Hats!

I finished the first short row hat the other day. . . yes, the First. My co-worker Em has requested one, and since she's a dear friend, and she sadly claims to only have one ill-fitting black hat from Walmart, I'm happy to oblige. One bad hat is a sorry state of affairs, and I cannot allow it. She's picked out her yarn and I'll make hers next. With the yarn I used, the hat turned out slightly too big, not unwearable, but it falls down over my eyes a lot. (I've been wearing it at work because its freezing ass cold there). So I'm going to try it this time on size 6 needles. Hopefully this will have the added benefit of only needing to buy one skein of the 6$ yarn. I only used a tiny bit of the second skein on the first hat. I bought two more skeins, each a different color to make two more hats for myself. I like the pattern that much. It's quick, looks very impressive, but is actually quite easy. The process is fascinating. I don't usually knit a pattern twice. At least not in a row. The last time I did, was maybe more than a year ago, when I made the nautilus toy from Knitty. I love those things. I made two. In different yarns. Then I couldn't be bothered with more. They're great stash busters though, and kids love them. I think they're great. . . but I'm a Big Kid, so there you have it. I also bought yarn for the cinchy hat found in the back of the last Knitscene. Brown blue and cream, with a dark blue ribbon with white contrasting stitching down the middle. For those I bought Lion Brand Felting Wool. I think that's what its called. Its got the brown paper label on it that says "felting", they're fairly new. I've been thinking about the hat since I saw it, and I'm looking forward to knitting it. It shall soon be the season.

As the Seasons Change

I've finished the summer time tunic. The ribbon I had bought for it ended up being too short by a long shot, and I had to go buy more. I like the new ribbon much better anyway. I don't know what I'll use the other ribbon for, I'm sure I'll find something eventually.
I started the short row hat by Veronik Avery, and I love it. I had a few false starts ( I was tired and not reading the directions properly) last night, but I've been working on it all day at work and I hope to finish it tonight. I'm using Patons SWS, which is 70% wool and the rest soy. It has an interesting texture to it. The color repeats may be slightly longer than those in the original hat in the photograph, but its close, the pseudo-entrelac really shows off the color gradation quite nicely.
MS3 remains unfinished for now. I don't have any space with the packing up to work on it.
I'm desperately avoiding working on the damned Christmas stockings, and I really need to start, the clock is ticking faster and faster. I can tell already I"ll never be able to knit based on sale of completed items, at least not if other people dictate to me what I must knit. I need to get my ass moving on the designing thing.

Slacker!

I've been totally slacking on this blogging thing. I got back from vacation (where it rained a lot, we got 3 out of 5 beach days, two of which were overcast) and realized that I had just under two weeks to pack up everything I own and move out. Since I need my dad and his truck, and these two weeks are the two busiest weeks of the year for him at work, matters have become complicated. I have a lot of boxes sitting in my room right now, and lots more to pack.
I ended up taking the MS3 home with me, I worked on it a little, then had to put it on a waste string because I needed the needle for my summer tunic project. I ended up taking the socks and hat projects, as well, but left the MS3 at home. Mindless knitting is definitely the way to go at the beach. The 1x1 rib took forever, but once I got past things started moving more quickly. I'm nearly done, I'm working on the final inch of the back, then I need to complete the front few inches and I'm done. I have some lovely ribbons I picked out at Michael's for a dollar each, I'll have to decide which goes best.

Vacation Knitting

I'm going on vacation starting Thursday, and I 've started a new project to take along to the beach with me. I can't work on the MS3 because I need a flat surface to lay out the chart and the beach will seriously interfere with my knitting. So I've decided to keep it simple and work on some mindless knitting that I won't need to look at a pattern much for and won't have to worry about sand and such. I ordered Camilla from elann.com and have the first 3 inches or so of the Summertime Tunic from Interweave started. I have the pattern printed out and put in a plastic sheath (the ones that snap into your binders) so it won't get wet. The name is perfect and it's super super simple. I'm taking the MS3 with me to the campsite, I think I can work on it there. And when it comes time to do the 1x1 ribbing on the tunic, I'll need the size 4 needles from the MS3 to do it. I've already put some waste yarn in my bag so I don't forget ;)
I've also got the Short Row Hat from interweave all set up to go too, but I don't know if I'm taking it with me or not. the Soy/Wool blend will be too warm to work with during the day, but may be OK for the evening when its too dark to work on the MS3.

Is it just me or am I way over thinking this????

A Swift Arrives!!

My swift came in the mail today. Actually it came in the mail a few days ago, but to my parent's address, so I didn't get it until today. I haven't tried it out yet, but I'll let you know how it goes. So far it spins nicely, and the wood is smooth, if a little unfinished, meaning, its not stained or polished. The holes for the pegs are a little rough too, but I can take sandpaper to those and stain it myself. for a quarter of the price of other swifts I've seen, and solid handcrafted oak I'm really not complaining at all. It arrived in good condition. Now it's time to play!!

Other than knittning

I'm all set for the next clue to come out for the MS3 tomorrow, and I'm really excited about it. Melanie will reveal the theme along with the clue, and supposedly something interesting is going to happen with it. I got the last 12 rows done today, since I haven't worked on it in a couple days. I haven't been feeling 100%, and one of my co workers has corralled all of us into trying cross stitch. I felt slightly obligated to at least try, since she tried some knitting a while back, so I was brave enough to try a small counted one. (you work off a blank canvas). Generally I find the effect rather painterly, It reminds me of pointillism, especially since its done with a needle, Ha! (bad joke. I promise to curb the impulse). Emily (my co-worker) does the really big complicated looking ones, and I don't think I have the patience for one of those. It's OK, but Knitting is truly my calling. I'll finish the small one, but I don't plan on making anymore. She didn't stick with the knitting either, so it's all square. ;)