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.

Glutton for Noro

Who could get enough?

smallxorz

my man rigged a pringles can to his new SLR to make an extreme-macro lens; witness:
addi turbo 
 
noro silk garden
 
laceweight silk from colourmart.com