Monday, November 26, 2007

I snuck into Ravelry when no one was looking.  My user name is "handknitter".  I can't BELIEVE no one took that name before I did, but I thank y'all very much for saving it for me!  I'm still feeling my way around, and have yet to figure out what I want to do about photos (I don't really have much of a choice, do I?).  I opened a Flickr account and loaded the most flattering picture of me that I could find, so people can put a face to the name.  Stop by and say hello!

I've got a lot of catching up to do.  Let's see how far I can get tonight . . .

My apologies for the awful photography.  Do you want pictures?  Well then you're gonna take what you're served, and you're gonna like 'em!

All the info for the projects (yarn, pattern, designer, etc.) should be on the 2007 Finished Projects page.

Old project#1:  I took about five inches off of the Bavarian Twisted Stitch Hat, and then took a bunch of pictures so you could see all of the pretty cables:

Ooooh!

Ahhhhh!

Pretty!

Old Project #2:  My So Called Scarf, knit with the leftovers of that cute little purse I crocheted earlier this year:

The yarn is Riviera II, hand dyed by the very talented Nancy McRay of Woven Art in East Lansing.

And a close-up, because the stitch and the yarn are both so cool:

Old Project #3:  I finally wove the ends in on the Mirror Mirror Scarf:

And a close-up, just because I was able to get my camera to behave (I can't always get it to focus that well):

Old Project #4:  I tore a big gaping hole in one of my Bearfoot Socks shortly after finishing them way back when.  I cut off the toe and knit a new one.  They work a lot better now.

Old Project # 32:  I've had this little hat (made out of sock yarn) in my knitting bag for a long time.  Did I post it as a finished object before?  I can't find it if I did.

New Project #1:  And here's another one:

For this version, I followed the "Tiny Rolled Hat" pattern I wrote up for my Guild's charity knitting webpage.  You can find the pattern here (it's a pdf file).

New Project #2:  A hat.  Duh.  I think I based it on this pattern.  I sort of knit it from memory, which is why it turned out a little too large.  I love it, though!  The yarn was hand dyed and hand spun by my friend Jacquie V.

New Project #3:  Another hat.  Double duh.  This was also knit "off the top of my head" (ha!), and is also a little large. 

New Project #4:  Lace-Edged Women's Hat pattern from www.headhuggers.org (that's org, not com): 

Knit with Berroco Comfort, which is a VERY soft yarn, which is a good thing because this is destined to be a chemo cap.  I got two hats out of one ball of yarn.  I made a size large and a size small.  I think the measurements are off on the pattern -- if you do the math between the gauge and the stitches cast on, you can see that it doesn't quite work -- but it was a very easy pattern to follow.

New Project #67:  One Piece Baby Kimono, from Mason Dixon Knitting, knit with Red Heart Hula, which is a 100% acrylic yarn.

I gotta tell ya -- that is some damned fine acrylic yarn.  It's VERY soft, and I'm very happy with the finished product.

It was a little splitty, and a tiny bit squeaky on the needles (or maybe that was my imagination), but I'd use it again.

The tiny rolled hats and the baby kimono were knit for the preemie clothing drive for my Guild.  All of the items were handed over to Kristi, our hostess with the mostest, last Tuesday.  Here are some other donated items from some very generous knitters:

From Tamsyn, about a billionty teeny tiny hats:

From Sharon, her first charity knitting EVER (way to go, Sharon!!!!!):

And the total haul:

Way to go, knitters!!!

I've still got a buttload of unfinished Christmas stockings projects by my chair (and behind it, and in front of it, and on top of it, and in the other room . . .), but I did take a little break to start something new for myself.  I found this Noro Iro at The Yarn Garden in Charlotte, for half off:

Isn't it pretty?  Of course the camera doesn't capture the colors exactly, but what I saw was a mixture of black, hot pink, and grey, with a little denim blue thrown in.  I looked around for something to knit it into.  I knew I wanted it to be garter stitch, and maybe knit side-to-side (I don't think I've done that yet!).  I pictured wearing whatever it would turn out to be with my long black suede skirt (and my tall black boots, which I didn't own at the time, but I do now.  That's a story for another day.  But I'll probably forget to tell it to you).

ANYWAY, the new Cast On arrived in my mailbox, and I paged through it and found the photo of the Sassy Side Button Sweater.  It was pretty darned close to what I wanted, so I started to knit it, and this is what I got:

Hmmm.  I know it's Noro, and that they're famous for their long color repeats, and for their bizarre color combinations, but this is NOT what I pictured when I purchased that yarn.  That denim blue is actually teal.  Where the hell did that brick red come from?  And where did all the hot pink go?  And WHITE?  I thought it was light grey!!

Hmmm again.

It's been marinating for about a week now.  Maybe more.  I think I'm ready to tackle it again.  The back (in the back) is knit horizontally, and I'm going to leave it as is.  The left side of the front (on the right in the photo) is kind of cool, so I'll keep that, too.  I'm picturing more of a cardigan now, maybe held together with a beautiful artsy pin (Hi Jill!).  I think I'll tear the right side of the front out, leaving a little of the vertical striping attached to the left front.  Then I'll re-knit the right front as a separate piece . . . and hope it looks fabulous when it's all done.  Oh, I guess I'll need some sleeves, too.

So it's not at all what I pictured, but I'm going to finish it and see how it looks.  I'm fine with trying to work outside of my little box for a minute or two, but then I'll have to go knit a nice rolled brim baby hat or something.  I REALLY wish the yarn had knit up all mishymashy, as it appears in the skein, but that's never going to happen.

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As I'm typing all of this in here I keep thinking to myself, "so if I get my photos copied into Ravelry, do I have to type all this information again?".  Poo.

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Here's my patio at about 2:00 this afternoon:

Happy Winter!

Sarah

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Holiday catch-up:

These were on our front porch for Halloween:

And this was in front of it:

Despite the cold and rain on Halloween night, Son Number Two preferred to stay home and scare the trick or treaters rather than going out in search of Smarties like his mom asked him to.  Alas, no Smarties for Mom, but it was great fun watching people of all ages try to figure out whether the "scarecrow" was real or not.  People kept kicking him to see if he was alive, but he played dead very convincingly!

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We celebrated the first of our three Christmases today.  My in-laws are getting ready to migrate to Florida for the winter, and this was the weekend that worked out for everyone.  It didn't feel very Christmasy, although the weather was pretty chilly!

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I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Here's my plan for the week:  Monday will be spent shopping, Tuesday will be spent cleaning, Wednesday will be spent cooking, Thursday will be spent gorging, and Friday will be spent sleeping.

I'd better find time for knitting every day, though, because I've got a lot of projects on the needles right now.  I keep starting new ones, at the rate of almost one per day.  Why?  It's an avoidance technique.  What am I avoiding?

Do these look familiar?

No, I'm not re-using a photo from last year, or from the year before.  That's THIS year's crop of intarsia Christmas stockings done in worsted weight yarn on size 0 needles. 

Ouch.

Coinciding with that nippy weather where my hands start drying out and cracking open.

Double ouch.

Sarah

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