Category Archives: knitting

Fiber Arts Friday: Catching up

Posted on April 19, 2013 | 13 Comments

Word Lily knitsSince I’ve spent the last feels-like-a-very-long while not blogging, I have some catching up to do. Although not all that much, because I wasn’t knitting hardly at all for most of that time.

But! Socks!

I made these quite awhile ago now, but I’m still smitten.

Silk Garden Socks

• Started and finished in December.
• Pattern: So Simple Silk Garden by Glenna C.
• Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock — apparently I didn’t jot down the colorway number.
• I worked the cables without a cable needle!
• (More details here.)
• I love Noro yarns. The long color changes, the single, everything. It reminds me of handspun, at least in some ways.

And these were made even longer ago, but I think I might love them more.

Hermione's Everyday Socks

• Started and finished in November.
• Pattern: Hermione’s Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder
• Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks FX in Camelot Colors
• (More details here.)
• Yay, purple!
• I loved how not-just-a-plain-stockinette-sock this was, while still being very simple and straightforward. I will (and have) sought out more patterns like it.

Do you wear colorful socks?

Head over to FO Fridays and Fiber Arts Fridays to see what other people are up to in the fibery world today!

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Swap hat received!

Posted on February 21, 2013 | 14 Comments

I talked previously about the hat swap I participated in with my due date group on Ravelry.

Well, the hat for A arrived this week, all the way from Germany! :D

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I love it, it’s perfect. It’s soooo soft, the color is perfect, the buttons add the very best touch of whimsy. She (karulin on Rav) used the Woolly Wormhead Bubbles pattern.

Wanna see it modeled? Well, OK. If you insist.

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Oh, and the chocolate? Perfectly dark, with the greatest taste of orange. (And I don’t even usually like fruit in my chocolate.) I loved doing this swap.

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Second verse, same as the first, a little bit longer …

Posted on February 20, 2013 | 7 Comments

Word Lily knitsAKA WIP Wednesday (I first talked about this blanket here not all that long ago, at least in number of posts.)

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Like I said yesterday, I should finish knitting the stripes themselves in the next week, hopefully sooner. But even when I get to that point, I’ll still have ends to weave in and a edging to add. I think I’ll decide how deep to make the border as I go. I’m hoping to counteract the curling at least a little. (I know I can’t eliminate it completely, and I’m OK with that.)

I’m still enjoying this blanket, but it’s pretty heavy on my lap (not a problem on snow days, of course) and I’m looking forward to being done with it at this point (I seem to always get to this point with projects). I do think I’ll love the finished product, though.

What are you working on today (crafty or otherwise)?

See other WIPs at Work In Progress Wednesday.

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WIP Wednesday

Posted on January 30, 2013 | 25 Comments

Word Lily knitsI don’t often get around to posting about projects while they’re still in the works, probably because I usually knit in the basement, where the lighting’s bad for photography (but fine for knitting).

But this week, I hauled the current work in progress upstairs to the good, natural light and snapped a couple pics.

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Two-inch stripes, in a two-color stripe sequence which then switches to a different two colors, over and over. In this photo, the blanket-to-be is folded in half, it’s about 5 feet wide. It will, when it’s done, be about 8 feet long, I expect. So at this point, three weeks into the project, I’m about 1/3 done with the knitting. I’m planning to crochet a thin border when the knitting’s done. The colors in the photo aren’t completely accurate, but they’ll work for now.

Oh, I’m working in cotton, reclaimed from old sweaters.

If I keep up my current pace, I’ll be finished in about 2 months, but that’s a big question mark. And then there are all the ends to be woven in … So yeah, definitely a longer-term project for me.

What are you working on today (crafty or otherwise)?

See other WIPs at Work In Progress Wednesday.

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Swap hat

Posted on January 25, 2013 | 37 Comments

Word Lily knitsOne of my groups on Ravelry is having a hat swap for our babies, and my swap partner received the hat I made, so I can finally unveil this secret!

I made Leethal’s Wobble Bass hat.

Seen here modeled on my little guy.

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My project page on Ravelry.

I used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky in color Blue Flannel for the main color, and a little bit of my handspun (n-plied merino, hand-dyed by Hello Yarn, in a Yarn School colorway, I forget which one). (Man, I should really look that up.)

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This was a tough project for me, but I’m pretty thrilled with how it turned out, although it’s not without its flaws. I might have been pushing the envelope a bit, using super bulky yarn to make a baby/toddler-sized hat, but it still worked. The pattern is awesome, a very engaging (heh) knit and the finished object is pretty fun, if you ask me.

You can see my kitchener in garter stitch here, it didn't completely disappear. My tension must have been off.

You can see my kitchener in garter stitch here, it didn’t completely disappear. My tension must have been off.

Here are a couple more photos, just for grins.

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I’ve wanted to try my hand at Leethal’s patterns for quite a while, and this won’t be my only foray. But I might have to make this hat again first, so I don’t have to rely on (digital) photographs as proof of this summit conquered.

The recipient, elpalchica, posted about the hat today, too. I’m so glad she likes it!

Have you participated in swaps before?

Wanna see more? Check out FO Friday and Fiber Arts Friday.

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Gift knits

Posted on January 18, 2013 | 33 Comments

Word Lily knitsSince I’m starting to get back in the swing of blogging, I guess I’ll finally tell you about the gifts I knit for Christmas. This was a pretty slow Christmas in terms of handcrafted gifts.

• I made Mom a pair of socks. With yummy BFL yarn.
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Kind of boring to knit, but very work appropriate to wear. And the nice hand-dyed yarn helped.

• I crocheted a pair of legwarmers (and a matching earwarmer [Calorimetry], not pictured) for a sister-in-law, based on her pinning the pattern (and others like it) on Pinterest.
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• I whipped up a crown and a mask for a young niece.
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(Wow, I just realized that of those pictured here, half are crocheted and half are knit. If you count the Calorimetry, the list skews knit, though.)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday / Finished Object Friday / Friday! I’m looking forward to catching up on sharing all I’ve been making and reading soon.

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Christmas socks

Posted on December 23, 2012 | 10 Comments

We’re getting ready for Christmas around here, and here are just a couple things I’ve made as part of the preparations.

Word Lily knitsI was planning to knit fancy colorwork stockings (one for each member of the family), so we’d have one for the little guy, but after getting nearly half done with the first one, I ripped it out because I wasn’t pleased with how it was turning out. I’ve since practiced my stranded colorwork skills a bit, and I might be ready to tackle that gorgeous stocking again, but there’s no way I could get it done in time, and I still needed a stocking for him for this year.

When I saw this pattern, worked in worsted weight and not horribly ugly (which it seemed all the other stocking patterns I’d found were), I decided to just knit one. I knew I wouldn’t be thrilled with anything I found to buy, either.

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(Rav project page) It benefitted greatly from blocking (duh), and I’m happy with my modifications (the contrasting heel and toe, the loop for hanging). I think I’ll be happy to have a spare stocking in the future, too.

I also, in my colorwork practice, ended up with an ornament to commemorate the babe’s first Christmas.

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I actually started, along with the aforementioned colorwork practice, to make Flakey Baby Socks as a pair of socks for Asa. Instead, I tried the first sock on him before beginning the second, and while it fit, getting it on him required a wrestling match (kinda tight). There certainly wasn’t room to grow. That paired (heh) with the frustration I experienced with the afterthought heel and, well. I decided to just use the first one as the ornament for his first Christmas. As an added bonus, we’ll be able to remember how big/little his feet were at this point in time.

From this view you can see the snowflakes.

From this view you can see the snowflakes.

I was much happier with how this turned out after I’d blocked it. I shouldn’t be surprised, but blocking really is a wonder-worker in the colorwork realm. My tension looks so much better after this little thing had a bath!

It’s quite different than the simple brass ornament that commemorated my first Christmas, but I think it’s fun. Do you have an ornament from your (or your child’s) first Christmas?

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Baby in Red (sweater)

Posted on November 30, 2012 | 12 Comments

Word Lily knitsYay, I finally tried the sweater on the babe and even got photos, all in the same day! Let’s pretend it isn’t nearly a month after the last end was woven in …

The pattern is Gavyn.

While I didn’t love everything about the pattern, or the knitting, I do think I quite like the finished sweater.

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This was my first bottom-up sweater, my first non-raglan sweater. I made the 12-month size and added an inch to the length of the body of the sweater and about 3/4-inch to the sleeve length, because my boy is tall and long-torso-ed.

It doesn’t look as big on him (at 7 months) as I thought it was, as I was aiming for, but it will still hopefully fit him all this winter.

I used recycled sweater yarn, in 100 percent cotton; tripling the yarn gave me gauge on the recommended needle size.

I’m linking up with FO Friday and Fiber Arts Friday; visit these places if you want to see more projects! :)

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