Stuff I've been knitting

Wendy hat  SOFFFFFFFFFFFFT!  100% Silk>>>ArtYarns Regal Silk

Dish / Face Cloths

Anya hat

Anya tassel

 

Laura Socks

 sockTwo patterns, one pair.  Sorry that the pictures are a little dull.  The ziggity-zaggity sock is a Jaywalker by Grumperina and the one with the short row puffs is called Cloud Sock.  It's from the Six Sox Knitalong group.  You can look up all of those things on Ravelry.  The red yarn is KnitPicks Essential and the grey-white-black is Lang Jawohl.

     They took about 3 years.  The first one was a doozy.  That was the Cloud Sock.  I started it in 2009.  The second one took less than a week last month. 

     Right now, even as we "speak", Laura is undergoing breast cancer surgery in California.  The least I can do is try to pamper her feet. 

Not Knitting

    Elizabeth Sable and I got together in Madison yesterday and made a couple of quilt tops for Project Linus.  The rainbow sections we cut from a project I had begun some time in the 1990's, and actually, the background fabric was part of the project.  Long story.  Apparently, Project Linus will take the tops and assemble them into quilts.  Bonus!!  Now they'll get done. 

    There is a link to Elizabeth's blog on the right.  She has published a gorgeous entrelac pattern in a book that just came out.  There is a promotion going on.  Check it out.

Deciding

These turned out great!  I copied Rosemary Penny's Flying Geese Fingerless Mitts pattern.  I had a whole different number of stitches, so I couldn't follow the pattern, but I totally got the technique from her pattern.  I used a standard 2 X 2 ribbing at the cuff and at the finger end and didn't bother adding length to the thumb.  I am considering making them a bit longer in the fingers with the last bit of that old handspun.  The deep zigzags make them try to scootch down.

Sunnyside Sweater

Pattern: Sunnyside by Tanis Lavalee 

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Mill Ends

Size: 18-24 months

Baby:  Layla P.

Occasion: 1 year old

It is reported that the baby likes wearing the sweater.  This is very soft, springy yarn.    I have about 200 grams left. 

I seems like only yesterday

that I last posted. 

Many things have been knit and made clean get-aways without being photographed. Here are some of the ones whose images I managed to capture.

 Doesn't this look like Giant Undies at an art gallery?  It's a shawl.  The pointy ends are folded around to the other side of the foam core.  It's a present for Beth, but she had to block it.  She likes the holes, so she blocked it large. 

The yarn is Schaefer Marjaana in the Bette Davis color.  50/50 wool/silk. The pattern is This is Spinal Wrap from Ravelry.

 

 Fingerless Mitts for Mitts of STEAL group on Ravelry.  It's a group who knits fingerless gloves for people undergoing kidney dialysis.  STEAL is some kind of syndrome that makes their hands cold during the process.  You can read more about it by following the link.  My dad was on dialysis for the last 2 or 3 years of his life.  I need to a) mail these off to the group or 2) find a dialysis center in Milwaukee where they can be put to good use.

No pattern.  The yarn is some of my stash of 6-ply Regia crazy colors.

These mittens are out of yarn spun by Sue and dyed by us in a class we took at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool a few years ago.  It was called Hot Rainbow Dye.  This "colorway" came about after we were done with the rainbow part and were just putzing around.   No pattern. 100% merino. 

It's just a coinkydinky that the next socks are also out of yarn handspun by Sue.  She obtained the roving from one of the new campers who came to knitting camp this past summer from Goldiemom, aka Leanne, of Handspun Treasures on Etsy.

 This is the beginnings of a pair of socks for myself.  I have completed one, but I am not enamored because the stitch pattern doesn't show that well.  I am considering ripping.  On the other hand I bought this specific 'spensive speckly yarn just for this project. 

The pattern is Spring Forward from Knitty and the yarn is Koigu.

 

These mittens are gigantor.  My friend Elizabeth has large hands, but I got carried away, especially in the area before the thumb.  She may try to felt them.  I should have taken them back and redone that part.  It wouldn't take long at all. Duh moment here. 

No pattern (obviously, but let's call them Shoveling Mittens) Some really big super bulky yarn.  Wool.  Brand unknown.

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!