My first novels...

It's Friday night and I'm working on a paper (due on Monday) for my history class on the Sundiata (history of Mali) epic. That being said, I haven't updated here in over a month: a situation that requires immediate action.

Brace yourself for my massive update. I am going to try to be relatively brief since there are numerous topics that need to be covered, but I make no promises with regards to its brevity.

Book I: Things I Have Completed

Chapter 1: That Cabled Pillow

I finally got around to sewing that cabled pillow together and stuffing it. It's a pretty funny pillow. I blocked the squares to be 12" x 12" and when I sewed them together the pillow is a squat, poofy little thing. It works as a headrest and looks adorable in an "I'm an awkward size" kind of way, but it isn't quite the decorational/functional pillow for which I had hoped. But at some point in the indeterminate future, a corresponding pillow will be made and I'm hoping it will look like a big-pillow-little-pillow set. Note to my mother: they will not be matchy-matchy.

Chapter 2: Those Fingerless Gloves for Lauren

I am astonished at how quickly these gloves knit. If I had sat down and focused (non-casual knitting, but determination-mode), I probably could have done both gloves in one day. I definitely could have finished them in two days. I'll have to remember these if I'm ever in a gift-giving bind. I made these for Lauren, but with a Knit-A-Long group that does different fingerless gloves each month. These were August's gloves and I happily completed them within the month!

I used Sublime Cashmere Silk Merino DK yarn in 'rhubarb'. Soooo lovely. The yarn is super soft and it has a little bit of shine to it and it shows the stitches well. It slide on and off the needles nicely; it was just a comfortable yarn to work with. In the future, when I have made it through my queue of planned projects, I am going to look for patterns that call for this yarn (or similar) and use it again.

Oops! Too big for Douglas!

I am still debating about whether or not I should make matching (yes, matchy-matchy, but in a pleasant way) a cowl or a mini-scarf (with a pin) for Lauren as well. She has pretty curly hair and I'm not sure that a cowl is such a good idea; it might be miserable getting it on and off for her. Also, though cowl necks on sweaters appear to be in style (as far as I can tell anyway), I haven't seen anyone around my age (other than myself as Curtis pointed out) actually wearing cowls. So I'll figure that out later as her birthday gets nearer (mid-November).

Chapter 3: A Cabled & Cuffed Fisherman Style Hat for Curtis

While ordering (and returning... and ordering... and returning...) all that yarn to find the right color for the blanket I'm planning (see below and previous entries), Curtis found some that he thought would make a great hat. And it turns out it did. The hat turned out awesome and, to be completely honest, I am astonished. The hat was knit flat, rather than in the round, and I couldn't tell until the very end if it was actually going to be the right size. I also couldn't tell if it was going to even look good. But I finished it up and it looks great and it fits. No pom-pom, but I think that it would look kinda dumb and less fisherman hat with a pom-pom. I altered the pattern a little bit so it wasn't so pointy at the top so it's more like a beanie. The pattern itself was frustrating; it assumed a lot of knowledge and left gaps in the pattern that you could figure out, but I spent all that money on the book... I shouldn't have to figure it out. I have no intention of ever making this hat again.

Chapter 4: A Cabled & Cuffed Fisherman Style Hat for Daddy

I made another one of the cabled and cuffed fisherman style hats. 

Before I gave the grey one (above) to Curtis, I asked Daddy to try it on. I figured if it was big enough for him, it would fit Curtis. Dad tried it on and just looked so gosh-darned cute and then seemed so sad when it wasn't for him... so I made him a different one. His is in black to go with his ninja outfit (or because he requested charcoal grey-black and the yarn looks more black out of the store than grey). It's basically the same pattern, but with a different yarn so I did some adjustments. It came out a little looser, but the same resting size so I think it'll work out. It shed all over the place while I was making it (either that or Douglas did), but I think it has pretty much shed all it is going to now.

Red pandas get cold
in Walla Walla!

The hat has a twisted rib for the cuff and the body of the hat (rise) has an alternating cable and a twisted rib. Because the yarn is so dark, I'm sure you can't tell in the picture, but it has some nice visual texture in real life. I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. The only real problem I had was when I was seaming it (using my newly learned mattress stitch), the yarn, since it was single ply kept pulling apart. Now, I know I'm a pretty tense knitter -- I knit very tightly -- but this was annoying. I had to keep tying it back together. Apparently, this yarn doesn't like shear stress (I just finished a geology course). 

I'm planning on giving this to Daddy for Christmas, so if you talk to him between now and then, don't tell!

Book II: Things I Have Started

Chapter 1: Fingerless Gloves for an Unknown Party for a September Knit-A-Long

This month for the Fingerless Gloves Fanatics monthly Knit-A-Long (KAL), rather than having one design and everyone knit the same design, we did a theme. The theme this month is: support a designer! You can knit/crochet anything you want as long as you purchased the pattern (no free patterns this month!). So I bought "Very Terhi" fingerless gloves and ordered some Rowan Cash DK yarn to make them. Granted, I got off to a late start (I didn't even cast on until September 11, 2010), but this is an unbelievably slow pattern. The gloves featuring a travelling pattern (see all those criss-crossing ridges?), which essentially means that every stitch (or just about) gets cabled one way or another every single row. And I'm using a chart rather than written instructions (or a combination of the two) which means it's slow going. I've finished one of the cuffs last night (September 16, 2010) which might sound really exciting, except that I shortened the pattern by two whole repeats. I don't think these are going to get done in time.  

The palm side of the glove is entirely ribbed which will be nice since the back of the hand will be quite stiff with all of the cabling. I've reached the thumb gusset, and since this whole thing is a chart, I am quite confused. I'm not exactly sure where the stitches are supposed to go. Maybe I'll just wing it if I don't hear back from anyone on Ravelry (I asked if anybody knew what they were doing).  

And who knows? Maybe you'll get a slightly crazed update at 11:58pm on September 30th saying "I did ittttt! I gottt them donnnnneee! Bwahahahaahaaa"! But I doubt it. There are only two Sundays between now and the 30th and I work in the art gallery on Sundays and that's when I get most of my knitting done. Or at least the only time I can plan on having to knit.

Chapter 2: Fingerless Gloves for an Unknown Party for a Different September Knit-A-Long

Since the KAL last month went so quickly I committed (mentally, anyway) to a second KAL for September. This one is a mystery KAL! All this means is I don't know what the gloves look like when they're done and the pattern is released in chunks over the course of the month. I thought this would be fun to do and I found a skein of yarn that I'd forgotten I had (from my first ever 'real' project!) that is exactly right for the pattern (the author tells you what type of yarn and how much you'll need).

I haven't even made a gauge swatch yet. But I'm still considering this 'in progress' and probably will until the end of September. Then it will go back to 'planned'.

Book III: Things I Still Haven't Gotten Around to Working On

Chapter 1: A Sweater Vest for Jack

In making the Cabled & Cuffed Fisherman Style Hat for Curtis, I discovered that I'd been checking my gauge all wrong. I don't know if this would really have made much of a difference for previous projects, but since this is a garment and actually needs to fit or I might cry, I am going to make a new gauge swatch.

Chapter 2: A Stupidly Large and Complicated Blanket for Curtis/Me

The fishermen style hats that I made for Daddy and for Curtis needed the same size needles that were required to start this blanket. This means I haven't been able to start it since I knew I could finish the hats by Christmas (way earlier than Christmas as it turns out). But now the hats are done and the 10.5 needles are available... and I still haven't started it. I'm more scared of this project than I thought I was. But I wound up a skein of yarn so it's ready to go whenever I get the nerve. 

Chapter 3: A Tank-Top for Me

This image is from astealerofhearts.com.

I've been working on other, smaller projects and now that it's September, I'm not really thinking about tank-tops. So I'll make this next summer when it's hot and then it will be ready for... next September. Good plan. Maybe I'll do this over winter break? I'm going to use the Nuna yarn that I got with Curtis (pictured on the right) and make the "Heart Lace Top" (http://www.astealerofhearts.com/2010/06/heart-lace-top-knitting-pattern.html). I'm also going to get tattoos. (Just checking to see if anybody will actually read this far).

Book IV: Yarn

I recently de-stashed (and donated to my knitting club) and took photos of all of the yarn I have and updated my Ravelry page. This is pretty exciting for me, but I don't think anybody else cares. All of my yarn is organized in gallon-sized ziplock baggies too. I'm so pleased with myself. Except now I'm out of ziplock baggies.

The End.

In other news, I really hate the program that Blogger makes you use to enter your blog entries. It wreaks havoc on the formatting. Bah. So apologies if the fonts are MASSIVE or if they're too small to read. I tried. This is somebody else's fault. Not my responsibility. (I'm currently listening to Atlas Shrugged on audiobook). Really though, I'm pretty sure all the fonts will turn out the same size (readable) on everybody's computer.