bit. Due to this, the pattern is a more subdued. That also means that the alpaca portion is less scratchy.

Also, my other scarflettes will either have that wrap around at an angle or the entired scarf will be thinner. When you put it on, it bunches a little while the button section is flat. It’s not too distorted and I still like it, but I think I’ll chalk it up to learning and experimenting. Plus, I got to use more fancy buttons! How do you like my classy ladies? All in all, I’m happy with the end product. If you want to see more pictures of the finished product, they’re in my “finished knits” set on Flickr.

Diamond Scarflette V 1.0

I bought two skeins of gorgeous Sulka yarn at a place in Florida months ago. I’ve swatched it like crazy, but couldn’t find anything worthy of it. It’s a 60% Merino wool 20% alpaca 20% silk mix that is delightful to work with and so soft. However, it’s a single twist roving type deal and it’ll start to fuzz if you rip it out too many times. Since I’ve got just under 110 yards between the two skeins, I need to be careful and conserve.

My deal with stitch patterns is this, if it’s too simple it won’t show off what the yarn can really do and if it’s too complicated it won’t show off the softness. Scouring the internet for stitch patterns to learn, I can across one called King Charles Brocade. I think this will be flattering to all aspects of my darling yarn. The idea was to have a center panel in the brocade with a seed stitch area for the button hole and to finish it off with an attached i-cord border. I had to teach myself to do this because I was afraid of the center panel curling too much. I thought it would give it a finished look while also giving you something prettier to look at than the backside if it curled.

So, to save my yarn any more stress, I used a single skein of Yarn Bee Icelandic Jewels I had laying around. I think the stitch pattern turned out pretty well considering that the variagation hides some of it and the i-cord does make it look more finished. However, it’s way too wide for my taste. I actually like the almost cowl-like squishiness it has when put on because it looks cozier, but for the final version, I’ll only do one pattern repeat for a fitted, streamlined look. This one’s not too shabby though. Plus, I got to break out the buttons. You know how happy that makes me.

Anna’s Shawl

Remember that fluffy blob of awesomeness? That blob that I said I would debut last Wednesday? Well… ta da! It’s still a Wednesday, right? Shut up.

My friend is an art major and painted a piece that I fell in love with. More than that, she was willing to give it to me because I could give it a good home. As a thank-you, I knit her a simple but funky shawl. I found the basic pattern on Ravelry, also linked here, and added both the middle and side increases every other row in plain garter stitch. I decided not to add them for the last color because I was using it to frame the piece, but it made the bottom curl a little. Not too much, but I won’t be doing that again.  I stocked up on the prettiest and squidgiest novelty yarns available. I can’t help myself around novelty yarns. Thankfully, she loved it and can’t wait to wear it. And I totally finished a project! You didn’t think I could do it, did you?

 

 

 

Ladies Go Crazy Bout a Sharp Dressed Can

Or bottle.

Or even arm.

Quick cable knit in acrylic and stockinette in Linie 194 Solo for a frill as you go knit, because ruffles on a beer bottle is just funny enough to merit knitting. For my sister’s birthday.

Washcloth Mania

I challenged myself to knit most of a washcloth in one day. Aside from maybe 7 rows, I actually did it. It was supposed to be a sun pattern, but my tension got messed up so it’s more like a wonky eye. Regardless, it’s getting shipped off to Texas Ranger once he gets settled in his new place. Plus, this was pretty fun. I’ve wanted to try all kinds of different patterns and obviously this is the way to go. Doesn’t a stackful of knit and crochet washcloths sound more appealing than terry cloth? I thought so. Also, I found a skein of Bernat Cottontots in my stash and am loving how soft it is. Nothing like the regular dishcloth cotton.

In other news, I have my first box of sale junk up on ebay. One down… I may get around to handwashing a bit more, but I actually want to go to knit group tonight instead of thinking about it the day after. We’ll see what happens.