Knitty Gritty Thoughts

"Ketchup" Post

This is my "ketchup" post so to speak, just to "catch-up" on a few things I've been meaning to do.

First off, a few people had requested to see the "unmentionable side" of the mitered blanket.  Warning - if you don't want to see this, shade your eyes now.  You may also want to remove small children from the room! =)

It's not that bad really, I used judicious amounts of this stuff on all the ends because I have a deep-seated fear that they may spring free at any moment.  I may put a lining on the back at some point, haven't decided yet.

I also was RAOK'D by Sarah!  She sent me such a lovely package and must have known I have a weakness for not only yarn, but bath products.  The philosophy smells soooo good, thank you so much!

AND I received the loveliest of packages from my blog buddy Joanna.  She is amazingly talented and made the earrings and the pouches herself.  I had actually been eyeing them on her blog when she posted about them and receiving one in the mail is like a dream come true, thank you so much!

And in other news, Miss Leah is the winner of the knit.1 magazine contest.  I really, truly appreciate all of your wonderful comments, positve thoughts and jokes headed my way.  And ya know, when my heating went out yesterday, I re-read them all when I needed a little pick me up.  Here's hoping we don't have to replace the whole thing and it's just a small part.  Ah, the joys of home ownership!  I am woman, hear me roar, I can handle ANYTHING!!! =) hehe.

AND if you've made it this far you deserve a pic of rogue.  Just last night I picked up the sts for the hood and seamed the shoulders together.  I tried it on this morning and I'm happy to say my gauge is on track and the darn thing actually fits.  Which is a relief, really, considering the FIRST time I tried to knit it.

Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

Cheap fiber

I couldn't resist, have you seen this page?  Big 'ol bales of fiber for cheap (I bought two pounds and I don't even spin!) and for the knitters here are some mill seconds as well- Cotton Fleece, Brown Sheep all the good stuff.  Very cool!

Anemoi Mittens

Thank you for all the comments on the blanket, it was pretty chilly here this weekend so I spent the weekend cuddled up in it, working on Rogue.  But before I post anything about that I need to show you these.  I finished the Anemoi Mittens last week but just had a chance to take a few pics this morning.  I loved how they turned out, they fit perfectly and the colors are so vibrant in real life.

Anemoi Mittens by Eunny Jang
Actual Knit Time: 7 days over the course of 2 weeks
Needles: US3 for cuff and 2.5mm for body of mitten
Yarn: Koigu KPM - 1 skein each main and cc color (I have a bit of each leftover and an addl skein because I overbought) in colors 1043 and 4000 from purl. 
Interested in more info? All posts about the mittens here
Final Note: This is a great pattern, well-written and nice to knit.  I had some problems with the cuff fitting and read about a lot of other people having the same issue as well so I definitely would recommend checking before you let yourself get too far.  I had a few knit picks, I would have preferred the purl stitch being charted at the side of each mitten and the decreases threw me off completely since they appeared to be reveresed.  Can anyone explain why??? I'm sure it's a design feature.  Anyhow, overall it was great, fast to knit and very enjoyable!  Now it's on to finishing Rogue, my 2 year project in the making! =)

Mitered Square Blanket

I rarely post twice in one day, but I think all of your happy thoughts must have driven the clouds away because the sun just came out!  I had to run outside and take pictures of the finished mitered square blanket for Erica, since I know she's been waiting for them sooo patiently =)

Mason-Dixon Mitered Square Blanket
Actual Knit Time: 9 months, give or take, knit on and off.
Finished size:  39" x 56"
Needles: US7 Brittany Straights for the squares and extra-long denise cables and tips for the end.
Yarn: Mission Falls Cotton, 20 balls (this is a great yarn for this project because it has such a large color palette)
Interested in more info?  All posts about the blanket here 
Final Note: Although I didn't quite know what I was getting into when I started with all the ends I was going to weave in, I love the finished result.  If I was going to do it again (and I won't =)) I would definitely investigate the "low-sew" method to keep my sanity intact as well as weaving in ends as I go.  This project forced me to get outside of my normal colorbox and appreciate new colors in interesting combinations, fun! 

And here's a close-up of the border, I love how it turned out!

Yea for finishing big projects!
 

Tell Me Something Nice

Well I finished both Anemoi and the Mitered Square Blanket last night however it's so darn dreary and a bit rainy out here so I can't get any decent pics to post today.  In lieu of that I thought I would have a contest.

I don't get into politics too much on my blog, just because I want this to stay a neutral, positive environment.  However, I will say it's been a bit crazy over here lately, recent political events are rockin' my world personally (and not in a good way) coupled with hubby gone for a month for training, it's a bit lonely and well quite honestly I'm feeling a bit bummed out and could use a pick-me-up.  So, in light of that I picked up a duplicate Knit.1 Valentine's Issue accidentally last week. 

If you're interested, send me some positive thoughts, tell me something nice, or send some of that good ol' mojo my way in the form of a comment.  Contest is open now until this Sat morning (12/27) at 10am EST.  (And if you click on the image it should take you to the preview page for knit.1 so you can see what patterns are in there.)  I'll picked the winner by random number drawing and mail you the magazine.  Thanks!

Preview!

Have you heard?  The new interweave preview is up! 
Check out those awesome socks!

One-Skein Wonders: Cell Phone Carrier

A few weeks ago I was contacted by someone from the publisher of the new book "One-Skein Wonders" to see if I wanted to try knitting a pattern from their book and give it a try.  I knit up the cell phone carrier last night- it's a great beginner pattern, and took me less than an hour to do (very fast!)  I let it block overnight and and just seamed up the sides this morning.

One-Skein Wonders: Cell Phone Carrier
Actual Knit Time: An hour!  (Great for those last-minute gifts)
Needles: US8 Inox circulars
Yarn: Leftovers of A.L. Sauveterre's luxurious merino in Highland Heather Colorway which has been long discontinued.
Button: Isn't that button great??? I found it at Joann's and think it adds to the fun styling.

Pattern Notes: I have a bit of a bigger phone since it opens up in the middle for a keyboard so I had to up-size the pattern.  Since the yarn I used is a dk weight, I double-stranded it using the same number of stitches to CO as noted in the pattern and it upsized perfectly!  It's hard to find accessories for these larger phones, all of my old flip-phone accessories no longer fit.

Final note: I love the case, very fun and functional.  The colors are gorgeous also and remind me of missoni shades!  Now I'm going to have to make one for my mom!

P.S. mitered blanket coming soon - I'm currently wrestling with a huge number of ends!  Believe you me I did not fully think through what I was getting myself into when I started this project =)

Plain Vanilla Socks

Well it took a bit longer than I was hoping but I just finished up formatting and editing the plain vanilla socks pattern.  Everyone has their own way of making socks, so I thought I would put up the way I make them.  It's my fallback pattern that I could almost knit by heart and is the perfect thing for mindless knitting.  The pattern is full of my little sock knitting tips also to get a great looking sock without pesky gusset holes.

You can download it here (PDF) or it's on the sidebar - enjoy!

And I finished up on a different option of the plain vanilla sock, it's cuff is an extra twisted rib (I knit AND purled TBL) and the toes are just twisted rib 1x1, knit through the back loop to give it a cool, fun look.  If I had to do it again, I would only do a twisted rib, the extra TBL gave it ZERO strechy-ness.  I did however get the inspiration for twisting it here.  The yarn is from Mama-E in the colorway Bev knit on 2.5mm magic loop of course.

That is some crazy pooling going on, it looks like lightning bolts!

As the Square Turns.

A big thank you to all those that delurked, I really enjoyed hearing from you and reading each comment was a lot of fun!  We should do this more often =) 

Even though my knitting finger may have been down for the count, my seaming finger was not.  I pulled the Mason-Dixon mitered square blanket out of the closet this weekend where it had been marinating for a few months...the last time we saw it was here, since that time I sewed the sets of 4 blocks together and dropped it into the WIP basket.  This weekend I pulled it out and started planning the layout of the bigger squares.  Hubby called it "one heck of a sodoku puzzle." =) 

Yesterday I started on the border, it's a good thing I went through that mobius knitting phase awhile back because I had the extra long cables for my denise needles.  A 52" + 40" = one heckuva long cord!  I had plotted various ways to attack the border and finally decided to go out on a limb and knit it in one piece. 

The corners are mitered with paired increases that are done every round.  The whole thing is done in garter stitch ( which, yes, means I am purling every other row *sigh*.)  THAT is not the fun part.  However, the border is 3 rounds solid gray, and then 3 rounds assorted scrap colors and then a final 3 rounds grey + cast-off to round out the frame.  I'm enjoying changing colors.

Just to recap if this is the first time you've seen this project, the blanket it knitted out of mission falls cotton, approximately 18 balls for the body and 2 full balls + scraps for the edging.  It was all knit on US 7 needles over the course of oh, since last April or so!

A peek into my scrap basket reveals I've got a lot more to do, better get knitting!

Sock Bags

You didn't think I was going to pop back in here with the finished anemoi mittens did you? =)  I got distracted by drawstring bags.  I had seen them all over the place, but finally, seeing them here I couldn't resist any longer, I had to sew one!  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a pattern, so I started cutting/experimenting with the size.  Of course, immediately after that I found this tutorial (although I did the construction alot differently on mine.)  I finished the first one yesterday after an emergency trip out for ribbon (and came home with waaay too much.)  I liked the first one a lot, so much that I started cutting up some sock monkey fabric (Joanna clued me in on where to buy it, although they appeared to be sold out now)...I did have a rotary cutter incident *ahem* and managed to cut my knitting finger up pretty bad, KNITTER DOWN! =(  What a bummer, I hate when things happen that get between me and my knitting! =)

Did you know that this week is national delurking week???  I couldn't resist putting up this image...

...and remember, no one can hear your reading in cyberspace...leave me a comment and let me know who you are! =)

In other news hubby and I have made a pact (that actually started 1-Jan) to not eat out for the entire month.  Yep, that means no eating out, fast food, or even buying a soda from the corner grocery place when you stop to get gas!  It's tough, but so far we're sticking to it.  We've calculated it out and we figured we will save about 400 dollars this month after reckoning additional food costs of eating at home.  We also will lose about 5lbs each!  I'm enjoying the challenge.  Since we have been eating at home I've been experimenting with new recipes, I've been making a ton of this salsa, and lots of fajitas as well.  Happy Eating!