A few more recent or current projects, as threatened! ;o)
My as-yet unfinished Calorimetry:
I had such plans for Calorimetry... I was going to make this one for myself, then make one for my mother and at least one of my sisters for Christmas-- possibly make one for every female in my family. (Ok, not really.) It's such a quick project, even for a new knitter like myself. It takes hardly any yarn at all! It's useful! It's handmade with luv! It's perfect!
...But I just had a pretty awful time getting the pattern to work the way I wanted. I couldn't eliminate the non-essential holes, and I couldn't convince myself that the holes were a "design element". Meh, it doesn't matter. Maybe no-one would've wanted to wear them, anyway. (Someone said they look stupid with short hair...?) Or maybe I'll finally learn how to fill in the holes to my satisfaction, and I'll make a few of them for next year. (g) We'll see...
Anyway, this one is still waiting for me to (A) learn how to weave in tails in knitting and (B) sew a button on so it's wearable. I think I'll probably look like a dork in mine, but oh well. I'll wear it anyway, when we go on walks to the pond, maybe.
Want to see a little corner of our kitchen? Sure, you do! ;o) This is the corner where we keep our calendars and I hang various crocheted pot holders, hats, and scarves. And sometimes keys.
That scarf is the Four Winds Scarf (aka Delicate Scarf) I made quite a while ago but never photographed in its completed state-- mostly because it sat on the coffee table for a few months, waiting for me to spare five minutes to weave in the tails.
Here's a photo of it finished (and there are a couple more on Flickr, if you're interested, though I think I forgot in all of them to turn it so the popcorn stitches are turned puffy/pretty-side-out... Oops.):
I think it's pretty, but I've yet to wear it. (I'm more likely to do so, though, now that there aren't several loose threads hanging off it.)
Oh, and that Phannie beret I've made four times? Maybe you spotted a couple of them in the kitchen-corner photo, above? Well, here's one of them closer up:
This is the one that I decided to keep for myself when I made a grey one for the intended recipient. I love that color. Maybe the intended recipient would've, too, or maybe grey goes with everything, and she'll be marginally more likely to wear that one. No way of knowing without asking, and I wouldn't like to ask. People will just be polite and say that of course they like them both, but the one you gave them is just what they needed. I like people to be polite to me-- and I try to be polite back, usually-- but it does make it hard to get at the truth, sometimes.
There are a couple more photos of the hat on Flickr, if you simply can't get enough pictures of slouchy berets.
So, now that Christmas has come and gone, the flurry of gift-making over for another year, it's safe to settle back into the comfort of working on "whatever". I've added a few more rows to the Very Vintage V-Stitchghan, and yesterday I embarked on an exciting new adventure in knitting-- a neck warmer.
I've been admiring the pattern for a while... It's the Nostalgia Neck Warmer by Kris Percival. The pattern's free, and I love the way the sample neck warmer looks. Mine's not quite so charming, yet, but I'm still happy with how it's turning out.
Apparently it uses the reverse hunter's stitch, not that that means much to a newbie like me...
It's been my introduction to knitting through the back loop. And in looking that up, again, I see that I'm not 100% sure I'm even doing this pattern correctly. (g) The pattern uses the abbreviation "k1B", which seems to usually mean "knit 1 below"... but can also mean "knit through the back loop", which is how I read it. I don't see a glossary/explanation in the pattern, and as far as I can tell, my neck warmer looks somewhat like the sample photo, so maybe I'm doing it right. At this point, this is how it will be done, right or wrong.
(If you see a mistake, don't tell me. ;o) I'm happier not knowing. Blissful ignorance.)
I wonder if maybe I should've gone up a needle size to get a better drape, but it'll be fine. I'm practicing my knitting and having fun, and that's the important thing. Fortunately, a neck warmer doesn't have to be any particular width, and if it's a little dense, that'll just make it warmer.
(I think I spotted an error in the pattern, but I'm not confident enough in my knitting pattern reading skills to be certain. There are more details about it in my Ravelry project notes. Probably an experienced knitter wouldn't be troubled at all, but as a beginner, working a pattern with blind faith, something as simple as a missing comma can be perplexing. I had to rip out my first try and restart.)
I've been enjoying playing around with a few of my yarn-craft-related Christmas gifts. (And this isn't nearly all of them! All sorts of goodies!) Need to spend some quality time reading through that book...
I hope you all have a fun New Year's Eve and kick the new year off to a good start, this weekend. Happy crafting!
My as-yet unfinished Calorimetry:
I had such plans for Calorimetry... I was going to make this one for myself, then make one for my mother and at least one of my sisters for Christmas-- possibly make one for every female in my family. (Ok, not really.) It's such a quick project, even for a new knitter like myself. It takes hardly any yarn at all! It's useful! It's handmade with luv! It's perfect!
...But I just had a pretty awful time getting the pattern to work the way I wanted. I couldn't eliminate the non-essential holes, and I couldn't convince myself that the holes were a "design element". Meh, it doesn't matter. Maybe no-one would've wanted to wear them, anyway. (Someone said they look stupid with short hair...?) Or maybe I'll finally learn how to fill in the holes to my satisfaction, and I'll make a few of them for next year. (g) We'll see...
Anyway, this one is still waiting for me to (A) learn how to weave in tails in knitting and (B) sew a button on so it's wearable. I think I'll probably look like a dork in mine, but oh well. I'll wear it anyway, when we go on walks to the pond, maybe.
Want to see a little corner of our kitchen? Sure, you do! ;o) This is the corner where we keep our calendars and I hang various crocheted pot holders, hats, and scarves. And sometimes keys.
That scarf is the Four Winds Scarf (aka Delicate Scarf) I made quite a while ago but never photographed in its completed state-- mostly because it sat on the coffee table for a few months, waiting for me to spare five minutes to weave in the tails.
Here's a photo of it finished (and there are a couple more on Flickr, if you're interested, though I think I forgot in all of them to turn it so the popcorn stitches are turned puffy/pretty-side-out... Oops.):
I think it's pretty, but I've yet to wear it. (I'm more likely to do so, though, now that there aren't several loose threads hanging off it.)
Oh, and that Phannie beret I've made four times? Maybe you spotted a couple of them in the kitchen-corner photo, above? Well, here's one of them closer up:
This is the one that I decided to keep for myself when I made a grey one for the intended recipient. I love that color. Maybe the intended recipient would've, too, or maybe grey goes with everything, and she'll be marginally more likely to wear that one. No way of knowing without asking, and I wouldn't like to ask. People will just be polite and say that of course they like them both, but the one you gave them is just what they needed. I like people to be polite to me-- and I try to be polite back, usually-- but it does make it hard to get at the truth, sometimes.
There are a couple more photos of the hat on Flickr, if you simply can't get enough pictures of slouchy berets.
- - - - - - -
So, now that Christmas has come and gone, the flurry of gift-making over for another year, it's safe to settle back into the comfort of working on "whatever". I've added a few more rows to the Very Vintage V-Stitchghan, and yesterday I embarked on an exciting new adventure in knitting-- a neck warmer.
I've been admiring the pattern for a while... It's the Nostalgia Neck Warmer by Kris Percival. The pattern's free, and I love the way the sample neck warmer looks. Mine's not quite so charming, yet, but I'm still happy with how it's turning out.
Apparently it uses the reverse hunter's stitch, not that that means much to a newbie like me...
It's been my introduction to knitting through the back loop. And in looking that up, again, I see that I'm not 100% sure I'm even doing this pattern correctly. (g) The pattern uses the abbreviation "k1B", which seems to usually mean "knit 1 below"... but can also mean "knit through the back loop", which is how I read it. I don't see a glossary/explanation in the pattern, and as far as I can tell, my neck warmer looks somewhat like the sample photo, so maybe I'm doing it right. At this point, this is how it will be done, right or wrong.
(If you see a mistake, don't tell me. ;o) I'm happier not knowing. Blissful ignorance.)
I wonder if maybe I should've gone up a needle size to get a better drape, but it'll be fine. I'm practicing my knitting and having fun, and that's the important thing. Fortunately, a neck warmer doesn't have to be any particular width, and if it's a little dense, that'll just make it warmer.
(I think I spotted an error in the pattern, but I'm not confident enough in my knitting pattern reading skills to be certain. There are more details about it in my Ravelry project notes. Probably an experienced knitter wouldn't be troubled at all, but as a beginner, working a pattern with blind faith, something as simple as a missing comma can be perplexing. I had to rip out my first try and restart.)
- - - - - - -
I've been enjoying playing around with a few of my yarn-craft-related Christmas gifts. (And this isn't nearly all of them! All sorts of goodies!) Need to spend some quality time reading through that book...
- - - - - - -
I hope you all have a fun New Year's Eve and kick the new year off to a good start, this weekend. Happy crafting!