knitters rock

I posted my finished objects for the hat, scarf, and bootie drive I organized with my friend Karen’s yarn a while ago. I am not sure that I finished anything else with her yarn since then, I kind of ran out of steam. The other knitters didn’t, though. Here is the pile we ended up donating to Breast Cancer Connections for their comfort bags.

I was really impressed with what we pulled together and the woman there told me more than once that it was a really generous donation. Yay, us!

Meanwhile, I have one skein left of Caron One Pound and am going to knit as many 7×9-inch pieces as I can for Warm Up America with stitch patterns from Barbara Walker’s first treasury. So far I have made two.

Little Check

King Charles Brocade

We’ll see how many pieces I get before I get tired of it. If there is enough yarn left when I’m tired of squares then I hope to knit a friendship shawl for their project as well.

I also finished at hat since I last posted. It’s the binary cable hat.

I started sweater sleeve from the pattern booklet I got at Stitches.

And the yarn I ordered with my WEBS free shipping code from Stitches came.

It’s a little less blue and a little more green than in this photo. I think it’s really pretty. It’s going to be a Pucker. I knit a Pucker once before in a different yarn than recommended and it was awful. I’m hoping the right yarn will make it work because I think it’s a very cute top. The one that didn’t work I offered up on Facebook and I’ll be giving it to a friend for her daughter’s teacher. My son’s teacher piped up that she’d take one and so I’ll be giving her a different sweater that I knit that didn’t work on me! I just need to weave in the bazillion ends. I can do that, though! I just need to, you know, DO it.

a few finished items, stitches

I am back to my non-regular posting schedule with pictures of finished stuff like once a month. Here we go.

First of all, bike helmet ear warmers for Niels

bike helmet ear warmers for Niels

No action shot because he doesn't like them. They're too tight under his helmet or something. Live and learn.

Next up, things knit with Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton that I got from the BobaKnit yarnswap. I was seized with the desire to knit it all up immediately.

Blanket for Pete and Surgirtha's baby (born a few days ago, I better send it off).

star blanket

star blanket

Baby Bolero from One Skein for Diana's baby, also born a few days go, also not yet delivered.

one skein baby bolero

Single Cable Scarf, also from One Skein, for my mom.

green cabled scarf

green cabled scarf

The two babies are also getting bunny buddies, of course.

more bunnies

I have no idea what this yarn is. My aunt gave it to me from my grandmother's stash, I believe. It's some kind of cotton plied with a thread so it's bumpy. It makes a nice bunny.

My Anhinga is also finished but it is blocking right now. I'm trying to see if the pleat stays in just from blocking or if I'll to sew a tuck it. We'll see soon, I hope.

Last weekend was Stitches West. I took a class on sweater finishing that was mostly about swatching, including washing your swatches so you understand your fiber and then about seaming. I do think I learned some new techniques that will help me improve my seaming but I could have lived without the instructor trying to convince me that I am allergic to dyes and not wool. Trust me lady, I am sure I'm allergic to wool, just ask my nebulizer.

As I mentioned, my lovely Boba friends gave me a gift card for WEBS. I used it to buy a sweater's worth of Seduce.

I also got the books I mentioned previously (Berroco booklet #294 and Norah Gaughan Vol. 6) from WEBS and Whimsical Little Knits by Ysolda Teague from Verb For Keeping Warm. I want to make Ishbel out of the Handmaiden Sea Silk that I bought at Stitches two years ago… I think? (I looked it up, yes, it was two years ago!)

pattern books

Last but not least, I got a few tools and notions.

tools

Three bone "wandas" by Lacis from Carolina Homespun, they're a crochet hook on one end and a knitting needle on the other. One of my friends described it perfectly: it's an "oh crap!" tool. Perfect for fixing things; the Sinature circulars were too hard to resist once I learned that the point rotates on the cable! If you knit on circular needles you'll probably understand right away why I think that's a wonderful idea; last up: highlighter tape, red from the wooden sock blocker people and yellow from The Mannings. The highlighter tape has already enabled me to go back to my tapestry cowl, a double knitting colorwork project with no repeats in the pattern. NO REPEATS. I might get it finished by the time it's cold again, which would be a Good Thing.

Just because they're so awesome, here are the points of my Signature Needles.

pointy points

I find Stitches to be inspiring and exhausting at the same time. It inspired me to finish my Anhinga and then to pick up two UFOs that had been hanging around but by Sunday night I was so tired, and I didn't even spend time in the marketplace except on Thursday evening and Sunday after my class. I'm not sure what it is: the crowds, the wool fumes, the sensory overload. I'm going with all three.

I'm glad Stitches is over and now I need to focus on finishing the projects I have planned with this year's yarn AND last year's! That sweater still hasn't been knit either. Oops.

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