A New Year, with New Knits

Hello again!  It's been a while since I've posted here.  Due to a very busy holiday season and some computer mishaps at home, blog updates were put on the back burner for a couple of weeks.  Now that the visiting family members have gone home and the computer crisis has been resolved, I finally have time to chat about my Christmas gifts that can now be revealed, as well as talk about my new knits for the new year.

Surprises Revealed

I have several handmade gifts that either weren't started at the time of my last post, or that couldn't be shown off in order to maintain gifting secrecy.  One of those was another fleece blanket.  I made my mother-in-law a cozy blanket as one of her gifts.  I love these blankets since they are so simple to make, and so useful.  Living in Illinois, one can never have too many blankets for winter.

Cozy and stylish pattern!

I discovered a new simple craft.  Oil based sharpie paint pens work wonders to decorate ceramic goods!  For Christmas, I made several decorated mugs, and I've got a couple more mugs as well as a blank piggy bank for future decoration projects.  

Scrapbook letter stickers give the borders.  Simply adhere to mug, color in dots all around the stickers, then remove letters when done.  A quick trip through the oven helps set the paint, and makes the mugs dishwasher safe.

I finished two hats, one for a gift and one for me.  The brown hat went to my father-in-law.  Both were made using the ever popular Tin Can Knits Barley pattern.  I slightly modified the pattern for the brown one, since I was holding two strands of worsted yarn doubled, which is actually bulky weight when it comes to pattern/needle selection.  The turquoise hat was for me, using some lovely Spud and Chloe yarn I scored at Goodwill a few months back.

Same hat pattern, but different yarns give it a whole new look

For a couple of my coworkers, I made knitting WIP (work in progress) ornaments.  I found a walkthrough on Ravelry, and adapted it to work with my scraps of yarn and the globe ornaments I picked up at Target.  I'm very happy with the result, and still have a couple of globes left over to make more of them.  Whether you're a knitter or simply know one, they are a cute addition to any ornament collection!

Stuffing the mini project into the globe was a bit tedious, but it certainly looks neat when it's finished.

My cousin was in town visiting for the holidays, and he requested a pair of fingerless mitts.  His previous pair was well loved, but one hand had gone MIA, so I found the Rip Current pattern and set to work on his new pair.  The worsted weight yarn makes the mitts go nice and quick, and the pattern is simple enough that I could work on them while visiting with him, my aunt and uncle, my other cousins, and his little two year old running about.  

A bit big on me, which means they should be a perfect fit for his long fingers.

My favorite holiday knitting endeavor was the Owlet Sweater with matching accessories!  I briefly mentioned this project and posted a pic of the pink bulky yarn in my last post.  Now that the kiddo has received it, I can finally talk about it!  I used the ever popular Owlet pattern, and worked it in the 3T size.  Since she's a tall and skinny little one, I made sure to make the torso and arms longer than called for so that it hopefully fits for more than just one cold season.  She briefly tried it on during their visit, and it fit her perfectly!  I had a little over a full skein left over after the sweater was completed, so I also made a matching hat and scarf.  The hat was a bit too small for her noggin, so I suppose she has a hat for her massive stuffed animal collection now.  But the mini scarf should fit!

The whole set!  And the little tot sized sweater matches the adult Owl Sweater I made this past year.

Owls Cardigan Nearing Completion

This Owls Cardigan has been fluctuating between being worked on and simply being looked at.  I started it in September, but it has been put on hold periodically to allow time for other projects.  My sweater progress also tends to slow down as they grow, since they become less portable as I make more progress.  The lace owls on the back take a bit of concentration as well, so I try to work on it more at home when I can spread out the chart, my notes, and tools.  I've had to make a couple of minor adjustments from the actual pattern, since I changed the sleeve size.  Many other knitters that made this complained about the arms being too tight, so I worked the next size up in sleeves from the body size.  After attaching the arms to the sweater body, I had to calculate where to add the extra decreases evenly as the shoulders were being shaped.  I'm now on the home stretch!  I have one button band picked up and in progress.  After that, I'll have the other buttonband, the collar, and the pockets to knit.  Additionally, I will be following the Knitmore Girls' Grosgrain Ribbon Button Band tutorial.  This will help add a polished, clean finishing on the button band as well as help make sure that the buttons don't damage the knitted fabric.  I've got a couple ribbons and buttons in mind, but no final finishing decisions have been made yet.

Home stretch on the knitting, and starting to think about the finishing touches.

So. Many. Socks.

I'm on a bit of a sock craze right now.  I have five pairs in various stages of completion.  I got some new needles, so I obviously had to dive in and test all of them... right?  Here's a quick list of the many socks:

• Matt's green/blue stripey socks are in hibernation.  They will get finished eventually, I just needed a break from them.  I'm not a huge fan of ribbing, and they have ribbing all the way down.  It makes them nice and stretchy for big feet, but ribbing is a bit boring for me to work on.
• Rainbow gradient socks for me were completed in record time!  Start to finish in 10 days.  These socks were also my first time using wooden double pointed needles from Knit Picks.  They were a dream to work with!  And I just love the many color changes in these socks.  My only complaint is that the yarn is a bit scratchy, but I've used it before and it does soften up after a couple of trips through the washer.
• Hand-dyed Self-Striping socks for me with lovely yarn from the Nomadic Yarns Etsy shop are done as well!  I love how quickly sport weight socks are completed.  I also tried a new skill with these socks.  I used an afterthought heel, which essentially has you work the sock as a tube sock, then go back at the end, pick up the heel stitches, and work the heel the same way the toe is done.  I found a great video walkthrough made by Leslie of the KnitGirllls podcast that simplified this process.  I forsee more sport weight socks in my near future... as you will read in a minute.
• Matchy Matchy Self-Striping socks for Matt are in progress!  I showed Matt a dozen different colors for another pair of socks for him.  He insisted that the color I got was the only one he liked.  So now we are going to have matching socks!  I have the first sock cast on and it is in progress.  
• Cabled Striped Socks for me are yet another sock in progress.  The first sock of the pair is about 3/4 of the way done.  This is also yarn from the Etsy shop mentioned above.  She does lovely work!  So many of her colors are calling to me!

Can you tell that socks are one of my favorite things ever to make?

Simple Silly Project

I spotted this on Instagram, and couldn't resist trying one of my own.  It's going to be a Fancy USB Cord.  I'm knitting a basic i-cord around a USB cord to spruce it up a bit!  I'm using one of my favorite yarn remnants, Knit Picks Hawthorne, which I used for a pair of socks.

The inspiration on the right, and my bits of progress on the left.  Love the colors!

Future Yarn Ideas

I have lots of projects in mind for the new year.  My sock craze is still going strong, so I'm slowly browsing patterns to use in the near future.  For myself, I want some more cabled socks.  Cables are probably my favorite knitting technique.  I also have plenty of self-striping yarn in my stash, so some more pairs of stripey socks are definitely in the queue.  I have a pair of obnoxiously bright neon green and orange socks to make for my brother.  I spotted this yarn at a yarn store in Champaign, IL where we lived together for a couple of years, so he is definitely the perfect recipient.

Perfect yarn for the brother.  Obnoxious colors for an obnoxious guy!  :-)

I also love working on shawls, and I already have two of these in mind.  For myself, I will be using Malabrigo Silkpaca laceweight yarn in the color Sunset to make the Semele shawl.  This will be my first laceweight shawl!  I also want to make a shawl for my mom for her birthday.  Not sure that I'll make the deadline, though, so her gift may be a sneak peek at the yarn I'll be using, and then the finished object will make its way to her later.  I'll likely use the Traveling Woman pattern that I've used twice now.  It's simple and versatile.  Her favorite color is red, so I'm currently browsing for the best red yarn for her shawl.

Top is one of the Traveling Woman shawls I've made.  That shawl in red is likely what my mom will be getting.  Below is the Semele shawl for me, with the color and yarn that I will be using.

Fingerless mittens are a frequent project.  They are quick to make, an easy way to use up small amounts of yarn, and are very useful for everyone.  Right now, I've got two pairs planned for gifts as well as a third for myself.  Currently contemplating yarn choices from my stash!

I'm also starting to think about my next sweater.  As a self-imposed rule, I won't start the next sweater until my current one is 100% finished.  I think I've narrowed it down to two different patterns.  I'll either be embracing my love of cables and making the Blackberry Cabled Cardigan or I'll be meeting my need of a longer tunic style sweater with the Still Light Tunic.  If I can't make up my mind, the decision may fall onto what yarns I can find at a good (aka cheap) price, and what that yarn is best suited for.  Whichever one doesn't get cast on first will simply go to the top of my to-knit queue and will be made eventually.

My two options for my next sweater.  They are both lovely in their own ways!

It's only January, and it has already been a very eventful year for knitting.  That is definitely a good sign!  I have lots of projects that I love on the needles, many awesome knitted gifts given this past Christmas, and many lovely plans for my near knitting future.  I am so excited to see what this year has in store.  Happy knitting everyone, and have a great January.  

As usual, I'll sign off with some pics of the beasts.  Both cats have spent a considerable amount of time hibernating on the bed, and they have "helped" me with knitting in their own ways.  Linus helped me model a hat, and Linus and Apollo got in a fight over who got to sit closest to my knitting tools.