Christmas Break Catch-Up

Hello all,

Things here in Megland have been rather busy, as first homework, then Christmas break got in the way of blogging. (I honestly don't know how people like the Yarn Harlot do it... where do they get the time...?) Regardless, here I am with an update before the insanity that is second semester comes in full force to swamp me with work until April. I feel the first pull already; this is not going to be fun. Thank goodness for knitting...

First and foremost, the Mitten Tree mittens were finished on time, somewhat at the expense of the homework. Hopefully they'll keep some people warm this winter.

(Women's size knit with Cascade Soft Spun in Aubergine, men's size knit with Cascade Soft Spun in Navy.)

The Christmas dishcloths were finished and joyfully received; here are the other two:

(Both knit with Bernat Handicrafter Cotton; first one with Tangerine [it really is orange, I swear...], second one with In Motion.)

I also knit my boyfriend a pair of mittens, which are making me very sad, as I made them too big. (I'm still not sure if they're ludicrously large or just a little too large...) He seemed to appreciate them nonetheless, and I suppose I can always try again if it starts bugging me enough and/or if he would like me to.

(Knit with Patons Classic Wool in Chestnut Brown. Picture doesn't show the colour accurately.)

I got hooked on tiny snowmen this Christmas too. I ended up knitting two for myself ('cause I didn't want the first one to get lonely; yes, I'm weird like that):

then three more for my boyfriend's family, one for each of them:

(Pattern is "Mochimochi Snowmen" by Anna Hrachovec, knit with Sandnes Garn Lanett in White, Black, Burgundy and Sage Green.)

This Christmas was the best ever for many reasons, but as far as knitting is concerned, I got the best gifts ever. My brother gave me the Yarn Harlot's book "The Secret Life of a Knitter," which made me both laugh and cry. (Okay, maybe I didn't cry, but I'm pretty sure I came close at least once.) My amazing boyfriend gave me two pairs of Signature dpns (no pictures, sadly; I may have to take some to post here) and my wonderful parents gave me the complete set of Signature straights. Voila!

I also need to take a picture of the stiletto tips. Incredible! So easy to do k2tog, yarn doesn't splinter, easier to get into tighter stitches... I could go on and on about these needles. They're amazing!

Of course, now that I have them, I need to start using them, which I have done. I had started a head/ear warmer around this time last year and was almost done, then realized the bottom part was wider than the top. I could have blocked the top wider, but then it would have been too wide, so I frogged it and started over with the Signatures. Things have been a bit weird so far, and I don't know if it's the different needles or if I'm doing something wrong... I might try going down a size and seeing if that helps. If not, I'll have to ask my favourite knitting buddy if she knows what's up. I really don't want to have to go back to the old needles; apart from the fact that they seem to be creating gaps in my cables, the Signatures are a dream to work with.

I also started a cowl, which is going very well so far. I think it's going to turn into my TV knitting; it's simple enough that you can concentrate on it and the show at the same time. It was worked on most over Christmas break during the many hockey games I ended up watching (not entirely by choice, but anything is more bearable when there's knitting involved.) I'll post pictures when I get a chance to take them.

I've also finally finished my first pair of socks! After all the mittens I knit, which gave me a better understanding of the double-pointed needle/knitting in the round in general, I was eager to get back to the socks, which had been sitting in the closet for some time. Once I picked them up again, I realized they weren't nearly as challenging as I'd thought. (The whole knitting two socks at a time on two circulars can be confusing when you don't understand where all the needles/balls of yarn are supposed to go.) I was very happy when the foot turned out to be the right length; it never seemed to get to the right spot when I measured on my foot and I ended up going with the measurements in the book, since I was already there anyway and I was eager to do the toes. They're very cosy, the perfect socks for a cold winter day spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book (or, alternately, some good knitting.) Here they are in their cool blue glory:

The colour is so vivid because I took this picture in front of a window. Pattern is "Women's Basic Cuff-Down Socks" by Antje Gillingham, knit with S. R. Kertzer Northern Worsted in Cool Blue.

Since finishing these, I've started the basic toe-up pattern from the same designer, but they're not far enough along yet to be worthy of pictures. Thankfully, they're proceeding with more understanding at this stage than the first ones were, since I now have a better idea of what's all supposed to be happening.

I've also started a pair of mittens for my mother, to replace her favourite black pair that she lost. Hopefully I can get them done by the end of the week; they need a little more felting, then cuffs. And that should be the last of the mittens until next winter. :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas/winter holiday and a good start to 2012 so far. Happy knitting!

P. S.: If you don't hear from me for a ridiculously long time, know that I've been swamped by the oncoming tide of homework, and don't expect me to resurface until April. If you hear from me before then, consider it a miracle that I managed to escape, however briefly.

Triumph and Success

Hello, neglected readers (if you're out there...)

I realize that I have been away from the blog for about a week and a half, but I have been busy to some purpose - with the dreaded homework and, of course, with knitting. First, good news on the dishcloth front - the new yarn has been purchased (and I couldn't resist buying an additional 2 skeins, so now Mom's going to get 4 dishcloths instead of 2...) and the incorrect yarn-overs redone and it looks much better. Behold:

I am very satisfied. When I get a life again, I'll finish the other two. (In case you missed the last post, this was done in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, colourway Love.)

On the mitten front, things have had mixed results. I finally got around to felting all three pairs (plus the mini pair I knit when I learned to make mittens at prayer shawl group) and it turns out that my washing machine is not conducive to good felting. Either that, or I'm doing something wrong that I'm unaware of. I started with the children's mittens, because they were sort of my "test" mittens and I was least concerned about ruining them in the wash, but, three cycles later, still nothing. (More or less). I finally gave up on them and started the men's pair, with an additional pair of jeans. After two cycles of them, again, nothing. At this point I decided to try finishing them off by hand, which worked fairly well, but I wasn't entirely sure about the stitch definition (or lack thereof). Apparently they turned out well, though, even though there are a few little places where you can still see defined stitches. I tried the women's mittens starting completely by hand, but quickly found that putting them in the wash for a few cycles helps get them started and makes things go that much faster. By this point, however, it was getting late, so I decided to leave them for another time. Here are the results of that night's labour:

(Child size, in Cascade Soft Spun, Grass)

(Men's size, in Cascade Soft Spun, Navy)

A few days later, I did finish felting the women's mittens, which seemed to come out much better, although that may simply be due to the fact that I now have a better idea of what they're supposed to look like. Now they, like the men's mittens, await cuffing:

(Women's size, in Cascade Soft Spun, Aubergine)

Tonight I finished cuffing the kid's mittens. Now they're all ready for the mitten tree on Sunday:

I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get the other ones done; depends on how the homework situation goes. (Which is what I should have been doing about 3 hours ago... homework that is, not cuffing mittens.)

Note to Self

Apart from the fact that it's imposing on my homework time (stupid homework),  the knitting is going well. The women's size mittens for the mitten tree are ready, except for felting and cuffs:

(These are made with Cascade Soft Spun in Aubergine. The picture doesn't do justice to the colour).

The Christmas gifts are also going very well - especially after I figured out the right way to yarn-over. I don't know how I didn't figure this out before. Not only is the real way a heck of a lot faster and makes way more sense, it's a lot easier!

I've decided to make my mother some knitted dishcloths for Christmas. I'm using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (which I've fallen in love with, mainly because of all the cool colours. I wish I could go and buy a skein of each one...). Since the kitchen is red, I wanted something that would sort of match, so I bought a skein of Love (which is absolutely gorgeous) and a skein of Country Red (which is a closer match to the kitchen than the Love, but I wanted one solid and one ombre skein). Because the Love is more interesting, I decided to use that first. The pattern (the typical dishcloth pattern from the back of the ball band) was super easy and all was going fairly well. However, I was very confused by the lack of the giant hole that's supposed to appear when using a yarn-over increase. And because I have no common sense, I decided to check out the correct way to do the yarn-over only after I finished the first dishcloth. Bound off and everything, so no chance of a redo at this point. Turns out, you don't wrap the yarn around the left needle and knit into it, you wrap the yarn around the right needle and knit the next stitch off the left needle. Makes way more sense, right? I'm not completely satisfied with the first one, and I suspect that I'll be buying another skein of Love to do it again the right way.

Here's my comparison. Incorrect yarn-over:

Correct yarn-over:

Both dishcloths do have the edging (sort of...), but I like to know that I've done things right and I don't want to go gifting sub-standard knitting. The bright side is that I get to use the Handicrafter Cotton again - and I may pick up a few more skeins for me too. Hey, I'm going to need my own dishcloths eventually... :D

First Post

Well, this is my first legitimate foray into the blogosphere. (MySpace at 15 doesn't really count). And having a purpose really helps. I've been inspired by the Yarn Harlot, though I doubt I'll be as good at this as she is. I'm not nearly as witty, nor do I have as much knitting experience. Still, I think this will be fun.

I suppose some sort of introduction is in order. As you've probably guessed by the title, I'm Meg. I live in Manitoba, Canada. I work and go to school and, occasionally, knit or crochet. I can't wait until I finally have evenings free for guilt-free knitting.

I bought my first begin-to-knit kit when I was between 10 and 12. I learned a few things (knit, purl, increase, decrease, basic cables) and then didn't knit for a long time. In my late teens, I started getting into it again. Now, I'm hooked. I haven't finished many projects yet, but I have about a gazillion works in progress. Some are fairly close to being done, others less so.

I learned to crochet a little after I learned to knit, but just couldn't manage it. My scarf attempts always ended up much narrower at the top than the bottom. About a year ago, I picked it up again and, miraculously, it worked. I don't crochet as much as I knit, but I'm getting into it.

I belong to a prayer shawl group at my church. We make shawls for people who need them (those who may be sick or going through difficult times), as well as for new babies. We've also recently expanded into mittens for the mitten tree that is always put up at Christmas. I'm starting to love knitting mittens. I also love knitting with other people. It's much more fun than knitting by yourself. It also feels really good to know that something I made might help someone else, whether it's a shawl or a pair of mittens.

I don't know how often I'll be able to post here, or how much I have that's "blog-worthy," but I'll do my best. Enjoy!