Back to the Drawing Board!

The color-work mittens I was knitting for NaKniMitMo just weren't working out. I was knitting too tightly, and they were getting constricting. So I frogged them and then went fishing in Ravelry's wonderful pattern searcher, and found ...

Daisy Mittens, by String Theory!

Notice how the top is narrowing ... I have so much trouble with tension! It's not blocked yet, I'm just now decreasing the top. Still have to pick out the waste yarn for the thumb gusset (on a scale of one to five, how much do you hate picking out waste yarn?)

I am steadily burning up my pile of acrylic, in an epic Cat Mat Destash ...

These are shiny because of a shiny purple acrylic yarn combined with the other colors. I think I can make maybe one more mat, and then I'm down to the novelty yarn that wouldn't withstand kitties. Don't know what I'll do with that stuff.










I have some lovely finished objects, but that's for Friday. Ta ta for now!

 Thanks for the nice padded and warmed boxes on the sheltered porch ... we prefer to sleep on your car roof in a cold wet mist, though.

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Work-in-Progress Wednesday!

A Woman of Many WIPs

Hello, I'm Beth, and it's been 39 days since I purchased new yarn ...

Haha! I'm not precisely sure when I last bought yarn, but I can assure you all that my pledge to buy no yarn in 2013 is still unbroken. (Yeah, I know, it's barely out of the first week of the new year ...)


In honor of NaKniMitMo, I am of course knittin' mittens ...

I use a build-your-own-mitten template from a magazine ... Knit-n-Style, I think it is. You start them just the way you start a toe-up sock! I am not fond of their thumb gusset, so I will try to find a different one to use. The pattern is supposed to be a flowering vine, copied from "Ethnic Knitting, Lithuania, Iceland, and Ireland." Yeah, I know ... those three places are geographically nowhere near one another! Anyway, after they're blocked, you'll be able to see the vine.

They're for a co-worker who is retiring this Spring. I'm going to put a ribbed wrist section in, and then a flared cuff.

I am knitting the color-work with both hands. I taught myself to knit right-handed over the Christmas vacation, while I worked on the Citron, and now I can knit ambidextrously! Which makes color-work that much more fun. Just have to watch that the gauge stays the same between hands. (I'm not left handed, I just knit that way because it was easier to learn that way.)

I recently frogged a scarf I knit with Berocco Boboli, and am re-knitting it as an Elizabeth's Diagonal scarf, pattern from "Luxury One-Skein Wonders."

This is a very easy pattern to knit -- and it is interesting to see it on a diagonal.













Finally, to destash my acrylic, I crochet cat mats.

I can't babble on about these enough. Here are three, made in a couple of hours. Four skeins of yarn, and a Q-hook. Cats love these.

Here is an example of a ball that makes one cat mat ... 25 x 30 stitches, roughly. I just set all four skeins up somewhere and wind into a big ball. When I can no longer manage winding it, I stop. It's generally big enough then.










And the people who run cat shelters love to get these. They're washable, durable, and defy kitty-claws.

Georgie Girl and Molly Cat (look at her dainty crossed paws!) remind you to stop by and visit Tamis Amis on Wednesday, for Work-in-Progress Wednesday!

First Finished Object of the New Year!

Of course, I started it a month ago, in 2012.

Citron

Of course, it still needs blocking. This was a fairly easy and fast knit, until the last row where there are 540 stitches and I promise I won't gripe about that again!


It took a whole Zauberball and about 1/3 of a knit-picks skein. The ruffle is from the knit-picks, but you can't really tell unless I point it out. So I won't. 


I am now working on hexipuffs, trying to get closure on the Bohus (&$*#^&), a scarf I frogged and am redoing ... oh, yeah, and mittens for NaKniMitMo! I don't have enough done on the mittens yet to show you.


Oh, and a shout-out to one of Molly's favorite blogs, the McGreen Experience.

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Finished Object Friday!

2013 Craft Resolutions?

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a great time ringing in the new year! 

I'm still plugging away at the Citron, which was speeding along ... until I hit the 540 stitches in the last 11 rows. It takes me a long time to get through one row. I have 4 more to go, plus bind-off, and I'm not naive enough to think I'll finish that today.

 I ran out of Zauberball when I started doing the last 11 rows, but I had some knit-picks that matched it closely enough.



Which brings me to my 2013 resolution ...


Must! Destash!



I was going to take pictures of my stash to post, but honestly, it's embarrassing. I really don't want you all, my knitting, crocheting, and crafty friends, to know what a gluttonous stash I am hoarding.

I hereby vow that I will not buy any more yarn in 2103.  No Matter What! There is nothing I could need that I do not have here now.

I could gift more, but I've found that most people who don't knit, really don't want to be gifted with something that would have to be hand-washed and coddled. Most muggles want to just throw something in the machine and be done with it. So I could be knitting all sorts of lovelies for people, but as soon as they hear about the hand-washing, pressing-dry-in-a-towel, gently-stretch-out, air-dry ... well, it sort of takes some of the pleasure out of the gift when you have to add so many disclaimers.

I gave a co-worker a beautiful patchwork baby blanket when he announced a child on the way. It was knit entirely from Cascade 220. Hand wash. I told him this, and he said with an absolutely straight face: "That's okay, babies hardly ever spit up."

So! What are your resolutions? Destashing? Taking on a big project? Learning a new technique? Do share!

Georgie Girl and Petunia vow to be better friends in the new year ... 

And Benjamin the Tomcat vows to try not to be so suspicious of me ... even though I feed and shelter him. 

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Work in Progress Wednesday!

Is it a WIP or a FO?

I have figured out a way to participate in every single Tamis Amis WIP Wednesday, and Finished Object Friday ....

The Beekeepers Quilt! It's perfect ... every time I finish a hexi, I can say I have a FO. But it's also a WIP, at least until I have several hundred hexis. Perfect! I feel like I have membership in an exclusive club. I can always play at Tamis Amis' house!

In other news, I've started a Citron. With a Zauberball. I don't think it's a Crazy Zauberball...

It doesn't look crazy ... I can't find it online, and I of course tossed the ball band immediately before I needed it.

It's rather subdued for a Zaub, isn't it?

To finish this shawl, the directions say to knit three into each final stitch, which will end it with 540 stitches to cast off. I've never had that many stitches on the needle before. It's at 377 now and they are already crowded.



On a final note, don't forget January is NaKniMitMo! I blogged about it earlier. This year I'm going to challenge myself with a Russian mitten pattern. I hope to finish the Citron before the end of the year, so I can start NaKniMitMo with only the Beekeeper's Quilt in my WIP queue.

I leave you with two crazy-eyed cats reminding you to stop by and visit Tamis Amis for FO Friday!

NaKniMitMo 2013 is Coming Soon!

Just a reminder for those who like to participate ... NaKniMitMo 2013 is fast approaching! I participated at the last minute in 2011, and came up with this mis-matched pair:

There is a Ravelry group for National Knitting Mittens Month, it says "2012" on the badge but the first discussion thread is for 2013. I'm in! Who's with me?

This year, I am determined to challenge myself. I  have done colorwork before, but I always avoided the really complicated patterns. Not this time! I have a book, "Mostly Mittens (Ethnic Knitting Designs from Russia)" and I am going to knit something from it. Russian patterns don't seem to be as complicated as Latvian patterns ... in any case, I've never knit anything from this book, and I need to practice my colorwork. As I mentioned last post ... I knit way too tightly in colorwork. For example, this hat ...

Was very snug on my head. (I do have a big head, though) I'm blocking it to see if I can get it looser.

You can also knit gauntlets/wristlets/fingerless-gloves for NaKniMitMo ...

Hope to see you there!

I Need Closure

For my Bohus ... I need something to close my Bohus! Snaps, or perhaps frogs, or some sort or hooking latch-y thing! The original pattern called for a big ol' ribbon, but I am just not the ribbon type. 

Excuse the flash. Not that it did much good.

The top part actually does meet at the edges, but not easily. I will have to use a closure that allows a half-inch gap. Then it can just hang open from the bottom of the colorwork.

I just wish I were a smidge smaller around the upper torso, so it would fit properly. Plus, I knit colorwork very snugly--I just can't seem to loosen up. I should frog all the color work, then re-do it, but I don't know if I will or not. I'll put some closers on it, and see how I like it then.

Meanwhile, I hexipuff away, and I have to tell you this is a fantastic way to use up the little yarn strands laying around.

I can use up every inch of all the yarn ends I can't bear to throw away. The one on the left is my favorite -- four different bits of yarn. Cascade, knit-picks dyed with Kool-Aid, and Vanna acrylic. There might be some slight wonkiness with gauge, but I will use up all my odds-n-ends!

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Finished Object Friday! And if I don't see you before then, Merry Christmas!