Heather's Mitts

A co-worker of mine saw my October Mitts when I wore them to work, and she asked for a pair of her own, but picked out new colors.  

They turned out very well, although my tension got more even (and therefore smaller) on the second mitt.

Ravelry Project Page

Tuscarora

This was a linen tank that I rushed to finish before I left for Cape Cod at the beginning of the summer, and would you know I left it at a transit point? My parents were able to ship it back to me, but it never even made it to Cape Cod. Ugh.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this top. It's Linen, and it sticks to anything I wear underneath in unflattering ways. It kinda just looks like I'm wearing a bag.

Maybe it'll grow on me? I did knit it from some free, de-stashed Linen that I dyed.

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Very Hungry Caterpillar

I had been looking for an excuse to knit this for years, and then this April, it came - a Children's Book themed baby shower!

It was a pretty quick knit, and I'm very happy with it! It was nice to work with some thicker yarn (worsted held double) after having done socks for a few months.

I hope to eventually see the baby in it, though it was for a distant acquaintance, so I'm not sure I ever will.

We gifted it with a book and a rattle - I love the little kit it made!

Ravelry Project

SM4 - Sweet Nuttins

And Round Four is here! I absolutely love love love these socks! These were my fastest knit in the whole competition, and the pattern was so well written and so beautiful!

This was also deep stash - some leftover yarn from Becca's Shawl.

I knit this in a bigger needle size, because initially I was trying to make them to fit my mom, but they definitely weren't big enough. However, they're a little loose on me. I'm thinking about frogging the toe and increasing the length to give them as a gift for someone else in my family, but I haven't decided. I also haven't worn them, just in case!

Ravelry Project

PS: Round Five will be on hold until December, since it's a gift!

Ben's Birthday Moss Socks

Between rounds three and four of Sock Madness, I somehow had the urge to...knit more socks.

Well, I guess that's a little misleading. I had already knit these socks for my brother, and I had knit them with exactly the same construction of the Firefly socks I had knit him, and then I got a call, literally the night they were blocking, saying he had a few fit problems with those socks.

Don't get me wrong - I'm really glad he called. I would much rather knit him socks that he'll wear, especially since he likes them so much, but the timing was...non-ideal.

Well, during Round Two, I had gone to my Uncle's party, and while there, I tried the socks on his feet for heel alignment. I had already knit toe-up, and the problem area had been the heel, so I tried (for the first time) a toe-up heel flap. I frogged the cuffs, finished the two heels, and then headed home.

In April I got the bug to finish them. They were, after all, supposed to be a March birthday gift. So knitting back the Ramen Yarn, I finished them up and sent them off!

And the best part is? This was deep-stash yarn!

Ravelry Project Page

Yarn Dye Extravaganza!

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Wanting a distraction from traditional knitting between rounds, I decided to take some old yarn I had, but knew I would never use, and dye it up!

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I honestly can't tell you what dyes I used, since it was essentially me throwing things in a pot and seeing what came out, but I can show you what came out!

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First, I dyed some white linen yarn (image 3).

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When it first came out of the pot, it looked very red (image 1), so I put it back in for a bit, but it didn't make a difference. However, after the dye dried, it was more of a peachy color (image 4).

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Next, I dyed four batches of some wool and cotton blend I had gotten from a kickstarter. These were pink (image 5), purple (image 6), blue (image 7) and green (image 8).

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They turned out much warmer in tone, and more deeply saturated (images 2 and 10). I especially like the green and blue.

And yes, all of these are in Ravelry:
Linen Page
Pink Page
Purple Page
Blue Page
Green Page

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SM3 - Waimakiriri

Round Three of Sock Madness was tough for me. Really tough. It almost knocked me out. The pattern required a tiny cable to be created for the toe. It then asked you to pick up stitches around, and then continue the cable up the sides of the foot as you knit, and then around the heel and up the leg.

I used Tipsy Sheep yarn in the White Russian colorway, and I can barely get them over my heels! But they do get over the heel, and I did finish them, and I did make it to Round Four!

Ravelry Project

Altering dress

Between rounds of Sock Madness, I attended a formal weekend event. In preparation, I purchased a formal dress from the Thrift Store - only $11! Unfortunately, while it fit nearly perfectly, the shoulders needed to be taken in, as they often do on my clothes.

Well, a night's work later, they were fixed. I had to rip open the seams of the shoulders, creatively hem the mesh, cut out the satin and re-seam the top of the shoulders, and then hand wip stitch back up around the outside.

It was generally more complicated than I thought it would be, but I was pleased with the result, and I was able to wear it without pins or bulky folds that weekend!