Monday, February 22, 2010

The three day scarf

So, remember those two balls of yarn I walked out of the store with on Thursday? By Sunday night they had turned into this:

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Pattern: Mochi Plus Beaded Rib Scarf
Yarn: Crystal Palace Mochi Plus (2 skeins) in color 552 (as I refer to it, sunset colors) on US 8 needles

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Just a quick, satisfying project. And wonderful colors to look at during winter!

Friday, February 19, 2010

short but sweet

This was a very quick knitting project for a thank you gift.

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Pattern: Princess Mitts, by Jennifer Hagan
Yarn: Brooks Farm Solo (small portion of a skein) on US 6 needles

(Without the flash shows the cables better.)

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I love the finished project. I do feel, though, that the written pattern could have been far clearer, especially in regard to the thumb gusset. I used the designer's revised pattern, available on her website, and I have just read the original version (available here) and the original was easier to understand. I did figure it out eventually--with Johanna's help!--but it was needlessly complicated.

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But they are pretty, and a fast knit.

I missed my bus yesterday afternoon and decided to kill time by browsing in Windsor Button. Always a mistake. :) These decided to come home with me.

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I'm really attracted to those sunset-y colors right now.

Friday, February 12, 2010

v for victory (well, sort of)

I've been meaning to knit a vest for the past few months, to wear over a button down shirt at work, but I only just got around to actually doing it.

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Pattern: High Street Vest by Kate Flagg
Yarn: Farmhouse Yarns Not Just for Socks in Storm (almost two skeins) on US 5 needles

I got the yarn in a swap over on the Doctor Who boards on Ravelry, and it's very nice. The one problem I had was that when I wound the skeins I discovered that one was considerably lighter than the other in terms of color. So I ended up alternating skeins every other row while knitting.

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I would have really loved this pattern except for one little thing. It is supposed to be done specific to your measurements, so you're supposed to insert the numbers for where you want it to fall on your body. Except that I'm a really lousy judge of where things are supposed to be on my body and I ended up making the body of the vest far too short. Even a suggested number would have helped to suggest to me that maybe my numbers were not leaning the right way. Otherwise the pattern is great and leads towards a nice finished product. In the end I cast on and knit an additional three inches of ribbing and grafted that to the original cast on. It's not perfect--the seam is noticeable--but it's wearable. Another time I'll make one--with the right numbers.