Kat with a K

February socks done!

I was falling asleep on the couch on the 29th while weaving in ends, but I finished them in February! Yay!

Yarn: Dye-namics Slythern Stripe, sport weight
Needles: US 2
Pattern: I thought the cuff pattern was from Sensational Knitted Socks, but I can't find it. Hmm. The rest of it is just a basic sock.
For: A friend who really likes Slytherin stuff.

I love love love this yarn, and I'm happy with the way these came out.

Shrug - Done!

Look!

It's done! Yay! I'm very excited. Pattern is I Do, yarn is Tahki Cotton Classic. This is for a friend to wear at her wedding next month. I'll try to get a picture of her wearing it with her dress.

First finish of 2008!

I finished Mom's Christmas socks on January 27, and finally got a decent picture. Since I finished them in January, I'm on track with my "finish a pair of socks a month" goal! Yay!

They're plain socks in Dye-namics Small Stripes, "mystery" colorway, sport weight. Love love love this yarn.

P.S. Mom, they'll be in the mail soon!

Tychus!

A Christmas gift:

Pattern: Tychus
Yarn: Patons Classic Merino
Changes: I only did four sections, not five, and it was big enough. And I used a provisional cast-on and then grafted the ends together, instead of seaming.
Comments: Fun, quick, and looks great. My main problem was that I spent more time untangling yarn than actually knitting, since I was working from both ends of two balls of yarn.

Pretend this looks good, 'kay?

Here's the deadline project I was talking about last weekend. It's actually a practice version of the shrug my friend will be wearing with her wedding dress. (The real thing will be blue.) The reason for the rush was so she could try it on with the dress at a fitting. And yay, it fits!

The picture I snapped before I sent it off, however, really doesn't look so great:

Trust me, it looks better in person. And I suspect it looks even better actually on a person. It's I Do from Knitty, expect that the increasing and decreasing directions didn't work at all, so I had to basically rewrite the pattern. Once I got over that, though, it was a pretty quick knit.

So now I have about a month for holiday knitting, and then I get to start this all over again, in blue!

Yay!!!! and State of the Knitting

It's too dark in here to get a decent picture right now, but I had to tell you all immediately that I just finished the baby sweater I've been working on on and off for months. I am SO excited. I've been in a finishing mood the last few days... the WIPs were getting out of control again.

Aside from the above sweater, here's what I've been working on:

1. Dishcloths Thanks to Jennifer, I've been on a dishcloth kick. I've made two in the past week (pictures soon) and have printed out patterns for several more. Wheee.

2. Afghan Squares I'm finishing up my fourth (and probably last) square for Rebuilding Greensburg.

3. Shawls I'm inching along slooowly on an easy lace one for me, to leave at the office, and a harder lace one for the widow of the uncle who passed away in April.

4. Socks I have four socks at various stages. One is on the foot, and moving along nicely except that I messed up the hank-to-ball process somewhere and it keeps tangling, so I've been only working on it at home. Two are about ready for heels, so I have to figure out what I want to do with them. And the fourth I started on Saturday because obviously none of the other three were appropriate for mindless knitting at an outdoor concert.

5. Shrug The "practice" version of I Do (for my friend to wear at her wedding) is somewhere between half and two thirds done. Then the recipient (who lives in another state) has to try it on, and we have to figure out any necessary adjustments, and then we have to find yarn that matches the beading on her gown, and then I can knit it again. Luckily, the wedding isn't until March.

6. Sweater I haven't touched Arwen in months, but this week I've been itching to get back to it. I'm hoping to have it done by fall. I have the back done, and part of one of the fronts.

And, of course, there are a bunch of things I want to start, but I'm trying to finish up a few more first. Let's hope this bout of finishitis lasts...

Just in the nick of time...

I did it! One of my 2006 resolutions was to finally finish a sweater, so I realized that today was my last chance. I found this baby sweater that had been waiting to be seamed up for months now, and finished it this afternoon. Yay! I have knit a sweater! A small, easy sweater, but still! I'm hoping this gets me over my sweater-finishing phobia.

Pattern: Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream in... well, something hot pink
Edits: I did icord ties instead of attaching ribbon. I think it's cute. And I couldn't find the book today, so if there were any weird sewing-up instructions, I apparently ignored them.

And on Friday night, I finally finished my Secret Santa scarf:

Pattern: Reversible Cable Scarf from Cables Untangled
Yarn: Bartlett Yarns Fisherman 2-Ply in green heather
Edits: Just ended a bit sooner than the pattern said, but I think it was long enough.
Comments: Loved this pattern! It's easy to memorize but held my interest, and it looks great. Will definitely be doing this again.

Shedir done!

One good thing about being home sick: Shedir is finally done!

Pattern: Shedir from Knitty
Yarn: Jaeger Roma
Comments: This pattern was super fun, but took FOREVER. I'd definitely make it again, but not on a deadline. The friend that this is for is having her surgery on Tuesday, so I'll send it to her sister's house on Monday and hope that it makes its way to her by the end of the week.

And I assume you want to see more kitten pictures? Yeah, I thought you did. Oh, but first: thank you all for your wonderful comments. I'm trying to reply individually as I can, but I'm still feeling pretty ill and chasing after Dewey is taking most of my energy. So please forgive me if I don't get to all of them. To answer a few popular questions: yes, Dewey is after the Dewey Decimal System. And about the gender: I think it's a boy, but I'm not completely sure. I'll let the vet tell me. The name will be Dewey Burke for a boy or Dewey Jane for a girl, after the wonderful doctor I saw in the ER the day Dewey arrived. And I'm using male pronouns for him for now, because it's too hard to try to be neutral all the time.

So. Dewey in his current favorite spot (on the back of the couch right behind my head, watching Grey's Anatomy):

And taking a little nap (Grey's can get stressful.):

Knit Unto Others Scarf 2

Here's my second scarf for Knit Unto Others. I did finish it on December 2, as per the instructions, but I had company until well after midnight so I couldn't post. I hope it still counts, but really, counting in the prize drawings isn't the important issue here.

Yarn: Red Heart Baby Clouds (ick) from the stash. So old it had an Ames sticker on it.
Pattern: 20 stitches, k1p1 rib
Needles: size 10 (ick) metal (ick) straights (ick)

See all the "ick"s above? Those are there to signify the main reasons why I hated every stitch of this scarf. The yarn feels plasticky, and has tons of little loops and fiber bits that constantly get stuck on the needles. Hence the need for metal needles. I normally prefer something in the wood family, but without the slipperiness of metal, there was no way I could have managed this yarn. They were size 10, which is bigger than I really like, and straight, where I usually prefer circs or DPNs. So, you know, it wasn't really the most fun thing ever to knit.

Its one saving grace: it went extremely quickly. And, if I can distance myself from the torture of knitting it and try to look at it a bit objectively, I think it's pretty cute, and it will make a child happy and warm. So yay.

Happy red scarf

My first item for Knit Unto Others. It's a simple ribbed scarf from Homespun (Candy Apple, I think) from the stash. It went remarkably quickly - sort of the opposite of that black hole effect. I'd knit sort of on and off for an evening, while playing D&D or something, and all of a sudden 20 inches would be done. Weird, but I'm not going to question it.

No more cold hands.

Wow! I actually finished something in a reasonable amount of time! I started these wrist warmers on Wednesday or Thursday last week, knit most of the first while watching the worst movie ever, worked on the other in bits on Sunday and Monday and then did most of it during D&D last night. Wove in the ends this morning. Wheee! Less than a week.

Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire in Forest, about 2/3 of a skein. I chose the color because it reminded me of the pine trees on my college campus (in the Berkshires).
Pattern: One Skein Wave Hand Warmers, free from WEBS with the yarn
Edits: I changed the location of the thumb hole on the second one so that the little jog at the beginning/end of the round would be on the palm of both hands, rather than on the back of one.
Time: about a week

Comments: This was a quick, fun knit. They're a little loose, but I should have anticipated that, since I have freakishly small hands. I don't really mind, because they're easy to get over sleeves or even over my leather driving gloves for extra warmth. I wore them while driving to work this morning and the texture seemed to help make them not too slippery on the steering wheel.

Here's one of them on a hand. (Try as I might, I could not come up with a way to take a picture of both of my own hands.) I think the color is a bit truer in this picture.

When I finished the knitting last night, I started swatching for A Cardigan for Arwen with the rest of the skein. I love the fabric, and the gauge is looking reasonable, but as I look at the completed wrist warmers, I'm not so sure. The yarn is a bit "hairy" and the stitch definition isn't great, so I don't think it will give quite the cable I'm looking for. And I'm considering wanting superwash for Arwen anyway. (Not sure. Thoughts?) I'll probably finish the swatch just in case, though. Maybe I'll even manage to attach a tag saying what the swatch is so that next time I'm looking for yarn for a heavy worsted sweater I won't have to do it over.

Now how about some knitting?

Thanks for the opinions, all. Just to clear up any misconceptions, I was not in any way suggesting that everyone should comment on everything - just that it struck me as odd that no one had commented for a while, as I usually get a few right away, and so it brought up some issues I'd been thinking about anyway. Anyway, I now feel free to post on more "serious" topics as the spirit takes me without worrying it will drive away all my readers. Moving on.

Hey, look, proof that I still knit!

At long last, the socks from my very first Trekking. (Please ignore the spam comments on the old entries. I'm working on it. Also, I'm jealous of my own hair in the picture in that post. Why did I cut it off again?)

I like these socks, but next time I say "It's just a toe, I'll remember what I did," please remind me that it may be months until the next toe and I may not, in fact, remember. Hence the different toes on this pair. But it's just the last bit that's different, so hopefully no one will notice. Other than that, I like them.

Now I'm racing through a baby blanket for a baby born, um, three days ago. I started it... today. Oops. It's cotton, which isn't my favorite, but it's a bit more comfortable to knit in this heat. And the pattern is in my head, so I'm hoping I'll be able to knit it while doing homework and playing D&D and such. It's textured, sort of basketweavey, so not quite mindless, but not distracting. Wish me luck, or fortitude, or something.

I'm, um, planning ahead.

All winter I was saying "Huh, it's cold. I should have, I don't know, something to put on my head or something." I know it sounds odd, but I did not seem to own a hat. I tend to not be crazy about wearing hats... but still. I live in New Hampshire. I knit. I should have a hat.

Now I do. Just in time for, you know, Memorial Day, but let's not get nitpicky. It's the Asymmetrical Cable Hat from One Skein, in Lamb's Pride Bulky. I really prefer to knit on smaller needles, but I have to admit that it was sort of fun to do something that knit up so quickly.

I'm particularly proud of the pom-pom, the first I've made with my new pom-pom maker:

Knitting! Pictures!

I told you I was still knitting! I even finished Birch!

Not blocked yet, obviously. And, um, apparently all the ends didn't get woven in, either. Oops. Detail:

I've also started a chevron sock in lovely, very bright Trekking:

But my current obsession is the French Fleurette Scarf in coral Zephyr:

I started this a few months ago, but I must have been tired or something, because I just couldn't wrap my head around the pattern. It is written a bit unclearly, but once I went back with a clear head, I managed to get it. Mostly. I'm still getting confused by it more often than I'd like, but I'm getting there.

From March to April

Well, at least I finished one of the red scarves before Easter:

That's Dave's Scarf, in sort of wonky colors. The close-up:

After all my complaining at the beginning, I think I actually like the way it looks all done. Let's hope my brother likes it too.

Since I finished that, I moved on to April's Project Spectrum color: orange. The Asymmetrical Cable Hat from One Skein:

Well, that's the beginning of it, at least. It's going astonishingly quickly. As much as I generally prefer small needles, I must admit that it's kind of fun to see this hat appear so quickly on size 11s.

Hey, this blocking thing works!

I've been knitting for several years, but somehow, I'd gotten away with not blocking anything. I made mostly scarves and stuff, anyway. And on some level, I think I thought the whole blocking concept was an elaborate joke being played on me by all the other knitters in the universe. Or, um, something. Because really, you do what? Wet it? And pin it to something? How does that make sense?

But then I finished Branching Out, and it was lace, and everyone said that lace had to be blocked. So I figured, what the heck, I'd give it a try. I came home from work on Thursday and gave it a little bath and pinned it to the couch:

And look! It actually worked!

I believe you all now. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. (But I still think steeking must be a joke.)

This is the blanket that never ends...

It just goes on and on, my friends... um, anyway. I think I like this Rule of Ten thing: here's finish number eight for 2006 so far!

A hat, to match the Boring Baby Blanket. I had extra yarn, and Princess Aaralyn likes to be matching. (Well, honestly, I'm not sure she's quite up to such complex fashion decisions yet, but her mommy sure likes it when she's matching. Which isn't hard, because 90% of the child's clothes are pink. And super-adorable. But I digress.) I made up the pattern as I went along - the lace at the top (i.e. where I got bored of stockinette) is supposed to more or less correspond with the lace on the blanket. And that ruffle? Cute, but casting on 240 stitches for a baby hat? Can we say "counter-intuitive"? Anyway, if people like the pattern I'll write it up. Let me know.

Since I finished that, I got to start something new! I decided it was time for something pink for Project Spectrum. This is French Fleurette scarf in coral Zephyr. Because really, what says "spring" like pretty little pink French flowers?

This is my first time working with Zephyr. I'm liking it, but it is splitting a bit. Let's hope that stops as I get used to it. My goal is to have this done by Easter. But I'd better finish something else sooner than that, because I want to start Rogue SOON.

Meet Watson.

Remember Aloysius? This is his brother Watson.

He wanted a scarf too. And it's red(dish), so it's my first entry for Project Spectrum. I have two red scarves and a red shawl on my list right now - it's almost like I knew about this before today and didn't join at the last minute! Hah! The other color of the month is pink, which is one of my favorites. But, oddly, I don't have anything pink on the go, I don't think. Oh, yes I do! There's that sock I abandoned back in, oh, May or so. Hmm.

I don't think I want to add that to the list right now, though. (I get to add something because I finished the Teddy Bear Scarf!) Just not in the mood. I think I'm going to put Branching Out back into rotation instead. And that means I'll have to finish something else in the next, oh, ten days, because I want to start Danica during the first F1 race of the season. (Yes, I know Danica isn't in F1. It's going to be my general watching-races project.)

Oh, and Watson's scarf is my seventh finished item for 2006 so far! Woohoo!

Remember the Boring Baby Blanket?

Not so boring anymore:

Ari and Mommy

(She's still working on the sitting up thing.)

It even fits well over her carseat to block the sun:

The pattern is Sam's Blanket and I think the yarn was Patons Grace, but don't quote me on that. Something soft and cotton. Because I am bad at mailing things, I gave it to Princess Aaralyn when I finally met her in person on her four-month birthday. Isn't she adorable?

And we're off!

I started casting on right at two, and had a bit of a rocky start. The cast on seemed a bit wonky, but I decided to trust Nancy Bush and keep going. Here's the cast on and three rounds:

Unfortunately, any more progress will have to wait until after at least most of the things on my 15-item to do list are done. And after I nap, because the Opening Ceremonies are until midnight and then I need to be at the airport at 5:30 am.

And in a quick break from all-Olympics-all-the-time, here's the game of "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other" I mentioned:

Um. Huh? Those are my mother's Cool Little Mittlets (belated Christmas gift). They are indeed knit from the same skein of yarn. Does Noro Kureyon usually do this?

They're actually less similar in person than they are in the picture. The colors never repeat. None of them. Ever. I swear the last thing I knit with Kureyon didn't do this. Are some of the colorways just like this? What's going on?

P.S. To the person who found my site searching for "Evan Lysacek gay," if that's a question, I don't know the answer. But cheer for him either way, will ya?

Huh, I kinda like this finishing idea.

First, the promised picture:

Yup, I finished three things this weekend. Three! Now, granted, two of those scarves had just needed their ends woven in for quite some time, but still. I am proud of myself, and have three fewer things to feel guilty about.

I did almost as well with the other finishing projects. I only finished one book, but I realized that the closest to the end I was in any of them was 150 pages, so that's not bad. I'll make some more reading progress before bed. And I didn't write a whole draft of my story, but that might have been an overzealous goal for a day in which I also wanted to accomplish other things. I wrote an outline and about 1000 words of story, so I'm satisfied. My goal is to have a draft before my trip/the Olympics, and then revise it afterwards.

I did watch two Netflix DVDs. Apparently it was a weekend for historical epics, although now that I think about it, most weekends would fall into that category for me, especially if the epics in question involve pretty clothes and questionable historicity. Anyway. Last night I watched the first two episodes of Into the West. It started slowly, but ended up being captivating in that Oh-God-I-cannot-believe-another-horrible-thing-is-going-to-happen-to-these-people way. And every time blankets appeared, I had to restrain myself from yelling "No! Smallpox! Don't take them!" at the screen.

Tonight I watched part one of Henry VIII. I spent the first half hour or so trying to decide whether I'd seen it before; I eventually decided that I had, but figured at that point I might as well just keep watching. I'm planning a post about it after I watch part two (which I am quite sure I have not seen before), so I'll just say a few things for now. First of all, it prompted the declaration in my household that the beheading of Helena Bonham Carter is the hallmark of a good movie. (Don't tell me you haven't seen Lady Jane.) Also, the people who made both this movie and Into the West seem to be rather confused about the whole birth idea. Um, people, there's this thing called the umbilical cord. I really don't think you can pull a baby out of a mother and immediately walk across the room with it. Right? Someone with more experience (Ais? Erica? Kristen?) want to back me up on this?

Indisputable Evidence

I've been making a good show of the "oh, there's plenty of time until Christmas" thing. But I can't do it anymore. Because look what has taken up residence in my living room?

Isn't it pretty?

Oh. What's that on the top, you ask? Well. I had no tree topper, and it was looking a little bare. Plus, it's COLD in my apartment. So what do you do when you have someone bareheaded and cold in your house? Think about it for a minute.

Yeah. I thought so. You knit it a hat. It's really only logical.

Just to keep me humble

So many of you have commented on the loveliness of the pictures my roommate took of the cider/yarn incident last weekend. Well, we have now determined that he can also take better pictures of his own hand than I can take of him. Yeah. It's great for my self-esteem, really it is.

Anyway, here are the mittlets I made him in my ongoing effort to avoid turning on the heat in our apartment:

You can see the nifty thumb shaping in that one. The pattern is the one from the Elegant Ewe. There are lots of variations, and it's quite fun. A few more:

Yeah, we thought that one looked a bit odd, but I figured I'd post it anyway.

And, just because it's totally adorable:

The roommate with his new best friend. And, yes, wearing his mittlets. I introduced them and it was love at first sight. Of course, I wasn't willing to give up my adorable bear, so we now have two of these bears in the house¹. Mine is named Snowflake, which is the name he came with; the roommate's is Aloysius. He is currently knitting Aloysius a scarf, because Aloysius is cold. Really, you have not seen cuteness until you have seen a grown man knitting a scarf for his teddy bear.

___
¹ You, too, can have a Snowflake bear of your very own: he's from Borders/Borders Express, $7.99 with a $30 purchase. And his is THE VERY BEST SOFTEST bear I have ever met. I love these bears. You need one. Really.

Done!

The baby blanket! The mind-numbing, soul-sucking, endless gorram baby blanket¹ is done. And it's pretty, too. (No pictures at the moment, because my ISP was down last night and so I'm writing this from my work computer.)

I finished the border and cast off while watching the pilot of Six Feet Under on DVD from Netflix.² So now all that needs to happen is weaving in the ends, packing it up, and sending it to Texas. If anyone talks to Princess Aaralyn, tell her it's almost there.

___
¹ My feelings about the blanket are not in any way reflective of my feelings about the baby (who is adorable) or her mommy (who is a great friend). Just so that's clear.
² I watched the whole disc (three episodes) because I was that quickly addicted. I highly recommend it, if you ever have the chance to see it. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but it was very different from and much better than whatever I had anticipated.