Christmas Knitting Update

I finished the Christmas Mittens!

I actually finished them last night, but only got the picture today.

They were a nice, simple knit in stocking stitch, and the 'string' is chain crochet attached by a small tab of single crochet (I wanted a sturdy connection between the chain and the mittens). 

They're for someone who is rather forgetful, so now these will be mittens that are harder to lose.   He (obviously jokingly) asked me for a pair of mittens-on-a-string for Christmas.  He thought it was a joke, so these will be a great surprise.

It's nice to have another finished Christmas gift, that's for sure.  

A search for stitch-holders and cable needles

First off, thank you -so- much!  Almost 2500 views -- I never thought I would really get any views. So, thank you!


Now, onto my realization of the day:  I need more stitch holders.

I mean, I have one holding the sleeve for my Cabled Cardigan (I'm hoping to join the yoke in on that next week, which will be exciting and picture worthy), I have one holding the thumb for my Pine Cone Mittens, I have one holding the one leg of my Pyjama Shorts, and I have one holding the thumb of my Christmas Mittens.

I never, ever thought I would need more then 4 stitch holders.

"But can't you just use scrap yarn?  That's what you use for stitch markers." 

Well, yes, but I find it really hard to get stitches off of scrap yarn and onto a needle, so I really don't like using scrap yarn to hold stitches.  As stitch markers, yes, I love scrap yarn.  It means that I can't accidentally knit my marker into my work, and I don't have to worry.  It also is a nice way to use up yarn scraps.  But for holding stitches, no, it's not my first choice.  I grudgingly use it for lifelines (when I remember to put in lifelines), but that's about it.

So, my current "important" projects are now the projects that are using my stitch holders, so that I can put the thumbs on my various christmas knitting projects.

Also, I lost my little cable needle.   I have several cable needles, but one is this little purple one, and it's thinner then most cable needles I usually see.  The other ones are a bit too big for working on my Cabled Cardigan.

I would say that since I lost it at home it can't have gone too far.  With two cats, though, that cable needle could be just about anywhere. . . .

 I can pick up a new cable needle at Knit Night, it's just annoying because that one was nice and thin, perfect for cabling on socks and such. 

Knitting and Novel-Writing

So, November is here, and with it comes colder weather.  This means, it's quite nice to sit inside and knit with a warm mug of hot chocolate. 

However, I do have to be aware that National Novel Writing Month is now happening, and my spare time is, well, pretty much non-existent.  However, luckily, most of my Holiday Knitting is transit friendly, and it's also a good way to give my brain a break when I just can't think of the next line to write.

So, the Mini-Dalek is progressing quite nicely.  I had an in-person chat with my giftee earlier in the week, and I now have a proper reference point for the sizing of this -- I'm going to have to make it longer, so I'm adding a second set of bobbles after the first welt.

 I'll have to go hunting through my button-jar to see if I have 3 matching buttons for this, but if not, a trip to the fabric store is in order anyway, as I have several projects that need various notions.

The Pine Cone mittens are also coming along well, especially considering that they were a stash-dive.  Left mitten is done except for the thumb, now, and the cuff's cast on for the right mitten.

The charted pattern on the back of the hand means this is a bit less transit-friendly, but the ribbing and such still is something I can bring with me while travelling.

Finally, the Christmas Mittens are one of the fastest knits I've ever done.  They're been almost completely made on various bus and subway rides, as I'm already done the thumb gusset and half-way up the palm for the right mitten.  It really does help that they're basically plain stocking stitch.

However, with all the various mittens I've been making, I'm beginning to run out of stitch holders!  They're all being used to hold thumb gusset stitches!

In less-stressful knitting news;  in my rare moments of relaxation where I'm not trying to write frantically, (usually while working on my Mass Effect 2 re-play), I've been working on my Evening Star Cowl and my Cabled Cardigan.  Even if it's only one row a day, I'm really enjoying my work on both of them, it keeps me feeling accomplished, and it's nice to see that the second sleeve for my cardigan is almost done. 

Progress, and things off the needles!

Well, it's been a bit of time, but life's been busy over the last few days.

I'm not feeling so great today, thank goodness it's a slower day.  I was supposed to have a volunteer meeting today, but I let them know I won't be able to come (I don't think running to the bathroom every few minutes would make me that productive).

On the plus side, feeling like crap means I'll just stay home and knit today.

But even over the last few days, I've been productive with my knitting.

1) The Christmas Mittens are a wonderfully simple pattern, and I got mitten number one finished on the bus and during a volunteer photo shoot. (I did, I found, have to go up to 3.5 mm needles for the right tension, but that's ok.)

It seems like this picture is better indicative of the true colour, even though it was taken at night with a camera flash.  Weird. . . .

I've since added the thumb, sewn in the ends, and started in on mitten two.  (And one of the complete non-knitters at my volunteering asked me in surprise if I was knitting with the tapestry needle while I was sewing in ends at the photo shoot.  I laughed and explained that 'no, this is just for sewing it together.  She told me that made a lot more sense, and we both laughed.)

Also, the Fall Lake Slippers are finally done!  The tubular cast-off takes a while, but it's worth it for the stretchy edge.

No new picture there, since I gave the second one to my roommate pretty much the moment it was done.  But I think you folks can get the idea.

That's it for the moment, more to come when I feel better.

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.

Yarn Haul!

So, I went to the Purple Purl's sale, and came back with quite a nice haul of yarn and pattern books.

I got 5 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Sock for an Entrelac Scarf,   I meant to grab the heavyier-weight Silk Garden, but this should work just fine.

(I swear, this pattern is cursed, this is the second time I've grabbed the wrong weight of yarn for it!)

Anywyay, I also got 8 skeins of Classic Elite Yarns Solstice, for a t-shirt,

 

A bunch of different colours of Spud & Chloë Fine, for another pair of Woman's Fair-Isle Gloves. It's the same pattern I'm using for the Birthday Gloves, but this pair is going to be for me! 

 

And some Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label for a pair of basic mittens that will be a Christmas Gift.

 

Finally, I got some Dye-Version Bamboo Fingering, in the custom colourway dyed up for the Purple Purl.   This is the only yarn I don't have plans for, but it's been calling my name for a while.  It will become something awesome, I'm sure, especially with the two new lace pattern books I got on sale, as well.

(Edit:  I've found a pattern for this -- it's the June Bunnies Shawl.  I think it will work nicely with the yardage I've got.)

And, along with all that, like I mentioned, I got two lace pattern books I've had my eye on on Ravelry for quite some time.  The first is 'A Gathering of Lace' and the second is 'Arctic Lace' 

I've already got plans for several patterns in there. 

All in all, it was a pretty good day.  I got a lot of good stuff for cheap, and I won't need to buy yarn again for a -long- while (though I do have some plans that require some Briggs and Little Regal -- might be time for a call to the Briggs and Little mill soon. . . .)