Yarny Yarnmas and a Yarny Yarn Yarn

In either a personal best or a personal worst, I have four projects on my needles right now.



This is a shawl I started for myself several months ago. During the summer it is an icebox in my office, and it's impossible to buy a space heater because it is supposed to be warm in Texas in the middle of August. Never mind that the thermostat is turned down to the mid-fifties in every damn building. How much energy could we save if we let the temperature of the air conditioning creep up towards seventy degrees? And I bet we wouldn't lose one person in a tragic indoor heat stroke incident.

Anyway, if commerce couldn't solve my hypothermia problem, I figured I could take matters into my own hands and knit myself something to keep me warm. Of course now that it's winter, my office is perfectly comfortable, so I put this on the back burner for my next project.



I had just enough time to get this baby hat started before the Christmas knitting rush started. A month or so ago, the head of our young mothers' program at work mentioned that it would be nice to get some volunteers to knit blankets for the babies in the program. For some reason, she seemed shocked when I told her I'd be glad to knit some things to donate. I guess I don't seem like the knitting type.

This is my first project on double pointed needles, and it hasn't been too hard so far. With some practice I hope to be able to whip up tiny hats pretty quickly, as well as some blankets, which are super easy. I also have some patterns for knitted finger puppets I could make for the older children in the program. Unfortunately, even though we're dealing with young mothers (mostly under 18) many of them already have toddlers and another baby on the way. Other than that this whole "abstinence only" thing seems to be working pretty well. /snark



Pretty soon, this will be a smaller version of this hat for my nephew. I'm thinking about putting pom-poms on his, however. The yarn is Paton's "Rumor" in "Moonstone Heather." The name of it is stupid, but the yarn is awesome.



Last, but not least, is a scarf for The Husband. It's going to be one of his Christmas presents, but I don't need to worry about spoiling the surprise because I made him describe to me in great detail what the scarf should look like and approve the yarn I bought. Also, I've been working on it in the evening while he's sitting right next to me watching TV.

It seems like an awful lot of trouble to hand make a custom project for someone and not have it be exactly what they wanted. Maybe if I were a better wife I would have an intuitive understanding of The Husband's scarf preferences, but evidently I'm not that wonderful. He is getting a pretty great scarf, however; so that will have to be wonderfulness enough.

nap time for the feline

i am typing this with one hand because the cat is sleeping on the other one. she's dreaming, and her toes and ears are twitching like crazy. she is too adorable to disturb.

i am not at work but instead am trapped under my cat because i am waiting for the plumber to come back and do expensive things to our pipes. although the pipes are located underneath the house, this will involve climbing on the roof. i don't know. it made sense when he explained it to me.

i hope the cat wakes up soon because i need both hands to finish my christmas knitting.

oh no. she just stretched and sighed and is beginning to ooze onto the keyboard. must go. more later.

Operation Really Big Sweater: Quagmire Averted

It's a little late for my 1/4 year deadline, but I finally sucked it up and finished the ridiculous, enormous thing.



This is a good lesson on the importance of gauge. The gauge should have been 2.5 stitches per inch. Mine was evidently 2.23 stitches per inch. When I measure it over a few inches it seems to be perfectly accurate, but over 6 inches or more the difference becomes apparent. Being off by a fraction of a stitch resulted in a sweater that is 12% too big by my calculations.

I will always be much more particular about my gauge in the future, but working with 2 strands of a very bulky yarn probably compounded the problem. For example, the more normal sweater I wore to work today has a gauge of 8 stitches per inch, so being off by .27 stitches per inch on a sweater like that couldn't possibly compound itself to such a degree. . .right?

Operation Hat: Mission Accomplished

I cast on a hattish number of stitches with a super bulky yarn on size 11 20-inch circular needles. Then I knit a tube in K1, P1 ribbing about 20 inches around and 7 inches long and sewed up one end. Voilà! (Which is French for hat.)

My 1/4 Year Resolution

I am committing to finishing the goofy knitting projects I've been dawdling with and starting something really cool by the end of March. Here's where I am right now.

1. Ridiculous Hat. I had this awesome ball of rainbow colored yarn and no idea what to do with it, so I'm inventing a hat and figuring out how to knit in the round.





2. Giant, Shapeless, Very Soft and Fuzzy Sweater. My first attempt at knitting something not for a baby. What you see here is a back and 96% of a front. I still need 2 sleeves and a neck. Somehow it's coming out way too big despite the fact that I could have sworn my gauge was accurate.



So, in conclusion, I shall finish these two projects just in time for it to be too warm to wear them. I shall then start way better projects that will not be complete until it is too cold to wear them.

Save Your 99 Cents

My mom requested a shawl with pockets for Christmas, and I found a pattern online at Lion Brand Yarns. They actually made me pay 99 cents to download it. Seriously, how is it worth the cost of processing the credit card transaction for 99 cents?

Turns out the pattern kind of sucked. The yarn it called for was too stiff and didn't come in a color I liked, and the pockets were too tiny. So, I fixed it.

Here is The Husband Who Is A Good Sport modeling it for me:





Here is my mom enjoying it:



What's that you say? It is so awesome you want to knit one yourself? Okey dokey then. Here's the pattern.

Pattern: Knitted Shawl with Pockets

Size
Approximately 18" x 72"

Materials
3 skeins Lion Brand Homespun (98% acrylic, 2% polyester; 185 yds. per 6 oz. skein)
Size 11 (8 mm) knitting needles
Tapestry Needle

Gauge
Gauge is not important. BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR GAUGE. (Just kidding. Inside joke.)

Shawl
Cast on 40 stitches. Knit every row until shawl measures 72". Bind off loosely.

Pockets (make 2)
Cast on 20 stitches. Knit every row for 7" Continue in reverse stockinette stitch (purl RS rows, knit WS rows) for 2". Bind off loosely.

Sew pockets on each end of the shawl.

A Brief History of Knitting

I've been knitting for about nine months now. In the time that many women actually produce a baby, I have managed to produce 3 baby items - 4 if you count each bootie separately.

The first project I completed was a pair of baby booties, which I gave to one of my friends when she was expecting her second child.

Here is an example of one of the "final draft" booties.



Here is the "first draft" bootie. It's about the right size for a thumb warmer. Not too much use to a normal, human-sized baby, but it was a good learning experience.



Next, I knitted a blanket for my nephew. Unfortunately, all the pictures came out kinda crappy, so you'll have to trust me that it's a pretty great blanket. (Cat included for scale.)



And finally, the best one so far - the sweater!



I think I ended up knitting the whole thing twice after ripping out all the mistakes and the spots that weren't quite good enough. I plan to run it through the wash before I give it to the baby, mostly to make sure it holds up and also to remove as much cat hair as possible, but I'm putting it off because I'm afraid the sweater will fall apart. Then I'll have to cry and cry, and no one wants that.

Now I am knitting a wrap with pockets as a Christmas present for my mom. The yarn is the best stuff yet. It's kind of a russet color, and it's very thick and soft. Maybe next I will actually knit something for myself with this awesome yarn. I'm surprised it's so great since it's cheap and synthetic.

Due to my aforementioned wool issues, I find my selection of quality yarn quite limited. However, after some research, I've found yarn online made of everything from cotton to pineapple plants. Some particularly cool yarns are made from bamboo and soy. There's even a book in the works all about non-wool knitting. Now I need to find a local store that carries the stuff. Yarn is one of those things that I need to feel and see up close before I'll buy it.

The husband and I did venture into a "real" yarn shop this weekend looking for the specific color of yarn my mom requested for her wrap. ("Pumpkin" Never did find any nice yarn in "pumpkin") It was very weird - like walking into someone's living room and being totally ignored. All these ladies were sitting around at tables knitting and talking. I had no idea who actually worked there. I mostly felt like I'd be interrupting them if I had any questions. As I was leaving, one person did ask if I needed any help. After I explained what I was looking for, she suggested this certain mass-market brand of yarn that I could get at Hobby Lobby or somewhere like that. I was dubious that it would be decent, but I ended up getting exactly what she recommended, and I love it! It's not "pumpkin" though. Sorry, Mom.

ETA: The yarn I ended up liking so much is Homespun in the "Ranch" color by Lion Brand.