2011 Knitting Wrap Up.

I had been meaning to post this earlier, but I’m in Hawaii with my family, enjoying the sun and having lots of adventures. It’s only like, a 100+ degrees temperature change from Fairbanks to Kona, so I’ve been a little busy soaking up the sun:)

Anyways. Lets think about what I knit in 2011….

10 pairs of socks (holy crap!) (Candy Stripers, Noro Socks, Spring Forward Socks, RICK RICK RICK, Diane’s Socks, Bret’s Socks, Ice Cream Socks, Purple Charades, Christmas Stripey Socks, Aunt Jill’s Socks)

6 Shawls (Shaelyn , Doublish, Charlize [which was sadly lost within three weeks of it being completed..i plan to make another one in 2012], Swallowtail, Falltime Bandit, Akimbo)

4 hats (and 3 Headbands) (Boardwalk, Man Hat, Windschief, Hurricane Hat, Calorimetry, Seed Stitch Headband 1, Seed Stitch Headband 2)

3 Scarves (Just Enough Ruffles, Saroyan, Drop Stitch Scarf)

2 Cowls (Newsprint, Honey Cowl [which I just realized did not get blogged..that is a Ravelry Link])

3 Sweaters (another one was finished in 2011, but started in 2010..And it is the sweater that must not be named anyway. We’re not going to mention it here.) (OWLS, Mossy Baby Sweater, Rosamund’s Cardigan)

3 pairs of mittens (Double Knit Mittens, Nicole’s Mitered Mittens, Mitered Mittens For Me)

2 felted bags (Dana’s, Mine)

2 pairs of felted slippers (Kelsey’s, Dana’s)

1 Felted iPad Case (Mom’s(

1 Cast Cozy (For Cyndie)

Holy crap I think that is everything. This does not include 3 projects (4 if you count the sweater that must not be named) that were duds.

that is 39 projects total! Not as many as last year, but still pretty close! I have not been doing much knitting since we’ve been in Hawaii. It is hot and we have been BUSY trying to fit in fun stuff before my sisters leave (which is today). Their college is cruel and starts class again on Thursday.

As far as my resolutions for last year:

1. Did not lose any weight, in fact I added about 10 lbs to those 20.
2. Did not figure out how to keep my house clean and organized, but have gotten more dedicated to cleaning it on regular intervals..
3. DID go back to school.
4. Obviously, kept knitting!

This year:
1. Get healthy. (focus less on the number on the scale….)
2. Continue working on organization at home
3. Declare a major! (I may actually be well on my way to this..)
4. Knit colorwork successfully.
5. STASHDOWN!

I hope everyone has entered into 2012 happily. I did so watching fireworks on the beach.

 

Christmas Knitting!

I meant to have this post ready and queued up to post this afternoon but that didn’t happen. Anyways. Christmas is not completely over quite yet, but all the gifts have been given, I have eaten entirely too much and seriously enjoyed my day. I gave quite a few knit gifts (I think 8 total?) this year and they were all received very well.

Okay, first things first. I made an iPad cozy for my mom! She got an iPad for her birthday this fall, and was EXTREMELY wary of it (she is not always good with new technology, however she has gotten quite good at using facebook and is learning twitter!), but has come to love it, and she has a screen cover on it but I thought it would be nice for her to have a case for when she brings it places in her purse.

Pattern: iFelt Cozy from Knit Purl
Yarn: Cascade Eco+, leftovers from my Owls Sweater
Mods: I did little i-cord button loops and added buttons.
Ravelry Link

Next up: Felted slippers for my two sisters. My sisters are twins, so they frequently get similar gifts, which probably gets kind of lame! But whatever, one sister asked for felted slippers so both sisters got them. But they love them and they fit, that is what matters!!

Dana’s Pair

Kelsey’s Pair

Pattern: Duffers
Yarn: Full o’ Sheep, held double
Mods: None, other than the button embellishment.
Ravelry Link Ravelry Link

Next Up: Again, my two aunts frequently get similar presents. This year I decided to knit them hats.

Aunt Nancy’s Hat:

Pattern: Windschief
Yarn: Cascade Cloud
Mods: None.
Ravelry Link

Aunt Cyndie’s Hat:

Pattern: Hurricane Hat
Mods: None
Ravelry Link

Another Head covering Item: A Calorimetry for Michelanne!

Pattern: Calorimetry
Yarn: Berroco Blackstone Tweed
Mods: Only CO 100 sts, and 10 repeats of row 5.
Raverly Link

Socks for Aunt Jill (she got a pair last year and LOVED THEM so I knit her another pair. I definitely owe her a non-socks knit item though.)

Pattern: Plain Ole Top Down Sock from My Brain
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Worsted Merino Superwash
Raverly Link

Last but not least: A Saroyan for Grandma Barb.

Pattern: Saroyan
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino
Mods: 5 increase repeats, 20 straight repeats, 5 decrease repeats.
Ravelry Link

And here are some happy family photos:)

From left to right: Kelsey’s slippers, Cyndie wearing a sock I knit her three years ago and a cast cozy I knit her (but did not really consider a Christmas present, so it has not yet been blogged), and Dana’s slippers.

From left to right: Aunt Nancy in her Windschief, Michelanne in her Calorimetry, Cyndie in her Hurricane Hat, and Grandma Barb with her Saroyan Scarf.

I had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope everyone else has enjoyed their winter holiday of choice. I am extremely grateful to have such knit worthy family, who love, appreciate, and WEAR their knit gifts!!!

On Wednesday night I am headed to Hawaii (the big island!) for 10 days with Bret and my family, and I am sure there will be some gratuitous pictures of knitting on the beach:) Especially because Bret bought me a new digital camera for Christmas! Woohoo!

 

I am behind on posting FOs.

Sorry guys. Between Christmas knitting I keep forgetting to post the things I have been knitting that aren’t Christmas presents. I finished up my very last Christmas gift today, and I knit a total of 8 things for Christmas. Yup, I went a little crazy. Too many knit worthy people in my family:)

FIRST: The christmas stripey socks are done. I finished them on December 4th (yeah, I told you I’m a little behind!!)

Plain ole sock pattern with a heel flap. 68 sts on size 1 needles gives me a great fabric with this yarn. Vesper 428 yds Sock Yarn, colorway Wintermint.

What is next…The next item is a big one. A Sweater. I did it, I knit 2 sweaters in 1 year! This is a feat for me, because garments are time consuming and I like a bit faster gratification than that….

So far there aren’t any great photos of it, because we are getting less than 4 hours of daylight at this point. Tomorrow is the longest day of the year though, and then we start gaining daylight!!! Yay Solstice!

Cheesey photo is Cheesey.
The sweater is Rosamund’s Cargidan, from an issue of Interweave Knits from a few years ago. Yarn is Malabrigo Rios, in Azul Profundo. Just under 4 skeins. Size 8 for the body, a smaller needle for the small amounts of ribbing. No mods, other than leaving off the hook and eyes and knitting the sleeves in the round!

Annnnd last but not least, I knit a scarf. I cast this on in October because we were getting ready to head to a Nanooks game, and I didn’t have a sock in progress so I balled this yarn and put the needles in my purse!

It languished off and on for a while, and I really could’ve made it even longer but it is HUGE.

Quite a bit longer than I am tall..

Isn’t Bret a great model?

Yarn: Sundara Fingering Merino Cashmere, colorway Water Studies #23
Pattern: Easy Drop Stitch Scarf
Needle: US4

I plan on writing a post to publish on Christmas day, so no worries…I know you all are really anxious to see the knit gifts. I am excited to give them!!!! Hope everyone’s holidays are off to a good start.

 

Non Knitting Content

I sewed today! Successfully!!! I am really not much of a sewer. I’ve made a quilt, and used to slap together lined bags (made out of t-shirts). But, for the most part it is a bit of a stretch for me to sew. I was determined to make stockings for Bret and myself this Christmas though. My family has stockings that my grandma made for us when I was young, but I can’t bear to take mine out of my parents house so I just decided to make another one, and Bret doesn’t have one. So I ordered some Christmas fabric and decided I would just go for it. I traced a stocking onto newspaper, cut it out, lined it with fusible interfacing and then trimmed it. I am EXTREMELY pleased with myself!!!!

Bret’s is on the left with hilarious tropical Santa fabric, and mine is on the right. They didn’t turn out EXACTLY like my family stockings, nor do they match exactly, but I am really pleased with them!

I also made a super girly pillowcase for Bret’s niece today.

Not a great picture, but it has adorable puppy fabric on the main part. I did this with very little help from my mom, which is unusual. I need to acquire an ironing board so I can sew at home! I did get my sewing machine working, after all.

On the Christmas knitting front, it continues. I have 3 gifts to make (two of them are felted and the first round felted entirely too small, and so they are in the process of being knitted again), and 4 finished. I am feeling good, over halfway done! I also am about to be finished with a the stripey Christmas socks (for moi). I would’ve finished them tonight at the Nanooks game, but the OT only lasted a minute (at which point Michigan scored and the Nanooks lost. Lame.). I will finish them once I am finished writing this post. I am also nearly finished with a sweater. I think I have 3-4 more inches of knitting on the body, and then the sleeves are short so that should be done soon as well..

I hope everyone else’s Christmas crafting is going well!

 

Christmas knitting has begun

So I’ve been finishing things I am not posting here until they are gifted…

In the meantime, I started something Christmas themed for myself:)

Stripey, Christmas themed socks. What is not to love? I should probably keep trucking on my gift knitting though…

Oh well!!!!

 

FO: Saroyan

Pattern: Saroyan by Liz Abinante
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino, colorway Madre Perla, 2 skeins
Needles: US 7 straights
Mods: only 5 increase repeats, 20 straight, 5 decrease

 

WIP: Rosamund’s Cardigan

So I am writing this post because I just tried this sweater on for the first time and I am SO EXCITED TO WEAR IT.

When it was just a collar…

this photo was taken with the webcam built into my computer. Yeah, I know..Lame. But what can I say? It is 2am, I am in my pjs and I was not going to take a photo with my camera. Plus, I didn’t even take it off the needle so I could stretch it all the way around me.

Obviously, this cardigan is knit top down, and I am officially HOOKED. Trying it on like this is great!!!

Pattern Link: Rosamund’s Cardigan

Anyways, that is pretty much all I had for this little 2am snippet. I seriously need to hit the hay…Biggest football game of the season tomorrow!

 

FO: Akimbo

Because I needed another shawl…Right?

Right.

I’m gonna be straight up about this here: This shawl is a pain in the ass to knit. The invisible increases, around slipped stitches? Yeah, no thanks. The increasing two invisible stitches from one stitch? Yeah, no thanks again. Seriously, if you are a remotely tight knitter parts of this pattern will be somewhat challenging for you. But whatever, its cute, I am done knitting it, and I don’t ever have to do it again!!

Pattern: Akimbo by Stephen West
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sock. Light blue = mourning dove Dark blue = thunderstorm.
Needle: US 4
Mods: None.

 

FO: Man Hat. For the manliest man of them all…

So, my loving boyfriend Bret. He has the most enormous noggin of all time. I have a pretty giant head too, but his is bigger. Like ridiculously enormous.

Last year I knit him two hats (Habitat and Botanic). And while he liked them, they really didn’t fit that well. Didn’t cover his ears all the way, slipped up off his head because they were too small around. Totally lame, cause they are AWESOME hats.

Welllll, it appears I finally did it.

Look at that. A hat that (ALMOST) covers his ears completely. And he likes it. In fact, he wore it to work today and apparently bragged about it, according to his co workers. .

I am very pleased with myself about this one.

Pattern: Man Hat by Haven Leavitt (A former Fairbanksan!)
Yarn: Dream In Color Groovy, Black Pear. 1 Skein
Needle: US9
Mods: I CO 72 stitches and used a needle size bigger, to make it a big bigger.

 

FO: Mitered Mittens

Not much to say about these, I have had this yarn to knit these for a while and I love this pattern and it works with Noro so well!

Pattern: Mitered Mittens by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn: Noro Kureyon; 2 skeins. I used both skeins so they could be somewhat matchy.
Needle: US 6
Mods: Thumb gusset described here. During the decrease I eliminated the knit row after I had 8 sts left.
Ravelry Project Page