Knitty Gritty Thoughts

May Day Mission Complete!

Well hello there - that was kind of a long break wasn't it?  Life has been busy, a lot of things came up in my personal life that I had to take care of.  Anyhow I'm still decluttering but I felt like talking about knitting today so you get a brief synopsis of what I've been working on.  Don't get your hopes up, it's rather brief, I'm still not in a chatty mood but I did want to share my little rays of knitting sunshine! =)

First up - I finished my may day socks, hurray!  It feels so good to be done early (they were due May 1st)!  Now I can find fun little treats to put in the bag and weave in those ends.  They've already been blocked but sadly you can't see the pattern well  because I can't use my sock blockers.  My pals foot is waaay smaller than mine.  But you get the idea.

The dream in color smooshy may have redeemed itself to me, the yardage on that skein is insane and it's very soft to knit with too!

Embossed Leaves Socks
All the rav details here

Here's my little WIP roundup and 1 FO too  - all of these projects are so enjoyable to me, I'm having a hard time choosing which one to focus on first! =)  Clicky for big.

1 - Butterfly jacket from the current wool gathering knit with 2 skeins of berrocco ultra alpaca.  I love this knit, the garter stitch and simple shaping have taken on a meditative quality while knitting and I love the cute retro shape!  Plus I always love when I manage to find something that few people are knitting, it adds to the fun! =)  Rav dets here.

2 -Tiramisu baby blanket - super easy crochet pattern, if I only could manage not to lose my hook every 5 seconds!  I'm off to buy another so I can finish it off.  Rav dets here.

3 - Glee has been resurrected!  The last time I talked about her I threw her in a corner due to concerns about fit, dye lot issues (well it really should be "year lot" issues.  The two skeins were from different years of shearings and are 100% natural colored prime alpaca.  One year is darker than the other.  If I had planned ahead I really should have alternated skeins but on second glance it's not as bad as I thought it was.  I'm planning on putting back in the needles I yanked out and give it one more try.  Rav dets here.

4 - Cabled Rangoli Hat - very cute and helps with hat hair syndrome, who doesn't like that?  I was SO inspired by Miss Nasseknits version - check out her photo here!  This may be a hat I will actually wear!  Ravelry dets here.

Anyhow have a great weekend all! =)

A Fo a Day: Polar Morn Shrug

Oh my goodness at a FO a day I feel like I've run out of things to say!  Luckily this one doesn't need much explanation.  I suppose it's only fitting that I should end my Fo a Day week with another malabrigo FO, 3 out of 5 this week were all made with malabrigo! 

I was very inspired by craftoholic's version - I am such a HUGE fan of grey shrugs that I had another must-cast-on moment and went searching for the same yarn - malabrigo worsted in polar morn.  It was sold out everywhere but fellow knit bud Hilary came through for me - her yarn store carried it and she ran down and picked up the last two skeins!  Aren't knit buds the greatest?  Thanks so much Hilary! =)

This was a fun and easy knit - the brioche stitch is easily memorizable and the way it's designed you only have to change needle sizes to increase and decrease- easy peasy.  I did lengthen it overall by about 8 inches so it would hit just past my elbows to be more flattering.  You can add the length in any section but I chose the 10.5.

I have to be honest, it turned out a smidge small on me since I'm so tall I have wider shoulders.  I haven't decided what to do - if I'm going to give it away or let it marinate.

Details as always on ravelry.  That concludes my Fo a Day for 5 days series - I hope you enjoyed it!  I feel so much lighter now that I've organized my WIP queue and pending projects for the end of the month.  Now to get my next projects I want to start ready to go.  Happy Friday and Leap Day all!

A Fo a Day: Baby Surprise Set

Oh my goodness, I didn't know if I was going to make it blogging a Fo a Day for 5 days but I'm almost there!  Only 1 more day to go!

Today's Fo is actually two items, but since they go as a set I wanted to post them as one.  It's a super cute BSJ by EZ in the most scrumptious yarn Hello Yarn Fat Sock with matching Saartje's booties too.  I was able to squeeze both out of two skeins.  It is so, so cute, that's all I could say to myself over and over again as I took photo after photo.

So, so cute.

I had a annoyingly hard time finding the perfect buttons for this set.  I really wanted to find a set that had smaller ones for the booties and larger ones for the jacket but coordinated overall which is darn near impossible (who knew?)  I finally found some that worked and while I think they're cute I'm not IN-LOVE with them, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled for another set.

Details on ravelry as always, the jacket here and the booties here.  If you haven't knit either pattern yet, I highly recommend it, both are an enjoyable knit.

A Fo a Day: Thorpe Hat

Well today's FO of the day is a hat.  I know what you're thinking, what's so special 'bout that?? (Hey I rhymed! ;)  Haha!

Anyhow - I seem to be on a MmmmMalabrigo (thanks for the term, rohanknitter! ;)) binge lately and I have always wanted to knit a earflap hat, there's something so fun and rustic about it.  I just loved knitting this pattern (Thorpe, you can download it from her sidebar or on ravelry). 

It's easy to knit, well written and a quick knit at that.  I had a "must cast on" moment when I saw Pat's pretty version and I was sold.  I went stashdiving immediately but only had malabrigo worsted, not chunky. :(  No matter...I easily rejiggered the numbers and converted it for worsted and I was ready.  All the ravelry details here.

If you're doing something similar what I did was check my gauge (4.5sts/in) on US 8, increase until I had 88 stitches total, then knit as described.  When it came time to do the earflaps  I bound off 36 sts instead of 30, knit 17 instead of 12, placed 19 sts on a holder and bound off 22 with 19 stitches remaining.  Sorry it's cryptic but I want to make sure I don't give any of the pattern away.

Anyhow - here's a parting mirror shot - it's quite hard to take a pic of yourself, plus I just generally don't look good in hats AT ALL so there was slim pickin's, so there you go! =)  (Hilary says she has the same problem with her hat's but I just don't believe her - she always manges to look fabulous! ;))

Tomorrow - cute baby stuff and I manage to use a yarn OTHER than malabrigo (shocking I know! ;))

Lacey Scarf

First order of business - the winner of the I (heart) felt book according to the random number generator is commenter #1 -

NIKI!

Congrats Niki!  I'll be emailing you shortly for your address.

I feel like I've been remiss in blogging my WIP's lately and then before I know it they're FO's.  Where does the time go??  Anyhow - this particular FO fits into that category.  Remember the tiny Malabrigo??  Well that little skein knitted up into a most scrumptious, long scarf!

With a beautiful edging....

Project Details on ravelry and inspired by the one I saw on ravelry here.  I even extended my edging the way she did to 31 stitches.  This pattern is SO easy and mindless and the instructions are perfect, a highly recommendable knit!

Speaking of scarves... remember Trinket by Kim Hargreaves??  It's a lovely, lovely scarf but I'm afraid I'm just not using it  - I've never even worn it once except for a FO picture.  I was wondering if anyone was interested in trading me some  yummy sock or lace yarn for the scarf??  It's just gorgeous and deserves to make someone very happy rather than sitting in my FO chest! =)

In other news I also did some major dyeing this weekend and tried dyeing yarn just for fun as well as some yummy roving for the shop.

These are some of my favorites for the weekend....

The top left is my fav-orite!

Laceweight for Angelika for our mermaid mitt swap ( I still need to reskein)

Fun sock yarn as well....

YummY! =)  Have a great Monday!