Hiatius from blogging, but never from knitting!

So many things! I'll go over them quickly. I lost my camera case a little while back, so I improvised and knit up a new one with some of my extra Peace Fleece, the same yarn I used for my sweater.

And what would a camera case be without an embroidered sheep on the back?

I also started a pair of Spot Check Socks, but I probably will never finish them. I'm not going to have enough of the green yarn and I'm not extremely in love with the color combination. I think it's a fabulous pattern for variegated yarn - it shows off the spectrum of colors without overwhelming the eye. But of the projects I've seen, my favorites are when the solid yarn is a color within the spectrum of the variegated. Oh well. Maybe I'll frog them someday when I have a solid color that I like more.

And for Kristen's baby shower!! I made up a chart for a cardinal because if the baby is a boy, my cousin Charles refuses to let him wear a blue hat in the hospital lest he unconsciously be swayed to cheer for the wrong team in his impressionable infantile stage. I love how it turned out, but I really need to work on my tension while color knitting.

And I've resumed my argyle hat project from a year ago!! This time not making the hat in the round, and it's much more manageable. I'll go back and do the criss-crossy lines afterwards because it sounds like that's easier.


And now for my current project!! It's a mystery knit! ;) I arrived in Beirut not quite two weeks ago and on the long plane rides over this is what I did while I wasn't sleeping. It's coming along nicely, but I still have a long way to go!

Here's a bit more of a hint at the pattern, some knitters may recognize it from its stardom on Ravelry. It's a fun knit, but does require concentration, at least every 5th row.


Well that's all for the knitting! I have (of course) already found out where a knitting store in Beirut is, but have yet to visit. Sounds cute though. I'm sad though because I apparently missed some competition or contest they had going on with a display of a bunch of people's work. Maybe next time! Maybe they have some knitting at the sou' (the market that they have every few days). I'll keep you updated!

Knitted Gifts Galore!

Here is a long overdue post. I'll try and be concise because I have a lot of things to talk about and I usually ramble..

Finished Objects:
1.) Beth's Dashing Wristwarmers!

Beth picked out the yarn (and paid for it!! What a perfect deal for both of us!). She picked out nice yarn too. The charcoal colored yarn is 100% baby alpaca wool, turned out gorgeous and so warm and fuzzy and sooo soft to knit with. It doesn't have great stitch definition, which the pattern does look good with, but I still like this pattern with the alpaca wool. They didn't photograph very well, but you can see the cables in real life, and the wristwarmers have a great texture and body to them. Knitted on US size 5 needles.

2.) Beth's Meret

This gorgeous yarn is Malabrigo merino wool. It was fun to knit, and it felt perfect on bamboo needles. I trimmed the wristwarmers in this wool too, and the alpaca was used for the rim of this beret. Knitted on US size 7 needles. Maybe a little tight of a gauge, but it worked. I agonized and agonized about blocking this hat (Beth can attest) but in the end, I didn't. I think it would have looked prettier lying flat if I had blocked it, but I like the shape it has when worn without blocking. And it was finals week, so yeah...

Of course, we closed out the evening with a fabulous photo shoot of Beth in her matching warm accessories.
OK. Now fast forward to break-knitting.

3.) I'm working on a Clapotis for my mom. It was supposed to be done by Christmas and a surprise. Now it is neither of those things. Oh well, such is life.
Just look at that gorgeous yarn. 50% silk, 50% alpaca by Blue Sky Alpacas.

I'm not even doing the full version of this wrap and it is still taking me forever. I think I'm also a little annoyed because I'm knitting it at a pretty loose gauge, using size 6 needles for what I would normally use probably size 4 needles. Well, I got a little bored, and so I have moved onto my new project....

4.) MY FIRST SWEATER EVER. OMG.

I'm getting there slowly but surely. I was just able to try it on today, how fun. It is going to be for my sister, but she has warned me that turtlenecks aren't her thing, so maybe I will end up keeping it.
Haha, so obviously I'm not stopping at this awkward length of a sweater, and I will attach sleeves, too. But I was so excited to try it on! It's going to be a real sweater! And the best part about this pattern is that it's knit top-down, meaning NO SEAMS. Wow, awesome. Also funny that I chose this color yarn. I'm kind of sick of it now because it is just about the exact same color as the one for the clapotis for my mom. But nice sweater color, no? Oh another funny thing. This yarn was SO CHEAP. Hobby Lobby. I swear I got enough yarn for the whole sweater under $5. Not bad, huh?

5.) Number five isn't a gift from me, but rather gifts FOR me. Sadly, no pictures yet. But descriptions!! Elizabeth came back from Australia with some yarn for me from New Zealand... An outrageous pairing of animal hair: sheep and POSSUM. what. I know. But she swears it's all the rage in New Zealand. It's really soft anyway. And such pretty colors. Purple and green, my favvvvss :)

And Joe brought me back yarn from the Aran Islands!! So much too! And so pretty. It's like a maroon-ish color, but more pinkish than the stuff I've been working with lately. Fuschia. It is a lot though, so I want to try and make something big maybe (This is fun, knitting big things..). Or a few little things that match.

Ok, that is all. I'm done. PHEW! What a giant post. And this is just the beginning of my pictures. If you are not satisfied you can see the rest on my flickr page.

Also, I want to apologize to Ellen, because my post is too long and too soon after hers. So read hers now please, her mittens are beautiful. :)

Not Socks!

So I haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting! Though, as promised, there have been no more socks! (I just offered to make my sister a pair yesterday, though...)

Here's what I HAVE been up to. I made two hats, one for each of the kids I've been babysitting this summer. Hat number one: navy blue regular old beanie, knitted for a boy.


The first go was too small, so I redid half of it and made it bigger so that it could cover his ears and give him some room to grow into. And then he said he wanted me to add some red ears to it, skinnier than bunny ears. I thought it'd be fun to put some wire in them so that you could bend them and so they'd stay up more. So I bent up some paperclips, wrapped them in red fabric, and stuffed them inside.


Then I closed up the bottom, and attached them to the hat. I tried it on and bent the ears so that they flopped down, but then I was SO SAD because they looked like either devil horns or bull horns. I thought his mom would not approve. But I unbent them and just let them flop and thought I'd see what they thought. They loved it!

I don't remember the yarn I used because I got it so long ago and threw away the label. It was knitted on US size 6 needles, I think I did 88 stitches around.

One down...


The second hat, I went out and bought some pretty, girly yarn. Hand-dyed yarn with subtle variations of pink, orange, and fuchsia. It was so soft and pretty and such a fabulous texture (Araucania: Patagonia Nature Cotton, hand-dyed 100% cotton yarn, color 223)

I'm disappointed that this hat went so quickly. I used size 8 needles, so I guess that made it zoom by. I started while watching Jerry Maguire (why isn't real life like that movie?) and knitted the ear flaps. I started with a 3-stitch I-cord and then to make the earflap, I increased to 17 (I think?) stitches and then did a few plain rows to add length. Repeated this for the other ear flap. Then I adapted this recipe, which I've used before, and I really like for earflap hats. I had 13 stitches in the back of the hat and I think 23 (accidentally) in the front. A little ribbing. Anyway, what I was saying is how this hat went too fast. I finished the rest of it in like 2 hours. Well then I added the pom-pom and tassels, but that didn't take any time either.


Isn't it cute? I love it. It looks way cute on her, too. Oh, haha, funny story, though. I totally messed up the decreases. I accidentally stopped decreasing one seam, and then just started back up like 5 rows later. I thought it was going to look bad, but you can't tell at all unless you look really closely. Phew! I guess that story wasn't really funny...

Anyway, I knitted hats like I promised. On my queue of hats to knit is an argyle hat for a friend. A couple weeks ago, I had my wonderful, knitting, wise grandmother give me a lesson in intarsia. She used to knit argyle socks in her college days! How fun! I'll try that sometime, I'm sure... But before I jumped into this argyle hat business, I had to practice. Coincidentally, Elizabeth sent me a package a day or two later, and in it was a perfectly appropriate (and ADORABLE) sticker.



Haha, how cute, right? Thanks, E! But yeah. Argyle is a mess. But I think I've got it down. And now that I have my kiddos' hats finished, I'll get started on the argyle hat!

I also finished this scarf that I had halfway finished since June, and finally picked up more of the yarn that I needed to finish it. I'll post that later though because I forgot to take pictures. I still have some yarn left so I'm thinking I might try and make a hat out of it. Maybe I'll do like two more hats, and then start on a mitten kick. I started one pair of mittens a long time ago, but I wasn't following a pattern so I had to stop after the cuff. Enough, Teresa! Shut up, already!! Okay. Goodnight, knitters and friends.