Nutkins and Chilly Podsters

Now that I'm back in the swing of knitting, it seems like I suddenly have so much to do.  I've got a bunch of projects that need to get done at some point, though nothing is knitting on a deadline, so that's fantastic.  I guess I could count one thing as "gift knitting," but seeing as the recipient already has two knitted gifts already, I don't think it'll be horrible if I don't get the third and fourth promised projects finished in time.

However, the first thing that needs to be talked about are a the Zombie ViXen fingerless gloves I started, oh, forever ago.  This is the first project I've put in long term hibernation for stupid reasons for a long time.  These are being modeled by Bear, because no one else's hands were available.

So why did these things get put on hold for a while?  It's really silly.  I didn't want to go back and do the thumbs.  When Chesh tried on my gloves he decided everything fit, but the thumbs were on the tight side.  We batted around some ideas, but I decided it was just too much effort and I would worry about it later.  This is generally my philosophy on knitting.

So when I saw these sitting in the stack of things to do, with a groan, I pulled them out and realized if I didn't get them done, I never would.  So I got them done.  I sized the needles up to a US 2, hoping that would solve the size problem, then I picked up all the stitches on the waste yarn.  The larger needles were kind of a bad idea.  The stitches didn't want to get picked up onto larger needles.  I probably should have picked them up on the smaller needles, then knit onto them with the larger ones, but hindsight and all of that.  In the end they got finished and fit perfectly, so who am I to complain?  One gift down and done, only a couple more to go.

Next on the list are my ill-fated Nutkin socks.  Let me tell you, these are not my favorite socks in the world.  The toe is a really lose fabric so I'm tempted to rip out the toe and start all over again.  Truth be told, that's a lot of work, and I think you saw above my philosophy on work. In spite of the straight cast on and the straight stitches, the sock still wants to twist on my leg.  That's going to annoy me.  Still, I've cast on the second sock.  We'll see how they work out.  Worst case scenario I can always pull off the toes on both of them and redo them in a smaller gauge.  Best case scenario, I just don't care and leave it.  Then again, I've noticed even superwash yarns seem to fluff up and get a little more snug after a few washings.  Maybe that will be the case here and I'll be glad I didn't fix it.

I've got to say, I don't think it's entirely the fault of the pattern.  This yarn is such a fine yarn that it's really loose on the larger needles.  I could have kept it on smaller needles and added more width to each pattern, but I thought this would be better.  Then again, the loose weave may be really nice if I can get some sock liners to wear under them to keep my feet warm.  We'll see how they work out when I'm finally wearing them.  At the very least, I've found a yarn I don't like working with as much for socks.  I think the heavier sock yarns suit me better, which is good to know for the future.

And finally, it's time to talk about the Chilly Podsters.  These were chosen because they're the only free pattern for convertible mittens that has both mitten caps for the fingers and for the thumb.  This means it's easier to do things like pull out money, write, or get a card from a wallet without having to take gloves off.  It's a practical thing.  The original request was made when the recipient was still a smoker, but now that he no longer is, they're still practical and useful.  This will be the first set of mittens I've ever made in any fashion.

Thus far I've managed the cast on and to get all the way through the ribbing.  It's been easy going to this point.  I know it's going to get more complicated when it's time to break down for the fingers for the glove portion.  It'll be easy enough to do the mitten portion, I should think.  It looks like it's pretty much little hats that go over your fingers.  That should be pretty simple.  I'd like to think this will be another quick project to knit up and not another that I'll decide to hibernate because the individual fingers are so much work.

I'm pretty excited for this project.  It's the first of it's kind that I'm doing.  I was finding myself getting bored with knitting because it seemed like there were no fantastic challenges left for me, aside from tackling a sweater.  I still mean to do that, but it's going to take some time to get to it.  I've got a good stash to work one up, but I just haven't had the ambition.  I think I need to start doing some searches for patterns I like and just go for it already.  I should probably get myself a new tape measure so I can bust out some measurements to get an accurate fit.  I'll get there.  It's just going to take some time.

Another Set of Snuggle Paws Down!

Having another commission come in was really good this month.  I knocked out another pair of snuggle paw warmers in almost no time.  That's the great thing about a pattern I know by heart, it takes almost nothing to whip out a pair.

These snuggle paws were done in a yarn I wouldn't have typically picked.  I don't tend to go with variegated yarns for my projects.  I tend to find they're too loud for most gloves.  It makes them very loud and kind of drowns out the beautiful pattern, but it wasn't my call, so these are the gloves we ended up with.

The color pooling definitely had an interesting effect on the gloves.  I expected to see something pretty much striped throughout.  Instead the colors pooled, making it appear almost as though I did some kind of color work instead of just letting the yarn do it's thing.

Even the little heart (something that's becoming a signature bit) turned showed off the interesting way the yarn played.  It's not as serious of a striping as the gloves, but crochet often gives a very different effect.  It works up in thicker sections, using the yarn up differently.  I think it's got a lovely effect in crochet.  It's a really interesting yarn.  I've got an extra ball, so I'm thinking I might look into crocheting something up, both because I like the way it plays, but also because I really like the idea of learning to crochet better!

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

So, I've been a bad knitting blogger.  I haven't been updating my knitting projects.  NaNoWriMo has really kept me busy.  There are a whole list of projects I'm working on or have finished that need to be updated.

For example, the Sailor's Rib Cowl was started, I don't know, sometime in November.  It's knit out of Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, the request of the recipient.  It's an incredibly simple rib pattern.  I was able to work on it while watching television with no issues.  The effect is lovely too.  Best of all, it looks warm.

Now, personally I wouldn't want to wear it.  That wool is far to itchy for me, but the recipient likes it, and that's what matters.  I actually liked working on this project too.  It whipped up pretty quickly and was thankfully over before it got to the point of being tedious.

As for the recipient, he can't wear it until Christmas.  It's the only Christmas gift I'm making this year, at least to be delivered on Christmas.  He's also going to be getting a hat and gloves, but I'm not too stressed about getting those done in time.  I'm done with holiday knitting, I think.  I don't need another reason to stress out coming into the holidays.  There's plenty of reasons to stress out already.  This is just one more thing I can check off my list of finished projects.

The next project was a bit of an improvisation.  I decided after making a beret for Bear, then the cowl, Bear wanted a cowl too.  I decided to use the extra ball of yarn to make one matching the hat.  It took me a few tries to get the sizing right, but it finally came together.  It's a bit big for Bear, but at least there's room to grow.  It should fit all the way into adulthood, provided it doesn't get lost before then.  I'm kind of betting in it getting lost, but I'm trying to be hopeful.

Let me tell you, Bear loved this cowl.  The only down side was being unable to do any kind of fitting.  I constantly got "Mama, can I wear it?"  I kept having to say no.  Thankfully, it did get finished, so that's something positive.  Now it's a favorite article, even if it's not yet cold enough.

Best of all, this little cowl now makes a matching set.  There will be no doubt who it belongs to because of the matching hat and cowl.  They're only acrylic, so they won't be warm, but they'll definitely be fine underneath the hood of a jacket.  It's just an extra little layer of insulation.

And I finally dragged out the Nutkin socks again!  I kind of rage quit on them after having to take them out a couple times and size them up.  I felt like it meant I had fat legs.  I think it really just means that I knit excessively tight, because I know I have small feet.  I may always need to size my socks up on needles.  I think I'm going to have to check the gauge.  Then again, I know I have a high instep, so that might be my problem.

Aside from the new technique on the cuff, this pair also had a couple of other new techniques.  For example, it used a new way to do a short row heel.  There's also a short row toe on this one.  It's all polished off with a three needle bind off, which I'd heard of but never tried.  Now that I've done it, I actually really like it.  I also like how the short row toe leaves plenty of wiggle room for my toes.  It's definitely got a nicer look in my mind than a traditional toe would on this sock.  It makes for a nice, strong boundary line between the pattern and the toe.  This gives it a nice, sharp look.  It's also unlike any of the other socks I've ever knit.  I'm not sure how I feel about it for a sock, but we'll see how it wears.  Hopefully it'll be as nice as it looks.

Finally, I have a commission!  I've got to knit up another pair of Snuggle Paw Warmers for Sable to give as a gift.  They've got this funky pooling thing going on.  It's not my style, but Sable loves them, so that makes me happy.  It just means I've got to get flying on these things if I want them to be done early enough.  That's the one thing I both love and hate about commissions.  In some ways it's fantastic because it lights a fire under my tail.  In other ways, I hate the time crunch.  I'm a procrastinator for sure!

This one is definitely coming out funky.  The yarn looks really neat, but it does kind of make the pattern disappear.  The good news is the pattern itself is more functional for the fit rather than something decorative (though it certainly is decorative too!  The color pooling on this one seems to be falling on the cables, which really makes them pop, and the ribbing disappears.  I'm not sure I could have managed that if I tried!  We'll see how it all falls out on the second glove.  It shouldn't take me long to get those flying off the needles.  I'm almost halfway done with the first one already!

Slowing Down for NaNoWriMo

Knitting is decidedly a time consuming hobby.  The most frustrating part of it seems to be winding balls of yarn when you don't have a ball winder or swift.  This latest cake of yarn happens to be my most sloppy, but all considered, it's still pretty darn good for being done by hand!

I'll be honest, I have no idea how to properly ball yarn.  I don't know how this cake thing developed, but once I started doing it I realized how easy and practical it was.  I've always liked working with cakes of yarn better.  The one thing I haven't been able to manage is center pull.  Then again, center pull balls and cakes tend to collapse in on themselves once you get towards the end and then you just need to redo them anyway, especially if you don't use up every bit of it.  Now I just need to find a way to keep the yarn from wanting to bounce around everywhere.  Right now it's not so bad because the yarn stays tucked in the center of my crossed legs, but it would be more practical if I had one of those jars or whatever that you can put the yarn in to keep it from bouncing around everywhere.

As for the hat, it's coming along fairly well.  I'm still not done, which is putting me at a third of the rate I've had for the other two hats.  Something about NaNoWriMo makes it tough to get much work done.  Thankfully, I don't have a deadline to get this done for, so I can go at whatever pace I want to.  Besides, something about knowing it's going to come together so quickly really helps me feel good about it.  I don't feel like I'm taking forever to make it.

As for the yarn, I'm really loving the color.  After seeing the pink one I started to worry that it would have weird pooling, but it really doesn't.  The colors are falling a lot more like the purple one, which I really like.  I have to admit, I'd thought about keeping the purple one for myself, but now that I see the gray, I'm pretty happy with it.  It's very wearable and it will go with all of my jackets.  That means this can be my go-to hat for winter this year.  I'm glad to finally have something that's a little more neutral.  Usually I go for colors, which don't always work with everything.  Even earth tones can be hard if everything else I'm accessorizing with has color.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer before this one's done.  It's not working up horribly badly, and being so far ahead in my novel, I feel like I've got a little wiggle room to do other things for a while.  The pattern is so intuitive by now that I'm learning to work on it without looking.  I've always felt like if I knit without looking at my work I would screw something up, but it feels so natural in my hands, at least until the knit together and yarn over rounds.  It helps to have something I can't take my eyes off of.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was perfect for that.  It was also insanely funny, so I'm glad I recorded it.

Now that Daylight Savings is over, it gets dark so early.  That early darkness has me wanting to curl up with some tea and do something crafty, when I'm not writing, of course.  I can imagine as Christmas looms nearer I'll be looking for Christmas movies to watch while I knit, perhaps with some hot chocolate.  I'm hoping the weather change will have a lot more projects flying off my needles.  For now I'll just be happy to get finished with this hat!

And Now One For Mom

Yeah, I'm still on the kick.  I'm knitting up yet another Slouched Tuva Hat.  This one is for my mom, which I'm really loving the way it's turning out.  The colors play in a much different way than they did on the pink one.  I really like it much better.  If it weren't for the fact that I think my mom would like this one better than the gray, I'd keep this one!  Who knows, I may still decide to yet.

Since I've got the picture there, I have to point out that cake of yarn.  Isn't it lovely?  One might even say it's very proper looking.  It almost looks like it, say, came off a yarn baller.  Well, it didn't.  I actually caked that yarn by hand.  Can you believe it?  By hand!  I can't make a ball of yarn to save my life, but since I've learned how to make it look like a cake of yarn, I've never stopped doing it this way.  It looks awesome and it's so incredibly practical.  The only down side is it doesn't work so well as a center pull, but I haven't been using center pull balls anyway.  The ball of yarn falls apart too much when you get to that outside edge, meaning I have to redo the end of the ball anyway.  This may result in more yarn bouncing around, but at least I know the yarn will be in a nice, solid little ball when I'm done and I can stow away the leftover stuff for later.

One would think I'd be sick of these hats by now, but I'm really not.  I love the way the yarn is coming together differently for each hat.  You can see in this picture the way the yarn almost stripes on the pink hat, but it doesn't really do that at all on the purple one.  If I had to take bets, I'm guessing the gray one is going to be similar to the pink one.  We'll see how they turn out.

Seeing the two of these hats together makes me feel really accomplished.  This feels like the most knitting I've done in a long time, even if it is just because each project is smaller and therefore done quicker.  It may be less stitches than a pair of socks, but it feels like I've gotten so much more done.  It's more of a feeling of instant gratification.  Undoubtedly I'll be on to the third hat, or at least balling up the yarn, by tonight, if not tomorrow morning at the latest.  There's something instant gratification about it that really has me inspired to keep on knitting.  Now I just need to find the yarn to make a whole stack of these hats up so all the kids can have one!

More Slouched Tuva Hats

I hope you enjoyed reading about the Slouched Tuva Hat.  There are more.  The pattern was so lovely I decided I had to knit another for myself.  That's when I realized that there's this lovely set of yarns my mom got me at the farmer's market last winter.  We each picked out a color, though I have no idea who picked what anymore.  I'm pretty sure I picked the gray.

These yarns have been on hand for quite some time.  I've been hanging on to them, waiting for the right project to come along.  I'd thought about some kind of beret, because I love a good slouchy beret.  I wanted to do something that would really look stylish.  The problem was finding a pattern that would suit my sister, my mother, and myself.  We've definitely got different styles.  Every time I see my mom she's styled out of a catalog, probably Eddie Bauer or something like that.  J. Crew also comes to mind.  She seems to like her hats practical.  My sister is very much into the vintage styles.  She would love for me to make her a lovely cloche.  For me?  My style wanders between grunge, neo hippie yoga mom, and "hipster", though I guess one could say I was hipster before hipster.  I like my super slouchy berets, tams, watch caps, and beanies.  Finding something that would suit all three of us was definitely a tall order.

When I finished the Slouched Tuva Hat for Bear, I sent a picture to my sister.  She responded with how incredibly cute it was.  She loved it!  Immediately I snatched up a skein of yarn and cast on.  It seemed like the perfect hat.  It was practical enough that it would suit my mother.  My sister already loved it.  I needed to make my sister a Slouched Tuva Hat too!  I wanted to knit one for myself before I even made one for Bear.  It works up fairly quickly.  It was the perfect hat for the situation!

The reaction my sister had was priceless.  "You know I love looking like a Dickensian orphan."  To some that would sound sarcastic, but from her it's actually a compliment.  It's part of her playful personality, and her love for literature blending together.  She's definitely someone I find knitworthy because she absolutely loves the stuff I make.  The fingerless gloves I made for her last year were such a success that she took them with her when she went to Denmark.  I consider it a high compliment that she brought them on a trip abroad.  Traveling often means selecting what you bring carefully to avoid being burdened with luggage.  The fact that those gloves made the cut reminded me just how much she appreciates the quality of high end knits.  I even wrote about how knitworthy she was last year.

Between the gooshy, perfect yarn that knits like a dream and the pattern I love to knit, I'm having a great time with this matching hat project.  I'm working with 100% baby alpaca, and while this pattern doesn't have a lot of drape, which is something baby alpaca is great for, I think it's lovely for the project.  It has a soft, warm feel, and the slouch wants to drape and fall naturally.  I don't have to work to make it slouch down in the back.  It's truly lovely.

For a pattern that's got to fit the styles and lives of four people, this isn't a bad one.  I'm going to have a good time working these up.  The result is going to be phenomenal.  I'm so excited to see how my mom and sister are going to react to getting them for Christmas this year.  Once I get these hats done, my Christmas knitting will be done.  I might do up some matching hats for the kids this year, but I'm not sure.  Those can really wait because I can knit for them for no reason at all.  I don't need an occasion to knit for them.  These hats, however, are definitely an occasion to give a lovely gift, which is especially pleasing because it's a gift that was given to me.  There's no better way to return a gift to the giver than to have it transformed into something lovely!

The Slouched Tuva Hat

Obviously (by all the more frequent blog posts) I've been on a knitting kick.  More specifically, I've been on a hat knitting kick.  This project is no exception.  It's called the Slouched Tuva Hat.  I wasn't really sure what to consider it.  It's not really a beret.  It's kind of like a beanie.  Whatever it was, it looked like a nice knit and the model on the page was a child wearing this gorgeous red color.  I remembered that I had a red like that, and it just so happened to be in the right weight of yarn too.  I was going to knit up a hat for Bear.

The pattern worked up so easily.  It's just a four row repeat with some plain knitting and some yarn overs and decreases.  It gives it this pretty mesh look to it.  It's so simple I could easily work on it in the dark, while watching television, or as I have been, while doing school work with Bear.  I think it was a little shorter than the pattern recommended, and it seemed tighter than I would have wanted in my yarn, but I think a lot of that could have easily been changed by changing the yarn weight or the needles.  Of course, that doesn't matter because I was making it for a preschooler.

The best sign of a good hat is when the recipient refuses to take it off.  I'd call that an instant win on anything I knit up.  I love the way it looks, and it was a mark of pride that had to be shown off.  Bear wanted at least a million pictures in the new hat.  Now I'm getting requests for more hats, but not for Bear.  That one hat is enough because it's perfect.  Everyone else needs hats just like that.  At the very least, look at that face!  It really says it all!

I'm very much a beret and slouchy hat wearer, so it was really nice to be able to share my favorite style of hat with my mini-me.  I loved the pattern so much that the request to make them for everyone doesn't seem like a half bad one.  I've already decided it's going to be the pattern I use for the matching hats my mom, sister, and I are all getting from yarn my mom got me at the farmer's market.  We each picked out our own color.  It'll be interested to see the changes as Bear's hat was done out of Plymouth Yarns Dream Baby DK.  The yarn I'm going to be using is a lovely baby alpaca.  It's certainly going to have a lot more drape to the slouch, and it should make for some really nice warmth.

I've got to admit, this yarn wasn't something I ever thought I would use for a hat.  It's an acrylic microfiber/nylon blend, but it doesn't feel like acrylic usually does to me.  It's got this nice softness.  Plus, it's washable, which is great for a child.  I could have used superwash, but this is cheaper and I had it on hand.  If it gets lost, it's not a huge deal.  Given it's for a preschooler, getting lost is a reality I have to face.

I've noticed I'm on a hat kick lately.  It all started with the Leaving Cowl, even though I know that's not a hat.  There was something nice about an easy, quick knit and the feeling of a larger yarn and needles in my hands.  I ached less when I was working it up.  That was followed by my Lullula Beret.  Now I'm going to be making three more Slouched Tuva Hats.  I'll be honest, I was looking in my yarn stash to see what else I could dig out to turn into hats.  I seem to have some pretty good options.  I'm sure you're going to be hearing about those soon.  I forgot how much I like knitting hats and how incredibly wearable they are.  Unlike socks, I don't have to worry about my weirdly thick calves, my high instep, and my narrow feet.  Instead I can just knit it, and if it doesn't seem slouchy enough for me, add more repeats before casting off.  A simple hat is perfect travel knitting.  It's a small enough project to throw in my bag, and it works up quickly so it feels like I've really made progress, even if I only had a few minutes to work.  Best of all, it's a project I don't have to pull off my shoes to show off!

Little Knitter and the Sparkle Yarn

What's this?  Tacky craft store yarn that sparkles?  When do I ever knit with that kind of stuff?  Well, the answer is I really don't unless it's requested.  This Stitch Studio Sparkle is 100% polyester, which didn't sound at all pleasing to work with, but note the children's knitting needles with it?  That's because it's not for me to knit.  It's for my four year old, Bear.

This was the answer to Bear suggesting I get every set of needles AC Moore had to offer, and being disappointed when I said I only needed two sets.  Exasperated, I finally said, "Look at these needles.  They look like they have bears on them.  Would you like to learn to knit like Mama?"  The answer was an emphatic yes.  We searched the racks for some good yarn to teach my little Bear to knit, and, of course, the answer was all the expensive yarns, in blue, Bear's favorite color.  I finally spotted this gem sitting there, priced at all of $2.  For a beginning knitter that may not stick with it, this was the perfect price.  Next came the sell, which was surprisingly not a hard sell.  "Look, Bear!  This one is blue and has sparkles!"  Sold.  Bear handed back the other ball of yarn that had been carried around and snatched up the pretty, sparkly stuff.  For a whopping $2, that's quite the deal!  It's the perfect yarn for someone who may not stay knitting much past the first few stitches.  I was pretty happy.

Of course, when we got home, Bear wanted to cast on right away.  I was busy with doing, you know, mom things.  We also had a guest over, so that didn't help with my eager little knitter.  Frustration ensued as I took the ball and needles away to work on later.  I'd started to worry.  Maybe I missed my window of opportunity.  Would Bear still be as interested come morning?

Looks like I had nothing to worry about!  First thing in the morning, before I'd even really started my day, the ball of yarn and needles were found and shoved in my face.  "Mama, can we do knitting?" Bear asked with excited eyes.  "No, Bear," I answered sadly.  "We have some stuff to do first.  You promised me you would do some of your preschool work when we woke up."  So off it was to preschool work, which was flown through.  Yarn and needles were shoved back in my hands.  "School is done," Bear stated, very matter-of-fact.  "We can do our knitting now.  Do it, mama.  I want to knit!"

There I sat, squirming preschooler in my lap, casting on for hopefully a good number of stitches.  I started with 25, but realized that would be too many for the small needles and they would likely fall off the end.  20 seemed to be just perfect.  On the stitches went, with constant asking, "Are you done yet, Mama?  You're going so slowly!"  As soon as the cast one was done, we were off to the races.  Bear sat in my lap while I guided small hands to do the motions.  "Hold your needles like this," I suggested.  "Now poke your needle through this way.  Very nice!  Wrap the yarn this way.  No, that's the wrong way.  Yes!  Like that!  Hold the needle and the yarn together.  You need tension so the yarn won't fall off.  Now pull your needle through, and pop the stitch off the end!  You've got it!  Do you remember for the next stitch?"

On we went like that, me guiding hands, Bear speaking each step as we went along.  "Now the needle goes this way!  And now the yarn goes that way, not the other way.  The other way is the wrong way.  Now I have to hold my needle and yarn, all together so they don't fall off.  The needle goes through, and pull the stitch off, just like this!"  I was beaming at my little knitter's skill as stitch after stitch were worked with painstaking care.  Bear was very careful to do everything just right, and was very pleased with the first little row of stitches when we were done.

One row of knitting required a lot of focus and concentration, so after that row we needed to take a break.  Bear said, "I'm done for the day, Mama.  Knitting is really, really hard."  We set the work aside.  I expected this would be it.  I would get one little neat row and that would be the end of our knitting time.  Bear is little enough to get bored easily with a craft and not stick with it.  I tucked the ball and needles aside, waiting for Bear to come to me and ask to knit.  I wasn't going to force the issue.  I want my kids to love knitting, not feel like they have to.

To my surprise, Bear came to me the next morning, looking up at me with the biggest smile.  "Mama, we need to knit now.  Can we knit?"  Once again we did preschool first, then on to my lap to work through a second row with care.  This time went a little faster.  There was just as much pride in Bear's face when we were done.  We put the needles aside for a break and Bear said, "I think we need to do more knitting tomorrow.  I want to make a scarf."

So here we are, working our way slowly through a scarf.  I can't promise how good it will be.  The stitches will be uneven, but Bear is working at it very hard.  Even if we're done in summer, I get the feeling this will be worn every single day.  My little Bear is a knitter!  Perhaps Bear will be the only one that takes up my hobby, but at least I have one.  Maybe they'll all be inspired by what Bear is doing and want to learn too.

For four days now my little one has been working hard, one row every day.  Each day is followed by an inspection of the work, just so Bear can make sure it's all good.  Each day we put on extra invisible sparkles, just in case it needs more.  Every day we work together, as Bear's small hands fall into the rhythm almost without my help.  It may take us a long time to work through this whole piece one row at a time, but we'll get there.  Maybe as this becomes easier and Bear's focus gets longer we'll add more rows at a time.  Until then, we've got plenty to keep Bear busy, at least until we're ready to start on a bigger project.  For now this suits us just fine!

The Lullula Beret

If you've been actually reading my blog, you know I have a fondness for patterns that no one seems to knit.  If it's got under 100 projects listed on Ravelry, I want to do it.  It shouldn't come as much of a surprise when I say I've done it again.  This one I was project number 8.

Let me start with this.  I used a beautiful Malabrigo yarn for this project, Silky Merino.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The colors were a bright and happy rainbow, but there was no slap you in the face primary colors.  Instead it's a beautiful, subtle color palate that, were it a Crayola marker label, it would be called Bold.  (Let me tell you, those weren't easy to find a link to!)  The colors were absolutely stunning, which is what drew me to this yarn in the first place.  Not only do I have a thing for rainbow colors, but they were such lovely tones!

This yarn was a gift from Sable.  Let me tell you, she gets me the best gifts.  Given the tight budget we live on, I'm always thrilled at the gift of yarn, and this one was no disappointment.  When they said silky, they meant it!  It was so soft on the hands and so easy to knit with, despite being a single ply.  I almost never knit with a single ply, mostly because I don't like working with it.  If I have to pull something out it pills up and gets ruined to easily.  I also have a bad tendency to split it when knitting in low light, but this yarn was just beautiful.  It worked up smooth as, well, silk!

The final project, the Lullula Beret, turned out stunning.  I love the play of the colors across the beret.  The pattern was simple enough with a nice little eyelet and some basic cables.  The look was nothing short of fantastic.

Another never, I never knit with yarns that splash color like this, especially this brightly, for anything but socks.  Socks can be hidden by shoes, so I don't mind the bright colors playing off each other like that.  For anything else, I think the bright colors look, well, too much for me.  I generally stick to more muted colors.  It's more my style.

Well, the finished product on this is nothing short of beautiful, at least in my eyes.  I don't mind the playful, bright colors.  I find it very wearable.  It's not quite as slouchy as I like, but given it's made of a silk/wool blend, it should be pretty warm in the winter.  In the winter the last thing I need is a super slouchy hat that's just going to get caught up on a jacket collar or scarf.  Winter will be upon us soon and something with warmth and bright colors will definitely keep the season bright.  I'm sure I'll wear this straight through until spring!

Knitting with Sleeping Kids and Knitting in the Sunlight

Last week was a week full of disaster.  Pretty much everything I did had to be undone before any progress could be made.  It was a disaster.  I'd done all this work just to have to start all over again!  I thought it was going to be one of those things where I just didn't want to pick it up again and keep going, but I did, and sure enough, I'm back on track.

As I'm sure you can see by the picture, my Nutkins are redone and looking pretty.  I'm back up past the heel, and they actually fit!  They're looking pretty good and I'm happy with the way they've turned out.  I'm not making fantastic progress because I've been working on another project that comes with a lot more of a feeling of instant gratification.  Socks take so much longer to get done and there are two of them.  That means twice the knitting fun, but also twice as long to get the project off the needles.  It's great, unless you want something to bolster your ego after a miserable failure, like the ones I had the week before.  These have kind of been thrown on the back burner for a while and only get a few rows thrown in here and there.

Instead of finishing my socks, I decided it was time to work on my Leaving Cowl.  This has been quite the project.  After tearing it out three times, I finally decided the needles it was on were intolerable to work with, so I had to start over, this time on smaller needles.  It went up much quicker this time, and because the pattern was so easy and familiar, I didn't even need the pattern as a reference.  I just worked the whole thing up from memory.  I suppose that's a good thing, because now Little Bear wants one too!

The thing I loved most about this project was working on it with the sunlight spilling over my shoulder.  It's not the traditional fall leaf color, being more brown and gold than reds and oranges, but I think it's a beautiful yarn.  It's not really the feeling of fall that most people think, but it does remind me of Thanksgiving, which at this rate is going to be the earliest I can bust this thing out!  It hasn't been as cold as I feared it would be, so I haven't had much want for a cowl to this point, save for a few days, but I suppose that's soon enough to change.

The hardest part about knitting this week is knitting with Little Bear.  It's been a while since Little Bear has wanted Mommy Lap Naps, but we've been back to that.  The benefit to this is that it means I have to sit down and do nothing else until the Bear wakes.  Unfortunately, knitting isn't always easy this way, and my feet fall asleep so easily!

It's not as simple as it once was.  It's easy enough to let a baby sleep on your chest while your arms wrap around and knit, or sleep draped across your arms leaving your hands free.  Toddlers tuck well enough in laps, allowing someone to knit over them, or twist around to get a good angle without too much effort.  Again, sleeping on one arm is an option.  Once you hit preschool age, even with a preschooler as bitty as mine, it's really tough to make sure there's enough room to knit.  Enough twisting and turning can add to the degree of challenge.  It's almost like a knitting obstacle course.  Eve with the challenges, it's worth it.  It's something I've missed lately, in spite of how difficult it can be to work that way.

The best part about having Little Bear with me is always having a model to show off my projects.  This one couldn't even wait until it was finished.  Little Bear was very insistent that it had to be tried on right then.  Now I have to make another one.  The order came down, "Just like yours, but, blue, blue, blue!"  Can you guess what Little Bear's favorite color is?

Yeah, it's a proud mama moment, look how cute Little Bear is in that cowl!  I think I may need to pattern hunt for the perfect cowl for Bear.  Maybe I'll do something with an ice blue and white, or maybe I can find one with snowflakes.  Frozen is still a favorite in this house.  I also might do something pink and/or purple, because that's what Princess Rapunzel would wear.  Tangled is also a frequent watch around here.  Little Bear even insisted on getting a "short hair Rapunzel" hair cut, which could stand to be updated again soon.  It's just as much fun to knit for my kids, especially Little Bear, as it is to knit for myself.  Little Bear's the only one of the kids that really appreciates the hand-knits like I do.

So the cowl is finally finished, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out!  I went all crazy and decided to do a fancy bind off that I'd never heard of before, but decided would be easy.  I got the idea from the Nutkin socks.  They have this way of knitting in the cast on edge to create a folded over cuff.  I did that for the picot hem on the bottom, so I figured I would make it match by doing something similar on top.  That may not have been the best of ideas.

Here's what I did for this insanity.  I took the concept of the Elizabeth Zimmerman sewn bind off, but instead of just binding off the edge, I picked up and stitched in the coordinating stitches from the folded over fabric.  I know it sounds complicated.  Maybe some day I'll do a video of what I did, but it was a hassle and time consuming.  I swore I would never do it again, especially after taking the whole binding out twice because it wasn't working out right and everything looked twisted, but grim determination (and people liking the photo of what I was doing on Instagram) kept me going.

Once I figured out where I'd been going wrong, it wasn't all that bad.  It looks nice and neat, and fell into a pretty decent rhythm, so in the end it didn't take all that long to work up.  It was just the first few tries that looked a little wonky.  I honestly don't even think you can tell what I did on that bind off just by looking at it.  It looks pretty sharp.

I'm pretty proud of myself for this one.  I don't take many bold steps with knitting, at least not without the confidence that everything will turn out just fine.  I tend to leave things be and follow the instructions, or to do an alternative that I'm confident will work.  It's not common to see me just whack away at something like this with reckless abandon, just diving in and doing something that I don't know will work, and no one's given me any instructions on how to complete.  It's terrifying, but at the same time, it was a lot of fun.  It gave me confidence as a knitter, and that's something that's always fun.  It's a new technique that I think I want to practice and perfect.  I've really learned something with this, and I didn't expect to.  It was a lot of fun.

The best part of the whole project, of course, is the finished product.  There's something so uplifting about being able to put on the finished piece and show it off.  I mean, look at this, it's beautiful!  The picot edge (which no one else seems to have done, even though it's listed as "option 1") gives it a unique style compared to the other projects just like it.  The dark, warm color goes well with just about everything, not to mention my hair.  (Speaking of my hair, it looks so incredibly good in this picture!  Why doesn't it always look this way?)  The fit is just perfect.  This is exactly what I needed.

For being a project that I wasn't at all in love with, and was just doing so I could have a little KAL with Sable, this has turned into a favorite.  I won't lie, I wasn't inspired to knit this at all after the Seasons Fall/Winter Shawl and the Tuscan Sunflower Shawl kits I got from KnitPicks, both with the same leaf shaped pattern.  I couldn't help but feel like this was just another leaf, but it looks really nice and will serve me well this fall and winter.  It had enough unexpected and challenge to make it something I'm proud to show off.

Nutkins and Knitting Disasters

There has been no update for a while.  Why?  Because every knitting project seemed destined to be an ill-fated disaster.  I made absolutely zero progress.  My Nutkin sock was too small, which really sucked, so I had to rethink that.  Then my Leaving Cowl just turned out to be a series of issues all it's own, which had me scrapping them both and starting over.

So, let's start with the Leaving Cowl.  I started this project because Sable suggested we do a KAL, though she started and finished hers long before I even cast on.  I think it's more like a matching project kind of thing.  She offered to get me the needles and insisted I'd need the 29" cable.  Well, it was too long, and by a lot.  I probably would have knit it on a 16", to be honest, and that's what I'm going to make it on when I finally get the right needles.  That was one big frustration, though I kind of fudged it with doing kind of a modified, one-sided magic loop.  It was super frustrating and I eventually got to the point where I just gave up.  Besides, I wasn't sure I liked the way it looked.  It was almost too snug.  It's too bad because it was starting to look pretty good too!

I was thinking the whole thing would have a lot more drape to it, given the way it turned out on Sable's project, but as you can see, it really doesn't drape much at all.  It would be a pretty snug little collar.  I wasn't sure I liked it and considered going with one more chart repeat, but after having seen it on other people's project pages, I think I might go back to the five I used across.  It looks pretty good and fits close enough to the same as everyone else's.  It makes it more like a turtle neck that way.  Of course, I'm not sure.  I'm never sure on these kinds of things.  I might just go with the six and see how it goes.  Of course, I do keep being reminded that a lot of people barely have the yarn to complete the project, and using a much more yarn consuming edge on the whole thing, I might want to take that into consideration as well.  If I don't have the yarn to finish, it would be a shame to have to rip it all out and start all over again, even if I could whip it up real easy in a few hours.  It didn't take me long to get where I got, but those needles were intolerable to work with.  It was much too fiddly.  I'm just going to get a new set of needles and work from there.

Then there were my Nutkin socks.  Let me tell you, that was a disappointment!  When I couldn't fit them on I decided I would just bump everything up to the next needle size.  At first I hated it.  The yarn wasn't knit as tightly as I wanted it   The color pooling got a little weird too (not that you can tell from the side shown in the picture).  I didn't think I was going to like it and I fought the urge to rip the whole thing out and start over, yet again, this time with the smaller needle and a larger stitch count.  I really didn't want to do it.  It didn't require much changing to add a higher stitch count, but it's more work, and then there's figuring the numbers on the short row heel.  It's a lot of work that I really wasn't interested in doing.  For once I just wanted a project to go smoothly.  With all of the things going on in my life right now, something easy that I can knit while watching television sounded ideal.  Of course, the pattern is simple enough that I could just fall right into the routine, but the heel wouldn't be something I could do rather simply while I sat in front of the television.  That was going to require more attention as I tried to remember to use my math, not the math in the pattern.  I decided to keep going and see how it turned out.

It's not the tight gauge I prefer with knit goods, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  So far the fit looks amazing, and since I'm working on circulars instead of DPNs, I'm able to keep fitting it as I go.  I guess I have a high instep because I keep having problems with the heel and the top of my foot.  It happens with shoes all the time too.  However, this is working out just the way I wanted it to!

At this angle you can see a little more of what I mean about the color pooling though.  One side across is really bright stripes, the other is a slow spiral up of darker colors.  I wasn't sure I was going to like it, but it started to grow on me.  I wasn't thrilled with the way the fabric was knit, not tight enough, until I tried it on and saw it stretched over my leg.  Now I'm pretty happy with it, so we're going to see how it goes up through the foot.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I may have a finished sock to go on display before too long.  It usually takes me a couple days to make a single sock, so hopefully by next week's update I'll have more to report!

All the Zombie Vixens!

It's been a while since I updated, so I figure it's about time I poke my nose in here and talk about my knitting.  I haven't been doing as much as I would like, so that's been frustrating, but I got seriously distracted with other things.  Of course, part of that has to do with working on the same project so exclusively.  This is why I've decided I really need to have a couple of projects on the needles.

The first news, the Zombie ViXen gloves look amazing.  The colors are perfectly fall, and as I was told, they almost have a camouflage feel to them, even though they're not that at all.  I originally picked this yarn for the worn denim feel I like of expected, but it certainly didn't turn out that way at all.  It was unexpected and I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but it's really started to grow on me.

This project was a bit frustrating at start.  I had to size the needles down because it was absolutely huge on my wrist.  After a while, though, the pattern became so intuitive that I was able to do all the way to the thumb increases without having to look at the pattern so much as once on the second glove.  That's always a good sign to me.  Unless the pattern is ever changing, it's kind of nice to be able to pluck it from my brain and run with it.  It makes me feel like I don't need to be tied down to the pattern and instead can really enjoy the process of knitting.  It becomes comfortable enough that I can knit while watching television without feeling like I have to watch something I don't have to pay much attention to or I'll get lost in my knitting.

Overall the pattern was pretty simple to follow.  I don't think it would be too challenging of a knit, and I recommended it to a friend of mine that's a pretty new knitter.  It's really not all that complicated of a pattern, but it comes out incredibly well.  It also works well with a yarn that's got a little more play to it.  I tend to prefer yarn that's simple and flat, not too much variation to it.  Single color yarns and kettle dyes allow the pattern to really shine and it doesn't seem to get lost in the splashes of color.  That means it's good for more complicated knits.  I tend to stick to simpler patterns with variegated yarns and hand painted yarns.  This pattern really worked in spite of the frequent color cycles.

I have to admit, I did modify this pattern.  The ribbing at the edge of the glove didn't seem to match across the gloves.  It's unbalanced to one side through the ribbing.  For the second hand I just reversed the ribbing so that it matched in complete reverse.  I also swapped the direction of the cross of the single cables.  I know stitches, when you're talking the medical kind, are done the same way, regardless of what side they're on, but I thought this was just a more appealing look.

And in case you thought one was enough, knowing I don't tend to knit repeat patterns terribly often, I decided I have to knit another pair.  Chesh saw them and immediately said he'd love a pair.  He said he wanted something more of a blue black color.  I already made him a pair of red fingerless gloves, so having an alternate color would really be good.  Wouldn't it figure that I had just such a ball sitting with no purpose in my yarn stash?  I pulled it out and he said it would be perfect.  Then he followed it up with saying he didn't want to take the yarn I'd bought for me.  I loved that yarn, but somehow it just felt like it was right for him.  I had no idea what I was going to knit out of it for me.

Just like the first pair, these are out of Happy Feet by Plymouth Yarns.  The last set of gloves I made were out of the same thing too.  I love this yarn, and I've especially loved that you could get it in a 50g skein, though it looks like they've stopped making those.  For making socks it makes more sense to offer larger sums, but the small skeins were perfect for making a pair of fingerless gloves.  I couldn't have asked for a better choice.  Now I think I'm going to have to figure out another use for the extra yarn.  Maybe I can find some patterns that are enough for a pair of socks and a pair of gloves.

The gloves are turning out absolutely great.  I've gotten everything done on them but the thumbs at this point.  They've been put into a temporary hibernation for a while because I just haven't felt like working on the thumbs all over again.  I've been yearning for another project to get started.  I'm undoubtedly going to have them finished by the next update I post.  I'm trying to keep moving on everything, keep things going and coming off the needles.  These ones are so close to done that it seems a shame to let them sit for so long.  It just means I have to get back to them soon.

The weather's also starting to get cooler, and with Chesh walking back and forth to school, I know he would appreciate having them done.  The red ones I made for him last year are getting almost daily use, and so that's a really good sign.  I'm pretty sure he'll wear these ones all the time too.  The other ones were made of a microfiber, so these being wool should be a lot warmer.  They also come up a little longer over the fingers and thumb, making them all around a warmer glove.  I'm excited to have these done for him!

In the mean time I've decided to take a little bit of a break from working on the Zombie Vixen gloves.  This time I wanted to work on socks.  I'm really upset that a few of my hand knit socks have been missing, and Sable got me this wonderful Malabrigo Sock yarn.  It's a beautiful nutty color that seemed perfect for fall.  It needed to be something that honored that color.  Also, after working with the Happy Feet, I was quite surprised at how incredibly thin this yarn was.  I checked twice to make sure it was actually sock yarn and not a lace weight, but sure enough, it's sock.

The color was what really inspired me when I picked this yarn out.  It's got such a beautiful, rich, earthy texture.  At first I thought of it as reminding me of fall with the deep reds and earthy browns, but the more I look at it, the more I think that it reminds me of chestnuts, acorns, and walnuts in the shell.  That's one of the things I always loved about fall, finding the chestnuts that had fallen from somewhere.  I was convinced they couldn't have fallen from the trees because I never saw them in any trees.

The natural choice for socks in this yarn was a little pattern called Nutkin.  Everyone seems to be making them, or at least it seems that way.  They remind me of Squirrel Nutkin from Beatrix Potter.  That made so much sense for the yarn and how it reminded me so much of nuts.

The pattern was a pleasant surprise.  The cuff is a long tail cast on that's turned under and knit into the pattern again in the most interesting of ways.  It was an unexpected challenge, though not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  I did have to go back three times to redo it in a more smooth way.  It looks amazing and I love the thickness of it.  I can't wait to see how it wears.  From there the pattern was simple enough to be easy to remember, but it's fancy enough to catch my attention.  It works well with the play of colors in the yarn.  I absolutely love the sweeping shapes each pattern creates.  It almost strikes me as leaves, but the bottom half of one leaf is the top to the next.  The heel is a simple enough short row and the toe seems pretty standard, so I think I might just knit this pair up according to the pattern.  (Yes, you may all gasp at the fact that this is my second pair of socks that I haven't modified in any way this year.)

Too Busy To Get Much Done

It's been a crazy week in knitting.  At least I managed to get one of my pairs of gloves done.  I finished the Beverly Mitts, which turned out incredibly well.  I really liked the way they turned out.  The texture of the gloves was just amazing.  I really like the finish, and the lengths of the thumb is just perfect.  I'm thinking these may be a my favorite gloves at the moment.  They're the perfect length, both in the hand and the wrist.  Best of all, they fit in a way that I can still wear my FitBit and bracelets.  Since I feel naked without my jewelry, it really makes me fee good to know I have gloves I can wear with my jewelry.  They're also warm and wool, which makes them great to wear for fall.

On top of just being lovely, I'm pretty pleased with the pattern.  It worked up pretty quickly and was easy enough to knit.  I'm really surprised it has so few projects.  These are some pretty lovely gloves for being such a rarely found designer.  I really want to take a moment to promote how wonderful it is to work on projects that not an overwhelming number of people have knit.  It makes it feel more special.

Typically I gravitate to patterns that are pretty uncommon.  There's something about working on something a creator worked hard to make, but hasn't really been discovered yet.  It's a great way to show some real appreciation.  That's something important to me.  These designers work hard to make up patterns and when no one is interested in knitting them, it's almost like an insult.  Left to my own devices, I would gravitate towards those patterns every time.

Aside from giving attention to patterns that don't have much love, there's also something fun about going against the trend.  It's fun to pick up a project that hasn't hit the level of trendy.  I love knitting projects that have less than a hundred listed on Ravelry.  I like it even more when I can do a pattern with less than twenty.  The Beverly Mitts qualify.  There's currently sixteen projects listed, and it's in forty-five queues. They're a totally underrated pattern.  If knitting some up can help get some attention for the designer, I'm all for it.  I love the fit and everything, even though I did have to size it down a little for my tiny hands.  I'm completely satisfied with the outcome.  They're now one of my favorite pairs of gloves, even with all the other gloves I've knit over the years.

The next set of gloves I made are the zombie viXen gloves on Ravelry.  I originally decided to knit another pattern, but somehow these just came up as the gloves I wanted to make.  I'm absolutely loving the way they work out with the yarn.  At a distance, the yarn almost looks camouflage, so I think it's fitting that I knit them up in a pattern that's inspired by all things zombie.  It seemed like the best choice for the pattern, or so I hoped.

At first I wasn't in love with the pattern.  It was too much noise, I guess you'd say.  The yarn and the pattern conflicted more than I wanted them too.  It became difficult to see the pattern on the yarn because of the color splash.  I loved the colors and the way the colors were turning out.  I loved the pattern and the cabling.  I just didn't love the combination of the two together.  It didn't really work for me.  After a while, though, it started to grow on me.  I started to love the way it all worked up and I was excited to see how they would look when finished.  If it wasn't for a crazy busy weekend, I probably would have been done with them already.  It's looking to be a crazy week, as I'm already late on this week's blog post.

Unfortunately, the next concern is the fit.  I knit these gloves up as directed, I believe, but the gloves seem a bit too loose on me.  I found some of my old needles, both one and two sizes down from what I've knit these up on.  I'm going to knit through the hand and see what I think, but I think they may just be too big.  I'd hate to frog the whole thing, but if I want a fit I'll enjoy, that may be the best bet.  Bumping it down a size or two on the needles will really help get the fit I'd want to see in my gloves.  I would be really upset to put all that work into it, then have to give them away because they were too lose on me.  It would really make me sad.

As much as it would be frustrating to start again, at least I know I would be happy with the outcome.  A smaller fit would be really be better for my tiny wrists, so it would only make sense if I sized them down.  I bought this yarn to knit into something I would love, so it also makes no sense that I would give it all up because the sizing was wrong.  I want it to be something I enjoy.  Here's hoping that I can actually manage.

My Busy Week in Knits

It's been a seriously busy week in knitting.  I got a lot done.  This hasn't been the usual week where I'll go on a binge knitting thing for a day or two and then I end up getting caught up in other things in my life.  I've been on quite the kick.

The first thing I finished this week was my sister's socks.  The Nemesis Socks are finally done.  I have to admit, they weren't exactly something I would knit for myself, but they really are lovely.  I'm so glad I had an opportunity to knit some up.  Now I've been asked to knit at least two more pairs.  My daughter wants a pair, preferably in the same color.  Then Chesh wants me to make a pair in some tones of blues, or a black and red kind of tone.  I liked knitting them enough that I would be happy enough to knit up another couple pairs.

This was the first time in a long time I've knit socks exactly as they were prescribed in the pattern.  I really liked the way the heel worked out.  I never was much of a fan of pick up and knit for a traditional gusset heel, but this one worked out incredibly well.  I like the way the edge feels.  There's none of the usual ridge that seems to want to appear showing my picked up stitches to be anything but perfectly smooth.  These lie smooth and flat just like they were one solid piece of fabric instead of a piece of fabric that was stitched onto another piece of fabric.

(Sable, I know you're reading this.  You might like these enough to knit yourself a pair too!  They're delightfully enjoyable to knit!)

When I picked up my knitting basket that had been long neglected, there were two projects sitting in it where I assumed there would be only one.  My Versatility was sitting there, balled up as I had remembered leaving it, but there was also my Tuscan Sunflower Shawl, unfinished and neglected.  Before I did anything else that day, I pulled it out, stitched in all of the endless bits that were loose and unwoven.  As soon as I stitched them all in, the next step was to block it all out so the shawl could be seen in all it's beauty, straight out on my bedroom floor, not the most ideal, I suppose, but it did the trick and now it looks lovely!

Having never blocked anything before, I have to admit that I had no idea what I was even doing.  I'd heard a good deal about how it's done, but I never actually attempted it.  That's sad, given my love of shawls.  I decided to just roll with it.  I tacked out the center of the shawl, then four points for the edges.  This proved to not be a fantastic choice as I had to adjust all the points over and over until I got them to match.  Finally I pinned out the whole brown center and then worked from there.  My victory was finally to be had!  I've really enjoyed this shawl so much that I might attempt to make another in another color to match a dress.  I really love this shawl.  Now all it lacks is a pin.

Once I'd tackled one blocked out shawl, I decided it was time to work on another sadly neglected shawl.  This was my Fall/Winter seasons shawl from KnitPicks.  I'm not sure the pattern is even still available, though I know the kit isn't.  They released it once again at one point, this time with different colors, but I haven't seen it since.  It was a royal pain to knit and I honestly wouldn't want to do it again, but I did love it.  It was frequently used as an oversized scarf.  That will no longer be the case as it took up almost my whole floor to block!  This thing is absolutely enormous!  As you can tell, it's so large I couldn't even cut the clutter out of it pinned down in my bedroom.

This shawl is one of my greatest victories.  It's the first shawl I ever knit with lace weight yarn.  It's also the first shawl I'd done with any kind of color alteration such as this.  I still love the way the colors blend from one to the other.  It's such a beautiful way to flow between colors.  I'm more in love with this shawl than ever.  I don't ever want to tackle it again, but I certainly don't regret doing it.  It's one of my favorite pieces.  Now I just need a dress to go with it!

After all of those were finished, I finally finished the knitting on my Versatility!  Amazingly, it hasn't taken me a whole year yet.  I started it in January, I think.  It's finally finished, all but the buttons.  True to style, I didn't knit it exactly as prescribed.  I decided to add a couple more repeats.  As sleeves I wanted it to come down to the point of obscuring my fingers.  As a vest, I want it to come down over my bottom, because that's where I like my sweaters to sit, there or longer.  I'm not sure how often I'll wear it as a scarf or a wrap, but I can imagine I'll use it quite a good deal as sleeves and a vest before the weather starts getting cool, and I know I'll wear it as a hood once it starts getting cold enough for a jacket.  It looks cute as a hood.  Given that I intend to walk to and from the shuttle to school this winter, I'm sure it will come in useful.  It's nice to have something lovely and classy to wear on a day I want to be a little more dressed up, or if I need to be a little bit more dressed up for some reason or another.  It's certainly a lot easier than wrapping with scarves.  What girl doesn't like her accessories?  Clearly I'm not beyond that by any means.  I love them as much as the next girl!

After that I pulled out some of my favorite  sock yarn.  When Sable and I went yarn shopping I simply had to pick it up.  The colors were so perfect for fall.  It reminded me of fall leaves.  The foliage isn't likely to change any time soon as we're just starting into August, but I'm not planning to wear any kind of warm stuff until fall.  These would make perfect fingerless gloves for the season.

Happy Feet yarn always comes in such beautiful colors.  There are so many yarns that come in this pretty splatter-like coloring.  I don't even know how to describe it.  The whole yarn seems almost, I don't know, spotted seems like the best word.  They're lovely yarns.

Sadly, it looks like they're not going to be doing these smaller skeins of this yarn anymore.  It seems like they've moved on to 100g balls.  I loved my little 50g balls of yarn.  They were the perfect size for a pair of fingerless gloves, which was why I loved them so much.  They were typically right in my budget for a happy little splurge.  I know it's Happy Feet yarn, but for me it was very much Happy Hands.

If you've been reading my blog, you already know I have a love for patterns that not a lot of people have knit up.  I hopped myself on over to Ravelry and searched for patterns I could knit up using the yarn weight and needles I already have on hand.  I don't have a lot of needles around, as I keep losing them.  I don't really want to spend the money to get more needles right now.  So I picked out the Beverly Mitts, made from Creative Yarns, a little yarn shop that just so happens to be in Beverly, MA, the next town over from where I used to live.  Sadly, the yarn shop will soon be closing.

The pattern looks really cool.  Sable says it looks like dragon scales.  I didn't agree until I took a look at it from a bit of an angle.  It's much different than when you're looking at it dead on.  I really like the way it looks, and it's a great match for the pattern as well.  I absolutely adore the way it's turned out.  Plus, it falls at just the right length for wearing with other jewelry and the like.  It's going to be just the right length for just about everything,  It's going to be fantastic come winter and fall because it won't be too long to wear under sweater sleeves and the like.

So that's been my week.  I've gotten so much done.  It's totally insane how much progress I've made on everything.  I guess the weather is right to get these projects done and I'm happy with the results.