January 29, 2006

Latifa Beginnings

Well, I started my Latifa scarf about a week or so ago, and I am loving it! Sure the garter stitch is boring as all get out, but the yarn is so soft I hardly care! Haha! It is knitting bliss. I'm using KnitPicks Andean Treasure for the color blocks, and some Morehouse Merino in a varigated oolorway for the ruffles. I might actually do a ruffle or two before I get to the end, just to break up the monotony. I know I probably should weave in the ends as I go, too... but don't we all hate that part? I'm just hoping all those ends don't delay me in finishing this beauteous scarf!

What else to tell? My friend Carrie is knitting!! How cool is that? Just started yesterday, and already she reports that her scarf is over a foot long! Yay! I am so proud of her for being able to pick it up so quickly. I'm always grateful when a friend finally understands for herself my total obsession with this craft! Yay! Another convert...

January 21,

Diane's Hat Again

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not tired yet of looking at this hat! Once again, it photographed more blue than teal, but the shade is very lovely. I toyed with doing a hat band of the blue and green yarns that made up the shade in some sort of color block pattern, but in the end I wasn't happy with that so I settled on this gray yarn and I'm doing a mistake rib pattern to give it some texture. I likey! Of course I find knitting the hat bands to be quite tedious, but I do think they add something to my finished product so that's why I do them. I think this is turning out to be my favorite hat so far. Next I want to learn entrelac so I can do some sort of entrelac pattern on the crown section before the decreases... but I'm getting ahead of myself. There's still the matter of Alison's poncho, of course.

And the Icing...

And then I bought this lovely pin from an Ebay seller today, and it's going you-know-where... on Diane's hat, of course!! The original pin I had purchased a long time ago turned out to be "too green" for the job. Perhaps I will find another project that suits that one well. But I hope the pin gets here soon so that the hat will be completely finished. And, yay! I actually got it done before winter is over.

Now, back to the poncho...

January 18, 2006

Felted Hat!

Well tonight I did several rounds of felting with Diane's hat. It's looking good! I ran it through the washer twice, with Diana's help, since I can't reach the washer, but then tossed it around by hand in a sink full of hot water for a while. I was at first concerned that it might be too big, but I think it's taking shape nicely. We'll see after it dries! I may try hand felting more often. For me, at least for now, it's a bit easier than dealing with a washer I can't get to that's always full of laundry anyway. I hope my cousin Diane will like her hat! It's a Fiber Trends AC-1 Felted Hat, made with Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, in two colors, "Storm" and "Winter's Night" held together. In all of the photographs I've taken of the hat so far, none has fairly shown the deep shade of teal that this hat really is.

Now to accessorize this hat.... does it need a hat band, or no? If yes, should I make it from the yarn that is the greener color of the two yarns used, or a smoky gray instead? Either way I have a pin to put on it, but I'm not sure now that the pin is a good match. Guess I'll have to try it and see. It's a dainty gold-colored floral pin with pink and green stones, but I think the hue of the hat may be too blue. Maybe I shold look for something silver toned, and more modern. Sigh... such decisions...

January 17, 2006

The Return of Alison's Poncho

Well, now that the hat is done except for felting, I thought it would be a good time to go back and pick up Alison's long-suffering poncho. I hadn't touched it since before my dad died, and the last time I was working on it, I was in the middle of threading a longer cable needle through the stitches. Believe it or not, I have one 52" cable and one 40" cable connected together in my Denise Interchangeable Needles, and the bottom of the poncho is spaced comfortably around. This thing is HUGE! Hopefully I'll be finished with the poncho sometime soon, especially sometime before ponchos are all the way out of fashion again!

Latifa

So, how is this for justification? Because Alison's poncho is so large, I need a small project to take in the car, right? Sure, I do! I discovered the Latifa scarf on Knitty recently, and I just have to make one! For the color blocks I chose several shades of KnitPicks Andean Treasure, and for the ruffles I picked a varigated yarn from Morehouse Merino Farms in the "Berry" colorway. All of these yarns are so soft; I can't wait to cast on! I think this will be my car knitting for some time to come. The only thing I am not looking forward to is weaving in all of the ends that will be generated by each color block plus each ruffle. So I hope this doesn't turn out to be yet another doomed project. Wish me luck!!

Until next time...

January 16, 2006

Ready for Felting!

DH's snoring got me up at 3:30 this morning, which made me extremely tired for today, but hey, at least I got the hat done! I even weaved in the ends as it came off the needles, which is a task I usually postpone. We've got a mountain range of laundry to get done this week so I don't know when it will be before I cna take custody of the washer for felting, but hopefully it won't be too long.

I'm trying to decide now if the hat band I'm planning to make should be smoky gray as originally intended, or whether I should take the greenier shade from the hat itself and make a band from that. I guess I'll wait and see how it looks after felting before I decide whih color would go best. Anyway, just had to share my first nearly FO of 2006.

Until next time...

January 14, 2006

See What a Little Grounding Will Do?

Well, let's just say that my 9-year-old is going to have a little extra time on her hands over the next two weeks. So, today she picked up her knitting again, and finally knit past the point where she stopped and we had to rip back last fall. She even snapped this photo herself with her very own digital camera, which she received for Christmas this year. She asked tonight if she could start her own knitting blog, which I think might be an interesting idea, because we've been struggling with her writing assignments all school year. But I'll have to figure out a way to do it that will maintain her safety and security. I'll think on it... and meanwhile, the pink scarf's finally gettin' longer!

January 13, 2006

Maybe Not So Much Progress?

Wow, here I thought I'd be close to done on this hat by now, and as you can see, I still have quite a bit to do! A couple more inches in the crown section and then the decreases. I guess the only real amount of knitting I've done this week has been during commuting time, so that might explain it. We've been in Homework H*ll with our 4th grader who somehow thought she could do a major writing assignment all in one night, only to find out that she couldn't, so had to redo it all in another night... so it goes. Oh well. The good news is that with each passing day I am getting more into the rhythm of knitting again. It feels good!! I think working on such a familiar project was a good idea for getting started. Now, if I can just get up the nerve to go in the dining room and pick up Alison's Poncho...

Yet Another Book to Love

I just got the book, Hip Knit Hats by Cathy Carron the other day, and I love it! The hats are stylish, fun and funky.... and should be a joy to knit. Each pattern in the book shows several variations, so you have the opportunity to try the hat in various yarn weights and style variations. How cool is that? There's an errata page on the author's website, but she includes a free pattern to help ease the pain. If you love knitting hats, definitely get this book. The hats are definitely worth it!

January 9, 2006

Hat Progress!

Hi, Gang! I can't tell you how happy I am to be this far along on my cousin's hat. This means it should be ready for felting by the weekend, given that I am to the crown section at last. Yay! I know I've mentioned, like, at least a thousand and three times how much I love the Fiber Trends AC-1 hat pattern, and that still holds true! Next time, I think I want to be adventurous and try the version with the flat brim. It looks glamourous and fun. I'm a bit disappointed in the way my camera is photographing the hat, though, because the colors are really lots more vivid than what you see here. When I'm done I'll have to get a photo of Diane wearing it in natural light. I think it's going to be pretty!

I've done quite a bit too much knit related shopping this week and I can't wait for the UPS man to start rolling through the neighborhood. Sara, one of my co-monitors on the KnitTalk list, mentioned a sale at Cherry Tree Hill yarns. I've always wanted a hank or two of the Oceania yarn in my stash, so I got some while it was on sale. Two hanks, actually, so that's enough to do a sweater for not-so-tiny me. Not saying that's what I will do with it, given that I've never made a sweater in my LIFE, but I did by a new DVD from KnitPicks on top-down sweaters, and while I was at it, the one on entrelac hats and bags. We'll see how I like those!

Anyway, so that's where I am this week in the world of knitting; I'm excited to be getting back into it again. More next time...

January 5, 2006

Well, It's a Start...

Ok, so I'm knitting again, at least taking baby steps in the right direction. I promised my cousin Diane a felted brimmed hat like this one: Genny's Hat. Diane has requested a teal hat, so I'm combining two strands of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, combining one strand of the color "Stream" and one strand of "Winter Night". It's making a lovely deep teal. At first I was concerned that the color wouldn't be right at all, but now I'm loving it! Let's hope that Diane does, too. It feels good to be kniting again.

More later...

January 1, 2006

Happy New Year...

Hi all... I'm starting my new year's entry on a sad note. The reason why I haven't posted since Thanksgiving is that, less than a week later, I experienced the loss of my father, Bryan Humphrey, after a bout with invasive sqaemous cell carcinoma. To those of us who loved him, the loss occurred very quickly, but for him, each day was painful and torturous, so though I am very sad, I am glad he is relieved of his suffering. Suffer, he did. A lot.

And so my knitting has suffered as well. Not that my father would have wanted me to stop knitting. But during the last weeks and months of his life, I made several long trips in the car to visit with him, and always had my knitting with me. I knitted, too, by his bedside as we talked, or while he slept, or while he listened to me yammer on about my kids, my job, just about anything. But at the moment, since his passing, I am finding it hard to knit. I hope to be back among the bloggers with news of my projects again soon, but until then, thanks, as always, for your love and support.

This photo is of Dad and I dancing at my brother Michael's wedding in October of 2000. This was a good day. I love you, Dad, and may you be at peace.