Year of Projects - Unst 02

secrets revealed

Knitting on the Road: Canada • Canal du Midi • Conwy • Dalarna • Denmark • Friday Harbor • Hiiumaa • Huron Mountain • New England • The Road to Oslo • Santa Fe • Spey Valley • Christmas in Tallinn • Traveler's Stockings • Uinta Cabin • Unst • Whitby

Now that it's been unwrapped to squeals of delight I can finally reveal my secret gift knitting - a Harry Potter Gryffindor scarf. Turns out it wasn't much of a secret. As soon as he saw the yarn colours on my blog he guessed what it was going to be. "Really?" he asked, "you didn't think I'd guess?" Nope, I didn't think he'd guess. Doesn't matter though, he's delighted with it. The embroidered patches that I ordered on eBay really make it, don't they? I was pleasantly surprised at how aggressive the iron-on adhesive is; it adhered to the knitted fabric without any trouble at all!

Unst all done

Last week I also had lots of time to finish the second Unst sock. They've turned out just beautifully - of course the cashmere content of the yarn doesn't hurt either - and they're done almost a week early for a December birthday. The recipient is Asian and every year she looks forward to her "good luck New Year socks". And of course they have to be red. 

Pattern? Doesn't matter. 

Style? Doesn't matter. 

Colour? Doesn't matter as long as they're red.

This week I'm knitting a plain pair of ribbed socks for me. But next week I hope to cast on another pair towards my Year Of Projects; perhaps Whitby socks with a light fingering weight yarn held double. Merry Christmas one and all! And a crafty New Year!

merry merry

sparkly

As you know I've pledged to Surmount the Stash in 2012. So when I announced my intention to purchase rhinestone snowflake appliques for this wine cozy a red flag went up in my head. Chances are each applique would be a couple bucks, and chances are I'd buy about twice as many as I needed, and after taxes I'd probably have spent $15-20. There had to be another way.

Embroidery is not my strong point so instead I decided to simulate rhinestone appliques using some metallic silver seed beads that I have on hand. I printed out snowflake patterns composed of tiny circles and then used them as templates for positioning the beads. After completing each snowflake I tore away the paper I had sewn through. Success! The effect looks quite subtle in the photo but in real life it's pretty effective. Stash-busting win! Money-saving win!

In a couple hours we're meeting Shirley for a Christmas lunch; hopefully she likes it! Now all that's left for me to do is relax and enjoy the holidays. Hopefully you're all doing the same! Merry Christmas!

Work in Progress Wednesday

My second version of Wine Cozy has been felted and I'm much happier with the result. Gavin agrees, this is better. This time round I knit the cozy in a single colour - sheep's grey - to make sure the entire thing felted evenly. I reduced the number of stitches in the round from 96 to 63. And I reinforced the base with a thin plastic disk sandwiched between the true bottom and a second false bottom. If I had time I could try to felt it by hand about 10% smaller but there's no time left for any more experimentation.

Originally I thought to embroider a Christmas design on the finished felted bag, or even to applique a Christmas design cut out from felt, but today I'm thinking about heading to Michael's for Rhinestone applique snowflakes. After hanging this glittery snowflake ornament from the bag's bow, I've decided that the contrast between this soft and fuzzy felted bag and the crisp and sparkly snowflake is really nice. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think IT NEEDS MORE GLITTER!

Now I have to run - there's one more parcel to post so I hope to be first in line when the Post Office opens. Fingers crossed it makes it under the tree in time! For more frantic Christmas crafting, have a look at Tami's Amis. I can't be the only one crafting right up to the very last minute, can I?

Year of Projects - Unst

feeling festive!

Knitting on the Road: Canada • Canal du Midi • Conwy • Dalarna • Denmark • Friday Harbor • Hiiumaa • Huron Mountain • New England • The Road to Oslo • Santa Fe • Spey Valley • Christmas in Tallinn • Traveler's Stockings • Uinta Cabin • Unst • Whitby

It's a funny feeling to switch from knitting a cabled sock on size zero needles to a lacy sock on size one needles. It almost feels like I'm cheating, this pair of Unst socks is knitting up so quickly! Less than a week and the first sock is done. At this rate they'll be done way ahead of my December 29th deadline.

Nancy Bush named these socks Unst for the northernmost Shetland Island as it uses a traditional Shetland lace pattern called Columns and Arches. The pattern is very simple to work and to memorize. And quite pretty, I think, especially in this cashmere/merino/nylon blend sock yarn!

I'm lagging a bit behind on my Year of Projects with only the seventh of seventeen pairs of socks on the needles here at the halfway point in my year. But not to worry, it looks like I'll have plenty of time to catch up in the next couple of weeks. Almost all the gift knitting is done. And after tomorrow night's dinner, all the Christmas cooking and baking is also done. Lucky me!

Finished Object Friday

sorry for the cellphone pic!

It's late in the day on Friday, early evening really, but this pair of fingerless mitts are done and I just had to trumpet the news! I'm at work so a coworker kindly agreed to take a photo with his cellphone to help me out, so please accept my apologies for the photo. It's the best I can do under the circumstances.

This pattern is fantastic! I read the notes of other Ravelers and took some of their modification suggestions - lengthening the cuff, lengthening the hand, lengthening the thumb and reversing the cables on the left mitt. But they fit beautifully and they feel lovely on. The thumb as written works really well and ties in with the pattern nicely.

And look! They're actually done a whole day before the deadline! Isn't that something! I'm usually the one finishing them in the car and stopping at a donut shop to wrap them, or worse, wrapping them unfinished. Yippee! They're done!

Hopefully everyone else is having just as successful a day! Check out the parade of finishes at Tami's Amis. They're worth a look!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

More than likely this first Glorious Cabled Mitt will be finished on my train ride to work this morning. And with any luck its mate will be cast on and ready for some steady knitting at work. Like everyone else these days I'm on a schedule. This project must be done, wrapped and ready for giving on Saturday morning. Considering the progress I've made in the last two days, my timing looks pretty good.

The yarn is lovely - it's Madeline Tosh Sock in a colourway called "Cove". It's very smooth yielding very crisp stitch definition and it is one of the least splitty yarns I've ever had the pleasure to knit. Definitely a good choice for all these criss-crossing cables on size 0 needles! I'm sorry to say I liked the colours better in the skein than knit up, but that's so often the case for me when I fall prey to the charms of variegated yarns. I'm not unhappy with it though; at least it's not pooling or striping or otherwise misbehaving.

Once this is done my plan is to reknit a smaller wine cozy. My next wine cozy will be knit in one colour; I'll add a pattern after it's knit and felted. I can't say I feel very confident about this as my embroidery skills leave a lot to be desired, but I'm going to give it a go. After that there's one more pair of socks to knit for the 29th, then that's it for the gift knitting. I think I can. I think I can. 

Check out Tami's Amis to see the work of lots more optimistic and hardworking little crafting engines!

Surmount the Stash 2012

a good start

Here at row six of the pattern across the wrist and hand you can just start to see the beginning of the cables of this first Glorious Cabled Mitt. It's the beginning of a big section of interlocking cables that make this mitt something special. The deadline for these mitts is this Saturday so there's no time to lose; this project will be my constant companion and I plan to knit these exclusively until they're done.


I have high hopes for this pattern. First I love that they're made from fingering weight yarn. That strikes me as a really practical weight for fingerless mitts. After all, by definition these aren't meant to be the warmest mitts for prolonged exposure to extreme cold, but are instead meant to be warmer than no mitts at all when covered fingers are inconvenient. And with all that ribbing they're certain to fit. Finally, just think of how much gorgeous yarn is available in finger weight! There's plenty of choice in my stash, that's for sure.


Speaking of which, Revelations of a Delusional Knitter has a plan to Surmount the Stash in 2012 and I'm joining in. The real work begins in 2012 but in anticipation I need to come up with a plan.


Inventory my Stash: I'd like to know exactly how much yarn I have in any given weight in order to plan my projects accordingly. I'm betting next year is going to be the year of socks for me! Maybe the Yarn Harlot's idea of bagging yarn together with patterns is a good idea? I'd like to get my stash organized and inventoried through the week after Christmas so that I'm ready to go at the beginning of next year. 


Limit Stash Enhancement: I'd like to stay within a monthly budget of $50 for all knitting related expenses: yarn, notions, needles, patterns and so on. Amounts can be borrowed from a coming month. Unused amounts can be carried forward from past months. Truthfully, I'd like to promise not to buy any more needles next year. I have more than one set at each size in straights and a good selection of circs, so this should be possible.


Manage my WIPs: No more than two projects on the needles at a time. No exceptions. I need to be disciplined about starting and finishing projects. And I need to be organized about planning projects in time for their deadlines - whether it be shipping dates for my favourite charities or birthdays for which a handknit is planned. Too often I'm leaving things to the last minute and then shopping instead of knitting.