Stash Busting

Business for 2009 has been slow. so far.

So, I decided to see what I can knit with the medium sized stash I have.

1. Great Hat Race Round 3 Hat #1

Pattern: Robin's Egg Blue Hat by Rachel Iufer

Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Kaya in blue and cream (leftover from this)

Needles: #10

Notions: 1 big button (1.5-2 inches)

Cute pattern. I was waiting to make the hole for the button and then realized that it's just sewn on.

I was in suspense the entire time, thinking that I would run out of yarn. I had enough, but not by much:

Yikes.

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And some of my blanket squares:

Yarn: leftover Crystal Palace Panda Silk from orange sock mystery

Yarn: Leftover yarn from plain ribbed socks

and from the armwarmers. This is my square #12/42.

Monkey Socks

Now I'm an official sock knitter.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.

Yarn: KnitPicks Bare fingering weight dyed with food color

Needle: #2

For: me!

These did knit up pretty quickly. The only modification I added was I did the reinforced heel by s1k1 on RS and p on WS. The colors do work well with the lace pattern, and the way the skein came in, it didn't create too much pooling.

By the way, there's some serious yardage to this skein! Here's what I made from this:

1. Camera sock

2. Socks

3. Blanket square

And there is still some yarn left! Goodness!

Happy New Month! --Post Christmas report--

I have been drawing turtles and knitting a little bit for Christmas for the past few months...  You can go see the turtle drawing in my site in the portfolio section under "Scientfic Illustration".  I did more, but I ran out of space on the portfolio.

Anyway, here are some of the Chrismas knitting I did:

Plain socks:  basic k3p1 ribbing for leg and foot, normal heel turn with slipped heel.  

For: Asher

Yarn: Jawoll Aktion by Lang

Needles: #1

I was supposed to be working on the armwarmers when I flew down to Georgia for my sister's graduation, but totally forgot the yarn (just had needles.  ouch)  So I ran into Knitty City (lovely) by the Museum of Natural History, and got these for the trip.  Good thing, because the flight was delayed for 2 hours.  

Orange Mystery Socks for SKA September "Sliding Leaves" by Jeannie Cartmel

For: Mom

Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Silk 3004

Needles: 0!

The heel flap is interesting to work with.  Mine was a bit too tight when knit up.  It should be looser after the first wash.  

Ooof these took a really long time, since I started in, well, September.   Oh well, but again, I started freelance, set up my LLC, moved to NC then NY, illustrated at the museum for 10 weeks, moved back to NC and it was Christmas.  

Oh yeah, and the Yarn Harlot commented on these!  Yesh!!

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and how can I forget this needle size 3 beast:

Dad's vest

Pattern: original

Yarn: Knitpicks Telemark, brass heather, maroon heather, and natural

Needles: 2 & 3 

He lost weight since I last measured.  Awesome!  but not awesome for the vest.  I had to resort  to some Norwegian steeking action: 

Ouch.  I'm glad mom has a decent sewing machine.  I wouldn't be able to do without it.  

Apparently this vest got critiqued by my grandmother.  She didn't like the way I casted on for ribbing (I did long tail cast on) and the way I bound off the ribbing (plain knitted bo).  awww Everything else passed though! Hoorah!  

I'll get some action shots from dad soon.  

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And this mosaic knitting goth-ness:

Pattern: Burtonesque by Jacqueline Landry

For: Sister

Yarn: Michigan Domy Heather by Old Mill Yarn

Needles: #4 & #7

Mods: I wanted a thinner garment than the DK version the pattern had written for, so I substituted fingering weight yarn and knitted in size large to get a small sized garment.  

I worked on these during my commute from Jersey to Upper West Side. 

I still need to get some action shots, since they had to be finished and wrapped very quickly. 

Phew!  Good thing I had everything finished and was ready to start knitting fresh for 2009!!