Finishitis?

I've been on a bit of a finishing kick the last week or so. I think it's because I've been avoiding the repetitive cables of the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan.

First, I finished the linen stitch sock yarn scarf. This is a little more of an honest finish as I did start it before the afghan.


(Salon hair. If only I could make it look that way on my own.)

Then I made Zoe, a shawlette or kerchief by Emily Kausilik, for the second time. This time I did it in some Noro Silk Garden Sock which I fell down and got because it was soft and pretty and 20% off.



Finally, I got around to knitting myself some Veyla by Ysolda Teague.



Now to go back to the pair I had started for my sister in lavender. She decided she'd rather have the cuff from Veyla but then have the hand be a regular mitten to wear while walking around campus in the late fall and early spring. Good thing I love the girl.

Extra note - this is the first time I got to use the "finished project 2010" label. Awesome.

More Actual Knitting Content

I've continued to work on the linen stitch scarf and have gotten pretty far. Between last weekend's Doctor Who (watched it twice) and discovering the awesome that is Modern Family, I've found that it makes excellent TV knitting.


Hand included for scale.

I wanted something more complex, though, and something that didn't involve hauling around a few small balls of leftover sock yarn with me. I bought the yarn for the Burridge Lake Aran Afghan (Ravelry link) when Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool was on sale at Michael's a few months ago and was just waiting for the perfect time to cast on. The too-large Vine Yoke Cardigan is still on time out so away I went on an afghan for my futon.



It's really making me want to knit an aran sweater, now. Maybe a baby one, though. I don't seem to do so well with the adult-sized ones.

Happy New Year!

Here we are, two days into 2010. Resolutions generally go to crap but I'm making one anyways. Going forward, I want to have less clutter in my life. First step is to use up some leftover sock yarn bits and ends.

I cast on 500+ stitches (an odd number) on US 6 needles using a cable cast-on so that I would have an end on each end and not have to guess how long of tail to start with. Then I started with a new piece of yarn and began to knit in linen stitch.



Linen Stitch (2-row repeat):
Row 1: K1, (s1 purlwise with yarn in front, K1) repeat to end of row
Row 2: K1, (p1, s1 with yarn in back) repeat until two stitches before end of row, p1, k1

To create a fringe, I start each row with a different yarn, leaving a decent-length end and break off the yarn at the end of the row, once again leaving another decent-length end. When I'm done, I plan to either braid or twist the fringe together in groups of 3. Bonus - I have no ends to weave in.



I got a large amount of the knitting done while watching Doctor Who last night. It was fantastic! The end had me crying and laughing. I'll miss David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor dearly but I'm even more excited for Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor now. Then I saw this trailer for season 5. I'll be over here, squeeing in the corner.

DNA Scarf

I've finished Alisha's scarf. Ends woven in, all blocked. In fact, I blocked the hell out of that thing. It liked to fold in at the purled area between the seed stitch border and the mock cables.


And here it is close up

Pattern: Dr. Montville's Double Helix Seaman Scarf (minus the "Seaman" portion)
Designer: June Oshiro
Yarn: KnitPicks Andean Treasure in Summer Sky Heather, 4 balls
Needle Size: US 2 for lower and upper borders, US 4 for the rest
Date Completed: 30 May 2007

It'll be off to Alisha next week, maybe on time for her birthday. Yes, a scarf for a June birthday. I'm brimming with logic.

Odds and Ends

I've been doing a bit of knitting this weekend. First off, completely finished my Red Scarf Project scarf.

I'll include a note and some other goodies (like chocolate or a gift card to fast food or something since it's for a college student that will probably have midterms not long after receiving the package). Then it'll get sent off hopefully on Tuesday.

Way back on Thursday, I finished my Fetching gloves at knitting group.

There are a few things that I wish were better about them.

1. I forgot that the cables on the right glove were supposed to be forward cables instead of back cables like the left glove. I'm not too upset about this since I probably won't pay attention to which way the cables are going before putting them. I do have leftover yarn that I suppose I could knit a third one out of. It could act as a backup for when I inevitably lose one of them.
2. There are small holes from where I picked up stitches for the thumb. I won't fix them now, but for future mittens/gloves/hand wear in general I will knit the first round of stitches through the back loop so they are twisted. Thanks to Sarah from knitting group for the tip!
3. The picot binding looks a little sloppy. I may block them in some fashion to straighten out the points.

Overall, I'm happy with my new fingerless mittens.

I started my first pair of socks this weekend. I'm using Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in the Seaside colorway (color #203) and using the Broadripple pattern from Knitty.

Hopefully I can work this out. I love dpns so I shouldn't have too much of a problem until the heel and toe.

Finally, I found some pictures I took at the Munsinger Clemens Gardens in St. Cloud this last summer. I thought I'd post a few to brighten up the winter blahs.


Here are my personal favorite, daisies.

The lilies were all out that day and gorgeous. This is just a small sample of all the lilies they had.

And finally, some lovely hydrangeas.

Red Scarf Project

I finished knitting my scarf for the Red Scarf Project here. It's an annual project organized by the Orphan Foundation of America. You can find out more about it here (Warning: link opens a .pdf file).

I made the scarf from Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds in deep red. It's 85% acrylic, 15% wool and I found it pretty easy to work with. I got the pattern from the free patterns on Lion Brand's site. My only complaint was it was one of those dreaded skeins with two ends knotted together.

Right towards the end of a row and not long after I had started the second skein, I came upon that blasted knot. I generally like Patons, but that made me a little sad.

Overall, I think the scarf turned out OK. It's currently pinned out on my floor in my itty bitty apartment to block. I'll weave in the ends once it's dry and send it in next week with some added gift of some sort.