FOs on parade!

I've got a bunch of Finished Objects to share with you. First up: my husband's scarf, made with Malabrigo Rios in Pearl Ten and Azul Profundo. It's a Seeded Rib Easy Reversible Scarf. Here it is in a not-quite-finished state, being modeled by our friend Pudgy the moose:

And here's the finished version (with sunlight streaming through the blinds):

It was hard to get a decent pic of the finished version because it's really long! Hubby wanted a long scarf. He's been wearing it constantly. We're both very happy with it!

Next up: my crocheted Quick Top-Down Mitts in Jill Draper Makes Stuff Hudson superwash wool yarn. I had this yarn left over from my Honey Cowl, and I was hoping it would be enough to make these mitts. It was, and I have a tiny bit left over! I've been wearing these quite a bit.

I finally finished my Dew Drop Cowl in Queensland Sugar Rush yarn. I will wear it in the spring. Here it is:

It looks really good after blocking. I should've used a stretchier bind-off, though. The pattern recommended one but I was too chicken to try it. Oops. Anyway, I blocked the heck out of it! It's definitely wearable and looks pretty.

Next, some jewelry. Here is a pair of earrings I made for my friend for Chanukah:

Sterling silver with black onyx and green turquoise beads, and the big round beads are fair trade wooden ones from India. They match a necklace I gave to the same friend a while back. I don't think I ever posted a pic of the necklace in this blog. I am going to remedy that now!

Here's a close-up of the clasp. It's a hammered silver toggle clasp and I really like it.

My friend had told me what beads she wanted in the necklace - I just had to put them together in a cohesive design. I hope she wears the necklace and earrings in good health. Honestly, I hope she wears whatever she wears in good health! She's a great friend.

And last but not least, here is a necklace I made with beads from Olga Manina's Etsy store that were bought for me for my birthday in November 2014 by my grandmother, who recently passed away at the age of 99. I miss her terribly.

I didn't get a really great picture - I would prefer to take one on a white background at some point so the colors in the beads are clearer - but this will do for now. I picked out the beads (my grandma had dementia and probably had no idea she was buying them for me - my mom was in charge of her finances at that point), but I still think of her and remember her fondly every time I wear it or even look at it.

Love you, Grams.

WIP Wednesday, sort of - and a FO

Hi! Wow, it's been a long time since I last blogged. Oops.

My main project right now is a striped scarf in two colors of Malabrigo Rios (Azul Profundo and Pearl Ten) for my husband. He picked the colors. The pattern is the Seeded Rib Easy Reversible Scarf. I'm about halfway done. It was supposed to be his birthday present, but his birthday was October 19 and I (obviously) didn't finish it on time. I wanted to, but my neck and shoulders have been hurting a lot, which hinders my knitting progress.

Anyway, I don't have a picture of the scarf just yet, so I will entertain you with things I am not currently working on but which are WIPs that I will get back to when I finish the scarf.

Here is my Clapotis:

That one's not a great picture of the colors, but here's a close-up that is:

I've gotten to some of the dropped stitch rows! So exciting! This is going to look so cool.

You may have noticed that I ditched the stitch markers (much as I love them) in favor of purl stitches. It really does make this pattern easier - I just had no idea where the purl stitches (which become the dropped stitches) were supposed to go when I started this. Once I figured it out, this technique started to make sense.

And here is another WIP, my Dew Drop Cowl:

It's just a few rows away from being finished in this picture...and now it's actually just 1 row away, 2 if you count the bind-off. I will finish and block this and then post more pics when I'm done. Here's a close-up:

A little messy-looking in some places, but hey, if I wanted only perfect stuff I'd go buy a cowl at a department store or something.

Now for that FO. I kept this one a secret because it was a wedding present for my cousin and his wife:

It's a super cuddly giant Granny square blanket made with Lion Homespun in a bunch of different colors. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out - I hope they are enjoying it. My husband helped me pick the colors. Here's a picture of it folded:

And that's it for today! Scarf pictures next time, I promise!

WIP Wednesday: Croeso progress, Dew Drop Cowl, and a non-knitting FO

Hi all! Happy WIP Wednesday! Here is my latest Croeso progress update picture:

Oh I love this shawlette so much. You might notice, though, that in the top left corner is a little ball of yarn...that's all I have left of this colorway. I'm trying desperately on Ravelry to get a small amount of coordinating yarn to finish with since I am pretty sure that little ball doesn't contain enough yardage.

I know it's a stretch, but does anyone reading this have a small amount of any sport weight wool that might go well with this, that I could buy from you? I can't get another full skein of JDMS Mohonk anytime soon - it's very pricey. It's well worth it, but I just can't do it right now.

Edited to add: Yarn problem solved! Hooray!!!

Also, while I'm asking questions, here's one for anyone who has knit a clapotis: any idea why those who have made it on Ravelry have used such drastically different yardage? I've checked out several projects using just 1 specific yarn, and people have used anywhere between 4 and 10 skeins. I'm having trouble figuring out how much yarn I actually need for the pattern, since the pattern itself says I'll need more than I have but the projects would have me believe otherwise.

On another note, I've realized that the smaller size needles I use, the more my hands hurt when I knit. Right now I am also working on a Dew Drop Cowl - here I am posing with it at the latest Stitch & Bitch:

I'm using size 10 needles for the cowl. My Croeso shawlette is knit on size 4 needles. The difference is crazy - I don't need my wrist braces while working on the cowl and I have almost no hand and wrist pain. When working on the shawlette, I need the braces and I need to pace myself much more and stretch a lot.

Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to finish the cowl because it's a great project to bring to Stitch & Bitch! It's just stockinette except for a few eyelet rows. Great mindless knitting. I still managed to mess up the first eyelet row while working on it at S&B, so I have to make sure to do the eyelets at home! LOL! Most knitting is not truly mindless enough for me to work on it while talking, but straight stockinette or garter I can do.

And here, as promised, is an FO:

I made the little mookaite heart earrings on the left to go with the "Angel Pig" on the right. These were gifts for my second-oldest niece's birthday, which just passed (ohmygosh she's 10 - where does the time go?!). I hope she likes them. We weren't able to give the gifts in person because my sister and her family are camping, so we had to mail them. My hubby picked out the piggy and helped me choose the heart beads. The earrings are sterling silver (posts, headpins and little round beads - all sterling). I like to use the good stuff. ;-)

Not sure if my niece ever wears dangly earrings. These are very short dangles, so maybe she will wear them. She is very athletic, so I didn't think big dangles would be such a great idea! I made sure to use post earring findings so they'd be less likely to fall out of her ears.

I am almost finished with a secret crochet gift project. More on that in 2 or 3 weeks when it's been finished and received...

FO from Summer 2013 - Purple Gossypium

Last summer, I discovered the Gossypium (that's a pattern link that will take you to a pdf). It's a gorgeous cowl that looks cabled but isn't, and has a beautiful "leaf" pattern. It was my first venture into lace knitting. Once I got the hang of it, it was so much fun to make! I decided to make several as gifts, but I only managed to finish one other one and I still haven't given it to its recipient. (This purple one is mine, all mine!) More about the gifty things later. Here's my Gossypium (or, as I called it on Ravelry, Gossipy-YUM) blocking:

I am totally in love with it. It's made from Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton, which is so soft and pretty. The pictures don't do this cowl justice.

There it is on me. The photo is a pretty bad selfie and I'm wearing a really casual t-shirt with the cowl, and the color is so much more vibrant in person. Someday I will have someone (probably my husband) take a good picture of me wearing it!

FO alert!

Finally, a finished object to post about that was finished this year! For the past month or so, I've been working away on a Honey cowl using Jill Draper Makes Stuff's amazing Hudson Superwash Merino yarn. The colorway is called Coleopterist's Cabinet.

Believe it or not, this was my first time working with superwash merino. I don't know if it's usually this deliciously sproingy, or if that's Jill Draper's yarn in particular, but I love it so much - and it doesn't seem to bother my neck. This is the first animal fiber I've ever met that doesn't make my neck itch. (I hope. I still haven't worn this cowl for any particularly long length of time.)

The yarn was expensive. It was a splurge when I was away with girlfriends in New Paltz, NY, and we stopped in to the White Barn Farm Sheep and Wool yarn store. (And then we stopped in there again the next day! Heehee. Yes, it is that good a store. And cute, too - see pic below. Yes, that's me by the door.)

I highly recommend a visit if you're a fiber fan and happen to be in New Paltz at some point. Anyway, I adore that Hudson yarn. The colors are amazing and a camera can't really do them justice, but I took plenty of project pictures anyway, and then my husband took some pictures of the finished cowl on me. This Honey cowl is a size Large, but I didn't knit it to the full width of 12 inches, I only did 8 inches. (As you'll see, that was plenty!) I also haven't blocked it yet. Not sure what superwash merino will block out like (anyone have any answers for me?). I'm happy with it unblocked, though! And I would never, ever put this in the washing machine, even though I could, in theory.

That last one is of the cowl wrapped around twice. It is warm and squishy and comfortable. I give the yarn most of the credit, but I guess I have to give myself some, too. The cowl didn't make itself. ;) This is the second Honey I've made - the first was a size small with Lorna's Laces Honor yarn (pic below). It is an alpaca and silk blend, and it feels heavenly to the touch - until I put it against my neck. Sigh. Itchy. Heck, cashmere makes my neck itch. I'm keeping my first Honey for now with the thought that I might wear it sometime with a turtleneck underneath.

I messed up quite a bit with the stitching on that first one (it's actually sort of obvious if you know what to look for), so for the second one, I placed stitch markers every 20 stitches so that I'd know whether to purl or slip the next stitch. It worked great!

This is a very repetitive pattern, but it makes for a beautiful cowl if you can stick with it. (Ugh...honey...stick...see what I did there?)

Let's play catch-up...2012 FO's

Um, holy wow. It's been a very long time since I last posted here. I didn't mean to neglect my blog! Honest! I have a lot of projects I haven't posted here yet (all of these are from back in 2012, and of course I have stuff from 2013, too), so I'll have to pick and choose. Without further ado:


Here's a duck in an apple hat (the hat comes off), pattern from Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi Toy Box. She's the mommy duck from the Mom & Baby Duck pattern. First and only amigurumi I've made (so far). I gave her to my best friend for her birthday - in July 2012!

I have to say, I love amigurumi (so cute!) but I don't really like making them, or at least I didn't really enjoy making this one. They involve using small-ish hooks so there aren't holes for the stuffing to come through, which makes for some fiddly, fussy work. (I pretty much reserve the words "fiddly" and "fussy" for crochet. Heh.) My main issue with this ducky, though, was the sewing. You have to sew the limbs on, but there are no specific instructions in the book as to how to do that. I searched the Internet and found no further information on the best way to sew amigurumi limbs, so I just went ahead and did it however I thought I should. In my opinion, the beak didn't come out quite right because of it. Oh well. I'd like to try one of Stacey Trock's patterns sometime; maybe that'd be easier? Anyone know?

Oh great...I'd written a whole long blog entry with photos, and then Firefox crashed. Apparently I didn't save the rest of it, so here we go again. I don't have time to rewrite the whole thing, but I'll do what I can.

And I tried again, and it got "eaten" again, this time by Blogger. OK...third time's a charm, right? *sigh*

Here's the finished Seraphina I made for my mom. Unfortunately, she thought it was too short...so she decided to steal my grandmother's instead. I know that sounds awful, but it's not so awful considering that Grams wasn't using hers and has dementia and doesn't even really know what to do with a shawl now. (I mean, the dementia thing is awful, my mom's taking the shawl - not so much.)

 

This beautiful creation is the #09 Cowl by Kazekobo from the 2012 issue of Vogue Knitting Crochet magazine. Love it. Used my Debbie Bliss Cathay, and the yarn was perfect for the design.

And here is my finished Wingspan:

 Here's a bad mirror selfie of me wearing it:

I'm just going to end this blog post here because I'm afraid of losing it again. More to come soon, unless I procrastinate again, which I hope I won't!