Fiber Productivity

(this will be a photo heavy post, beware!)

Unfortunately I did not remember to take photos of the totally adorable hats I made for Rebecca's more than adorable sons (the second born November 25!) before bringing them to the board meeting about two weeks ago. Both were made from Patons Merino Wool in the Harvest colourway. The first was this one, the other came from the 2006 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar. The cable and seed stitch hat was my first attempt at cables which turn out to be fairly easy. Knitted on size 3 dpns, it formed beautiful colour blocks. The second pattern, if you have the calendar is the Beehive Hat, August 28th but I have not been able to locate a photo, I just did! Here it is. Done on size 9 needles there was just a swirl of colour, no blocks at all. Fascinating! I have asked for photos of the boys in the hats but suspect it will be a long time in coming.

Using Lion's Brand Wool, in Midnight Blue I started a hat for my father using one pattern (at this point I don't remember which one!) but adapted to this one. TGF thinks this is a perfect colour for my father and I agree! It will be going in the mail shortly, with the Liesel scarf for his sweetie. This was a very quick project. I believe I used size 8 needles.

Intrigued by people's addiction to Rowan Crack Silk Haze but unwilling to pay the price I found Trendsetter has an version with the identical content and I found a good colour on sale for less than $10! I purchased one ball of Blush, with the intention of making a scarf Jennie had successfully produced from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. True to the book's claim, this is a very quick and easy project resulting in a delightful and delicate neck decoration. I have more than enough yarn left over to make another or a different project if can think of something for it. Again, this one is ready to be packaged up and sent to my sister.


Finally, and after two horrible incidents of tangling (as in HOURS of unknotting), the mystery item is finished. It too needs to be sent to it's recipient. Unfortunately I have about a ball and a half of this stuff and no desire to use it. Ever. Again. But it does make for interesting photo ops.




Once again you will notice our star model has been brought out of semi-retirement. It is he wearing the beanie hat in the above photo as well.

Next up is a quick project that I made as a gift for my friend who lives in an uninsulated Victorian and spends hours on her laptop playing Zuma (hi sweetie!). Knitty.com is right about this being a satisfying project. Any guesses? Fetching of course! True to the advertising I casted on late one Friday night, did a ton of other things like sleep, eat, walk my dog, even knit on other projects and they were done by late Sunday night, just before midnight thus counting as yet another finished object for 2006.

I was able to convince TGF to model said fingerless beauties, appropriately enough with her hands braced against a laptop! The yarn used is Cascade 220 in colour 9474. Based on the pattern notes I am confident I have enough yarn for another pair, or some other small project.

After struggling mightily to understand a pattern from I consulted with the GLBT-Knit list and had a major "Duh!" moment, then quickly whipped out a hat for the MIL. The pattern is from Creative Knitting and is shown in horrid colours, as in nausea producing. Here, I'll show you. Fair warning, a bucket near by may be a good thing.

The hat is done and the scarf is in progress. Much more subtle colours. Again the yarn is Cascade 220 in Charcoal Gray (#8400) and Cascade Heathers in Mallard (#2448). Some time ago I was sure I would never understand how to read pattern charts. Then I made Liesel which was charted and found a new skill. The scarf pattern is written out and drove me nuts, so I constructed my own chart using an assortment of symbols. So much easier and made it possible for me to memorize the chart, only glancing at the chart for reminders.

Way back in April, after I finished Tigger from knitty.com, I cast on the next project for T'Mane (The Most Adorable Niece Ever). The spring/summer 2006 issue of Knit It! had the cute outfit but in horrible colours (seeing a theme here?). White with bright bubble gum pink trim. A white outfit for a toddler? I think not. While the first pieces of the kimono styled top went quickly it stalled because it was rather dull knitting. I chose a yarn with the same gauge, Sirdar Snuggley DK in khaki (#378) as the base colour and lavender trim. I am very pleased overall with the finished product but I cannot say that I have been thrilled with the performance of the yarn. Realistically I know I am not the world's most consistent knitter in term of tension but I am better than this yarn shows.


In order to seam the pants, no it was not an "in the round" pattern (if I am ever crazed enough to knit pants it will be a different construction), I learned mattress seaming. Unfortunately I should have done the front of the crotch first rather than the rear.
Oh well. Live and learn, right? I do not think others will judge it as harshly as I do.

Today I created a new photo folder to keep track of my finished objects for 2006 and was please to see it shows some reasonable production on my part. I have a rough count of 27 items, most small stuff but I tried to work with different patterns, yarns, etc. Not too shabby. First sock like items, first mitten/glove things, learned to do cables and mattress seaming.

12 hats 6 scarves.
1 cat bed 1 pair of anklet socks
2 toddler sweaters 1 pair of toddler pants
1 pair of mittens 1 pair of fingerless gloves
1 small shawl 1 blanket square

Whew. This post took quite some time to put together. Off to go do some rows on that blue and gray scarf. TGF flies to Ohio at the "butt crack of dawn" (Hi Andrea!) Wednesday and it has to be done by then.