Last of the Holiday Knitting

The blocking rectangle is a neckwarmer/scarf.

It got five of those little brown buttons to go along with the 5 buttonholes along the end that you can't see.  The recipient loved it.  The yarn is a particulary soft merino given to me by Terri Minkin. 

The blue hat and mittens were for a little boy named Ethan.  They are all the same yarns--a wool aran weight stranded with some acrylic dk--except that the hat has some floofy yarn stranded along. I can't remember what it is.  I had given him an earflap hat 2 years ago and last year his mom asked me for another one because it covered his neck well.  It only took a year.  I hope he managed to keep warm last winter. 

The remanining knitting is OPK which falls into the category of holiday knitting. OPK stands for Other People (who don't have blog)'s Knitting.

  Laura made me the red clogs. They are the famous Fiber Trends' felted clogs pattern. She sent them to me to felt to my own size. I did this with her a few years ago. As you can surmise, the first picture is pre-felting. The second picture is after one run-through with a load of laundry. I was happy with the high amount of shrinkage on the first try.  I'll keep putting them through until they are ready to wear.

 This whale flap hat was made by Sue.  Now that's good knitting.  Even though I'm modeling it (because I like to try on hats), it is for Sue's sister, Laura (lousy with Lauras lately).  The earflap is lined with supersoft polar fleece.  Aaaaah.

Sprite Collar

I am very happy with this puckery Packery cowl.  It is a much altered version of the pattern, Sprite Collar by Lynn DT Hershberger from KnitCircus #16 Winter 2011-12. I added a lot of repeats and just went straight from beginning to end for about 12 inches.  I am hemming and hawing about whether or not to block it.  I kind of like the reverse side, too.  I also just completed another one on which I followed the pattern, so you'll get to see it done right also. 

      I'm still getting over the trauma from when KnitCircus went from print format to become an e-zine.  However, I know where this one is, unlike printed items that I may or may not be able to lay my hands on at any given moment. And bonus!--the cat can't  access it (like my opened original Harmony stitch pattern book upon which the cat yakked recently).  It is also a good value in that it is FREE to read.  If you decide to make one of the patterns, it is one price for all of the patterns. You can also get a paid pattern collection subscription, which is what I have.  Whenever a new issue comes out, I get an e-mail with the link and an e-mail with the patterns attachment.  I've gone through a lot of computers in the last 2 or 3 years, and haven't managed to bring all my files along.  I had been saving the pattern download on my hard drive and deleting it from my e-mail, but since I have g-mail, my space is basically unlimited, so I am also going to save all the issues there as well as on my hard drive (yes, I know about backups--plumbingwise, trafficwise, and datawise.  I only regularly participate in the first 2).  I was living in the past where you have to keep cleaning out your e-mail because you keep running out of space.
        Every single issue has wonderful patterns, both fanciful ones and practical ones.  Can't beat that. 

Post Title

     I've been meaning to get around to this.  Sorry about that.  I am just going to throw a bunch of pictures up on here and talk about them.  If you are looking for the deeper meaning, I can lay that out right up front.   It's "Kathy likes potching around with yarn."  To answer the musical question:  That's how deep is my love. 

     The yellow pictures are of a prototype for a hot/cold gel pack cover.   I keep these gel pack thingies in the freezer and I use them for aches and pains instead of ice.  It's not as great a discovery as the day they allowed ibuprofen to be sold over the counter and my menstrual cramps were finally tolerable, no.  But, they do work pretty well.  There is one size that won't stay in a towel which means it won't stay on my ankle or wherever else.  I needed to sew myself a couple of covers.  Seeing as how I don't seem to sew anymore, I decided to knit!  Plus, there are some gorgeous cablely designs on Ravelry of hot water bottle covers for more inspiration.  I tried lots of different things for the shoulders and the bind off on the bottom, but it is the side edges where I experimented the most.  I wanted the sides to be firm enough to keep the gel pack from sliding around or mooshing up. Overall, the gauge was a little too tight and the cozy a tad small.  This is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece from my stash. 

     I learned a number of things, then went ahead with my holiday plan. I bought some more gel packs from the chiropractor and made cozies to cover them for my achy breaky friends and fambly. Did I use what I learned and come out with a pattern or formula of some kind? Guess. At the last minute, I ended up giving the prototype to my friend Steve's mom. She's a knitter, so I can only laugh when I think about her looking this over and wondering what the hell I was thinking. Yet, it looks ok, it's washable, and it functions well. Actually, I'm waiting to hear about how well they function, because I don't have one.

Left to right: pink--Beth-2 strands of 75/25 sock yarn, green--Kurt-Blue Sky Cotton, Last 2 for Julie and Joe-Chevrons=acrylic, Red=TLC Cotton Plus

     I have several other goodies, including opk (other people's knitting) that I will be posting in the days to come. 

Look out!

Interloper!