Some FOs

So I finally finished the 'Tilted Duster'. I love it, and have been wearing it non stop ever since. This is such a cozy sweater. Since the weather has been so freakin cold here lately, I must say, I really appreciate this cardigan. I was a little worried about washing it. A member of Raverlry contacted me about this yarn. Its supposed to superwash, but she washed out at Stephanie Japel pattern and it FELTED!!! I would have been devestated to have this felt! But the whole point of buying the superwash merino was to have a FO that I could just toss in the wash. So I threw caution to the wind and did just that...with no serious repercussions. I must say, it came out of the wash looking even better. I think I had almost over blocked it if possible.

Speaking of blocking, I'm having trouble deciding what do with my Argosy. Its finished, and the colours are gorgeous. But its angora and its not holding the shape of the lace well. Ravelry members are telling me to block this carefully, since angora felts easily. I've worn this scarf twice now, and I've been wearing it all bunched up around my neck. Now this sort of pains me since it doesn't show the beautiful lace stitches, but I'm afraid the scarf isn't substatial enough to wear any other way. Perhaps in the spring I will wear it knotted at the neck and sort of hanging, but for now I think I'll leave it as is.

I Love Kool Aid!!

It has remarkable powers, I swear. It actually kinda scares me, and I don't think I'll be drinking anymore of this stuff. But boy, can it ever dye well. I made 'le slouch' (free pattern from Knit and Tonic blog) for Amy. She wanted purple, and I'm determined to knit from my stash. So, I wanted to try overdying after my prior sucess with dyeing a neutral yarn. I was thinking about overdying the yarn, but was anxious to cast on and didn't really want to wait for the yarn to dry.

Here it is on me...pre dying.



Here it is in the dye bath. Note, I only used 2 packets of Kool Aid wildberry tea. I nuked it in the microwave in about 3 cups of water at 5 minute intervals. I think it took about 5 different intervals (or 25 minutes) for the dye to take.




And here it is on Amy. It looks a little splotchy in places. I think its because I didn't leave it soaking long enough. When I dyed the yarn, I soaked it for 2 hours in water prior to adding it to the kool aid bath. I read somewear that the splotchiness comes for little airbubbles on the fibre that hasn't been soaked out.



Oh, the starting yarn was Bernat Lana, like before.

My Camera!

Is Broken. (Insert hysterical wail here) Its only 3 months old. I'm very upset by this. Thankfully it is still under warranty and Kev purchased extended warranty so its covered until September 2009!

I'm sending it for repairs and it may take 1 month. I don't think I can wait a month. I've ordered another from Sears. Amy's camera had died too, so she will get my new one from Sears when my other camera is fixed.

In the meantime, I thought I go through my photos and dig out some pics that I'd forgotten to post.

More Newfoundland mittens. Free Pattern from Creative Whimsy. I love these so much. I've knit 4 pairs in total now, and I'm currently working on a 5th pair. I think this will be the thing that I will always have on the needles.





These crocheted purses are from Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker. I made these for a swap on Craftster. These are super easy to make. I really hated sewing in the lining however. I'd made these in October, and didn't finish the linings til December!



This Hello Kitty Skirt was also made for a swap. I really wish I had crocheted a red lace trim around the edge of the skirt, but I ran out of time.






On the Fifth Day of Christmas my swap partner gave to me...5 Golden Snitches. Yes, this is what I made for my swap partner for Day 5 of the '12 Days of Christmas Swap'. This was a very large swap, but so worth it.

The Christmas Gifting is over.

Thankfully. I didn't make near as many projects as I had hoped, but thats the way it usually goes. I think I'm going to start a box where I put in little knitted projects for gift giving. I am pledging to knit at least 1 gift per month. Will I keep this pledge? Only time will tell.

I did manage to make these for Greg. He was my KK at work. I always exchange gifts with him anyway. He seemed to really like these. His MIL's reaction was very funny. She couldn't understand why I didn't finish them. She told Greg that she was sure I had run out of yarn otherwise I would have knitted some tops on them. lol.

Its 'Dashing' from knitty.com. The yarn came for the Magic Yarn Ball Swap off of craftster. Print 127 I believe. I really like this yarn, I find the colour very masculine.



I've picked up the Tilted Duster by Norah Gaughan again. I had put it down during the madness of Christmas. I'm off all weekend so I hope to work on it some more.

Here is a progress shot. I heard from a poster on Ravelry that the knitpicks superwash merino had felted on her!! I haven't washed the swatch yet, but maybe I should. Not that anything will change now, just the care of this garment.

Crochet Bib Beanie

I've been looking for a pattern like this for a while. Someone on Ravelry posted this freebie. It is a great quick pattern, and I'm so grateful. It turned out super cute. I sold it at the Girl Guide's craft sale this past weekend for 15$. I will likely make more of these, since they seem to be in style right now.

In other news, I finally finished the 'Danica' (from knitty.com) scarf for mom. I'm not blocking this one. She likes the texture of the entrelac, and so do I. I've been knitting this off and on since this summer. Its not a difficult pattern at all. Its my fourth 'Danica' I think. But Christmas is mere weeks away, so the pressure to finish was on. This scarf is done is Paton's SWS natural earth colourway - and I like this colour the best of all the Danica's that I've done.

Argosy

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Beautiful pattern from knitty.com. I love lace, though it requires more concentration then I am able to muster sometimes. Its definitly a project for the daylight hours too. I'm knitting it from fleece artist's (yum) peter rabbit in pitcher plant colourway. I couldn't resist the colourway, especially with that name.

I am still working on my tilted duster by Norah Goughan. Very nice pattern. I'm a fan of Norah's so I'm not surprised that I like this pattern. Its a nice pattern to work on in front of the TV. I can't wait to finish this sweater. I've seen some other FOs on Ravelry and they are gorgeous.


One other thing that I finished lately is a pair of mittens for Amy. She was complaining the other day that she didnt' have any mittens. Shameful, I know. Child of a knitter - mittenless. Anyway that was remedied after a fortnight.



No pattern used for this one, I just made it up as I went along. It wasn't that hard. I used that yarn that I got in the magic yarn ball swap (from Taiwan)

Christmas Gifts

Here are few things that I've made recently. Not sure who is getting what, but we shall see. The scarf is made from Noro yarn, its my first time working with it. I'm not sure what the hype is all about - but the colours are lovely. The coloured hat is made from the kool aid yarn that I dyed a few weeks ago. It still smells a little of kool aid.