Otterly amazing!

What's that?

More yarny goodness?!

Otterly amazing!

Bad puns aside, I did have some yarny fun this weekend. =)

I went with fingerless mitts to go with the hat. I hope she likes them. I think the fit is nice, fitted without being too baggy or too snug... on me, at least. And because she's a fellow critter fan, I'm throwing in something for the furrier members of the family...

Catnip kitties for her kitty, Joe.

Those two better stay out of the pb dog biscuits I'm sending! Think she'll be surprised?

(The little hibiscus wood otter came home from SF with me via an awesome woodworking shop in Ghirardelli Square. Such a cutie, how could I pass up that face? He had to travel home in my checked bags thanks to that crazy tail though. Didn't want to risk any extra searches from security... or have him end up in the trash bin.)

Wrapped in love

Or at least alpaca and bamboo. =)

Last winter, a friend saw my then newly-knit fingerless gloves and asked for a pair so we went off in search of some great yarn while working in Portland. She picked up two skeins of Qina from Mirasol Yarn, a blend of alpaca and bamboo, in a beautiful charcoal grey. I haven't been knitting much this year so the yarn has been sitting, unloved, for much too long. Now that the temps are starting to drop (everywhere but here apparently), I thought it was time to pull this out and give it a go.

This weekend I finished off a few of my older projects that sat unfinished far too long, with this project as a bit of incentive. I didn't want to start anything new with all the old stuff still sitting there. Mission accomplished and guilt abated. =) So after finishing the others, I cast on the pair of delayed fingerless mitts for my friend on Sunday.... finishing Monday. This yarn is so yummy! Soft and warm. I think they'll be well-received. The pattern I chose, Fetching, knit up incredibly quickly and took only one full skein and just a bit from skein two for the second thumb. They weigh exactly 50g though so had I been careful, I could have used just the one skein after all, but I had fears of running out on that second thumb and having to pick back. heh

Love the picot bind-off!

Since we didn't have a specific pattern in mind all those months ago, she purchased two skeins of this luxurious-feeling yarn. Still having almost a full skein left, I decided I wanted to make something else cozy to go with the mitts. Using the cable pattern used on Fetching, I worked up a pattern for a small cowl/neck warmer with a button closure but didn't like the way it was coming out halfway through so I reworked it into a circular cowl instead and started over. Had to resize it halfway through and start over, but I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Here are the details for A Fetching Cowl:

Yarn is DK weight, size 6 needles (a set of dpns will work, but a 16" circ makes it even quicker!)

Gauge: 25 st and 26 rows to 4" (worked in rib pattern, unstretched of course)

Finished measurements: @17" around and @5" tall (again, unstretched, the rib allows plenty of room to pass over the head)

CO = cast on

BO = bind off

PM = place marker
st = stitches
K = knit
P = purl

C4F = transfer 2 st to cable needle, hold to front of work, K2, K2 off cable needle

C4B = transfer 2 st to cable needle, hold to back of work, K2, K2 off cable needle

CO 110 st in a stretchy CO (I used the cable cast-on)

PM and join in the round.

Round 1 (R1): *K4, P1*, repeat to end of round

Repeat R1 until just before the halfway point. If using my measurements, repeat until your cowl reaches just shy of 2 1/2". (I did this by weight since I was working with a small amount of yarn and wanted to get the most out of it - just weigh the remainder of the ball you're working from and work your cable round when you have a little over half left.)

Cable round: *C4B, P1*, repeat 10 more times, *C4F, P1*, repeat 10 more times.

Repeat R1 for another 2 1/4" (or adjust if you've made yours smaller or bigger).

P 1 round. (This will help a bit with the cowl wanting to roll and make it match if you've used the cable cast-on.)

BO in your favorite stretch manner. Weave in ends. =)

Resizing the pattern -For a larger or smaller cowl, simple add or subtract your CO stitches by multiples of 5 and adjust your cable round to suit your CO number. A multiple of 10 CO stitches will result in an even number of cables leaning right and left, but no one will notice if there aren't an even amount!

Perfect as a set! (And ridiculously quick to knit! Hmm, Christmas gifts anyone?)

Christmas Gifts - Done!

Finally finished the never-ending scarf! Scarf + sock yarn = way too much knitting the same pattern over and over! I pretty much knit this exclusively on planes/in airports so it took awhile to finish, but it's done! And it's been getting lots of compliments from flight attendants along the way too. =) I love it... but I'm SO glad it's done! Really felt like the miles (okay, 6 feet) of scarf would never end. haha Fingering weight yarn (and boredom with the pattern) makes for sloooooow going. Not the pattern's fault. It's super easy and there was no pattern I had to keep handy to refer to... just reminded myself why I rarely knit scarves! =) Scarves remind me of being a kid, riding in a car with my parents asking, "Are we there yet?!" Tomorrow, the scarf and matching fingerless mitts will be heading a bit north to Everett, WA, to keep their new owner warm and toasty.Should be a good fit for the mild Pacific NW winter. =)

Hand cozies... a couple new WIPs

So.far.behind. heh Yeah, I need to post more often... but I've been busy. =) Knitting, having fun, traveling (yeah, big shock there). So the knitting's first...

I finished my fingerless gloves. LOVE them! I made a couple alterations to the pattern (Ravelry link). I moved the cables down to the wrist so I'd have the stretch where it was needed and I left 6 (12 really) live stitches: so I could go back and add a real thumb:

And absolutely LOVE the results!

These have even come in handy already! I worked an office Monday that was super cold and ended up wearing my jacket and these gloves in the office! SO cozy...

I also started a couple new projects this week. There's my new capelet:

Wasn't completely sure I'd love the boucle, but I actually really like how this is knitting up. Love the color. Nice and cushy feel and seems like it'll be really toasty. Knitting on US sz10s, this should be a fairly quick knit... ya know, if I hadn't gotten distracted by these:

A friend has been hinting (well, more than hinting heh) that she'd like a pair of fingerless gloves too... and loves purple. haha What else could I do?! Found this great self-striping sock yarn in shades of purple and grey and off I went. I'm halfway through the second after an office cancellation in the middle of my day yesterday. Whew! Thank goodness I had these in my handbag or I'd have been really annoyed at the forced 2-hr lunch. Beautiful day to sit and knit for a couple hours. =) And I stumbled across a really nice little yarn shop just down the street from my next office. Anne's Yarn Shop. Nice surprise after the last place I checked out in the area. Friendly owner and a good selection on mid-priced yarns along with some free classes and a knit night open to all. So, if you're in the area, check her out! We have to keep the good shops around! (Yeah, I helped. heh Picked up a couple skeins of some alpaca/cotton blend in yummy colors.)

I know. Like I needed more yarn? Whatever. I have a very specific plan for those two!

Next up... catching up on non-yarny fun! Later! =)

I don't recommend it

Knitting with dark sport weight yarn on smallish (also kinda dark) needles on a less than well-lit plane, that is. heh Oh, and metal dpns on a plane - not good. Way too slick for comfort. I think it's time to go in search of a full set of (affordable) bamboo dpns...

I'm using the Swirling Gauntlets (Ravelry link) pattern with a couple mods. I'm making mine a bit longer, moving the cabling down to the wrist where I don't need as much stretch since cabling pulls in and adding on a thumb. I finished most of the first on my trip home Friday and cast-off at the airport - Indy, I think. haha It all just starts mushing together after awhile. Cast-on #2 on the tarmac - again, Indy... or possibly Cleveland. =) Loving how these are coming out!

It seems my time in New York is dwindling. I'm loving watching the seasons change here, but I've been in Albany since sometime mid-July (I think) and I'd love to be out before the snow hits! And the amount of work for us here has been, well, less than stellar. Way less. Excited to see what's next!

Fall has arrived!

Okay, so technically Fall started last week, but it's finally made its way to my knitting. After breaking up the short fling I had with some way too bright pink yarn, I re-cast-on for a pair of fingerless gloves in a more autumnal colorway.

I'm just starting the cable pattern and I have to say, I LOVE this yarn! Love the colorway. Love the feel of the yarn. Love the way it's knitting up. These should be nice and toasty for the chilly mornings to come. Sometimes, a yarn and pattern just do not mesh. This is not one of those times. Stay tuned for finished pics...

I have a problem

I love finding awesome deals on yarn. Yarn I don't really need. But it's just so irresistably pretty, dontcha think? Six skeins of this yummy mohair, wool, silk blend now reside in my stash. Well, my hotel room for now. heh It's not fattening... or illegal... so it's all good, right? ;-) And under $20 for the lot of it! How can that be bad? Heck, if the heat goes out, I can always just bury myself in my stash to survive, right?

I do believe the company I got this from is covering up the fact that they've perfected that method of transport used in Star Trek movies and beamed this to me. I placed my order late, late Wednesday night... and it was waiting at the hotel for me Friday afternoon! Wow. Okay, so it was only coming from Vermont and I'm in western upstate New York, but still. Now, what to do with it? I think this needs to be some sort of shawl or wrap. Any suggestions? I have 1200 yds and it's 8 sts/24 rows to 4" on US7 and a boucle (Wool In The Woods Harmony) - not looking to use all 1200 yds, obviously. heh =)

I started my fingerless gloves... and then frogged them. I'd started them on US6 dpns and realized quickly they were too big. I also realized... I didn't like this yarn as fingerless gloves. I loved that yarn in the ball. Still do. And it'll be perfect for something... just not fingerless gloves. ;-) At least, not for me. So I left that yarn at home last weekend and brought back some purple/blue/green variegated wool to restart my gloves. This colorway seems much more fall-like anyway. Pics to come...

BTW - Reilly is doing much, much better this weekend. Though it took longer than anyone (including two vets) expected and racked up a couple more vet bills along the way, he's apparently back to his old, bouncy self. =D Woo!

Hmm, any techies reading this? I know next to nothing about html. Is there an easy fix to make this section wider? So it doesn't cut off the edge of my pics? Just curious. It bugs me. =)

Deadlines Met!

I suppose the office messing up and not giving me enough work last week did have one advantage - I finished the fingerless gloves before seeing the intended recipient! I again stayed within the color family prefered by my big sis. (Refer to last year's knitted gift to see the trend.) Didn't realize up front how much of a pain it would be to match up the right spot in the yarn to start the second of the pair. Self-patterning yarn in colors is so much simpler to match up than one in all shades of grey. Took at least 4 tries to get it just right. Then I ran into a spot midway through the 2nd glove where a new piece of yarn had been knotted to the old to continue the skein. Seriously, they shouldn't be able to do that with self-patterning yarns! Of course, it wasn't knotted in the right spot to keep up the pattern so I got a bit more practice at matching. Grr. Yes, I'm anal. If I was to spend this amount of knitting time on these, I wanted them to match as closely as possible. They are a bit baggy through the hand, but I just didn't have time to reknit the first one to fix that so had to make the second to match. It's not so bad though. I didn't realize my sister's hands are shorter and a bit wider than mine so they actually fit fairly well with a bit of extra room for a thin pair of gloves to go under these in colder weather. My next pair of fingerless gloves will be a different pattern (or possibly a tweaked version of these), but I'll definitely be making some again! And thankfully, these were very well-received! =) I also found some who'd be more than happy to receive the Branching Out scarf I can't wear. =D

The hooded scarf for my mom was a big hit too. We exchanged gifts Christmas Eve before she headed off to work the night shift. I think maybe she wasn't keeping in mind the fact that I am only home 2-3 days a month when she chose my gifts though. Over a month ago, I'd asked for a yarn swift or ball winder - both things I really want and would be really handy to have on hand even just a couple days a month. I got a new comforter for my bed and a wall calendar that I'll see just enough to change over to the next month. Ah, well, at least the comforter is the right size to fit the bed I have in storage (rather than the full-size one I sleep on here two nights a month). It's the thought that counts, right? There's always my birthday next week...

More Christmas Knitting! (dish cloth and WIP)

One more dish cloth finished! I used the same pattern I used for my alpaca stole. I think it makes a great wash cloth! It's nice and thick and textured enough to create a nice lather.


I worked on my sister's fingerless gloves in the airport and on my flight back home on Friday. Just need to finish the thumb and I'm halfway finished! Not so thrilled with this pattern though. The ribbing on the arm is perfect. The hand portion, however, is much too baggy and the instructions state to knit stockinette an inch past the thumb gusset and bind off. Way too short! I knit about an inch, then added on another inch of 1x1 ribbing so the edge wouldn't roll as in the original design. If I had more time (or didn't have to work this week), I'd rip these back and try it again with a few modifications. Ah, well. The recipient more than likely won't care so much. They're okay as is, I just know they could be better. Loving this yarn though!