Fun Fur Muff

My husband and I belong to a Victorian Carolling group, and we sing in costume several times during the season, usually out in the cold. I had the idea to make myself an old-fashioned muff out of Fun Fur and Paton's Merino after seeing this pattern from Knitty.com. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

It was also a very quick knit, taking less than two days to finish. It kept my hands toasty warm all night, and I was asked to make three more for other members of our carolling group!

Ready for carolling!

Started Nov. 16, 2006

Finished Nov. 17, 2006

Green Ribbed Raglan

Here is my GRR, the first sweater I knit for myself. It was inspired by the sweater (below) from Knitter's Stash. The inspiration sweater was made from a cotton yarn of slightly finer gauge than the Paton's Merino I used. The pattern in the book only went up to a 36" finished bust whereas my (unfinished) bust is an inch or two more than that. Yes, I know ribbing stretches, but that was not the effect I was going for. I also used a 4x4 rib rather than the 4x2 in the inspiration sweater.

Ann Budd's Handy Guide to Sweater Patterns was the perfect tool to create the sweater I wanted in the size I wanted in the gauge I wanted. I love how this sweater turned out, and I want to wear it every day.

Started late August 2006, finished November 7, 2006.

Trellis

Yet another Knitty project, Trellis. To date, it is my most ambitious project. I love Aran sweaters, and I thought a baby sweater would be a good intro. I had to tweak the pattern a bit. I wanted to use yarn I bought at Greenfield Village: merino wool made from the sheep that are raised there. I couldn't get exact gauge, but then I remembered that traditional arans allow for different sizes by adding or subtracting purl stitches at the side seams (as well as vertical pattern repeats). So I just did the math that let me get the chest and sleeve dimensions in the pattern.

I love the seed stitch on the buttonband, cuffs, and shawl collar. The pattern is just busy enough to say "Aran!" but not too overwhelming for a baby. I love the tiny buttons I found to make it look even more Irish. Two things I would change if I did it again: 1) I would make the armholes and tops of sleeves bigger. It is more than big enough in the length of the body and sleeves and circumference of the body for her to wear for at least another year. But the sleeves just seem so snug right now. 2) I would have knit it on larger needles with this wool. It's very dense fabric -- not uncomfortably so -- but it's more like a jacket than a sweater. Hey, maybe that has something to do with problem #1? Hmmm...

I finished this in February 2006.

Coronet

Here's Coronet, from Knitty.com, which I finished in December 2005. It looks much nicer on my head than lying on the blocking board, but somehow I never got a picture of myself wearing it. I love this hat so much I made a blue one, too, to go with my Ravenclaw scarf. It's made from the recommended yarn, Lamb's Pride, and is so lovely, soft, and warm.

Haiku

Here is little Haiku from Knitty.com (I sure do love Knitty).
Easy as pie and yet not boring at all. Maybe it was the box stitch detail, maybe it was the size, maybe it was the absolutely delicious yarn I used, but this much garter stitch should have been mind-numbing. It wasn't.

I made it in a size 1 - 2, but it was still too big for Rose the last time I tried it on her, at 15 months. Now that the weather is cooling down again, and she's 5 months older, I hope she'll be able to wear it without her shoulder coming out the neck hole.

This was finished in December 2005.

Branching Out

This was my first lace project, Branching Out from Knitty.com, made from Silky Wool. It was a perfect first lace project: each row was only 25 stitches wide, and the pattern was only 10 rows tall, with every even row purled all the way across. It was easy to see progress being made, which encouraged me to keep going. I did use a lifeline, and I did have to use it -- more than once. None of the stitches were very tricky, but I don't know how to tink back after making a mistake in lace, so the lifeline was a lifesaver!

This was a Christmas present for my mom, and I finished it in November 2005.

Ravenclaw scarf

I just had to make a Ravenclaw scarf for myself. It is the same pattern as the Gryffindor scarf, but done with Nature Spun Sport. Finished November 2005.

Blue self-striping socks

Here is my very first pair of socks, done in self-striping yarn I bought on vacation in Holland, Michigan. (Side note: Holland has three yarn stores! Why doesn't all of Downriver have even one? That is all.) This was a very exciting project for me. Figuring out how much to cast on to make it fit my leg, turning the heel (magic!), learning how to do kitchener stitch... I used Kate Atherley's Generic Sock-Building Template from her article Socks 101 in Knitty.com for this pair, and for other pairs since. It's a straightforward sock recipe that allows a perfectly-fitted pair of socks (as long as you swatch) and is open for embellishment with color, cables, or anything else you can think of. This pair was finished on Halloween Day, 2005.

Green baby blanket

Here is the baby blanket that wouldn't die. I started it when I was 5 months pregnant with Rose, and didn't finish it until she was 8 months old (September 2005). It is a simple garter stitch blanket knit on the bias, with yarnover eyelet around the edge. I loved the simplicity and drape of the sample we saw in The Knitting Room in Birmingham, Michigan, and the way the fingering-weight yarn was flecked (I did not save the ball band, so I can't link to the yarn. All I remember is it was cotton and fine gauge). I found, however, that garter stitch in this quantity at that gauge can be so tedious that I came to a point where I dreaded just thinking about picking it up. Then, to add insult to injury, I ran out of yarn about 10 rows before it was supposed to end at the corner. By this point, I was so sick of it that I just bound off and called it a blanket.

Now that I have some distance from the experience, I do have to admit that I like the blanket, the colors, the flecks, and especially the drape. And I learned that when I want to make something that involves a lot of tedium, I need another project going at the same time that is a bit more interesting.

If you are interested in how the blanket was constructed, this pattern is very similar to the one the yarn shop gave me: Diagonal Baby Blanket. Mercifully, it's in a much bigger yarn, and probably wouldn't take more than a year to finish.

Candy Corn Hat

This is a candy corn hat made of Tahki Cotton Classic that I bought on impulse during a vacation in Holland, Michigan. I saw a sample hat in the store and just couldn't resist. (I also couldn't resist some Koigu KPPPM, but that's another post.) Unfortunately, the store didn't have the pattern right on hand, but I figured I could figure out how to make stripes and decrease. It was my first experiment in using dpns, and I liked how it turned out. It was a pretty quick knit -- it took 2 days to finish. It was so quick and fun I ended up making two more, one for Rose's friend Lena, and one for Rose's cousin Ramona. Finished September 2005.

Aran pillows

I knitted these pillows for my mother-in-law for Christmas 2005. They are made from Caron No Dye Lot yarn I had left over from a crochet afghan. The pattern is my own, created the year before so I could learn how to cable. Strangely, the pillow I made for myself -- the same yarn in taupe -- ended up being a 12" x 12" square. These, following the very same pattern, ended up being a 16" x 12" rectangle. The same yarn! Ah, the mysteries of gauge...

Gryffindor scarf

Summer 2005

My first project finished after buying a digital camera, a Gryffindor scarf for my husband. Made of Plymouth Encore D.K., knit in a tube on a #5 circ. Pattern from a site I can't find anymore (sorry!), but the writer based it on the worsted weight pattern on atypically.knit. I especially love the fringe, in which the tassels are not drawn through the fabric in a bunch, but rather two at a time through each stitch, changing color every five stitches, then each color bound together (Click on the photo to see a close-up).