How close did I get to DONE on my holiday knitting?

Well, its Christmas Eve, lets see how I did on my knitting:
1) hat and scarf for my daughter boyfriend - DONE
2) footies for our pet sitter - DONE
3) footies and socks for my mother in law - DONE AND MAILED
4) Dream in Color Tulip baby sweater for my new niece - DONE
5) socks for my daughter - DONE
6) scarf & mittens for a friend that is moving away - DONE
7) mittens for a niece - 1/2 way but I wont need them till the new year
8) mittens for nephew - DONE
9) beaded scarf for daughter - yarn purchased, pattern and beads needed
10) sharks socks - 1/3 DONE (going to put the in progress project in a box
11) socks for my mom - abandoned
12) lots of dishcloths for various friends - did a few, would have liked more

Happy Holidays to you all

The Gauge monster strikes again

I ran out of the border color on the Tulip sweater. All I had left to go was the edging on one sleeve and the icord ties at the neck. I went back to the store and they checked my gauge. Oops, I was off. They were going to give me a bit more of the blue, but I decided to buy a whole skein so I could make matching mittens for the babies siblings. I will strip in the "girl" colors in one set, and "boy" colors in the other. Sofia has a very girly sister, and sports-crazy brother. If I still have yarn left over I'll think about a baby hat and booties.

Sharks Socks

My husband is a big Sharks fan. I thought I'd make him some socks to wear to games for Christmas. I found some great teal yarn at Angora Valley , and started looking for a pattern. Actually found 2 colors and bought them both in my indecision. I got a solid teal and "shades of teal". I think I'm going with the shades of teal. It feels more sharkish. I wanted a pattern which suggests shark's teeth, is "manly, and is each to put on and off. I thought about Octobermuster, but I was afraid of the lack of stretch you get in a slip-stitch pattern. I paged through More Sensational Knitted Socks and found 2 possible patterns either the 12-stitch triangles, or Stansfield 304. I am going to knit a swatch of stansfied to see how it looks. I took a look in Ravelry but still can't decide.

I have a lot of Christmas knitting. So far I have these in progress or completed:
1) hat and scarf for my daughter boyfriend
2) footies for our pet sitter
3) footies and socks for my mother in law
4) 90% done with baby sweater for my new niece
5) 75% done with socks for my daughter
6) scarf for a friend that is moving away

To start:
1) mittens for a niece and nephew - no pattern or yarn chosen
2) beaded scarf for daughter - yarn purchased, pattern and beads needed
3) sharks socks - yarn purchased
4) socks for my mom
5) lots of dishcloths for various friends

Celebrating a new baby girl

This week a new nearly 9-lb niece was added to our family. She will probably be the last niece as she is 24 years younger than the oldest cousin. I had already made the Baby Surprise and baby surplice, but I found the Tulip cardigan kit that the Yarn Harlot blogs about in my lys. I couldn't resist, now that I know the baby is a girl. I bought it.

After I got home, I realized that the pattern lists multiple sizes, but I didn't know if the yarn would be enough for a 12 month size. I figure a 6-mos size will fit a 9 lb newborn for about a minute. I looked on ravelry, I called the lys, they were kind enough to email Dream in Color. The answer is they measure out the same amount of yarn for the 6 and 12 mos sizes. I am glad the answer is yes, because I started the 12 mo size even before I got the answer. If I run out of yarn I will buy more yarn for the bands and ties.

Holly on ravelry was so generous as to offer me her scraps of yarn. She also let me know about a cap that had been designed to coordinate with the sweater. Here is the link

I find the brown color to be such a surprising choice for the mix, but it makes it. One of the ways a kit gets you to try new things.

Bedsock or Footie?

What would be the best qualities for bedsocks? These are for my mother-in-law who is allergic to wool. First they need to be soft and comfy. Cotton Fixation is the perfect choice for yarn. I don't have much experience with it, but after a bit of getting used to I like it. It goes fast after the finer yarns I have been using. At first it felt a bit sloppy, I don't think I would do stranded knitting with it, but that could be my beginner's colorwork technique.

Second, they would be cheerful. I used a technique I call spiral striping. I don't know the official name. I started with one color. Halfway round I attached a second. Then I knit one color until I came to the start of the next continuously. I made solid heels and toes for interest. I love the look of eye of partridge heel. Although here you can see what I mean by "sloppy", the stitch definition isn't as good in fixation.

Third, don't cut off the blood circulation. I made a knitted hem. It seems better than ribbing that pulls in. Also the stretchiness of the fixation is good here.

The colors in the picture are not true. No matter how I struggled, the purple heel and toe look blue in the picture. I tried white backround, wood background, interior light, cloudy daylight.

Looking around Ravelry, I just found a tutorial on the spiral stripe technique. I am using only 2 colors so it works really simply. Because one of the yarns is variegated and one solid, it looks more complicated than it is. Here is the link: Spiral Stripe tutorial
Used Tootsies Footsies pattern as a reference.

Rainbow Monkey socks

HPIM1281
Originally uploaded by quixoposto

I started some rainbow socks for myself months ago. But when my daughter started coveting them, I ordered some more yarn from Epicurus on etsy and made her a pair of monkey socks in a week. Mine are still on the needles.

Upright Grand Piano

I have had this piano for years. It is finally time to recognize the fact that I never play it. It is an upright grand. I took off the panels that cover the inner workings and took some pictures.

www.flickr.com

Where to go to look for a free pattern

These are archives of free patterns>

• About Knitting
• Knitting And
• Knitting Pattern Central
  
• Knitty Magazine
• Boogie knits list of sock patterns
• Socknitters
• The Daily knitter
• Patterns for Charity from P2 Designs
• Crystal Palace Yarns
• Free Knitting Patterns
• Free Knitting Pattern Netring
• Barbara Breiter's KnittingOnTheNet.com
• Lion Brand Patterns
• Tostetoes
• Woolworks
• Knit Addicted
• Opal Patterns
• FreePatterns.com
  

Two Handed fair isle technique

Philosophers Wool has a wonderful 8 minute video that illustrates how to use 2 hands to do fair isle. The carries are secured to the back of the piece. Sometimes I can't see the video when I use Firefox, and always I wish that it was a bit bigger. I figured out how to get it to pop up in a player that I could resize. Use the following link:

mms://209.172.95.227/PhilosophersWool