Projects!

I know, I know, it's been a while. The last time I posted I was trying to finish up mom's shoes and had just started on the mobile. I am embarrassed to say that neither project is finished. The shoes have been felted, unfortunately a little *too* well and I need to figure out how to stretch them out just a tiny bit, put the straps and buttons on and call it good. Mom *loves* how they turned out though! I got a couple of fish done for the mobile but I had to sideline it, I have a hard time maintaining interest making the same thing over and over. I'll get back to them soon though, I really do want to finish the mobile!

So what have I done? Well I made me a super cute little cotton hat. Here's the pattern.

I loved the pattern so much that I decided to make another in pink for my aunt Barbie. She's a pink person all the way :D

This hat is what I worked on on the way to Vegas

(That's me knitting at the airport)

Funny thing, I have not used charts much and this was my first "lace" pattern period (even though it's not *all* that lacy lol). In fact I have only used a chart once before and I messed that up because I didn't know you are supposed to read charts from right to left and bottom to top. I read it like a book. Thankfully that particular pattern was pretty straightforward and other than it turning out upside down and having a line that wouldn't have happened had I read it right, it turned out beautiful.

(It did get finished, I'm just having trouble locating the finished picture, it was a Christmas stocking for, wait for it...my mom SURPRISE! lol)

So anyways, this was my chance to read a chart correctly for the first time. Remember I did the cotton hat, then did the pink hat - same pattern. So about 5 rows before I start the decrease at the top of the pink hat I realize an error has been made. An error has been made MANY times. This is an 8 row chart and I have made an error on 4 rows of that chart for every.single.repeat on BOTH hats. OMG! It was not the end of the world, I did not feel the need to frog either hat to fix it. I just made a mental note to pay more attention in the future. The error? I did not see fit to notice that there were two different decrease symbols - both / and \. One denoted a ssk, the other a k2tog. I did all decreases as k2tog. Far from the end of the world but as a result the pattern doesn't pop quite like it's supposed to.

So I finished the hat the first night in Vegas and went in search of a nice mitten or fingerless glove pattern to go along with it. I found a fingerless mitten pattern that I liked and as a bonus it also had instructions on how to expand it to a full mitten if desired. So I cast on and got to work. When I got the cuff done and started reading the pattern for the body, I was surprised to realize it was exactly the same lacy pattern as the hat!! I totally didn't do it on purpose but how perfect! Here's the fingerless pattern and the full mitten adaptation (be aware that the mitten adaptation does not include instructions for how to do a thumb. Not a problem for an experienced mitten knitter but since these were my first mittens I was stumped for a bit as to how to proceed).

I worked on the first mitt all the while we were in Vegas. I love knitting in public! Kids especially are just fascinated. I could see every child who saw my knitting wanted to stop and get a closer look. Most parents kept them going but a few came over to see. One adorable little girl of about 8 wanted to see and know what I was making but was too shy to approach me. This was at a Starbucks in Mandalay Bay hotel and while she went to the counter for something, her grandmother approached me and we visited for a minute, when the girl came back I showed her my work, she was happy :) I took a few pictures of it in progress.

Oh and this time I did the decreases correctly ;) I decided to go with the full mittens and got the first done pretty quickly.

I got started on the second but took my time since I knew I didn't have quite enough yarn to complete the second one and I didn't know where to find it in Vegas. It's Lamb's Pride Worsted. We did end up checking out one LYS in Vegas but they didn't have it. They did, however, have two YUMMY yarns! Ok, lots more than two, but two is what I came home with :D.

This stuff is awesome, I wish I could have afforded many many many more skeins, I LOVED every colorway!! I got two skeins of the Cantina which should be just enough to do my very first shawl. I don't know when I will get to it but it will be cast on soon :)

This is super nice as well. I wish I had gotten more skeins, I want to make a baby blanket out of it. I think I am going to go with a stuffed rabbit though, I've seen a few patterns for them that I really like. This yarn just screams "BABY" something though. We'll see. :)

So when I got home I went to The Stitch Niche here in Lexington and picked up another skein of the Lamb's Pride. I finished the second mitten, put it on....and realized I had stopped one pattern repeat too soon and the mitten was too short. I carefully ripped back and tried to pick up stitches, something I am very sucky at on easy projects on straight needles, in the round and trying to deal with decreases and yarn overs, it was a lost cause. I ripped it back to the cuff where I was able to pick up the stitches, rolled my yarn back up and put it away for a while. I will get it back out and finish it soon so I can send it up.

Meanwhile I started on a "brainless knitting" project to take to knit nights with me, knitting in the car and knitting in public. It's a baby blanket and hopefully I will eventually have a baby to wrap up in it. I am using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in cream, pink, green and purple. It's a simple pattern, I am going to write up the pattern (my first!) and post it when I am done.

I also started a hat for my cousin's 12yr old son. It's in his school colors, I hope he likes it!