Birthday Time!

Apparently it's Birthday Time!

Two of my friends have birthdays that are very close together  (and to make things really odd, they both knew each other -before- they knew me, but, didn't know that the other knew me until about last year!  Small world!)

So, one friend is getting the prototype of my Raindrop Shawlette;

I will, eventually, post this as my own design to my Ravelry Store, and you can see more about it on my Designer's Blog, but I want to tweak the pattern first before I put it for sale, and that will take some time, considering I'm going to re-knit a second prototype.

The other specifically requested a pair of Dragon Rider Gloves, just like the ones I made for my roommate (except hers are in black!):

I'll present them both at a Birthday party tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to it!  (No, seriously, this friend throws amazing parties!)

So that's that for now.  It's nice to have a few projects off of the needles (have you seen how many WIP's I have!), and I hope both of my friends appreciate their new knitted things!

Dragon Rider Gloves are done!

Well, that's pretty much what it sounds like! I finished them off on the transit while coming back from my parent's place for Christmas.

My apologies for the less-then-awesome picture, but I'm stuck with the tablet camera for the moment.

The photo's not quite true-to-colour, but I'm still quite happy with how they turned out, even if the pattern does need some erratta written up.   Maybe I'll do that for Ravelry.

. . . and Knitting on Christmas Day!

I think a lot of knitters have been guilty of frantically knitting on Christmas Day.

This year, it's the Dragon Rider Gloves that didn't quite make it done in time.

 I think that's for two reasons.

One: is because I couldn't knit them at home when my roommate was home.

And Two: is because I considered them a 'fast knit' I neglected them in favour of other, more complicated or fiddly projects. 

That being said, though, I expect to have them finished by the end of Christmas Day -- I have a bus ride to my parent's place, and I'm at the point now where I can knit these on the transit without having to refer to the book constantly.   I can also knit -at- my parent's place too, if I need to.  I'll also take the Sit and Knit Lace Mitts, too, since they need to be done for the 30th of December.

Knitting on Christmas Eve. . .

Yep, it's Christmas Eve, and I'm still knitting.

However, I did finish the Marian Cowl (it knits up superbly fast!)

Unfortunately I have not yet finished the Dragon Rider Gloves.  I've got about a glove-and-a-half to go, still.  But these are my only project for the day, and hopefully I can finish them before my roommate gets home!  She's getting home early, though, because it's Christmas Eve.  Here's hoping.  In fact, one of the reasons they've taken longer is simply because I can't work on them when she's home!

Also, I started a new project, a pair of Lace Mittens in old worsted-weight acrylic.  They're for a Secret Santa on the 30th. The pattern is called 'Sit N' Knit Mitts', and it's available on Ravelry as a payed download (I was lucky enough to get it for free with a coupon a while ago!)  No picture yet, but they're coming along.

That's the end of the Christmas Knitting for now; here's hoping everyone has a great Christmas; and is staying safe with all the ice still out there.

Pretty (but annoying) Dragon Rider Gloves

The title pretty much says it all. 

The Dragon Rider Gloves are quite pretty, and I'm really happy with how they're turning out.  They're also a quick knit, so I'm not too worried about not being able to finish them for Christmas.

I've gotten past the thumb gusset, and I'm onto the hand proper now, which isn't that many repeats since they're stretchy lace and worsted-weight.

 (Not the best shot, but it works to show progress).

However, the pattern is riddled with typos and weird construction.

First, it's one of the glove patterns that isn't identical, it uses mirrored construction for the left and right glove.  That in itself is fine, but it does require you to pay attention. 

Where it describes the pattern row for the hand, it adds in markers that you only use for the thumb gusset, and the marker placement didn't seem quite right anyway.  I just ignored those. 

It also increases oddly for the thumb gusset, using 3 markers and increasing 2, 3, or no stitches.  (For that, just follow the pattern, it does look odd but it does work).

Finally, when you put the thumb stitches onto a stitch holder, the pattern doesn't tell you to cast on an additional stitch to replace the one you started with for the thumb gusset.   However, if you don't, your pattern stitch won't line up properly. You have to cast on 1 stitch to make the thumb work.

Also, in reading ahead in the pattern, the descriptions to split the stitches for the fingers is rather vague.  I'm glad I've done gloves before because it would be very easy to not realize that you have to take half your index finger stitches from the palm and half your index finger stitches from the back-of-hand. All the pattern says is to 'divide 12 stitches evenly among 3 needles' for the index finger.   If you just take the next 12 stitches from the needle, that won't work, and your index finger will be in the wrong place!

All that being said, though, the pattern is a fun knit, and isn't hard once you realize what's going on.  Provided you have experience making gloves/mittens, you should be able to figure it all out.

Slipper Love and Christmas Knitting Update

Well, it's hard to have second-slipper syndrome when the slipper is really well loved.

My roommate took the finished Fall Lake Slipper and is wearing it mis-matched with her remaining old slipper -- she loves it that much.  Apparently it's really nice and warm.

 It's really heartening to see a knitted gift so well received.  And she's not pestering me for the mate, either. . . though when I was uninspired when my knitting tonight, I asked her what I should work on, and she grinned and told me I should work on her slipper.   But I consider that funny, not pestering.  Besides, I did ask.

Beyond the slippers, the Christmas Knitting is progressing nicely.  There's not yet pictures of everything, but, I'll share the pictures I do have.

1) The Pine Cone Mittens:

These are turning out better then I'd hoped, considering that they were a complete stash-dive and I wasn't sure how the yarn would turn out.   There's more ribbing done now then the picture shows.

2) The Mini-Dalek Coffee Cozy:

This is easily my most complicated Christmas Gift, but it's a nice challenge.  I do find I can only take so much of the bobbles, though, before I need a break from this.   Also, it was a real trick getting the gauge right, since I'm scaling down the pattern.  Basically, I took the dimensions my giftee gave me (about the size of a water-glass), and then did some swatches to see what stitches-per-inch would give me that finished size.

Didn't -quite- work as easily as that, but I got it sorted out in the end.


3) The Dragon Rider Gloves:

I was surprised by this pattern, since there's no ribbing around the edge of the cuffs, just a band of ribbing on the palm.  Also, there's some typos in the pattern before the thumb gusset, which make things kind of confusing.  If it weren't for Ravelry, I probably would be a lot more frustrated with these then I am.

So for once, the Christmas Knitting is actually kind of under control.  It's keeping me busy, yes, but I don't feel overwhelmed by it.

Piles and Piles of Christmas Knitting (and stuff for me, too!)

I decided to enter a KAL featuring Christmas Knitting.

While only one entry can actually be entered, you can knit as many things as you want, provided you only post one finished object in the final thread for the knit-along.

While you can't knit until October the 15th (tomorrow), you can swatch and wind yarn before, so I spent yesterday winding a whole bunch of yarn for these projects.

1) Dragon Rider Gloves.  They're for someone who reads this blog, so I'm hoping not to spoil the surprise too badly.

2) Mittens on a String.  These are a simple free mitten pattern.  My giftee for these is one of those types, while a really sweet person, who would leave his head behind if it wasn't attached to his body.   Hence, the mitten-string.

3) Mini-Dalek Coffee Cozy.  This is going to be the most complicated of my Christmas gifts since I'm re-sizing the pattern.  It's just a matter of recalculating and shrinking stitches per inch, but it still has to be done. Gauge isn't absolutely crucial on this, which does give me a bit of wiggle room.

4) Pine Cone Mittens.  Yet another pattern from Knitting Everyday Finery, these are the only project I haven't created a Ravelry Project Page for, because the yarn for them doesn't need to be wound, it's a giant ball of worsted-weight mill ends I got ages ago that came pre-wound.   These are for the friend who was kind enough to lend me a netbook to get through the laptop being down.  He wasn't initially on my knitting list, but he really did come to my rescue since I need the computer for work.

Finally, there's a project for me, as part of the idea of this KAL is that you don't forget about yourself during the frantic rush of holiday knitting.  The idea is you get one entry for a gift, and one entry for something you knit for yourself.  So, like I mentioned before, I'm going to be making myself a fair-isle hat/cowl/mitten set.

It's going to be a busy next few months.