Eggy Piggy

I started a new cute little project yesterday morning.
My boyfriend found Creature Crochet by Kristen Rask at one of our local used bookstores: the whole kit with all the original pieces and book for $6. He bought it for me because there's an adorable ensemble of Alley Cats that he knew I would want. There's even a pattern for the garbage cans they hang out in! The Ravelry link is here if you want to see all 12 of the cute animal patterns.

The one I chose to crochet first is the "Eggy Pig." I admit that the name had a lot to do with me wanting to make this project. "Eggy Pig" is like the cutest name ever.

And here he is, my fat little Eggy Piggy:

I know, I know, he's very cute.
But he's technically incomplete: The pattern instructs me to crochet two little piggy arms and two little piggy feet and then sew them all on. However, I hate sewing things up. It's possibly enough to make me decide not to give him legs at all. After all, like this he's far more aerodynamic. Which is important in a pig!

What do you think? Legs, or no legs?

Sugarbunny

When Knitpicks came out with their inexpensive, limited edition, angora-blend yarn Sugarbunny, I enthusiastically bought 2 skeins and worked up a cute little pair of wristwarmers with them.
They were snuggly. They were soft. They were so warm.
I gave them to my sister for Christmas- this was in 2011.

Well as it turned out, I had some leftovers from that pair of wristwarmers. Just enough, thought I, to cast on a new pair. So I did. In October of this year. But after knitting half of the first one I got that nagging feeling. "You are going to run out," the feeling said. After every row I would look at my dwindling ball of yarn and think, "There's no way you're going to make it."
So I put it aside.
I didn't frog it, and I didn't forget about it. It just sat there on my dresser and looked at me for months. Months, it sat and stared.

Last night I picked it up and finished the first wristwarmer. It didn't take long- maybe 20 minutes. I didn't sew it together because I knew I was likely to run out of yarn. I cast on the second and I knit. And the niggling feeling got worse and worse but I ignored it for no reason other than, I didn't feel like having this stupid thing staring at me anymore. If I ran out I would frog it and if I didn't run out then the pair would be DONE.

I love that you can see that my gauge changed over the last few months. The first one I made was much looser. The pair is kind of uneven, but very soft and warm. The project is done, I had only a few yards leftover, and now I have a birthday gift for my aunt. Her health is fragile and so the large mitts will be perfect for her- she no longer has the hand eye coordination necessary to put on gloves with fingers and these will be easy for her to slip on and off.

I feel so glad that one of my WIPS is now completed. Well, this one was more of a UFO actually. With two finished objects under my belt for February I feel like I can get back to work on my huge gigantic project- the sweater.


PS. Today I'm removing the "prove you're not a robot" again. I hate that thing.

This year...

I'm going to be ahead of the game come Christmas.

Pattern: Simple Ribbed Handwarmers
Yarn: Jo-Ann Sensations Bamboo & Ewe Patterns
Needles: US size 1 (2.25mm)

This was the perfect knitting pattern to keep in my purse. I seriously reccomend it for those of you who only get a few random bursts of knitting time like me. I normally hate ribbing, but since it was just a travel project I was done before I knew it.

The resulting wristees are very cozy and very wearable. I like that you can fold up the bottom half for extra warmth around the wrist.

I am working on my second Christmas present (the sweater for my neice) but it is proving to take a lot longer because... well, honestly I think I messed up. It's an easy fix if I did; I would just have to add length. But I want to finish the sleeves first to see if it's necessary and part of me KNOWS it is necessary and so I'm choosing to avoid the inevitible by not finishing the sleeves. What's sad is that I know this, and yet I still REALLY want to cast on something new and pretend the Christmas sweater doesn't exist.

I have been well, for those wondering- I realize I haven't gotten a lot of blogging time on here...But I do have some wonderful books to share! A new used bookstore came into town and I bought all their knitting-related goodies. My knitting bookshelf is getting pretty full at this time, but I know I'll be taking some time every few weeks to peruse their shelves for new additions. After I take some time to really read and review my new/used books (the best kind because they're rarely more than $5) I'll come along and tell you all about them.

Happy knitting!

Almost a whole year went by!

Remember when Blogger first started with this stupid word verification thing?
I absolutely hate it and I'll be honest to all of you with it enabled: it lowers my probability of commenting on your blog. By a lot. Especially when I make a comment, and then have to type in gibberish 3 times before getting it right. By then I usually just give up.

But it IS there for a reason: to deflect spammers. And for almost a whole year I had no issue at all. But recently the spammers have gotten through. Blogger caught most of them, but I'm going to re-enable it for a little while. Probably like a week or so.

Sorry. I still hate it, but this will make me feel like I'm doing something about all these stupid fake comments.

Let's get something straight here...

I'm not crazy.
When I said I needed 40 gifts, I meant 40 GIFTS, not 40 knitted gifts. All in all I'll probably only make about 5 or 6 presents. Especially since sweaters are my favorite type of project, and this year I finally learned that no matter how much I want to give somebody a hand-knit scarf or afghan it's just not going to happen because I think they're incredibly boring to knit.

Speaking of sweaters, I've just finished the 3rd skein of my niece's sweater. I'm about ready to start the ribbing and then get to work on the sleeves.

A lot less portable now, but it's a very satisfying knit. I might have to take a few extra notes and make myself one with waist shaping. (I didn't do any for my niece because it's a surprise and I'd hate to give her a sweater with waist shaping much too high or too low for her body.)








Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you all knew that there's no way I'm going to knit 40 things for the people I love. Even if I love them very very much.

Meanwhile...

I'm working on Christmas.
That's right. Christmas. I have purchased 3 gifts, and I'm in the process of knitting 2 more. I worked out my list of people I want to have gifts for by December and it added up to 40 people. I figured if I could get 3 presents out of the way every month then I will be good to go. (Just so long as I don't end up giving said presents early, like I did last year.)
So what am I knitting this month?

Notice how I snuck my sweater in again?
I think I wear it every single day.

Fingerless gloves for my sister- she has rheumatoid arthritis and I've knitted her a pair of wrist-warmers for the last 2 years. Why break the tradition with so many lovely shades of pink to choose for her? This year the yarn (a self-striping wool blend) was a delightful surprise. It was a gift from my boyfriend, in return for knitting him a little bag (.... which I didn't actually knit yet.) and it's JoAnn Sensations Bamboo Ewe. The colorway makes me really happy, and I think after I finish these Simple Ribbed Handwarmers (The best free pattern for when you've started a sock and realized your yarn isn't superwash!) I might have to get a few more balls to make myself something too. But realistically I have so much yarn I should probably make some room first.

So I have one glove down, and the start of the second in my purse. It's just perfect for portability so I work on it on my lunch break, but 2 by 2 rib is so boring to knit! So I have a little side project at home next to the couch:

Knitted in Lion Brand Wool Ease on US 4 needles, this sweater is just being made up as I go. It's for one of my nieces, who is thankfully around the same size as I am. This is just a simple stockinette sweater with two ten-stitch cables running down the front together. It's perfect for unwinding after a long, stressful day at work. After adding the long sleeves I'm planning on adding a cowl or shawl collar. Definitely some kind of fun collar! But my dumb niece has a birthday coming up in February and I'm not entirely positive I can keep this one secret if it's done by then. It's supposed to be next year's Christmas gift but I'm AWFUL about keeping presents from their recipients. But Christmas has continued to be a failure from my end because I just can't get everyone a gift in the last 3 months. So hopefully I can hide it in the trunk of my car or something and forget about it entirely.

So that's what I'm up to- that and working a whole lot.
Do you feel like you have to get a head-start on next Christmas?

FO Friday: Fair Isle Yoke Cardigan

Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool, MC "Natural Mix"
4 contrasting colors are:
1) Taupe
2) Black
3) Grey Mix
4) Dark Gray Mix

Pattern: Fair Isle Yoke Cardigan by Elizabeth Zimmerman
My gauge was off by one stitch so I had a different cast on number, but I used the exact same charts. If I was a really particular and clever knitter, I would have gone through the trouble of centering the charts. But I'm not, and I didn't.

Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)

Gauge: 21 st/4" (I didn't bother to check my row gauge)

I steeked this the same as the last 3 sweaters I've steeked: using this video from knitpicks.

When I picked up the stitches for the buttonband I tried to make up for my hastily sewn steek by picking up a few extra stitches at the bottom left corner and in the end just made a wobbly mess. To detract from that I decided pockets would do the trick. Invisible pockets would be more functional but since I was trying to pull the eye away from the bottom button band I went with simple patch pockets.

They ended up being just what I wanted.




The buttons were from Joanns: I long for the day where I have a button stash but until then I'm just going to have to run to the shop every time I knit a sweater, carrying the finished garment over my arm and putting buttons up it and muttering to myself, "Ugh that's ugly," "Oh no that clashes way too much," and "Why don't any of these buttons have shanks?" And the like.

I wore this sweater all day yesterday, from the moment I weaved in the ends to the minute I went to bed. I took it off only long enough to sew on the pockets! All in all, I love my new cardigan. It has imperfections, of course, but it is very warm and very cozy and very wearable.

I got my tiger to model it for you guys.

That's it, I guess
I'm linking up with Tamis Amis today.
Happy Friday.