the third time's the charm

I cast on for this baby hat on Sunday while I was at Knitsmiths and got to halfway through the crown decreases on Monday night before I put it on my head and realized it was large enough to fit me and thus far too big for a ten and a half month old child. So, it was frogged, I rewrote the pattern to fit the gauge I was getting, and then cast on again. That time I got halfway through the crown before I realized I had screwed up and made the brim far too long, so I ripped back halfway again. The third time, it seems to have worked, and here is the result.



The pattern as originally written is Miss Dashwood from Knitty. When I recalculated it to fit the gauge I was getting I eliminated the bobble row and changed the brim decreases. So I've nicknamed it Miss Marianne. The yarn is Bernat Cottontots in Jelly Belly, and it was knit on size 6 bamboo needles. The only thing I didn't like about the pattern was the need to do k4tog tbl (which was really hard on my hands during the first go round) but when I modified the pattern for my gauge I changed the decrease row to get rid of that. Otherwise, I think it's an adorable pattern and can't wait to see it on its recipient.

everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey

We went over to Catherine's place on Friday night for a little craft evening. Though our night was not without adventure since we went out for dinner and realized our host had forgotten her keys. Luckily, her SuperBoyfriend (or Sporkman!) came to the rescue. But here is the result of our crafty endeavors.

Meet my very first sock monkey!



He's a little starry eyed from all of the attention he's been receiving, but he seems to be very happy.

Baby, baby

This post is actually about an older FO. I made this baby sweater early last year, when a friend of mine was pregnant.



It is Nona's Baby Jacket from the 2006 edition of the Knitting Pattern-A-Day Calendar and is made from Schaefer Lola.

The intended recipient decided to show up a little early, so it's only been recently that she's been wearing her sweater. Yesterday, we took her to the park, and here are a couple of picture of baby cuteness. She's now ten and a half months old and adorable.



And here she is in the swing, where you can see the hood a little better.



It's still big on her, and I need to add some closures, but hopefully she'll be able to wear it for a while yet.

yarn balls and baseballs

I decided to break through my knitting funk by working on a project where mistakes wouldn't matter or at least wouldn't show, so I embarked on something felted and made a pair of Fuzzy Feet. I forgot to take a picture of them before they were felted (sorry, Catherine), but they were very large and garnered inappropriate comments from random young men at Starbucks in their pre-felted shape.

Here is the finished product:



They are made from one skein of Paton's Classic merino in the Harvest colorway. I was worried about running out of yarn, as my feet are large, but I had about two yards to spare at the end.

The Knitsmiths had a yarn swap yesterday. I made an effort to destash some of my leftovers from older projects but somehow came home with more than I arrived with.

The loot:



In the top row are ten skeins of Patons DK Country Garden, which I'm hoping will be enough for the Green Tea Raglan from the current Interweave Knits, and a skein of Vally Yarns merino wool, which is probably destined to be a hat. In the bottom row is a skein of Sunshine Yarns sock yarn in Starry Night, a skein of Manos (which I've never used before), some Koigu PPPM (which I've also never used), another skein of Sunshine Yarns in Fern, and a skein of Danette Taylor handpainted. Such goodies!

And for those of you doubting that spring is coming, I am recently returned from Florida and seeing the boys of summer. A couple of shots for you. . .



Ryan Howard, NL MVP last year (I love how the baseball ended up in the corner of this shot):



I love how this photo turned out, especially considering I took it from the window of a moving car:



So, there's a little sunshine for you!

Rip it, rip it

The knitting blog has been quiet lately, as I've been in rather a knitting funk. I spent two days untangling the mess I made of one skein of yarn, only to begin knitting it into a sock and then frogging it all while I was working on the gusset because of too many visible mistakes. Then I started another pair and ended up frogging that after two inches because it didn't look right. And then I started a third sock, this one involving colorwork, and when I tried it on I couldn't get it over my heel. So there's been a lot of ripping going on in my house lately.

My next intended project was the Anemoi mittens, but I may put those off for a bit, at least until Mercury retrograde is over. I don't generally put a lot of stock in astrology, but between all of my knitting disasters, the job search that is going nowhere, and not feeling like reading anything (and I read everything), there may be something to this.

In the meantime, I'll be getting ready to head to Florida to watch baseball!

And a little bit of amusement, from Deb (Chappy's Mom):

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Milady the Most Honourable Alexis the Sardonic of Bumswick by the Hole Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Secret Cupid

I can finally show off some of those secret projects, as last night our knitting group had our Secret Cupid exchange. As it turned out, Ariel had tricked me and actually had me as her recipient. Check out the socks she made for me:



They're made with Artyarns supermerino, which is one of my favorite yarns ever. I also got pretty stitch markers and a Lindt chocolate toffee bar and a bag of stroopwafflen, as she knows I'm addicted.

The person I made gifts for is the blog-less Cassandra. She had mentioned wanting to try bamboo yarn, so I made mittens for her out of Classic Elite Wool Bamboo:



The hands used just one ball of yarn, on size 5 Inox circulars (magic loop). The cuffs are in Berocco Zodiac. I also made her a pair of socks and by accident I seem to have deleted the full image, so here's the detail shot:



They are made out of two skeins of Cervinia Calzetteria in the color Capri.

And I also made her stitch markers, which I know Ariel is jealous of, considering the theme:



And I may also have gotten her an infectious disease stuffed animal, because she loves those infectious diseases!

Answer to Anna's question in the comments on my last post:

No, I didn't crochet on a toggle on the cardigan. I do want to find some kind of clasp or such for it. I was using an Edward Gorey cat pin to pin it this weekend, as it kind of gaped in the back when it wasn't closed. And the picture was taken in a bookstore, so you weren't too far off in your guess. :)

Currently reading: Atonement, by Ian McEwan.

my first sweater

An honest to goodness FO to show off, and my first real sweater to boot. I've made baby sweaters, and one tank top with short sleeves for myself, but this is my first real sweater made for myself. It's the Cardigan for Arwen from the winter issue of Interweave Knits.



The cardigan is hooded, with the cable pattern running the length of the front and the hood, as well as the cuffs.



It took almost six weeks to complete, using (I think) six balls of Patons Classic Merino in That's Purple (and it is very purple). If I were to modify the pattern any I would probably add a couple of inches to the length and widen the tops of the sleeves since they're a little tight for my big arms. But, overall, I'm really pleased with how the sweater turned out.

Now, to figure out what to make next. . .