Knitterly things as promised, finally

It is a parade of finished, UFOs and in progress works. Grab a cuppa.

For Catherine who is undergoing chemotherapy I made two different hats.
The first one was an easy decision because the name of the pattern is Santa Cruz. I've been on an email list with Janice for several years and Catherine is her partner. Back in July 2006 they came to California for a family wedding, they live in Albion, MI so this was a unique opportunity to meet up with them. Several us were able to do a fabulous meet up on a beach in Santa Cruz, hence the pattern being a no-brainer. This was with yarn gifted from Adrienne.


Then I decided to use the fabulously soft yarn I had purchased for a hat for Catherine and make a second. I mean why not? This alpaca yarn was so soft and not very expensive. Still have one ball left, maybe another hat for TGF because it's a great colour for her as well.


Many many moons ago I purchased a measly two skeins of Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Wool because it was on sale and the perfect colour for TGF. After giving her a few option of hat designs she chose Odessa, which I had been wanting to give a go. This is a very easy, but with just a bit of elegance pattern. It was not the best match up of yarn and pattern but it was her choosing so that's good. Since TGF is not a bead girl this was not made with beads.

I really liked the pattern and got bitten by the pseudo-designer bug. It struck me that it would be really cool to use that stitch pattern in a pair of fingerless gloves. Again not the best match of pattern and yarn but these are a super basic prototype and I will make another pair in a more appropriate yarn soon. Perhaps experimenting with different thumb designs as I found an article in an old Interweave Knits on thumb gussets. I may even have two volunteers for test knitters when I'm ready. I am way too pleased with myself over this thing. A bit of preening was tempting as I finished the second one. Greg's word "chuffed" came to mind a lot. Next on the list is to try a scarf pattern to create a whole "set". However this test piece will be with another yarn as I am out of the silky wool.

Since seeing the pattern when it first came out a few months ago in Knitty I have been a bit enamored with it. I kept imagining using the silky wool with it. Once the hat and mitts were completed I realized I might have enough yarn left over to make Tudora. To get the right gauge I used two strands at a time. Really quick pattern, just a few hours total, over two days. This is a gift for a friend. Just needs a button which I may have the giftee choose themselves. I absolutely adore the feel of the fabric knitted up two stranded.

Another pattern over at Knitty that has been very popular is Foliage. I gathered up a bunch of yarn, again from Adrienne and turned this out quickly. In my mind I thought this hat might be for me. I wore it to NY and Sunny threatened to steal it. When I saw Deb briefly in Cleveland during my return trip she noted how nice the hat was. Had I not been so tired and our time so short I would have realized sooner it was really her hat. I sent it to her after weaving in the ends. I am fairly certain that the pink colour is someone's homespun fiber. It makes me so happy to hear that she is wearing to the farmer's market with her daughters and on hike at dusk.


Eons ago I mentioned a project I was making for our niece, T'Mane. If I had finished last spring, as intended, she probably could have worn it this summer. There was just a tiny bit left but it suffered from my knitting inertia this spring/summer. It will unfortunately need to be frogged. For now it sits as a UFO.




A quick project that I finished and wore today is a little lacy headband out of Lion's Brand Microspun in a bright dark purple. The pattern is from Interweave. Quick, a little narrow maybe but keeps my bangs (which are below my chin now) out of the way.

Recently a friend in California asked if she could "commission me" to knit a project, perhaps two. After a few go rounds she let me decide on the pattern and yarn (#3105). As of this afternoon I have 40% of it done. It's going rather well now that I have the pattern down a bit more. Hopefully I will have enough yarn or things will get awful messy and crazed around here if I need to find more in the same colour which won't be the same dye lot I'm sure! If this goes well she may ask me to make something else. Kinda cool. Hell just being asked was one of the coolest things ever.

The sweater from NaKniSweMo is still on the needles. I had started the first sleeve, doing 12 out of 16 increases but decided it was too sloppy and ripped all the increases out. I am just about back to the 12 increases, I think. Then of course there is the second sleeve which I hope won't suffer from a variation of "second sock syndrome". Part of the problem is I really don't like the needles I am using, not very smooth or quick (Clover size 8 double points) I had hoped to finish by TGF's birthday but I think that is looking more and more unlikely as I have less than a week. The commission is due the same time. I suppose if I do nothing else but knit this week it could all happen.

I think that catches all of y'all up on my knitting world. There are a host of projects I really want to start but the sweater and scarf need to be finished soon! There are socks, maybe for me, some projects for Sunny and Lindsay, more for TGF, testing the pattern I wrote, developing a scarf version - so much to do!