This beanie was a very quick knit using some lovely hand spun yarn I was given as a gift from a dear friend. The pattern is a modified version of a hat recipe from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd. I knit it on size 8 (5.0 mm) because it was thick and thin in spots but I wanted to make as dense a fabric as possible.
I'm very pleased with the results!
My husband's sister is expecting her first child in July. Since I have had this gender neutral Pound of Love sitting in my stash since 2002, I thought this was a great time to try my hook at a round ripple pattern. I started January 2nd using a G (4.00 mm) and completed it on the 11th. I could have finished it two days sooner but had to take the time off to complete a book review. In all, I used just over 8/10 of a skein or 826.2 yards. I enjoyed this pattern and look forward to making another one (though bigger) in the future.
The pattern I used can be found here.
I've been in a sock frenzy lately but I've decided to knit up my "worst" sock yarn first. These socks were made with Cascade Fixation, which is a neat yarn, looks beautiful in tops, etc. However, in my opinion (experience), it is just NOT COMFY to walk on!
NaNoWriMo was abandoned because of book reviews... Holiday knitting (crochet) plans are now in danger too. Today is a good day to give it some thought and try to come up with a list of quick/easy projects to complete in time for Christmas... wish me luck!
I can understand my temporary insanity with respect to the dozen or so balls of fun fur still lurking in my stash. I have a plan for eradication which includes amigurumi crochet creatures.
The other novelty yarn (at least I consider it a novelty) is all the boucle I have laying around. There was the bit I bought to knit up the dreaded never-ending poncho of which I think I still have a full skein, if not more. Then there is a skein of BLACK boucle which is going to be a nightmare, no matter what I decide to do with it. I can't crochet with it, that much I know... Finally, there was a BIG skein of Joann's Rainbow Boucle in pink. This was an impulse buy. I think Joann's had it on sale for $3, marked down from $6. It was a thorn in my side as I had tried to make a hat for my daughter but I wasn't happy with my results so I left the yarn alone for about a year.
As part of my ongoing mission to knit 95% of the time from my stash exclusively, I decided it was time to figure out something to do with this. I tried to hold two strands together but couldn't see the stitches at all! I settled on pairing the pink boucle with a white wool-ease sportweight (oh how I wish this stuff wasn't discontinued).
I used Ann Budd's basic pattern for mittens and though it was difficult to obtain an accurate gauge AND the first mitten came out too large, I am very pleased with how these turned out :) Best of all, I have a plan to deal with the rest of boucle as I will be knitting up mittens for my daughters as well!
I've named these Greensleeves for obvious reasons. Made from LB wool-ease, from my stash. This was a relative quick and mindless knit... at least this incarnation was easy! I originally set out to demo a friend's pattern but soon realized that "one size fits most" doesn't include my small-ish hands. So I tinkered and this is what I came up with :)
This project had been languishing in my WIP pile. I think I started and frogged about 3 times before I finally powered through. I purchased the yarn (Lion Brand Suede) about a year ago at the 99 cents only store and used just a bit over 2 skeins. Not accounting for my time and effort, the materials for this project was less than $3. Pretty cool, if you ask me!
The pattern is from an episode of Knitty Gritty (DKNG-510) and it is called the Lace Sampler Shrug.
I have a bit of cotton in my stash which was screaming to be something useful. I know that washcloths are really popular with a great many crafters but I am just not one. Anyway, I was looking around for patterns and came across this on the Lion Brand website. I liked the strap construction but found that it still stretched a bit more than I wanted and the sides did not match up perfectly when it was sewn together. I will be making this patten again but plan to go down a needle size and cast on 10-20 fewer stitches for the strap.
Bustin' stash and going green... How awesome is that?
I am happy to report that my stash has been purged of nearly all the Red Heart acyrlic. This blanket worked up quickly using two strands, rows of half double crochet on a 9.0 mm hook. I call it "(Red) Heart Burn". It's a nice blanket which will no doubt be durable enough to take abuse from my kids but so far, it hasn't come off my bed. I'm keeping this one to myself for now :)
This was a really quick knit and I love how it has turned out! This stocking is probably for my 2 year old so that means there is only one stocking left to make (mine). I hope to cast on tonight... but we'll see...
This one is done in blues and pink. My daughter requested purple but I don't currently have any purple so this is the best I could come up with. I told her if she didn't like it, I could give it to her little sister and knit her a different one. She of course said, "No, I like it." High praise indeed! LOL!
This is the fourth pair of socks completed though I had started them before the pink fixation pair. I think I am ready for something more challenging than the ribbed socks but I have just loved making these and I wish I knew what the yarn was... oh well! ...and now... back to Christmas stockings :)
It's finished! This is Christmas stocking number two, made for my husband. He chose the UCLA inspired colors from my stash. We are both very happy with it (though for me it was a bit more complicated that stocking #1). I need to get busy since I still have so much RH left! My amigurumi book came and though RH is not the optimal yarn to use for these types of projects, I will be making up some stocking stuffers for my daughters (if I have enough time).
