Confused Knitting

Winter Break thus far

2008-01-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

Last night (this morning?) was wild. I've been awake... 26 hours? Ah well. No time for sleeping now. I went to Hannah's house and watched the entire second season of Rome, which finished around 5 AM. I got a LOT done on the Cables o' Doom blanket.

It's really warm. Size 13 needles are scary big compared to what I've been using.

Also finished the granny square blanket a few days ago. The colors are awesome. Dory helped me block it.

What else?

Well... Doctor Who is always fun to rewatch...

2007-12-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

Wow. I leave my computer unattended and my Crafster post on the Happy Hippie Gloves explodes.

So now I'm typing up a pattern for them while freaking out that I don't have a winter job. Yay life.

Bad day.

2007-11-15T09:22:00.000-08:00

I started working on Hannah's insanely bright happy gloves yesterday.

I saw Ysolda's tutorial on long tail tubular cast on for a 2x2 rib and thought I'd try it. It worked really well, and I think it's my new favorite (for ribbing, at least).

I was studying for my classical music test this morning, and my binder knocked my coffee off my desk and onto my yarn. After yelling assorted profanities after it, I borrowed Hannah's tub and let them soak in water for awhile.

At least coffee stains are easy to get out while their still wet.

The poor darlings are drying now. I'll probably work more on the pattern for Jon's gloves, since that is all of the yarn for Hannah's.

What are you doing, not posting?

2007-11-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

Calc II is eating my life. Knitting keeps my sanity. I always need to keep mindless stocking stitch projects going simply so that I can have something to keep me relaxed.

Knitting to keep my mind off of school yields finishing the man's gloves in a weekend:

Marching band is over, though, so they are currently his HAX0R gloves. ~~Why do I love geeks? Oh wait.~~

I also started Absigail's gloves. I still haven't bought the emerald yarn for them. Can you believe that Kirksville's Super Wal-Mart did not have Wool-Ease?! I'll need to remember to pick that up when I go home for Thanksgiving. Ribbon to match, too.

Back to homework, now.

Marching Gloves

2007-10-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

One down, one to go.

...Or at least I really hope so. I've already torn these out once, and redone the finger holes three times. The first time wasn't bad, I was only up to the thumb, he just wanted the band a different length. The fact that the fingers got messed up were not my fault, as I had asked him repeatedly if it was too tight. If they're still messed up after I've redone them... yeah. I'll redo them, and whatnot, but I won't be happy while I rip them out.

I left my notebook with the pattern in them at home. :-(

The colors are a lot darker and more black and indigo. They are much prettier than the yellow light suggests.

Traffic Cone?

2007-08-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

In apology for not posting (I've been working on Iuliia, a backpack that will be here in another week or so), I present you Giina's hat.

Traffic Cone?

I was randomly making hats for friends at school when Steven (nicknamed Giina) asked me for one. I can’t say no to crazy, outgoing, charismatic people. When I asked what kind of hat he’d want, he said I had permission to use artistic license. Then I asked if he wanted “normal” or “able to be seen from 300 yards”. Guess which one he picked.

Pattern Notes: This hat is designed to be completely original and to suit the wearer’s personality. I assume most people won’t want hats with “GIINA” all around them, so I left out the 90 stitch by 25 rounds pf chart. Also, Red Heart Super Saver acrylic doesn’t block very well, I was on a tight budget (read: yarn vs. food). I’d suggest any other strong worsted weight yarn. The pattern can be easily changed to fit your gauge using multiples of three; the decreases do not affect the wear-ability of the hat and occur after the hat is large enough to fit on the head.

Materials:
1 skein Red Heart Super Saver in Pumpkin (7 oz, 364 yards)
Additional yarn for crochet border (I used Red Heart Super Saver in Black)
8 US (5.00mm) 16’ circular
8 US (5.00mm) dpns, set of 4
H (5.00mm) crochet hook
3 stitch markers
Pom-pom maker

Abbreviations:
k – knit
p – purl
k2tog – knit 2 together
ssk – slip as to knit, slip as to purl, knit 2 slipped stitches together
m1F – pick yarn between stitches from front, knit into back loop
m1B – pick yarn between stitches from back, knit into front loop
stocking stitch – on straight needles, knit right side rows, purl wrong side rows
on circular needles, knit every round

Pattern:
Earflaps [make 2]:
Using 2 dpns (as straight needles), cast on 3 stitches.
Row 1: p all stitches
Row 2: k1, m1F, k1, m1B, k1
Row 3: p all stitches
Row 4: k1, m1F, k to last stitch, m1B, k1
Repeat rows 3 and 4 ten times (25 stitches on needle)
Work 7 rows of stocking stitch (ending on a purl row), do not bind off

Body of Hat:
Using circular needles, cast on 10 stitches. Slip the 25 stitches from the first earflap onto the needle, making sure the right side faces outward. Cast on 20 stitches, slip the other ear on. Cast on 10 more stitches, and place a stitch marker for beginning of the round. There should be 90 stitches on the needle.
Work the body of the hat in stocking stitch until it long enough (or about an inch short, depending how tall you want the pointy bit) for the head it will fit. This is a good time to throw in some quirky intarsia. Be creative. Before beginning the decreasing rounds, place a stitch marker every 30 stitches.

Decreasing Rounds (switch to dpns when needed):
Round 1: k2tog; knit to 2 stitches before marker, ssk, slip maker, k2tog; knit to 2 stitches before marker, ssk, slip maker, k2tog; knit to 2 stitches before marker, ssk.
Round 2: k all stitches
Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until 12 stitches remain.
Knit next 2 rounds.
Repeat rounds 1 and 2.
Cut yarn, weave through 6 remaining stitches and tie off.

Finishing:
Single crochet edging around the bottom of the hat, as well as a tie at the bottom of the ear flaps. Make 2 pom-poms and attach them to the bottom of the earflap ties.
Weave in ends.

Finished Mary Jane hat!

2007-05-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

I was not feeling photogenic today. Yay for strep throat, but at least I put on make-up today. Monday was full of me feeling like shit waiting for the drugs to kick in, so I spent all of it knitting on this hat. I'm happy with the way it turned out. The different colors in the yarn finally regulated themselves and made a really cool looking spiral... Not what I wanted, but still cool. The side seams where the double-pointed needles intersected sort of showed, but not horribly. Anyways, I'm very much happy with my new floppy hat :-)

Top view. Nifty spiral.

Back-ish.

Me, half dead. Yay!

swatching for my slouch hat

2007-05-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

I started swatching for a new hat today.

The yarn was on sale at Hobby Lobby. Tori had to help me pick out the colors.

Close up of the texture. When it stretches out, the spaces are more defined.

I love my new camera.

New blog!

2007-05-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

I hope I'll actually keep this one. I finally got a good working camera, meaning I can actually take pictures to post on here, which will encourage me, hopefully. I'm a camerawhore, enough. Anyway, I'll post pictures here soon.

Current Works in Progress:

House Unity bag
Kittyville hat