Frog Is A Four Letter Word

I finished up the Fair Isle hat and it's really cute. It also looks like it's the right size, which is a miracle since I had to use a needle three sizes smaller than what the pattern suggested. I did swatch, though, so I guess it shouldn't be a huge surprise.



I started this hat to use up the scraps of Cashmereno that I had. But since I bought another ball in cream, and didn't really use that much of the pink or green, I now have more leftovers than when I started! I need to make something to use up this much yarn...



There's about 1/2 of a ball of pink, 1/3 green and about 1/4 cream--appx. 159 yards. So do babies wear scarves? Or mittens? I could make booties, but she's already walking, so she's probably wearing shoes. A scarf would be easy, but mittens would be cuter. Suggestions?

TGIF!! I plan on doing a lot of R&R this weekend, which would include knitting. Thanks to everyone for your hints on my fair isle hat. By the way, I'm using KFI's Cashmereno in cream, pink and green.

Also this weekend I'll set up the details for the Pooch Along dog sweater knitalong. I've never done a knitalong (well, I've participated in, but not started one), so bear with me. I have put the button up to the right. Save it to your server if you're interested in pooching.

Not much else new. I've been finishing up M's shrug and working on the fair isle hat all week. So ready to start something else!

Have you used cashmerino?

Here is that hat I was telling you about. I love these three colors together, but they don't work so well in a little fair isle motif, there's not enough contrast. But I'm not about to frog the hat--blasphemy! I'm almost to the crown decrease part, so it should go quickly from here.



And here is the back. Not too messy for my first try at fair isle. True, there was only this one band of motifs, consisting of 5 rows. But you have to start somewhere! And to be honest, I found the colorwork incredibly boring. I don't know why it would seem more boring than plain stockinette, I guess because I felt like I wasn't making any progress. Knit one in pink, put that down, twist it around the cream, knit one in cream, put that down, twist it around the pink. Bleeeaaaah.



Do you like fair isle?

Is anyone interested in a dog sweater knit along? I have a couple different sweaters planned for Dobby and would enjoy some company and advice! I saw a link for a Kitty Bed Knitalong on Lydia's site and it made me think of a doggy knitalong.

Yesterday I found a new LYS, can you believe it? One of the ladies from the knitting meetup Wednesday night told me about it. It's The Fine Needle in Snow Hill (19 miles away!! The exclamation points are a positive, 19 miles is practically next door when you live in the middle of nowhere.) and I had been there years ago when they just had quilting stuff. Imagine my delight when I see that they now have almost as much yarn as they do fabric! A very nice selection, way too much novelty for my taste of course, but they have to sell what people are buying so hey. They had Katia, Noro, Debbie Bliss, Sirdar, KFI, Regia, Dale, you name it. And a huge selection of patterns--I got a Sirdar toddler pattern book, a ball of Cashmereno in cream to use with the pink and green to make the hat on the cover of that pattern book, and something for my secret pal. That's the first yarn I've bought in ages, aren't you proud of me?

Browsing through their knitted samples, I could not believe all the novelty scarves. Are they still popular? I was making novelty scarves for christmas gifts three years ago and now I'm sick of novelty yarn. When I made them people laughed and thought they were ugly. Am I just too ahead of the curve? How is it that they're just now being the hot thing? Anyway, all I did yesterday afternoon was knit. Ah, looks like today will closely resemble yesterday.

Any Pooch-Along takers?

I just remembered Niece #3's birthday is in a couple weeks. So now I really want to get the Madeleine sweater done for her. So did I pick it up and get back to work on it? Noooo. I cast on for two new hats for Niece #2 and #3.



This one will be for Niece #3 using the pink and green Cashmerino leftovers from Courtney's socks. I want to incorporate little ribbons somehow, either by knitting in eyelets and threading the ribbon through or making cables and tie a bow around the cable (have you ever noticed the back of a cable is open? I know it may not seem exciting, but what a perfect place to tie some ribbon).



This is for Niece #2 using the Mexican Wave leftovers from the hat E made for me. Since the yarn is self striping and wildly colored, I don't need to do much to the hat. It will have a ribbed "cuff" (what do you call the bottom of a hat? Browband?) and maybe have ears or something.

What kind of hats do you like to make?

Three cheers for my Secret Pal. I got another package today and, damn, is it nice to be spoiled! Haha.



Secret Pal sent an awesome mohair hat kit in a shade of pink that is SO me. Listen to this, "The yarn comes from a French farm in the mountains near Spain. It's a small-scale production and it's a top quality yarn." How cool is that!?

Then there's a pair of gardening gloves. Yes, SP, now's the time of year to pack away the garden for the winter. I have to plant bulbs and trim back roses in the next few weeks. These will definitely come in handy.

There's a catnip toy for Karmann, and I wanted to take her picture with it, but Her Highness is not available for photo ops this evening. See, it's raining out and her hair is a fright.

And the clear package to right contains some awesome almond biscuits--but not for long! I swear I've already eaten 1/4th of the package. I should really eat dinner first.

Thanks again Secret Pal! You rock!

I'm going to visit some of my family--specifically my new niece--in a month and I wanted to make some things to take out. Then I remembered that I never finished the Madeleine sweater that was originally planned for her. So I'll finish that up and hope it fits. If not, then it will go to the cousin-in-law's baby who was second in line to get it.

I also was in the mood to whip up a bunch of dishcloths and washcloths, since my fam just moved into a new house. I don't know the colors of their kitchen or bathrooms, though, so I will just make a variety. Here is a dishcloth I did yesterday.



What's your favorite housewarming present to knit?

I have two sweaters waiting in the wings for Dobby. I don't know why I'm bothering, this is The Dog Who Destroys All Things--animal, vegetable or mineral. We are likely to have big arguments about wearing the sweaters, but I can't stand watching her shiver when we're outside (and it's only October!) and she needs higher visibility when we're on the street.

1. A fuzzy sweatshirt-y version of Esther Bozak's Original Custom Fit Dog Sweater in Lion Polarspun. I'm trying to use up the tons of white polarfleece I have, so that will be the main body, and then I'll use a little of the sherbet multicolor to make the cuffs and thin stripes across the body. I like this pattern (though I haven't used it yet) because it offers so much coverage. That's my main concern with other sweater patterns I've seen, they leave too much uncovered. And Dobby's a girl, so I can cover more of her belly, too. (If you've ever taken a wet sweater off a male dog, you know what I mean.)

2. The silly, frilly Girly-Dog sweater in Patons Kingfisher bright yellow. Bonus! Today I found some Bernat Boa in color "Tweetie Bird" (orange and yellow) hiding in my stash. It will be a perfect frou-frou collar for this sweater. What a riot! I may use the same pattern as above for this sweater if I like it. I will just add ruffles to the cuffs.

No doubt after being subjected to these degrading childish mockeries, my dog will bite through my throat in my sleep. But I'll get some pictures of her wearing the sweaters first, so all won't be lost.

Do you have a dog sweater pattern or book that you'd recommend?

I am seriously considering getting a knitting machine of some kind. I was looking at the Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine yesterday. I want to see what else is out there. It's not that I don't loooove handknitting and relaxing, but there are some things--like charity items and fundraiser items--that would be better if I could them faster. It turns out I'm a slow ass knitter. I don't mind, except when it comes to things that need to be "mass" produced.

I know Shannon has a USM. Who else has some kind of knitting machine? Tell me about it.

It's getting cold here, and of course it's darker every night when I come home. So the doggins needs a sweater for our walks and it has to be bright and light colored. I'm going to use that Patons Kingfisher I got a while back to make her a little frilly girly sweater. Something with ruffles on the collar and cuffs and maybe hearts in relief. She is SO not that type of dog, it will be hilarious. You know she will hate it and just be mortified if we run into any of her dog friends. "Please, just keep walking and pretend you didn't see me in this sweater." Like your junior high school portrait that you mom insists on keeping on display even though you had a horrible haircut, huge eyeglasses and a tacky 80's shirt that was too small.

What have you knit that was--let's face it--hideous?

I've been working on my evening top and M's shrug, two things with very dark yarn and smallish gauge. So to save my eyes from spontaneous combustion, I'm reading my new FCEK Winter edition. I liked their articles on wire knitting and special trimming/finishing details.

There were a couple other knit/crochet mags there, but they were like, "Ooh, we made a scarf with two different yarns" or "Wow, here's a scarf made with chunky yarn and big needles!". Not that we don't need or want scarves, but that's ALL they had.

Do you wear glasses or a magnifying glass to knit?

Tonight I'm starting my evening top for my bf's class reunion. I'm using Lanas Lauria, a mohair blend with some shiny stuff in it. I picked Berroco's Bea as my pattern, though I'm changing up the directions quite a bit. There's no reason the body of this can't be knit in a tube. Because I'm "All About Avoiding Seams". And then it has these complex instructions for knitting the halter neck strap part. They have you knit it seperately then sew it onto the edge of the top. Why? Can't I pick up the edge of the top with my edge stitch of the strap? And there is a racerback detail that I can't even picture. Literally, they have no picture of it and no schematic and the instructions are like, "oh yeah and make a racerback...". So you're asking why am I even using this pattern? Well, it's a neat looking top and I'd probably change any pattern I used, so it's nothing personal. Now I need to find my #6 circs.

How much will you alter a pattern?

Here's a crappy picture of what I've been knitting for the past three weeks (see, you thought I was just shopping). So even though the photo is horrible, trust me when I tell you it's gorgeous, sleek and ultra soft.



It's a shrug using the black alpaca I bought on eBay. I haven't been blogging about it because it's a birthday present for M and I'm supposed to surprise her with it tomorrow. Ha! It will be a surprise alright, "Here's a birthday present that's not completed". Now that I think of it, that won't surprise her.

Anyway--specifics. Black fingering weight alpaca on #4 bamboo circs. 4x4 rib, sleeves increasing from 8" at the cuff to 14" at the underarm, 20" long. Back even at 12" wide, 19" long. It is sooooper stretchy, too, so measuring all this is tough. It's supposed to be a size small. I'll have her try it on tomorrow and then I'll be more confident in seaming it up.

Do you wear/make/like shrugs?