Just over a month ago one of my childhood best friends, that I've managed to stay in contact with over the years and across a distance, had her first child. This summer I had meant to knit a stockpile of things but the summer flew by (where did it go? I start TAing tomorrow!) and all I got was a list of queued and favorited items on Ravelry. So the kiddo was born and I had nothing knit! I dropped all of my current projects and knit a little set of accessories - booties, legwarmers, mittens, and a hat. I mailed it off on Friday - I hope it all fits him. I don't know baby sizes very well - and I don't know how well he fits the averages...
I also made another set of booties but they look like they will fit a doll so I sent them home with mom for the doll that she is dressing for a church bazaar or donation or something
I worked on and finished a lace scarf for one of Cory's aunts - it is the Trellis Scarf from Interweave knits. I think she'll really like it - we go to visit her this Wednesday in Comox
And you may remember that in May we re-did the floors. Well my favorite red chair kept loosing it's felt pads so I made some booties for it and they stay on. At first they seemed really noticeable but now they seem to belong.
Winter is coming so I made myself another hat. The colours are so off in this picture that I almost don't want to post it but I might as well. Anyone have tips on photographing red? Anyone know why it seems so difficult?
And then I got on a kick of knitting small things - started this Friday and may continue today too. Essentially I wanted to tidy my stash in Ravelry of small quantities of yarn but I have some arbitrary idea that the amount has to go below say .1 of a skein before I'll designate it as all used up - when I suppose I need to change that to some yardage amount. Anyway, small items.
Coffee Cozy the first - don't like it so much
So I made another one - Coffee Cozy the second - I like this one much better. I needed at least one of these cozy things because one of my travel mugs heats up a lot if you put a hot beverage in it. Plus it had a logo on it that I didn't like and that was peeling off. So I made the cozy to go over it.
The madness continued in the form of two stash busting flowers - not sure what I'll do with them - perhaps put a magnet or a pin on them...
And finally, something that was supposed to be a coaster that turned out too big. Which really isn't that surprising because the pattern was for a trivet and I should have either used a thinner yarn than called for or cast on a smaller number of stitches. Will do the next time. Now it is under a pot in my study and looks great there. What I really liked about this pattern is that it shrinks equally in width and length because it is knit in the round - so I didn't have to guess how many more (or less) rows I had to make relative to the width so that it would felt square.
I'm lazy so I'm not putting up pattern and yarn details - those interested can either email me or look on Ravelry (username: Catiecat). I have explicit details there about yardage etc because I weighed the items so that the requirements are accurate.
Still knitting on the epic mitered square blanket - but it is large so I can only work on it on days that are pretty cool.
Oh and I finished another sock - the mate to this one.
I haven't weaved in the ends or tried it on - I'm scared, plus the first one didn't fit well. The instructive part of the project is that I now know that I much prefer a gusset to a short row heel. I need more space in the instep and at the ankle than a short row heel provides. The project had bad mojo or juju or whatever - it took me a good month just to bind off after completing the ribbing! Oh well, it is done and over with.
And to end, I've been watching a lot of Buffy episodes - somewhere in season 6 now - because I can't stand most of the summer television stuff. Luckily shows start soon and hockey too.
ETA: and in all this I forgot another finished object (that's what I get for not posting these things as they were finished - or at least in the week they were finished...) - some more feline dim sum for a friend's cat - apparently I've got good catnip and Dixun had killed beyond repair the last one I made. How could I say no to such a request?
I somehow restrained myself at Uptown Yarns - I got two skeins of hand dyed sock yarn - Simply Sock by Sweatermaker Yarns. I've already wound the top skein into a ball and am swatching. If anything it is even more beautiful in a center-pull ball... I'm going to just do a basic sock out of Knitting Rules! by the Yarn Harlot. I am so excited about how this will knit up that I barely want to take the time to type this. I've already scoped out how to obtain more of this awesome yarn without travelling back to Vancouver Island - it appears to be available at Fun Knits (this link is as much for me to remember as it is for you guys - right now there is some lace weight available)
