Veni, vidi, vici
Remember these terrible, horrible, no good, very bad socks? I was tired of them hanging around, unfinished and making this knitter all kinds of unhappy.
No more!
Have you any Panda Wool?
I thought this last-minute but thoughtful gift would be a Breeze. But disaster has befallen; I have completely run out of yarn!
Cables and skimpy yardage** turned out to be a bad match. Even though I should’ve known better, I had every faith that what I had (one skein plus a bit leftover from the baby hat and booties already knit from a second skein) would be enough. Nope. more »
Peach Cuties
This week, I’ve got Jury Duty. I have no idea if I will be selected to sit on a jury, but I suspect I’ll get a lot of knitting done while waiting. I’m planning to take Big Christmas Gift #1 to work on; my goal is to finish a big chunk if not the whole thing.
Meanwhile, here’s a FO report. I decided to knit up a couple of cute, little pieces for my Knitter’s Virtual Vacation Swap downstream pal, blog-free Rachell, who’s expecting a baby in November.
These are knit with Panda Wool in the Saffron colorway. I chose this color because it was light and gender-neutral but not pastel or babyish.
The pattern gives instructions for the hat to be worked flat and then seamed. I hated the thought of a seam on a baby hat, so I knit it in the round. For the most part, it worked out well, but I mis-translated the garter border for the lace edging as stockinette. It doesn’t look too bad, and I made sure to match this ‘design feature’ on the booties.
These are the first bootees I’ve knit in this style. Admittedly, I never really was a fan of these squarish baby shoes because they remind me of Frankenstein. Now that I have completed a pair, I think they’re cute as heck.
(Ugh… these pictures are blurry in places. I didn’t notice when edited them, my eyeglasses must have been dirty!)
Mom’s Scarf
It’s finished! Yay! I ended up ordering one more skein of Crystal Palace Yarns “Party” online and it arrived a couple weeks ago. It was enough for me to be able to finish the scarf. And just in time for Mother’s Day!
Desperately Seeking Two-Point-Five!
A couple weeks ago, I procured a set of Crystal Palace bamboo double-pointed needles, 6-inch length, in US #1.5 (2.5mm). My gauge often is just a bit too tight on US1 and a bit too loose on US2 for most socks. I hoped these US1.5 needles would be the answer. I frogged (sadly) the Madder Ribbed socks and did a quick gauge swatch, perfection! 15 stitches per 2 inches. And the resulting fabric is a skotch looser than what I was getting with US1. I’m a gauge-happy lime!
However… more »
Habu Yarn!
I now have me some Habu goodness!! This came in today’s mail.
Look! The shine on the silk stainless is amazing! The cotton chenille isn’t as velvety as I imagined it would be, rather it reminds me of leather string (is that what they’re called?), still interesting. And the cork chenille… I already have a name in mind, maybe you can guess from the texture?
I’ve been fascinated by the different textures and materials Habu Textiles uses in their products. But I haven’t had much luck in finding them locally or even online. I have a couple of design ideas and went hunting for something special to use.Immediately I thought of Habu and selected the Cork Chenille and the yummy Silk Stainless to try.
I added in the Cotton Chenille to make a couple of washcloths (but the care instructions mention nothing about machine wash/dry!).
