KAL

More catch-up

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Have you missed me?  I’ve been having trouble with WordPress on my phone, and just didn’t manage to write posts on the computer (evidence that I am way too dependent upon my pocket computer!!!).  Here’s a short catch-up post!

First, the Wee Boy and most of his Halloween costume!  The Fourth Doctor’s scarf is really long, but I think it will be ok.  I’m trying to get him to wear it around the house to test it out in case I need to shorten it for safety.  It’s perfect if I wrap it around him twice, and a friend suggested pinning it in place, which I think is genius.

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Second is my most recent leethalknits hat KAL, Mokia.  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mokia  It’s a pretty funky hat, but I found that my stockinette version, with the points tied together inside, isn’t too crazy for regular life.  I really can’t pull off pointy ears on a typical day.

I have been making really excellent progress with my Dalek Halloween costume.  I’ll show it to you soon– I think it warrants its own post because it might end up being something of a tutorial.

Twelve slow rows 

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The current Leethalknits KAL hat I’m working on is going very slowly. Every other row is a very cabley/twisted stitch-y row, and takes lots of concentration on top of the pattern AND stitch key. Not great for knit night or on-the-go knitting at all. So I only have twelve rows of the body done.


On the bright side, the non-cable rows are fairly fast, and I’m finally getting the hang of cabling without a needle. 😐

Some sewing, etc.

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Yesterday I found myself with some free time and an urge to start a new sewing project. However, when I peeked at my project basket, I found a few UFOs and was reminded of a project with a deadline coming up this weekend. After a few scattered sessions in my studio (aka my kitchen table), I’ve finished four of the pieces.

Two soccer gear bags:

 

these ate quite big- they’ll easily hold a uniform plus shoes.


And two oddly-shaped project bags, eeked out of leftover fabric too big to be scraps and too awesome to not eke out a few little somethings for myself:

daleks!

 

spock!

 
I’m ridiculously pleased to have a few colorful project bags to brighten up my knitting. These are pretty small- they’ll fit a sock or hat project, but not much else.

Today I was also able to get some better, naturally-lit shots of my Provocateur hat. A few shots here, to show you the funky construction.

   
    
 
  
Pretty trippy, right? That’s all for today! Good night!
  

This is (a cool) hat.

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Confession: I had my doubts about this hat. I didn’t know if it would fit, if I was doing it right, if I’d like it…. Maybe that’s why I powered through it. I did about 50 rows tonight- half were plain purl, so it’s not exactly amazing, but it was enough to finish! Before the three needle bind off:

 

one still wonders, what is this!!??


After the bind off:

cool!

really cool!

  And one mediocre modeled selfie so you get an idea of the fit.

 

it fits! it fits WELL!


I’ll block it, which might help the uneven edge a bit.  Overall, I’m extremely pleased with this hat, considering my rough start and great trepidation with such a mysterious pattern and unusual construction!  

Provocateur 

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A knitting friend convinced me to join a leethalknits hat series KAL. I’d never done anything quite like it, and it sounded fun. The first hat was a mystery, which sounded fun since I’d never done a mystery KAL before. But I got caught up in the crochet hats (deadline crafting comes first!), so I started late. After one frustrating false start, I changed yarn from a dark gray to one that’s easy to see, and which I hope will be less frustrating. 

So far so good! I’ve managed to keep the right stitch count and I can see the pattern emerging.

  
I could have used a completely solid color to showcase the cables better, but I think this will be pretty, and it’s using up yarn from our stash exchange, always a bonus. Wish me luck!

Almost French toast!

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Yesterday I finished knitting the second sleeve of my French Toast sweater, and tonight I knitted the 1/2 inch of neckline ribbing. The bind off was supposed to be a “sewn tubular” bind off, but I found that it wasn’t that stretchy, it was tedious, and it didn’t look that good, so I frogged back and just bound off loosely in pattern.

  I think it looks fine. I only wish I’d known about continental purling earlier- it would have made the center cable panel much nicer. Oh well. At least my ribbing is snug and neat.

 Speaking of ribbing, the last bit of work on this sweater is to re-knit the hem ribbing. You can see a little in the above photo how the hem flares a bit. I don’t like it! I’ll go down to the needle size I used for the sleeve and neckline ribbing, and do the magical continental purling to neaten it up.

 
I forgot to take a photo before I started frogging, but I bet you excellent crafters can see the difference in the ribbing. If all goes well, this sweater will be washed and blocked within a day or two!

French Toast

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My French Toast pullover is speeding along nicely, even though I didn’t touch it yesterday.

Before I did any knitting today:

  And just now:
  

It will have a ribbed collar later- I’m really looking forward to seeing that done, as the collar looks so big and floppy right now. 
I tried it on twice today- at the time I took each photo. The first time was to check the fit before committing more time to the project, the second was to make sure I hadn’t been dreaming the first time; the fit was so perfect. 

I’ve made very few pullovers in my knitting career, but suddenly I’m feeling interested in them. Let’s see how this goes!

Cablepalooza

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One of my knitting friends has done what she has dubbed “cablepalooza” over the past few years, just after the holiday knitting rush. During cablepalooza, she knits a bunch of interesting cabled hats, thereby learning more about cables and ending up with lovely new hats.

This year, cablepalooza has spread to our knitting group, and some of us have decided to knit things other than hats. Me, I’ve decided to knit a pullover. I’ve been feeling the need/want of a simple, neutral, very useful knitted sweater that isn’t a cardigan. Another knitting friend suggested the pattern French Toast, and this, combined with two skeins of Miss Babs Wowza in Pewter, seem pretty much perfect. 

   
  

wowza indeed! these are giant cakes of yarn!


I’ll swatch tomorrow.  I’m worn out from an outing to the Asian Art museum this morning, and much time with the kids all afternoon and evening. I’ll leave you with some highlights from the museum.

 

when you see ukiyo-e and you realize you’ve been to the place depicted.

  
  

awww!

  

tiny tea making!

  

i think the wee boy would love this.

  

nyan!

  

ganesha

 

POP!

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The Wee Boy was at school this morning, and the Wee Girl had a friend over to play, so I spent most of the morning with tea and my POP blanket.img_5387

I hadn’t been happy with the dimensions, so I decided to add 6 rows of single crochet before starting the border, which ended up being 3 rows of single crochet.  By late afternoon, I was done, and had just a small bit of the Cascade 220 left.

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I’m happy with it, I just hope that the bits that stick out will calm down when I block it.

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