Portable Knitting

Hat and Mittens

I started these mittens almost two years ago but set them aside after just about completing one. I had the pattern written down but there was still a little guesswork involved in getting the second one finished this week. Basically I had to knit the pattern 4 times until I got it right.

Then I finished a hat for a friend knit using Cascade 220. I hope he likes it.

Embellishing

I decided these two baby hats needed a little something more so I decided to do some surface embellishments.

The hat on the left I knit while on my trip, I added a series of circles to the surface using running stitch, satin stitch and chain stitch. For the top I crocheted a little flourish -- just chain about 15 stitches or so and then double back on that row to the center where you start another row. The yarn is Rowan 4-ply Soft.

The hat on the right I had posted previously and it had been done for a while but it wasn't quite cute enough. I crocheted a couple of circles using different colors of yarn that added an accent. I think it looks so much better now.

Can I finish it in time?

I've had this handspun heathery pink alpaca wool yarn since a year ago and I wanted to make something with it. I started playing around with it for a hat knit from the top down the other night but I really didn't have enough for a hat I knew. I thought about it for a bit and decided to buy a contrasting color of something else to use, alternating between the colors and adding in some design. I went to So Much Yarn yesterday at lunch and picked up a skein of Lamb's Pride in a royal blue. I cast on again last night and I'm about 3/4 done with my new hat. I'm hoping to finish it off with ear flaps and wear it skiing tomorrow. Our friend is going to pick us up at 8am tomorrow so I better work quickly tonight. I've never done ear flaps before, let alone worn them. Should be interesting. I'll post a shot when I'm done.

I consulted two different patterns for ear flap hats, the one in Knitscene and one in Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Cabled hat

Years ago I started on a pair of worsted sock made with a great variagated yarn with constrasting light olive green heels and toes. I lost two balls of yarn though and never finished them, even though they were 85% finished.

This weekend though, craving a little something new to work on, I decided to frog them and use the yarn for a hat. I've gotten about two inches done so far, doing a ribbed cable design that might be too big for my head. It could be converted into a cowl though, if I use a contrasting worsted weight wool to lengthen it. I do have some pale blue that might work. It's just a little adventure right now.

I do like the feeling of plowing through my stash and getting ride of some of the older yarns and helping them find conclusion somehow.

One more newborn hat

While camping last weekend I brought along Wavy and some of my Rowan 4-ply Soft leftovers. I worked on Wavy until I finished the second ball of yarn and then switched over to knitting more newborn hats. I've got this one finished and the second one I did in green but I ran out before finishing my decreases so I have to either add in another stripe or to start the crown decreases a little sooner. I'll figure it out but either way it will involve some unravelling.

It's hard to tell but it's a very light blue with a touch of aqua and a light mossy green, though that is showing up as a tan on my computer right now.

Little things

I've almost finished the orange baby hat, though I think I might add on some embellishments but I haven't decided what. Crocheted something-or-other or perhaps just colorful buttons, we'll just have to see what inspires me.

I finished the fourth square of the Mitered Square rug and I'm 1/3 done with the fifth square. It is looking cute and I totally need to post a photo of it for you to see.

I've been playing around with some new Rowan All Season Cotton Print that I bought on Sunday to make myself a sweater. I might make a raglan from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts (new to my knitting library and I love it) but having knit a few inches, in spite of my swatching for gauge, I don't think the size is right so I'm going to use a larger gauge set of needles and try again. I'm also going to scan my Rowan book to see if there are any patterns there that inspire me.

I am also now the owner of #8 circular needles and so very proud. Some day I will have to organize them all and do an inventory of my sizes.

A couple of completed items

Well, I do still have a few ends to weave in but otherwise the sweater for my nephew is done. I think he will like it. My mother-in-law commented last weekend that she thought the sleeves were too short but I did them to the pattern length and  there's no way to measure him as he just keeps on growing (he'll be 3 in September). I bet the shoulders wil have enough give that it won't be a problem.

I also finished the alpaca newborn hat yesterday. It is pretty cute.

I've also been continuing my work on the Mitered Square Rug and an orange baby hat.

I have too been knitting

I've finished on the hood and joined the pockets on the sweater for my nephew. I worked on making a twisted cord last night and this morning and I'm gearing up to join the sleeves and sweater sides.

The little newborn hat is moving along on my #2 needles, I'm about halfway done.

I wove in the ends of the Mitered Square blocks I've knitted so far, and now I'm ready to start block four.

The Frances sweater is starting to give me guilty looks though so I'll be getting back into the sleeves for that soon enough.

My mom wants something else as well, I'll have to see if I can find any patterns appropriate for her style and taste.

I'll post photos to this post this weekend.

Hats and other presents

I finished the two baby hats I was knitting for my niece yesterday. It was just little stuff, sewing in the ends and attaching the pom-pom to one and the flower I crocheted to the other. You can see them in the 2005 projects album now.

I brought them over yesterday evening, along with a set of Thomas the Tank Engine books and some dish towels for my sister-in-law. I decided to wrap them all as it makes it seem more special and then headed over.

My nephew and I have this little game where he was always asking what was in my bag (my purse). So when I arrived I asked him "what's in my bag?" and he came running over and he looked in and said "Presents". We pulled out each package and I told him to give the first one to his mother, and then next one for his sister which with some prompting we got him to help open. I asked him what was in there and he said "socks!" well, I guess he is still learning how to identify things and relative to grown-up socks that probably wasn't such a bad guess. Then I asked him what else was in the bag and he looked in and I helped him lift the package out and asked him who it was for. He said "Daddy" but then I pointed to the letters on it which I wrote with a marker and had him spelled it out. "A, L, E, X" and then he got excited. His dad helped him open it and he was all excited by the books as he loves "Thomas". My sister-in-law loved the hats and the dish towels, she said she was just thinking that she should throw out the ones she had and start over.

I had finished knitting the front of his sweater and I brought over that project to continue working on the sleeves which I cast on yesterday morning. I held up the sweater in front of my nephew and it is suitably large as I did the 3-4 size on the pattern and he's just over 2 1/2. He was excited by the pockets. I pulled open the book and showed him the page with the photo of the sweater he had picked out a couple of months earlier. Later one he grabbed my ball of yarn and when he discovered that he could pull and it came from the center he started going across the room and ended up with yarn twisted around his ankles and toes.

I brought over food to prepare and made us all lo mein with shrimp for dinner which came out great.

It was a nice evening.

Knit a little

I finished the second striped baby hat for the year, with the exception of the crocheted flowers that will decorate it. I have no idea if it will fit my niece just now, it might be a little big still.

My nephew sweater I've gotten up to the divide for the neck and I'm working up one side to the shoulder. Making better progress now.

Yesterday I figured out what a backward loop cast on was, as called for in the Interweave Knits Mitered Square Rug pattern. It's just a variation on a knitted cast on, though I usually do a single loop cast on -- it's what I learned as a kid. I have almost one square completed but I think that I need to back up and swap out the dark teal/green because it is looking a big Christmas-y my friend pointed out. I wish I could find the aqua in stores around here but I've had no such luck. I could order the yarn online but I like the immediacy of just picking it up in the store. Though, with the amount of shopping I do (next to nil) it is probably a more efficient use of my time to order online. It's Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton and their web site has a whole range of colors that are not in stores and they themselves aren't selling online. What gives?