Month: January 2008

The Unicorn.
I posted earlier about my first “hank” of wool that I purchased at my LYS: Cascade 220 in fuchsia. I was so excited about buying this first “hank” and went on to explain the project I was going to use it for: a knitted unicorn from Dream Toys by Claire Garland. Well, my uncle read my blog and thought that I had named the unicorn “Hank” since I kept talking about my hank of yarn. I thought it was so funny that the name stuck and Hank the unicorn was born.

In anticipation for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I cast on Hank with my first hank of wool and worked off my excitement by making a unicorn. I thought it was an appropriate project for working on while waiting for a Harry Potter book. Of course, I stopped working on him when I got the book, which I proceeded to read in 13 hours straight all night long. (Since I wasn’t interested in Harry Potter when the other books were released, I figured I would do the “stay up all night and read” thing for the last one.) I finished Hank a couple of days later and he has added such personality to my room.
As soon as I put the last strand of yarn in his mane, he took on such a big personality, it’s hard to keep his unicornian excitement under control (I know “unicornian” isn’t a word, but it sounds cool. I’m a creative writing major, so I can make up words.) He gallops around the bed like he owns the place and keeps me up at night showing-off to the yarn stash in the corner of my room, taunting the hanks of wool that have since joined my stash that he is finished and they are still, well, hanks of yarn.

Ah well, unicorns will be unicorns.

I’m happy.

All the problems have been solved and I will be graduating on time in May. Four months and the Bachelor’s degree is finished!

I think I deserve some reward yarn, don’t you?

This post will be all about the items I’ve made recently for other people. I love making stuff for other people, and lately, I’ve had co-workers and classmates asking me to make them things more frequently than ever.

First, here are some things I made my secret knitting pal during the exchange that I couldn’t post about. I sent her three packages and I made three things. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the first thing I made, which happened to also be my first lace knitting project. The finished piece was a triangle neck scarf with diamond lace detail on the edges and a cute button closure, made in blue. The second thing I made her was a set of colorful striped mittens out of Patons Classic Merino Wool. Her last package contained an Unorginal Hat in Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick Cranberry (pattern by the Yarn Harlot can be found on her blog).

I also crocheted her a birthday cake for her birthday in January.
Next, I made a set of Dashing gloves for a friend of mine in my poetry class. We’ve been in classes together twice now, and we will be in the same class this coming semester, so I was thrilled to get to make him something. I used Patons Shetland Chunky in Hunter Green.
Here is a scarf I knit for a co-worker. She found out that I started teaching classes and asked me to make her a warm scarf that she could wear. She purchased some soft Bernat Berella yarn in cream, so I decided to stick with a simple pattern that would use up as much of the yarn as possible. I went with a simple “Mistake Rib” pattern and loved how it turned out.

(Mistake Rib: Cast on multiple of 4 stitches plus 3 [*K2, p2; repeat from * end K2, p1.] Repeat this row every row until you run out of yarn. Great rib that has a complicated look without being complicated)
I have other finished gifts that haven’t been given to the recipients yet, so I can’t post about them yet. Let’s just say that my friend and my cousin are having babies soon, so cute baby stuff is being made right now.

In the ever increasing dictionary of knitting/crocheting abbreviations, I finally figured out that “FO” means “finished object,” as in reference to items that said knitter/crocheter has finished to the point that it can be called complete. (Ever read one of those blogs where everything is abbreviated? It’s like deciphering a sweater pattern.)

In the spirit of the New Year, I will be like other such bloggers who are writing about their past year’s FOs, UFOs (unfinished object, the opposite of finished object), and resolutions to turn UFOs into FOs. ET is phoning home, the mothership is circling, and I have so many pictures to post that I’m starting to forget things. Here is a parade of some of the blankets I finished at the end of this year. I think my total blanket count for last year was 13. Thirteen! And that doesn’t include the fact that I have six other blankets in progress and at least three more planned for this coming year. I’m telling you, blankets are my favorite things and I can’t get enough of them (let’s not discuss how many afghan books/patterns I own).

I also noticed that I name most of my blankets. It’s easier to keep track of them that way. Excuse the weirdness.The first blanket pictured is The Green Ripple, my own variation of the Soft Waves pattern. I’ve had previous posts about this blanket and now it’s finally finished. This blanket was donated to Project Linus and is hopefully comforting a child right now.The second blanket pictured is The Sherbet Square, a baby blanket for a baby boy. Someone at work paid me to make this blanket for her new nephew. I think it only took me two days to make this blanket.The third blanket pictured is The Pink Granny. This blanket was a baby present for someone I work with who was having a baby girl named Macie. It took me two days to make this blanket.


The last blanket pictured is The Blue Mint Ripple. A gal from my poetry class last semester saw me crocheting before class one day and asked me if I would make her one if she paid me. I said yes immediately. When she told me to make it in “turquoise” and black, I was a bit concerned about the color choice. But once I bought the yarn (Caron Simply Soft Brites in “Blue Mint”) I warmed up to the color combo and fell in love with it. The finished blanket ended up being extremely long because the recipient was 6’1″ She was so thrilled to receive this blanket and thought it was perfect. No greater satisfaction can be found than when someone loves what you make.

Well, that’s it for now of Blanket FOs. More to come.