June Round Up

Added to the June pile: Ganomy

Knit in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, a very servicable nice wool. I held it double to closer match the stated guage in the pattern which is rather large. I did run out of yarn for the last few yards, so I used a matching green bit I had left over from something else. I rather liked the method for making the little bobble at the top. It's a nice alternative to pom-poms, tassles, or just a bare peak. I didn't use a ping-pong ball as suggested, but just a little leftover ball of somethig-or-other.

I added a line of embroidery just above the brim in green, to match the top of the bobble. All in all: a simple, solid pattern that I would be happy to knit again.

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Also knit in June, but not yet photographed: a mini fisherman's hat that is totally adorable on a baby head.

Pentagon Hat

By the same principle as the Three-Corner hat from the June chapter in the Knitter's Almanac, I devised this Five-Corner version. It was quite simple, just made a gauge swatch, and determined how many stitches around the headband should be. Then I knit up aways as instructed in the pattern (though with a deeper headband than in the pattern, which is quite shallow). I increased in the same proportion as the pattern, and then chose five points to decrease instead of three. I decreased at a slightly less-frequent rate to make up for the fact that I was decreasing more each round. Simple!

The yarn is Knit Picks Elegance in color Daisy. Silk and baby alpaca... heaven! The original pattern calls for a gauge of 11 stitches to 4 inches, so I held this yarn double on a 5mm needle to get a gauge closer to that. Way fatter gauge than I am used to knitting. But it was fast!

the best part: my son loves it!

Co-worker Gifts

For thoroughness's sake, here are three more gifts that I knit for coworkers. First, a My So Called Scarf, started a looooong time ago, but too turquoise for me to have ever kept it, and thusly it became a gift knit. I enjoyed the pattern well enough, though I got right sick of it by the end. Also I think I did it wrong, twisting the knit stitches instead of knitting them regular. The yarn is from handpaintedyarn.com, knit on 4 mm needles.

  

Next, the super fastest knit, Fetching! So fast they were off the needles and given away before I could get a really decent picture of them. Knitted on 3.5 mm needles with ColourMart 100% extra fine merino 15/44 NM. I felt like these were a little short around the fingers, so I added 4 extra rows before bind off on the hand and also lengthened the thumb a bit. 

And, the funnest gift knit: a mini-Casino. Knitpicks Shadow knit on a 3 mm needle. Horribly photographed due to the northern latitude that I live in. Knitting this started out a little slow because you start at the long side, but it flies along as you get towards the pointy end. It took about 5 days. And the blocking... ah, the blocking. That's seriously fun. Except for when my cat slept on it, with the pins still in it. My really heavy cat who I couldn't manage to lift off of it without snagging it.  

But anyway, blocking is magic! 

Gifts of Tangled Up Yarn

Here's a set of gift knits that went to a whole family. Done on time, mailed late... should have arrived by now! 

First: random cables! This one was really fun. I took a basic reversible cable pattern (Rav link), but at each row where there should have been a cable, I rolled a die. Evens, I cable, odds, I don't. Lots of fun to knit with a die. Kinda confuses bystanders! Yarn was Knitpicks Comfy, and boy was it ever comfy. Squishy, held cables nice. I knit one other project with this same yarn, and it held up well over time (no pilling, still soft).

Number two: a very pretty hat! Bloody Stupid Johnson outa Knitty. I used odds and ends of Noro Silk Garden. The cable motif was really neat, but it ended up really really wide. Initially the ribbing section seemed like it would fit a normal head, but after I knit the horizontal cable band onto it, it was really pulled wide. I ended up ripping out the bottom band of ribbing and reknit it with a lot less stitches (I think 30 less?), also eliminating the short row shaping there. But now it fits great. And I knit the crown to pattern specifications.

And lastly, a half-and-half gift ... fitted for the little one, designed to amuse the big one. Last year I knit a Jayne hat (another Rav link) for the Daddy of this family, this year a baby Jayne. Yarn was Per Tyving pt2, same as Daddy's but I think it was kinda itchy for a kid. We'll see how it goes over.

All in all, yay for gift knitting! One more gift-knit post to come...

A Little Early Gift Knitting

I think the recipients of these knits don't read this blog, so I'm safe. Here's a little taste of my gift knitting this year. 

Quant from knitty.com; it took a little less than a skein of Noro Silk Garden Lite. This was a nice solid pattern and, by the gods, I love entrelac. Just interesting enough to feel like you are performing knitting gymnastics, but simple enough to be able to do it while watching a movie. The picture shows less of the color change than the actual Quant has, as it is quite subtle. It's more greenish on the other side, and quite lovely. The only problem for me really was putting it on to model it -- I kept knotting my hair up in the ties.

And Spirogyra from knitty.com; knitted with maybe 1/2 a skein of Knit Picks Shadow in Oregon Coast Heather (a lovely color!), held double. I was very happy with the product and it was a very quick knit. I think I finished it in a week, knitting nights in front of the "tv" (OK, we don't actually have a TV, but we watch shows on the computer. I think the first series of the new Dr. Who was the accompaniment for these.) The product was so similar to my beloved Pomatomus,  and I can't quite wrap my head around how the designer did it with a chart half the size. All in all, I proclaim the Pomatomus superior. I knit the two patterns with different yarns, obviously, so maybe that's a factor (though I did knit Pomatomus with three different yarns), but the Pomatomus mitts seemed to turn out squishier and the pattern seemed to pop out a little more, plus I have a strange affinity for twisted stitches.

All in all, I am satisfied, as I hope my recipients will be, too.

oooo la laz

A larger project has finally come to fruition, and also come on vacation with me...

The Modern Lace Henley, thanks Pam Allen. In Knitpicks Telemark. I did a right and proper gauge swatch this time, and boy am I ever glad I did. I've got some loosey goosey knitting, and swatching in pattern with 3.5 mm turned out way over gauge, so with a bit of calculatoring, I cast on for the smallest size. I'm not actually the smallest size by any means but it fits :).

I modified to knit in the round. I could have dealt with the side-seam increase/decrease area a little more smoothly (I guess I could have stood to read today's Knitting Daily back in February when I started... where's a time machine when you need it?) Also, I left out the collar thing. Sorry, Pam Allen, it's just not me. I continued the neck band as instructed around the entire neck opening.

And, you may have noticed it's practically long sleeved. Yes, I decided while I was knitting that I would like the sleeves to hit me just after my elbow, instead of just above the elbow. I failed to consult the Oracle (e.g. the swatch). Instead of calculating from the swatch how many rounds that should be, I just knit out 10 inches of sleeve. Duh, blocked lace grows. Well, I actually don't mind the longer sleeves as they are a bit warmer for chilly Oslo mornings. Except it looks like I don't know how to knit a proper sleeve. Which I guess I don't.