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!

Ribbed Bag the Second is Done

I realized that, shockingly, this is my only post about my Second Ribbed Bag.

It's the same pattern as the Ribbed Bag I made for my roommate; just this time, done in variegated acrylic.

I'm not actually sure what the yarn is, it's old enough that I've lost the ball band.

But this will become a dice bag, and a Birthday present for a friend in my gaming group who often forgets his dice.

Audio Book Knitting!

With two KAL deadlines coming up, plus having to finish my One Cable Mitts by May, I was looking and hoping for a way to have more knitting time.

I think I found it.   My church is doing a bible study/book study, and we're looking at "The Heart of Christianity" by Marcus Borg. It's definitely an interesting read for those who are interested, but there's a lot there to unpack.

(Also, I can't help but think of The Borg whenever I read his name!)

All tangents aside, though, a friend of mine who is also in this study, happened to have the audio version; of which she was kind enough to lend me a copy.  This has proven incredibly useful, as I can sit with my headphones on in my computer chair, and just listen and knit.   I'm actually glad I'm listenening rather then reading, the material is pretty dense.

Regardless, though, it gave me my knitting time;

My One Cable Mitts progressed really rapidly, I'm now done the left mitten except for the thumb:

and my Business Casual Socks are now past the heel and onto the gusset decreases for the foot.

 I have to finish these by March 31, to make the KAL deadline,  so I really don't know if I can do it.  Then again, I have finished a mans sock in ten days, so maybe, maybe I can pull that off. If I can't they're actually for a summer birthday, so I've got lots of time to actually finish them, if I just can't finish them for the KAL.  But I'm going to try!

Finally, though there's no new picture, I'm done the thumb gusset on the first of the Vancouver Fog Gloves. They're also for a knit-along with a deadline of April 1, but they seem to be knitting up a lot faster now that I'm actually paying attention to them!

More Birthday Knitting (with an actual deadline)!

I started yet another project.  Yes, this means that I have oodles of works-in-progress, but I couldn't delay starting these any more.

They're for a birthday in May, and they're for a friend living in Ottawa.  Her apartment often gets cold, and so I've been told that fingerless mittens are always a good idea.

However, the pair I made her last year are made of stash acrylic.   While they are pretty, and she quite likes them, they're not superbly warm.

This year, I wanted to go for warm. 

So, I'm making a pair of One Cable Mitts.  The pattern is free from the Blue Sky Alpacas Website. (Rav Pattern link is here.)  It's designed to use just one skein of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes, which is a wonderfully squishy 50/50 merino/alpaca blend.  And I picked up a skein of this ages ago while it was a power-boost yarn at EatSleepKnit.  I was already thinking about fingerless mitts, with it, and the pattern worked out well. (I think this is the first time I've used the exact yarn recommended in the pattern!)

My giftee likes purples/blues and that end of the colour spectrum, so the colour seemed to suit quite well.    And though these aren't machine-washable, I'll probably just have to remind her of that when I see her.  She's one of the few people on my gift list who I will give things that are hand-wash/dry clean only to, because I know she'll make every effort to remember, and knows how to do so.  And these shouldn't need oodles of washing, anyway.

These are also going to be my second attempt at knitting two-at-a-time, as long as my circular is long enough.  It should help keep me from suffering from second-mitten-syndrome.

It's funny, though.  All of my other current birthday/Christmas knitting has been started absurdly early via various knit-alongs.  This, however, has an actual and upcoming deadline.  Hopefully I can finish in time!

The Birthday Socks, take two:

Well, since last years Birthday Socks were so very well received, I'm trying again this year, (though I'm starting even earlier!)

I'm working on a pair of Business Casual Socks, which are coming along quite well.

I hadn't intended to start them quite so early, but I found on Ravelry yet another KAL group, this time hosting a "Sock it To Me" Sock Knit Along.   I figured that 'why not, it will hopefully get these done well before the actual birth date rolls around this year!

 The pictures a bit dated, actually, I am further along then that.  More pictures, well, whenever I get around to it, I admit!

Birthday Knitting Done Early!

Usually, I find most knitters writing horror stories of knitting the day of someone's birthday, or frantically knitting presents on Christmas day.

And I admit to doing that myself.

But not this time.

I finished the River Runs Through It Mittens.

They're for a birthday in December, so I finished with lots of extra time.   No frantic knitting on this project!

Also, they're for the Sweet Georgia Knit-Along on Ravelry -- for which I've started a third project, the Vancouver Fog Fingerless Gloves.  These are also a December Gift, though in this case, they are a Christmas gift.

See, I'm really trying to be good about my knitting this year!  And even better yet, so far it's working!

I even assembled a big list of all the things I want to knit for Christmas/Birthdays this year here, on Ravelry.  (I'm glad that pretty much no one on that list has a Rav account, and those that do don't know who they are on the list!)   Anyway, I'll see how well I do!

Colourwork Test-Knit Socks and KAL Progress

So I have yet another pair of test-knit socks.

The colour-work socks don't have a pattern live yet on Ravelry, but they're progressing along ok.

I'm using the Blue Moon BFL Fingering I got at Lettuce Knit a while ago, and then Knit Picks Stroll Solids in White.    It'll be interesting to see how they turn out.

Also, I'm further along with my entries in the Sweet Georgia KAL.

My River Runs Through It Mittens:

And the Glacier Sweep Shawl:

Things are progressing well on the knitting front, it looks like!  I'm hoping to have some more things finished up soon.

More Knit Alongs

Hello again!  It's been a bit slower in my posting -- things have been keeping me busy, but hey, that's life, right?

I've cast on two new projects, both for a Knit-Along in the Sweet Georgia Yarns group on Ravelry.

The first is a pair of A River Runs Through Mitt Fingerless Mittens.  They'll be a birthday gift for a friend.

The second is a Glacier Sweep Shawl, for me.

Yes, my circular is horribly kinked up, even after soaking it in hot water.  But the weight of the shawl should eventually un-kink it.

So I have lots of knitting and things to work on, but I'm really rather enjoying myself with it all.  There are a couple of long-standing works-in-progress that I hope to have finished soon, so stay tuned for more posts to come!

Illness and a knitting reprive.

Ugh.  So I feel horrible today.  I know why, it's just health stuff, it will go away on its own in a day or two, hopefully in time for New Years.

But that means that the party I was supposed to be going to tomorrow isn't happening.

I was originally trying to finish the Sit and Knit Mitts for it, but that wasn't happening either.

So, after a lot of shuffling around of ungifted knitted stuff, trying to find things homes where I know they would be appreciated and worn, the Marian Cowl will go to a friend, (my step-sister couldn't make Christmas Day and I don't have her mailing address)  and the Sit and Knit mittens will become next year's Birthday Gift for the same friend. 

This makes things a lot less rushed, which is wonderful.

Last-Minute Birthday Knitting

So. . . despite my best efforts at planning out this holiday and birthday knitting, I still ended up knitting my Grandmother's Birthday Scarf on the morning of her birthday party.

 I've really got to get better about that, I did the same thing with my father's socks!

But, I liked the pattern of this scarf, even if it is a little thin for my tastes.  But because it's so thin, it does knit up quite quickly.

My picture, however, is not so awesome.  It was taken on the floor, while I was trying to pack and get out the door.  It was the only picture I could get before it was gifted.  It makes it look rather deformed, which it's not,  and yes, I'm not quite sure why that one end stretched out more.  It annoys me, but you can't tell on the finished scarf when it's hanging around your neck.

Regardless, though, the scarf's been gifted to a good (and loving) home.  It really brought a smile to her face, and she was so proud that my knitting's advanced.  I think she still remembers the kid who was learning to knit and purl, which was really sweet. :D

More WIP insanity

So, if you remember my last post, lamenting my insanity about picking up a test-knit?

Well, I've got yet one more new thing on the needles.

I started a Silky Scallops Lace Scarf as a birthday present for my Grandmother.

 
 I already had the yarn in stash, so why not?  She goes out and plays cards twice a week at the local community centre, and so I figure I can make her something slightly dressy (but still warm), to wear in the winter when she goes out.

It's a bit thinner then I was originally hoping for, but hey, it's a nice fast knit that's an easy pattern to memorize.  It should grow somewhat when I block it with the silk content of the yarn.

Birthday Gloves are done!

Yep, the Birthday Gloves are finished.  I finished them up, blocking them late tonight.

I even got them done before the Birthday in question, but they were gifted almost immediately to my roommate -- she wants to wear them to the Farmer's Market tomorrow!

It's nice to get something off my needles; especially given an upcoming KAL and more Christmas Knitting, too.

One Glove is done, how fast can I knit the other?

Well, the post title pretty much says it all.

I finished up the thumb of the Birthday Gloves earlier in the week.

I'm actually quite happy with how these are turning out, and I hope my giftee likes them too.

I did the start of the cuff of the second glove over this weekend, and got through a good chunk of the fair-isle work this morning, including putting in the waste yarn for the afterthought thumb (I'm willing to give it one more try!)  If I can get the fair-isle chart done, then I can take these as transit knitting to do the fingers.

I've still got 10 days to finish these, and it shouldn't be a problem.  No knitting three hours before the deadline again, I swear!

A Bad Day with A Good Ending

Long Post Warning:  

So I'm writing this under the influence of a rather unhappy stomach.  It's better then it was last night, but, well, let me tell the tale from the beginning.


I had work this morning, then a whole bunch of errands to downtown in afternoon.  Already, I knew this was going to be a long day.

Lets just say I fell on my behind and ended up in a lot of pain, didn't do half the errands I was planning, the place I wanted to go for lunch/dinner was closed (this involved quite a walk), and the place I did go for food. . . well, it disagreed with me.  Violently.

So by the time I got to Knit Night at the Purple Purl, I was nausious, thirsty, and hurty.   Not the best mindset to be knitting in, but actually, it mostly worked out.  Oh, I didn't feel great, but once I had the chance to sit down, sip a mug of tea, and actually re-compose myself, I felt a lot more human.

Thank you!

Ok, so I was actually going to the Purple Purl in search of yarn.  I've been looking for the right yarn for a friend's Christmas gift.  It has to be grey superwash, fingering-weight, wool.

My first choice was the Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label in Charcoal, which is a colourway that Eat.Sleep.Knit doesn't stock.  Of course, unfortunately, the Purple Purl didn't have it either.

However, they did find me yarn that will suit perfectly.

I now have two skeins of Spud and Chloe Fine that will become a Caffinate! Coffee Press cover. 

The pattern calls for worsted weight, but my giftee has a mini-coffee press, and the idea of a mini-dalek made her giggle with delight over the phone, so I'm planning to just scale down the pattern in stitches per inch, work it with fingering-weight yarn, and call it done. I got dimensions out of her, so I should be good to go.

(Also, happily, I discovered in uploading this this morning, that Ravelry will keep stash entries separate if they have separate dye lots.  Well done!)

After getting my yarn, I then settled into work on my knitting at the knit night. I got the index finger done on the Birthday Gloves, (no new pic yet, I haven't had the energy), and started the thumb.

Holy crap, an afterthought thumb in fair-isle is hard!  A lot of the others there were saying that it wouldn't be easy, and they were right.   The bottom nine stitches came together just fine.  The top stitches. . . well, after a lot of cursing everything's on the needles, but it looks a little deformed.

I don't want to do this again in fair-isle.  I'd be a lot happier casting off and picking up.  I might, however, try it again on the left glove and see, however, if part of my frustration and inability was just simply the day I'd had.

So, after that long day, my stomach still lurching somewhat on the streetcar ride home, yes, I have new yarn, but I'm still not feeling that great. . . 

I come home to two boxes sitting in my living room.  One is small, the other big.  My roommate tells me that the post came for me.  No customs fees, no problem, the boxes just simply got dropped off.

So, another order came in from Eat.Sleep.Knit, for starters, and, as well, my Yarn Swift arrived!

I put it to work as a trial immediately, and I -love- this thing!  I'm actually really impressed by the Hornshaw Wood Works.  Their stuff is awesome, shipping was quick, and it was really well packed.

I needed 1 contrast skein for my plans with the Sweet Georgia Merino Silk Aran, and "Hush" seemed like a good contrast colourway.

I also got two skiens of Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted.  This is me planning ahead -- this is for my Father's Birthday next year (no knitting 3 hours before the deadline again, I hope!)  I usually wouldn't have bothered, except the Superwash Worsted is a Power Boost Yarn, so I might as well buy it now while I get a bonus for it.

So coming home to yarn and a swift really helped perk up my day.

I crawled into bed somewhat soon after that. 

I'm feeling somewhat better now, though breakfast is still a question mark.  But I'll distract myself with knitting, for the moment.

Project Updates -- September 2nd

Well, the knitting continues. 

Things have slowed down for the moment, and I've gotten some more things worked on.

First, I'm almost done the first glove of the Birthday Gloves. I just need to finish the index finger on the right glove, and I'll be half-way there. 

I'm not super-worried about my deadline.  I can get the cuff and the fingers done on transit, if I need to, and the Fair-Isle in the centre goes reasonably quick.

My other major progress has been on my Shorts.  I've gotten through the base stripes, and I'm currently doing the crotch shaping.

I realized after I'd gotten the yarn for these that they are close (though not exactly the same) in colour to the shorts pictured in the pattern book:

I didn't plan that, I swear!

Well, it's a quiet holiday Monday (no work today!) and since it's cooling down, now, I'm going to pull out the Spring Coat and do a few rows on that.  I've got to put another buttonhole in on this row.

Goodnight, all! 

First finger done! (And more math)

Ok, so I've gotten the pinky finger done on the Birthday Gloves.

I'm generally happy with how it turned out, but I've learned two things.

1) This pattern requires -a lot- of math to make it work.  Not necessarily hard math, but it's just making sure that things line up right and work right.

The pattern expected that I would do the pinky finger on 4 needles, 18 stitches on the needles.  That just seemed too finicky, so I went down to 3 needles.  Unfortunately, all of the pattern dicrections for the decreases at the top of the needle are written as "k2tog, k to end of needle, ssk."  So I had to do the math to figure out where the decreases were supposed to go on my 3 needles.

To make matter worse, you do the decrease round twice, with the same description.  But on the second decrease round, it doesn't make sense.  After the first decrease round you have 8 stitches decreased, (and 10 on the needles).  Ok, fine.  But 10 stitches won't give you 4 stitches per needle on 4 needles, so you can't do both k2tog and ssk on the same needle.  Three needles would have three stitches, and one needle would have 4 stitches.

I just ended up doing it as (k2tog, ssk) repeat to end, and it seems to have turned out ok.

2) I think I'm going to do the thumb next.  Because it's an afterthought thumb (which I've never done before but it doesn't look too hard)  I can do it whenever I want.   The reason for this is simply that it should make it a lot easier to try them on for rough sizing or to get pictures (my giftee's hands are only a little bit bigger then mine.)

Despite all the trouble, I am -really- liking the pattern, and I do plan to make a second pair (for myself!)

Birthday Socks are done!

Well, the post title pretty much says it all.  I finished them this morning with about 3 hours to spare.

They're currently drying outside after being steam-blocked.

Here's a better look at the pattern:

Oh, and if anyone ever says you don't need to block socks; that's not necessarily true:

The right sock is post steam-blocking with an iron, the left sock has not been touched.

I just got the socks wet and then ironed them, using the steam setting of the iron to keep them wet (see my steam-blocking tutorial if you're curious).

As much as these were awesome to knit, I'm glad their off the needles. That deadline got really -really- close.

Note to self: give more time for birthday and Christmas knits next time!

Birthday Socks and finishing by Sunday. . .

So, the Birthday Socks have to be done by Sunday.

I don't have any pictures of this frantic knitting, but it is frantic.  To keep my brain from exploding, I've started playing Knights of The Old Republic (and it was a trick to get it running on Windows 7, let me tell you!) Like most video games, I knit during cut-scenes and while waiting for Force Points to recharge.

That being said, though, KoTOR has an annoying tendency to crash-to-desktop. (It's supposedly due to the 'new' mult-core processors that are standard in most computers now).  While it does mean a bit more knitting time while it boots back up, it is rather annoying.

Anyway, this knitting and gaming has gotten me to the gusset decreases.  Considering that I only recently started the second sock, this is actually going surprisingly fast.

I'll have tomorrow and Saturday (including an RPG session) to finish the foot and toe.  And if I'm weaving in ends on the TTC Sunday morning, I can live with that!

Well, anyway, back to knitting and gaming. I get to go talk to the Jedi council now, and I want to see if I can finish the gusset decreases tonight.

Project Update -- August 19th

Ok, so a few new photos and general progress:

First, progress on the Birthday Gloves:

I've finished the chart, and ended up doing a few extra rows to get to the right measurement to divide for the fingers.

But they're a reasonably fast knit; and I'm not worried about making my deadline here.

Second, I went back to the mini-skeins from my EatSleepKnit order; and started working them into the Sock Yarn Blanket.  I haven't gotten to the Arroyo yet, but the Shibui Linen knits up quite nicely; though it's not a yarn I'm likely to get for myself.

 The square in progress there is actually leftover yarn from the Birthday Gloves -- like I said, I'm going to have lots of leftovers.

Finally, although there's no picture, I'm about half-way up the legs of the second of the  Birthday Socks.

That's it for updates for now, there will be more coming soon, as usual!

Birthday Knitting Reprive

So, I just found out that I've got an extra week on the Birthday Socks, since I won't be seeing my giftee until later in August.

Whew!

But, today is my birthday, so I feel absolutely no obligation to do any chores, and I don't have work today . . . so I'm just going to sit and knit on my fun projects for a while.  I'll probably take the socks to knit-night, just so that I do have impetus to work on them, though.  (That, and I haven't been to knit-night in a few weeks, with the new job and such, so I'm really looking forward to it!)