The Twiggy Bobble Hat was born last September and, being a wily hat, it has heretofore eluded capture for tagging as a FO. In spite of its elusive qualities, it was recently caught on camera (in the exotic locale known as Beneath the Stairs) before scampering back under a shrubbery.

Exhibit A

the hat is startled by the photographer

The Specs:

-Pattern: Twiggy Bobble Hat by Andrea Tung, Pattern here.
-Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed.
-Skeins: Less than one skein of Cocoa (143).
-Needles: Size 7 circs and dpns.
-Start to finish: Knitted sometime in September 2007.
-For: me!

The Pattern:
I could pretend that I vividly remember knitting this hat, but that would be silly. I only have the vaguest of recollections. I may as well have been abducted by aliens, brainwashed into thinking that I knit this hat, and returned to Earth.

Here's what I can dredge up from the bottom of my brain: There was some errata (ravelry link).

Exhibit B

it perches quietly on the head of the common knitter, with whom it shares a habitat

Notes:
I love this hat. I love that it's a bit oversized (for those of you who have never seen me around other people for scale, I am tall. I have a big head. Not freakishly large, just too big for many hats). I love the reverse stockinette. I reeeeeeeally love the bobbles, though occasionally they'll invert themselves and you have an inny instead of an outie. I consider this endearing.

Final Verdict: A fantastic hat. High thee hence and knit one for yourself.

Posted by Elli at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

The camera, it is still broken (sadness, woe, etcetera). But now it is absolutely, completely broken. This is different from the sort of broken it was before (which was just kind of halfway broken). There are still a few photos hanging around from before the world went dark for my beloved Crapshot 2000, including these ones, taken Saturday.

Howdy. We are Pomtastic

The Specs:

-Pattern: Herringbone Mittens with Poms, by me! Pattern here.
-Size Knitted: Medium
-Yarn: Cascade 220.
-Skeins: Less than one skein each of Coral (7830) and Natural (8010).
-Needles: Size 6 dpns (size 4 for ribbing).
-Start to finish: October 2007 - February, 2008.
-For: Recipient as of yet unknown (which explains why I wasn't really in a hurry to finish these).

Upside-down mittens! I really know how to shake things up.

Notes:
You probably thought I'd finished these already, since one of them appears in the pattern and has been paraded around blogland for all the world to see. But that was just the single mitten I knitted up to test out the smaller size. Now there are two and, as someone's wise mother once said, mittens really are better in pairs.

Not much new to say about these. If you really want to read a full FO report, you can take a gander at the last one, which is here.

Final Verdict: neat-o complete-o!

Posted by Elli at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

That's my sister, Rae

The Specs:

-Pattern: Chicago, by Louisa Harding, from Rowan 37.
-Size: Medium.
-Yarn: Rowan Calmer, 6.5 skeins Sour, and less than one skein each Blush, Coral, and Lucky.
-Needles: size 8 birch, (size 7 when called for).
-Start to Finish: August 11, 2007 – December 26, 2007.
-For: My darling sister Rae, Christmas 2007

Notes:
Rae has been asking for this sweater since Rowan 37 came out (which was in 2005, if I remember correctly), so I'm pretty darn pleased that I finally delivered. There were some initial reservations about all those little flowers, but in the end they weren't so terrible. Because knitting is like chocolate. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

I knitted her a cardigan.

Mods: I think Ms. Harding got a little carried away with the extras on this pattern. At heart, it's a basic ¾ sleeve cardigan but then there are a) an eyelet lace pattern, b) 52 little knitted flowers, c) 2,500 knitted-in beads d) 18 buttons/buttonholes, and e) a ruffle at the bottom. That's a lot of stuff on one sweater.

The key to making this one a winner was to strip it down a little. I nixed the ruffle from the get-go…it doesn’t appear in any of the pattern photos (and why doesn't it?) so by the time I discovered its existence it was already out of the question. The beads knitted into the lace pattern were vetoed by Rae, thank goodness. So the whole project was a little less crazy-making than it could have been.

The only thing I added was 4 extra buttonholes (and buttons). Toward the end there I got a tiny bit lazy and didn't feel like doing buttonhole math. So I just knitted on buttonholes until I ran out of room. So 22 buttons it was. They're all hidden by the flowers, so it doesn't really matter anyway. Not that they aren't fantastic buttonholes.

It looks nice unbuttoned with a fancy shirt too.

Errata: The instructions for the little flowers say that you’ll have 6 stitches at the end…you won’t. You’ll have 11. If you want to have 6 stitches, omit the K1s. I just knit the 11 stitch version and they looked fine.

The Yarn: I love Calmer. So delightfully sproingy. I did have to go up a needle size since sproing makes me knit tightly.

Finishing:
I'm particularly happy with my set in sleeves. I used the crochet method (my current favorite) with a half-thickness of yarn to keep the bulk down (you just slap the pieces right sides together and crochet along the edge through both layers). So tidy!

To attach the flowers, I first arranged them on the sweater and then basted them into place. Then I just starting sewing those little buggers on and didn't stop until I was finished. Each one has three little glass beads into the center but you can't see them in the pictures (note to self: take closeups next time).

I picked out transparent buttons that are the exact same color as the sweater so that they don't distract from the knitted flowers. Normally I like buttons to stand out a bit, but in this case I thought they would just clutter things up.

Final Verdict: Woo! With a side of Hoo!

Posted by Elli at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (76)

Looky, it's a hat! A hat that's been finished since August (oh, the shame). Time to get caught up on the FOs...

Hello. I will stun you with my fuzzy rays.

The Specs:

-Pattern: Marloes Sand Hat, from Rowan 40.
-Yarn: 1.5 skeins of Lang Breeze.
-Needles: Size 13, and size 10.5 dpns (those were the largest ones I had).
-Start to finish: Two evenings way back in August, 2007.
-For: Me!

This is the best modeled shot I've got. Yes, I know it looks like I belong in the primate house.

Notes:
The yarn was a gift from my MIL last February. My first reaction was, of course, "YARN! Woo-hoo!" My second was "hmmmm...it's a bit on the, um, fuzzy side...and the colors aren't exactly what I would choose for myself." So into the stash it went to await its destiny.

Fast forward to a Sunday evening in August. I reallyreallyreally needed a fast project and I had my eye on the Sand Hat. Bulky yarn is severely underrepresented in my stash so when I dove in all I came up with was the Lang Breeze. A bit doubtful of the appropriateness of cables knit in novelty yarn, I decided to cast on and figured I could aways give the hat to Kricket* for Christmas if it came out looking completely dorky.

I knit the hat. I tried it on. I fell in love. It's soft and snuggly warm and best of all, it looks good on me. I have no idea why, but it works. So there you have it. I love my hat. The only question I have now is: does it need a bigger pom?

If I stand in a prickly tree can you imagine it's winter?

Final Verdict: Utter bewilderment and inexplicable fondness.

*my designated recipient of odd and/or experimental knits. Sorry, Krick.

Posted by Elli at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

Look! Mittens!

Does looking at herringbone make you dizzy too?

The Specs:

-Pattern: An Elliphantom original.
-Size Knitted: Elli-size (read: biggish).
-Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted.
-Skeins: Less than one skein each of Deep Charcoal (M-06) and Silver Sliver (M-130).
-Needles: Size 7 dpns (size 6 for ribbing).
-Start to finish: September 9 - September 25, 2007.
-For: Me!

From the bottom up: ribbed cuff; eyelets to accommodate crocheted cord and large pom-pom; striped thumb; herringbone goodness.

Notes:
I've wanted to knit myself some mittens ever since the too-small-squirrel-mitten incident of 2006. So a few weeks ago I grabbed some leftovers from the stash, took some inspiration from the thrifted herringbone fabric, and got cracking.

Improvements I've made since the squirrel mittens:
-These fit! It's a nice touch.
-Worsted-weight yarn for a quicker, thicker mitten (heh. that rhymed).
-A ribbed cuff for extra snuggyness.
-The traditional thumb. I've determined that my thumbs are too, how should I put this...drumstick-like for a tab thumb).

Other than that, they're pretty similar to the squirrel mittens. (read: they're fair-isle and the tops are shaped similarly).

The Yarn:
The mohair content in the yarn makes it ill-suited for a lot of projects (too itchy), but it might just be made for mitten-dom. Lots of fuzzy snuggliness inside these double-stranded babies. If they full up just a little bit over time they'll be darn near impervious to wind and weather.

Respect The Pom.

Final Verdict: I'm so pleased. La, la, la...

Posted by Elli at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (64)

Look, more socks!

The Specs:
Pattern: A toe-up version of Priscilla's Dream Socks by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, from the Fall 2000 Interweave Knits; also in the book "Favorite Socks."
Yarn: Luna Park Ornaghi Filati.
Skeins: 2 balls in colorway 203.
Needles: Bamboo dpns, sizes 1 and 1.5.
Start to finish: June 16 - August 18.
For: Kricket, who claimed them first.

Hello. We are shortrow toes.

Notes:
Another pair of two-month live-in-my-bag pull-out-when-I-have-a-spare-moment socks. Seems I consistently have about one socks-worth of free minutes a month. It is nice to know that it all adds up to something, isn't it? See what the non-knitters are missing out on? Accidental productiveness. Incidentally, non-knitters are also strangers to the thrill and danger of shot-gun sock knitting...each day knitters everywhere risk their lives knitting in the passenger seat. What if the airbag deploys during a minor fender-bender and causes the knitter to be impaled on their own bamboo dpns, turning a minor incident into a spleen-puncturing ordeal? Wait. I seem to have lost my train of thought. Oh yes...the socks.

I knitted these in pretty much the same manner that I did the last pair. If you are curious about my conversion to toe-upness you can find the details in that FO report.

The Yarn:
The yarn was pretty meh. Meh-ness previously blogged about back in July.

Always looking for new and thought-provoking angles, Thunk insisted that we take a few shots like this:

I like to think of it as the Wicked Witch of the East shot

Final Verdict: Soxy. Time to cast on another pair!

Posted by Elli at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

The Specs:

-Pattern: Demi, from Rowan Vintage Knits.
-Size Knitted: the smallest one.
-Yarn: Rowan Magpie Tweed Aran (discontinued).
-Skeins: 6 skeins (540g, really) of shade 778.
-Needles: size 8 bamboo, (sizes 6 and 7 when called for).
-Buttons: La Mode style 43254.
-Start to finish: November 9, 2005 – July 5, 2007.
-For: Me!

The Pattern: I love this pattern. I love these cables with all the pretty twisted stitches. I love the bobbles. Love, love, love. The charts were a little tricky in the beginning (there's a lot going on there) but once the pattern was established and I could see what was going on it was smooth sailing.

The Fit: The only real issue I have with this pattern is with the fit of the sleeves. May I present Exhibit A:the pattern photo. As you can see, this pattern was meant to be a bit on the roomy side. Schlumpy-comfy with wideish sleeves and all that.

I made the size suggested for persons of my bustitude (3 to 4 inches ease). My body gauge was spot-on. I knitted, I blocked to measurements, I seamed the thing up and lo and behold...I have a sweater with very snug sleeves. Originally it was a sweater with very snug sleeves and a boxy unflattering body, but thanks to the miracle which is a blocking board, a whole whack of pins and a steam iron, I stretched and steamed the whole thing a few inches longer and now the body is a lot more fitted. This isn’t a bad thing…just different than I was expecting.

The way I see it, there are a few options: a) my biceps are magnificent, b) my gauge was off when I knitted the sleeves, c) the pattern could use a little tweaking, or d) all of the above. Hard to know since the sleeve schematic doesn’t include width measurements.

Mods: Being a tallish person, I knitted a couple extra inches in the sleeves. Another half inch wouldn’t have hurt, but whatever.

Why did it take you so long to knit this? I don’t know.

How’s the Magpie working out? ? It’s a little itchy, actually. I think the solution is to buy a nice wool wash, but I hate the idea of ordering one since I’m Really Picky about smells. Are there any good neutral smelling ones out there?

Why do you look so cranky? You should see the other photos. In my defense I’ll argue that getting into the zone and channeling my inner model was situationally appropriate. Because seriously people, when it’s 90 degrees out and you’re frolicking in the shallows of a public stream wearing a wool sweater…I think that looking committed to the project at hand is imperative.

Final Verdict: Love it! I’m particularly pleased with the buttons.

Hello. We look like cherry lifesavers.

Posted by Elli at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (129)

I seem to have accidentally finished some socks!

I need some sun. Real bad.

The Specs:
Pattern: A toe-up version of Priscilla's Dream Socks by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, from the Fall 2000 Interweave Knits (also in the subscriber-only portion of their website).
Yarn: Trekking XXL.
Skeins: A little under one ball of color 110.
Needles: Bamboo dpns, sizes 1 and 2.
Start to finish: March 19 - May 18.
For: Me!

Notes:
This has been my brainless take-along knitting for the past two months. Considering that I just did a few rows here and a few rows there, I was pretty surprised when I suddenly found that I was finished.

Thunk says I'm not really this white in real life. Really.

I achieved toe-up-ness on these by starting at the toe "seam" with a non-invisible provisional sort of cast-on (basically the long-tail cast-on onto two needles, alternating stitches between needles until I had my 76 stitches). I held one needles-worth of stitches on some dental floss (makes your knitting nice and minty! Just don't use the whitening variety) until I had completed a short-row toe. Then I just I put the held stitches back on the needles, knitted the foot, executed a PGR shortrow heel, and proceeded up the leg. Easy-peasy!

The Yarn:
As plain old sock yarn goes, I love Trekking most of all because of the colors and the way they never come out the same way twice. It's common for the colors in two of the three plies to match up, creating a dominant color band, but this was the first time I've ever had all three plies synch up. You can see where it happened on the ankle of one of the socks...there's about an inch or so where it looks a little more rainbow-riffic. I thought about cutting this section out of the yarn, but I kind of like it.

Final Verdict: Nice warm socks, just in time for summer!

Posted by Elli at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (42)

The Specs:
Pattern: Robot from "Unusual Toys for you to Knit and Enjoy," by Jess Hutchison.
Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream worsted cotton in Teal, Pumpkin, and Sunshine and some Bernat Cottontots in Lime Berry.
Needles: size 6 bamboo for the body, size 4 bamboo dpns for the antenna.
Start to finish: April 4 - April 7.
For: Little Nephew E. (and this isn’t the end of it yet…)

Notes:
Rae had mentioned a few times to me that she really liked Spherey, the other toy I’ve knitted from this pamphlet, so as soon as she and Natey announced that they were going to have a baby boy visions of little knitted robots started dancing through my head. Still, I waited until two days before we were going to see the new baby to start it. I guess that fits with the procrastination theme I’ve got going on here lately. I’m nothing if not consistent.

Yarn:
I wasn’t too impressed with the selection of worsted wool I had around the apartment (most of it got used up in the Great Christmas Korknisse Adventure of 2006) so I dipped into the kitchen cotton stash instead. I had lots of bright colors to choose from and the stuff is washable. Can’t beat that right?

Mods:
The biggest mod to the pattern was to go down two needle sizes. I wanted to knit the cotton fairly tightly since it’s less forgiving than wool and I didn’t want sloppy intarsia. Besides, the finished toy as written is pretty large (9”x10,” not counting the antenna) which is pretty big when you think about how tiny newborns are. We will choose to ignore, for the time being, that newborns have absolutely no interest in knitted robots.

Like with Spherey, I embroidered the eyes for added baby-safety.

New Techniques:
Intarsia? Turns out that it’s not so bad after all. The last time I tried it I failed miserably. I’m sure that it had nothing to do with the fact that I was attempting an octopus. In acrylic.

Final Verdict: Love it! I think Rae still wants a Spherey though.

Posted by Elli at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

The Specs:
Pattern: Wool Diaper Cover, pattern pdf here.
Size: I knitted the 10-24 month size, but came in a bit under gauge. So maybe 7-21 months?
Yarn: Aprox. 100g of White Buffalo 3-ply.
Needles: 6mm bamboo.
Start to Finish: March 3ish - March 16ish? Sometime in early March at any rate.
For: Nephew E.

Notes:

I'm not usually a procrastinator, but I've been putting off posting about this one for a while. Goodness knows I've been finished with it long enough. Let me see if I can remember back far enough to give you some useful info about this one (*think, think, think*).

The Yarn:

Let's see...I wasn't so sure if the White Buffalo unspun was a good choice for the pattern way back when I first posted about this, and I'm still not sure. I never got around to lanolizing or washing it. Being the loving and caring sister that I am, I just handed it off to Rae and was done with it. I didn't even make it a drawstring. The one in the picture is some bias tape I dug out of Rae's craft room. Now you know the truth...sometimes I'm a bit of a slacker.

Mods (aka mistakes):

I was going to say that I didn't make any changes to the pattern, but in reading it over again it looks as if I read the increases and decreases for the legs incorrectly and took twice as many rows as I should have to incorporate them (increasing and decreasing at only the beginning of the rows as opposed to at the beginnings and ends of the rows). Gah! My version does look suspiciously taller than the pattern illustration, doesn’t it? Well, hopefully this won't be a big problem.

One modification that this pattern would benefit from is a round of yarn overs for the drawstring to slip through. I didn't think of this until too late.

Final Verdict: Cute, but points docked for sloppy pattern readage and general laziness. Like the other soaker, verdict pending actual baby wearage.

Posted by Elli at 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

The soaker knitting has commenced! Let me start by saying thanks to everybody who commented/e-mailed with input on soakers. I’ve got TONS of good ideas. And speaking of good ideas, Mandy was the helpful soul who suggested that I try the February longies pattern from the Knitters Almanac. I already had the pattern so I jumped right in!

The Specs:
Pattern: Baby Leggings from Knitter's Almanac, by Elizabeth Zimmermann.
Yarn: 100g of my own homespun cormo, held together with a strand of KnitPicks Color Your Own fingerling-weight merino (I used 50g of that).
Needles: Size 6 circs and dpns.
Start to Finish: February 26 – March 4.
For: the spawn of Rae and Natey.

the front

The Pattern:
Love EZ, as usual. My only complaint (again…I said this with the baby sweater too) is that sometimes she leaves out things like desired finished dimensions. I would love to know what I’m aiming for. She says nice soothing things such as “babies come in various sizes,” but when it comes down to it I don’t have a very good concept of how big babies are. I thought about going upstairs and bullying my nice neighbors into letting me measure their oh-so-adorable daughter,* but I had just recently borrowed a banana from them and neighbors are nicest when they aren't constantly barging in demanding things, you know? So I just guessed. I have it on good authority that the finished soaker looks to be about an 18-month size. Good enough.

The Yarn:
I’ve been hoarding this yarn for a couple of years. This, my dear people, is the only yarn I’ve ever worked up from square one. I washed the fleece, hand carded, spun, plied, and dyed…the whole enchilada. So you’ll understand that I couldn’t just use it for any old project. Now some of you might ask why I would use if for a project that is destined to be peed and shat upon and all I can say is…you have a good point. But there were a few deciding factors:

1) The yarn is very lanolin-rich. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I didn’t scour the fleece very well so the resulting yarn is pretty greasy. But hey, they tell me that lanolin is good for the babies’ bottoms and for keeping things tidy and dry. Plus, the yarn is REALLY soft.

2) I dyed it with Kool-Aid. Babies are some of the few people who can pull off Kool-Aid. For those of you who are curious about the colors they are: Very Cherry, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and Pink Lemonade overdyed with Lemon-Lime.

3) Sisters just don’t go and have babies every day of the week (especially in my family). If I won’t use the special yarn now, when will I?

the back. note short row shaping in the red.

Mods:
When starting the legs, I doubled the number of stitches to be held aside for grafting between the legs. Five just didn’t seem like enough, especially after seeing all the other soaker patterns that leave quite a bit of room down there.

Also, EZ suggests binding off after 5 rounds of the leg. I did my five rounds in ribbing, added a purl row for turning, did 5 more rows of ribbing, and then sewed down my live stitches. If needed, some elastic could be threaded through here later for a snugger fit.

Final Verdict: Works for me! If it actually functions as promised I’ll be pleased as punch.

*speaking of said oh-so-adorable baby…remind me to post the pic I have of her sporting the EZ baby sweater. The cuteness…

Posted by Elli at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)

The Specs:

-Pattern: Saddle-Shoulder Aran Cardigan, from Wool Gathering #63, by Meg Swanson.
-Yarn: Briggs and Little Regal (referred to as "Canadian Regal" on the SHP website).
-Skeins: A bit over six skeins in Forest Brown.
-Needles: size 8 circs and dpns for most of it, some ribbing on 5s and 6s.
-Buttons: La Mode style 29446.
-Start to finish: August 8, 2006 – February 20, 2007.
-For: Thunk. A belated birthday gift.

Thunk, on location in academia.

Where to start? I’m feeling positively verbose.

The Pattern: for those of you not familiar with the Wool Gathering series (originally written by Elizabeth Zimmerman; later taken over by Meg Swanson) the pattern is more of a detailed guideline for you to make your own version of the sweater (you choose yarn, gauge, stitch patterns, and so on). All the information you need is included, but you need to bring your brain and a calculator to the table. Maybe some graph paper too. It took me roughly a week to do the preplanning and swatching so it’s not an insta-start sort of pattern.

The Yarn:I used Briggs and Little Regal which is the yarn Meg used for the original sweaters. It’s a nice affordable workhorse-type yarn but it’s definitely a bit rustic. While I don’t mind picking bits of v.m. out of my yarn (in fact, I rather like the idea that they don’t process the heck out of it) I did find the yarn to be a little crunchy. It softened up some when I blocked it, but it still falls outside the category of “soft.” That said, I didn’t use a fancy wool-wash…I just gave it a quick dunk with a little of Thunk’s conditioner in the water.

No problem though…Thunk’s fine with the way it feels (we are talking about the guy who wears a scarf that he knitted himself out of Reynolds Lopi). However, if I had known how much time I was going to spend on this sweater, I probably would have splurged and gotten something a bit more upscale.

backtastickness; frontastickness. (click for big)

Knitting in the Round Weirdness: I consider myself to be a fairly experienced knitter. I’ve knitted a goodish number of projects in the round and aran patterns are nothing new to me. However, this sweater unveiled a rather unsettling quirk in my knitting when I combined the two. My “filler” purl stitches on the right side of a motif are much tighter than the ones on the left side, causing all of my cables to migrate a bit to the right. Look closely, it’s there. I noticed this pretty early on but no amount of manipulation on my part made much of a difference. Blocking didn’t do much either.

For whatever reason this doesn’t bother me too much. For one thing, Thunk doesn’t care. That and it’s not something you notice immediately. I know that if I ever wanted to knit a sweater with similar construction I could eliminate the problem by knitting back and forth instead of knitting it in the round. This would also mean I could leave out the steeks, which would suit me just fine.

Steeking: The pattern includes instructions for a crocheted steek so that’s the one I used. I did refer to Eunny’s steeking article (in one of the latest Interweaves…can’t recall which issue) for a little more clarification. I got through the crocheting and the cutting with no problem but freaked out a bit once I’d actually finished the operation. Because seriously people…how DOES it stay together? Not to mention Ugly Ragged Edges. Yuck.

I calmed down some once I got the collar and button bands knitted on. I did some reading around and discovered that you can just tack down the edges with a running stitch which hides the ugly sticky-outy ends quite nicely (much simpler than my first plan which involved a large quantity of brown grosgrain ribbon). Strangely enough, once I got those ends hidden I stopped worrying about how it all stays together. So I’m ok now.

The only real issue I have with the steeking thing was the smaller second steek you cast on for after setting aside stitches for the neck. It’s such a dinky little thing that I really wish that I’d just eliminated it by knitting back and forth through that section instead of casting on new steek stitches and continuing in the round. Because really unless you have a steek fetish…not necessary. It’s less than ten rounds. I also harbor malicious feelings towards the second steek because (who knows why) my tension got sloppy and when I picked up those stitches for the collar I ended up with some gaping holes. Nothing some creative crocheting couldn’t fix, but still…not fun.

Neck Issues: If there’s one thing I know it’s that one should Always Bind Off Neck Stitches. It keeps things nice and firm and Non-Stretchy. However, the instructions tell you to hold them on waste yarn until you need them for the collar. So I blithely ignored the little voices in my head and didn’t bind them off resulting in (you guessed it) a Big Neck. And, as we all know, the menfolk have a harder time getting away with the big neck look.

Since I’d already knitted on the entire button-band/collar combo, I just grabbed another crochet hook and crocheted one very firm row around the inside of the collar where the cast off round would have been. It took two tries (first time wasn’t firm enough) but now? Normal-sized neck. Hooray!

All that said...I loved knitting this sweater. There’s hardly any finishing (I even skipped the grafting in favor of a three-needle bind-off for the underarms) and if you splice in each new skein there are hardly any ends to weave in. I really like some of the smaller details that Meg threw in like the mitered collar and the twisted rib on the underside of the arms. Did I mention that EZ’s one row buttonhole is brilliant? It is.

Final Verdict: Thunk loves it. I love it. Feel the love.

Bonus Shot: Adam and Eve dig the sweater too.

Posted by Elli at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (76)

Back from Christmas now! Lots to blog about, but I think I'll start off with a Christmas gift that I didn't have time to blog about before I left...

mummy, in scarf, with stockings

The Specs:
-Pattern: Branching Out, by Susan Pierce Lawrence (from Knitty).
-Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool; one skein for each scarf.
-Color: Charcoal grey (color 19).
-Needles: Size 7 birch.
-Start to finish: December 10 – December 29.
-For: One for my mum and one for Thunk’s Grandma Betty.

Notes: This was one of those presents that works out just right. I started by buying two skeins of the Silky Wool to knit my Mum a nice Christmas scarf. When I got home I poked around a bit online and chose the Branching Out pattern before I realized I’d bought the yarn the pattern calls for. How often does that happen?

I had such a nice time knitting the first one (which only took one skein) that I just went ahead and knit another one for Grandma Betty.

The Yarn: This stuff is great. It has an interesting, slightly nubbly texture but it’s still nice and soft. Plus it’s a bit tweedy (yay!).

The Pattern: You know if I find a lace pattern easy you can knit it too. In fact, I had such a nice time with it that I’m thinking of going back and having another go with the Flowerbasket Shawl (the “easy” lace pattern that kicked my tookus and rendered me lace-meek). I’ll let you know how that goes.

Mods: The only thing I changed was to leave off row 10 of the last repeat so that the ends match up a little more nicely.

Final Verdict: Two gifts + one contented knitter = lotsa winners!

[Bonus shot: Mummy works it for the camera.]

Posted by Elli at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)

Those of you who have been hanging around here for a while may recall that this bag was started over Labor Day weekend 2005 by my sister Rae. She crocheted the doily-bits and, feeling the collaborative enthusiasm, I got going on the bag part.

Shortly after Rae went home I chucked it back in the basket. Mostly because of the colors (I may or may not have used unkind words to describe them). Regardless, Rae would occasionally ask me about the bag and when I planned to finish it, mentioning that she would like to have it if/when it was ever completed. So, in a heartwarmingly Christmassy effort of sisterly love, I have finished it. I may have taken over a year to do it, but here it is:

The Specs:

-Heirloom Bag, from Rowan 37.
-Yarn: Knit Picks Shine in apricot, violet, cherry, and grass (originally purchased for Anouk)
-Needles: various size 3s.
-Tassels: pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
-Notions: green fabric and thread for the lining.
-Start to finish: September 2005 - December 16, 2005.
-For: my lovely sister Rae.

more excitement inside!

Notes: A pretty quick and easy project, once I actually got going on it. The whole thing is really very sturdy since the handle is double-thick in addition to being lined. My only changes to the pattern (well, aside from a different yarn with a completely different gauge) were to add a pocket and some tassels, just to up the fancy-factor.

I'm particularly proud of my finishing job on this bag. It may look like a circus tent, but it's a really, really well-made circus tent.

Final Verdict: A bit bizarre. But to quote Bridget Jones' mother: "...that's lovely, isn't it - 'bizarre'?"

Posted by Elli at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

So some of the Korknisse are finished. I decided to do a FO post since I've started to give some of them away (and besides, they all look about the same). So far I've made 13 of these little dudes. By the end of the holiday season I will probably have made close to 30.

we are legion

The Specs:
-Pattern: Korknisse, from Saartje Knits.
-Yarn: various aran and worsted weight yarns
-Needles: size 3 dpns
-Notions: corks*, skinny ribbon, permanent black marker, little teeny-tiny jingle bells and sequin pins.

*after I first posted about this project, Nova sent me a whole big bag of corks (along with an awesome Christmas mix). Thanks so much Nova!

ornamentized

Notes: I love this little pattern. On average, it takes about 35 minutes to complete a single nisse. That includes knitting, sewing in the ends, drawing the little face, sewing the bells on and attaching the ribbon. So it's one of the quicker gifts I've come across. Even when you add up how long it'll take to make 30 of them (17.5 hours) that's not too bad...and I'll have thirty cute little gifts when I'm done!

The only change I made to the pattern was to cast on three extra stitches when using worsted weight yarn. This makes it a bit larger to compensate for the thinner yarn and the hat decreases still work out nicely. I'll also admit to shortening a few of the larger corks, since I think they look a bit cuter when they're short and squat.

Ornamentizing: Most of these pics were taken before I attached the ribbons, but all of these have since been turned into ornaments. All I did was attach a 9-inch piece of ribbon to the top of the cork with a couple of sequin pins (those are the extra short ones they stock in the sequin section) and then thread the ribbon though the hat using a darning needle.

Final Verdict: korknisse for everybody!

Posted by Elli at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)

The Specs:
-Pattern: Beau, by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan Vintage Knits.
-Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran.
-Skeins: a little over 7 skeins in the color Muffin.
-Needles: size 6 for the ribbing, size 7 for the rest.
-Buttons: vintage, from the stash.
-Start to finish: November 4 – December 8.
-For: my brother-in-law Natey for Christmas.

Notes: I knitted the second smallest size and, apart from having to go down a needle size to get gauge (something that rarely happens since I tend to knit tightly), I just followed the pattern as written. Man-sweaters are just big squares, so there isn't much to change.

The Yarn: I really like the way the fabric knitted up. It's an aran weight but it's still nice and light. Also, even though it's not a yarn I'd necessarily classify as soft (it's just plain old wool from what I can tell), it's not itchy. You could knit with this stuff with no pants on, if you were so inclined. To bad they've discontinued it.

The Pattern: Easy-peasy people. The design is interesting without being technically challenging and it's not so fussy that your guy'll refuse to wear it (well, I'm sure there are some exceptions out there but we can't please everybody all the time). I might have to make one of these for Thunky sometime. I do have that RYTA I was going to use for Finn.

Knitterly Confession: I set in both of the sleeves wrong-ways out. But you would never have known if I hadn't told you, right?

Final Verdict: We won't know for sure until Christmas, but I think we can safely call this one a winner. If Natey doesn't like it I'll knit him something else and give this one to Thunk.

We couldn't resist doing our own Rowan hottie shot. Here's the original for comparison. All we're lacking is some ivy, a few days stubble and a French accent.

Posted by Elli at 8:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (84)

The Specs:

Pattern: Elfine’s Socks, by Anna Bell, pdf here.
Yarn: Socks that Rock (light weight).
Skeins: One 4.5 oz skein in Star Sapphire…just recently removed from their website, unfortunately. It’s a bit uncanny how they remove colors as soon as I use them. Though Cara says that you can call Blue Moon up and request colors, even if they aren’t currently on their site.
Needles: Size 1 bamboo dpns.
Start to Finish: October 8 to October 29.

Notes:
A lovely easy lace sock pattern. Lots and lots of cute little leaves!

The only part in the pattern that I found to be less than clear was the bit about the heel increases on the shortrow heel...normally I stick around to figure these things out, but I was in the middle of watching a movie. So I just ripped it out and subbed in a Priscilla Gibson-Roberts shortrow heel (my first love when it comes to heels). Other than that, I followed the pattern!

Final Verdict: STR + easily memorizable pattern = happy Elli

p.s. due to an unfortunate confluence of events (work deadlines/evening classes/contracting a lovely case of the Upper Respiratory Ick), I am even more behind on returning e-mails/responding to comments/commenting on your blogs than normal. If you haven’t heard from me lately…I’m working on it. Thanks, as ever, to all of you who take the time to read, comment, encourage, and otherwise make me feel all warm and fuzzy about belonging to the knitblogging community! -E

Posted by Elli at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)

Secret Project revealed! This is a very easy scarf I whipped up as a gift for the little sis for Christmas. I figure she got River last time, so this time around it's something a little more basic.

The Specs:

Pattern: Garter stitch. You know that one, right?
Yarn: About 250g of mystery super-chunky alpaca, acquired when Ms. Aura was destashing a while back.
Needles: Size 35s. Ack! The bigness!
Start to Finish: October 14 – October 15.
For: Kricket.

Notes:
I just cast on 78 sts, knit 7 rows, bound off loosely, and threw on some fringe. Easy-peasy! The hardest part was jamming all those stitches onto the needles. That and freezing my tooshie off while Thunk took pictures.

Timewise, this took about as long as a dishcloth to make...just a few hours. Like I mentioned before, I don't have a clue what kind of yarn this is, but I did knit a similar one for Rae in Cascade Magnum a couple years back if you're looking around for something appropriately chunky (I dubbed that one the macaroni scarf, for very good reason). You could even rustle up some white Magnum and turn this into an adventure in hand-dying.

I see a scarf in someone's future...

Final verdict: Wrap it up and put it under the tree!

Posted by Elli at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)

I've been meaning to knit this sweater for my friends Yana and George, who are expecting a baby girl in a month or so. I don't know when exactly I was planning to knit it...I guess I figured somebody would give me a bit of notice about a shower or something. Well, I found out on the 2nd that the baby shower was going to be on the 8th. No time to go out and buy yarn...I grabbed some from the stash and off I went!

The Specs:

Pattern: Baby Sweater from Knitter's Almanac, by Elizabeth Zimmermann (February).
Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style in nutmeg (a bit over 100g, I think. Scale still broken). Leftover from this sweater, actually.
Needles: Size 7 circs.
Start to Finish: October 2 – October 8.
For: The progeny of George and Yana.

Notes:
This is a fabulously clever yet simple pattern. There are, as promised, only two seams to be sewn on this sweater. Since the underarm stitches are picked up and knit to make the body there aren’t even any underarm stitches to graft--just a couple of sleeve seams to zip up with some easy mattress stitch. Quick finishing makes for a happy knitter!

My only departure from EZ’s pattern was to add an extra stitch in stockinette to each side of the sleeve. I don’t remember whose blog I originally saw this tip on, but it makes sewing up easier and matches up the lace pattern on the bottom of the sleeves.

The only complaint I have about the pattern is that EZ gives you a gauge but no finished dimensions and the directions for sleeve length were a bit ambiguous. I know she's empowering me to figure things out myself, but I don't have much experience with the size and proportions of babies. Hopefully it'll fit the baby at some point in its early life!

The Yarn: the Merino Style is lovely and soft, but unfortunately not machine-washable. I’m banking on the facts that a) Yana is a knitter and b) they registered for cloth diapers as signs that the parents-to-be will a) not felt it and b) like doing laundry.

The Rosette:
The sweater needed a little extra something, so I made a quick yo-yo (tutorial here) and sewed a vintage button into the center. I decided to make it removable in case the baby fusses with it too much, so I threaded some ribbon through the back of it and tied the whole deal to the sweater. No pins involved!

Final Verdict: Quick, easy, and cute!

Posted by Elli at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (62)

I finished another project this past weekend! I don't know if you recall, but I was knitting something secret back in August. I was going to finish them for my sister Rae's birthday on the 26th, but I had a yarn shortage and, well, things got delayed a bit. You know how it goes.

Specs:

Slipper Pattern: Fuzzy Feet from Knitty, by Theresa Vinson Stenersen (pattern here).
Ear Pattern: from the Bunny Hoppers pattern in "Knit One, Felt Too," by Kathleen Taylor.
Yarn: 1 skein of Lambs Pride Worsted in Creme, part of a skein of KnitPicks worsted Bare Peruvian Wool, and a bit of white mohair (no exact weights...I broke my scale).
Needles: size 10.5 circs and some size 10.5 bamboo dpns.
Notions: Buttons, black felt for the nose.
Start to Finish: August 19 to September 22
For: My sister Rae, for her 29th birthday.

Notes:
A couple years ago my little sister Krick was flipping through "Knit One, Felt Too" and asked me to knit her a pair of the Bunny Hoppers slippers. As I am powerless to resist any plea for knitwear, I made her a pair for Christmas. The pattern is really for toddlers, so I just tacked some ears and tails onto a pair of Fuzzy Feet. Very quick, very cute. So when Rae made some noises indicating that she'd like a pair, I hopped to it (tee-hee).

I didn't quite have enough of the Lamb's Pride, so I ripped back the cuffs a bit to salvage enough to finish the second foot. I knitted the rest of the cuffs and the ears with a strand of the KP bare with some white mohair carried along on every other row to keep things fuzzy.

Recommendation:
The first time I made these I carried a strand of mohair along with the Lamb's Pride on every other row to maximize fuzziness. This time I just used the Lamb's Pride as per the instructions. I think I prefer the slippers with the bit of extra bulk and durability that the mohair adds. It also makes them easier to felt (important for us sink-felters).

Final Verdict: Bunnies for everybody!

Posted by Elli at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

I finished them! And just in the nick of time…I wove in my last end just before midnight on Friday. Saturday morning we swung by Kricket’s on our way out of town and she graciously agreed to model them. See those slender ankles? The graceful curve of those toes? Those smooth and silky calves? All Kricket.

The Specs:

Pattern: Pomatomus from Knitty, by Cookie A., Pattern here.
Yarn: Socks that Rock (light weight).
Skeins: Almost exactly one 4.5 oz skein in Olivenite (I haven’t seen this color on their website lately…I’m not sure if they still make it.)
Needles: Size 2 bamboo dpns.
Start to Finish: July 28 to September 22.
For: my cousin Jessica, finished just in time to give to her at her commitment ceremony to the beautiful and wonderful Liz. Hooray!

Notes:
I loved this pattern. It may not be the quickest knit ever, but it's so unusual and clever. I especially love the way the pattern on the back of the ankle grades into the ribbing on the heel (hmmm…I forgot to get a picture of that. But trust me, it's stunning).

I did end up shortening the first sock so that I could get a pair out of the yarn, but that was the only real snag I ran into with these. I think they were a little too long anyway, so it’s all for the best.

Final Verdict: Best. Socks. Ever!

Posted by Elli at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)

Christine's DPN Case:

If you think way back to last month, you may recall the birthday contest. Well, I finally got my act together this weekend and stitched up the promised prize. Christine (who, I might add, has the patience of a saint) chose this yummy lotus print:

Specs: fabric by unknown designer, vintage button, black ribbon (helpful hint: if you paint the end of the ribbon with clear nail polish before trimming it keeps the cut end nice and neat.)

Thunk is on the way to the post office to mail it off as I type!

Gnomatic DPN Case:

This one was finished way back at the beginning of August, and has already made its way to Philippa as part of a swap package.

Specs: Munki Munki fabric, vintage button, white rickrack.

Both cases followed approximately the same recipe I used for the original toothy dpn case.

p.s. If you're looking for your very own dpn case, go visit Megan!

Posted by Elli at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Yay! I finished it!

The Specs:
-Pattern: River, by Sharon Miller, from Rowan 38.
-Yarn: Kidsilk Haze.
-Skeins: approx. 1.75 skeins in the color Meadow.
-Needles: Size 10.5 aluminum straights.
-Start to finish: June 5 - July 28.
-For: My sister Kricket, for her wedding.

The Pattern: Straightforward and easy to follow. After a couple repeats it was possible to just check in with the pattern at the beginning of every other row, which was nice.

Mods: There aren't really many ways to get creative with River as it's just a big old lace rectangle. My only real change was to add two extra repeats (I would have only added one but then there would have been thirteen repeats...and we all know that it's just plain bad to make someone a wedding shawl with thirteen repeats. It should be noted that I am not superstitious. My little sister is not superstitious. I know…I'm confused too). Oh, and I didn't scallop the edges when I blocked it. Not really a mod, but it affects the overall look.

Notes: Cute pattern, huge needles (and by extension fast progress)...this was my most enjoyable lace-knitting experience so far. I'm still not a kidsilk haze convert, and in retrospect I should have tried a bit harder to find some size 10.5s with pointy tips that weren't aluminum (too heavy and slippery) but I can get over that.

Final Verdict: I hope she likes it! If not, I'll steal it back.

p.s. it should be noted that I finished this a whole month before the wedding…not bad, eh?

Posted by Elli at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

The Specs:
-Pattern: Knucks, by Pamela Grossman.
-Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed
-Skeins: Less than one skein (35g) of shade 143.
-Needles: size 4 dpns (size 3 for ribbing).
-Start to finish: July 8 - July 22
-For: Me (still the summer of knitting for me...)

Notes: I made the men's size (just call me Elli of the huge hands) and they fit pretty well...maybe a little largish, but then I didn't think about the potential usefulness of negative ease in gloves. If I were to make another pair, I would probably go down a needle size.

The Pattern: Top down fingerless gloves. Brilliant.

Mods: I shortened them a bit by skipping a few of the plain knit rounds near the end of the thumb decreases. I also left off the embroidery (I know, boring...but I want to wear these at work. If I were to embroider something on them it would be "I'm cold” as that’s how I feel ALL WINTER).

Final Verdict: We loves them. Yes indeed.

P.S. All this planning ahead for winter is making me think about Christmas knitting already. Don’t hate me.

P.P.S. Is it just me, or are my pinkies abnormally short?

Posted by Elli at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

The Specs:
-Pattern: Picovoli, by Grumperina, from Magknits.
-Yarn: Knitpicks Shine
-Skeins: Nearly 5 balls in Grass.
-Needles: size 4 circs
-Start to finish: June 20 - July 4
-For: Me (I told you this would be the summer of knitting for me...)

Notes: I knitted the second smallest size. The only mods were to add an extra half inch in the waist and another inch at the bottom. It could really use another half inch or so, but whatever...cotton gets longer with time, right? Just call me Elli of the long torso.

The only thing that bugs me is that the top picots are a little floppy. I think it's because I was knitting a bit looser on those first few rows. In fact, I'm sure of it. And I knew it right after I'd done it, but I didn't rip back. So it's all my fault, really.

The Pattern: Lovely and easy to follow (but then you know that because you've all made one already, right)? The only thing I can add is that the picots are not that bad. In fact, I really enjoyed sewing them down...it's so much easier than seaming but still feeds your inner finisher so that you come out feeling all accomplished and stuff. Of course maybe y'all skipped the picots because you didn't care for them, in which case that's your problem.

left arm optional

Final Verdict: Love it! Two thumbs up from Thunky as well.

Posted by Elli at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

The Specs:
Pattern: Spherey from "Unusual Toys for you to Knit and Enjoy", by Jess Hutchison.
Yarn: Nature Spun Worsted in antique turquoise, and Cascade 220 in color No. 7830
Skeins: about 10 grams of each color
Needles: Size 5 dpns
Start to finish: June 25 - 26
For: Niece O. for her birthday

Notes:
This was a last minute gift for Thunk's niece O., whose first birthday is on Friday. She is our only niece, so thorough spoilage with knitted items is practically required. You might remember her as the adorable recipient of Trelllis last Christmas. She has also been on the receiving end of this baby sweater and this pinwheel baby blanket (those two were pre-blog).

The pattern was well written and easy to follow and Jess' instructions for sewing the limbs onto the body were very helpful. I stayed with the colors she used in the book (they are elliphantom colors, after all) and was able to knit entirely from the stash (hooray!). The only thing I changed was to embroider the eyes on for baby safety. Not much else to say about this one except that it's cute, cute, cute!

Final Verdict: Love it! Wish I could keep it...

Posted by Elli at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

I'll go ahead and say it. Fickle knitter, thy name is Elli. First I get you all worked up about new projects and how there will be Picovolis and Rivers up the wazoo and then, you guessed it...I go and work on an old project that you probably don't even remember (we're talking bottom of the basket here). But hey, I finished something!

Recent shoe purchase inspired by Amanda

The Specs:
Pattern: Your basic toe-up frankenpattern.
Yarn: Regia Cotton Surf
Skeins: A little under one ball of color 5411.
Needles: Started on Addi size 2 circs, switched to bamboo dpns, sizes 1 and 1.5.
Start to finish: Sometime last summer - June 18
For: Me!

Notes:
These socks started out as my first and only attempt at the two socks at once/magic loop method. I managed to knit up to the heels before switching to dpns (yup! I'm a big old quitter). I used my favorite PGR shortrow heel, knitted a k3 p2 cuff and finished them off with a stretchy bind off (the one that involves picking up and binding off an extra stitch at even intervals around the top of the cuff), which seemed to work pretty well. It's a little ruffley looking, but I don't mind.

The Yarn:
Cotton Surf is 41% wool but it still knits like cotton (makes my wrists hurt), is pretty inelastic, and tends to be fairly splitty. On the plus side, it's nice and soft and the colors are nice and fun. No comment on warmth yet...it's too hot to give these more than a five minute test wear. So, not a bad yarn for what it is (being cottony isn't actually a sin after all) but I think I'll stick with wool sock yarn from now on.

Final Verdict: Everybody loves a good sock!

Posted by Elli at 8:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

The Specs:
Pattern: Child's Placket-Neck Pullover from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts", by Joelle Hoverson. Errata here.
Yarn: Handwork Cora
Skeins: a little over two balls in Caribbean Sand
Needles: Size 7 circs
Start to finish: May 24 - June 3
For: the spawn of Stephanie

The (lack of) details: