Neck Warmer Pattern

Hey! Do you remember the red neck warmer that I made on special request for the man? I'm trying to work on writing out the pattern for it...but...it's at another house at the moment, which makes it a bit tricky to get all of the details right. So, I will attempt to retrieve it this weekend and post the pattern next week! Yay! Free pattern!

Xmas knitting continues

This is what I did on the weekend:


These are Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts, which I retrieved from her old website, before she moved over to Interweave. They're quite easy for a starter colourworker (like me) and I'm rather enjoying making them. There's only one pattern repeat left, plus ribbing, and they're done!

Well, one is done.

I used some whacky type of cast-on for this and it worked brilliantly. You can find a video here (scroll down, it's the last one in the list) of this cast-on for K1, P1 ribbing. Perfect, nice and stretchy and neat-looking.

Flappy

I've been knitting so much lately that I forgot how much faster I am at crocheting than knitting and how the pieces just whoosh by when there's only one hook. Take this beanie, for example: just one day of crocheting on Friday, and it was done. (and the whole weekend drying on the heater :-D ) Gotta love the crochet hook. But, I have to admit that I've made this hat twice before, and so it was also quicker because of that.

Pattern: Flappy by Chloe Nightingale, published on Crochet Me
Yarn: That Macedonian stuff again. I'm gradually getting through the leftovers of it, but there are still many more hats/scarves/dog jackets left in the box.
Hook: 3mm
Notes: Both times I've made this hat, I've chosen the middle size - 'normal noggin', but they turned out too big (and I guessed that the 'wee noggin' size would be too small). My prediction was that my yarn was slightly too thick (I couldn't tell for sure because the yardage isn't written on the label), so last time I did it, I changed some stuff and it came up trumps, but that was months and months ago now and I can't remember what I did. This time, I took note of the changes.

• Pattern states 3.75mm hook -- I used 3mm
• 100 chain cast on -- reduced to 86
• Top of hat length reduced by about 3-4cm
• Top of hat -- 'wrong side' on outside

Also, the top part of the hat has quite jagged increases, which results in a slightly bumpy hat, so I staggered the increases for a smoother finish. This was the same reason that I like the 'wrong side' showing - it's smoother.

Perhaps I should have just gone for the 'wee noggin' size in the first place.

All in all, though, I love this pattern! I've given all of the hats away so far, but maybe I'll keep one for myself one day.

Progress - Secret Stole

Well, I'm very much behind schedule, but the Secret Stole is starting to look like something. I made a huge boo-boo towards the end of the first chart and spent almost a whole day fixing it, which included ripping back lots of stuff and many four-letter words.


I'm not really an experienced lace knitter, and I was wondering about the 'holes' in the fabric - are they supposed to be kind of 'double', like they are in my stole? I've highlighted a prime example of this phenomenon in the pic below. There seem to be large holes and then smaller holes on top of them. I'm not sure if this is normal, or if the double holes will disappear after blocking, but it looks fine from a distance...and most Finns have crappy eyesight anyway!

New socks

Woo hoo! My adventures into stranded colourwork started last night...and it's okay so far!

These socks are from the lastest Interweave issue and they're being knit with none other than my fave yarn at the moment, Drops Alpaca. Gotta love the stuff.

They're Chrissie presents for someone in another hemisphere, and in order to get them there in time through the post, they've gotta get done soon!

Review: Knitting New Scarves

During the trip down south this past weekend, an innocent look-see at the bookshop turned up a great little find. I wondered why I hadn't heard about this book, but it was just published last month, so you can't blame me for not knowing.

It's called Knitting New Scarves and it's written by Lynne Barr. As the title suggests, it's a collecion of scarf patterns, but they're not run-of-the-mill designs. Actually, I don't think that the cover foto is indicative of how cool some of these designs really are, and I would love to put some pics of other patterns up here, but there must be some sort of copyright on that, so there goes that idea.

There are some great new techniques here, lots of 3-d stuff, and all of them are explained in detail with good fotos in the back of the book.

Speaking of fotos, they're all lovely pictures and it's a great-looking book. Spiral binding would have been more practical, but standard binding always looks better to me anyway.

The yarns she uses all seem to be aroundabout the same weight, i.e., worsted, and they are all standard fibres (no fancy 'party' yarns) so I think this could definitely be a go-er for stash-busting.

I think my Xmas present plans have changed! I'm so excited that I can't stop looking at all of the patterns over and over, trying to figure out which one (ones) I'll make, and for whom.

Confession

I admit, I haven't been exclusively working on the UFO pile.

[smack]

Most of those projects require too much concentration or they aren't portable, so I couldn't take them with me anywhere or work on them and talk at the same time. Hence, this baby was born.

Using sock wool on teeny needles, this thing is perfect for handbags, and with an almost mindless rib, I can even speak Finnish and do this at the same time!

Frosty beginnings

FINALLY, the Frost Flowers and Leaves is up and running. I must have started this thing at least twenty times and failed...soooooooooo much frustration. But now, finally finally finally, after countless hours of fruitless knitting, it's starting to look like I won't have to start again. Hope I didn't just jinx myself!

I've decided it's time to use some lifelines in this one. I haven't really had the need for them before, mainly because I've been crocheting more than knitting, but it's all too clear in my head: a dropped stitch making its way down to the centre, the pained howl of 'noooooo!' from Steffi, and several bamboo dpns thrown out the window. I won't let it happen!

Secret of the Stole, hint #1

Well, I'm a little behind schedule, but there has been some movement at the secret stole station! I'm almost nearing the end of the first hint of the Secret of the Stole project...almost two weeks after the hint was revealed. There's still the second hint to get through before the third one is revealed on Friday. Not going to happen.

I tried to follow the instructions as written, i.e., knit the two points simultaneously with two separate strands of yarn, but my head exploded after about 17 rows and I had to frog it. Then I did the two points completely separately and it worked out fine.

Purple thing

Another old project completed! Talk about loooooowww motivation to finish this one...and now that it's done, there is a certain amount of relief, to be sure.


Pattern: Drops Design pattern 100-23, smallest size
Yarn: Drops Vivaldi, 58% mohair/19% wool/23% polyamid, 50g=280m, colour #24, and Drops Alpaca, 100% alpaca, 50g=180m, colour #6347, less than one ball of both
Needles: 8mm and 5mm
Notes: Once again, the vagueness of drops patterns irritates me, but this was such a simple pattern that it didn't matter much. And also again from drops design, the amount of yarn stated was substantially more than was actually needed - in this case more than double.

Less UFOs in the pile...which one will be next?

UFO conversion grows by one

What progress I've made on that UFO pile! The pinky socks are done!


Pattern: 'Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch', from KnittingVintage Socks by Nancy Bush.
Yarn: Tofutsies sock yarn, colour #733 "Get Your Feet Wet", 50% superwash wool/25% soysilk/22.5% cotton/2.5% chitin (chitin is apparently made from prawn and crab shells), 100gr=425m, much less than one ball used.
Needles: 2mm dps
Notes: I made several modifications to this pattern. Firstly, I used thinner yarn and smaller needles for these to create a narrower fit. I shortened the leg of the sock because I was worried I wouldn't have enough yarn (this proved to be completely incorrect) and completely omitted the contrast yarn.
I liked the pattern a lot, but I think the railway stitch would have been better represented with a less colourful yarn than I chose. I like the feel of the wool; it's really nice and sproingy. There were several yarn breaks in the ball, tied together shoddily, and that really irritated me.

All in all, these were pleasant socks to knit and I'm sure the recipient will enjoy pretty (and warm) toes!


And the UFO pile shrinks again!!!

One day, it shall be completely black

The UFO pile shrinks...

FO on parade

Just one day after declaring a UFO war, Steffi scores her first conversion: the boyfriend jacket!

As worn by the girlfriend. :-) I like it! And it fits me well enough, so perhaps it will be a shared item. ;-)

I'm so happy that it's finally done! This took months...and months...


Pattern: Drops Design 85-13, found free here.
Yarn: (see pics below) Drops Silke-Tweed, shade #8, 52% silk/48% lambswool, 50gr=200m and Karisma, shade #56, 100% pure new wool, 50gr=110m.
Needles: 4mm and 5mm
Measurements: Length from collar to hem: 69cm. Width from cuff to cuff: 160cm. Hem circumference: 92cm.
Notes: I made the second smallest size on the pattern, and in retrospect, I should have made the next size bigger. It's a little snug on the boy, mainly around the shoulders, but all in all it fits well. I did actually check tension before starting and went down half a needle size, but I guess I should have stuck with the stated needle sizes. There are still 4 and a half balls of the Karisma left, and 2 balls of the Silke-Tweed. That's a lot of extra cash for wool I didn't need...but I suppose there will be a matching hat or three coming up (later).

I really like lots of Drops designs, but their patterns annoy me with their stupid vagueness. I much prefer to know how many rows I have to do, not how many centimetres, because I can stretch the thing out or scrunch it up and the length will change, but 25 rows will always be 25 rows. There were many other sloppy instructions in this pattern and it really wasted a lot of time on my part. The shoulder shaping was especially confusing, particularly the wrong side rows. But, I do like the thick collar and the fact that it's really warm, good for those chilly days that are coming up soon.

Anyway, it came out well and I'm so proud of myself! It's done!

The Big Challenge

Here is my official UFO pile:

Despicable, hey? But, no longer! Steffi's on a mission - no more new projects until these are finished!!! (I have to put a disclaimer in straight away, though...there might be some more Chrissie presents coming)

So, let's have a closer look.

Anti-clockwise, starting from bottom right:

Crochet Doily #7797, from Celt's Vintage Crochet. I took this as a holiday project for my trip to England and Scotland this summer...and its progress stopped as soon as the holiday was over!

Lace Dress by Lily M. Chin, from Interweave. I just started this dress last week, so its inclusion in this pile is much less shameful...

Next, the railway socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Started these a month or so ago and progress has been quite steady. Might actually finish them this week.

That purple thing is from Drops Design. This was started much earlier in the year and I stalled at the point where I had to pick up a certain number of stitches along the cuffs, and several failed attempts = loss of motivation.

Last in this group: The Secret of the Stole KAL project. I only cast on last night, hence those tiny little points on the needles!

Let's start from the bottom left and head clockwise:

Little bolero, again from Drops Design. This came into being ages ago, perhaps even as early as March this year...and here it is. Still.

I think the next one is a scarf...but I'm not sure yet. It was originally planned to be a blanket of some sort, but then I started using the orange yarn for the lace dress. Dunno, perhaps I'll put a border on it and wrap it around my neck now and then and call it a scarf.

Up in the corner is some alpaca which is in the waiting for some Latvian-style mittens and probably Eunny's Endpaper mitts.

And that huge cone of Zephyr is for the Frost Flowers and Leaves Shawl from A Gathering of Lace.

Hmmm, that orange band thingy is the beginnings of the Adventuring Sage Cable Vest from CrochetMe. I'm considering abandoning this one because I think my yarn choice was poor. It's not elastic and I'm afraid it will break easily.

Right, almost at the end!

All that lovely green wool is for the Mermaid, of course!

That jacket-looking thing is...a jacket, which has been up and running for an eternity, it seems. It will definitely be finished this week, and I'll post the details then.

Last but not least, there's a blue blanket underneath all of those ufos. It's called Majestic Braids, and it's here on freepatterns.com (scroll down). I finished the blue parts so quickly, but doing the braiding seemed impossible and then sewing the braiding onto the blanket is totally unsatisfying...but it will be done!

Right, so the deal is that no new pattern will be too tempting and no new yarn will make me stray from these darling projects of mine.

Unless something really good comes along. :-)

Advice, please!

I've been toying with the idea of getting a yarn winder for some time now, but haven't really been able to justify it until this came in the mail today:

It's the yarn for the Secret of the Stole project (that I'm late in starting, btw) and it needs to be wound before I can start using it. But, seeing as I'm already behind the eight ball with this project, I need a quick solution for this without waiting for a winder to appear on my doorstep.

Can I just roll it into a ball? It seems like the wrong thing to do, somehow. This is laceweight yarn, more than a kilometre of it, and just rolling it into some dodgy ball doesn't seem...professional.

Any advice?

And do any of you know some good places where I could pick up a decent winder? I don't need an electronic one; a manual one would suffice.

The yarn is Lane Borgosesia Laceweight in colour #42314-camel, 100% merino, 100g=1350m.

Thanks for your help!

Those Pinky Socks

...are starting to think about becoming interested in being finished! The second sock has been so much easier than the first one (no surprises there) and I can even knit these and understand Finnish at the same time! Perhaps this says more about my knitting than my Finnish. :-)

I'm a little disappointed with this yarn, though. Already on this second sock, there have been two 'breaks' in the strand, where they tie two bits together. And this yarn was expensive - 12 British pounds for 100 grams. For that amount of money, I expect one long strand of yarn, not multiple 'strandettes'.

On a happier note, the boyfriend jacket is very close to completion! I just need to get a zip, then I'll be able to adjust the collar length for a good fit. This week, maybe?

Review - Brittany Crochet Hooks

I got these two little beauties a while ago and have started using them for a new project (yet to be revealed). Brittany is a US company and they manufacture knitting needles and crochet hooks from 'sustainably harvested domestic birch hardwood'. Their website is here. I bought my hooks from Angel Yarns, based in the UK.

Pros
- These hooks are gorgeous. The colour is wonderful and the handle is stunningly carved.
- They come with a 5 year replacement guarantee.
- The tip is quite pointed, which makes it easier to insert into stitches.
- The surface is already 'slippery', unlike some bamboo hooks which need 'wearing in'.

Cons

- They're expensive! I paid almost €10 each for them.
- They are a bit too long, in my opinion. Perhaps it's just my personal preference, but they are at least a few centimetres longer than standard hooks, which means that I can't really grip the handle so easily and still be able to manipulate the tip with my index finger.

Red Neck Warmer

The other day, the boyfriend put in a request for a specific hand-made item, and of course I was only too happy to whip it up straight away! It's nice to have requests; that way I know that what I've knit is really wanted and not just 'tolerated'.

Pattern: Own. I'll consider posting the pattern sometime...
Yarn: Novita Teddy, 45%wool/30%polyamid/25%acrylic, 100g=110m, colour 567, about 50 grams used.
Needles: 6mm dpns
Notes: I did this in about an hour and a half - easy peasy lemon squeezy! The yarn is nice and soft and cuddly and feels nice against the boy's neck, he says.

Secret of the Stole

There's a fun-sounding KAL starting tomorrow, it's called 'The Secret of the Stole', and it's being run from Washington in the US (at least that is my understanding).

It's a Yahoo group, and there is a secret pattern which will be revealed in a series of hints, starting from tomorrow. The closing date for membership to the KAL is today...but that's today US time, so there may still be a few hours to go if you're in a different time zone. Sorry I didn't post this earlier, but I only just joined yesterday.

There are a number of prizes for just being in the group and for finshing within the alotted time, etc. Who doesn't love prizes?

This is my first secret pattern KAL, and I'll keep you up to date with how it goes!

Tosca Wool Shawl

Surprise! For you and for me! This shawl has been my talking-on-the-fone/portable-don't-need-to-concentrate piece for a month or so and I mustn't have been paying that much attention, because it was finished before I even realised!



Pattern: 'Tosca Wool Shawl' from DMC Corporation, free online (don't you love free stuff)
Yarn: Novita Florica, 50gr/175m, 100% wool, colour #80, 200grams total. This stuff rocks! At only €2 a pop down at the local supermarket, you can't go wrong.
Hook: 4mm
Measurements: It's pretty stretchy, so the approximate measurements are about 180cm x 60cm.
Notes: I omitted the tassles from the pattern and as a result just did a plain sc border around to finish. Although the hook is quite large for wool this thin, I tried it out with sizes ranging from 3-5mm and the 4mm just worked best with this pattern. The pattern dictates increase until there are 26 clusters across, but I stopped at 24.

Oh, how pleasant it is when you look down at your hands and realise they've done something nice without you knowing it.

Sweet Scallops Shawl

It's done! The world's longest shawl has come to life! I said that I would just keep going until I ran out of that pesky wool that I've been harbouring for the last decade, and I did! But, that meant that it ended up being...three...metres...long! It looks so silly when it's all laid out and flat, but when you wrap it around your shoulders a few times, it's not too bad!Pattern: 'Sweet Scallops Shawl' from Lion Brand, free here.
Yarn: Cleckheaton 'Angora Supreme', 70% lambswool, 30% angora, 50gr/139m (don't ask me how many balls...it seemed like I had a thousand of them)
Hook: 5mm
Measurements: 297cm x 44cm (it's actually not that much bigger than the pattern states: 228cm x 45cm)
Notes: Because I used thinner wool and a smaller hook, I added an extra pattern repeat by chaining 18 more at the beginning (or was it 19?). I thinned the border a bit, instead of 1 row sc, 1 row hdc, 1 row sc, I just did 3 rows sc.

This worked up really quickly and was a nice little pattern. Despite the ludicrous length, I think it looks nice!