Unique Hat

This hat is constructed with only knit stitches. It's probably one of the most creative ways to make a hat that I've seen.

The pattern is Tychus from knitty and consists of a series of short rows to make the circular shape. Very cool.

The yarn I used was from the stash (see, I'm trying)....it was leftovers from the afghan and leftovers from the orange cabled bag from a few months ago.

Anyway, this was a quick knit and very very easy.

Das Ende!!!

I'm done done done done done done done done etc etc... HOORAY!!!!! I finally finished! Now it's getting washed and will be blocked today, and hopefully will make it to the mail tomorrow!!

DONE!

Afghan-osity

I'm almost done!! The anniversary was two days ago, so I'm a little late with this one, but I'm so close to finishing! I'm convinced I could've finished on time, but there were about 2 weeks last month when I didn't knit at all... we had company and then my hands were all bruised from mountain biking.

Anyway, I think my parents will forgive the delay. They are expecting a present, but I'm pretty sure they have no idea what's coming.

Here's what it looks like so far:

I'm still need to finish the last two strips and attach those. Then it's all about sewing the end in...and then it's off in the mail.

However, there is an issue. You may be able to see it in the first picture, but there are definite color discrepancies within this yarn.

Here's a picture that shows the screwy color more clearly:


Each cable strip only requires one skein of yarn, but the lattice and the honeycomb patterns need more than one skein, so those are the ones with the obvious problems.

Yes, I know about dye lots, etc, etc....and I wouldn't be complaining if I was at fault here. Ok, I might still complain, but seriously, the yarn labels were misleading.

Here's the deal: the yarn I'm using is the economical, yet still soft, Caron Simply Soft. One of this things that this brand boasts is that its yarn is NO DYE LOT. Meaning, I assume, that they claim the yarn color is always consistent, regardless of when if was dyed. Even so, I bought all of this yarn at the same time from the same store...trying to minimize the differences in yarn age and sun exposure and other things that might affect the color. AHHH! but they were not the same color!!

I'm not about to re-do any of the pieces, so now I have to problemshoot. My options as I see them are:
1) do nothing. This is a present for my parents and I'm sure that they will love it even with a slight color issue. Also, it's not that noticeable when the afghan is on someone's lap. You can really only see the color discrepancy if it's laid out on a flat surface.
2) mess around with dye. I haven't really thought this one through, but it includes some black dye and a short dip time. We'll see.
3) wash the whole afghan excessively and hope that the colors blend a little better.

I'm leaning towards option 3 now, but we'll see what I feel like when I'm done.

Here's another looks at the screwy color:


And time for the close-up...

The Cable Pattern: 3 down, 1 to go



The Honeycomb Pattern: 1 down, 1 to go



The Lattice Pattern: 1 down


Oh, PS: I learned how to cable without a cable needle! Take another look at the honeycomb pattern and you'll see why I bothered learning this shortcut. It makes cabling sooooo much faster!

Knitting Meme

I’ve seen this meme on a handful of blogs and decided that it’d be fun to do.

Perhaps it's another way to stall my readers from noticing the lack of afghan pictures...

Bold for stuff I've done/am doing

Italics for stuff I plan to do someday

Normal for stuff I'm not planning on doing

Afghan/Blanket (baby) – oh man, so close to finishing this one!

I-cord – if you make i-cords and felt them, they make excellent faux-dreadlocks

Garter stitch - duh

Knitting with metal wire - though I hear it's hard on the hands

Shawl - maybe I'll make something sometime that could be a shawl, but I'd wear it as a scarf, certainly not as a shawl

Stockinette stitch - double duh

Socks: top-down - oh yeah

Socks: toe-up - waaay better than top-down

Knitting with camel yarn - camel yarn? do people knit with hair from all mammals?

Mittens: Cuff-up

Mittens: Tip-down - it's only a matter of time

Hat - x100

Knitting with silk - eventually I'll be able to afford it

Moebius band knitting - this sort of strikes me as screwing up in the round, and just going with it

Participating in a KAL - one of these days

Sweater - only one so far, but more will be rolling out this winter

Drop stitch patterns - not too exciting

Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn - $4 goodwill sweaters certainly yield more than $4 worth of yarn

Slip stitch patterns - meh

Knitting with banana fiber yarn - huh?

Domino knitting (modular knitting) - I don't really know what this is

Twisted stitch patterns - these make good sock cuffs

Knitting with bamboo yarn - I've only heard of bamboo needles...

Two end knitting - if this is what I think it is, then I've done it

Charity knitting - one of these days

Knitting with soy yarn - I've never heard of this either, but I'd give it a try

Cardigan - the plan is to make one this winter

Toy/doll clothing - nah

Knitting with circular needles - check

Knitting with your own handspun yarn - gotta learn how to spin first

Slippers - big pink and fuzzy

Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) - uh, what?

Continental knitting - this is holding it on your left hand, correct?

American/English knitting (as opposed to continental) - I hear this way is slower

Designing knitted garments - only simple things so far

Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran) - I love cables

Lace patterns - again, only simple things so far

Publishing a knitting book - I think I'll stick to the blog

Scarf - x50

Teaching a child to knit - the youngest that it actually stuck with was 11

Knitting to make money - not really practical

Button holes - only on bags, but it's a pretty simple technique

Knitting with alpaca - not that I can really afford it

Fair Isle knitting - I need to get better at this though

Norwegian knitting - what exactly is this?

Dying with plant colors - one day

Knitting items for a wedding - just gotta wait for my friends to start getting married

Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…) - a dishtowel that doesn't really absorb and a potholder that can't really hold pots

Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars - less pokey-ness

Olympic knitting - ???

Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn - another expensive facet of this hobby

Knitting with DPNs - yup

Holiday related knitting - halloween costumes, 'nuff said

Teaching a male how to knit - most of them are closet knitters though

Bobbles - I have a bucket of bobbles

Knitting for a living - not practical I'm afraid

Knitting with cotton - yup

Knitting smocking - what?

Dying yarn - get me some Kool-aid

Steeks - what?

Knitting art - like abstract art?

Fulling/felting - and now that I have a washing machine, there will be much more

Knitting with wool - indeed

Textured knitting - does this include illusion knitting?

Kitchener BO - grafting is soooo cool

Purses/bags - even one with a handsewn lining

Knitting with beads - one day I'll figure that one out

Swatching - I've gotten into the habit of swatching

Long Tail CO - this is my cast-on of choice

Entrelac Knitting - perhaps a bag

Purling backwards - if these means un-purling, then I've done it, otherwise, I have no idea

Machine knitting - machines are expensive

Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn - yup

Stuffed toys - I can't reveal what I've made, because I haven't given it to the person yet

Baby items - no babies to knit for at this time. and that is A-OK

Knitting with cashmere - when I can afford it

Darning - if I wear something out, I'll just make a new one

Jewelry - perhaps

Knitting with synthetic yarn - the cheapest of all-est

Writing a pattern - yeah, it's cool

Gloves - coming soon

Intarsia - plenty of this

Knitting with linen - will try

Knitting for preemies - again, no babies

Tubular CO - supposedly extra stretchy

Freeform knitting - what's this?

Short rows - my favorite kinda heel and toe

Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers - probably the easiest thing to make

Pillows - well, pillow singular

Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine - plenty of these too

Rug - when I get bored of knitting normal things

Knitting on a loom - nah

Thrummed knitting - hmm?

Knitting a gift - oh man, there's been a billion of these

Knitting for pets - don't have pets yet

Shrug/bolero/poncho - uh-uh

Knitting with dog/cat hair - again, any mammal hair?

Hair accessories - not enough hair to accessorize

Knitting in public - hah, I'm rarely in public while not knitting

...consider yourself tagged

a blast from the past

Since I don't have any photogenic progress on the afghan, I thought I'd bring out a bit of knitting history. Here is my first project that used more than one color. It's the famous ohm hat that I gave to Sam a couple years ago...and will match his maybe future tattoo.


The picture's a little blurry and the colors are a little inaccurate, but this project was what made me start taking photos of my work.

hopefully there will be more afghan progress soon!

...I have an excuse

Ok, so you may have noticed the lack of posts in the last few days or so. And the lack of new pictures for a while now. The problem is that the only project I'm allowing myself to work on at the moment is the afghan. And the pictures of its progress are not that interesting. When it's all done, then you will get as many pictures as your heart desires.

Also, my hands are absolutely killing me. No, not from knitting, from mountain biking. I went up to Winter Park (you know, the ski resort, only in the summer it's a mountain biking, etc park) and biked and biked and biked. It was amazing, but brutal on my hands. So no knitting for a few days while I recover.

But I'll be back to it soon enough.

Rings

...I have discovered how to add links to NetRings... meaning that I'll be connected to other knitting blogs. Pretty sweet really. Though I should be working on that afghan now, and not typing. I'm almost halfway done with it and have only about 3 weeks left until I need to mail it.

Woot!