It's been awhile

So this blog has been ignored for quite some time. Part of the problem is that I really haven't been knitting that much this summer. The only knitting that I have really done this summer is dish towels for my brother and now a bath mat from Mason Dixon knitting for Brigid-Ann. Brigid-Ann's new home proved somewhat of a difficult knitting challenge for me. She and Matt don't use cloth towels because they prefers paper towels. They have a formal dinning area so knitted place mats didn't seem like a good idea. I chose the bath mat because I have had the yarn and the needles to make this thing forever and I finally had what seemed like the perfect person for it. The reason I was pulled to this specific bath mat is that it uses a log cabin technique where you bind off stitches and then pick new ones up on the other side. This is a take on a quilting technique of the same name. I had some issues with figuring out how many stitches to pick up on each side and I had to frog quite a bit of it. Take a look at the picture - very fun and very easy (once you figure out the picking up thing). You can see I start with a center block and then the strips get added as you go. This is why none of the strips are the same size.

So Many Cables

I'm done! I'm done! I don't have to cable again unless I forget how endless this was and try something new. As you can see, we're now at the blocking stage of the endless cables. This is really a great simple pattern though. It's from Annelie Wallbom (Reversible Multi-Cable Scarf, 2006) who teaches at my local knitting store in Bellevue, WA, Hilltop Yarns East. It duplicates the cables on both sides making a lovely and thicker scarf (about 6" wide and 72" long). I used three balls of Classic Elite Princess which is a yarn I will definitely do again. I originally bought the pattern and yarn because I thought it would be something super portable to take with me to Hawaii in January. As you can see, it's now June and we're finally finishing. It's for Phoebe for Christmas and (although the color doesn't come across great here) is a lovely bright blue that I think will look great on her.

Fingless Gloves and Ravelry.com

Well, it's been some time, but I have actually finished a few projects. Just haven't taken any pics, so I'm going to address this one at a time most likely. I'm really excited to share these fingerless gloves as they're utterly ridiculous and I love them, and the Yarn I used. They're from a Blue Sky pattern that I picked out at Hilltop Yarn East, but rather than breaking the bank on Blue Sky yarn, I went with Rowan Classic Yarn in a 4 ply. This did make for smaller needles as I knit these on US 3 double pointed. It was a really fun project and perfect for my trip to Hawaii in January as it was small and portable. And the 6 row repeat in the pattern made it easy to keep in my head. I also nixed the stitch marker as it was pretty easy to keep track of the rows by following the tail from the cast on.

I also wanted to tell you about Ravelry.com which I recently joined. It's an interesting site and I've yet to explore all of it, but basically a knitting social networking site with groups and forums for different intersts and a great way to catalogue and link your projects and stash yarn. Check it out if you get a moment.

Double Knitting for Carrie

Merry Christmas! I am loving my double knitted headband SO much that I got to thinking about Carrie's request so I took a look at my favorite knitting site to see what it had to say. I am going to digress a bit - this is one of my favorites for a few reasons. It has videos for both Continental and English style knitting for just about everything and the glossary lists descriptions and videos for those one-off stitches that you don't usually use. So next time you get P2tog tbl you can go to this site and view a nice little video to see what it actually looks like.

Now back to the matter at hand. The reason I even mention this lovely website is that it has a section called Advanced Techniques that has videos on how to do a myriad of things such as how to turn a heel of a sock and (drum roll) double knitting! The section is towards the bottom. Carrie, enjoy! If you get the general idea on how to do double knitting the pattern is simple and I am happy to share. Just let me know.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques

Hot Booties - Welcome Amanda Elizabeth Lewis!

I had to share these because the are so cute and little and so super easy to knit (seriously - about 2 hour max including stitching them up). It's baby Amanda's Birthday today. What a cutie!

To Do: Finish Outstanding Projects

Well I am happy to say that the Louis Harding sweater is done. I bought the beads today and sewed them on this evening. After Christy's inspiring post I have decided that I MUST finish my outstanding projects. So let's be honest this how how the conversation has gone: I will not start anything until everything has been completed (headband, finish the socks, domino knitting style wristlets). I will not start another sweater until everything is done (minus the second sock). I will not start another sweater until the headband is done - I mean I can't wait until I finish the socks because those are always on the needles and I am only feeling so so about the wristlets. You see how the logic goes...who am I kidding there is really no logic.

Speaking of the headband this is something fun I started that uses a double knitting technique. If you watch Knitty Gritty I think that at some point there was an episode on this but it basically is knitting 2 things at once but the pieces are seamed together so both sides are the right side. The two colors are also reversed so, for example, on one side the main color is the pink and the brown pops and on the other side the opposite. Another benefit is that it is twice as thick which, let's be honest, is probably more practical in Minnesota's 8 degree weather than my Louis Harding "sweater" :)

Ribbit it Real Good

"Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over." F Scott Fitzgerald

This quote perfectly fits the project I have been working on (it was also the quote on my stitch and bitch daily calendar). The project I am referring to is the Louisa Harding sweater that I started at the end of September. The sleeves have proved particularly challenging. The pattern is called twisted rib and it twisted my mind. I redid this sleeve at least 4 times. Luckily for me the second sleeve is going better! The offending sleeve is on the left. The better news is that I should be done in time to wear this for Christmas. All I have to do is finish the 2nd sleeve and then stitch the whole thing together.