Lap Blanket

This one's been in the sidebar for awhile (and the post has been a draft for nearly as long at this point!). It's a test knit I did a couple of months ago, and is pretty cool. I used the nest o'yarn I showed off before as a bit of a spoiler. Regarding that nest of yarn - do NOT recycle a thrift store sweater and then try to wind it all around the niddy noddy. Not cool. Not easy to deal with later. It looked like Big Bird had been hanging out at our place, and left his nest by our bed.

This is an awesome blanket based on naturally occurring spirals. It's great for babies or for your lap. I keep the blanket at work for when it's cold. Here in Japan, all the women have blankets at their desks. They also always wear skirts, but it's amusing to me that it's totally acceptable for women to have blankets at their desks.

I love the clean edges next to the YOs. The decreases look marvelous, and the way the knitting swirls around - I'm looking at the blanket more than my work!  If you want an interesting lap blanket for the geek in your life (could be yourself even) or for the spawn of a geek in your life, I highly recommend this one.  Awesome, simple design, something you can get into the rhythm of and just go.  Fairly quick knit as well.  I didn't do the best job of blocking it into a circle.

Pattern: Helix (Ravelry)
Yarn: Recycled 100% wool sweater from GoodWill, nearly half.

Needles: US9/5.5 mm
Timeframe: January 1 - 31, 2009, one of the first projects of the new year.
Mods: None.  Test knit, so pattern had to be followed to a T.
Problems: Only user error in skipping a YO or K2tog in a couple places.  Fairly mindless pattern, but you still have to pay a little attention!  Stitch markers, they are useful here.

Kids' Little Cable Hoodie

This was a test knit for Gardiner Yarn Works, the Kids' Little Cable Hoodie. It was perfect; I got a wonderful pattern that was a perfect fit for my youngest sister. She got a new zip-up hoodie. I gave it to her when I went home in early June (like the 1st-ish) and she's worn in quite often since. In the summer. The day or two after she got it, she went somewhere where she was able to buy a cute penguin zipper pull. I just wish I had a picture of the zipper pull and/or with her in it. Anyway, here's some pictures:

Look at the lovely cable detailing, all down the sleeves, next to the zipper, and up the back. This was a very quick and simple knit, and I was ever so pleased to get a zipper in the exact right size!


Back of the hoodie; you can see the lovely cable detailing.


Perfectly matching zipper, wooohooo!


Artsy and not very good shot of the hoodie. But there nonetheless.

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Navy, three skeins
Size: Girls' 14
Notions: Navy blue zipper, ummm...22", I believe...
Time: April 2 - April 19, though knitting was done on the 17th.
Problems: None, loved this pattern! The only thing I didn't quite love was my yarn choice, but that was more of a budget thing. Amazingly soft, but it's already very pilly. Not the best choice for the cables, but looks great anyway!

My sister is currently a size 12, so I made the 14 since I was making it so late in the season. It's a bit big on her now, though she still wears it everywhere she can, and should be great in the fall. All in all, I'm very happy with the end result.

Technology Hates Me

Technology doesn't like me. I never had problems with my laptop, and then about a month after the warranty was over, everything crapped out on me. The keyboard, the battery, and it just runs slowly and is evil. I've killed every thumb drive I've bought, my large external hard drive got fried, and my cell phone has issues. Today, those issues decided to screw me over in an interview call. I had a phone interview at 10 am. The charger was plugged in, I was sitting, nice and comfy, and I was cross stitching, waiting for the phone to ring. The interviewer called late, which is okay, but my phone decided to not ring. I get a voicemail at 10:09. No call, just a voicemail. No record of the call in the missed/incoming call logs. Just the voicemail. Of the interviewer apologizing for calling late and asking to reschedule since she missed me. I of course called right back on Lee's cell phone, trying to get ahold of her, but got her voicemail. Grrrr. Great way to start a Monday, right?

Ah well. Gardiner Yarn Works, who I test knit for, has their Fall/Winter preview up. I tested the Whitecap Socks pattern, and since you can see the official sample up on the site, here's a picture of mine:

Of course, I took the picture with the jog facing right out, so it's not the best side, but I like how they turned out. VERY quick socks to knit, only took me four days from start of the first to the Kitchener of the second. And I got rid of some stash yarn, go me!

Stash (VEEEEEEEEERY Picture Heavy!)

Here's all those pictures I've been talking about. First up, we have a picture of my Blaze pullover, with one sleeve complete, the other past the cuff, and the body cast on. I wanted this to be a rather quick knit, but deadline knitting and then the monotonous pattern got in the way. It will be finished someday soon I hope. Though I did shoot myself in the foot yesterday, and now I have to get two sweaters, three pairs of socks, some random stuffed animals, and probably another Baglet done by the end of October. That's six weeks. I'm screwed.

Here is a photo of my stash. Like, all of it. This is all of the full skeins of yarn that do not currently have a project calling to them. So, they went into a box and off to the yarn swap at a knitting group I go to. They almost all got taken right away, and the few that didn't got donated. I feel great!

So what happens the day after the swap? I receive two packages. One is the yarn from Yubina I ordered, and man, is that tiny. It's cobweb weight, and I swear I've used larger threads in a sewing machine. I'm going to be making Eunny Jang's Print O' The Wave Stole with the blue and I was planning on my 6'x6' Shetland Lace Ring Shawl from the other, but I'm not positive now. It's much more brown than ivory. Though I'm sure once it's knit up it won't be as brown. Maybe not as light as I would like, but not as brown either. I'll have to swatch it to really see.





The other package is the yarn for a test knit that I'm doing for Gardiner Yarn Works. Very nice color, can't wait to cast on! There was also a nice thank-you note with the yarn, very sweet!

And last but not least, a sampling of Assateague pictures, including the crabs we caught and the pony eating the grass next to the tent. Yay!

Beginning of the Cabled Baglet

Ponies think they have the right-of-way here. And they do.

Sunset over the marshes - we were just finishing crabbing

Apparently it's very exhausting being an adorable pony

Pony by the tent

Beautiful beach

Yup, we caught these two crabs!

Pictureless...

I just placed my first order from the Loopy Ewe. Can't wait to see what comes with the yarn! I ordered the Cookie A. pattern for my Monkey Swap 3 pal as well as some sock yarn from a dyeing company I don't think she's tried yet. At least, I searched her blog and the company didn't show up. All the others I was considering did, so I think I'm good with what I've gotten her. She likes variegated yarns, yarns from new to her dyers, and I got a colorway that, from reading her questionnaire and looking at the yarns she's purchased, should be right up her alley. Then again, I haven't used variegated yarns much, so it might come out completely wrong. The socks that I'm making her are coming out differently than I had thought when looking at the skein. Not bad, I still think she'll like them, but not as good as I thought they'd be. Ah well.

I have pictures of these socks, a couple of my Ravelry projects, and my Assateague trip. They're on my home computer. I'm at work. I stayed late yesterday as there was a knitting group in this end of town last night. Instead of going home and coming back, I just stayed here an extra couple of hours (we work on flex time, so I can go home earlier later in the week) and went to the knitting group. Met some great people there too. It was the yarn swap, so I got rid of all of my stashed yarn. Yup, there's a picture of what I got rid of. On the home computer. I got rid of a whole bunch, and only brought one measly ball of crochet thread home to make snowflakes with. I no longer have any eyelash yarn or full skeins of acrylic, or the black yarn I made socks with and felted, or the extra skein of my FAVORITE Peru Luxury DK. I figured someone else could have the loveliness. That and it's not machine washable, and the only things I could think of for one skein of it would be things that would get dirty easily. I still have the random non-full skeins of acrylic, because I don't feel right giving someone less than a full skein, even though one of them is only about ten yards less than a full skein of Red Heart SuperSaver. But I can make more Cabled Baglets out of the almost full skeins. Pictures of Cabled Baglet, a test knit for Chrissy Gardiner of Gardiner Yarn Works that will be up sometime after October, are forthcoming. I must say this is a freaking adorable bag. I love it. Like, absolutely love it. Very quick knit, I'm going to be using all of my random acrylic leftovers to make as many of these as possible as last-minute gifts for people. They are nice and small, fit a sock/sleeve-type knitting project and a couple notions, and the cables give it a very nice touch. It's a drawstring bag and EVERYONE who has seen it yesterday commented on it. Even all the guys at work at a meeting (it's a teleconferenced seminar thingie, which means two straight hours of knitting every Tuesday morning) thought it was great, and so did all the people at the knitting group. If you're in need of a cute little bag that takes somewhere between six and eight hours from start to finish (I was doing other things in between) this is definitely a pattern you should buy. I'll post the pictures when I get home and you'll see why.

I'm going to update the sidebar with only the projects that are currently topmost in my knitting priorities, instead of having everything there. Like that Frill and all those cross stitches? Yeah, I haven't cross stitched in forever due to all the knitting I'm doing. Honestly, I'm about ready to switch it up to mostly cross stitching (I have phases) but I have so many things I HAVE to get done that the cross stitching is not going to get touched for a bit. Which is sad, I really wanted to finish one of my huge ones this summer. Ah well, if I can finish a bunch of knitting and stop signing up to do more, maybe I still can finish it...