Thar she blows!!
Don't ask, it just sounded good right now. I have another FO to announce. And since they are no secret christmas knit, I can show them off too. So may I present the finished
Mermaid Gloves, first knitted by the
Craftoholic, adapted from Cookie A.'s
Pomatomus socks. They look pretty close to the original ones and are knitted with Koigu KPM 100 % Merino Wool in color 2171111, just if anybody is interested. I used the suggested 72 stitches on size 0 (2mm) Brittany needles. The pattern is reversed for the second glove. I liked it better this way, even if it made the knitting a lot slower, having to slip the first stitch off, twisting the second, slipping it back onto the left needle before I could finally k2tog. Otherwise the stitch wouldn't have been twisted and I'm a little picky that way, even if the gloves aren't for me, but are going to be on their way, hopefully today or tomorrow, to
Keri. I hope you enjoy them, because I'm not knitting them again. Sorry. This was not a mindless, sit in front of the TV, knitting.
Up next will be a skull hat. I have the yarn ready. Usually I don't swatch, but in this case I will, since I'm using some kind of mystery yarn again from my stash that somewhat looks the part, but I have no idea what the mileage or gauge on it is. After that I'll get right to the pattern and hope to have some new pictures to show to you soon.
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, FO, Gloves
Swap Mittens - received
Look at what the mailman left for me to find yesterday. I got
Katie's swap package from the
Fingerless Mitts for Fall Swap. It's so cute. She changed the theme a little to "New Mexico", which I like.
There are the mittens she mad for me, of course, which can be found in the
IK Spring 2006 issue, made from
KP Swish. This yarn is so soft and it's superwash, not like I'd get those Pom Poms dirty enough to where they would see the inside of my washer.
She also surprised me with a generous 4 ozs. of Cormo Wool from the
Elsa Wool Company. This yarn, being 100 % wool, is so super soft. It makes me want to see if I can get my hands on some more of that for a bigger project. Especially after my wool experience with the Lopi, this is the total opposite.
Then there were some Salsa (thank you for the mild) and some dip and stew mixes, accompanied by a coyote and a jalapeno cookie cutter, and to make sure I wouldn't burn my hands while making those, she also included a nice potholder and kitchen towel. How sweet is that? Thank you so much Katie. I hope you'll like your package too.
After seeing all those long lines at the post office yesterday and the day before I decided to go to the UPS store to send of my goodies for her. It was a little more expensive, but there was no line. That was already worth it.
I'm doing progress on my Shaped Triangle Shawl. I have the main body done and moved to the edge. After 6 or 7 repeats of it, and figuring out the hard way, that there was another typo in the pattern, I have it memorised. After all, there are 30 zig zags on each side of the shawl and I sure don't want to have to drag that pattern with me every time I sit down for it. It's so nice to finally see the big blob starting to come off the long needles. Freedom for the lace!
Then I printed out the pattern for the
Mermaid Gloves.
Keri send me the yarn she wants me to use, together with what I got from her stash sale. The Luxury Cashmere is so soft, but I have no idea what I'm going to use it for yet. But it called my name and I had to have it. :)
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, Lace
Swap Mittens are done
This is just a quick post to report another FO. My mittens for the swap partner of the Fingerless Mittens for Fall KAL, which is now at it's end, are done and will be in the mail by monday. I hope she will like them. I know she will like them, because I do and while I was knitting them I had a request to make a second pair of them. We'll see, I sure have enough yarn left to make another pair exactly like it. Pictures will be taken prior to mailing them, but I won't post them until Katie has received them. Sorry, you just have to hold on for those a couple more days. In the meantime I can turn my full attention to the Shaped Triangle Shawl and hope to get this one done and blocking soon, so I'll have a presentable picture for you all.
Have a good night.
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, FO
Stranded Mittens done
I'm happy to report that the blue and grey starnded fingerless mittens (wow, what a name) for my son are done. They turned out a little tight, so note to myself: Use bigger needles next time, when I knit stranded!
Now on to the next WIP
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, FO
Quick Fix
I was on the search for a pattern for my fingerless mittens swap partner and dug around in the new IK Winter issue.
I found the Kilm Gloves, but wanted to make them without fingers. Also with less colors. I found the left over yarn from the Knit Picks Fair Isle Sweater from a couple of month ago. I had to put the grey (sweater) and the blue yarn (lace) down so I would get a change of scenery. Did I really? This is what I pulled out. Grey and blue. Again.
After a few adjustments in patterning, you can see I changed the cuff and the cross turned into a star, I came up with this:
Now comes the other dilemma. They are too tight to fit a grown person. So I was debating to either rip them down to the cuff and reknit on a bigger needle or find a suitable victim. Also, my swap partner lives in New Mexico, so 100 % wool might not be so suitable for that kind of climate. My older son liked them so I decided to finish mitten #1 and cast on mitten # 2. I might have them done by tomorrow. Don't hate me, please, but when I get into a project, especially a small one like that, it can go fast. I'll see if I can find something new in sock yarn or a single layer pattern for my swap partner. We'll see. Plus I need to keep the suspense up for her and wouldn't want to blow it by posting about it online. :D. I know, I'm so mean.
Labels: Fair Isle, Fingerless Mitts
Another Teaser
Sorry guys, but I can't help myself. I love teasing you with the Knit Picks projects I get to work on. I guess I should make this a contest and ravel off the unused yarn for the one that can find the project first in the new catalog? I don't know about that, but it was a thought :) Anyway, I guess I can show you a sneak peak of my latest knit without giving away too much about the pattern. I'm on my second skein and this is what it looks like so far.
Pretty revealing, right? Plain stockinette. The great thing is that I can pretty much knit on that project with my eyes closed, glued to the TV or on a book. I'm using Elegance 70 Alpaca/30 Silk and this is turning into some very soft fabric. As you can also see I'm using my new Harmony Options needles that came in my last order. I love them and they make the whole project a little colorful. The only thing I don't like is, if they untwist after a while and the yarn gets stuck sometimes. I guess I'm turning my needle as I'm knitting? Maybe that would be a good time to use that nifty little tool that comes with the cables? Now where did I put that one?
I also picked out a new lace shawl for a friend of mine for a Christmas present. Well, it's more like, I knit you a shawl and you refinish a piece of furniture for me. Works out great for me, since I have no idea about wood, unless it's a needle, and she only knows a little crochet and would love to own a shawl. Perfect match, don't you think?
The pattern is one from Meg Swanson's book "A Gathering of Lace" which Monika had sent me in her kindness together with "Knitting" by Sarah Dallas. Thanks a million, Moni. I hope my swap makes it to you soon. :) If you guys want to check out her new and totally free pattern of fingerless mitts named "
Kyla", you won't regret it. They are amazing.
Oh, and to announce another FO, I just wanted to let you know that the hot pink Endpapers are done, but I didn't want to bore you with another picture of it, plus my hand model wasn't available for a shoot this time.
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, FO, KP, On The Needles
Shield your eyes
You wanted to see the third one? Well, here it is, half of it anyway.
The first one of the third pair of Endpaper Mitts is done. I knitted this one with the magic loop technique and casted on with 3mm and moved over to the new Harmony 3.5mm. They were a dream to work with and if I have to replace any of my needles, I definitely will choose those.
I think after this one I'm endpapered out and I will turn my attention to some other knit worthy patterns. It is fun though and a little addictive. Don't you think? In my case anyway. I'm not sure though, if I'm done with stranding though. We'll see what's next.
Labels: Fingerless Mitts
Mitten Blockers
How do they say? "Necessity is the mother of inventions"? Well, what's a knitter to do when there is no such a thing as a mitten or glove blocker and she has not sock blockers either? Make one. Of course. So here is what I found to use as my own personal mitten blocker. Cool, huh?
No, this is not a commercial, but I do like the Dew ;) I just took two empty cans, some duct tape (everybody should have at least one roll of that in the house and in the car and maybe even in your purse) and taped them together to fit the mittens. After soaking them I pulled them over and ..... success. Now they can dry in peace until I find out Monika's address and off they'll go.
That was a fast knit and guess what - the pink is already on the needles. I also was asked to make some gloves/mittens for my neighbors daughters, but I think I'll suggest a different pattern, since too much is too much.
There ARE other patterns out there, you know.
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, FO
Knit Picks Gloves
This is what happens if I surf the Knit Picks website: I run into my projects online, before they get printed in the catalog. There are the gloves I made. Does anybody remember the colors?
I always love the model shots so much better than having them laying somewhere on the couch to take the picture. I even managed to match the color repeats on both gloves. They are nice and long and have buttons on the sides. Woohoo, I'm so excited.
Another one of the projects is up too, but I couldn't get the picture to show, so I'll get back with you on that. It's the carnival Baby Blanket. I can't really take credit for that, because I only added the border as a finishing touch to it.
This morning I had a frogging party. I got up at 04.30 am. Why? I'm not used to having company in my bed and whenever one of my boys can't sleep they come into my bed and then I can't sleep. So I put that time to good use and straightened up my knitting/computer room. Now I can see the floor again and most of all, I can use the futon to sleep on it, if there should be need for it. Oh, yeah, the frogging. Did you ever wonder what happened to Mystery Stole 2 and 3? Well, they are wound into nice little balls until further notice. I'm sure I'll find a project for it soon. No hard feelings.
Also, the first one of the second set of Endpaper Mitts it done and I'm working hard on the second glove. Since I got to work a little early yesterday I sat outside and worked on it, which got me another Endpaper project. Gosh, what is it with those mitts? The next ones are going to be shorter and hot pink with black. Woohoo. But they match the girl that wants them. Shield your eyes for the picture.
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, KP, MS3
Can't stop
Can you see that? Yes, it's another pair of
Endpaper Mitts. I got a couple of nice comments about mine that and after a couple of emails back and forth to Canada, me and
Monika found a color match between what she liked and I had to offer and another pair of mittens was in the making. For some reason I really like that pattern and what you see is only a days worth of knitting. That is between
Sunday duties like church,
CCD and laundry. This is my knitting-on-the-porch-talking-to-my-friends-knitting result. Even though I'm the only one that does the knitting, but luckily I'm
multi talented when it comes to talking and knitting ;). So I have a feeling those ones are going to be done in no time at all so hopefully Monika can enjoy them before it gets really cold up there.
I also finished my Knit Picks project, which of course you'll all have to wait for a while to see in it's full glory (I know, I'm such a tease). Blocking took a little bit longer than scheduled, due to the
humidity and the darn thing not drying as quickly as I was hoping for. But that's
OK, since I still have plenty of time before the deadline. It's going out today though.
Labels: Fingerless Mitts, FO, KP, On The Needles
FOs
First up is the picture to
proof that my
Endpaper Mitts are a finished pair now. These are modelled by my friend, since I find it hard to push the button on the camera with my nose while I'm trying to show off both of my hands (just kidding). I love the way they turned out and I see myself getting quite some use out of them this winter.
Next up is the little bookmark I couldn't resist to crochet. It's all
Michelle's fault. She made a couple of them and blogged about it and I couldn't help myself. This might be nice
Christmas present for a reader. It's supposed to be made in a 10 cotton, but I had to go overboard again and use a 80 thread I had left over from some handkerchiefs I used to crochet lace around many years back. I put it on the book just to show you how tiny it really is. Unfortunately I can't get my camera to focus on the detailed stitches, but I think you get the point.
Labels: Crochet, Fingerless Mitts, FO
Batteries are charged now
Batteries are charged and here we go with all the pictures you missed in the last post.
First of all here is an update on my contribution to the
Fingerless Mitts KAL. Here is the first of the two Endpaper Mitts. I'm working on the second one now, uninterrupted for a couple of days, maybe. See what happens when I can concentrate on one project? It will get done. Imagine that.
Here are some nice pics of some of my favorite projects in my new book. Enjoy.
Also the second clue for the Secret of Chrysopolis came out and I haven't even started on the first one. I guess after the last mystery experience I want to sit back and wait for a while and see what turn out, but so far it's going to be nice.
Labels: books, Fingerless Mitts
Breath.......
I swear, if anything else would have gone wrong yesterday, I would have screamed. How would you feel if you just dropped of one of your kids to a birthday party and two hours later you want to jump into your trusty Jeep to go pick him up again and the darn thing won't start? Yeah, exactly. I put in the keys, the gauges went crazy and that was the end of it. No more sign of life. Now what am I supposed to think now. And to top it all off, it was parked in front of the garage, where my other car is parked. Lucky for me I have a couple of friends that lent me their car without even hesitating and I was able to pick up my kid. Then, after I had figured out that it's probably a bad soldering connection to the battery, came the other drama. No juice, no locks! How the heck to you lock a car that has only one key hole and the electronic is shot? To make it short, I did get a sign of life out of the car, after I put on a new connector I bought, long enough to lock my car for the night. It's still not running, but I got access to my husbands car now. Hmm, I guess I'm forced to drive around with the cool Mustang now for a couple of days until my Jeep aka. the grocery getter, is fixed. I'll suffer so baldly ;oD
Now to better news. I did happen to finish the first Harry Potter book and moved on to the second one. Woohoo.
Oh, you wanted knitting news? Sorry. I've been a bit torn between projects right now. I started the
Endpaper Mitts beginning of the week for
Keri's
Fingerless Mitts for Fall KAL, but haven't even finished the first one. But, for my defense, I'm at the thumb increase, so I'm making progress, just slowly.
What I was most occupied with, besides my nasty neighbors (doesn't everybody have them?), was the latest Knit Picks project. Remember the green one? Yeah, that one. For some reason that one has been dragging too. Must be me, because the pattern is not hard to remember and I enjoy knitting with the
Swish.
(I know it's not the best picture, but that's how it's supposed to be)
To add to it, the new Lace KAL "
Secret of Chrysopolis" has started on Friday and the only thing I got to do on that one so far is read all the comments and posts on the yahoo group and print out the pattern. It looks nice so far, has a great border and is really promising. You can see first pictures of it
here and there is still a chance to join in. The pattern is written out as a chart and is easy to follow as long as you know what ssk, YO, k2tog and a sl 1 k2tog psso is and it's pretty much bilingual in German and English. So there is no excuse not to check it out and I've even found a couple of people from the Mystery Stole KAL again. Imagine that.
I've also ordered a new book, some yarn and the new
Harmony Options needle tips from
Knitpicks and can't wait to get all my stuff. But we all know how it works, when you are really, really waiting for something. Seems to take double as long, but I think I have enough to keep my mind and hands occupied until the mailman shows up for me.
Until then, don't let those needles cool too much. It's getting colder outside.
Labels: books, Fingerless Mitts, General, KP, Lace, Secret of Chrysopolis
