Braided Mittens, started September 27th, 2006, finished October 4th, 2006
Pattern: My Own
Yarn: 100% merino wool from a men’s sweater. The yarn is cabled and the colour is heathery, which makes for very interesting texture.
Needles: 5.0 mm DPNs
Dimensions: The perfect size for my hands!
Pattern Notes: This is a basic mitten pattern with a few cables tossed in. It’s the first time I’ve ever knit a thumb gusset, but it worked out quite well. I think I may have cast on a few more stitches than necessary at the beginning, but it fits well. I’ll have to remember next time to cast on 6 stitches less than my common sense would suggest. My plan right now is to knit a little sleeve inside the mitten to keep the wind out and bulk it up a little bit to make it tighter around my hand. I’d rather do that than line it with fleece, because if I’m going to knit something in merino, I want to take advantage of its non-sweating properties, darnit.
Would I knit it again? I may end up offering this as a free pattern, so I may knit it again to test it. I usually only need one pair of mittens at a time, but maybe after Christmas I’ll knit another pair as backups.

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Yay! My second pledge for the Pretty in Pink Contest is finished. I can’t enter this contest because I’m running it, but you can! And will. Right? I’m extending the deadline until the end of November, so that you, like the wonderful batman here and the Montaguedinal Arlette there (entries 14 and 15!) can enter for delicious sock yarn prizes. Don’t you love sock yarn? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Pretty in Pink Scarf, started November 4th, 2006, finished November 11th, 2006
Pattern: Standard Ribbed Scarf
Yarn: I lost the ball band for this one. I bought it a few years ago and loved the colourway, but I’m not a variegated scarf kinda person so it sat around until a week ago. UPDATE: I found the yarn! It’s Bernat Softee Chunky in Country.
Needles: 5.0 mm straights
Dimensions: 8 inches wide and as long as I could get out of the ball.

Ruffly Scarf, started September 1st, 2006, finished September 2nd, 2006 (I left it in Toronto and didn’t get a chance to photograph it until now)
Pattern: Cast on 100, alternate between a K1M1 row and a knit row for approx. 9 rows.
Yarn: Patons Lacette in Precious Pink (39% Nylon, 36% Acrylic, 25% Mohair)
Needles: 6.5mm circs
Dimensions: Half a foot in width. Three to four feet in length on one side, 500 trizillion feet on the other. Hence the ruffles.
Pattern Notes: This was really boring to knit, but I didn’t have to pay attention to it at all. I finished it in a night. I believe I was watching Finding Nemo for part of it, which made it all bearable. The only modifications I made to the pattern was to increase the number of rows to 11 or 12, because it was too thin. I couldn’t stand making more increases by row 9, so I did fewer increases in the middle of the scarf, making the ends a bit rufflier than the middle.
Would I knit it again? I promised my mom I’d make one for her, so I suppose I’ll have to. No really, it’s actually a very nice pattern and I like it and I don’t mind knitting it again, but only in front of the television and no less than a month from now, because I want to stay away from that yarn for as long as possible. I detest mohair.

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Happy Socktober! These are my groin-kicking shoes, which have now become my sock-modeling shoes. You’ll be seeing quite a lot of my feet this month; for Socktober, I’m going to be modeling all my favourite socks for sockspiration.

Jaywalkers, started August 4th, 2006, finished September 22nd, 2006
Pattern: Jaywalker
Yarn: Regia 4-Ply Mini-Ringel Sock Yarn in Maid Marian
Needles: 2.25mm DPNs
Dimensions: One a bit wider than the other (I knit the second one at a tighter gauge, I think), but they fit quite well.
Pattern Notes: These are my first ever socks! I really like them. One problem I had with the pattern was that it specified things by numbered needles, but never said which number was which. Aside from that, really fun to knit.
Would I knit it again? Sure thing. I want to knit a pair toe-up, because I have just a little left of the Regia that I may as well use up. Hopefully it’ll be enough for a pair of anklets.

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Here’s the first of my promised three Pretty in Pink projects. It took just two hours to knit, and I’m a slow knitter!

Pink Baby Hat, modelled by my hand, started and finished Monday, September 25th, 2006
Pattern: Basic hat pattern knit in the round with ribbing at the bottom (which you can’t really see)
Yarn: A chenille baby yarn that’s oh so soft, I believe it’s by Bernat but I don’t have the ball band with me
Needles: 4.5 circs
Dimensions: 12 inches around, 6 inches tall. A bit big for a baby, but it will probably go to a small child of some kind, and that’s all I care about.
Would I knit it again? I may, but I’ll save the baby hat knitting until someone I know gets knocked up.

Pattern Notes: This particular hat will probably go to Kingston General Hospital. I was quite surprised how quick it went. I love quick knits! I’m glad that this didn’t take too long, because I was worried that I wouldn’t have time for my Christmas knitting if I was going to try for 3 extra Pretty in Pink projects. Looks like I may have time after all. See? Everyone can do it, no matter how busy they are! Y’all better sign up! PLUG PLUG PLUG

Spectator Grand, finished Saturday, July 29th, 2006 (I’m a little late in posting this!)
Pattern: Spectator Grand, by Annie Modesitt
Yarn: Freedom Cotton DK by Twilleys of Stamford, Shade 08.
Needles: 3.75mm metal circulars
Dimensions: Wide brim, 21″ hat band, which was a bit small. The measurements were taken from the inside of another hat that fit well, and I think an inch or so was cut off because it wasn’t done directly around the head. The band measurement should really have been 22-23″ instead of 21.
Would I knit it again? I would, but I would use the base design and implement my own stitch pattern. I’d also use a different type of wire, because this wire loved kinks.

Pattern Notes:

I knit this for my aunt, just in time for the garden party she throws every year. She’s a member of the red hat society, which is why this hat is yet another red project. It turned out really well, and she got lots of compliments about it Matter of fact, one of the people at the party was a milliner and even she said she really liked it! She was wearing a hat that she had made herself that was 100,000,000 times better, made with all sorts of fantastic fashion-sounding components and apparently certain products that have to be used in well-ventilated areas. So she said she had plenty fun making it in a badly-ventilated area. Altered states improve creativity? I’ll buy that.

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k, I redid the hat. And it fits! And it’s cute! I feel like a classy dame.

Amelia, finally finished Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
Pattern: Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap
Yarn: 100% cotton frogged from a green sweater
Needles: tiny circulars, ~2.75 mm
Dimensions: Le size de ma tête
Pattern Notes: This is a reknit of the original, far-too-large attempt. I really like it!
Would I knit it again? I just did. It was fun. I want to knit it for a bunch of other people; maybe one of my cousins for Christmas.

Get the PDF!

This pattern is great for people who have little time to do anything. It’s knit in pieces, with each panel (a pentagon or hexagon) created individually. Just pick up a few stitches, knit a panel, and put it away. It’s all very laid-back, and great for people with short attention spans. It is the “Garfield the Cat” of knitting patterns.

In total, you’ll have to make 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. Don’t worry, though, each one takes about ten minutes, tops! It uses up less than a ball of yarn for each colour so it’s a perfect stash-buster, and if you knit it in your national colours, it’s patriotic, too!

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Finished Project #6 for 2006

I finished this about 2 weeks ago, but I didn’t have the chance to photograph myself. I finally got Les to do it for me but he kept on being like “this flash is not powerful enough” and I was like “that’s because you have to come in closer, there’s way lots you can crop from the photo” and he was like “stand in the sun, there’s too much shadow” and I was like “if I stand in the sun I’ll have to squint” and there was lots of fussing and you’re going to have to put up with a slightly dorky, blurry, shadowy shot of me squinting but wearing a very stylish One Skein Wonder.

One Skein Wonder, finished Mayish, 2006
Pattern: a modification of the One Skein Wonder.
Yarn: Red, 100% cotton, ripped from a sweater
Needles: 3.75mm circulars
Dimensions: Me-sized (second-smallest size in the pattern, oh yeah!)
Movies Watched: Wedding Crashers. It was okay.
Pattern Notes: I kept to about an inch of ribbing in the back, but I used short rows and increases at the armpits to make the neckline rib twice as long. I really like how it turned out!

Finished Project #5 for 2006

I had to cut into it last night and make a hole for a thumb. Yes, that’s right, I forgot the thumb hole when I was knitting the second one. I’m so embarrassed.

Snowdrift Mittens, finished April 25, 2006
Pattern: a modification of the pattern here.
Yarn: Blue and white Phentax acrylic yarn (it’s really pretty and soft, which makes up for the forced cheepnis because I couldn’t find a yarn store when I was buying it)
Needles: 4.25mm dpns
Dimensions: slightly too long, but I’ll make alterations when I can compare them to my aunt’s hands.