Handwarmers for Kelley

December 24: Matching handwarmers for the hat that I made my sister for Christmas. Yes, this will be a late present.

December 26: Finished the first mitt. I’m really glad that ribbing stretches because these are small and although they do fit, it probably would have been better to add at least one more set of 4 stitches, perhaps even more than that.

December 29: Finished the second mitt. Still a little tight, but this time I used a sewn bind off and that at least helped make the edge a bit looser than on the first one.

Pattern: Riverside Handwarmers by Ivete Tecedor
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Rose Smash

Cowls for Eden and Gina

December 23: I finished the second of two cowls today. I wanted to make something for the two gals in my gaming group and decided this cowl would be great. So I picked out yarn in the colors I thought they would like (Gina got Whale’s Road and Eden got Emerald) and went to work. I finished the first one during our gaming session and gave it to Gina. It took me a couple more days to get to Eden’s but it is now also finished. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of Gina’s (did at least get a pic of the yarn) but I did take a quick picture of Eden’s (I'm also posting a picture of the yarn for Gina's).

I was wondering why these turned out to be tighter than the one I made for myself a while back. Apparently my needles were in the wrong pocket so I used much smaller needles (10 3/4 instead of 13) than intended. Oops. At least they still fit!

Pattern: Dolores Park Cowl by Parikha Mehta
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky in Emerald and Whale's Road

Ribbed for Mandy's Warmth

December 20: I did another project (bath mitt) for my sister-in-law and just wasn’t happy with the way it turned out. So I decided to make her this cowl as well.

December 23: Much better! This is a gift that I’m proud to give to someone. I really like the way it turned out.

Pattern: Ribbed for Your Warmth by Sonia Ruyts (free download on Ravelry)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Hummingbird

Little Miss Sunshine

November 21: Need to get working on Christmas gifts so I decided to give this one a go. I had a bit of a mini heart attack last night when I couldn’t find the pattern. But after a while spent looking for it, I finally found it, safely tucked away inside another pattern. Colors used should be Semolina (yellow), Coal (black), and Serrano (red).

November 24: Finished all the knitting bits. Used a whole skein of the Semolina and part of a second. Now it’s just a matter of piecing it all together, which is the part I really hate. But I’ve got about a month, so hopefully I can talk myself into completing it during that time.

December 6: Did all the seaming and putting together of parts. The only thing left to do is to embroider her face. I’m really pleased with how it looks so far so I hope I don’t mess up the face!

December 21: Finally stitched the face. The mouth is a little crooked, but overall, I think it turned out quite nicely. I actually don’t really want to give this away, but I did send it out in today’s mail.

Pattern: Little Miss Sunshine by Alan Dart (out of print)
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish DK in Semolina (yellow), Coal (black), and Serrano (red)

Fishy Bath Mitt

December 20: I’m just not happy with how this fishy mitt turned out. I also think there are a couple of minor errors in the pattern. Present for Mandy for Christmas. Decided to make her something else to go with this as I just didn't feel like this mitt was good enough.

Pattern: Fishy Bath Mitts by Helene Rush (part of kit)
Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too Cotonade in Caribbean and Neon

Emily's Christmas Pink Ranger

December 8: Details of this project will be posted after Christmas as this is a present for Emily. A couple of vague notes: I’m using a technique that I haven’t used before on this project and I’m finding it a bit tedious. But it’s good to learn something new. I just hope it all turns out okay!

December 12: I had a hard time doing ____ with the project (blank to be filled in after Christmas) so part of it looks a little wonky. I did finally have a breakthrough regarding _____ and what I’ve done since then looks a lot better. Although it doesn’t look great for the part I did before I figured it out, I just don’t have the patience to take it all out and do it over again. Sorry, Emily!

December 12 (later): I’ve reached saturation point on this project for today, so I’m putting it aside for a while to work on other gifts, but I’m determined to get this one done in time so Emily can get it for Christmas!

December 18: Finished! I would do this only for Emily but will never do this again!

December 25: Okay, so the gift has been opened and I can post details. First, the new technique I used was intarsia. Not something I plan to make a habit of (the bobbins were annoying) but I’m glad that now have the skill in my knitting arsenal. The technique that I discussed in the ____ above is the dreaded seaming, which is the bane of my knitting existence.

Pattern: Might Morphin' Power Rangers Intarsia by Alan Dart (out of print)
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish DK in Petal, White, Coal, Red, and Gray

Mom's Felted Bag

December 7: I made one of these bags a while back for my mother-in-law. She mentioned it to my mom during our summer vacation and my mom seemed interested, so I decided to make one for her for Christmas.

December 17: Finished and felted. I think it turned out great!



















Pattern: Angela's Fabulous Felted Bag by Angela Roberge
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Onyx and Deep Pine

Rolled Brim Hat (Take 2)

December 2: With the first half of this yarn, I made a rolled brim hat, but I was unhappy with the “nipple” at the top. So I decided to try again. I cast on 72 stitches and just knit and knit and knit until I felt that it was tall enough. Then I started decreasing (if I remember correctly, it was something like the following):
K10, K2tog
K all (2 rounds)
K9, K2tog
K all (2 rounds)
K8, K2tog
K all
K7, K2tog
K2, K2tog
K2, K2tog
K2tog
Pull yarn through remaining stitches.

I had to start doing the major decreasing in a hurry because I was almost out of yarn. I was a little worried about how it might turn out because of that, but I’m actually really pleased with how the top looks. Definitely a successful hat!

Yarn: Madil Yarns Pierrot Print

Groovy Slipper Socks

October 9: Although it’s DiC’s September Dream Club yarn, my LYS started it in October. The bulky definitely knits up quickly, but I had a problem when I was decreasing the gusset stitches. A voice in my head told me something was wrong, but I went ahead with the pattern. I should have listened to that voice. If you follow the pattern, the heel will be off center. You need to start the round (and thus start needle 1) at the center of the heel stitches, so knit half of the heel stitches and then start counting for needle 1. I had to frog back about half a dozen rounds to correct it.

October 28: Finally sat down and finished the first slipper sock.

November 16: I decided to make it my goal today to finish the second slipper sock, and I did. It actually didn’t seem to take as long as the first one--perhaps because this time I realized that the pattern had errors in it and so I didn’t have to go through the process of figuring that out.

Pattern: Groovy Slipper Socks by veronica van (Dream Club exclusive pattern)
Yarn: Dream in Color Groovy in Bayou

Cabled Nook Sleeve

November 2: Emily asked me to test this pattern to see if it fits my Nook. Finished two pattern repeats. I didn’t believe that it would fit because in unstretched form, it is tiny! But so far it does appear to fit. I did got up a needle size since I know that I knit more tightly than Emily, but in doing so it looks like my gauge is off (4 stitches per inch instead of the listed 5). But honestly, I don’t think it would fit at 5 stitches per inch. 

November 7: Almost finished. Just need to do crochet edging and add button. It’s a tight squeeze but it does fit around my Nook.

November 9: I still need a button, but I’m going to go ahead and call this done.

Updated with picture showing button:

Pattern: Cabled Kindle Sleeve by Emily Nimz
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Paris Night


For sale in my etsy shop: Nook Sleeve

Tamarind Cowl

October 24: I wanted a quick project to start and finish in one evening. Although this is an easy project, I didn’t think about how long it would take to do the increases and then knit around on twice as many stitches. So I’m just a little over halfway finished with it.

October 25: Arghhh! The tight bind off strikes again. And I was really trying to bind off loosely. I guess I should have used a larger needle. It’s so tight that it won’t stretch over my head. ~sigh~ I’ll probably take out the bind off and try again, but that’ll be a little later because I don’t have the patience for that right now.

Pattern: Tamarind Cowl by Kristen Hanley Cardozo (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Apple Tree


For sale in my etsy shop: Headwarmer

Brioche Cowl

July 19: Started during a class at my LYS. Definitely glad I took the class as this was difficult to begin (some of the terminology in the pattern is a bit confusing), but now that I’ve got the hang of it, it’s going more swiftly. I do need lots of concentration to do it, though.

September 18: Wow, I hadn’t worked on this in a while, so it took me a little while to figure out exactly what to do again. So I have one mistake that now would be really difficult to fix so I’ll have to leave it (a piece of the yellow crosses over the blue near one edge).

October 9: So, brioche is really neat but it takes forever just to get a little bit done. Instead of having this project just constantly hanging over me, I decided that it was currently the perfect length for a cowl. So I knit one row straight and bound off. Then I sewed the two ends together. Ta da! Reversible cowl!

Pattern: Reversible Brioche Scarf by Lori Law
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool in 9325 (blue) and Cascade Lana D'Oro Solids in 1105 (yellow)

Airy

September 11: My LYS is participating in the Dream Club this year. This hat and yarn is the September pattern. Before looking at the pattern, I thought it might be a little more complex than it actually is. But after viewing the pattern, it’s super easy but it looks really great and allows the yarn to really shine through. Some of the skeins of this yarn had a lot of orange/peach in it. I picked the skein that had very little of that so I could get more of the purples and red-purples. Love it.

October 6: Worked on this off and on (mostly off) since starting it, but I’m finally at the point where I can start decreasing for the top.

October 7: Finished!

Pattern: Airy by Veronica Van (pattern for Dream Club)
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Rose Smash (Dream Club offering)

Malabrigo Neck Thingie

September 25: I’m in the mood to make some cowls, so this is cowl #1 for the season.

September 26: And finished. Simple pattern but it looks really nice. And it’s Malabrigo soft!


Pattern: Malabrigo Neck Thingie by Anne Sahakian (free download on Ravelry)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Vaa


For sale in my etsy shop: Cowl

Argante

July 20: Am intrigued by the construction of knitting a shawl from side to side. So far so good and I like how it’s looking and really love how the yarn is feeling.

August 25: I’m almost to the halfway point. I keep thinking that I’ll go ahead and stop “now” but then I have more yarn in the first skein left and I think maybe a wider shawl to really be able to wrap around myself will be nice. I haven’t counted the number of repeats I’ve done so far but I seem to have quite a few stitches on the needle so I’m sure it’s been a lot.

August 30: And I’ve hit the halfway point (and beyond). I really have fallen in love with this sideways construction because I can just knit until I’m halfway through the yarn and then start the other half. It’s going to be wonderful for wanting to use up as much of the yarn as possible! I’ll be doing more of this type of construction (and more from this designer).

September 23: Finished! I ended up with a good chunk of yarn leftover so I guess I could have made it wider, but I’m happy to have some left rather than running out so I think that’s fine. And it turned out to be a really great width that I will easily be able to wrap around myself to keep warm. Although I got a bit bored of doing the edging pattern over and over and over, I did enjoy the sideways construction of the shawl and like that it is wide from tip to tip and narrowed from top to point.



Pattern: Argante by Corrina Ferguson
Yarn: JulieSpins 50/50 Merino Silk in Tea Rose

Hermione Hat

This is the hat that Hermione wore in the movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.



Here's mine:

August 13: I learned a new cast on for this hat - the Alternate Cable Cast-On. It wasn’t too difficult to get the hang of and after knitting just a few rounds, I can see the benefits of using this cast on. It provides a rather nice edge for the K1P1 ribbing. I’m glad that I tried it.

August 16: Finished! A perfect fit. Instead of doing the two full additional repeats, I did one full repeat and one half (I stopped just before beginning the eyelets) before starting the decreases. I’m glad that I did that because I think having 7 additional rounds on this would have made it just a tad too big.

Pattern: Hermione's Cable and Eyelet Hat by Jackie Lauseng
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Frost Gray

Roll Brim Hat

August 5: Since the yarn is so wild with color, I wanted a nice, simple pattern to go with it. The pattern works nicely, but I’m not super fond of the colors personally. Thus this hat is for sale in my etsy store: karendawn.etsy.com




Pattern: Easy Roll Brim Knit Hat (recipe) by Laurie Perry
Yarn: Madil Yarns Pierrot Print

Traveling Woman

July 9: Started during the River Knits Retreat.

July 11: Started Chart A. Somehow I was two stitches short. Decided to add stitches at the edges on next two rows (inside the 2 stitch border, not right at the edge) to make up for it. Looks okay.
July 16: Finished the two repeats of Chart A and got well into Chart B. On my second repeat of Chart A, I was once again two stitches short (I made sure to keep the pattern straight so increased in the two places that had 12 stitches rather than the needed 13 and I think it looks okay). I’m not sure what happened each time to lose those two stitches.
July 18: Finished! I knit it as written, with no extra repeats. I might have had enough yarn to do more but I didn’t want to risk it.

Pattern: Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante
Yarn: Handmaiden Casbah Sock in Stardust

For sale in my etsy shop.

MacDuff Hat

July 8: I saw this pattern and just immediately wanted to cast on for it.

July 12: And finished. Easy knit. Love the way the yarn colors came together even though it does hide the cables a little. This will be a great fall hat.

Pattern: MacDuff Hat by Corrina Ferguson
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Loro Barranquero

Half-a-Cardi

July 1: As the pattern is supposed to be for XS, I added 5 extra stitches to start and also went up a needle size. The yarn is very soft.

July 7: I wasn’t sure how much yarn I might have left and was worried about running out so I stopped the cardi a little shorter than I would have liked and knit the sleeves. I have a little leftover (need to measure) so probably could have done another couple of rows on the body.

Pattern: Half-a-Cardi by Patti Gonsalves
Yarn: Neota Designs Chinook in Indigo Nights (bought in Estes Park, CO)

Multnomah

June 28: Got about halfway through the garter stitch section.
July 6: Finished! A very simple pattern. Still need to block it and then I’ll post pictures.

Pattern: Multnomah by Kate Flagg
Yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Blue Metalmark

Available for sale in my etsy shop.

Cropped Cardigan

June 22: Doing a test knit found on the Free Pattern Testers board at Ravelry. Received pattern yesterday. Bought yarn today.

June 28: Finished. I ran into a couple of small problems along the way but the designer was quick to respond to questions and I was able to get back on track each time fairly soon. My gauge was just a tiny bit off which has caused the sleeves to be a bit snug, but we’ll see what happens once it has been blocked.

June 30: Blocking complete. Fits just right.

Pattern: Not yet available
Yarn: Cascade Sierra

Wool Peddler's Shawl

February 22: I needed a project to work on for a car trip tomorrow so I decided that this shawl would be an easy project to take with me.
April 8: Just 4 more rows to go in the garter stitch section.
May 12: Picked this one up again and finally started the lace section.
June 19: Finished! Right at the end, though, my needle slipped out of the last stitch as I was reaching for my scissors. And a couple of stitches unraveled, but I couldn’t figure out how the heck they were supposed to go back together so I did my best at fixing it, but I think it looks a bit off. But it’s not too terrible so it should be fine. The soysilk yarn was really interesting. I love the drape of the yarn (it doesn’t even seem at all like it needs blocking!) but doing things like weaving in ends made me feel like the yarn isn’t very secure because it slips around a lot and doesn’t have a lot of grip. So it makes for a beautiful shawl, but when I wash it, I’ll have to be extra careful, I think.

Pattern: Wool Peddler's Shawl by Cheryl Oberle (in Folk Shawls)
Yarn: South West Trading Company Oasis

Sold in my etsy shop.

Rainbow Socks

May 20: To help show off the stripes to the best advantage, I’m doing a very basic sock pattern. I started toe up (using Judy’s Magic Cast On) with 16 stitches. I increased to 72 stitches. Then when I finished with the toe, I started a 4x2 ribbing on the top of the foot. I think I’ll do a short row heel but I’ll decide for sure when I get there. Love the stripes so far.

May 21: Went with the short row heel (followed instructions from Wendy Johnson’s Toe Up Socks book). I think it turned out okay.

June 2: Finished Sock #1. Did a 1x1 rib on the cuff (in red) and used a sewn bind off.

June 13: Worked on Sock #2 over vacation. Just need to finish up the leg.

June 16: All done. I’m a bit upset with the second skein (and thus second sock). There were lots of splotches of dye especially in the yellow sections but really in all of them. So I have a rainbow spotted sock.

Pattern: none; just basic toe up socks
Yarn: KnitPicks Felici in Rainbow

Never Ending Vaa Scarf

March 4: Another Malabrigo March project. I wanted something super easy to work on while my literature class is taking a test this afternoon.



May 12: Super easy also means super boring. It looks nice but the process of knitting it brings out some yawns. I’m hoping to finish it this weekend during a conference I’m going to.

June 3: I seem to have misplaced this project. I hope I didn’t leave it in the hotel back at the conference. I’m truly mystified over what has happened to it.

June 11: I had found the scarf on top of the fridge right before we left on our trip so I shoved it into my suitcase. I forced myself to work on it on vacation and am happy to report that it is finished. This just might be the last scarf that I knit (unless it’s a lengthwise scarf like Just Enough Ruffles). I get so bored doing the same pattern again and again and again and it becomes a never ending project that I hate to work on. I’m just very glad this one is done.

Pattern: Fire to Earth: Brown Berries by iSel
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Vaa

For sale in my etsy store: karendawn.etsy.com

Just Enough Ruffles

June 6: Started while in Colorado on vacation.

June 9: Working a scarf longways like this is the way to go! This scarf seemed to fly off the needles compared to something like the Vaa Scarf I was also working on at the same time. Easy pattern and the scarf comes out very nicely. (Still needs to be blocked)





Pattern: Just Enough Ruffles by Laura Chau (available for purchase on Ravelry)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Polar Morn

Greta in Paris at Night

May 28: Finished first leg

June 1: And now finished with the entire cat. I tried to really focus on putting this one together so that all the parts would look “right”; I’m tired of making wonky toys. And I’m quite happy with how my Greta turned out.

Pattern: Greta the Captivating Cat by Rebecca Danger
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Paris Night

Small Funky Sock Monkey

May 19: I’ve been looking forward to knitting from this kit so I decided to go ahead and start. Beginning with the small monkey (which does seem pretty darn small!).

May 20: Hmm…am disappointed with my monkey so far. The lips just aren’t very poofy and the small monkey is very small. Perhaps the larger version will go better, but I’m just not sure why my monkey’s face doesn’t look like the one in the pictures. Did finish the main body yesterday; just the arms and ears (and eyes) to go.

May 20 (later): Finished all the knitting and minimal seaming. Just need to get something for the eyes. Taking the piece of yarn and tying off the neck (making it seem separate from the body) seems to have helped quite a bit, but I still am not completely happy with how this monkey turned out. Here’s hoping the large size goes better.

May 27: Sewed on eyes. I’m just feeling meh about this project.

Pattern: Funky Sock Monkey (small) by cockeyed the sockateer
Yarn: Blue Moon Socks That Rock in Purple Rain and Rhodonoite