A busy week

It's been a busy week for me here, but I don't have very much to show for it here on the blog. Mostly because I've been working on christmas presents that I don't want to ruin the surprise for!

Here is one project though. Here's what happens when you knit a hat for a toddler, think you know how to felt it, and send it off.

I really can't remember if this picture was taken before or after my attempted felting, which was basically boiling the hell out of the damn thing on my stove. It did felt slightly, but it more or less looked exactly like this when I gifted it. Kinda cool, but not appropriate for a toddler.

It was way too big on him, and although he loved it, not really useful. The next thing I knew, he'd developed a wool allergy, meaning he couldn't wear it at all.

I asked his mother to bring the hat with her for our Thursday night Knitting, and provided a practical demonstration on how to PROPERLY felt.

And now, it looks like this!

I still need to knit a cotton/acrylic liner for it, but I daresay it'll fit him much better now.

Thursday night knitting was a pretty decent success, we taught someone how to knit almost from scratch (his scarf looks amazing!) and we're working on a pair of baby booties for mom.

We also learned that the toddler knows that a torch makes fire when he came running over with my (empty) lampworking torch yelling FIRE FIRE FIRE. I don't know how he associated the torch with making fire, but I'm still proud of him.

I also have a new resident in the apartment. Meet Abigail.

I can't wait to use her! I'm very excited about knitting a Lopapeysa, a traditional Icelandic sweater that's knitted up with a gorgeous Lopi wool, and has a patterned yoke that flows over the shoulders. I'm knitting a tiny one just to see how it knits up.

It's just practice really, but eventually I'll stuff a newborn into it.

But that's my week, hopefully more work to come over the next few weeks!

Love Me Forever Wristwarmers

Warm, adult sized wristwarmers.

Yarn: Worsted Weight ( I used Patons Classic Wool)
Needles: US 7
Gauge: 5 stitches and 8 rows is 1 inch (stockinette)

Left Glove

Cast on 40 stitches using Jeny's Stretchy Slip-Knot Cast on

Divide stitches as follows:

Needle 1: 16 stitches
Needle 2: 12 stitches
Needle 3: 12 stitches

Work 10 rows of K2, P2 ribbing.

Cable pattern will be worked on needle 1, Needle 2 and 3 will remain the same throughout the entire pattern:

Needle 2: P2, K10
Needle 3: K10, P2

Behold, a chart!

LT - Left Twist - Slip 1 stitch to cable needle, hold in front. K1, K1 from Cable
Rt - Right Twist - Slip 1 stitch to cable needle, hold in back. K1, K1 from cable
C4B - Slip 2 stitches to cable needle, hold in back. K2, K2 from cable
C4F - Slip 2 sitches to cable needle, hold in front. K2, K2 from cable

Repeat charted pattern 4 times. You want to wind up with a total of 4 X's and 4 O's. If that's confusing, just take a look at the picture. You can of course shorten these by doing fewer repeats. I just love long armwarmers!

Thumb

Once you've completed the chart 4 times, work Needle 2, and on Needle 3: K5, K4 on waste yarn. Slip waste yarn stitches back to your left needle, and reknit them using your main colour. This will leave a small little stripe of stitches knitted on waste yarn, which will be worked later for your thumb.

Work rows 3 through 9 of chart, then knit 6 rows of K2 P2 ribbing. Bind off, I used Jen's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off.

For the thumb, pull out your waste yarn stitches and pick up the open stitches. This should leave you with 8 stitches, I usually pick up 4 extra around the thumb hole to make for a nice roomy thumb. Work 7 rows in stockinette, and bind off.

Right Glove

Work as for left glove, but for the thumb row:

Once you've completed the chart 4 times, on Needle 2: P2, K1, K4 on waste yarn. Slip waste yarn stitches back to your left needle, and reknit them using your main colour. K5, work Needle 3 as previously indicated.

Work rows 3 through 9 of chart, then knit 6 rows of K2 P2 ribbing. Bind off.

Cabled Wristwarmers

Finally finished with another Christmas present.

This has to be one of my favorite wristwarmer patterns. This is only my second pair, but the cable pattern is easy to memorize, and looks as elegant as all out.

Evangeline has been lurking in my Ravelry Library for quite some time, I saved the pdf back when the pattern was still free (it's 3.00 to download now)

The first time I knit this, I used Bernat Mosaic (which split every time I tried to tighten a cable), but had a beautiful colorway similar to Noro. This time, I'm using Patons Classic Wool, which has beautiful stitch definition and all the colours I could possibly want to chose from.

I apologize for the picture, my partner thinks he's a photographer but he actually sucks. This was the only one of 5 that was actually in focus.

Can't wait to gift these.

The pattern should be relatively easy to play with, I'm thinking that the next pair I make will have a different cable pattern. It would be nice for everyone to receive something unique this Christmas, it's more fun that way. Oh well. These are done, and I've started the next gift. Well on my way for Christmas!

On a seperate note, I caved and bought a knitting DVD the other morning. I've officially passed the point of no return.

Evangeline

I haven't had very much time to myself lately, life just seems to be getting in the way a little too much. A 10 day week, followed by my birthday weekend, and Halloween? Far too many things to be getting done in far too little time.

I've been working on this gorgeous little piece, the cable pattern is one of my favorites. I still need to add the thumb and weave in my ends, but other then that it's basically finished. I may or may not block the piece, I think it looks lovely as is.

A new method of organization has been forced upon my knitting, as my partner is getting tired of almost sitting on needles. All of my yarn, Christmas presents, and WIPs are in plastic containers stacked next to my futon.

This is frustrating me to no end. How will I know what I'm supposed to be working on if I can't see it?

I'm losing time, Christmas is sneaking up on me. I still have so many presents to finish.