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!

Changes to the Scrap Blanket

I finally pulled apart my blanket so I could use the green for boyfriend's last Irish project: socks. Then I couldn't decide if I maybe ought to try to find something else for the purple yarn before I put it in there, so I just started with the leftover black from my slippers.

I only cast on 180 stitches this time because it seemed excessively long when I pulled it off  the needles. This time I also decided to do a garter stitch boarder so it wouldn't roll. After the black I put in the rest of the self-striping since I haven't finished the hat I'm making with it yet, but I do have all the yarn I need for them. That got me up to four rows or the garter stitch boarder.

I was originally going to have 4 rows at the top and 3 stitches on each side, but then I thought that maybe I'll do five on each side and instead of doing ribs, I'll do boxes. I think that could be nice, However, I don't have anymore yarn to add to the blanket just yet, so I can wait on that decision until later.

Happy knitting!

Finished Slippers

I finally finished my slippers. For a while now all I've had to do is sew up the seem on the second one and they'd be done, and I just haven't wanted to, so they sat doing nothing for a while.

I finally did finish them, though, and put them back on again. They're bigger than I remember in a good way, but the toes are also pointier than I remember. 

I still can't get over the seem in the bottom, though. Maybe it's because of the way I sew things up that it aggravates me so, but I just can't handle it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them since I made them for myself to use up the black yarn and then I didn't like them, but when I took off my slippers to take the pictures in these slippers and boyfriend put on my slippers. After the pictures I got him back out of my slippers again by offering him these.

He put them on and hasn't taken them off again. He says he likes them, so they're his. On him they look a little like ankle socks stretched a little too tight, but that's fine. He's a little worried about how they'll hold up, but if the seems come apart, I can fix that, and that's all I'm really worried about.

These slippers worked out pretty well for my first attempt, even though I personally don't really want to wear them. From now on I think I'll be making any slippers on circular or double pointed needles.

Happy knitting!

Dad's Scarf, Restarted

I finally got around to restarting my dad's scarf, and at first I really wanted to do the brioche stitch. It looks gorgeous, it's warm, and it looks masculine enough that I could give it to my dad. However, I don't know if the brown variegated yarn I'm using is just the wrong type of yarn, the needles I used were too big, I was messing it up, or the pattern just looks like that when it starts, but the first couple of inches of the scarf in the brioche pattern looked so bad that I ripped the whole thing apart and tried it twice more before I just gave up on the brioche stitch for now and went hunting for another pattern.

A lot of the other patterns I have in mind are either not great for scarves because they are one sided or they're kind of girly. While I wanted to do something that would be new for me, I also wanted to make something that my dad will actually wear, so I finally decided on a ribbed scarf with garter edges. It's 28 stitches across on US 10 needles and the pattern goes like this:
row 1: k4, p4,* repeat from * to last 4 stitches, k4
row 2: k4, *k4, p4* repeat between * until the last 8 stitches, k4, k4
So far, so good.

The way the ribs roll in as ribs do, I think it'll make a really warm scarf, and hopefully my dad will like it, especially after I've been working on the thing for years. I used a long-tail cast-on for the scarf, and I'm not wondering if that was really the right choice. I mean, it's not as if it can't stretch to the appropriate shape, but it is scrunched together as the end. I guess that'll just  be a problem for blocking to resolve.

Happy knitting!

My First Attempt at Slippers

I've been wanting to try a pair of slippers for a while now. I have this black yarn that's kind of beaten up because it's been around for a while, so I figured I could make a trial pair of slippers with this yarn for myself. If there are mistakes, no big deal. I have also been dying to try the magic loop method. I poked around Ravelry, and much to my surprise, all of the types of slippers that I want to make aren't knitted in the round but on two needles. This was a little off-putting, but I don't want to dive into a pair of socks yet, and I did still want to use of that black yarn, so I picked a pattern that looked reasonable in the pattern as well as in the picture and set off.

I decided to practice my long tail cast-on for this project because I've only even tried it once before and then it was for a project that I frogged and haven't restarted yet. It took me three tries to cast on because the first time I didn't use enough yarn for the tail, the second time I felt like I had too much, and the third time I finally got it.

As I was knitting the first 14 rows of the pattern which are all worked in garter stitch, I started looking down at my ball of black yarn and started getting paranoid that I wouldn't have enough. At that point I decided I'd also work in some of the white yarn I have. I know there's going to be more of it than I need after I finish boyfriend's mittens, but I've never made this pattern before, and I wasn't sure how much of the white yarn the slippers would take if I knit the stockinette stitch body of them with the white. I finally decided that I could also start pulling from the center of the skein I'm using for boyfriend's belt since he wouldn't miss just a little bit.

Then I had to figure out when I was going to switch colors. I decided to do all of the garter stitch in the black, and then for the body have 2 rows of black in the middle, 4 rows of white on either side of it so it would really pop, and 4 rows of grey beyond the white on each side. Also by keeping each color in even numbers of rows, I kept the funny multi-colored purl side all on the inside of the slipper, although I don't think it really looks to bad. I almost wish it were the outside of the slipper.

I knitted the slipper with US 6 needles, and when I was binding off, the pattern suggested that I use a size 8 or 9 needle. I took a minute and decided on the 8, and now I wish I'd used the 9 because the cuff is a little tight, but not really uncomfortably so, so I guess it's alright.

I knitted one entire slipper yesterday. Partially because once I start decreasing I don't like to stop in case I get confused, although in this instance I don't think that would have been really possible, but partially because I still have a ton of time on my hands while I continue to look for a job. But I get lots of knitting and baking done.

Finally, I tried the slipper on after I made it and was pretty disappointed with my afternoon of work. The toe is weirdly pointy and there's a seam right up the middle of the sole which drives me crazy. I had boyfriend try it on, and he said it wasn't as bad as I seem to think. Still, I think I am going to give them as a Christmas gift after all. I think they look nice, they're reasonably comfortable, and they don't take long to make. Plus the color changes keep my interest.

There are a few things I'm going to do differently when I knit up the other slipper, but I haven't totally decided what yet because obviously I want them to look the same even if it means sacrificing a better way of making them.

Happy knitting!

More Progress on Boyfriend's Belt

I'm pleased to say I've made quite a bit of progress on the grey garter stitch belt. I've been trying to work on it some each day because while it doesn't necessarily go quickly, it is easy, and it is helping to improve my knitting speed.

For whatever reason, the camera decided that this grey looks kind of purple today, but it is grey.

That being said, it's now about 6 feet long! I know in my last post I said I thought that would be about as long as boyfriend wanted it, but I've talked with him more about what he wants, and it turns out I was misunderstanding him some. When he said sash, he didn't mean shoulder to hip sash, he meant, well, he meant a type of belt. What he wants to be able to do it loop it twice around his waist and have it dangle some so that when he's all dressed up for Dagorhir (his LARP thing) he'll have places to tuck things into the belt. I'm not sure if it's going to work, but that's what he wants. He also wants it to be twelve feet long, so I'm only half way, but it is going faster than I thought. Then again, on a Friday night after a few adult beverages, it is the project I still feel confidant picking up and not messing up, so it does have time available to it that other projects don't.

This project has size US 3 needles.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how it's coming together. I'm not sure it will totally work for what boyfriend wants, but so far so good, and I think it should work for a while at least.

Happy knitting!

Re-Starting Dad's Scarf

If you read my post about my October Knit-a-long project, then you know that frogged all the progress I had made on my dad's scarf because I couldn't find yarn to match the original. I wasn't as upset as I could have been because I haven't worked on it for a while, and also the elongated chevron looked pretty silly on the end of garter stitch.

My dad's scarf before I frogged it.

I'm notorious for just buying a skein of any yarn that I think looks nice if I have some spare cash on hand. Just one skein. Rarely do I buy yarn with any specific project in mind, but rather because I think I'd like to make something for a specific somebody. This often lands me in some trouble because I'll get the yarn home, make a project with it, and then have some left over, but never quite enough for whatever it is I want to make. This has happened to me with multiple scarves because looking at the yarn left after another project it seems like there's going to be enough for a scarf, and then I end up having to start over making a thinner scarf or give up entirely. This is the situation I'm in with my dad's elongated chevron scarf. But I thought to myself, "Hey, I know where I got the yarn, so I'll just go back and buy another skein and I can finish this scarf up." Unfortunately, my lack of planning meant I went to the store without the yarn and came home with a similar skein of yarn that didn't actually match the original.

Now not only am I going to have to start this scarf over, I'm going to have to start it over with the new yarn and leave a decent quantity of the other yarn without any idea of what I want it to be. At first I thought the old yarn would be a perfect candidate for my scrap blanket, but it just seems like there's something else I could use it for first because there's more than I really want left for me to add it to the blanket. One of the previously finished projects I have that I have not yet had the chance to post about it the hat I made for my dad with this yarn. I don't want to make another hat with it, but I'm not sure what else I could use it for. That is, until I found the October Knit-a-long.

October Knit-a-long project made with the old yarn from my dad's scarf.

I'm not sure if the cuff is going to use up enough of the yarn, but that's a problem for November. Now that I have that yarn in something, I just had to decide if I wanted to continue my dad's scarf with the elongated chevron patter. Well, I didn't really because the pattern is a pain to knit, and I think I'd have to do the whole scarf in it to make it look even reasonable, and I'm not sold. Maybe it would look better in a blanket. I have been drooling over the brioche stitch recently, and I think that's the way I'm going to go with this scarf. I'm pretty nervous about doing the actual stitch for no particular reason, but hopefully it will work out, and I'll have a scarf I can actually give to my dad.

Happy knitting!

Progress on the Grey Belt

I pulled out boyfriend's grey belt again last week and have been working on it for hours most days. I have come to a new level of annoyance with these small needles because after the first day when I worked on it for about ten hours, I found it had only grown about ten inches. I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't also cooking and watching tv and trying to pick up a little in that time, but still.

As for technicalities, I realized in my last post about the sash that I neglected to say it is 15 stitches across and the yarn is Red Heart Super Saver Charcoal. I know I'm lousy about saying what type of yarn I'm using, but I'm trying to remember. One would think that it would be pretty quick work, but it is not so! So I'm soldiering on. I think it will be nice once it is finished, even if I suspect I'm going to have to put the gold tassels on myself. I also think it will be a while before it's finished. Like next March for the season opener for boyfriend's LARP thing a while. I know last year I said I hoped to have it finished for Christmas or at least March, but this time I mean it.

It's over two feet long now, and I imagine he's going to want it to be about five or six feet. Then again, I'm not really sure. I guess I could measure him to see how long it ought to be from shoulder across the torso to the hip and then back up across the back to the shoulder again, or I could just keep knitting and every foot or two hold it up to him and check it out. Let's be serious: it's going to be the latter. I think he wants to be able to wear it as a sash and a belt which is going to affect length because it can't dangle too long as a belt, and I imagine it will need to be pretty snug as a sash, but obviously those are two different lengths. The reason for those specification is that while he's wearing it he's going to be fighting. I almost put quotation around fighting, but I think he would have been offended if he ever saw it. The reason is is this LARP thing; well, it's where everyone dresses up (hence the sash that will be part of his garb or costume) and hits each other with foam weapons like foam swords and even foam-tipped arrows that they shoot out of real bows. There are all kinds of specifications of which I'm unsure, though not as unsure as I wish I were, and I won't go into them here, but I wanted to give an idea of what this project was for. Hats and scarves and headbands have obvious uses, so I didn't need to extrapolate, but with this sash, I felt as though I did because it's use isn't as clear.

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!

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!

Grey Sash/ Belt

I recently picked up some more yarn, and came home all excited with no idea what to do with any of it. All but one I at least had ideas of for whom I was going to use them, but I couldn't think of who would really like the last one. It's a really gorgeous grey, and the feel is just great. After I stared at it for a while, boyfriend asked if I wouldn't knit him a sash/ belt that he could wear for this LARP thing he does. . . . Yeah, I won't explain it. But I said of course and that he won't get it for Christmas. I'd like to have it done for March or April or whenever their season starts, but we'll see.

When I asked him what he wanted it to be, he communicated that he wanted it to be about two inches wide and that he wanted me to use the smallest needles I have. Well, the smallest needles I have are US 0 (2mm). I've never used anything smaller than US 6 (4mm), so I thought this would be a great learning experience on something that doesn't have to be beautiful. However, I have to admit I had had a few adult beverages at that point, and I just couldn't do the 0s. I also skipped over the US 1 (2.25mm) because that also seems quite ambitious. However, I don't have US 2 (2.75mm), so I settles on US 3 (3.25mm).

So far so good I'd say. There's not much to it yet, and it's nothing remarkable. I'm not even sure if it will work the way boyfriend wants it to. But he seems to have a plan for it that involves gold tassels that he swears up and down he'll put on himself.

I also recently discovered Ravelry. I feel like I came to it pretty late in the game, so once I get it caught up a little, I'll link to it.

Happy knitting and happy holidays.

Box-Stitch Scarf

Last year I began my mom's second gift to match her hat. It was originally a shawl using my biggest needles. I was quickly discouraged from this project because the big needles are a pain to work with. When I picked it up again this year, I ripped the whole thing apart and looked at some of the patterns I had bookmarked earlier to work with and found this box-stitch. I decided to do a similar thing as I had with my dad's scarf which is to pattern the ends and just knit the middle. I may put some silly tassel-y guys on the end, but I'll see what the finished project looks like first.

When I started yesterday, all I had managed up to that point was three rows of boxes at the end. This is what the finished end looks like now.

It is five by five boxes which I think gives it a nice symmetry. Then I moved into the body of the scarf which is garter stitch, and I just knitted away at until I had this:

It's over a foot and a half now which I think will put me about a quarter of the way there. I think I'm going to aim for six feet like with boyfriend's scarf. Then again, because this scarf is thinner, I might be able to get away with shorter. I guess I'll see as it comes along.

UPDATE: I linked the pattern to this page up near the top. However, I should note that instead of doing knit two, purl two, etc. I did knit four, purl four, etc. to make the boxes more apparent.