Too Cute to Give Away

An ornament for a knitter's tree. I made this mini felted knitting bag to decorate a tree that was going to be raffled off, but I liked it too much to give away. The bag is knit with sport weight wool felted to 2" x 3" after one trip in the washer. The knitting needles are toothpicks with a bead on the end & the yarn is lace weight wound in mini hanks.

Glass Slipper Sweater

I took it to Thanksgiving where it was tried on by several women, so if you fit it - you get it.
The pattern is "Bold and Bulky Mini Cardi" from Stephanie Japel's Fitted Knits. I have been obsessed by the patterns in this book, though I really don't have a fitted knits body. Her patterns are knitted from the top down with minimal seaming. It was a fun and fast knit. I followed the pattern almost exactly except for the trim on the sleeves where I ran out of yarn.

Man Booties

After one trip around in the front loading washing machine, these shrunk to exactly the right size. Even though the weather here has been quite warm, the slippers have been in use for the last week. They look kinda plain, though.

Bigfeet

OK, this is before felting. They should shrink down to human size. Meant to be house socks. Knit from Patons Classic Wool on 10 1/2 needles.

Happy Halloween!

Knitted witch hat in front of my very tired looking decorations. I'll be wearing it tonight for the annual neighborhood BBQ. Should keep me warm, though.

Knit from a free pattern from Maggie's Rags. The scariest thing is that I used Vanna's new acrylic yarn.

Sidetracked

Instead of sewing up a gnome, I started a new project. This pattern is called Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty. Does anyone really remember who Mr. Greenjeans was? A long sleeve cardigan knit from the top down in the round so no seams to sew (yea!). It looks like I may finish it. Made from stash yarn, a wool/cotton blend called Kureopatora from Germany.
More tiny blankets for Michele. The one on the left is diagonal knit at 15" square and the one on the right, a feather and fan pattern, is smaller at about 14" square.

Knit Gnome

Flat Gnome (except for the nose)

Mr. Gnome is finished knitting and ready to stuff.

Tiny Knitting

Preemie hat and very small blanket.

I'm REALLY Lazy

Because it's been a month since my last post. But you didn't think that I stopped knitting did you? Just lacking in finished objects. This is the Booga Bag pattern. A simple felted bag from a free pattern that's been around for a couple of years. I used 3 skeins of Noro Kureyon with very little left over. I'm not sure if there is enough for a strap. It measures 9" x 9" x 3". The book in the picture is on loan from the Knitting Guild, unread as of yet. The needle gauge is new - so far the best one I have found.

Lazy Days of Summer

I finished this last week, but I was too lazy to post. The pattern is Wisp from Knitty.com. A lightweight shawl scarf thing. The size is 12" x 50" I used a no name mohair from my stash so I don't have any idea of the fiber content.

Sunflower

From my garden.

Dog Blanket

Angel is a 5 and a half year old miniature dachshund. She is looking sad here, but she has a really sweet personality and is very devoted to her owner. She is a rescue dog who has a lot of medical problems and needs a lot of attention. I decided to knit her a cotton blanket for the summer using yarn from my stash. The blanket is about 36 inches square and 100% cotton.

No House Hats

In the Harry Potter movie. Or house scarves, either. A few multicolored beanies, though. Hermoine wore a plain knit oatmeal tweed hat and scarf set in one scene. Luna wore a blue crocheted sweater in another scene that was really nice. The most interesting scarves were the Christmas presents knit by Mrs. Weasley. They looked like they were knit using odd bits of her stash. Gives me an idea.

House Hats

Do you know a Harry Potter fan? It's been a while since I've done any knitting, what with houseguests and all. But I've settled in to knitting again starting with these hats. Actually two berets and a beanie, and one more started. They were quick and easy knits, the pattern, yarn and color suggestion is from the Charmed Knits book. The silver stripe in the green beret (Slytherin) is from my stash and the bronze stripe in the blue beret (Ravenclaw - book) is Glitterspun from Lion Brand. I'll be seeing the movie on Tuesday, July 10! Yes, at a preview one whole day before the public release. Will I wear one of my hats? I don't think so.

Finally Finished!

At last, it's done. Just in time for summer! Maybe it's meant for someone in a more northerly climate. Overall, I very pleased with how it turned out. The sleeves are rather long, more like mittens. If I were to knit this again, I would knit it in the round, with no seams. From someone who has a lot of unfinished projects around the house, I glad this one is finally completed.

Pattern: Central Park Knitscene Fall 2006
Yarn: Tahki Donegal Tweed (from stash) approx. 1100 yds.
Size: 40

Out of the OC

California Condor

This was taken at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. What? You can't see the Condor? It took me a while to find it, too. When I started to take the picture he was on that dead tree. He just didn't stay there.
I didn't do much knitting while I was on vacation.

Hemp Market Bag

Paper, Plastic or Hemp?

I'll bet you didn't think that I had hemp in my stash! Actually, I bought a bag full of it at the swap meet a couple of years ago. It's more like string, but not very smooth. I doubled it to knit this bag. I used one pattern for the top, the body is the purse stitch (yarn over, purl 2 together), and the bottom I just knitted and decreased every other round. It came out ok, after all, it's only a bag. I have a lot of hemp left over, so I may make another one. It's strong and stretches a lot, very useful for going to the farmer's market!

Kitty Bed for ARF

Before

After

Knitted for ARF - Animal Rescue Friends in Idyllwild. Norma suggested I knit a kitty bed for them and I was happy to do so. It came out really well. I hope it goes to a good home - with a cat included.

Tiffany Hat

Instead of working on the basketweave afghan (which, by the way, I'm thinking of ripping out and starting over), I cast on and knit this hat. The yarn is Tiffany from Lion Brand yarns, 100% nylon. The color is charcoal. It was extremely difficult to work with. After almost finishing it, I dropped a stitch and had to rip out many, many rows until I could fix it! Why bother? Because it is as soft as butter and will be donated to someone who has lost their hair due to chemotherapy.

TV Knitting

Instead of finishing my CPH, I cast on this Basketweave/Checkerboard afghan. It's an easy pattern to do while watching TV. Knit on large needles, so it will go quickly. This yarn was taking up a whole drawer and it was time to knit it up. Brown again, I really must get some color into my knitting.

CPH Progress

I'm getting close to finishing the CPH. For a while, I thought that I might not have enough yarn for the hood and I would just have a CP, but so far it looks OK. I will end up using every inch of yarn. Next I'll finish the sleeves & hope they fit in the armhole. Then comes the hard part, the front border. It's not something I can do while watching TV. Overall, I'm pleased on how it's turning out.

Does this yarn look familiar?

It used to be the Donegal Irish tweed sweater that I finished last November. Yep, I ripped out the whole thing, or frogged it (rip-it, rip-it) in knitter's terminology. In it's previous life it was not very attractive on me. In fact, it had kind of a potato effect. So I started again with this cabled cardigan pattern called Central Park Hoodie - CPH - as it's known around knit blogdom. Vertical lines are much more slimming.

Blog Catch-Up

Where did February go? I knitted the time away, of course. A lot of knitting and ripping out. A couple of completed projects, though. This is the "Fetching" handwarmer pattern again. Just as nice as the ones that went to Megan. I had to make them a few rows shorter because I ran out of yarn. Not sure if I'm keeping these for myself or giving them away.

This is what I call TV knitting, an easy project that can be knit while watching TV. It's an afghan or lap blanket, on the small side about 30" by 40" in navy blue acrylic. I'll probably give this away.

Another Satisfied Customer

This is Daisy Cat. Doesn't she just look like this bed was made for her? Well, it was. This is the kitty bed I knitted before Christmas for Barbara's friend Peggy.
Daisy took to it right away.

Good Noro/Bad Noro

The good Noro.
This is a little bag that I knitted and felted out of Noro yarn using a pattern from Mag Knits. It came out larger than I expected. Looks like a little basket.

The bad Noro.
I spent last week with this Noro, also known as norovirus. Same virus that has infected cruise ship passengers. And I didn't have to go on an expensive cruise to get it. It's been going around a lot. Not fun.
Wash your hands.

Happy New Year!

Oh? Do you think I'm a little late with the wishes? Yes, but now I'm catching up.
It's been cold here in the OC. Not enough to build a snowman though...
Amanda made this when we were in the mountains. Cute!