Photos and Stash Projects

Whew! I finally got around to taking pictures of finished projects. As far as I can tell, my closet has yet to thank me for using up some of my yarn stash, as I've only used a little of it and have somehow managed to accumulate other yarns in the process. Thus is, apparently, the nature of a knitter's stash.

Starting with the kid stuff:





These were gifts for the children of one of my mother's co-workers, who lost her husband before Christmas. Of course, I had vague intentions of finishing these things before Christmas, but there was really no way for that to happen. So I finally got them out to their recipients this week, and I'm told the reception was good, which makes me happy. I love knitting for myself, but I also love knitting for other people. There's something about having the ability, when faced with a crisis or occasion that you've hitherto had no appropriate response for, to come up with a project or projects that will show that you're thinking of the people affected by the event.

And now the stash stuff:





The hat is a tri-color version of the "Carrot Top" hat in Knit Hats! I'm not sure if it's supposed to be as long as it turned out, but it fits and looks decent, so I'm not complaining! I made it with leftover yarn from my previous sweater project, and the blue is from a felted purse I made over the summer.

I still had more red and black, so I made the gloves. For some reason, I'm in love with fingerless gloves. Maybe it's a style thing, or maybe I'm just a little too obsessed with the "dangerous" look of them. These have slightly longer fingers than the other ones I made, because my hands kept nearly freezing to the pump when I was wearing the other ones while gassing up my car. Thus, these are the "gas pump gloves".

Of course, in true stash fashion, I ran out of black wool while making the other glove and had to finish in a black acrylic of a comparable shade. Fortunately, it's hard to see unless you're looking for it. So, despite that fact, and the fact that I made a wee bit of a row counting error and the two gloves are slightly different lengths, I'm happy with them.

I still have small balls of blue and red wool left. Perhaps I'll make some blue and red socks? I'm not sure. For now, I'm working on a baby blanket, which I hope to post some pictures of this weekend. I'm not sure I entirely understand what I've gotten myself into with this one, but it's for a good cause and will also use up an appreciable amount of my stash.

(If you're wondering why the size of my posts suddenly grew, I've been reading books about knitting. I finished the first KnitLit a couple of days ago and just started The Yarn Harlot yesterday, so now I'm inspired to write more about my own knitting, even if I'm the only one who ever ends up reading it!)

Finished Sweater!

The infamous Boyfriend Sweater from Hip to Knit is finished! Since I made it for me, I've affectionately dubbed it the "Without-a-Boyfriend Sweater".


Me, wearing le sweater and looking rather silly. I never know how to smile when I'm taking my own picture.

I finished this on Feb. 25th, and have since knit two toddler-sized hats for the kids of one of my mother's co-workers. I also knit a toddler-sized jacket a short while ago that needs to have a zipper put in, and I'll post a picture of the lot when I'm done.

Currently, before I dive into another sweater project, I'm working on making hats from the various yarns in my stash. First I'm making a couple from the book Knit Hats!, then I'm not sure if I'll keep with hats or do some gloves instead.

I'm pretty sure that my next sweater project will be the Tubey, though by the time I finish it, it probably won't be sweater weather any more. Right now it's about 42°F outside, blue skies, with the sun shining and trying very hard to make it even more springlike. So for now I'll keep knitting away at my "stash hats" and wait for the spring issue of Knitty to give me even more projects to add to my list!

Mood: content
Music: Michael Nesmith - Capsule

The Sock Saga

I made my first pair of socks! Granted, I made a silly mistake with the position of the decreases on one of them, but they came out pretty good, and I'm proud of them.

Weird thing is, I never really thought about knitting socks, because I rarely wear them. In the summer, I don't wear them at all, and for the winter I keep one pair around to wear inside my boots. But I took a break from my current sweater project to knit these because I needed them pretty badly, seeing as the right sock in my storebought pair had evolved a gigantic hole in the back part just above the heel.

The pictures:


Sock in progress


Finished socks!

It took me about a week of knitting to finish them. I love the yarn; it's Simple Stripes from KnitPicks, in "Storm". And the pattern came from this really neat thing I found while poking around Google for sock patterns. It's called the Sockulator, and if you put in your foot measurements and yarn gauge, it generates an easy-to-follow sock pattern. I love it, and I'm finding myself wanting to knit more socks, though I can't imagine what I'd do with them!

Now, though, it's back to the sweater, which I'm getting really close to finishing! I have about two and a half inches left on the second sleeve, then I'll be ready to put the thing together and wear it, so hopefully the next entry here will have pictures of that finished!

Then it's on to...hmm, either the Naked sweater, or Tubey. I haven't decided yet.

mood: tired

Knitter's Wishlist

I realized the other day that, even if I had four arms to knit with, I'd never run out of things to knit.

I have this thing for sweaters. Scarves and such are all right, and good to knit if you don't want to have to pay much attention, but sweaters are really my bag. I like making something semi-complicated that someone will be able to wear when it's done. I like browsing for yarn and thinking how comfortable the sweater is going to be when it's done.

Which is basically how I've gotten myself a list of sweaters to knit. It started with the one I'm currently working on (see the picture in the previous entry), and branched out from there.

Thanks to Al, I'm a rabid browser of Knitty. It's a great online knitting magazine with an issue for every season, and when the Winter '05 issue came out, Tubey caught my eye. I've never seen a sweater knit that way before, and I think it'll be a challenge. Plus the color possibilities, especially if I use Wool of the Andes, are practically limitless.

Also thanks to Al, I've started browsing knitting books whenever I'm at Borders. I found a great one called Vintage Knits a couple of months ago, and some of the sweaters in it are gorgeous and look very comfortable. Plus, there's a cardigan in it that looks like something Remus Lupin (of Harry Potter fame) would wear, and, rabid fangirl that I am, I'd love to make it.

Then KnitPicks sent me a catalogue, because I've started buying their yarn, and I found this pattern. I've wanted to do something with a lot of cables for a while now and, though I have a book of fishermen's sweaters, this seems like a better place to start. It doesn't have quite as many cables as the fisherman's sweater I've been eyeing, plus it looks extremely comfortable and fun to knit.

And last, but certainly not least, there's this:


(thanks to Mandy of Thewlis Rox for the screencap)

It's a screencap of David Thewlis as Johnny in Mike Leigh's Naked, which I've been rather obsessed with for about a year and a half despite never having seen it.

Ever since I started knitting seriously, I've developed the habit of looking carefully at knitted items that I find interesting, be they in films or real life. It took me a while to notice how neat this sweater is, because in most of the screencaps I've come across, he's wearing a coat that hides most of it. But I finally got a good look at it a few days ago and have been messing around with the demo of KnitWare Sweaters to try and generate a pattern for it.

I figure all of this will keep me busy well into the spring, at least. Plus there were a couple, smaller things that I was thinking of doing, like a fair isle hat and glove set to use the alpaca yarn I bought back in October. For now I'll focus on the sweaters and hopefully get them all done!

Mood: creative
Music: Heather Alexander - Last Mourner

Sweaters and such

Yesterday I used some scrap yarn to experiment with felted joins, which Al was telling me about on Monday night. I like them (less waste of yarn, yay!), but I'm not sure I trust my skill with them enough to use them on my current project. I'll definitely use them in the future, though.

I finished the back of my sweater yesterday morning and started one of the sleeves:



It's from a pattern in Hip to Knit called "The Boyfriend Sweater", but since I don't have a boyfriend at the moment, I'm knitting it for myself. It's promising to be very comfy when finished. I'll try to post more pictures of it as I go along!

Mood: frantic

Greetings, fellow knitters!

Hello to everyone out there in Yarn Ho land! This is my *cough* third blog, but, unlike the other two, this one's just for knitting!

Since this is my first post, I'll introduce myself. Pretty much everyone calls me Sam, so that might as well be my name. I've been knitting since late 2004, and have beeing making things almost nonstop ever since. I would try to make a list of finished projects, but I'm not sure I can remember them all.

I love making sweaters, both simple and decorative. I've experimented with intarsia and liked it. I love cables and want to make a fisherman's sweater someday soon. I haven't tried fair isle yet, but I have a bunch of alpaca yarn in my stash that's waiting to be made into something of that nature.

I belong to a local knitting group called Stitch 'n' Bitch of Average Park, along with my best friend, Al, who also has a knitting blog called Teh Knitting Wench. (Links for both are in the sidebar!)

Photos of several past finished projects can be found on my deviantArt account. In the future, I'll be posting pictures of both works-in-progress and finished projects right here on this blog.

And now, to round out the entry, and because I like them, a quiz!


You are interchangeable.
Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every
eventuality covered and every opportunity just
has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and
every day is a new beginning. You are good at
so many things, it's amazing, but you can
easily lose your place and forget to show up.
They have row counters for people like you!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Music: 8 Stops 7 - Question Everything
Mood: RP-ing