Author: kountingsheep

I finished my first pair of mittens for the year, and I’m happy to be able to share these now that they have been given to the intended Totoro-loving recipient. I just couldn’t wait until Christmas, so I decided they would be a great birthday gift instead, even if she can’t use them for the next six months.

I’m very pleased with how these turned out, especially since the patterning had long floats (not quite a traditional fair isle pattern), and I did manage to do patterning on the thumb. The Knit Picks Palette yarn was a great choice for these, and I’m liking how the yarn is knitting up for other mittens I’m working on, too (and it’s the yarn used in my Diatom Shawl, so very versatile).

This makes my fourth circular shawl to knit. I love how fast they start out and progress, but I always forget that the bigger it gets and the further from the center it gets, the more stitches I have on my needles, thus the slower it knits.

This particular shawl I started on my birthday back in March, thinking I would have it finished by Easter (which did not happen, so I ended up wearing a different shawl). I’ve been craving another white lace item to wear since the wedding, so I was happy to already have this kit in my stash waiting to be knit. The center and main body of the pattern emerged quickly (as seen in this photo), but now that I’m about 40 rows from the end, it’s taking a long time. The end will have gradient colors out to a dark grey, so I’m excited to see the finished piece with this fun color addition at the end.

I’m looking forward to finishing this soon (hopefully this month) so I’ll have a nice shawl to wear in the great cold indoors over summer dresses.

I started out the beginning of the year wanting to make this one of knitting mittens. It’s now more than halfway through April, and I’m just starting the first pair. However, I have plans to knit mittens through the summer, since they are small projects and won’t be hot to actually knit. Plus they will be ready to wear when it does get cold outside. I won’t be able to show much of the actual mittens I’m making, since most of these will be Christmas gifts for various family and friends this year. But here’s a sneak peek of the ones currently on the needles:

As I mentioned previously in this post, I’ve come to realize Fair Isle actually isn’t my favorite to knit, but I love the finished product so much that I can’t resist. Sometimes doing something hard or that you don’t like to do can be really rewarding. I think I enjoy Fair Isle mittens because they are small and knit up pretty quickly, even if I dread having to do that fiddly colorwork on the thumbs (which usually I cheat and just do one color, but I’m determined to stick to pattern and do colorwork thumbs for these next batches of mittens).

No, sadly, these stockings do not hang in my house, but they are hanging in someone else’s house–a family who is very fond of their new handknit Christmas stockings. And even though I didn’t get to keep these, it didn’t make me any less satisfied with the finished product. In fact, this is probably one of the hardest projects I’ve done, partially because I had to do the same pattern 4 times, and a very hard pattern at that, and I think that made finishing them all the more rewarding.

I’ve come to realize something about myself: I absolutely love fair isle and colorwork designs, but when I’m in the midst of knitting them, I tend to not be so fond of it. This is definitely one instance when I am merely a product knitter and not a process knitter. However, I love the finished product too much to give up on colorwork, but it’s helpful to know that I may just always hate the process.

I think the design element that makes these stockings even more charming than all that wonderful argyle and snowflakes are the crocheted initial patches. The recipient’s names were too long to embroider on, so I came up with this alternative. Luckily I was thumbing through a crochet dictionary I rarely look at; as soon as I saw the pattern for these letters, I knew that I had to do that for these stockings. I’m just thrilled with the results.

4 months of knitting is definitely worth it to create a lifetime of family tradition. I would definitely make this pattern again. In a few years (wink wink).

Visit my shop to see what I currently have for sale to stuff your stockings this holiday season.

For more details about the making of these stockings, visit my Ravelry project page here.

Do you remember this blanket the Yarn Harlot made awhile back as a group project? It’s always been one of those projects I kept stored away in the “inspiration” part of my brain (aka, the blanket was made in the days before Pinterest; otherwise, it would have been tidily pinned to my virtual board). When a good friend of mine found out she was having a sweet little girl, I knew that it was time to try to recreate this blanket.

After digging through my stash and coming up with an assortment of pink yarns, I knew I had just enough of the right shades to make this blanket work. I studied the picture, looked at several different patterns that were similar, and then with a “what the heck” cast-on and started knitting.

I can’t tell you how deliriously happy I am that the blanket I made came out as a nice little copy cat of that original blanket. I ended up using bits and pieces from a couple of patterns and then just my own knitting know-how to fill in the rest.

Just looking at these pictures again makes me want to knit more. I enjoyed this project immensely, especially knowing it would wrap up a precious little girl. I think it’s time to start making another one, because there never seems to be a shortage of new babies being born around me, and that’s always a good excuse to knit more blankets.

Finally making some visible progress on the stocking. I completed the argyle section and it was a success. I just love the mix of stripes and argyle on this, and can’t wait to see what the snowflake section will look like knitted up.

I think the colorwork knitting will be a bit easier for the next stocking, but I’m pleased with how it’s coming out so far. I foresee a lot of argyle in my future, first with this series of stockings and then eventually at some point with regular socks. My guy is fond of argyle socks, so that makes my knitter heart happy (and, well, he makes my whole heart happy!).

I know it’s August now, but I want to talk a little bit about July projects.

 

At the end of July I started the first Christmas stocking in a series of four that I’m making for a cute little family of four just in time for this Christmas. I’ve picked four colors: red, green, blue, creme, and the stockings will all be a bit varied as far as color placement.

I’m just now starting the argyle section of the first stocking. It’ll be my first time doing an argyle pattern, but I plan to modify it a bit so it’ll be easier to make, mainly, use two colors instead of three. I can’t wait to see how this traditional, yet quirky pattern works up, and I’m delighted that my efforts will hopefully become a cherished family tradition and heirloom.