Knitter in the Kitchen

Over the past week or so, I’ve been feeling restless about my knitting. I’m not particularly excited about the projects on my needles and would like to start something new. But at the same time, I’m hesitant to cast on for yet another project because I want to actually finish something. So in the end I decided to be “good” and work on my WIPs.

1. Artyarns ZigZag Modular Scarf #2 — finished! Yay!

2. Frieda Sweater — I finished knitting the front. I checked my gauge and it’s correct (4.5 stitches per inch), but I’m a bit concerned because it looks so tiny. Here is a shot showing the front of the sweater on top of the back. Both have been uncurled as much as possible.

Ummm…should I be concerned about the sizing? Or should I cross my fingers and hope that I can work a miracle through blocking?

3. Boogie Vest — This is what the front looks like so far:

When I first blogged about wanting to knit this vest, a couple of commenters pointed out that the pattern does not include any shaping for the v-neck. If knit according to the pattern instructions, the two sides of the “v” are knit separately (without decreases), creating a slit in the front. When you wear the vest, the slit automatically separates to create a pseudo v-neck. A few folks thought this was odd. So I decided to add v-neck shaping by decreasing one stitch on each RS row. This is a close-up of the neck:

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. Part of me thinks it looks odd too, and part of me thinks it looks okay. So I’m putting the project away for awhile so I can get some space from it and revisit it later with fresh eyes. Your thoughts, of course, would be greatly appreciated.

4. Earflap hat — Unfortunately I had to frog the Manos Earflap Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Why? Well, I was almost done with the crown decreases when I realized that the hat was way, way too big for me. So I frogged it. I re-started it one size down, and the yarn began to pool in a very bad way. I couldn’t take the pooling, so I frogged it a second time. I cast-on again for an in-between size, and the yarn was still pooling. Thus I frogged for a third time. At this point I’ve decided that the Earflap Hat just wasn’t meant to be right now. The good thing is that this experience seems to have dampened my crazy addiction to hat knitting!! LOL But just slightly, because last night I started this:

5. The above is the Basic Cable Hat from Stitch N Bitch Nation. I finished the hat today and gifted it to my brother-in-law before I remembered to take a photo, so you’ll have to use your imagination for the FO. The pattern called for 4 pattern repeats and I did 6, which was probably a bit much. If I knit this hat again for another guy, I would do 5 pattern repeats. Of course I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. If you read my blog regularly, you can confirm that this is indeed my favorite yarn!

So what’s next? Even though I’m happy with the progress I made on Frieda and Boogie, I’m still not inclined to work on them. I may start a project that I’ve had in mind for over a month now:

Yep, that’s the Traditional Hat kit for the Norwegian Knit-Along. Last month, Angela tempted me by writing about her Bea Ellis hat kit and the knit-along. I have been thinking about trying a fair isle project, so I caved in to the temptation. On the bottom right side of the photo, you can see that I also have the Philosopher’s Wool DVD to help me along. It was one of my Christmas presents from DH! =) I can’t wait to watch it and try the technique.

Hope you and yours enjoy a happy and healthy 2006!!

This week saw the beginning of three new quick projects.

First is the Artyarns ZigZag Modular Scarf. I knit a purple and blue version a couple of months ago for my sister, and liked it so much that I’m doing this one for me. I’m about one-third done.

Inspired by both Diana and Jared, I also started an earflap hat with Manos. Like Diana, I am using the pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I love this red.

Lastly, I finally started the Boogie Vest. Sorry for the horrible photo, but the rainy weather isn’t making it easy to take good pics. Sweater knitting sure goes fast when one is using #11 needles!

None of these are Christmas gifts, but I hope to get them finished this week! Hope you have a great day.

As you may have noticed from my recent posts, I seem to be stuck on knitting quick accessories. I have abandoned the Frieda Sweater and haven’t even touched it 3 weeks. I’m leaving it alone for now because I have no desire to work on it. It’s no fun knitting something when you’re not motivated.

When I was chatting with my sister about her Kureyon hat, I found out that she wanted a black cabled scarf. I was a bit surprised by this – why black, of all colors? What if you can’t see the cables? So even though I already finished knitting her Christmas presents months ago, I knit her this scarf:

Pattern: Karaoke Cable Scarf
Yarn: 3 balls of my favorite, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
Size (pre-blocking): 2.75″ x 80″

I chose this pattern because the skinniness makes it fun and offsets the black. I think the cables show up okay. This is a very simple pattern and a relatively quick knit.

I also finished the Live Dangerously, Don’t Swatch hat. Even though I didn’t like the yarn, I have to give it points for softness. It’s much more comfortable than my Kureyon hat. This is my first pom-pom ever. I know many knitters are anti-pom-pom, but I thought I would give it a try. I look like a dork, but I don’t mind. =)

I liked this pattern because you can use it with any yarn without worrying about gauge beforehand. I also like the look of the linen stitch and will probably use it again. However, I must admit that k2togs are easier for me than M1Ls and M1Rs, so for now I still prefer knitting hats from the bottom up.

Lastly, I knit this neckwarmer using Cascade 128 Tweed. This is a wear-around-the-house type of accessory as it looks funny on me. But it keeps my neck warm when I’m in my pajamas.

I’m not sure what’s up next…maybe a multidirectional scarf for myself, or another hat. At the rate I’m going, I could end up with ten hats by the end of winter.

I’m going through a hat-knitting phase. Ever since I knit my first Noro Kureyon hat a few weeks ago, I’ve been itching to knit more hats.

I mentioned previously that I planned to knit a Rolled Edge Stocking Cap for my sister. She approved of the design and the color, and even requested a hat for her roommate. I was happy to knit them up because they go so quickly and are great projects for watching DVDs.

Hat for sister: colorway 40

Hat for sister’s roommate: colorway 147

My sister received them this weekend and seemed quite pleased! That was a relief.

On Friday night, DH and I went to see the Sacramento Kings play the Miami Heat. Two hour basketball game = perfect knitting time. What did I work on during the game? You guessed it – another Kureyon Hat. This one (colorway 90) will be gifted to a friend.

This project was a little bit “different” because I knit it with Clover Takumi needles. That was a big deal for me because I am a huge Addi Turbo fan. After a bad experience with 24” Clover circs, I swore off bamboo circs altogether. But I wanted to get a second pair of size 9 / 16” needles, and as we all know Addis are expensive. So I looked at the Clovers again. I figured that the cords on 16” circulars can’t possibly twist that much, so maybe they would be okay in bamboo. I soaked the cord in boiling water, and all was good after that. The Kureyon didn’t even drag too much on the bamboo. Maybe bamboo circs aren’t completely terrible after all.

That makes a total of, umm, four Noro Kureyon Rolled Edge Stocking Caps that I’ve knit in the past month. Am I crazy? To mix things up a bit, I decided to try Susan’s Live Dangerously, Don’t Swatch Hat. This hat is knit from the top down, so swatching isn’t necessary because you just stop increasing when you reach the correct number of stitches. It was neat to learn Emily Ocker’s cast on. There is a little hole at the top of the hat which I can’t seem to close, but that should be easily fixable. For the sides, I am using the half linen stitch. This is what I have so far:

The yarn is di.Ve’ Teseo by Cascade. It’s 55% wool and 45% microfibre. I’ve never heard of it before, and I bought it because I liked the color and it felt soft. Unfortunately, I found that I dislike the yarn. It’s hard to knit clean stitches – I keep splitting the yarn, even when I’m looking. I’ve stalled on the hat because of this. I considered frogging it entirely and starting another top-down hat in Manos, but I’m far enough along that I really want to just finish it and get the darn thing off my needles!