Saturday, January 23, 2010

Saturday Quickie - Ribbed for her pleasure

The hard case for my Blackberry had been in the process of breaking for months.  A few days ago it finally threw in the towel.  Deciding I was not in the mood to order another, I set my sights on making a sweet little cozy for it.  I did a bit of looking on Ravelry and found a pattern for an ipod sock which can be found here.  I used some leftover sock yarn and knit this up in an afternoon.

I am really happy with how this turned out and will never buy a case for my electronics again.

S

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Super Secret Project pictures and review

The SSP was finished on time, wrapped, and gifted.  I am so excited with how it turned out and even more excited to share pictures.

For the life of me I can't remember what yarn I used. Knit night is tonight (if they do not cancel)  so I will check on the name of the yarn and post it in the comments later if anyone is interested.  The hat was knit up on size 2 needles.  First I tried doing the Liver bird (for that is what the pic is) with intarsia.  I started over many times, taught the kids some new swear words, and finally decided duplicate stitch was the way to go.

I want to thank Elizabeth for posting her Liver bird chart.  I truly believe if I had to add charting the bird, this project would never have started.  I am debating writing up the pattern and putting it on Ravelry, but I am not sure yet.


As far as I know my hubby is thrilled with his hat.  I think it looks great on him.  Hopefully he will wear it during matches and Liverpool F.C. will do a bit better from now on.

I have a bunch of new projects started but that is a post for another day.  


S

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Saturday quickie - Thank you note and SSP update

It is DONE!  The SSP is wrapped and ready to gift.  I hope to have pictures, modeled by my hubby, up Monday.


This morning I got the urge to make a cute little thank you note.I decided to knit up a wee tiny sock and attach it to a note card.  The end result turned out quite darling if I do say so myself.

The penny is in the picture so you can get an idea of size.  The pattern is Jennifer's Mini-Sock Recipe and the yarn is some left over Misti Alpaca sock.  

Have a great weekend!

S

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Madison Knitters Guild meeting.

Last night I met up with Alisa and went with her to the MKG meeting. 

The guest speaker was Susan Anderson, author of the wonderful Itty Bitty series of knitting books.  She was so great. I could have listened to her for hours. The picture is a bit blurry as she did not like to stand still while talking. After listening to her and seeing her beautiful patterns I have decided that I must own all three of her books. I only wish I would have got them before last night so I could have had them all signed.

At the guild meetings there is a market.  In the market was La Bella Vita where I got the Artyarns silk with beads and sequins in this gorgeous teal color. I already have a pattern picked out for this and it is taking all my will power to wait and cast it on when I am done with the projects I have  going already.


From the La Bella Vita shop I also got these two hanks of Sandy's Palette Merino Sox. I could not pick which color I like best so I had to get both.

The other shop featured in the market was The Dragonfly Yarn Shop where I got this great sock yarn by Lorna's Laces. I use Lorna's a lot and love the socks I get from it.  I am pretty sure this yarn will be made into a pair for me. Can't you just see them with my new shoes?  I think they will look perfect.


I am still working hard on the SSP and have put most other projects aside for now.  I hope that I will be done with it in time. All the projects I have made for hubby so far have been given to him as yarn so I could work on them in front of him. This year I really want to be able to give him a finished project. I want him to be able to put it on and wear it right out of the wrapping.  That said, I better get back to my knitting.


S




Saturday, January 9, 2010

Saturday quickie - Grandma slippers

O was telling me how cold her feet were in the morning and the evening and could I please get her some slippers. I asked if she would like me to make her some like my Grandma used to make me.  She said yes. Here are the resulting slippers.

Made with some leftover Encore worsted.  Pattern can be found here.  There is and error in the pattern and for the life of me I can't find it unless I am knitting it.  One of these days I will write it down. I just usually knit these while watching good TV cause this is a pattern you don't have to pay too much attention to.


That is it for my Saturday quickie. Now back to getting the Christmas out of my house.


S

Friday, January 8, 2010

Finished socks and new shoes.


A few days later than I had hoped, the socks are now complete.  I am really happy with how they turned out.


I have to add a picture of the socks in action with my new shoes bought for the purpose of showing off all my lovely hand knit socks

I am quite fond of these shoes.  They are SO comfy and can be worn with almost anything. You can't quite tell from the picture, but the leather is brown and black.  I bought them online at my favorite shoe shopping site, Zappos.

Since I like to have a sock going at all times I cast-on a pair for O.  I had made her a pair of socks from this yarn before but she grew out of them right away.  I was initially just going to add length to the foot and knit a new toe.  Deciding that the original pair was too boring I ripped them out completely to reknit the whole thing.

This is a ankle length sock in 4x2 rib with a 2st cable going down the center of the knit section (my own design, thank you).  I am loving how it is turning out.  I just may have to make a pair for me.  The yarn is some leftover TOFUtsies in color 926.  I am a big fan of this yarn. I plan to knit many more pairs of socks out of it in many different colors. 

As I said in my last post I was going to start on the super secret project.  Well, I have started it and things are moving along pretty quickly.  I am happy with the results so far.  My worry is that I can't start on the tricky part for a while.  I will have to have the project almost done before I will really know if this method will relay the WOW that I am going for.  I tried to take a picture of the SSP but the camera can't get close enough (without being fuzzy) to not give away what the project is.  You will  have to wait along with Bradd to see it finished.  Maybe I will even be able to convince him to model it.

S

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Regrets and updates

I regret to inform you that as of today the super secret project(SSP) still has yet to be started.  Trying to figure out why that is, I have come up with the following guesses. Maybe it is because I don't have a pattern and I am not sure how to proceed ( I have started and ripped out more times than I care to mention).  Maybe it is because now that I am blogging about my knits I feel that I need to keep my works in progress down to a manageable number.  Maybe it is simply because I am lazy and the yarn is all the way downstairs and I would have to go down there and get it.  No matter what the excuse my Hubby's birthday is fast approaching and I want to wow him with the SSP.  Today I will dive in.  If I have to rip the thing out a dozen more times so be it. The yarn will just have that "worn" look to it :)


Now for some updates on the projects that have been taking up most of my time.




The socks are moving along quite quick. I love how the colors are working up. The finished sock looks a bit bigger because I have been trying it on.  I have been known to wear the finished sock while working on the one in progress as motivation.  I choose to believe that is a completely normal practice and will continue to do so because it is fun.




My sweater is looking great too. I have the body done up to the underarm.  Now I am working on making the sleeves so I can attach them to the body before continuing.  I am doing the invisible cast on with the sleeves. With a sweater like this it is hard to determine how long to make each sleeve.  This way I can pick up the live stitches at the wrist end and either add or subtract a few inches then knit the cuff.  I am really looking forward to putting this sweater on once it is finished. It will be so warm and snuggly.


Alright, time to go and start the SSP.  Wish me luck.  


S