finish more knitting projects

I finished the baby hat in time for the shower, but I learned that I am no good at knitting the whole thing on dpns. Next time, I’m going to start on one of those Clover mini-circulars and move to the dpns as I decrease. I got ladders at all three corners, so I tried to turn it into a design element. :)

I found a pattern on one of my favorite knitting blogs for a small evening purse that uses bracelets as the handles – genius! This way, it won’t fall off my shoulder, and I won’t set it down and leave it anywhere. It uses feltable wool and eyelash knit together so that it will felt but still be glitzy.

I stopped at Michael’s on my way home from work yesterday and couldn’t decide between colors, so I got 3 different types of eyelash and 2 colors of wool. I knitted one up on Monday evening, and two last night while watching TV. Tonight will be spent whipstitching the sides together and felting them, then Thursday I will cut the buttonholes, sew on the buttons and try them out!

I finished the scarf for my sister – important since I am sending her bday gift out today and wanted to include it in the package – and I finished my lace bookmark. It had been sitting on the needles 99% done for nearly a month, and I finally bound off and blocked it.

I also found the problem with the flap on my purse, so I am stopping at the LYS on my way home tonight and I’m going to re-make it, maybe even in a different color.

No pics yet, and I’m not sure whether I really like it or not. It’s very pretty, but the decreasing on the flap is a bit uneven (how the deuce did it get crooked??) and it doesn’t hold the shape nearly as well as I thought it would. The yarn is pretty tough, and I knit it pretty tightly, but it’s floppy.

I also tried to make a COBO cord strap for it, which was a disaster, so I wound up making monk’s cord, and that looks quite nice. I also used a button from my Grandmother’s button box, which makes me smile every time I see it.

I’ll be writing up the pattern to send to Beth along with her yarn (and a button like mine). If she can follow my pattern, I’m thinking of submitting it to knitty.com.

I took the pic before weaving the ends in, but it’s now officially finished and ready for the mail! 660 yards of baby alpaca grande, 124 rows of 108 stitches, approximately 60 hours. I am never making another blanket again!

So glad it’s finished, and so glad that Niki and Derek’s baby will have an heirloom, but dang, that was a lot of work!

Ugh. I’m trying to get this done in time for Niki’s shower (this month!), but it’s slow going. I thought I was doing well Wednesday, I spent several hours on it and the total length went from 24 to 31”. Last night though, I just couldn’t get into it. Only did 5 rows, so it’s stuck at 32”. The goal is 42”, so I will try and bust my butt to get it done this weekend.

I’m not allowing myself to work on other projects until it’s finished, since the deadline for this one is first.

This one plain green for my friend Aaron. Unfortunately, I’ve also started 2 new projects.

My fella wants a hat that looks like Charlie Brown’s shirt (yellow with a black zigzag), so I went to my LYS and they taught me how to carry the yarn. I think I may have started it too tightly, but we’ll see.

I also started to make a small handbag from some lovely bamboo yarn I bought. I had tried to make a headband with it (3 times!!), but was ultimately unsuccessful and had to frog it, then I made a cuff bracelet, which also sucked. I think the handbag is really going to work for it though, at least if my quick math self-design works. :)

I also learned 2 alternatives to the dreaded I-cord this week. One is called Monk’s Cord, where you take 3 or more strands and twist them until they twist back on themselves. It doesn’t untwist! The other is called COBO cord, where you cast on and bind off with no knitting in between.

Wow, size 1 needles are SMALL! The bookmark has 1 right-slanted 2/2 cable, 1 left slanted 2/2 cable, and 1 right slanted 2/1 cable in the center. It came out great!

I’ve moved on to a lace bookmark now, and I’m modifying the pattern to suit me a little better.

Will post pics once I get my camera up and running again.

Held on Monday and Wednesday nights this week. I learned cabling, lace techniques, diagonal stitching, needle felting, pom-poms, die-cutting of felted work, and a knitted “paper chain” garland (also would make a cute scarf!). I skipped the lesson on crocheted snowflakes – I simply cannot afford to take up yet another hobby. :)

I took copious notes, so hopefully I’ll remember all of these things as I move from project to project. I’m going to keep going with the cabling right now and make a small bookmark with 3 cables on it.

“Start more knitting projects”, I’d be able to mark it done! While my size 8 circular needle is still empty after the last hat, I’m starting a workshop tonight that will teach 6 different projects!

It will be totally worth having more UFOs around, because I will learn cabling and diagonal stitches.