Another baby hat

I did a little knitting in public this week. I had to attend a city council meeting, so I thought I would bring something with me to entertain myself during the zoning issues and the more boring parts. I wanted something small that would be knitted without a lot of thought - this was perfect.

There was actually another person there knitting as well! I was tickled pink. She was knitting what looked like a garter stitch scarf with some super fancy yarn. Whoever is going to be the proud owner of that is very lucky.

I'm trying to use up some of my scraps, so I thought I would make some little baby hats with it. I used the same pattern that I used earlier. Normally I wouldn't post something quite so boring, but it was nice to almost finsish a whole project while supporting a good cause. I think this baby hat (and the others that will be made out of this yarn) will be donated to the nursery at the local hospital. 

SnB: Knitting Needles Case

A girlfriend of mine and I spend Tuesdays doing "craft night" while watching Gilmore Girls. This was our most recent project. It's the knitting needle case from Debbie Stoller's Stitch and Bitch. After the boyfriend stepped on one of my bamboo needles last week, I freaked out a little and decided that I needed more organization.

I went to Hancock's Fabrics and picked up some really funky upholstery fabric on sale for about $6 a yard. It's bright, loud and totally me. I fell in love with it. Funny thing is that my friend picked out the most delicate, feminine and country fabric. We are total opposites in that respect.

Because the fabric was so wide, I was able to make a second case! I love happy surprises like that. So, I sewed up a second one and I'm going to gift it to a friend of mine who helped me get started knitting. All the colors are the same, execpt hers has the pocket holder fabric as the squares, and the background as the polka dots.

I love color!

I decided to make a vertical striped scarf similar to the one that my sister got my for Christmas last year. I loved that scarf and I love bright, fun colors. So, when I got a steal of a deal on eBay for some mill end yarns, I knew that I had to make a rainbow scarf out of it.

Using 10.5 circular needles, I cast on about 300 stitches and knit a few rows of each color. I generally did one block of color at night while watching TV, so start to finsish it took a little less than a week (although it has been a WIP for about a month) . I didn't take and "in progress" shots because everything looks weird on circular needles, and to be honest, I thought it was going to turn out terrible. It wasn't until I added on the blue and the purple that it actually looked good.

The scarf was intended to be gifted to a lady in the community that I really admire who is doing a lot of volunteer civil rights stuff for the gay and lesbian community. However, on a good day she is 5 foot tall, and the scarf comes to my knees without wrapping it (and I'm 5'10"). So, this scarf is going to get a different home than its original intention.

I really like the final product. I know that I way overuse the garter stitch in everything, but in a scarf like this, the colors are so bold that your stitches need not be.

I'm down to one WIP at the moment and itching to cast on for something different. I'm going to force myself to work on it at least until the end of the weekend. 

Progress on the striped scarf

I'm making progress (slowly but surely) on the striped scarf out of TuTu yarn. The knitting itself isn't taking too long, but weaving in the ends seems to take forever! I get bored really easily and tend to only knit one or two color swatched before putting it down again. Good thing that spring is coming because at the rate I am going, the scarf won't be finished until the fall anyway. 

A Finished Object!!

My Michigan State scarf is finished!! I might decide to add some fringe on the ends, but that's up in the air for now.

The stockinette rolled a lot, even though I put a garter stitch edging around it. I blocked it overnight and then used a warm iron and a t-shirt to straighten it out. Because it was made of 80% acrylic and 20% wool, I didn't want to iron directly onto the scarf. It actually worked really well. The scarf is going to be boxed up until the fall, so I sprayed Febreze onto it as I was ironing so that it would have a fresh smell at least for awhile.

I have quite a lot of leftover green and a little bit of white, so I am thinking that I might make a cute little beanie to match. 

Michigan State Scarf

So, I started yet another project. I hate to have so many different things on the needles, but I couldn't resist. I was in East Lansing this past weekend and picked up the perfect green yarn. Since I'm more than likely heading to MSU for law school in the fall, I thought having a scarf for the tailgates would be fun. I know, I know.. that's months away, but I really wanted to start the scarf.

I'm using size 8 needles with Lion Brand Wool Ease. The white yarn has this nice little glitter in it to make it a little girlie. I cast on about 40 stitches and did stockinette throughout, minus the first few stitches as knit to prevent the roll. The pattern called for more colors, but I'm planning to just use green and white (Go Green! Go White!). It's still rolling a lot, but I'm hoping that blocking and steaming will help quench that. 

Bernat Galaxy scarf

I'm a sucker for on sale yarns. So, when I found Bernat Galaxy yarn on sale at Michael's for $2.00 a skein, I jumped on it. The color is "Milky Way" and it has shades of cream and brown in it.

I didn't quite realize how the yarn knitted up, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. The yarn has bits of thick and thin, so I knitted it on big needles (size 13) although size 10.5 was recommended. This was my first time using a yarn like this, and I am glad that I went with the bigger needles. At first I had a lot of trouble getting caught on the thick parts, and then when I loosened up the stitches I had a lot better luck.

I used plain garter stitch and because of the type of yarn, you almost can't even tell it's such a simple stitch. The scarf is SOOO soft! If I find another skein of this, I'll probably knit up a little beanie to match.

At first I was going to gift it, then I tried it on with my white coat and brown boots and I decided that I'd rather keep it for myself. Ha!

Striped scarf in Tutu yarn - Current Project

I bought some Moda Dea Tutu on sale for about $2 a skein in some really pretty colors. Each skein has about 92 yards. The yarn itself has a little shimmer to it with some papery tassle-like things. It's a really nice novelty yarn.

I decided to knit a striped scarf with a few of the colors. It's turning out really nice. The colors are probably a little too bright for an adult, but I think it would look great on my teenage sister or step-sister.

I'm using a 10.5 needle and knitting every row. The pain is that you have to thread in all the loose ends. Because I'm using so many different colors, it's necessary to cut the ends rather than thread them in - or at least that's what I think. I tried the other way and I just didn't like the results as well.

I'm a little more than a foot into the project. It's time consuming because of all the yarn changes, so I might have to start a second project that is a quicker knit. Maybe more baby caps! 

First attempt at a "sans pattern" project.

The wonderful boyfriend gave me a Coach wristlet for Christmas, and I love it. I generally carry it everyday. So, I thought I would try and make my own. This was my first attempt at a "make your own pattern" project, and there were probably a few things I'd change for the next time around.

For this, I used one skein of Moda Dea Aerie in black (on sale, of course, for less than $2) and a skein of a novelty yarn that I found at Big Lots. I'm pretty sure the yarn is named "Knitting" and is called funky fringe yarn. I just wound them together for this project.

Using 10.5 needles, I knit for about 12 inches and then cast on another 50 or so stitches for the wristlet. I cast off those stitches and continued to knit that row. For the final few rows, I did a decrease on both sides of the yarn to make a more rounded look. I sewed a little snap onto the flap to keep everything closed.

In hindsight, I probably would have used something else for the handle. Maybe using black leather with a silver connection, more like the Coach bag that I have. We'll see...

The picture really doesn't do it justice.. it looks less glimmery in real life. I think every piece of the novelty yarn was picked up with the flash. 

Block Striped Scarf

The boyfriend got a little jealous of all the knitting I was doing for other people and requested a scarf. He wanted a grey and black scarf, and I wanted to learn how to change colors, so that worked out really well.

I knit this on size 10.5 needles with Lion Brand Wool-Ease (On sale at Michael's for about $2 a skein). I cast on about 25 stitches and then knit about 50 rows in each color. He loved it, but of course the snow stopped a week after I finished the project.

Isn't he handsome, even in his pajamas? 

Baby Cap

I had some extra yarn from the baby blanket project, so I made a little knit cap to match. It's quite cute!!

A few modifications were made into a pattern that I had found online. The baby this hat is headed to is a little older than a newborn, so I used a size 9 needle rather than the recommended 8 and also cast on an extra 4 stitches. I'm thinking of putting a pom-pom on top to finish it off.

This was a really quick project to do (one night!), so I am thinking of making several of these of leftover yarns and dropping them off my the local hospitals for the newborns. 

Stitch and Bitch: Big Bad Baby Blanket

So, I got a little tired of making scarves and I thought that I would make the Big Bad Baby blanket from Debbie Stoller's Stitch and Bitch. Because I am such a new knitter, this was the project that never ended. I think I worked on it (consistently) for several weeks.

Although the detail of the picture isn't good at all, the blanket turned out really nice. I didn't use the yarn recommended (it would have been about $100!!). The parents of the baby have a lot of allergies, so I figured that acrylics would be the best bet. I used Bernat Baby Coordinates in light blue. Once I started the project, I really doubted my choice. I had trouble seeing all the detail in the edging with the yarn, but as a finished project, I think it looks really nice. After washing and blocking it, it got really soft and shiny again. I think all the oils from my hands and the dirt from toting it around for weeks really took away some of the gloss in the yarn. Amazing what a little laundry detergent will do!! 

Pink Ticker Tape scarf

I lucked upon some Moda Dea Ticker Tape yarn that I found on sale at Michael's for this. It was in the most gorgeous color of pink and white that screamed out "make something out of me" for a dear friend of mine.

As a new knitter, I was a little nervous about using a ribbon yarn, but I got the hang ot it quickly. On size 13 needles, I knit 6 rows, and then made drop stitches for the equivalent of 6 rows. It turned out to be really awesome, if I do say so myself.

Here's Becca modeling it at her big wig DC job.

Red Heart Garter Stitch Scarf

On my second project, I got a little smarter and picked a non-fancy acrylic so that I could master the stitch a little better.

I knit this on size 13 needles and again did the garter stitch throughout. I tried to knit it first in stockinette, but that was my first experience in realizing that stockinette stitches rolled. I frogged it and restarted. Things went much more smoothly after that.

I get compliments from both men and women when I wear this scarf. It's in Red Heart Ocean, and although it is a bit difficult to see this from the picture, the varigation is absolutely beautiful. It goes from a teal, through some shades of purple to a denim blue color. Too bad I don't have blue eyes to match it. 

Lion Brand Homespun Garter Stitch Scarf

This was my first completed project. I taught myself to knit with some online videos and some one-on-one instruction with a friend for about 15 minutes. I always thought that it would be too complicated to actually do!

I knit this on size 9 needles with Lion Brand Homespun yarn and just used the garter stitch the whole way. I don't remember the exact color and I've already tossed the label. I don't know that I would use the yarn again. It turns out beautiful, but it split really easy. Definitely wasn't the smartest choice in first yarns, but at the time I was just going for "pretty". 

Standard First Post

I wanted to start a blog for my new favorite hobby - knitting. I've only been knitting since late February, but I am already addicted and starting to forget some of my projects! So, I thought that creating a blog would help me to remember the fibers/projects that I've been working on, plus what I liked about those yarns, stitches, etc. I'm keeping this strictly for myself, but should someone wander across it - even better. I love reading other knitting blogs.

So far I've only done a ton of scarves and a few other projects here and there. I'm still trying to figure out what type yarns and needles I like best, so I figured that simple scarves were the best way to go.