FO: Hanging Towels

I realized that we don't really have hand towels by the kitchen or bathroom sinks when looking at an adorable towel on Ravelry. I then modified the cute pattern to make the towels hanging towels to rectify the lack of hand towels by my sinks:

Pattern: Bubble Up Towel (Ravelry)
Yarn: Bernat Handicrafter Cotton Naturals for the main color, various Lily Sugar & Creams

Needles: US6/4.0 mm US7/4.5 mm
Timeframe: October 17 and 18 - 21, 2010.  Short piece of work, waited on the blocking.
Mods: Quite a few.  CO 36, 4-st garter stitch border, when work is a square, K2, SSK, K to last 4, K2tog, K2 on RS rows, P2, P2tog, P to last 4, P2togtbl, P2 until 12 sts left, K2tog center sts, make bobble in contrasting color, make flap as long as desired with 2-st garter stitch border, make buttonhole by casting off center stitch and then casting on one stitch in the next row, K4 rows, BO.
Problems: None!

These are fairly cute and they match my washcloths.  Simple little knits to wipe your hands on instead of using your jeans!

How to Explode Your WIP Count in One Easy Step!

Crocheted Snowflakes!

(and bookmarks)

Enthusiasm

I keep my knitting group's bag of extras.  Mostly dollar store yarn and project leftovers that are most of a skein, there was some cute #20 cotton crochet thread in there.  I've added quite a bit of my leftovers and unwanted yarns, mostly dollar store stuff, acrylic, and mohair, as I can typically find uses for wools, and don't feel bad grabbing this little 20 gram dollar store yarn for my own purposes.  Especially when those purposes are as nice and pure as a bookmark or two for Christmas and snowflakes to decorate my school's Christmas-themed robot, if in fact there are leftovers.  20g doesn't go very far.

Things were all well and good, I was about to finish the majority of the work on the first bookmark, and I realize I've messed up the directions:

The outside edges of the fans are supposed to join a lower fan.  Less than an hour of work, the first two fans are okay, and I have the pattern memorized.  Not too big a deal.

Except.

Except I scoured the directions looking for such a thing because I was sure they joined.  Somehow, I missed it, and only saw it halfway through the seventh of eight fans.  Now I get to rip back to halfway through the third fan.

Bah.

I'll probably go out and pick up another skein or two of this stuff though to make another bookmark and hopefully get at least three snowflakes, preferably more like ten so the students can keep them at the end and everyone on the team gets one.

But we'll see.  Such things can only be accomplished if I can read directions correctly in the future.  I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

Letterboxing

I am an official Letterboxer.  I signed up for Atlas Quest, username Shlaci, and found my first letterbox when I was in Tokyo with my in-laws.  There are a few around Tokyo, and I printed out directions to all of them in case we went anywhere that had one.  We visited the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo, and there is one letterbox there, the Lotus letterbox:

I used my signature stamp to mark that I was there, and stamped their lotus stamp into my logbook as the first stamp.  Many people have a nice book, but I decided that since I may want to re-order mine by place and I want to be able to bring supplies with me on hikes like the Appalachian Trail (where weight is a big priority), I want a method of recording finds that doesn't take up much space.  I got a small trading card holding binder that comes in a box.  It's perfect for trips where weight isn't a problem, I put folded blank notecards into the slots and can write the name, date, and location of the box on the notecard.  The box holds a small stamp pad and my stamp easily as well.  When weight is an issue, I can take just a handful of notecards, a small stamp pad, and my stamp.  The notecards can be rearranged and I can of course always get better trading card binders or notecard filing systems to keep track of my finds.

Later this month, I'll be traveling to Tokyo for the national RoboCon competition to cheer on our team.  We have a few hours between the bus arriving in Tokyo and the start of the competition, so I'm going to see how many other letterboxes I can cross off my list while I'm there.  I know I'll get the Tokyo Disney one when my family comes to visit, but there are a few others fairly close together near interesting sites or museums that I should be able to get.

Hopefully I'll be able to hit all the ones currently in Japan before I leave!

FO: Bookmarks

I've knit a few of these guys, and finally knit one for myself:

 Pattern: Spider to Web Bookmark (Ravelry)

Yarn: Wister LaLa Baby, Japanese yarn in white

Hook: USE/3.5 mm
Timeframe: June 15 - 17, 2010
Mods: None.  Excellent pattern.
Problems: None!

 

I also knit up a few for a charity sale we had.  All the money collected went to a local orphanage.  I knit four, but forgot to take a picture of them before they started selling.  Whoops!

 

Pattern: Spider to Web Bookmark (Ravelry)
Yarn: Wister LaLa Baby, Japanese yarn in white, then off-white.

Hook: USE/3.5 mm
Timeframe: November 2, 2010
Mods: None.  Excellent pattern.
Problems: None!

 

All four of the bookmarks went, so I was quite pleased.  I do enjoy this pattern, it's so simple and quick and is fairly impressive, I think.

FO: Cusp

Cookie A., my favorite sock designer, is coming out with a new book.  It's called Knit.Sock.Love., and will be available in a couple of weeks.  It's up for pre-order now, and you can get a PDF version at a much lower price if you pre-order it with the book.  Highly recommended!

Okay, back to the topic at hand.  For her book, I was able to test knit one of the new socks, Cusp.  This is a great sock pattern, really simple and quick compared to many of her designs, and perfect for some gorgeous Indigo Moon I had on hand:

 

Pattern: Cusp, size L
Yarn: Indigo Moon West Coast Musings in West Coast Sunset.

Needles: US1.5/2.5mm DPNs.

Timeframe: July 3 - 8, 2010 for the first one, October 17 - November 1, 2010 for the second.

Mods: None!
Problems: None!

I do love Cookie A.'s patterns and can't wait to see the new book.  I've got it pre-ordered and I'm getting the PDF too.  This one was a really quick knit with interesting gusset construction.It is not particularly flattering to my ankles, but is a cool design nonetheless.  It may live on my sock blockers more often than on my feet!

FO: Amethyst Wrap

This next project also had a two year lag while waiting for more yarn.  I did in fact get more yarn, but whether it was the change in dye lot, the change in needles (I used Addis instead of my Boyes since I now have an Addi Turbo Lace in US4) or something else, there is a definite change to the pooling from one set of yarn to the next.

Pattern: Amethyst Wrap
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential/Stroll Multi in Peacock Multi, 4 skeins.

Needles: US4/3.5mm Boye Interchangeables then Addi Turbo Lace
Timeframe: August 12, 2008 - November 1, 2010.  Hibernation waiting for yarn for two years, then waiting for a block for a month.  Poor wrap.
Mods: None.
Problems: None.  The not-quite-consistency of the pooling annoyed me, but it still looks great and I'll use it.

Initially, I had two skeins of the Peacock Multi so figured I'd give it a go with those.  This was a test pattern, so I fulfilled the general requirements of making sure the pattern works and all, and was able to say how much 1/2 the recommended yarn got you.  At that point, it was a pretty cool table runner, but I'd much prefer a wrap that can double as a scarf.  I love the colors, and while my aunt may have been interested in using it as a table runner, I wanted this one for myself!

Before Lee assisted my photo efforts

I purchased some additional yarn while in the US so brought that and the hibernating wrap back to Japan.  I managed to finish nearly all of the knitting while on flights to a conference in Slovakia.  It also waited for over a month to be totally finished with those projects I swore I'd have finished soon.  One of which is still not done.  However, it will be warm and wonderful when it is finished, that darn Bramblewood Vest that is oh-so-close.