Possessed to Knit

Gorgeous Handwoven Scarf

I received this gorgeous handwoven Habu silk scarf from Patrick today.  I, along with many others, sponsored him in the Race for the Cure competition.  He held a raffle for his sponsors and selected 4 entries to receive a handwoven scarf.  I was fortunate enough to be one of the raffle winners.  This scarf is beautifully woven and wonderfully soft.  It has incredible drape and is the perfect length for me.  I have to say, Patrick, there has been a lot more loom talk around my house.  I love studying the weave of the scarf, it is just stunning. 

Patrick also generously included two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the Tickle Me Pink colorway.  He knows how much I adore pinks and purples and the yarn ties in nicely with the Race for the Cure theme.  These skeins have an appointment with my swift and ball winder in the near future, I thought they would photograph better in hank form.  Patrick is currently designing a pattern for Sheila of Knits with Sticks and her four seasons sock club.  I look forward to knitting his pattern with Sheila's pretty sock club yarn.

Thank you to Patrick, for the gorgeous scarf and the delightful sock yarn. 

Sock Yarnista Club

I received my first Sock Yarnista Club shipment today.  The yarn is Beckon Stretch Merino (3.5 oz and 350 yards) dyed in the Auspicious colorway.  As Sock Yarnista Club members, we get to choose between two colorways (one handpainted and one semi-solid) for our yarn.  I am delighted with Auspicious as it is even prettier in person.  I received a link to download the lovely Cairdeas (the Celtic word for friendship) pattern, and this bag of teas and caramels (from Have It Confections) was included with my yarn.  Sharon, the proprietor of Three Irish Girls/Sock Yarnista Club, is very attentive to her customers and provides excellent customer service.  What can I say?  I just love getting sock yarn in the mail and until they do an episode of Intervention for sock yarn addiction, I will keep a pair of socks in progress in my knitting bag. 

Ethan's Hat

Here is the hat I knitted for Ethan, the 2-year old son of our neighbors, Nathalie and Nicolas.  They were very kind to deliver dog toys to Caitlin and Colin for Christmas, and I completed this hat for Ethan just after the holidays.  The pattern is from my favorite hat book, Hats On! by Charlene Schurch.  It is the Lusekofte pattern I knitted for my nephews, but with the zigzag design instead of the X design.  I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Red Pepper and Bare with size 6 Addi Turbo needles (16" and 32" for the crown using the Magic Loop).  I placed the jog in the middle and you can see the joining blip on the cast-on edge.  The jog moves from right to left starting in the white row above this blip.  I move the beginning of the round to the left one stitch after each round, even when there is a solid color round.  This technique leaves some stretched stitches in its wake and every few rounds I go back and adjust them accordingly.  It's a little extra effort and well worth it to eliminate the jog.

Joshua's Top-Down Raglan Cardigan

My nephew, Joshua, is turning 4 years old at the end of January.  He has outgrown the other red sweaters with soccer ball buttons that I have knitted for him.  This is his new sweater in Knit Pick's Swish Worsted in the Red Pepper colorway, knitted with Ann Norling's Kid's Top-down Raglan pattern.  I used my size 8 Denise needles for the body and size 6 for the ribbing and followed the 4.5 sts per inch instructions.

I learned from my Lucy Neatby DVD about picking up 4 sts for every 5 on the ribbing parts of the button bands and then 3 sts for every 4 on the stockinette part, giving me 81 sts on each side.  Margaret Fisher's book, Seven Things that can Make or Break a Sweater, encouraged me to experiment with the buttonhole size by going one up and then one down in addition to the original number of stitches that I estimated.  So I knitted up three practice buttonholes:  3 sts, 4 sts, and 5 sts.  It turns out that the 3 stitch buttonhole worked the best.  I want to make this same sweater for Justin, but with basketball buttons which work well with the 4 stitch buttonhole.  Joshua's sweater was knit back and forth.  For Justin's, I will experiment with some steeking after I knit some more of Lawrence's laptop bag.

Aguona Laptop Bag Progress

It has been an exciting day here in Northern Virginia where we have been watching the Inaugural festivities from the warmth and comfort of our home.  I have been knitting a simpler project today (a birthday cardigan for Joshua). 

Tonight, I want to show my steady progress on Lawrence's laptop bag.  I have marked the center of the front pattern and each small pattern repeat across the back of the bag.  I am learning the pattern and am even able to memorize some of it.  One challenge is weaving in some of the longer floats.  I do my best to not weave in the same spot on each round as this will create a crease in the fabric.  I am also stranding the yarn for about an inch (7 sts) as weaving in more often creates little bits of white showing through.  Hopefully these longer floats will not catch on Lawrence's laptop.  If they do, I can tack some of the longer ones down as this yarn (Knit Picks Telemark) will not likely felt enough to hold them against the back of the fabric.   

Lilac Cable Sock

I have completed the first lilac cable sock for my sister, Teresa.     I am using Cascade Heritage yarn and 2.25 mm Signature Arts needles 5" dpns and 2.00 mm Addi Turbo 40" circular needles for the heels and toes.  I most likely cast on over two 2.00 mm needles held together in a k3, p3 ribbing for 66 sts.  This three row cable pattern is k3, p3 for 2 rounds followed by slip 2, hold to the back, k1, then k2, p3 for the third round.  I repeated this cable pattern for 12 completed cables plus 1 round of k3, p3 ribbing.  On the next round, I decreased 8 sts by k2 tog in my first round of stockinette stitch to 58 sts.  I worked 18 rounds of stockinette to the heel.  I knitted a short row heel over 32 sts down to 12 sts.  I knitted 60 rounds to the toe which I decreased every other row down to 30 sts and then every row down to 18 sts after working 1 plain round on the smaller needles.  I then slipped the end sts at the end of each edge before grafting the final 14 sts together.  I truly enjoy keeping track of my projects this way as it has been very helpful to have all this documentation so easily accessible.

Fuscia Lace Rib Watch Cap

I knitted this hat for my sister, Teresa, over the weekend.  It turns out that someone at her son's basketball practice inadvertently picked up her hat with their things.  I had this Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn in fuscia to make another pair of slippers for her.  It is very bright and will not likely meet the same fate as her other hat. 

I took this opportunity to improve my tubular cast-on.  I used a contrasting yarn and a size 4 needle and I worked the slip 1, work 1 stitch for 4 rounds.  I think the tubular cast-on is more challenging in the round.  I moved to the size 6 Addi Turbo 16 inch needles and knitted k1, p1 rib for 36 rounds.  I gave the Russian join another try in the last round of this ribbing and it turned out a little better this time.  I worked 28 rounds of the lace ribbing pattern before starting the crown decreases.  I used my size 6 Addi Turbo 32 inch needle and the magic loop when the crown became too small for the 16 inch needles.  This hat uses 120 sts for the large size and the pattern is from Hats On! by Charlene Schurch and it took two entire balls of the Cashmerino Aran yarn. 

Aguona Laptop Bag

I've started the Aguona Laptop Bag as a belated Christmas gift for my patient friend, Lawrence.  I am using size 3.25 mm Addi Turbo 24" Lace needles and Knit Picks Telemark wool.  I typically knit tightly and went down a needle size to make sure that this bag will not turn out too big.  The recommended gauge is 7 sts and 7.5 rows per inch.  My gauge looks like 6.5 to 7 sts and 7.5 rows to the inch.  If it turns out to be way too big, I think I will be able to cut it down to size.  I have to cut the one side to install the zipper anyway.  

I feel like I am off to a slow start.  The bag is 230 sts around and I am very grateful that I stocked up on Opal's beautiful (yet sturdy) markers as they are helping me to maintain my sanity.  I heard the Knit Picks' podcast about this project and thought it was going to be easy-breezy.  Not quite, and lucky for me, Lawrence understands the time it takes to create a handmade gift.  I'm getting used to the color charts and am thinking of getting them enlarged as they are a bit small.  From the photo, I thought I needed a red zipper, but it turns out that I need a green zipper.  In the Knit Picks' photo, the blue colorway laptop bag is finished, but the red colorway bag is not.  I did not realize this until I was getting ready to cast on in the green (Rosemary) yarn and studied the pattern more closely.  I also decided upon a provisional cast on as I like the idea of a three-needle bind off to finish the top and bottom edges.  I just hope it works out with the knitted edging and zipper installation.  I have since exchanged the red zipper and seam binding for a green zipper and seam binding and look forward to seeing the design develop as I work through its colors.

Square Needle Socks

Here are the socks I knitted with my Kollage Square 2.25 mm dpns. I used the 2.00 mm square dpns for the heels and toes.   I had read that one typically needs to go up in needle size when using these dpns to achieve the same gauge.  I prefer to add more stitches when knitting at a smaller gauge for longer wearing socks.  Knowing that I already knit tightly, I casted on 72 sts for these socks instead of my regular 64 sts in anticipation of this tighter gauge.  It turns out that I achieved my regular gauge of 9 sts and 12 rows to the inch, so I ended up giving this pair to one of my friends.  I'm a little concerned that one sock looks bigger than the other, though I can assure you the stitch and row counts are very similar.  I found that I could easily row out with these needles if I did not pay close attention to my tension.  Also, if I happened to drop a stitch, it would immediately start unraveling instead of staying put until I could pick it up.  The needles did slide easily out of the stitches and I have ordered another set of WIP dpn holders from Knit Picks.  I will give these needles another try in the future, maybe with a Fair Isle sock or mitten project.  In the meantime, I will be sticking with my round dpns or long circular needles for my current sock projects.   

Happy New Year!

        Al insisted that I clip this comic from the Sunday paper and keep it.  I have been known to knit while standing in line and while waiting for someone to come and take our order at a restaurant. 

       At any rate, I thought I would look back through my completed projects and tally up my knitting for the year.  I have knitted 11 hats (3 were handspun and 2 were hand-dyed), two scarves (one handspun), 8 pairs of gloves/mittens/mitts/cuffs, 3 sweaters (one handspun), and a pair of slippers.  I've also completed 25 pairs of socks, including one handspun pair and 7 pairs for Sock Wars.  I'm hoping to knit more handspun and/or hand-dyed projects in 2009.