Backyard Leaves Scarf

I have been bad about knitting and blogging lately. I think the kids at school have given up on my school blog, all three of them that ever visited it regularly in the first place that is ; ) I have had two projects in a state of half completion for ages and ages now and a blog post half written about one of them. I had a resolution to not start new projects until the old were finished and I just can't seem to pick either up again. So I am left with 90% of a ribbon yarn sweater and one sock. I think that just about sums up life right now.

I did break my resolution though, Christmas presents don't knit themselves. I made Lauren, who has come to expect knitted goods, the Backyard Leaves Scarf from Interweave's Scarf Style. I think it turned out OK as long as you don't look to close ; ) I tried this pattern about a year ago and could not figure it out, don't ask why it is an easy enough now. Still I feel a sense of accomplishment that I was able to go back and knit it. I used the leftover avacado yarn from my Knit1 cropped cardigan. I am not a fan of wool-ease yarns, but I am happy to have busted some yarn from my stash and the color worked well. I will post pictures but not until after I buy my new computer. The old one is off to be recycled in a hopefully eco friendly way. I now have to begin frantic knitting on the Cathedral Afghan for Sandy. Hopefully the scarf was a knitted lace warm up and now I can knit the afghan up quick! You would think I did not know Christmas was coming the way I leave everything to the last minute.

You Have to Love Tina Fay

I just have to add this clip of Tina Fay as Sarah Palin from SNL, she nails her head on! Watching it makes me laugh and cry all at once.

Berry Tart Baby Hat

This charming baby hat pattern comes from Knitty. When my friend Alison found out she was pregnant I was elated. At last a baby to knit for! I immediately began looking patterns and fell in love with this one. Then we found out she was having a boy! I decided that he could hate me later and made it anyway. I then found out that my friends Nicki and Rob were expecting a girl, and knew that I was meant to be making this hat for them.

I substituted Bernat Satin in Camel (04010) and Raisin (04307). Bernat Satin has the advantage of being machine washable, which I think is highly desirable in anything meant for a baby. The only complaint I have is that the yarn seemed to stick to it's self which might be why I found the bobble pattern a pain to work. Or maybe it was all those knit three together! I used bamboo needles, but I think I would look for a needle with a really sharp hard point if I were to do bobbles again.

Knit 1 Copped Cardigan Finished!

I finished this over the summer. It is my first sweater that involved blocking and seeming together the pieces, and I am moderatly pleased with it. I have worn it once, which I guess by my standards is good. However, my sister liked it so much that I knitted her one in red for Christmas. I did a much better job blocking the second time around, so I think she will be able to get a lot of wear out of it. While it was exciting making the sweater the first time around, I was really ready be done with it the second time around. I started it in September and still did not have it finished in time for Christmas! I just could not bring myself to work on it for the longest time. I think it actually started a knitting slump, where everything else I was working on began to go wrong as well! I think I ripped out and reknit a pair of socks a dozen times. It was horrible, horrible! ; ) But now the sweater is finished and I am happy and have moved on to other things.

On the tecnical side of things, I made mine out of Lion's Brand Wool-Ease in avacado and made the smallest size. I made Maya's out of Pattons Classic Murano, and made the next size larger. Both used a skein less yarn then the pattern called for. From the pattern it seems like the side panels are not meant to be blocked, they don't give any dimensions. On the first one I knit I had to block them after the sweater was sewn to make it not bunch, but it did not work to well. I blocked them to length of the side seems before hand on the red one and it worked much better. So, if you are interested in making this sweater, block the side panels!

A New Year And A Good Time For Resolutions

I'll admit it right up front, I am horrible about keeping new years resolutions, but I am going to make some this year anyway, and a couple of them concern knitting. The first, which I really do intend to keep is to knit my way through my yarn stash before it gets out of control. This is actually something I began this summer so I have a good start on it already! The other is to be better about posting to this my horribly neglected knitting blog. This one is a little shaky. I hate to post without pictures and my computer issues have made me bad about uploading my photos to it. But I plan to get things straightened out, so fingers crossed here, I will be better.

What to expect from the year to come? Well, I know that this year will hold lots of pet projects. Just before Christmas we got a new addition to our family, a little corgi puppy! His name is Rhys, Welsh for ardent, and he is a foxy little fellow. He keeps me on my toes and needs a never ending supply of new toys to keep him amused. So expect dog toys and (much to his dismay) darling dog clothes.

Darling Little Hats!

My friends Alison and Tom seem to like having their baby's in October. Their daughter Anna was born in October and they are expecting their second baby (a boy) then as well. So seeing as I wanted to knit some cute stuff for new baby Sam I knew I had to make something for little Anna's birthday too. The result was the charming little Tea Cosey Elf Hat from Charmed Knits for Sam, and the adorable Luggy Bonnet from Weekend Knits for Anna. A verson of the Luggy Bonnet was knit up for baby Harry to wear in the first Harry Potter movie but was never used...so you can see there is a sort of a Harry Potter theme going on. Which is fitting considering Alison and Tom just moved to Canterbury, England. I think warm little hats will be perfect there this time of year. Best of all I was able to make the Luggy Bonnet using yarn from my stash! Harah. Now I just have to find something to do with all the rest of it : P

Knitted Wig

Stayed up way to LATE last night to knit the Hallowig from knitty.com for my friend Helen's birthday. I think she will look darling and very retro in it. I used bright blue wool yarn I scavenged from an old Gap sweater and I think it turned out good. I have very found memories of this sweater. Lauren and I bought identical sweaters at the old Gap on University Ave. the one day it snowed during college. So it makes me happy that it will live on a something new.

I had trouble with the pattern though. The cast off method it calls for just does not look good, I can't believe that is really how the wig in the picture was done. Instead I did a circular cast off, like for a hat just sort of decreasing each round. It looks much better!