good-natured ribbing

I made another pair of fingerless mitts last week. The previous ones I made, Fetching, didn’t really hold up – they got baggy and the yarn started to pill. I really wanted them to snug and to fit inside the sleeves of whatever I was wearing. After looking at some other simple patterns, I came up with these:

(by the way, it is kind of hard to take a picture of your own two hands!)

Pattern: made up – 2×2 ribbing for the cuffs, 4×1 ribbing for the rest, gusset thumb, CO 50sts.
Yarn: Gems Quartz (merino)
Needles: Size 3

Unfortunately, the weather is Michigan now requires full mittens most of the time (I know what my next project is!). These will be reserved for driving or a cold office. They also happen to be perfect for playing “This little piggy” when the house is on the cool side.

Well, the third pair I finished, anyway (the other two are here and here). It has been a little while since I last posted, so I’m going to go a bit overboard with the pictures.

Pattern: Garter rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, toe-up with the easy toe and heel flap heel.
Yarn: Regia Bamboo in the Ethno colorway
Needles: Size 1

The ended up a little bit baggy but not too bad – we’ll see what they are like after a washing. The yarn is really soft and rather cool. I really like the way the toe-up heel flap fits/feels, by the way.

I had to kick the dogs off the sunny bed to take the photos today. Since I don’t feature them on the blog very often, I give you this:

Evidently, even in California there is a need for handwarmers. My California sister visited this week, and saw evidence of my knitting all over the house. (I admit, the yarn has taken over since her last visit a couple of years ago.) I mentioned to her that I always knit socks for her because she doesn”t need anything heavier. She, though, saw Emily’s handwarmers and was quite fascinated — I guess fingerless gloves aren’t as well known in California non-knitting circles — and said she could use them for their evening walks along the ocean. Easy enough. I used a ball of Crystal Palace Yarns Taos and the same pattern from Interweave Knits. We just happened to have our purple jack o’lantern out, which went surprisingy well with the color.

The night before last, just before we fell asleep, my husband jumped up and said, “I’m such a loser!” He’s not, but he did forget until then that he had my mittens. These are the mittens that Kira knit for me, and Kristen delivered to Michigan, and, since I took the week off work, my husband was supposed to deliver to me. The last leg of that journey was delayed, but the mittens are great!

And they fit perfectly.

I love how they are done in opposite colors. Emily saw them and said, “”Ohh…” in a calculating tone, but I made it clear that they were mine, and were going to stay mine.

As a bonus, Kira sent me one of her highly-coveted needle bags. She sews, which I highly admire because I don’t at all, and made this lovely, lovely bag. I really needed a bag like this – I had no needle carrier yet.

All in all, I scored big time. Thanks, Kira!

there were some 200 spam comments waiting for various combinations of us this morning. i’ve turned off commenting from people who haven’t already left an approved comment (… if that makes any sense). i hope this is temporary. an upgrade in the wordpress software might reduce the spam to a muted roar, i will see what’s what.

As you may know from several recent blogs, Sherry and I are swapping mittens for socks. I have received my socks and they are fabulous! They came in this great little bag:

And they fit perfectly!

And the best part is, it is finally cold enough to wear them! They are “Lichen Ribbed Socks” and have a Welsh heel and Star Toe of Three Points. Fancy! They are made from Cherry Tree Hill “Earth.” I am wearing them to work today to show them off! Thanks again for my wonderful socks, Sherry!

My secret pal, Leah, sent a great gift to close out the One Skein exchange. She crocheted me a little clutch in Detroit Pistons colours! I admired this clutch in the OneSkein book and thought that the pattern might be enough to get me to learn crochet! What makes it special is that Leah thought of my favourite team, despite her loyalty to the Spurs! The zipper and jersey lining are in Piston’s blue to match!

To top it all off, she included some goodies inside! Burt’s Bees stuff (which I love) and some hand made soap (oatmeal chamomile olive oil soap, to be exact). I love homemade soap!

Thanks, Leah! The gift was definitely worth waiting for!

I’m taking a short break from socks. Now that the weather is down in the 40s here in Michigan, it feels like scarf-knitting time. In particular, I all of a sudden wanted a thin scarf to wrap around and around my neck, maybe under another, bigger scarf. I looked in my trusty 1979 version (my era) of “The Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery” for a repetitive yet interesting pattern, and decided on a simple brioche stitch.

I’m using Blue Skies Alpaca that my mother-in-law sent me for Christmas, a beautiful green color — olive, maybe? I love alpaca.

I also need to put fringe on Corie’s scarf and decided I need to buy another ball of the Martifil Stripe 7934 (previously written about here). I found that it doesn’t exist anywhere on the internet. The only other reference I saw to it was on this blog, where the writer mentions that she can’t find it anywhere either. We might be the only two people in the world who own it. (Her picture of it is much better than mine, btw.) I have gotten used to finding everything on the internet — instant gratification — and now I may need to call the store in Toledo where I bought it to see if they have more. I guess I need to decide how badly I want it, or if I have other yarn that matches closely enough for fringe.

Well, I have finished Sherry’s mittens. I would have had them done a week ago, but I made the mistake of watching a movie while I finished the last bit and got so into the movie (Sci -Fi thriller “Serenity”) I forgot to switch needle sizes at the wrist! Since I knitted them in the Eastern style – from the top down – I didn’t have too much to rip out. In any case, just a little gentle blocking and they will be ready for Kris to hand deliver next week. Now on to the barbie clothes for the church bazaar!

I know, you thought I was going to go a whole week without posting. So did I – but I managed to squeeze out one little finished project this weekend. While Ava was out in the yard play in the piles of leaves with her Daddy, I realized that she doesn’t have any mittens and how much she would have appreciated them right then.

I was almost done one when she came in from play. The second was completed during her nap.

Pattern: Gifted by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Some left over soft and fuzzy yarn from a baby blanket I made a while ago – two different ones held together. They were from Joann, I don’t remember the names.

The pattern comes in kids to adult sizes, is knitted flat, and is fun to make. The mitts have a unique construction where the thumb is knitted in and you don’t have to cut your yarn. What a great, super-fast gift for kids!

Louisville remains a charming place to visit. In addition to other attractions, this time I stopped at Sophie’s Fine Yarn Shoppe, and (surprise!) found some yarns I had to have. I wanted to make some handwarmers for Emily that I had seen in the Spring ’06 Interweave Knits, and at Sophie’s I found some very soft alpaca yarn in primary colors that fit my mental image of what this particular handwarmer yarn should be:

They also had some sock yarn I hadn’t seen before, so I had to buy that, and I bought some Rowan Tapestry for good measure. This particular yarn is 70% wool and 30% soybean, and also pretty darn soft. The colors remind me of Noro colors, but it’s a lot softer. Did I mention that it’s soft?

When I got back home, I finished my longways scarf, made with the Tahki Tweed yarn I had left over from Emily’s Christmas stocking. I made this scarf by casting on 330 stitches and then knitting 21 rows of stockinette stitich, and it turned out to be about 66 inches long. Maybe it’s an illusion, but it seems like it knitted up more quickly than a scarf 21 stitches wide and knit to 66 inches long. I still have enough yarn left to knit a hat to go with.

I decided that I didn’t want my Smith socks to be exactly as pictured. They are supposed be 16″ from cast on (at the cuff) to the beginning of the heel. For someone who cannot manange to keep socks up, that is a little too much sock to be worn around the ankle. Mine are a mere 7.5 inches from cast on, which I think is perfect for me. They will be worn a lot around the house as slippers.

At the shortened length, these socks were a super-quick knit. I started on Friday night and finished the first one Saturday afternoon. I finished the second this morning. I was able to spend some time knitting while at my parents’ for Thanksgiving yesterday. I nearly finished on the way home because of the extreme back up at the bridge – we spent about 1.5 hours waiting to get to customs – so close to a 2 hour trip all together (usually about 30 – 45 min).

Pattern: Smith from Noro Knits
Yarn: One skein of my wool/mohair tweedy handspun and one Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran (Goldenrod, 19)
Needles: Size 5 US (for both yarns)
Modifications: Just the leg length and yarn substitutions.

I actually finished those ankle socks I’ve been knitting for my mom. I finished the first one back in June than took a long break before starting the second. For some reason, it was just killing me, but I persevered and finished the pair today.

They will be given to my mom as a Thanksgiving present tomorrow (no, gift giving isn’t a Canadian Thanksgiving tradition). I hope she likes them and I hope they fit!!

In other news, it was a perfect autumn day. Ava and I sat on the front porch and ate half a bag of Trader Joe’s cheese puffs.

So I resisted all weekend, but today after work, I stopped at the yarn store. I just had to get the Noro Knits pattern book and the accent yarn for the Smith socks brought to my attention by Megan.

As always, this trip to the yarn store was full of twists and turns. For some reason, they don’t carry Debbie Bliss anymore. The yarn lady suggested a substitution, which I accepted: Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran (instead of Cashmerino Aran). I have also accumulated 52 points – which means I have 2 20%-off-everything shopping sprees ahead of me. Sweet!

The purple is my handspun and the yellow is the Kashmir. What do you think about the color combo, Chrissy?

I also got a Noni felted bag pattern that I’ve been eyeing for a while. It will be a Christmas present for some lucky lady.

It was really cold Friday morning – there was actually some frost on my windshield. While the car was defrosting, I ran back in the house to get my fall/winter coat. Crazy, I know! As I finished off by putting on my handknit scarf and mitts, Nick said “Don’t forget your hat.” He was astounded when I said that I didn’t have one and suggested that now I have the evening’s project figured out.

Fine, fine. I’ll knit myself a hat. For those of you who know me, you know that I have the kind of hair that doesn’t cooperate with hats. Finding one that will stay on and actually look OK is a challenge. I spotted this hat a while ago (while looking for something to make with my Malabrigo) and was quite taken with it. I went here to get the pattern (found in the sidebar) and got started. After several false starts, I got a rhythm going and finished it in about a day. Here it is:

Pattern: Saunshine‘s Pumkin Head Hat – cabled version
Yarn Malabrigo Worsted
Needles: Size 5 US for the cuff and size 7 for the rest
Modifications: I stuck pretty close to the pattern, though either I wasn’t understanding something or there are errors in it. If you are going to make it, let me know and I’ll tell you what I did. I’ve notified the designer that there might be some corrections to make. The pattern on the designer’s site has been corrected.

All in all, I love the hat. We’ll see how it stands up to my hair when the weather really turns cold!

¹ Ava’s super-cute pronunciation of “That’s Ridiculous!” The predicuious part, from Nick’s point of view, was that everyone I know has a knit hat from me – except me. I’d like to add that it was really predicuious that I had frost on my windshield in SEPTEMBER!

Well, I got all into those fingerless gloves from the summer issue of Knitty and made two pairs…one as a gift and one for me…

I thought they were very fun to knit and I loved the softness of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino I used. So I decided to make my own version of “fingerless gloves” which I have been calling “wrist-lets”.

I loved the four by one rib, the concept of a cable, and the picot bind off. I wanted mine to look Victorian, maybe with a hint of a corset. Here’s what I came up with:

The purple yarn is a placeholder. I have since threaded a pale yellow ribbon through the yarnovers to “cinch” the wristlets. The cable up the centre is a simple two 4×2 cable (4 stitch cable, 2 row repeat).

I have written up the pattern neatly, if anyone is interested in having it. Just let me know in the comments.

I’m making good progress on my Christmas stockings. Three and one-third knitted, minus the finishing touches. Here they are, posed with one of my regular -sized socks for scale.

I need to duplicate stitch Santa Clauses on to the purple one, and then add names. The one in progress at the top is mine. I went to the Spinner’s Flock Fleece sale in Chelsea on 9/17, and almost didn’t buy anything. Not because they didn’t have nice yarn, but because I didn’t go with plans in mind. However, Kristen spotted this beautiful rust/olive/gold skein and reminded me that I was knitting Christmas stockings. How perspicacious of her! It’s Handspun Yarn, by Jane Purcell of Ann Arbor. I’m making a giant ribbed sock with a short-row heel — a simple pattern because the texture and colors are already Christmas-y.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Kira and I are exchanging socks for mittens. Evidently she doesn’t like to knit socks, so I’m knitting a pair for her. And one of her specialities is Fair Isle mittens, a pair of which I would love to own. So, when Kristen goes to visit Kira and her family at the end of October she’ll be delivering my socks to Kira, and bringing back my mittens, just in time for winter.

I had a million ideas for Kira’s socks, but finally decided to use a pattern from Nancy Bush’s xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx socks book, especially because I’ve been wanting to try the xxxxx heel and the xxxxx toe. I used xxxxxx xxxx xxxx yarn that I had ordered from Yarnmarket a while ago.

I have one done, and the second three-quarters of the way done. They are turning out great!