The Almost Lost Dishcloth set is done!

Last night, I finished the third dishcloth.  

A Christmas Trio!

The colors look great together and festive.....could not be happier.  My hope is that the recipient will like them as much as I do.

Dishcloths are a good gift...as everyone needs them at one time or another.  If one must clean, one might as well have something pretty to do it with.

While I have been busy at work, I have also been busy knitting.   This is the season when I finish my Christmas projects early...and then add things to give to people.

This year, I am adding two Simply Spring Beanies and a festive trio of Almost Lost Dishcloths. As I have a (cough, cough) plentiful supply of yarn, it does not take me long to put these projects together.

The dishcloths are made out of Willow Yarn's Sudsy, which is my very favorite yarn for these projects. The colors are nice and the blend in the yarn keeps those colors from fading out quickly.  As I had a stock of red, green, and natural, I am making one in each color.

The Simply Spring Beanie is a multi-size top down beanie pattern.  I have used it several times and will use it again.   The fact that it is a free download on Ravelry does not hurt.   For this particular Beanie, I started with the grey and added the red.  The third color looked black in the low light in which I was knitting.  When I took the hat into a brighter space, the colored revealed itself as a dark, toasty brown.   That was a bit of a surprise, but when I really looked at it, I decided that I liked it. 

 I have a smaller hat to do as soon as I finish the third dishcloth.  I am going to decide on the striping and the colors when I have a chance to look at what is available in my carefully curated (translate:  stuffed into one of two cloth baskets) supply of washable worsted yarn.    As the hat's recipient is seven years old, I can work with a brighter palate if I decide to do that.   Not sure yet what will happen.

Also fresh from the needles is a baby blanket for one of my knitting friends.  Her son should arrive next month.  A while back I had been leafing through the Mary Maxim catalog and saw Baby Blankie Yarn.  As I was unsure of who I was knitting for, I bought both the Honeydew and Apple Blossom colorways.   Being a huge fan of self-patterning yarns, I knew that I would eventually use both.

The Honeydew colorway is nicely gender neutral so I chose that skein.   The yarn comes in a skein

large enough to make a blanket.   "Great," I said to myself, "only two ends to sew in!"  The gods laughed.   This skein had four or five knots....that tugged on came apart easily.   If I could live with knitting the knots into the fabric, I would have been making a big mistake as the knot would have, without doubt, come apart when the blanket was washed.

The bottom and side edges curled enough so that it was really bothering me.  As it is acrylic and can't be blocked, I was wondering how to fix this.   When I washed the blanket and put it through the dryer on low, the curls relaxed and disappeared.   I was very relieved.  I hope to pass this project off this week.

Once I finish the second beanie, I am..going to....knit for me!!!!!

.  

Seeing a happy recipient in a picture...

One of the things that I really like is getting a picture of someone wearing something, or using

something, that I have made for them....and looking happy!

Last weekend I got the picture of Jolaine wearing her ginormous scarf.  It made my day!

This morning, for inspiration, I looked through the DROPS pattern site.  The design aesthetic makes me want to knit even more.   As a bonus, the patterns are free.

Every once in a while, I get an idea rolling around in my head.   With the help of KnitBird, I am working on it.   If this ends up looking like I want it to look, you will see the knit object and pattern here.

The Alligator is Ready to Travel Down the Mississippi

For reasons relating to my sister Helen's and my peculiar senses of humor, I needed to make an alligator for Owen.

The first round was done in a yarn that shall not be named.  I was nearly finished when I realized that I hated the yarn.  I hated the yarn enough that I would even give the project to someone I despised.   Laughing maniacally, I ripped the project off the needles and dumped it in the trash.  No regrets.

Later that same day, I was looking for something in one of the many knitting bags that comprise my decor and I found some dark green Vintage Candiana left over from another project.   Grabbing needles, I set down to work.  

Parts of this project were an extreme challenge. My short rows needed a lot of work.  Each leg was done four or five times to get it right.

At one point, I visited the Knit Purl Hunter's short row tutorial on YouTube.  Watching that helped me get acceptable (but not perfect) short rows.   As I finished each limb, I felt as though I had won something.

Stuffing the 'gator was interesting.   The stuffing began through one of the back leg holes.   Getting the stuffing to be the way I wanted it to be took a little, but it was worth it.   Having to knit the last limb while a good part of the body was stuffed was not fun....

After this, I needed something soothing.   My carry project is a Yarn Harlot One Row scarf done in Malabrigo worsted from my stash.

My plan is to make this long enough so that the recipient can loop it around his neck and still have ample length to tuck it into his coat.

One of the wonderful things about using the Yarn Harlot's pattern is that you can keep knitting and knitting and knitting and only have to stop when you have your length or when there is enough left to bind off.  You can also, when you do your swatch - which you will - figure out how wide you really want the scarf and adjust your stitches easily...just use a multiple of four. On bad days, I can still manage counting to four.  

This pattern is great for highlighting variegated yarns.  I do think it is a great way to use those lovely skeins of yarn that one has to have because it was so beautiful for which there was no plan.  

My home project is a throw that is being made in Bernat Blanket.   While this yarn does not have a

lot of give, it makes a velvety cloth that feels good.  One of my friends needs a pop of color in his living room.  He is getting a purple throw to play off a lime green wall.  

When I did my swatch I was thinking about the pattern to use.  This yarn does not show well in a fussy pattern.   This time, I decided to do a 13 stitch rib.  So far, I am very much liking how this is turning out.  I have five skeins but may only need four.

As this is a fairly mindless project, it is a nice break from the alligator.

I will be doing a couple of baby gifts next. I have a pattern chosen for one of the projects...details to follow.

A weekend of resting and knitting....

Jace's hat got finished.   Grandma Sharon will receive it and give it to Jace at her leisure.   This is one of the rewarding aspects of having a stash.   This hat was made with yarn that was on hand.    I didn't

Jace's Hat....New Size for a Growing Boy

even have to look long or hard for the colors required.

The Simply Spring Beanie really is a great pattern.  I really love the range of sizes....and that I have a lot of the right in the top layer of the stash.   This is a hat that can be done again and again.   The hat goes so quickly there is no time to get bored.

Shaggy, who rocked his Packer sweater, is also getting a black and orange sweater for Halloween.   This yarn also came right out of the stash.   As I had kept good notes, this sweater went quickly also.  

Both projects will go out in the mail this week.

  Another project I have been wanting to do is also on the needles.  Helen and I decided that Owen should have an alligator for reasons that shall not be revealed.

The yarn I choose is Willow's Fawn.  Fawn comes in a couple weights.  The alligator needed green DK.  While Fawn's green was more lime than gator, I chose it.   The color is "quite lively."   The yarn is okay to knit.   I would rather have been able to get this color in Burrow or Wash, but the weight and the colors just were not available.   The pattern is actually a crocodile, but let's not be picky.

So Much Knitting....So Little Time for Anything Else....

Over the last month or so, the needles have been very busy.   Why?   In the second half of November and the first half of December, I am really busy with other things....besides knitting.   One of the gifts I give myself is not being stressed over finishing projects for the holiday season.

One of my favorite tricks is to knit socks up to the toe and have the socks rest until I can get the accurate measurement of the recipients feet.   Once sock recipients are "grown enough" the width of their feet seems to be relatively stable.....the length, the length is the measurement in question.  At Thanksgiving, I will measure the lucky feet and finish the socks.

Seven Chayle Cloche hats are done.  Three Dinosaur hats are done.  One Primero hat is done.  Eight dishcloths are done.  A couple dog sweaters have been done.  I am now working on another hat and a scarf.   When all this knitting is done, there is some baby knitting to be done before I try to do some knitting for me.

The Chayle Cloche hats are really, really cute and fun to do.   I still like the pattern after having knit

eight of them. The flowers don't take much yarn and are a great way to use up small amounts of leftovers that are too much too throw away and too little to plan a project with.

This is the only hat with dark red flowers.  The other hats have pink flowers or purple flowers....as the recipients are in the "the only colors that matter are pink and purple" stage of life.

I had thought it might be fun to experiment with other types of flowers, and may yet, but decided that I needed to push through the projects for this round.

The Dinosaur hats were a lot of fun to make.  There were only three to do.  Two have been mailed

away to their lucky recipients.  Owen loves his....and uses it
as a toy.  He pulls the hat down over his face and giggles. 

In the mix there were also a couple of Unicorn hats.   This was a neat project as it was good for skill building.   I had to relearn the loop stitch for the mane...and figure out what colors I liked together.   The horn was easy to knit.   The challenging part was putting the main and the horn on the hat so that it would look right when it is worn.   The two little girls who got the hats seemed to be pleased.  That is all that matters.

The Primero hat is also great for using up odds and ends of colored yarn.  I do like colorwork a lot and decided to do this to give myself a mind break.  This is not a difficult project, but still a very satisfying one.   As it is a quick project, it is also great for gift giving!

I used Willow Burrow as the colors are wonderful and I have a lot of it.   The Vamp Red color is one of my favorites.  The grey is really nice also...heathery rather than slate.   First, I tried a white yarn

with these two colors.   There was something not quite pleasing about the colorway.  I used the off-white and liked the results much better.

What I like about this pattern, and patterns like this one, is that the hats made can look very different with different color combinations......and that this is another project that can help use up partial balls of yarn.

A couple years ago, I made my great-nephew, Jace, a hat.  It was simple...mostly grey with a couple of red stripes.   He loves that hat.  It is his favorite...even more than his custom John Deere hat.   This year, the hat will not fit him anymore.

A request came from his mother, via my sister-in-law, for one in a larger size.   I found the yarn right away but could not remember the name of the pattern.  After looking through my files, I got the bright idea of checking my Ravelry projects.  Voila!  The name of the pattern, Simply Spring Beanie, was revealed.  Simply Spring is a top down beanie.  While it is a bit putzy to start, it is great if you need to make adjustments as you go for a better fit.   Not only is this pattern written for a wide variety of sizes, but it has the bonus of being free!

My brother, Ed, and his wife, Sharon, adopted a wonderful little rescue dog.  Shaggy came up from the south and has not yet experienced a northern winter.  The first sweater was a bit tight.  The second

sweater, done in tasteful Packer colors, was a good fit.   I am hoping to knit a Halloween and a Christmas sweater for Shaggy so that he has a nice wardrobe!

As Shaggy is a small dog, the yarn for his sweaters is coming out of my stash....for which I am very grateful.   Clara Parkes has a new book out, "A Stash of One's Own,"  which is a great read.   The book is a collection of essays written about why we build yarn stashes, what we do with our yarn collections, and how different knitters approach stash use and maintenance.  I am enjoying this very much and recommend this book...and all of Clara Parkes' books....as a good read.

Knitting like a machine.....

For the past month or so, I have been knitting like a machine.  There are so many projects to get done.   Fortunately, the projects are all fun.  Watch for pictures!