Tag Archives: FO

FO: simple things.

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This was exactly the kind of knitting I needed this week: simple, fast, and beautiful. I knit this simple things shawl out of Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the Gypsum colorway (thanks Laura!) on size 4 needles. Because the STR was a 380 yard skein, I added a full 10-row repeat of the garter eyelet border pattern to the edging, and I still have a little bit of yarn leftover.  I snapped these photos while still in my pajamas this morning, and before Boh and I headed off to make pancakes with our friend T. and pick greens at the farm, I gave this a warm bath and pinned it out on my kitchen table.

The STR seemed to relax nicely, and I think I’ll be quite happy with the blocked size of the shawlette. More pictures soon!

FO: lucy seaman’s cap.

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Special thanks to Boh for his assistance.

I LOVE this. I was initially a bit anxious about how bright and crazy this might look all knitted up, but there was no need to worry. I can’t wait to get this in the mail. Officially, we’ve got a few more weeks of winter (and probably at least a few more unofficial weeks where this is going), and I’m hoping this hat will provide a dear friend of mine with some warmth and happiness during the slow transition to spring!

Details:

Seaman’s Cap, by Brenda Zuk, size M, knit out of Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino handspun in the Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds colorway. I think I used about 140 yards of squishy heavy worsted to knit this hat. I used size 7 needles for the whole thing, mostly because I was too lazy to find 6s for the ribbing.

And now I can cast on something else in handspun! (This is yesterday’s skein of sour fig, already caked and ready to go.)

FO: sour fig.

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Boh decided that he wanted to pose alongside my finished skein of Hello Yarn shetland in Sour Fig. This is 201 yards of 2-ply, and I have a second, smaller skein of 85 yards. This stuff looks to me to be mostly sport weight, and I’m wondering if it would make a nice wurm hat. Thoughts? (Too variegated? I am also craving another set of mitts.)

Yesterday also involved this:

And this:

Friday. I managed to eat ALL of that apple crisp last night, this morning, and as a late lunch today. Boh and I just took a nice, sunshine-filled walk around the neighborhood, and I’m hoping that I have energy enough to do a bit more work this afternoon.

FO: lacy baktus.

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Here’s my lacy baktus, relaxing atop one of my sources. (I finished the paper, for now, and submitted it this morning!)

And here it is blocked and wrapped around my neck. At first, I thought it wasn’t long enough because the skinny tails didn’t quite wrap twice around my neck, and I didn’t like the way they were hanging. And then I realized that I could just tie a bow instead of a single knot, and those ends wouldn’t droop down.

Details:

I used size 7 needles, in order to get more drape and length out of my rather small skein of handspun merino/silk in the A King’s Ransom colorway from AVFKW. I think I used about 160 of 188 yards. (I began decreasing a tad early to allow for the variability in the yarn.)

This is such a great pattern for handspun or for variegated yarns — I will definitely be making more of these!

throw down your heart.

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Or in this case, finish peeling the beet and add it to the pot. It does look like a heart though, right? This post shares its title is with a Bela Fleck album (vol. 3) I received in the mail along with a beautiful hand-stamped valentine that is already on the fridge. This music, a combination of Bela Fleck’s banjo and the voices/instruments he encountered as he traveled through several African countries, makes me smile. And I need that today.

To continue with the music references, I give you my garter yoke cardigan, revisited. (Yes, I’m a nerd.)

(That is a cardboard box behind my arm — the cardigan hangs straight down.)

I attempted to block it longer and narrower in both the sleeves and the body, and I think I managed to turn this into a leaner, slouchier cardigan.

Boh seems to agree. I’m going to wear this out of the house this week!

FO: handspun seaman’s cap (the fourth).

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This is my fourth handspun seaman’s cap. Clearly, I love this pattern. (Also, I love this hat, but this one is most definitely hopping into the mail this week so that my brother gets his Christmas present before it is too warm for super squishy handspun hats.) I knit the large size, and used 150 yards of handspun superwash merino from Crown Mountain Farms in the albatross colorway — which is almost exactly what I spun from the 3.5 ounces I estimated I’d need. Yay! I hope he likes it.

I asked Boh to do an interpretive dance to demonstrate how I (we) feel about going back to school in a few hours. This was his response. He captured my feelings exactly — as did the weather — heavy rains and high winds today — which, unfortunately, does not seem super conducive to helping me to fully kick this cold. (More Theraflu for this rooster — I’m definitely feeling better, but, as it often goes near the end of a rapidly morphing sore throat to drippy nose to head cold to cough, despite feeling much improved, I sound worse! Or incredibly sexy, depending on how you look at it…)

Happy Monday, folks. Despite my whining, there is a lot to look forward to this semester.

FO: emerald city gusset heel socks.

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I may have stayed up way too late to finish these…but here they are! These are the best-fitting socks I have ever made for myself, and I really enjoyed knitting the gusset heel. (No stitches to pick up! Woohoo!) I knit them on size 1 needles out of Yarn Pirate superwash merino in the emerald city colorway. I have a fair amount leftover, but I still need to weigh the skein to see exactly how much.

You may remember that this pair of socks was also an experiment with 8 inch hiya-hiya needles. I picked the second sock up again after allowing it to languish in my sock bag for months, and I had to readjust to these super short needles all over again. Once I got back into a rhythm with them, the second sock practically knit itself. The ribbing at the cuff, however, is a different story. Don’t get me wrong — these needles are awesome for stockinette sock speed — but working the ribbing and the bind off was a full-on struggle. I’ll remember that next time, and keep dpns or circs handy for any non-stockinette sections. I do think the hiya-hiya needles are wonderful for stockinette sock knitting — quick, quiet, and ladder-free!

In the spirit of the new year, I’m employing a critical eye as I look at my WIPs. Earlier this month, you folks helped me decide to frog my brompton cardigan and reclaim a sweater’s worth of Rowan Felted Tweed. Next up, a gorgeous pattern that I started as part of the Socks from the Toe Up KAL. (Yep, I’ve fallen off that wagon. Still LOVE the book, though.)  I’m knitting them out of Shibui Sock in the ginger colorway, and I’m worried that think they (or more accurately, the 3 inches of the first sock) might be too big. I’m going to dig out that project today and take a look.

FO: garter yoke cardigan.

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At long last, I sewed the buttons onto my garter yoke cardigan. I tried it on after the first four, just to make sure I liked the look of these buttons (which may or may not have cost me more than the Cascade 220 part of the sweater). I decided to do this late last night, so the pictures are less than awesome, thanks to the overhead lights in my apartment, but I think you’ll still get the idea.

I love this, and I’m especially glad that I knit this alongside Mick and Laura! I decided not to block my GYC, at least not yet, mostly because I am anxious that it will grow, and I don’t want it to get wider or longer. (Also, I’m lazy.) I’ll block it eventually… I’m still working on sizing sweaters, and I think I need to trust the idea of negative ease just a bit more, as I tend to knit my sweaters a little too big. That said, I’m very happy with this sweater, and I expect it will get quite a bit of wear!

Details:

Garter Yoke Cardigan, size 38, with a handspun yoke (out of 144 yards of Hello Yarn romney in Alpine) and a Cascade 220 body (814 yards).

I knit the yoke and sleeves on size 6 needles and knit the body on 7s, and I shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length.

Here’s an outtake — despite the blurriness and awkward angle, I like this one:

Hooray!

FO: handspun mittens.

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See? They’ve already found a home in my basket o’ warm stuff near the door. These are mittens out of Paradise Fibers oatmeal bfl and local undyed jacob, initially intended for my brother, but due to inexplicable (or, more likely, subconscious) sizing issues, it looks like I’ll have to keep them. (Life is really tough sometimes.)

I used the Alex’s Mittens pattern, and modified for gauge/size. I cast on 36 st, increased to 42 st after the ribbing, followed the thumb gusset instructions but only up to 15 st for thumb, and did one more uniform increase row (up to 48 st) on the last thumb gusset increase row. I followed the pattern for the decreases at the top and for the thumb.

I love these: they are rustic, cozy, and wide enough that I can probably wear these as an outer layer over close-fitting mittens or fingerless mitts.

Now that I’ve freed up these needles, I can cast on a pair for my brother — for real this time. (Unless he fails to email me his hand measurements. If I don’t get them soon, he’s getting a hat!)