Recently in Finished Objects Category

It's a six pack of cuteness.

The Details:

Pattern: the Baby Bootie pattern from this Filatura di Crossa booklet. Yeah, I had all sorts of plans to use a new pattern, but in the end I didn't have time to make gauge adjustments. I knit what I knew.

Yarn: Odds and Ends. The brown and white pairs are cotton. I know that the white is Peaches 'n' Cream. The brown is a mystery yarn that I picked up years ago in a Knitsmiths swap.

Needles: US 7s and 6s.

Will I knit this pattern again? Undoubtedly.

With these three pairs all ready for gifting. I guess that I'm ready for the next knit. This one, of course, will be all about me.

[ETA: Marie left a comment that the Waffle House Socks pattern is available on her website. Click here! It's a free pattern. Why don't you make it perfect by purchasing a hank of Marie's Soft Spun Plus yarn?]

Yesterday, I completely forgot to post the details of Marie's Socks:

Pattern: Waffle House Socks

Yarn: Brooklyn Handspun's, handdyed, superwash sock yarn. colorway: Daring.

Needles: US2s, circular.

What did I change? Nothing. This was a test knit. I knit the pattern as it was written.

What did I love? I used the magic loop method for a toe-up design. Both were firsts for me, and together they might have changed the way that I knit socks.

What would I do differently next time: Somewhere, deep in the recesses of my knitting brain, is the way to do a more flexible bind off for ribbing. This is what I would do differently. On the second sock I tried casting off with a US3 (instead of the US2 that I used to knit the sock). It worked pretty well.

Marie's socks are finished!

I love them. They make me want to sit on the couch all day and stare at my feet. Okay, I would probably still want to do that without the socks.

Here's a closeup of the stitch pattern. It makes the socks feel squishy, and even softer.

Here's one more (not-so-great) photograph from above.

This project earns me the title of "Slowest Test Knitter Ev-ah". Hear that Thea? She's enlisted me as a test knitter for her Golden Cardi (so eager was I to get my hands on this knit that I begged and pleaded until Thea relented and let me be a test knitter for her design).

I think that I'm ready for a sweater project. I am reunited with my blocking board, and (unlike Queens) I have space in which to do the blocking. We'll see how long it takes me to get to the actual blocking....

Today's post will be in reverse order from prior posts concerning out visit to Europe. I just couldn't resist the title.

When I last wrote about our trip, we were in Cologne. For New Year's, however, we went over to Prague.

Mmmm, mmm. I first visited Prague three years ago, and at the time I thought "Everybody has to go to Prague." I felt the same way this visit, too. Everybody needs to go to Prague! Quick, make those travel plans. I'll wait.

Done? Good. Being in Prague means that I can officially unveil my next-to-last 2007 FO:

Ta dah! If you remember, this was the hat that I started just before Christmas. I finished it "easily" before I left the US. If, by easily, you mean "reknit the top three times." Yep. Three times. The first time I knit the pattern "as written" (if, by "as written", you mean "adjusted for a different gauge). And upon finishing it I thought that it was much too short. It didn't reach my ears.

Okaaaaay, so I needed to frog back and add about an inch. Frog, frog, knit (is this now too long?), knit. And guess what? It was too long. Way too long. Grrrr. So, frog, frog, knit, knit. And, guess what? The second time that I knit the pattern the way I was directed to knit the pattern it fit pretty well. [Don't ask why, I don't know.] I admit that the photo makes the hat look a wee too long, but I think that my scarf was pushing it up from the back and pushing the brim slightly too far down.

The Details:

Pattern: The beret pattern was free from The Point, when I purchased yarn.

Yarn: Twinkle, Soft Chunky, colorway Urchin. One hank.

Needles: US15s, DPNs.

What I changed: I adjusted the pattern for a different gauge. Other than that, nothing.

Would I knit this again: Yes. I like the chunky appearance and easy shaping of this beret. It avoids the "hat head" I so dread this time of year.

Moving on to 2008, here's the latest on Marie's socks.

Not only am I perfecting my magic loop, I'm also learning a great new way to knit short-row heels. Or, rather, I'm learning this technique again, and this time the correct way. I thought I knew how to do this, but apparently I did not. This might explain why I found this technique fiddly the first time that I used it, and overall I saw it as only a slight improvement on the backwards-YO method.

But if you use this technique correctly (as I now am) it's a HUGE improvement over what I was doing before.

Lovin' this pattern! Whoo!

Coming to you wirelessly from Chez Subway Knitter BKLN! Sven hunted down a wireless router on Craigslist over the weekend. (Not only did he save money by doing this but he also reduced electronic waste. What a guy!) He's got me all set up so that I'm able to sit down on the couch and use my computer without dragging an Ethernet cable across the apartment or swiping internet access from an unsecured connection (not that I ever did that, ahem.)

Anyway, do you want to hear about my close call? Knitting wise, that is. You do?! Great! Wednesday night tends to be laundry night 'round these parts. I'm not sure why that's become its official designation, but whatever. Last Wednesday was a big one. You know those times when you decide that you need to wash every single textile in your place? That was Wednesday.

So, in the spirit of laundry night, I threw a load of sheets into the machine. Unbeknownst to me, however, I accidentally scooped up my Cascade 220 (non superwash) garter-stitch scarf. It's a simple little thing that I knit years and years ago. The scarf was my first FO, and despite its wonky gauge and the occasional (inadvertent) slipped stitch, I love it. The scarf is warm, soft, and goes with just about anything.

Anyway, I threw those sheets (and the scarf) in a hot-water wash. I added detergent, OxyMagic powder, and fabric softener.

Then I went away. When I came back to throw the sheets in the dryer, imagine my surprise when my scarf tumbled out. A Cascade 220 scarf that, despite a hot-water wash, remained unfelted. And you know that Cascade 220 felts like a dream. So what's the no felting about? Could it be the front-loading machine? Is it really true that front loaders don't felt?

At least my front loader doesn't felt. And that makes me one lucky knitter. One lucky knitter with a nice, clean scarf that's none the worse for wear.