Giant afghan COMPLETE!

I FINALLY finished my Mom’s afghan. Just in time for Mother’s Day. As you can see here, I started this back in July. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but it just took waaaay too long.

It’s 84″ square and has nearly 3 miles of yarn in it. I just hope Mom likes it and that the dogs don’t chew it up. =(

Pattern
Project on Ravelry

 

Birthday sock

For my birthday last week, I got some fun sock yarn from Timotab (who also knits). Now, I am not a huge fan of knitting socks, but I thought I’d give it another try. I picked out the Jaywalker pattern, which seemed both simple and interesting.

I’m only about 1/2 way through the second sock*, but it’s been pretty fun so far. Still not my favorite thing to knit, but I guess it’s not that bad.

* As you know, knitters often face Second Sock Syndrome wherein, after finishing the first sock, you lose motivation to knit the second sock. Timotab’s suggestion is to simply knit the second sock first. =)

 

Knit right pectoral muscle

I know I’ve mentioned that I knit organs for people whose are missing and/or broken.  As such, my friend SS requested that I knit him a right pectoral muscle.  Yyyyup, you heard that correctly.  I asked around on Ravelry for ideas, and ended up going with an increasing rib pattern.

I may have made it a bit too “buff” for SS, but it makes for a better plushie.  I think he likes it though.

 

Pink razor cami

This is one of my favorite quick projects.  Only 2 rows to memorize (and one of them is “knit around”) and no shaping.  Plus, it looks fantastic.

I made this for my sister for her birthday and I think she loves it.

Details

• Razor Cami
• US5 16″ circs
• KnitPicks Shine Sport in Orchid; used about 3 1/2 balls
• cast on 144 instead of 156
• knit 5 stich i-cord straps
• modified into halter instead of attaching straps
• took about a week to knit

Here’s a closeup of the pattern.  I think the color is pretty accurate here.

I would definitely knit this again for myself or either of my sisters.  A definite instant favorite.

 

Quickie projects

Over the weekend, I whipped up a couple quick projects for a friend, KC.

Last time I hung out with KC, she picked up some Hostess cupcakes and squee’d for joy. She also crochets, so I knew she’d get a kick out of this project.

I totally winged this off the top of my head, so no pattern. It has a cardboard circle on the bottom and is stuffed with polyfil.

Clearly this project is made of win. All she could say after this was “CUPCAKE!!!!!” =D

KC is a medical student and a crafter, so we got to talking about knit and crochet anatomical parts. I mentioned that I’ve made a knit heart for MB (similar to this pattern, but I ended up winging it more off pictures). MB then joked that I “knit replacement parts for those who don’t have them”. (I’ve also knit myself a pancreas, and a gallbladder for a friend who had gallbladder surgery). KC piped up and asked if I could knit her some ovaries because she has Turner syndrome. A lightbulb went off in my head, and I knew just the pattern.

Yup, that’s a womb alright… The fallopian tubes are poseable with wire. I know she and her other medical student friends will enjoy it.

 

Sweater finally finished

And oh, it is gorgeous!

It fits like a dream! The arms could have been a touch longer, but it’s no big deal. Real color is somewhere between first and second pic.

Closeup of neck:

Pattern
Yoke Pullover from Vogue Knitting Winter 05.06

Modifications

• knit body in the round
• knit yoke seamlessly
• did not add neck zipper
• near the end of the neck, I switched to smaller needles and added extra decreases in the cables so the neck wouldn’t be so gape-y

Specifications

• Caron Simply Soft in Autumn Red, less than 3 skeins
• Size 8 circs for main part, then size 6 dpns for the neck
• size Small
• around 2 months to complete

 

The best mittens EVAR

I searched long and hard to find adult sized mittens in store that would actually keep me warm, but it seems they don’t actually exist. So, of course, I decided to make my own. I had just recently learned how to do stranded knitting, so Knitty’s Corazon seemed like the perfect choice.

• Yarn: KnitPicks Swish DK in Mist and Pale Yellow
• Size: knit the Medium, but with smaller needles, resulting in the Small dimensions
• Needles: 2.75 mm (US 2) circular and 3.25 mm (US 3) dpn
• Time: 10 days (or maybe less)

 

Urban Aran complete

Actually, it was done awhile ago, but the holidays severely limited my blogging time.

Urban Aran
Bernat Softee Chunkee
Size 9 needles
heavy modification of shoulder/neck, based on seamless hybrid from Elizabeth Zimmerman

Two more pics on Flickr: front and back

 

Craft update

I’ve been finishing a lot of small projects lately since most of my important projects (afghan for my Mom and sweater for GiR) are now too big to fit on the bus.

First of all, GiR’s mom gave me some yarn she bought at a garage sale. I thought the best thing to do with it was to knit her a wrap for Christmas.

It was such a quick knit with Lion Brand Homespun using #10 1/2 needles. I only had just under 3 skeins, but I think it turned out long enough. I hope she likes it.

Next is my Dishcloth Reloaded from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It took me about 3 tries to start this thing, but I finally finished. I used 6s instead of the 8s called for (my 8s were busy), so it ended up a little stiffer than it should have been. Also, it doesn’t lay completely flat, but for a dishcloth it’s not really that important. Used Peaches ‘n’ Cream in a sort of light green color (greener than in the pic).

Next up is a shrug from Fitted Knits. I used some leftover Red Heart from my stash, and I made it a solid color instead of the two-tone from the book. Also, I didn’t make the shawl collar as big. This was such a quick easy knit (only 1 week of working on the bus) that I’ll probably make a few of these.

Penultimately is a crochet snood I made for use at Ren Faires. However, it fit so well and I love how it holds my hair, I might make a few just to wear normally. I used Caron Simply Soft and a J hook, and added one extra increase round. Plus, this took only 1 day to make!

Finally, is an infinity dress made from some soft stretchy blue fabric. I made one of these before, but it turned out a little too short to wear as a dress. It’s cool, comfortable, and completely reconfigurable. And it only has 1 seam to sew!

Phew! That’s a lot of stuff! There are a couple more things that I haven’t taken pics of yet, but I will save that for another post.

EDIT: I forgot one more thing. A knit chevron washcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It used exactly 2 skeins of KnitPicks Cotlin on #5s. Easy memorizable pattern. Now hopefully I can convince people to actually use the handknits. =P

 

Trudging along

A couple weeks ago, GiR’s sweater was nothing but a ball of yarn again. Needless to say, I have made some progress since then. I’ve been doing about 5 rows a day on the bus, which is slow, but steady progress. The cables actually look like something now.

This shot is of the back. The front looks very similar, except the cable panel in the middle has been split to become a zip-up cardigan. At first, I was scared of making the modification, but it turned out okay. It’s going to suck making it long enough for his torso, but I will trudge along. Someday this may get finished…