Friday Fibering

I got no FOs, so it’s just an update on what I working on now.

And it’s more bunny butts!!! I needed a baby gift for a friend of CG. She has a little boy and it’s just natural that he needs a hat. And after that cute bunny butt hat of a few weeks ago I couldn’t resist. This time I am reversing the yarns to use the cream as the bunny. I grabbed a scrap of orange to use for the accent, and won’t have enough to repeat the checkers above the bunnies. Oh well, I am used to running short! No one will even know it’s supposed to have a repeat anyway.

I am stalled on the mittens while I figure out a better way to close that thumb. All my attempts made the thumb too long. So it’s waiting for me to just get back at it. 3rd time will be there charm I am sure.

Tonight is our last regular season home basketball game. I am planning to cast on a linen stitch cowl with these yarns to pass the time during the game. I figure the hat will be done before game time, and I don’t want to fiddle with the mittens, so an easy repeat pattern will be just the thing. It’s for one of the teachers, who will be there, so I can get her OK on the colors and pattern. She wants it long enough to wrap twice, but not deep. I figure these leftovers will work, plus they match the school’s colors. Go Bears!

Time to visit the local haunts. Here, here, and here.

Stitch Along Wednesday

Almost missed this one. I am off in lalaland lately. Can’t get my act together. But I have been knitting away, so it’s all good.

This week I showcase a pair of mittens I am working on. This are for a prize I gave away for a contest. Back in September! She is a very understanding knitter, so she told me to not sweat the delivery of them. With all the hat knitting I was doing last year I got behind. And then at the start of this year I just wanted to make something for myself! And I did, so now I can move on to her mitts.

In speaking with autumngeisha I decided that her pair definitely needed to be smaller than my pair. At 5’8″ I am not by any means small, and my hands reflect this. I have long fingers. Most store bought women’s gloves will not fit my length. So for my pair I used the larger needle size and even made the thumb deeper. Her pair are knit on the smallest needle size and I even lopped off the last motif at the top. I am pleased with the modification I made to the chart to achieve this.

This first mitt has flown off the needles. Hoping the 2nd does the same, and then the 3rd, and 4th! Because these babies are lined!!! I still need to figure out what I am using to line them. Something very fine is needed. I scrounged around for scraps to use on my pair and they are very colorful inside. LOL. The only thing nagging me about her pair is the thumb. I wasn’t able to get the yarn to match up for the thumb, so the color shift is very abrupt. For my pair I spit and spliced and got the colors to hold true. Oh well, when you are using Noro sometimes you win, sometimes you just miss it.

Now head out to the party, party, party!

Love Your Library, vol. 8

Click above to see what others Love!

It’s done!!! The shawl is out of the rotation. It’s no longer being reknit. It’s done!!!

My first LYL piece was French Cancan, a pattern I have had for a bit and have wanted to make for a long time. So it was time. I cast on, knit, discovered I had the wrong needle, ripped, recast on, knit, and finished!!! And I love it.

So now, what’s the plan? Baby knits! Tons of them! OK, so only 6 total and 1 is already gifted. First up is from my LYL book The Baby Knits Book, Debbie Bliss. I am planning to make Tank Top for a baby boy, to be gifted in March at his baby shower. I am using this yarn in Pistachio, Ebony, Taupe, and Beige. I will stripe it in Fibonacci stripes to mix it up. Hoping I can get two vests out of this since I have three boys to knit for at this point. The other two are girls so I get to have fun!!!

Another item on the list is this darling blanket. It’s not LYL eligible, but I still want it as a consideration.

I plan to use this hat pattern to make a basketball hat for the Girl’s Basketball Coach’s little one. Will use Dale Baby Ull in orange and black. Diva Girl has Mrs. M for gym so she’s gotten close to her this past year. And then I will make this for the other baby girl on the list. These items count towards my LYL challenge since they have been queued since FOREVER!

But for now, this pattern is being used to knit the 2nd pair of mittens. I had Fiddlehead in the queue for a long time and finally made myself a pair. Now a wonderful online knitting friend will be that much closer to getting her own pair!

 
Hmm, notice a theme here?

For this pair I am using the leftover Silk Garden I used on mine and some cream wool from the stash. I am shortening this pair by removing the last motif at the top. My pair is under the current pair and as you can see they are just a smidge larger. The recipient’s hands are small so I am hoping these changes will work. I made the thumb opening deeper for my pair since I have long fingers and palms. The only thing I wish is that I had started the Noro from the opposite end. That way I would have been able to match the colors for the thumb better. Oh well, #knitterprobs