Knitting--and un-knitting

First, the unknitting...

Linda's socks, which are now completely frogged (I tried them on her at knitting club, and the ankles were too baggy):
When I can stand the thought of re-trying, I'm going to do a simple, plain sock. Linda says she's cool with that ;)

Also, an IRL friend said that when her 4 YO daughter when sledding, her forearms froze--that area between the mitten and the coat sleeve was bare!

So I knit up some simple wrist-warmers with a slot for the thumb.
I was pretty proud of myself until I brought them to knitting club and someone said, "Oh, yeah, when my son was that age, I took an old pair of socks and cut off the toe!

(well, I did enjoy knitting them, anyway!)

Very Little Knitting Going on...

Remember last year when I knit something for almost everyone I gave gifts to? Well, that is not happening this year. :( The only knitting I've been doing (apart from working on a few bagstoppers as my go-to knit) has been on ornaments. Here's some of the stuff I made:

C. suggested that I put her cell phone in there to show the scale ;) I love the little sweaters on hangers made from paper clips. Tiny socks are a lot quicker to knit than big socks, and the mittens were just a little trial. I gave away several sweaters and socks that aren't pictured here, but other than that, there will be no knitted gifts this Christmas... :(

A Froggin' We Will Go

I have not had the best luck lately with my knitting. I have always found (with a few exceptions/projects) knitting to be a wonderfully relaxing activity, but my last few projects have not been easy!

Although I *love* the pattern (widdershins) and love the yarn (Lorna's Laces), these socks are NOT knitting up true to size. I already switched the needle size from 0 to 2, and the sole fit tightly. But I knit past that and was only a few inches from the end (see:

and it's too tight to even put on my foot. :(

So it's frogged back to the heel and I"m trying to add in an additional repeat of the pattern, so the calf will be looser...possibly a scrunch-type sock. If that doesn't work, I'll have to frog the entire thing and find a different pattern. UGH!

The other thing I've been working on is trying to make a knit version of this crochet felted skull. Here it is pre-felting:

But I don't think it's going to shrink correctly. This, BTW, is after FOUR attempts initially. I think I need to give up and start knitting something fun.

The PIF socks

Not a lot of knitting has been happening, but I've been working on MamaFitz's socks.

I really like the pattern and the heel flap idea as a toe-up. I also increased (by TWO sizes) the needle size for these socks. Still, I'm a bit afraid that they may be too small! I personally prefer somewhat more snug socks than baggy ones (especially since they loosen a bit as you wear them), but I hope that these will fit on her feet.

I guess there's no telling at this point. Maybe when I see her tomorrow, I'll make her try them on--since I'm over halfway done, I probably should have thought about this earlier ;)

Anyway, some pics:

Does un-knitting a sweater count for the SAM KAL?

One of the coolest features on Ravelry has to be the Groups. One of the groups I joined is called Thrifty Knitters and it was there that I found out (in detail) about buying sweaters at thrift stores, and raveling them for the yarn. I had a coupon for our newly-opened local Goodwill store, so we went to check it out.

C. found this men's size large 100% lambswool Old Navy sweater for $5. After my coupon, it was under $4.50.

And after washing, drying, and raveling it, I got:



(an awful lot of wonderful yarn!) Here's a closeup:


C. wants a sweater of some sort knit out of it (so I WILL be eventually knitting another sweater). But I'm addicted to this! I did some more research and found that cotton is another good one to ravel. There were a lot of mens and womens cotton sweaters at Goodwill, so one of these days I'll have to go back.

Oh, the possibilities!
(and C. said it wasn't breaking my yarn diet if I was buying SWEATERS... Oh, how I love that girl!)

:)

p.s. if you're interested in doing this yourself, here's a link to a great tutorial. The big thing to watch for is to make sure you buy a sweater that is knit, then seamed. If you have one that's seamed and then cut, the yarn will be in lengths the width of the sweater! No good...

The Pay-It-Forward Meme update

If you read my post on the Pay-It-Forward meme, you know that I've been working on some knitting.

Nikki chose this reusable grocery bag:
Delana wanted some felted bowls, which I completed:
And MamaFitz's socks are about 15% done:
This has been really fun!

I did want to let anyone know (who wanted to do this, but missed being one of the first three) that both Delana (who is a wonderfully gifted knitter) and Nikki (who has Passions stuff up for grabs, as well as coffee and tea!) have space (currently) in their memes if you want to get in! In addition, another friend is participating and SHE has space, too. Check out RawMilkStar's pay-it-forward meme here.

p.s. I did receive my PIF gift from Mo, but it's a surprise for someone else, so I won't post pics yet!

Everlasting Bagstopper explosion

I really need to stop making these bags...

While camping, I worked on one more:



And between the car ride to my mom's, free time there, and the car ride back, I finished two more:


I really need to stop... I can stop. Really, I can.

Project Spectrum for August and September

The last grouping for Project Spectrum will include:
Brown
Orange
Purple

Luckily, one of the only colors I have left in cotton is purple, so that's what I started making another Everlasting Bagstopper yesterday.

And I think I really need to give it up, frog this yarn, and start over in this two month span:
Yep. That's why I haven't touched these for 5 months--I was just waiting for the right project spectrum month! ;)

Pay It Forward Meme

This is a really cool one, I think!

I got this from Mo.

Pay It Forward meme

I will send a handmade gift* to the first three people who leave a comment requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making a similar agreement on your journal.

(my "handmade" specialties are knitting, cooking [for locals], and limited sewing--mostly taggie blankets, actually! I do have some tie-dyed kid stuff, too. )

*The "gift" you send doesn't have to be handmade--choose your specs when you post it on your blog.

Addicting bags...

OK, this is getting a little crazy ;)


I finished Everlasting Bagstopper #2:

And though I'm running out of cotton in my stash, I patched together some colors to start #3:


An IRL friend is going to swap a skein of cream for lavender and then I'll have two matching and I think 4 bags will work for me ;)

Reusable Grocery Bag

From time to time, I'd see a knit (or sewn) pattern for a reusable grocery bag. In theory, I thought this was nice, but I have to say that the convenience of disposable bags kept me from doing anything about it.

But then the last time I was cleaning, I noticed that I have more cheap plastic bags than I will ever use in this lifetime, and I have more scraps of cotton yarn than I will turn into dishcloths, so I thought I might try to find a pattern to knit a grocery bag.

I wasn't thrilled will many of the patterns I found, and then the Knitty Summer Surprise came to my inbox.

And I fell in love with the Everlasting Bagstopper!

I immediately cast on.

And with two skeins of cotton yarn and some ribbon lying around the craft room, I created:


If you look closely, you can see the "oops" where I goofed in the pattern at knit club. Unfortunately, I make a LOT of goofs at knit club when I talk more than knit! But it's a GROCERY BAG, so I didn't rip back!

And I used it for the first time yesterday and LOVED it (and got great compliments from the bagger at Whole Foods). so I cast on for a second one--this one made from scraps of leftover cotton:

I'm addicted!

Intricate Stag Bag--done!

Another thing I accomplished on our trip--finishing the stag bag!

Here's the front:

And the back:


I still want to make a lining and attach that at some point.

Miscellaneous catch-up

It's been awhile since I've posted. There's not been a lot of major things going on--just some minor stuff.

*All the parts of the intricate stag bag are done--I just need to sew them together (and probably make a liner):*T. is taking tennis lessons, and enjoying them again.

*I've returned to secret shopping to bring in some extra money. I shopped Whole Foods this week and it was kinda fun!

*We saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday and I think it was one of the best movies they've made!

*We're going to my hometown for my 20th class reunion this weekend. With the outrageous gas prices (is it over $3.50 a gallon everywhere?) this trip should cost over $100 in gas alone. omg...

Ravelry--I'm in!!!!

Oh, cool...

If you don't already know about ravelry, go there RIGHT AWAY and check it out! I had to sign up to wait (they're going kinda slow at the start and adding people a few at a time), but it is the neatest thing! You can track your projects (photos, yarn, progress, dates knit, etc.) and link to people who have knit the same stuff, and their suggestions for yarns and substitutions and everything. It's got a huge database of yarns, so you don't have to type in everything, and it keeps track of the needles you use (wish it gave the option for straight, dpn, circular, etc., but not yet) and how much yarn it actually took...

Anyway, please go check it out! I think it'll revolutionize online knitting sharing! (oh, it's for crochet, too)

Stag bag moving along

This is the perfect project for summer knitting. The intricate part (the stag intarsia) is at the beginning of the pattern, so when you have time to pay attention :) and count, you do that. Then you pick up on the edges and do the chevron (which is also quite easy--just K2P2), and finally you do stockinette for the back. Nothing like mindless knitting to take to the 4th of July fireworks, or other places where you can talk and knit at the same time.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough of the turquoise and cream yarn to do the whole thing, so I have to do the back with a variegated yarn that has the same turquoise in it:

I'm hoping it won't look funny, and will actually be a bit like two completely different bags, depending on how I carry it. :)

Intricate Stag Bag

Here's what I've been working on today:



And if you don't recognize it, it's because you haven't subscribed to the free eZine, knittingdaily!

(OK, if you don't recognize it, maybe it's because knittingdaily shows it in the much-nicer shades of brown and cream, but I'm on a yarn diet, so I had to make due with what I had!)

(Hopefully) the hardest part is done.

It feels nice to be knitting something of substance again!

Project Spectrum... red, black and metallic

New two-month color change on Project Spectrum. I'm hoping that, by the end of July, I get at least ONE thing created in red, black and metallic. OK, I do have one thing done already.

To match our black, white, gray (and lime green accent) bedroom, I FINALLY got a copy of a picture taken at one of my best friend's weddings almost exactly three years ago. It's a pic of me (matron of honor) nursing M. (flower girl) and it's done in black and white. Here's a picture of the picture, now hanging on my wall:

In knitting news, I've been working on the same two projects (small ones) for over two months. Not great knitting time and weekly knitting club (1 1/2 hours a week) isn't enough to really complete anything!

I am also working on T's Star Wars comforter, which will be mostly black and red, so I'll count that! :)

Reading: Charmed Knits

Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter
by Alison Hansel

I have to admit that I'm a bit disappointed in this one. I love Alison's Blue Blog, but I wasn't all that wowed by most of the patterns in here. I have always wanted to make a Weasley sweater and I probably will use this new, improved pattern (larger gauge!), but a lot of the other things aren't all that original (like mini Weasley sweater ornaments; socks and mittens in house colors) or are things I'd never make or use (Molly's technicolor housecoat; clock afghan).

Chemo hat done!

I finished Grumperina's Odessa:

And T. is having her son over after school today, so I'll be able to give it to her.

Pattern:
Odessa by Grumperina
Knit with Lion Brand microspun, in royal blue
Modification: made without beads, because I thought they'd be uncomfortable on a bald head... After knitting, I realized they'd have been on the OUTSIDE and it would have been even prettier.... ah, well. NEXT time!

A little bit of knitting

I haven't had much time for knitting, but I've been working on a few things.

I liked the berry hat so much that I bought bright orange yarn and started a pumpkin one:

And then I bought size 1 needles (LYS doesn't carry a 40" circ. in size 1, so I am trying the 2-circ. method) and the toe-up Jaywalker is turning out much better:

And I hadn't realized that 67% of my knitting is Grumperina-designed, but I'm also working on Odessa for one of T's classmate's moms. She is battling breast cancer and I just saw her and noticed that she'd lost her hair.

And now I need to hurry and post this--weekly knitting club starts in half an hour!