Thursday, December 22, 2005

done done done

Knitting small projects for gifts. I'm on a hat jag. I could easily move to a scarf jag. Maybe even a neckwarmer jag. Winter is long.

jester1
The Jester Hat
pattern: by Elizabet Morrison, I added some circumference to accomodate an especially large dreadlocked head
yarn: Malabrigo and Araucania held together throughout
needle: size 9us dpn
notes: when will I learn restraint with variegated yarn? It'll work for this artsy musician nephew but I invariably feelit looked better on the skein than on the object.
what I learned: aside form the variegated thing? My first i-cord! And my first knitted ball. Good cheap entertainment.jester2

tube1
The Layered Tube Scarf

pattern: fromAlterKnits by Leigh Radford
yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze(mmmm)
needles: size 7us circular
notes: when in doubt,or feeling frazzled, knit a tube of Kidsilk Haze . I tacked the silk to the knitting by sewing on a couple of freshwater pearls, so the inner layer didn't escape the tube.
what I learned: An alternative bind off, using a darning needle. The knitting was a cinch. Finding silk by the yard? Not so much. The local fabric store had "silk like" fabric and I just couldn't see that happening next to the KidSilk. Upon further self examination, I wasn't up for hand hemming 60" of silk either. tube2 I found these wonderful people at Thai Silks who sent me gorgeous colored silk chiffon scarves. I wasn't sure what color was best and at $3. a piece - uh huh, thats really $3. each- I bought three to choose from. Someone else had already hemmed them. Now I have an orange and a light green silk scarf to tubify at my leisure.

shrug
Ribbed Shoulder Shrug

pattern: modified from Staff Shrugs IK summer 2005
yarn: Frog Tree merino, worsted weight. You know how people say something's buttery? This is. It really is. Its a non profit womens cooperative in Peru that makes it, so go buy some. The color work is Brown Sheep Lambs Pride
needles: size 10 us
notes: I changed the pattern by lengthening the sleeves (the pattern came to just into the elbow), adding the colorwork, and increasing the width of the part that goes across the back, a little more coverage is good in the winter. My niece was openly coveting a shrug I made her mom, so I'm good here.
what I learned, that I should already know by now:
If I'd read all the way through the pattern before I started it, I'd have known I was, essentially, knitting a very long 1x1 ribbed scarf with flared ends, then seaming up the arm sections. Wouldn't I have been happier starting and ending it on circulars and not seaming ? Oh yeah. Just as I finished seaming, I saw I'd done the color work slightly differntly on each sleeve, or we can say, each sleeve is subtley unique. I'd thought about writing it down as I did it but,well, you know.

last
Another hat, in progress. Might be my favorite yet. Yes, that is more variegated Malabrigo on the bottom. I'm hopeless.

4 comments:

KarenK said...

Beautiful work! Thanks for the link to the cute hat. I have a question about the lovely kidsilk haze tube scarf, though - how long is the finished scarf? Can't wait to see what you do with the Malabrigio!

gale (she shoots sheep shots) said...

Thanks KarenK! That was one skein of Kidsilk Haze, the knitted tube is about 56" long and about 7" wide- I stretched it a little when I blocked it - and the inner silk is 60".

Elizabeth said...

Nice work! Thanks for making my hat look so good! Please consider sending it to Wendy for our Gallery!

Anonymous said...

Love that KSH/silk chiffon scarf. Went right over to Thai Silks and placed my order.

You were pretty dang productive this year I must say! xox Kay