Progress on the Scrap Blanket

I've had some ends of yarn sitting around for a while now just waiting to be put into the scrap blanket, and Saturday night I finally started on it. I put the white in today which was the last of the bits I had, so it's going to be a while before I have anything else to add.

Despite all odds, I really do think the blanket it looking good. As you may remember, I had started the blanket with a stripe pattern and no edging, but I didn't really like that so I ripped it all out. I restarted the blanket with 180 stitches. The bottom is (and the top will be) 6 rows of garter stitch, and there are 5 stitches of garter stitch on each side. Now instead of stripes of knit and purl, I've switched to squares; what I think is called the basket weave pattern.

A row of finished squares and another row of partially finished squares.

I still can't get over how completely not horrible the blanket looks. I'm surprised to find myself loving it, which is a great relief. When I started it, I figured having another blanket around wouldn't hurt, but I wasn't expecting to really want to drag it out for company unless it was really needed. I thought I'd use it myself when I was sitting around the house in pajamas all day, but that was about it. So here I am excited to work on it and have more of it finished, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Happy knitting!

Irish Socks

I finally decided to try and tackle a pair of socks. I've always just been so intimidated; they seem so complicated. But I still had some of the yarn from boyfriend's series of Irish garments, and I couldn't think of anything else to make him with the amount I had left, so socks.

Now I know worsted yarn isn't exactly ideal for yarn, but it's really just a practice pair, and it's what I had on hand. I wanted to do magic loop socks, but the smallest circular needle I have is US 6 and 29 in. While I didn't really feel comfortable doing two at once, I was determined to do toe-up magic loop socks. So I hit Ravelry where I found a toe-up magic loop sock pattern!

I had to learn a new cast-on for the socks. The pattern said to use the Turkish cast-on, but for whatever reason when I searched it, I ended up with Judy's magic cast on. I'm not sure if they're the samw thing or not because I never did look up a Turkish cast-on video after I watched Judy's magic cast-on. Now, that doesn't mean I understood the cast-on right away. I didn't. I think I re-started the first sock, oh, twenty times. Sometimes I messed up the cast on, or messed up the increases or got confused or just wasn't satisfied with the way it was looking. Even so (and maybe because), I still somehow ended up one stitch short on one of my needles, and I didn't notice until I was starting the heel, so that's just that. I added an extra stitch while I was doing the heel increases, and thought I had it fixed, only to somehow decrease back down to one stitch too few again on the same needle. So I don't know. Then boyfriend said he wanted the cuff to be rib stitch, so I did a few rows of that, and gave it to him to try on one last time.

It may sound like I have a finished sock. Well, that's not exactly true. You see, when I gave him this sock to try on, we realized a couple of things, the first being that I don't understand socks. The socks was actually too big. Boyfriend was very kind and said he would just use them as boot socks, but I take pride in my work, and I wanted it to be what he wanted and not something he settled for. And of course I messed up the heel. As I said, the sock was too big, so when I was doing the increases for the heel gusset, I didn't increase as much as I should have for the size of the sock because it would have been just one more part of the sock that was much too big. I didn't think anything of it (again, no understanding of socks) but as many of you can probably imagine, it was a big problem. The heel was crazy uneven and weird looking, and then I had made a mess of the ribbing I was doing for the cuff. All told, it was not a successful first attempt at socks.

However, I pushed the hours of work and what seemed like millions of attempt at restarting already to the back of my mind and frogged the whole sock. And made the whole socks again.

This time, I cast on 10 stitches per needle because boyfriend has wider feet, and only increased to 44 instead of 48. As I knitted the body of the sock, boyfriend said the fit was much better, and I could see it was, and i had increased to the appropriate amount on each needle. For the Fleegle heel, I actually followed the instruction and increased to the correct amount and decreased to 40 to really make the cuff fit. The cuff on this one is still a little loose on boyfriend, but the rest of the sock fits so well that it doesn't matter.

I've even started on the second sock!

I'm a little disappointed because I wanted to have the heel also be white, but I really just couldn't figure a way to do it, so I left it be and now I'm over half way to having knitted my first pair of socks!

Happy knitting!

Cabled Stocking Cap

I don't know if it's just that I live with boyfriend or what, but he has gotten more completed knitting projects out of me than anyone else before ever. And he has three in the works yet! One, of course, is the grey belt, one hasn't been revealed yet because I'm having struggles with it and may give up on it yet, and one is this cabled stocking cap.

It's another thing for boyfriend's larp. His unit is called the Navy, so I've been making him naval things. The other week just before Halloween I sewed him up a pretty nice blue vest with gold buttons, a watch chain, shoulder epaulets, the whole deal. And now he wants a hat. Think of the hat Mr. Smee wears in the animated Peter Pan. he's got it in his mind that his whole unit is going to wear these uniforms, and I'm going to make him. Which mean he gets the sample pieces.

The biggest problem with him wanting a cabled hat is that I'm not very good at cables. A few years ago I tried to make myself a cabled scarf, and I ended up ripping it apart over and over again because the cables always had big weird holes in the middle and looked just terrible. And I know, I know, practice makes perfect, but i have avoided them like the plague ever since. And now they're what he requested specifically. Not with the correct words, mind you, but they are what he requested. But I went on to Ravelry and looked around with him until we found a cabled hat pattern that he likes.

So I haven't started the cables yet. I finished the brim, a one by one rib which was none to fun, but actually kind of better than the two by two ribs I've been working for the millions of mittens I'm making and have made. And there are a couple of real-ish reasons why I haven't started the hate body yet: 1) the pattern is only written out with a chart, and I've never worked off of a chart before. I mean, I know how, I just haven't. 2) My printer's out of ink, so I have to go to the print lab on campus (I live in a college town) to print out the chart because I don't really want to copy it down by hand the way I have been doing with patterns lately and I don't really just want to sit in front of the computer and knit it. 3) I have to make some alterations to the pattern because the pattern is for a normal sized hat and not a stocking hat, and I'm not totally sure how it's going to work out. 4) I'm still totally freaked out by cables. And I didn't pay close enough attention to the pattern already because I thought the whole brim was just one by one rib, but no. Some of the cables were supposed to start in it. Oh well. He's just going to have to live without that.

I will say those bamboo circular needles I got a few weeks ago are certainly getting some mileage pretty quickly. This is the third hat I've started on them. I (really really) need to get some US 9 double pointed needles so I can stop doing the magic loop on these needles that really aren't long enough for it, but that is not a financial priority right now. And who knows. Maybe today I'll be brave enough to start the cables.

Happy knitting!

Another Finished Packer's Hat

After I finished knitting the other Packers hat and cut all of the yarn to make the braids and edging (which I have yet to deal with) I still had a ton of the Team Spirit yarn left over. I wasn't sure what to do with it because I don't even like the Packers (I like the Lions) so I didn't want to buy more and knit more Packers things, but there wasn't enough for a scarf left, I was not going to make another pair of mittens, and I didn't really want to make a headband. That pretty much just left making another hat.

Well, I sat down a few days ago and cast on the hat that I decided would go to boyfriend's dad who also likes the Packers and started on it. I wanted to get through the first green band because I was doing a rib stitch for that to keep in more secure. (The pattern I improvised was to cast on 90 sts on those US 9 circular needles and rib until the first progression of green finished. Then I knitted for five inches which worked out to be just over five stripes. Then it was round 1- K8, k2tog, round 2 and all even rounds- k even, round 3- k7, k2tog, etc. Eventaully I switched to the magic loop again, which sucked less this time on the 16 inch needles, until the last round where you k2tog all the way around and then thread the tail through the remaining sts, weave in the ends and done.)

I was just sitting on the couch knitting and watching tv and all of a sudden I was at the decreasing rounds. Once I get to the decreases, I don't like to stop lest I get confused and muss it up, so I just finished it. Because I now have these circular needles, I didn't have to seam up the back at all, so all that was left was o weave in the ends, and I'd produced a hat in an afternoon. I made this 10 sts bigger than my gut told me to because boyfriend assured me that his dad has a big melon head and would need the space. (Melon head is my family's word for many of the guys because they all have huge bald heads like melons) I'm pleased with this hat, and I hope boyfriend's parents like the things I'm making for them!

Happy knitting!

Green Bay Packers Hat

I've been trying to start knitting Christmas presents for everyone, and I do have something for most everyone. There are a few people left I'm still worrying about, but it just occurred to me the other day that I ought to get my sister's boyfriend something. She always wants to get my boyfriend presents, so I figured it was only fair.

Last week I was at Joann's looking for circular needles to knit hats for boyfriend and his friends for Dag anyway, and so I popped over to the Red Heart Team Spirit self-striping yarn. Then I realized that I don't know what teams he likes, so I texted my sister and asked her. I was a little appalled to learn that he likes the Packers and the Cubs, but I grabbed some green and yellow yarn and some Clover Takumi US 9 16 in. circular needles and was on my way. I was a little annoyed with Joann's when I got to the knitting needles section and found they only had two brands of knitting needles and a rather poor selection within those. I wanted some metal needles because that's what I'm used to and they're cheaper than bamboo. Unfortunately, they only had 29 in. and up lengths in the metal needles. I wanted (I was guessing) a 16 in. needle because I wanted to be able to knit hats on it without any fuss. I found what I was looking for in the bamboo  needles, and they were on sale, so I guess it was okay.

Next was for me to ask my sister if her boyfriend would wear a hat or if I would have to make him something else. She reported that he would, but he wanted it to be a sports team hat (check) with a pom pom on it (doable).

Yesterday I actually sat down and started his hat. At first I wasn't sure what kind of hat I wanted to make, and then I really looked at the hat pattern on the yarn, and decided that was the way to go. The pattern said to cast on 90 stitches on US 7 needles, and since I had US 9, I decided to cut it down to 80 stitches. I did check my gauge, but for whatever reason, each test swatch I did came out claiming I had the same gauge as the US 7 needles. I mean, I knit pretty tight, but not that tight. So 80 it was. However, I misread the directions some a little. It said to start the hat on straight needles-no big, I would just start on my new circular needles-and then purl one wrong sided row before switching to double pointed needles. This instruction for whatever reason didn't make sense to me at the time, and I got it into my head that what that meant was for the first row to be purled so the hat wouldn't roll because of the stockinette stitch. I later realized how incorrect I had been, but by then it was too far to go back, and it doesn't seem to make that much of a difference.

Yesterday afternoon I sat and knitted the first 5 inches of the hat, and then did the first couple decreasing rounds. While I was knitting those first couple rounds, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to finish the hat the way it was, but I don't have double pointed needles large enough to swap out, so I thought I'd learn the magic loop. I knew it was meant to be done on much (much much) longer needles than 16 in., but it was kind of late, and I couldn't think how I could get it onto my longer circular needles. So I pushed right on through and finished the hat using the magic loop on 16 in. needles. It was a pain, and then next time I make a hat on these needles, I am going to do something else, but I managed it, and the hat looks pretty good if i do say so myself.

Last night I also knitted the ear flaps onto the hat. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out, but I was really glad I used the thumb cast-on (the first thing she shows in the video-I know she says there are problems with it, but it's the way my grandma taught me to cast-on, and I really like it for hats and things that need a lot of stretch) because those stitches were so easy to see and pick up. They were so easy, and they looks so cute.

So after that, I was finished with the hat for the night.

Not because I actually hat finished it, but because I didn't feel like making the pom pom, and I don't have a big enough crochet needle to do the edging the pattern calls for. I've never done edging on a hat before, so I was on the fence about doing it at all, but I'm hoping it will make the hat stop rolling, so I'm going to set this hat aside until I can pick up the right size crochet needle. Okay, I might make the pom pom, and I did cut the lengths of yarn to make the braids which I can't attach until the edging it done.

Happy knitting!

Lacy Shawl for Me

I've been knitting on and off for several years now, and I've been thinking recently how I've never made anything for myself. It just never seemed right. But now everyone has these cozy items I've made for them while I'm still shivering over here. So I decided that it is finally time for me to make something for me.

I got this burgundy yarn last year, Bernat burgundy, and I've been wanting to make something for myself with it while feeling too guilty to actually start. I finally decided that I am going to make myself something, and I decided that it's going to be a shawl.

After searching around for about an hour I came across something that looks like what I want: easy enough that I can handle it while still looking cute and lacy. You can access the pattern for free here.

This is an image of the shawl from coatsandclark.com.

I had a little decision to make when I started this shawl. The pattern calls for US 9 (5.5mm) needles, and while I know that gauge isn't going to be especially important in this, I didn't want to stray too far from that because the size the pattern claims the shawl will be is about the size I want it to be. Now, I knew I didn't have any US 9 straight needles, but I knew I had a US 9 circular needle. However, the pattern is only 78 stitches which is not exactly call for circular needles. It wouldn't hurt, and at least I would be able to get another set of my circular needles out and loosened up. I also have a set of US 10 1/2 (6.5mm) straight needles. If they were US 10s, I would have started with them right away without another thought, but my straight 10s are still attached to my sister's lace scarf and they're short needles, so I'm not sure they'd be the best choice anyway. I was hemming and hawing over what needles I wanted when I realized I had US 10 circular needles. I started with those right away.

Slightly blurred close up of the pattern with close to true color.

Larger view of the pattern, but with weird washed out color.

I quickly used a knitted cast on to cast on my 78 stitches and then knitted one repetition of the pattern on the first day. I admit I let it sit around for a few days, but yesterday I finally felt productive enough to work on my shawl. I knitted through the pattern twice more so now you can actually see the pattern in it, and I'm to my favorite part in every project when the project starts to look like whatever it is and not just a unclear lump. The shawl is 19-20 inches wide and about 7 inches long. The pattern says it should be 17 inches wide, but that's just the difference between the 9s and 10s. The pattern also says it should be 58 inches long, and mine may well reach that length, but as soon as I'm running low on yarn and don't think I'm going to be able to go through the pattern once more and knit the last few border rows, I'm going to bring it to a close. Then again, if it ended in the middle of the pattern, it wouldn't be super noticeable. I mean, I would know, and other knitters would probably notice, but it would still work just fine as a shawl, and that's all I really want.

This is the project I have going right now that I'm by far the most excited about. The pattern is turning out really well, and I'm not pulling my hair out trying to knit it. The yarn looks gorgeous, a bit better in real life, I must admit, because my webcam does this weird thing if I wait too long to take the picture. My only worry now is that I'll run out of yarn and have to get another skein. At least I found the paper that tells me the brand and color, so I'll be able to find the same color if it gets to that.

Happy knitting!

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!