Project: Sagittarius

This is a somewhat belated update on my first Zodiac project, for Sagittarius, which I was cryptic about last month.

Fefferknits just had her twins (8 weeks early! Way to throw off my deadlines! Geez!). As a baby shower present, I had decided to make the babies stuffed elephants.



The babies should come home this week, and they'll get to drool all over Bernie and Eunice! (Um, that's what I've been calling them anyway.)



I used Caron Simply Soft (Shadows for the green elephant, Tweed for the purle), and knit up the wonderful Elefante pattern. I did tweak it slightly--the ears are crochet, and I got to them at work, when I had neither the mental capacity nor the physical resources to crochet elephant ears. Instead, I used the ears from another pattern. I also decided to forgo the poly-pellets.

One Last Present

The CephaloPod seems to have been a hit. It was oohed over when it was opened. It was in fact the second present opened in the Yankee Swap, and while no one took it away from the person who opened it, she never opted to trade for any of the other things in the swap.

The final gift I gave this holiday season was another scarf. This one, too, was hard to give up. It was made with Malabrigo Aquarella, a super bulky, thick and thin yarn. The color I used was "Coronilla," which ranges from coppery red through brown and into black. And of course, since it's Malabrigo, the color is delicious and the yarn is soft and buttery. I kept the scarf simple, to highlight the qualities of the yarn--it's just a garter stitch scarf, so it looks fabulously home-made with the thick and thin yarn.



This is not the best picture, as it comes out looking darker than it is in real life. I shall attempt to capture the scarf "in the wild," that is, around the neck of its recipient, my roommate. I've seen her wearing the scarf a couple of times already, so another success!

For those who care about such things, and aren't on Ravelry, here are the details:

Yarn: Malabrigo Aquarella, 3 skeins in Coronilla
Needles: Size 13 KnitPicks Options.

I used the new acrylic Zephyr tips. I am not a huge fan--they are a little bit grabbier than the original, nickel-plated tips. I haven't used the Harmony tips yet, but I did order the Harmony 9s so soon I should be able to have a full comparison of the various tips.

CephaloPod!

I promised more crafty-gifts, and lo and behold, I present to you, CephaloPod, the squid iPod Cozy!



CephaloPod is made from SquiPod iPod Cozy, in Caron Simply Soft Shadows, on size 8 double pointed needles. I got the buttons for 50 cents (total!) at Windsor Button after work today. I'm enamored. I want one for myself. I stupidly didn't decrease the amount of stitches in the pattern, even though I used worsted where the pattern called for sport, so he is really more camera-sized than iPod sized. Shhh. I'm throwing him into the Yankee Swap tomorrow, so we'll see how he goes over!

Mario Tree Topper, v 2

On Ravelry come the fall, talk inevitably turns to holiday knitting/crocheting. "What are you making for people for WHATEVER-HOLIDAY?" The posts are then replies with copious lists of "This for that person" or, "I don't knit for HOLIDAY because everyone around me are ungrateful jerks," or, "I'm lazy/not good enough/whatever." I'm usually in the lazy category, but suddenly I realized that I was nearly finished making my fourth gift of the season.

You've already seen one, Z's scarf. There's another present that I dare not post lest the recipient reads my blog (I don't think the recipient does, but you know), and I still have a tentacle to knit and eyes to sew on for another. But I did give M & E their Mario star tree topper!



At my holiday party, M requested a star for their tree, but bigger, hopefully by their holiday party, or at least by Christmas. No problem. On Saturday, I crocheted their star, which is probably twice as large as mine (I haven't measured them, but that'd be my guess). I actually was an hour late to the party because I was hurriedly seaming and stuffing the star while T played the new Super Mario on my Wii.



I used the same pattern and yarn and hook as last time, but I did make modifications for the size. After round 5, I repeated rounds 4 and 3 once each, for a total of 60 sc around. The points were therefore 12 sc at their bases instead of 6. I decreased for the points at the same rate as in the original (so decreasing on rows 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12).

They are pretty pleased with it, as am I. Will have pictures of the other two presents for you shortly!

Breaking Radio Silence: More Knitting and Crocheting!

Hello, blog. Long time no see.

This year, I decided to save some money by knitting presents. I can't show you one of them yet, but I already gifted one of them to Z, who left to study viola de gamba at the Hague for three months this week. I actually finished the scarf (the bind off and weaving-in-of-ends) at her going away party, and then wrapped it around her neck.



I think it was a hit--she wore the scarf the rest of the party, and then left my apartment without the scarf she'd worn to my apartment in the first place.

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Velvet Grapes
Pattern: My So Called Scarf
Needles: Size 11s (I love my Options!)
Ravelry page
This was much quicker to knit than the last My So Called Scarf that I made. Since I, you know, actually worked on it.



While cruising the Atheist and Agnostic Crafter's boards on Ravelry, I saw someone was knitting a Flying Spaghetti Monster tree topper. I thought that was a pretty awesome idea, and then I had an even geekier idea: a Super Mario star tree topper! The only pattern I could find was a crochet pattern, and while I taught myself to crochet over the summer, I hadn't actually done anything past learn the basic stitches. But I decided the idea was too awesome to not at least try, and so I toddled off to Windsor Button after work one day this week.

Windsor Button is a fabulous store in downtown Boston--they have a wall of buttons, sewing supplies, random craft supplies, and of course, yarn. I haven't seen many yarn selections like the one at Windsor Button--craft stores like Joann's have a limited selection of yarn companies, and they tend to focus heavily on Red Heart, Lion Brand, Caron, and Patons. Local yarn stores might have Patons, but are unlikely to have the rest. Windsor Button has everything from Red Heart Super Saver on up to Malabrigo and Sea Silk. It's a fantastic store, and I love that they have a smattering of everything. And while I normally hate acrylic, I knew that Red Heart was going to be my best bet for the bright, bright yellow I'd need for the star. I very much appreciated that I could walk from my office to Windsor Button and get the yarn I needed, rather than having to get in a car and drive to a big box store.

Anyway, I wound up ripping the star out a lot, and re-crocheting it. At one point, I had all of the first star done, and all but three points on the second star done, and redid them both. I had some beginner's difficulties, but I learned a fair bit, including how to read my work some. And so, lo and behold, my first crochet project!



I know have to figure out how to attach him to the tree. And prevent all my friends from grabbing him and running around my apartment singing the invincibility music from Super Mario Bros games during our party next week.

Yarn: Red Heart Classic Solid in Yellow, Cascade 220 in black for the eyes.
Pattern: Super Mario Invisibility Star
Hook: Size 3.25 mm (D)
Ravelry link
The pattern calls for a size E hook, but I didn't have one and was too impatient to wait for another trip to the store to acquire one. I'm quite happy with the results, though!

Update: Here it is on the tree!

Tilted Duster

When you've been anticipating something for a long time, it's sometimes hard to believe when it's over. Like my trip to Japan, which I started planning in about March of 2008, over a year before the trip actually happened in April of 2009.

Or my Tilted Duster sweater, which I started knitting in October of 2007, and didn't finish until Sunday night. But now all the ends are woven in and every seam has been finished!



Tilted Duster (Ravelry link to project, and to pattern) by Norah Gaughan.

I knit the 40" size on size 9 needles, out of GGH Bel Air in "Olive" (though I'd call that more an avocado color, myself. Nomnomnom.)

The pattern was easy to follow and clear, which didn't prevent from being dumb, like when I knit a good portion of sleeve only increasing on one side instead of both.

I started knitting this in October of 2007 on size 10s. The next time I came back to it, I realized that what I'd knit was waaaay too big (stupid gauge), so I ripped back and started over. Last September, I was close to finishing it, and had even sewn on the buttons and one of the sleeves when I tried it on and decided the collar looked like crap. It was too long, so it sat funny on my neck, and the buttons/buttonholes looked terrible. Modifications: no buttons! I plan on getting a shawl pin to keep it closed, and if I get really frustrated with that I'll add some toggle buttons and a button loop.



Much thanks to Digikami, who is the awesome photographer who provided these photos.

This is my first sweater, and I'm incredibly excited about it, to the point where I am wearing it today. In June. It's keeping me nice and toasty in my frigid office.

Finished! My So-Called Scarf

Three posts in 2 days? You lucky, lucky faithful readers you!

I just finished the My So Called Scarf I started back in August of 2007. Yes. It did take me a year and a half to knit one measly little scarf. I'm going to claim it's because it's so soft and luscious I didn't want to finish knitting it. Yeah, that's it.



Apparently, I have thus far failed to blog about this scarf. Oops. Ravelry link to my project here.

Details!
Yarn is Malabrigo worsted, in Autumn Forest. I used about a skein and a half, I think. Cast on 30 stitches, as per the pattern, and knit until the scarf hung to my knees when draped around my neck. I'd probably make it wider if I made it again.
Used Knit Picks Options, size 11.



It's an incredibly easy stitch pattern to memorize, what with it being the same two rows repeated ad infinitum. Perfect for the T or watching TV or reading a book, if I remember to use my book stand. But it's not particularly boring. It IS hard to fix mistakes, though.

I'm looking forward to wearing this for the first time tomorrow!

Binary Hat

Tada! I made the Binary Hat for Digikami as an early Christmas present. Here's the Ravelry link for the project.

I used Cascade 220 in 7822 and some tan color that I can no longer identify. Clover Bamboo size 9 double pointed needles, with 7's for the ribbing (because 8's were not to be had!) He has a lot of hair, so I added an inch of stockinette in the brown before starting the stripe sequence. This was the larger size already, but it fits perfectly! I'm not super-happy with the seaming at the top, but oh well. I think this would be a good stash-buster project--I barely made a dent in either ball of yarn.

This was a fun and quick knit, too. It only took me four days from cast on to bind off.

Oops, I almost forgot a title

Two whole months? Geez, I've been negligent.

But also productive! I moved to a beautiful new apartment the weekend of September 1st, so I'm going to give myself a pass on the lack of blog updates. I also have a freshly completed knitting project to show off (because I'm a ham like that).

On the basis that my boss has no idea I have a blog, I present to you:

Saartje's Bootees (as knit by me):







My boss is having his first baby, and the due date is November 1st. So I decided to make these, which I've thought were adorable for ages. They are a quick knit, though I found the strap instructions really confusing.

Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4-Ply in Mosaic (main color) and Dive.
Needles: US 1 Clover Bamboo DPNs (It's knit flat, but I don't have straight or circular 1's, so I made do.

Yarn and buttons both came from A Good Yarn in Brookline. (I'm going to miss living 500 yards away...)

I hope they like the booties, and that they fit. And they don't unravel. I always fear so much when gifting knits.

In Which The Knitter Actually Talks About Knitting

iPod Sock
Originally uploaded by cawthraven

So I just got a new 80 gig iPod, because my Video iPod died. I always had a lot of trouble with the Video--Apple replaced it at least twice, maybe three times. I was really tempted by the iTouch, but I really should not have access to the Internet all the time.

The iPod came last night, and I wanted to preserve it's smooth, unscratched silver exterior. And I had a lot of Malabrigo leftover from making Foliage. What's a gal to do but knit her iPod a sock?

I cast on 20 stitches onto size 7 double pointed needles. Not enough. I cast on 25, thought it was enough. Decided after a couple of rounds that it was too small, so I increased to 30. Decided after a couple of more rounds that I was wrong, and decreased back down to 25, and then knit in stockinette until it looked long enough to cover the iPod. Then I bound-off 11 stitches and knit the flap flat until it looked long enough to reach the button. The "button" is actually a bead from the fringe on a suede jacket I have--the beads are always coming off, so I figured this would be a good use for it. The "buttonhole" I made up, too, because I don't actually know how to knit them. So I bound off 5 stitches, did a two stitch i-cord until it looked long enough to make a loop that the button-bead would go through, and reconnected it to the rest of the live stitches to bind them off. Then I had some ends to weave in and the bottom to sew-up.

I've already got ideas for more, since it's such a quick knit. I have one of the Nicki Epstein books, so I think one of her fun loops would make a good button-hole, and then maybe a cable. And I might try different things to avoid needing to seam up the bottom. (Not that I did a good job.)

iPod Sock II
Originally uploaded by cawthraven

Foliage, because all of it is gone

So, I'm a pretty slow knitter. The tendonitis doesn't help. And I have a couple of ambitious things on the needles (the Central Park Hoodie, for instance. Though that's for the frog-pile. And I started the Tilted Duster back in oh...October. And I have maybe 6 inches done on it.) So it's been a while since I finished anything.

But at long last, I can present to you my Foliage.



(Please to be ignoring the poor lighting--the color is off--and the ugly purple sleeping bag.)

I started this back at the beginning of December. "Self," I says, "you like knitting hats. They are quick, and this one is cute! And you need some Princess Bride and knitting!" Sometimes, I am not so smrt. This pattern took pretty much all of my concentration. I couldn't do ANYTHING else while knitting it, or else I made stupid, stupid mistakes. And they were stupid, the pattern isn't hard. Just attention-consuming. All those yarn-overs and slip 1 knit 2 together and pass the slipped stitch overs! Very confusing.

The details (which can also be found on Ravelry, for those with accounts):

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino, less than one skein in Burgundy. The yarn was a gift from Essjay and her husband, and I love it.
Needles: Clover Bamboo Double Pointed Needles, sizes 7 and 4.
Start to Finish: December 2007 to January 2007
Modifications: Used size 4's for the ribbing instead of 5's, left off the last two rounds of ribbing due to impatience. Initially, I'd done a knit-off but it was too tight, so I picked it out and did a knit 1, purl 1 bind off. I don't love the edge it gives, but it's much stretchier.

Dream Swatch

I have many things to discuss here, but instead, I have FO pics!

This is the Dream Swatch, fairly heavily modified.



I did 3 repeats instead of 4. I wrapped the yarn 4 times instead of 3. And I made it just big enough for my head, and seamed it up into a circle. The yarn is one of the KH colorways from Blackthorne Fibers.



And apparently, it's fall. The students are back, that fall feel is in the air, it gets dark early, and the leaves



have started changing colors.