Something to Try Out this Weekend

Bread without a timetable. I would say it was good. It was on the dense and heavy side, but that is usually fine for toast (my main habit). But it did mold quicker than most of my breads, could have been the bag it was in though. Anyhow, check it out.

Approved!

David's second chance hat has been approved!

Some of you may remember this hat which I knit for him in February. Well, that hat wasn't "warm enough","tight enough", or "thick enough". So that hat become this hat, which I love.

So that left David without a hat and left me with a challenge. I debated about what fiber to use.

Since he wanted it to be warmer I considered using either angora or alpaca, but I decided alpaca had more drape than I wanted and angora was just WAY too warm. Despite his claims for more warmth I also know that he is rarely super cold. So I chose to go with good old fashion wool. Targhee to be specific.

For the tightness I went with a smaller needle size - US 3, 3.25mm - and of course, casted on few stitches then I generally would have - total 110 stitches. I was using my own hand-spun/hand-dyed that was a worsted weight yarn (9 wraps per inch).

To make the hat thicker I decided to do a double layer. I looked at some patterns on Ravelry and sorta went by what they said for the initial couple increases, but in the end didn't really follow their pattern. What looks like a giant tampon over on the left is what the final product looked like. It measured 22 inches... if I had the patience I probably should have made it 23 inches, but I'll blame it on my calculations.

So those were my adventures in designing David's new hat. I am so glad he likes as much as I do - though he is quite as excited as I am, but that is how things generally go, ha ha.

Tomorrow my Etsy shop will be closed in the evening as I am taking everything to a local home show. If you are in the area and have handmade Christmas shopping to do please come by for wine, appetizers and shopping!

This show is in Broomfield, Colorado at 1646 Redwing Lane (near 136th and Sheridan) from 6pm- 9pm, tomorrow November 18th!

If you have any questions leave me a comment with your email address, thanks!

Tah-Dah!

I had to try so hard not to post this until my friend received it, but then I dropped the ball and didn't post it at all! So here it is, may I present the wedding barn raising quilt!

The top photo has more correct color balance (the snow was reflecting a LOT of light into the living room). I am thrilled with how the blanket turned out. I did block it after seaming and it made all the difference in the world. Prior to blocking I was afraid it was going to be too small to be a good couch blanket, since I wasn't aiming for a lap blanket, but in the end I think it worked out well.

One fun thing about this blanket it includes some milestone yarns. The yarn from the recipients first pair of socks, yarn from a thrift store trip we took together to Taos, yarn from her lost water bottle cozy, some of my first hand-spun, and a square of yarn from the town she plans to move to next year. I think it is fun to have those squares with memories.

Stay warm ya all ~ we have some fresh wet snow on the ground!

Casting On

These mittens will be for my sister-in-law for Christmas. No worries she knows they are coming. I decided to let her choose the pattern and colors because why just guess what someone would like.

The pattern is Citrus from Kris Patay of Kris Knits. It isn't a pattern I would have chosen for myself, but I think it will be fun to knit.

This orange, in real life, is actually much less red, but you get the idea, it's pretty.

The yarn is Digit - the orange was maize heathered (I dyed it) and the natural is their ecru solid. I inherited this yarn in a crafty swap and so far I am really enjoying knitting with it.

My only hesitation with this project is that I cast onto US 0 for this project. Yes, that is correct size 0 or metric 2 - I love how the knitting looks, the fabric look so fine and neat, but I hope I have the endurance. Honestly, this is probably good training for socks on my zeros because that is what I am really excited to knit on these beautiful rosewood zeros (thanks again Claire!).

I had better get back to work...

FO: Brainless Socks

I was looking through my blog yesterday doing a little eval of topics I've posted about recently and there defiantly aren't enough Finshed Objects (FOs). So, I am going to try to remedy this, starting today.

These are my new brainless socks. I knitted them using the magic loop technique on size one needles. I have had this project on the needles since August. Originally I cast these on as a knitting distraction from my two larger wedding projects - wraps and blanket - and they did help a little bit.

The amazing yarn is hand dyed from the land down under. Hyena Petticoats is the artist, she has a blog and an online store. The color in the shot does not do justice to the awesome mustardy color so check out her websites.

As I mentioned the pattern is called "Brainless" and that is is in general. I had a knitting block when I got to turning the heel, but is because it had been awhile since I had knit toe up socks. The pattern can be found on Ravelry, for free, and the publisher is yarnissima.

I have yet to weave in the cuff ends, but I have already worn them a lot, just tucking in the ends - so LAZY! Okay, more to come on Christmas presents! Have a lovely Tuesday.

New Pattern - Convertible Fingerless Mitts

Those of you who have known we awhile are probably thinking, "what? this isn't a new pattern, I thought you published this a long time ago." Uh, well, I'm a procrastinator so the pattern has been done, just not edited, since probably August, maybe earlier, who can remember. But the important thing is now it is up for sale.

This makes a total of four published patterns and they all can be found here in my Ravelry Shop. The three for sale can also be found in my Etsy shop - the free one you can find on the right column of this blog.

Happy knitting everyone!