i've been pinned!

This is definitely a first!  I've been pinned!  My Lining the Very Warmest Mittens tutorial made it's way onto Pinterest!

I just set up my own account on Pinterest (I know, I know, I'm so behind), otherwise I probably wouldn't have even noticed!  What a nice feeling, to know that someone found my tutorial useful!

Do you friend people on Pinterest?  Is that a thing?  If it is, you can find me here.

zig zag

Happy holidays to you and yours to anyone reading this!  I staged a last minute photo shoot for one of my "designs" under the Christmas tree a couple days ago, so I thought I would skip ahead and share.

This is my Zig Zag Cowl from back in September.  It was an incredibly quick and fun knit.  I like it so much that I would have kept it if the mysterious white yarn hadn't turned out to be alpaca.  Oh, how I wish I wasn't allergic to alpaca!

For my next attempt I might leave out a pattern repeat.  The cowl turned out just a little bit too long.  The other little issue I have to iron out is the extra stitch that the provisional cast on creates.  I'd like to streamline that so seaming it together at the end is easier.  Then maaaaaybe I'll write up a pattern!

Pattern: Zig Zag, not yet self published pattern

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, left over from my Miette sweater; mystery worsted weight alpaca yarn from the thrift store

miette

Oh that verdant greenery!  Forget about my hand knit sweater, if only it was that lush and warm out!  Right now I am surrounded by a half foot of snow and it is too cold for anything but a full length sweater!  Sigh.

Even if it is too cold to wear this sweater now, I did finish it (back at the beginning of September) and am very proud of it.  I didn't make any mods, but it does have a Ravelry page.  The pattern I used is Andi Satterlund's Miette; it's the first of her sweater patterns I've knit.  The construction of this sweater is different than her others, but I'm hooked on her patterns!

In fact, I fell so in love with Andi's newest pattern Hetty that I was rushing to finish Miette to join a knit along.  I finished in time, but never found a yarn I liked for Hetty so I didn't join in the end.  I wish I hadn't rushed quite so much, but I got a beautiful new sweater in the end!

One of the most special details I added to my Miette was backing buttons!  I was feeling a bit too lazy and a bit too rushed to add the grosgrain ribbon I was considering, but these vintage buttons still needed a little something to keep the stress of being done and undone off them.  The backing buttons came from my button jar.  I've had a button stash for years, but never seem to use any of them.  It was so nice to finally be able to!

I really enjoy having a sweater in the works, so shortly after finishing Miette I started Cocoa!

Pattern: Andi Satterlund's Miette; no mods, 38" bust size

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

wip wednesday: another hat

Are you sick of looking at the large swathes of ribbing I'm knitting?  Me too a little bit.  It's all in the holiday spirit though!  I'm also working on a hat to give to my brother in law (Baby J's daddy) as a gift.  It's the same pattern as the second Brother Hat, but I won't be knitting a fold over brim.  I should be done with all this unselfish knitting soon, so I can get back to my poor left by the wayside Cocoa sweater!

what's in my stash?!: fin

Are you ready for the final installment of "What's in My Stash?!" I sure am!  I know my little collection of yarns is nothing when compared to some, but you have to take into account that I only live in a two bedroom apartment and Don works from home.  His needs for space definitely trump my tendency to squirrel away yarns!

This batch of yarns I have zero plans for, but bought anyway.  That's consumerism for you!  They sure are pretty, so I don't mind having them around.

This first hank is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport.  I bought it back in the beginning of July, when I went on a baby yarns buying rampage.  I initially thought that I would knit a new born sized sweater out of it for Baby J, but it's such a special yarn that I wanted it to be made into something that would be used for more than a few weeks.  Now I'm not sure what to do with it, especially since I already know that I'm just not that into variegated yarns, even it they are beautiful.

This Madeline Tosh Merino Light made me the "victim" of a sale at Webs!  I have absolutely no idea when I bought it, because I seem to have ripped the date off the receipt!  The colors are washed out in this picture, but this yarn is very pretty.  It varies from a natural color to light grey to a milky chocolate brown, and I have no idea what to knit with it.  Me and variegated yarns don't mix well as stated, but I want to love this in a knit form as well as in hank form!

Last, and definitely least in this set of yarns (though possibly most easily used as far as my tastes go), are two hanks of Cascade 220.  It was a closeout in a nice coral-y red, I couldn't resist!  I have no set plans for this yarn either, but it's not hard to use like the other two are.  It can easily become a warm scarf or mittens or hat.  It's also not as interesting as my other yarns, which is probably why I have no plans for it.  A very tame stash yarn.

not where's waldo

This hat was actually a very, very quick project, but hasn't made it onto the blog in it's finished state because of my, ahem, little obsessive problem.  But now we're back on track!

The name "Not Where's Waldo" came from my future mother in law telling me that every striped item looked like Where's Waldo.  I felt a little hurt (Do I look like Where's Waldo?  Am I that silly looking?), but it made for a great hat!  You can find my Ravelry project page here.

The brim on "Not Where's Waldo" came out a little tight, so over the course of a few hours the hat tends to wiggle its way up and takes on a slouched look, but it's so very warm that I can forgive it for this.  The peaked crown issue that I mentioned on Ravelry, and that you can see in the pictures, has been solved by "blocking" the hat over my own wet hair.  Voila!

Pattern: Regular Guy Beanie, free on Ravelry and altered for a fold over brim.

Yarn: Valley Yarns Sheffield, leftover from my Shawl Collared Sweater.  Unfortunately this yarns seems to be discontinued, what a pity!

wip wednesday: swap scarf

If you've scrolled through this blog at all, this scarf might look eerily familiar.  Early this year I knit almost exactly the same scarf for a birthday present and liked it so much - not too girly or manly!  such a nice color!  easy for a non-knitter to take care of! - that I'm essentially knitting the same scarf again as my gift for a Yankee Swap!  It's not very exciting as far as gift knitting goes, but it's quick and easy!

what's in my stash?!: part five

Aaaaand, hopefully we're back to the regularly scheduled programming! I just have to keep repeating to myself, "I can write blog posts, I can write blog posts, I can write blog posts!"

This will be yet another yarns for baby things post.  I can't help it!  Knitting baby things is so satisfying, and did you see how darn cute my nephew is???

These two balls of Cascade 220 Superwash were actually the first yarns I bought to knit cute things for Baby J, way back in April when I found out my sister was pregnant.  My plan for this yarn was, and still is, to knit a baby bear sweater from the Baby Sweater Buffet.  Even though Baby J is so teeny tiny right now, I think I'll knit a 1 year size for him over the summer so he can wear it all next fall!

"Another two balls of superwash yarn?!" you say?  Well, yes.  Because babies.  These two balls of Valley Superwash have a much more immediate purpose, a Baby Vertebrae for the holidays for Baby J!  Hopefully this stash yarn, in there since early July, will be out in the next couple weeks.

My poor little camera just couldn't handle this light yarn + my dark desk.  I tried to take pictures on two different occasions, but this is as good as it got!

Last of this set of stash yarns is some thrift store yarn with no plan other than "for future babies."  Would you believe me if I told you I know a number of people who are expecting babies, but none of them are girls?!  I couldn't pass up this one-dollar-each batch of Valley Yarns Longmeadow at the thrift store back in June though.  Into the stash it went, and in the stash it stays for now!

I have one more post to finish off the "What's in my Stash?!" series.  That's a lot of yarn!  I haven't used any of it yet since I'm knitting gifts right now, but after the holidays it will be stash knitting only for me!  If any of my wonderful readers (all three of you!) would like some of their favorite stash yarns featured here, just comment and your wish will be my command!

stripey loop

Is this what I think it is?!  Yes indeed, it is!  It is a finished object post!!!  Can I let you in on a little secret?  I haven't been posting finished object posts for the slightly (very) obsessive reason of not having pictures of this loop, and wanting my projects to be in mostly chronological order.  Oops!

Anyway, here is my finished Stripey Loop that made its first appearance here on the blog way back in July!  I still don't have a name for it besides "Stripey Loop," but I'm not quite satisfied with it so that's ok in my book.  I think it should be one stripe repeat shorter.  I also might not like the way the linen wrinkles, even though that's what I was going for in this casual spring loop.  Hopefully I'll be a little more fond of it when the weather warms up and it doesn't make me shiver a bit just looking at it.

Pattern: Stripey Loop, of my own devising.

Yarn: Main color: Classic Elite Yarns Firefly (left over from my Firefly shirt)
                Contrast color: Plymouth Yarn Linen Concerto

wip wednesday: laraine

Oh, gift knitting!  I usually don't offer to knit gifts - friends and family get what I want to knit for them, and that's that.  This year Don's mom asked me to knit her a shawl and I agreed, said we'd check out Ravelry together and pick something out.  The next time I saw her she handed me a little bag with yarn and a pattern and told me she'd gotten excited.

So I am knitting a huge lace weight shawl for her, oh boy!  This is the first time I've knit with a lace weight yarn, and while the yarn itself is very nice I'm not really enjoying it.  D's mom took the ball band off, but I'm almost positive it's the yarn called for in the pattern, the Twin Leaf Shawl.  I'm maaaaaaybe half way done with it at this point.  I'll jot down some of the small changes I made to the pattern on my Ravelry project page, but haven't done so yet.  Ok, back to knittng!  This behemoth isn't going to knit itself, unfortunately!