Grandma's Mittens

Last year sometime, I bought some of this really gorgeous green variegated yarn, and I knew that I wanted to make something for my grandmother with it, but I didn't know what since the year before that I had made her a hat and scarf (blogs on those are forthcoming). This year, I finally decided that I was going to try to make some mittens, and mittens out of this green yarn for my grandmother would be perfect.

The color on this (and unfortunately many of my pics as of late) is a little off due to some technical difficulties which I'm working to resolve.

So I looked up a pattern, which you can find it here, and figured it wasn't going to be that hard. Instead of starting with US 4 (3.75mm) double pointed needles like the pattern says, I decided to start with US 3s (3.5mm), and so I added 4 stitches to the pattern. This does mean I'm going to have to do some finagling with the pattern, but I already have an idea of how I'm going to do that, so it should be alright.

Casting on and knitting with those tiny double pointed needles was another story. I messed up my stitches and had to pull all of my work out and re-cast on at least a dozen times, including at least two times when I somehow magically picked up a stitch. It's amazing that I didn't just quit with them long before I got anything substantial knitted. However, I didn't quit, and several days after I started the first mitten, I have the whole 3 inch cuff finished.

I was really worried about the size the whole time I was knitting this, so I kept sticking my hand through my work to make sure it was snug yet comfortable on my wrist. Luckily, I know that my grandma and I have about the same size wrists. Hers might be a little smaller than mine, but my wrist and later my hand is an accurate enough measurement.

The next step is to start on the hand of the mitten and switch to the larger (US 4) needles. I'm excited and a little scared to start on the hand because I am going to have to adjust the pattern a little and if I mess it up, I'm going to be heart broken; but that's not an issue just yet because at this point my double pointed US 4 needles are in another project which I will be unveiling later this week.

Now it's time for me to sit down with some chocolate mint green tea and homemade sourdough toast and work on my knitting. Happy knitting!

The Knitting Plan for This Week

It's been a lovely weekend that included boyfriend's birthday party and warm days. However, I didn't get that much knitting done. Today I plan to drink some coffee, catch up on some tv, and knit. If everything goes according to plan, I'll have several new projects to reveal this week as well as updates on some of my ongoing projects.

In the meantime, here's the link I promised to my Ravelry account almost a year ago.

Happy knitting!

Boyfriend's Birthday Present

This hat was really great to make. Once I got started, I was finished in a day. I was working on relatively large needles (at least compared to those ridiculous US 3's I'm using on that belt) and a few afternoons ago I said to myself, "Okay, I'll finish the green band today," so I did. Then I thought, "Well, I might as well attach the white as long as I'm here," so I knitted the first row of white, and then the next couple so I could weave in the end and then get past that a little. Then I thought, "Well, I'm only going to have 20 rows in the white, I can finished that up." Once I reached the end of the white I had the same thought about starting the orange, and then I realized, "I'm going to start decreasing after only a few rows of orange anyway, and once I start decreasing, it will go much faster anyway, and once I start decreasing I can't stop because I'll lose count, so I might as well just finish it up." Then I thought I might as well just stitch up the back of the hat, since I already had it out. Then I figured I might as well look up how to make the poof ball I knew I wanted on the hat. Then I figured I might as well make the pompom, and once it was made it didn't make sense not to just attach it. . . . And that's the story of how I made this hat in practically one sitting.

I didn't use a pattern for this, but rather decided first that I was just going to use garter stitch since that's what the scarf is, and then that I would make the green band half again as wide as any other color so that it could roll up because I love the folded up brims; I feel like they just keep ears that much warmer. It is, again, 80 stitches wide, and the green is 32 rows. I measured that 20 rows was about 2 1/2 inches, and I know from previous hats that I want the hat to be about 6 or 7 inches total, not counting the brim, so I figured 3 sections of 20 rows would do it (the extra 12 rows in the green make the brim). That just left the orange and decreasing. Now I'll admit to being only okay at math on a good day and downright lousy at it on a bad day, so that definitely had an effect on the orange. I wanted it to be 20 rows, and I was going to decrease first with 10 stitches (knit two together and then knit 8 normally), knit a row normally, then 9 (knit two together and then knit 7 normally), knit a row normally, then 8 and so forth down to when I was just knitting two together for every stitch. In my head this made 20 rows because I had also knitted two rows before I started decreasing. Anyone who'd good at math must see my problem. Yes, I started with 10 stitches, but they came out as 9, and I didn't end knitting a row of single stitches, so I actually ended up with 18 rows for the orange. If I could do it again, I would do 30 or 28 for the green, 20 for the white, but I would knit 4 rows or even 6 before I started decreasing in the orange, partly because it's the top of the hat and so is less visible on top of the head, but also because the pompom covers up a good portion of the orange.

I watched a million videos on YouTube before I felt comfortable making a pompom, but once I felt comfortable, I was sure it wouldn't be a problem. That was not so. I wish now that I'd taken a picture of the pompom when I first cut it off the cardboard and tied it. It looked ridiculous. The top, bottom, and center were the length I wanted them, but both sides poofed out to make the thing twice as wide as it was tall. After some trimming I finally decided that this was as good as it was going to get and attached it to boyfriend's hat. I don't think it looks too bad. I believe the problem was I used too much yearn or had too small of circles for the amount of yarn I wanted to use. I am glad I went with the tri-colored poof rather than just orange as I had originally planned.

Finally, as the title will tell you, this is boyfriend's birthday present, and today is his birthday. He already knows it's coming because I'm terrible at surprises, and I knitted a good portion of it while he was around, but that doesn't matter. It turned out, and I know he likes it.

Happy birthday, boyfriend!

Scrap Blanket

From what I've heard, finding something the do with the ends of balls of yarn is a struggle for most knitters. I'm no exception. I've got tons of bits of yarn that seem like they ought to be enough for something, but anytime I try using them, it turns out they aren't enough. Recently I realized I could make something out of them: I could make a scrap blanket. Now, I'm not saying it's going to be the most beautiful thing in the world. Not even close. I imagine it's actually going to look pretty gross. But, I could be wrong, and worst case I've got another blanket which is never anything to be sorry about.

I've decided to go with 200 stitches on US 11 (8mm) circular needles. I finally made up the pattern for this blanket because I couldn't find anything that would be pretty easy and also look nice as the blanket changes through a million colors. It's worked on ten stitches and is
row :1 knit 3 purl 4 knit 3* repeat to the end of the row
row 2: purl 3 knit 4 purl 3* repeat to the end of the row
Based on the gauge I've figured, it should be 5 to 5 1/2 feet wide. I guess I could have made it a little narrower, but I just love huge blankets, so that's what I'm going to make. The eventual goal is to have it be about 6 feet long, but I'm only a few rows and one leftover ball of yarn in.

I'm using circular needles for this blanket for a couple of reasons: 1) It has 200 stitches, 2) for practice with circular needles, and 3) my largest circular needles are bigger than my largest straight needles. It's okay so far. I got all of my knitting needles from my grandmother once her arthritis got to where it was difficult for her to knit (she kept a few needles just in case, though), which was awesome, but some of the circular needles haven't ever been used in the three years or so they've been in my possession, and I don't know the last time she used any of them either, so they're pretty convinced that they want to stay all wrapped up and make my life difficult. I imagine once the blanket gets bigger and has more weight to it, that weight will hold the cord down so it stops trying to flip around, but it's going to be a while before it's at that point, I'm afraid.

The needles want to sit like this.

The first "ball" of yarn made it farther than I expected: almost nine rows, but there just wasn't enough for the last 20 or 30 stitches which is a little aggravating because it's so close. Still, I think the pattern's looking good and hopefully it won't be a completely ridiculous blanket.

Didn't quite make it to the end of the row.

Happy knitting!

Irish Flag hat

Last year, I meant to knit boyfriend an Irish flag hat to match his Irish flag scarf, but I didn't even finish the scarf in time, so there was no way that hat was going to happen.

Just to be clear, these Irish flag things may seem kind of silly, and they kind of are, but many of you must be thinking that there's no way he's going to run around looking like he's wrapped in a flag, and I'm fooling myself thinking he will. Well, he's got a good bit of Irish heritage including the red hair, and he loves all things Irish. You should see our living room: there's an Irish flag, and Irish flag with an "Irish Drinking Team" crest, and Irish Brigade flag, and two flag that have something to do with the four ancient kings of Ireland. Irish music plays more days than it doesn't. The candles in the room are all green, white, and orange, although that is more my doing. You know, to keep with the theme. So he does wear the scarf and I'm confident he will wear the hat, too.

I did start an Irish flag hat sometime last year, and got about eight rows in, but then one night we had guests over, and my knitting bag was upended. A friend ended up tangled up in this particular project, and I was afraid he was going to strangle himself (it was a pretty rowdy night) if I didn't do something, so I had no choice but to cut my knitting off of him. It just broke my heart to do, but it turned out to be for the best because I'm terrible about checking the gauge of my work, so when I checked the isolated piece I had, it turned out to be too big.

In the end, I'm now using US 8 (5mm) needles, the same needles as I used on boyfriend's scarf. Rather than the original 90 stitches across, I'm working with 80 stitches. I've barely got the piece cast on, so there aren't any pictures yet, but it's going to be a plain old garter stitch. The video I've linked for the cast on is the simple cast on. It's the one I typically use for hats and other things I want to have a more elastic end. It's also the cast on method my grandmother taught me when I was a little kid because it's easier than other cast on methods.

Happy knitting!

Mom's Finished Scarf

Fall is finally here, so it is time again for me to pick up the knitting which I have been so shamelessly ignoring for the past few months. The first project I picked up was my mom's scarf because it is mostly garter stitch (every row is knitted) and I figured it would be an easy warm up to get back into knitting.

And it was! I finished the scarf in about a week which was super gratifying, but not without first having to remember how to purl (I did have to watch the video to make sure I wasn't going to make a mess of my box stitch when I was so close to being finished) and having to learn how to make tassels (or fringe).

Remembering how to purl was simple enough and once I watched the knit witch do a couple of purl stitches my fingers remembered how, and I was off. The tassels were a little but different as far as learning. I had an idea in my head of how adding tassels to a piece would work, and I was pleased to see that I wasn't far off when I watched a tutorial. Knowledge firmly in place, I was sure that I could make the tassels and have my mother's scarf finished in no time. However, what I didn't count on was how annoying long it would take to measure and cut the yarn for each tassel, cut the pieces again to make the tassels actually look like tassels, and then attach them to the scarf evenly. I think it was at least an hour later, but I finally had the tassels finished

and a finished scarf which I will be able to give to my mother, and it will mostly match her hat!

Happy knitting!

Previously Finished Projects 2: Sister's Headband

Another of the projects I finished way back before I started blogging was my sister's headband. It was before I had graduated college during winter exams, so naturally I had dragged out my knitting stuff for something to distract myself from studying. It eventually transpired that, after some practice, I could knit and read on my computer (though not a book because I had to free hands to hold the thing open) and so make gifts while I studied.

It was in this time that I also discovered this gorgeous lace pattern. Well, I immediately thought of my sister when I saw it, and I knew I had this light blue, brown, and tan yarn around that I though would work well. I have since lost the name of the pattern, but, as long as the needles I'm using for the scarf are the same as the needles I used for the headband, then I used US 10 needles for this.

Now, I think I would have been better off using a solid colored yarn rather than variegated because I think the pattern would have stood out better, but I guess it's too late now. I'm still very pleased with how it turned out, even it the 24 stitch wide pattern was a little too wide for a headband.

I have pulled out this headband's matching scarf, and I'm going to begin work on that again soon, but for now, this has been another previously finished project.

Happy knitting!