Spin.Knit.Kids.School.Repeat

Finished Object #2 in 2011

It's been getting colder here lately.  And I made this just in time.  I actually wore it clipped together yesterday when we ran to the grocery store amidst the foot of snowfall we got and my ears were the toastiest part of me!  The pattern is beyond simple using short rows to create the shape.  Calorimetry is a free pattern from Knitty.com. 

The yarn I used is Sunshine Yarns Worsted Merino in the Fall Kit Color "Plum Spice".  I love it!  The colors are a joy to watch as it all comes together.  The pattern only used up 51grams of the skein, which came out to about 90 yards.

I do still need to find a few buttons for it still, but it so squishy soft I see it being around for a while & making more!

Project 1/12in2011

As part of the 12in2011 group on Ravelry participants pick 12 projects that they can complete with out purchasing the yarn.  My first project that I wanted & needed to get finished was a baby set.

The yarn I used for this entire set is the December 2010 club shipment from Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs.  It is a striping GothSocks skein on the Strychnine base.

I made the Easy Peasy Leftover Sock Newborn Hat first. The pattern is found on the blog Knitty Gritty Thoughts This little hat used less than 20g (17g or 44 yards to be exact) of fingering and seems pretty accommodating size wise.  I can't wait to see the new arrival in it.

Next, I made Magic Slippers from the SockPixie blog.  These were pretty simple and very quick and used up next to no yarn!  These took 42 yards (11g) of sock yarn.

Third, is the matching rattle.  I used Rebecca Danger's "Holly, Ivy & Steve: Three Christmas Hooligan Ornaments" Pattern (available in her etsy store, here, or on Ravelry).  I used the Steve pattern for this particular rattle and he came together really quickly.  I sewed on the eyes and mouth with some black cotton DK weight cotton, just because it was what I had it on hand, and stuffed a little rattle insert in with the body stuffing.

Here's the whole set:

Yesterday was the mystery challenge.  One of those do as much as you can in 1 day sort of things.
One person from each house and year is chosen to participate.  I was that person for the Slytherin 4th years.

I spun the Sunshine Yarns Tonks from the earlier post and knit it into this little baby hat:

Then I spun some yarn for a present, the Gaia's Colours top I mentioned before:
And then I knit up some little baby mittens to go to a friend:

Here's a kinda slouchy beanie that I've had hiding out in my purse being worked on here and there.  "Unbirthday" by Sunshine Yarns, a colorway of which I don't know if I'll ever have enough!

I plan on eventually writing up the notes on this project, once I actually have time to sit still long enough with it in my hands to do it.

Wow, if that came up in a search I'm sure I'd get some "what the ____" 's !

Anyways, the "Like A (Monkey) Virgin" socks were finished last month!  A record 12 days of knitting, with school taking time away, these are my fastest socks yet!  And I love them!  They fit wonderfully, the colors are great, the yarn is great...(wait, how could I not love the yarn...it's Sunshine Yarms!)

Here they are:

Yup that's right.  April 1st we had snow and hail, so I cast on another pair of socks!  I cast on Cookie A.'s Monkey pattern.  It's a well loved pattern that I never even thought of making, since there are only 11,500(ish) pairs out there according to the Ravelry pattern pages. The pattern is free, published in Knitty.

Plus the April Sock Knitter's Anonymous group on Ravelry is having their Cookie A. month this month and we decided to have a side knit-a-long for "Monkey Virgins."  Only those who have never knit a pair of Monkeys qualify for the SKA Sockdown Challenge with Monkeys.

After scowering pictures of FO's on the project page I thought I wanted a mostly solid color, but then I found the perfect yarn and it just sort of clicked!

My "Like A (Monkey) Virgin" socks have been started! They are being knit in Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Red Queen.

results in this:

And a close up:
Now all that is left to knit is the flap.  (2500 of 7000 stitches of it is done so far!)
This needs to be finished by Mar. 31st, @ midnight.

The March instillation of the dreaded tally for 2010! 

Yarn In includes purchases and trades that came in.
Yarn Out includes finished objects, yarn I sold or traded out.
Limbo Yarn includes yarn that is currently being used.

So our starting total was: 120 skeins respectively
January = 132 skeins
February = 119
March = 

Yarn In:
2 Rovings and one skein arrived that were purchased in February
0 = trades/gifted
11 = my purchases
(Plus 1 kit...but it's my birthday present, does it still count?)

Yarn Out:
0 = Finished Objects
5 = Sold / Traded / Gifted

Limbo Yarn:

- 21 of those are the Doomsday Bag
- 7 are the Wicked Sweater
- 2 are 2 pairs of socks
- 1 Montego Bay Scarf
- 1 Un-Birthday Hat
- 1 Butterbeer Citron
- 1 Owlings

End total: 119 (-5+11) =  125


Purchases:

February's Purchases that came in March:
Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rawk Mediumweight in Narikama.

  
CJ Kopec Creations Honey Bear & Lake House Merino/Tencel Blends

And the Feb 2010 Sunshine Yarns Harry Potter Club Shipment, Shapeshifter.

For March:
I got 2 skeins of Berroco Luster at the LYS I just found. I've been wanting to try this yarn for a while now and could never find it without having to order it.
Sunshine Yarns (as always!)  Mad Hatter Classic Sock:
Red Queen Classic:

The SKA March Mystery Sock KAL is going on still.  Clue 3 was released this past Monday and I've just gotten to the point where I can start it today!  I've gotten through the heel flap part that is patterned.  I did however decide to only do one repeat of Clue 2 (the leg) as adding the second repeat would have made the sock too tight around the cuff for me at it's full height.  I even considered giving these away as a gift and the intended recipient had the same issue, so one repeat is good by me.  I'll be disqualified for the prizes, but I'll have a very pretty pair of socks!

No not basket ball!!!  As if I'd even know that when that was beyond it being called "March Madness"!

No, this is my own form of March Madness!  I've cast on 2 pairs of Mystery Socks so far this month and it's only the 7th!  Not only that, I have plans for at least one more pair!

The first pair I cast on is the SolidSocks Mystery Sock March/April 2010 pattern for the Solid Socks group on Ravelry.  I'm using Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock (big surprise there!) in Mountain Shadow.On US 1 (2.25mm) DPNs.  I'm thinking I'm going to try and run to the LYS down the street from school in order to get a few more pairs.  I have exactly 6 needles this size, one of which is broken.  So I knit clue1 of sock1 for this pair and then had to move it to a couple stitch holders to be able to start another sock.

Mountain Shadows Hide Mysteries:

The next instillation of the dreaded tally for 2010!

Yarn In includes purchases and trades that came in.
Yarn Out includes finished objects, yarn I sold or traded out.
Limbo Yarn includes yarn that is currently being used.

So our starting total was: 120 skeins respectively
January's Total was: 132 skeins

February (so far):

Yarn In:
1 = trades
2 = my purchases

Yarn Out:
3 = Finished Objects
16 = Sold / Traded / Gifted

Limbo Yarn:
32 skeins are currently devoted to projects in progress! (21 of those are the Doomsday Bag and 7 are the Wicked Sweater.)

End total: 118

So, here's what came in in February:

Purchases:

Sunshine Yarns Merino Worsted: Ever After

This is my first attempt at writing down a pattern.
It's pretty much how I'd talk someone threw it, so the technical terms may not be there, but I think it's pretty straight forward.
Any advice/feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The name for these mitts came about due to the constant "me", "mine", "my" that went on while knitting the sample. My 2 1/2 year old daughter thinks that everything I knit is for her. And while talking to her and her brother there is alot of word jumbling. How do we know mommy is frustrated? How jumbled up her words get!

I’ve made these only once so far and while I like them I have a few changes I’d make for the second pair. Mine were made in Sport weight on US8’s; the fabric itself is a little loose as well as the overall fit. This pattern is the result of the proposed changes.

Worsted yarn on US8 or Sport yarn on US6

Long Tail CO 50 stitches. (30 stitches will make up the front, 20 for the back.)
Place marker and join in round.
Row 1 (Set up round) K2, P2, K4, P1, K12, P1, K4, P2, *K2, P2, repeat from * until end. (This forms the back of the cuff.)
Row 2 K2, P2, C2F, P1, C3F C3B, P1, C2B, P1, *K2, P2 repeat from * to end.
Row 3 Same as Row 1.
Row 4 K2, P2, C2F, P1, K12, P1, C2B, P1, *K2, P2 repeat from * to end.
Row 5 Repeat Row 1.
Row 6 Repeat Row 2.

Repeat Rows 1-6 for the desired length of cuff, finishing with Row 2 or 6. Initial sample has a 3 in cuff.

Thumb gusset. You can do this many ways. It you only want the thumb opening, work back and forth across the mitt as if it were flat (Rows 1, 3, & 5 will be purled in this case.)

Thumb gussets:
Form thumb gussets in the best location for you.
This is still something I’m playing around with.
At the location where you’ve decided place markers on each side of one stitch.

Starting on the next row:
Row 1: M1 after each marker (increasing the # inside the markers by 2.)
Row 2: The next row knit all thumb gussets.

Continue these two rows until thumb gusset reaches lowest thumb knuckle. (I know, technical right…)
Place thumb stitches onto scrap yarn.
Begin knitting around as before gusset, continue cables as pattern reads.

Continue cable on front & stockinet on back until palm is ½-1” shorter that the desired palm length. End with Row 2 (or 6).

Next Row, begin 2x2 ribbing for the top of the mitten. The cables should flow pretty easily into the ribbing. Complete ½ - 1” of ribbing. Cast off.

Pick up thumb stitches. Pick up 2 stitches from body of mitt, between edges of gusset. (Go for an even # of stitches here.)
Row 1: Knit all stitches.
Row 2: Begin 2x2 ribbing.
Repeat row 2 for desired length.

It's finished!  My New Moon Clapotis if finished!  A brilliant pattern by Kate Gilbert, offered free through Knitty.com.

I used Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in New Moon Alice on US 6's, using up right around 120 g of the yarn.  It's a little shorter than I'd like, but I can always add length next time around!  There will definitely be a next time around!  It makes a nice light weight scarf/shawl with this yarn.

Here she is!!!  I can't wait to get some pictures wearing her, but I'm not about to hand my Canon over to the 4 yr old!  (The color is off in the first one due to the kiddie mats I use for blocking!)

The dreaded tally of what I've done so far this year!

Yarn In includes purchases and trades that came in.
Yarn Out includes finished objects, yarn I sold or traded out.
Limbo Yarn includes yarn that is currently being used.

So our starting total was: 120 skeins respectively

Yarn In:
33 = Christmas yarns
  9 = Sweater Club ('09 paid)
  1 = sock club ('09 paid, Dec Shipment)
  8 = my purchases/trades coming in

Yarn Out:
  2 = Finished Objects
  10 = Sold / Traded / Gifted

Limbo Yarn:
35 skeins are currently devoted to projects in progress!  (I keep reminding me that 21 of those are the Doomsday Bag and 7 are my Wicked Sweater.)

End total: 132
 
So, here's what came in in January:

Received this Three Irish Girls Wexford roving in Quinn  in a trade:

Sunshine Yarns Merino Sport in Jane:


Sunshine Yarns in Classic Sock:
Mountain Shadow
Algea

The band for the bag is finished.  16,700 stitches done at this point.  I've got the Ravelympics going on right now, a kitting challege that coincides with the Olympics, so this has been set adise until I finish what I'd like to for it.  The goal is to have this bag finished by my birthday at the end of March.

The band is going to be blocked flat tonight and I'll get some new pics taken then!

Here's what I had last week: