FO Parade Day 4: Tanglewood Pullover
This is yet another project where the knitting was done in no time (I think it took a week) but for whatever reason I stuck it in the pile and didn't bother to do the finishing until now. Don't ask me why, I have no explanations. In fact, I would have liked to have been wearing this sweater for the last month or two!
This pullover was entirely dictated by the yarn -- handspun superwash merino from Tanglewood Fiber Creations, in the Northwest Winter colorway (my favorite!). All I did was cast on a bunch of stitches, increase every other row for the raglan shaping, then knit down the sleeves and body. I finished the elbow-length sleeves with seeded rib just to make it a little less boring, and the bottom and neckline are finished with garter stitch. After I tried it on the weight of the sweater pulled the neck out, so I ended up doing a row of single crochet along the edge to keep it from stretching. And I had to redo the bottom bind off, because I was too cautious the first time and bound off way too loosely, so the bottom flared out. I think the prospect of binding off again is what kept this sweater in the almost-done pile for so long! So silly, yet so typical.
All in all I'm happy with this sweater, it's cozy and easy to wear and that was the goal. It did come out a bit too big in the body though, due to changes in the thickness of the yarn which brought my body gauge closer to 4 sts/inch than 4.5. I was aiming for roomy and instead got oversized, but that turns out to be fine because it still looks purposeful. I've been wearing more looser garments lately, so this fits right in! I considered making it longer so I could wear it as a dress, but it has absolutely no shaping and I wasn't sure I could get away with that . . .
Project specs:
Pattern: Generic top-down raglan in one piece as described above
Yarn: 6 skeins Tanglewood Fiber Creations superwash merino in Northwest Winter
Needles: US size 8
Started: October 8, 2007
Finished: December 23, 2007
FO Parade Day 3: Herringbone Mitts
Next up on the FO list, my finished Herringbone Mittens. I had a lot of fun making these and there really is no reason it took me so long to finish them up -- I actually finished the knitting in, like, 4 days but didn't weave in the last ends on the second mitt until yesterday. I love them! They're really really warm due to the stranded colorwork, exactly what mittens are supposed to be. I'm planning to make another set as a gift for my friend Lidia, too . . .
Project specs:
Pattern: Herringbone Mittens
Yarn: 1 skein each String Classica in Chocolate and Baby Pink
Needles: US size 4 and 5
Started: November 7, 2007
Finished: December 24, 2007
FO Parade Day 2: Pomatomus Hybrid Socks
The only knitting I did in Rome was about half the second sock in this pair. I brought about 3 times that much knitting with me (I was terrified of running out and/or not feeling like knitting what I'd brought!), but didn't end up having time to knit, which is a good thing when you're on vacation!
As I posted before, these are a modification on the Pomatomus pattern. I worked the legs and heel as written (but did only two repeats on the leg), then decreased to a 60-stitch regular sock for the foot. I really like how they turned out and they're very comfortable and stretchy, although the second sock somehow came out smaller than the first -- I did feel that the second skein felt a little thinner than the first, but I thought it was my imagination until I tried each sock on the same foot . . . and the second one is definitely tighter.
Oh well, I can still wear it, so I'm not going to stress about it. Nor am I stressing that the foot of one sock has way more dark blue in it than the other one does (you can't really see it in this picture but there's at least 50% less of the dark color in the second sock).
The handknit sock collection grows! Although not as quickly as the sock yarn collection is growing . . .
Project specs:
Pattern: Pomatomus, modified
Yarn: 2 skeins Koigu KPPPM in color P438
Needles: US size 1
Started: April 10, 2007
Finished: December 17, 2007
FO Parade Day 1: Tanglewood Scarf
I finished this scarf two weeks ago (I cannot believe it was so long ago already! How is it possible for time to keep speeding up?) for Adam's mom. It's made from Tanglewood Fiber Creations 50/50 merino/angora, in the colorway Newport Rocks (not that the colorway means much, every ball looks different in this stuff!).
I really love Trish's yarns and have two more projects' worth in the stash waiting to be knit up, both in her superwash merino. This is the kind of handspun I would make if I were to start spinning! It's gorgeous, soft, and the color changes are wonderful. And we all know how much I like color in my knitting!
Project specs:
Pattern: Corner-to-corner garter stitch scarf
Yarn: 2 skeins Tanglewood Fiber Creations Merino/Angora in Newport Rocks
Needles: US size 9
Started: December 4, 2007
Finished: December 8, 2007
FO: Feather & Fan Baby Blanket
The week before Thanksgiving, my sister called to "remind" me that I had promised to knit a baby blanket for her coworker who's adopting from China . . . and to say she needed it in 2 days. To be fair, she'd been asking me for about a month and I hadn't bothered to actually start the thing, so it's not entirely her fault that I had to knit a baby blanket in 2 days, but I can tell you I wasn't happy to get that phone call!
Size 11 needles, 72 sts and the feather and fan stitch is all you need if you have the same silly deadline I was facing. It's a small carriage size blanket, but plenty big enough to use (It measured about 25" wide and 28" long). The night she was leaving I wove in the last few ends, handed it to her and left for my place, having knit nothing but the blanket for 2 days straight.
The things you do for your little sister! ;o)
Project specs:
Pattern: dead easy feather and fan
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Zarella in Multi Pink and White, held double
Needles: US size 11
Started: November 17, 2007
Finished: November 19, 2007
