Finished just this morning.
The yarn is Regia, the Kaffe Fasset Design Line. Needles were 2.25 mm silver needles. Picot top, otherwise my generic sock pattern.
Finished just this morning.
The yarn is Regia, the Kaffe Fasset Design Line. Needles were 2.25 mm silver needles. Picot top, otherwise my generic sock pattern.
Project Details:
Yarn: Lion Brand Heartland
Pattern: very loosely based on Aesderina. I followed the pattern until after I got past the horizontal ribbing (knit 4 rows, purl 3 rows). The decreases start after that and I didn’t like how they looked so ripped it back and just winged it.
Needles: size 7
The hat is for a friend undergoing chemo for esophageal cancer. I don’t mind knitting hats, but my friends really just need to stop getting cancer.
I started this with a nice wooly wool but decided I needed something softer for a newly bald head. This actually is quite nice for an inexpensive acrylic yarn.
Those of you who follow me on FB know that we’re in Italy at the moment. Today is our last day in Rome, we head to Florence tomorrow. We’re having a wonderful trip, I’ll report back on that later. Ciao!
This one has been finished and gifted, so it’s time for a blog post.
And here’s a better shot of the sweater. It’s hard to take pictures of babies if they don’t want their picture taken.
Project Details:
Pattern: Buttoned up Cardi
Yarn: Cotton Ease, in Cherry Red
Needles: 5.00 mm
Started and Finished within the past two weeks
For: a coworker’s grandson
What I learned: I still love Cotton Ease for baby things. The bonus is that it’s machine washable.
Pattern Rating: This is a really easy pattern, all garter stitch. I made a few modifications. The pattern calls for picking up stitches and knitting the sleeves, I just cast on the right amount of stitches and then sewed them in. I remembered to put in the buttonholes on this one. And I made it just a bit longer than the pattern called for.
Project Details
Pattern: Rogue, by Jenna Wilson
Yarn: Peace Fleece worsted, color Amaranth
Needles: 4.0 mm
For: Me
Started/Finished: Started 10/4/15, Finished 9/8/18
Modifications: None
What I Learned: I still adore Peace Fleece wool. I knit this same pattern many years ago in a heavier Aran weight, it was too baggy, though I’ve worn it a million times. This one fits much better. I also love the cables on this.
Pattern Rating: ***** Well written, cable charts clear. No major errors. This is perhaps not a “first sweater” kind of pattern, but her directions make it easy to follow.
Here are a few more photos, since it’s not every day that there is a finished sweater around Chez Knitting Doctor!
Another finished project!
Project Details
Pattern: My own jerry-rigged pattern. 72 stitches, flap heel and gusset
Yarn: Trailing Clouds Nimbus sock yarn, color Mind the Gap. It has all the colors on the London Tube map. You can also get this in the Etsy shop.
Needles: 2.00 mm
For: Me
Started/Finished: Started 1/17/18, finished 7/18/18
Modifications: none
What I Learned: This isn’t really new, I guess, but I still love knitting socks, and I love self striping yarn. “Oh look! Another red stripe!”
And I have already started the next pair.
I’m not doing a whole “finished project” post here. This is a big rectangle with ribbing on either end, then the sides are sewn. I used Cotton Ease in Bubble Gum pink, and 4.5 mm needles. I started this two days ago, and finished today.
It will be a good chemo hat, the yarn doesn’t have a lot of springiness, but it is soft. I think I’m going to do another one a little smaller.
And that’s that.
I finished this a few weeks ago, but keep forgetting to post!
Project Details
Pattern: Trillian, by Martina Behm, part of her Hitchhiker series
Yarn: Schaefer Anne, 560 yards
Needles: 3.25 mm
For: Me
Started/Finished: Started 9/15/17, finished 6/3/18
Modifications: none
What I Learned: These little shawls are like potato chips. They are fun to knit, and very versatile to wear. I’ll probably make this pattern again. It uses sock weight yarn, and God knows I have a lot of that.
We are back in our favorite place in Mexico again for a week. So far the weather has been perfect, and we’ve had a terrific relaxing time. I finished my latest socks this morning.
I’m not doing the whole “Finished Project” thing. It’s Opal yarn, the Ladybug color, from deep stash. Knit on size 2 mm needles, usual plain vanilla sock with ribbed cuff. I keep forgetting that Opal has very generous yardage, I could have knit the cuffs quite a bit longer.
Here are a few photos from our trip so far. We came this year with neighbors from home.
You can probably see why we keep coming back here!
I’m finally getting around to posting some “finished” photos of this one. It’s just been too warm to think of wrapping it around my neck even for a photo. We definitely are feeling the early fall weather around here though in the past few days.
It only took me a month and a half to getting around to blocking the Ruffles shawl. In my defense, it’s been 90 degrees here, and I can’t wear it anyway.
At any rate, I got it washed and pinned out this morning.
I just did a “down and dirty” blocking. This yarn and the garter stitch makes for a really squishy comfy fabric, and I didn’t want to change that too much.
This is the first time I’ve used those blocking pins. They are from Knitter’s Pride, and it really makes getting a straight edge easy. I would need a ton more of them to do a bigger lace shawl, but I might just fork over the money for another set. They aren’t cheap, and I have a huge set of blocking wires that work just fine, they’re just fidgety. I went to a local welding shop several years ago and bought a big pack of thin wires. They work just like the expensive fancy blocking wires and were dirt cheap. I’ll probably think about it for a bit, it’s around $25 for one set of those**, and I’d probably need a couple more for a huge shawl. I think I might rather spend that on yarn. Not that I need that either.
I’ll show a modeled photo once it’s dry. And maybe once the temperature here drops into a reasonable range for woolies.
**Update. Amazon has them for 20 bucks, with free Prime shipping, so they’re on their way.
And they’re done.
Project Details
After a long travel day Friday, we’re back home from our cruise. Getting through Seattle traffic back home was the worst part of the trip. We got off the ship around 9:30, and didn’t get home until around 5PM (usually about a 4 hour drive). We stopped in Bellingham for lunch, which accounts for part of that, and also picked up Lewey, which was a bit of a detour, but the whole trip back was just painful. Traffic around here is painful at best, and on Friday afternoon turns into horrifying.
I did stop at one yarn shop in Bellingham, but I swear I didn’t buy anything. I wasn’t really even tempted. Next week I’ll hit 150 days with no yarn buying, and the six month mark is coming up.
We didn’t do any significant shopping on the trip. I bought a few books in a shop in San Francisco. How can you NOT buy books in a nice bricks and mortar book shop with real people running it? Of course, I don’t need those any more than I need more yarn. It’s those little personal recommendation cards written by the book shop staff that get me every time. And yes, I have a Kindle, and use it, but there is something about “real” books that I adore.
Here are the other things I bought. We did a tour of the Queen Mary in LA, which was a bit cheesy, but fun.
And what is that little blue thing peeking out in that photo? Could it be a finished Hitchhiker?
New socks done!
Project Details:
Pattern: My own jerry-rigged sock pattern. 72 stitches, flap heel and gusset construction.
Yarn: Abi Grasso Self striping sock yarn
Needles: 2.00 mm
Started: 5/30/16
Finished: 1/22/17
For: Me
Modifications: none
What I Learned: Sometimes matching socks just happen.
We’re in Guayabitos, Mexico again this year for a week. This is the same lovely place that we’ve stayed for the past 3 years. Here are a few photos.
And one last sock photo: