three little kittens

I'm wondering how long it will take to lose these mittens ...


The vital statistics
Pattern: Basic Cuff-Up Mittens by Patti Pierce Stone
Yarn: Recycled hand-dyed yarn - it was originally a Gap sweater, 90 per cent lambswool 10 per cent angora, which I unravelled and then dyed with the help of Val of Actual Size Creations; the colourway is Auntie Jane
Needles: 4.0mm Addi turbo for the cuff, 4.5mm Addi turbo for the body of the mitten
Start to finish: 30 November 2008 to 9 December November 2008

Comments: I have actually knit two pairs of these mittens. Not that the first pair got lost or anything - it was given away as a thank-you gift at Thanksgiving. Now baby bear and her best friend have matching, interchangeable mittens. A very simple pattern, the second time around it was a bit of a slog. The yarn is lovely, very soft and has already survived a machine wash. II made the smallest size and cast on only 20 stitches (instead of 24) and increased to 28 because otherwise I felt that the cuff wasn't snug enough. They've knitted up quite densely and with at angora in there should keep baby bear's hands very toasty. I'm still debating whether to crochet up a safety cord to keep them together. I think that I would prefer clips to clip them to the cuff of whatever baby bear is wearing - is that sort of thing still available?

Verdict: I hope that they don't get lost because there's no way that I could knit them a third time, well, not this winter at least.

And in other crafting news, after trying to work out what to sew I did find a bit of motivation and finished sewing the two lengths of batting together for the vintage fabrics quilt. At night while trying to fall asleep I have been dreaming up what the backing will look like, so I'm getting there. I today completed repeat 12 of the budding lace pattern for the swallowtail shawl - yippee! That's seven more to go. I am trying to knit one repeat a day in order to maintain momentum and also because I can't wait to start on the Faux Russian Stole (ravelry link) which I plan to be my next project knitting.

I spent a lovely couple of hours yesterday sitting in one of the display galleries at Seattle Art Museum knitting Baudelaire while baby bear slept in her stroller. Much to my horror though, and quite uncharacteristic of my knitting woes, I discovered two dropped stitches! After working an entire pattern repeat or so of the leg. Dreadful. Lots of frogging and confusion about where I was up to with the heel once I had frogged back far enough to rescue the stitches. Still have no idea what went wrong.

And practical knitting - it's time for a new practical knit. I had mentally committed to starting a baby version of Olga Buraya-Kefelian's Cabled Cowl but all I really have to knit it in is a dark grey and being for baby bear I just can't get into it in that colour. Truth be told, I'm not really so into the dark grey wool either which is what I knit my wide-brimmed hat from. So on a whim instead I decided that I need a slouchy beret and cast on today for the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (ravelry link) by Natalie Larson. I didn't have any appropriate weight wool for that either but rather than going out and spending money, I went through my thrift shop sweater stash, found a J Crew sweater, 100 per cent wool in a very nice purple and started to unravel. The yarn is very fine but I'm finding it working well knitting five strands together. Actually, I think that this is a sweater that I bought at a yard sale, I think that it cost 50 cents.

multifoliate

That is, multiple foliages.

The vital statistics
Pattern: Foliage by Emilee Mooney from Knitty
Yarn: green - Manos del Uruguay 100% wool, less than one skein; grey - recycled lambswool, as used to make the wide-brimmed hat
Needles: 4.5mm and 4mm Addi turbos
Start to finish: green - 28 November 2008 to 2 December 2008; grey - 2 December to 5 December

Comments: I've now knit three of these beanies, the first having been one of my secret pal gifts. That one I knit in Malabrigo worsted and it's been interesting to see how the different yarns produce a different finished item.

These were two pretty uneventful knits. I didn't like the Manos del Uruguay as much as I had hoped to. It was a special skein of yarn because a dear friend was kind enough to purchase it for me when on holiday in New York a couple of years ago already when it wasn't available in Australia.

As such I had planned to use it to make something for baby bear but these hats had to be made and the yarn was there. I wasn't pleased by the thick/thin nature of the yarn, I like things to be a little less rugged than that.

The grey lambswool is excellent to knit with, lovely and soft. I still have heaps left of it, I actually hardly know what to do with it. Anybody want some?

Verdict: Successful knits but autumn has come and gone and it's winter now so no more foliage for a good few months.

i knit a hat

How 'bout that?
































The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Wide-brimmed hat, pattern #14 from Vogue Knitting's Fall 2007 anniversary edition.
Yarn: recycled - whoo-hoo! I took a bit of a gamble on this one. I had some lovely grey lambswool recycled from a Nordstrom men's cardi (purchased at the thrift store) and figured that if I doubled it, that would probably work. And it did, spot on gauge.
Needles: horrid 5.5mm aluminium circulars - why do I still have these things?
Start to finish: started last week on Monday, wore it on Saturday.

Comments: I am not a beanie wearer, so when I saw this pattern in VK I thought, hmm, that might be something for me. It might be. I'm still getting used to wearing it. Knitting with worsted thread doubled on the brim (and I had doubled my thread in the first place to get worsted weight) was hard on the hands but the result is good and sturdy. I omitted the casing for elastic because it was already snug enough on my head. I also knit the hat all in one colour, instead of contrasting brim and crown.

I think that I could have made the crown just a tad longer so that I could really jam it down on my head. Yes, I could undo the three-needle bind off and knit a few more rows. Never going to happen. Using a worsted thread doubled on the brim (and I had doubled my thread in the first place to get worsted weight) was hard on the hands but the result is good and sturdy. I'm happy with the way that the hat turned out, we'll see if I get used to actually wearing it. The pattern is quite simple, particularly if you omit the casing, but there are a couple of errata so check the website if you plan to knit it.