Becky's Knitting

It has become a tradition around these parts for me to always post on New Year's Eve.  It's a great way to recap my year in knitting and set goals for next year. 

So, here's a status report on my list of projects posted this time last year.

• Finish Hanne Falkenberg Mermaid by next winter - Not a whole lot of progress, but I am almost done with the body.  I'd love to have the chance to wear it this winter, but it is good school knitting, and I have other things I want to finish first, so if I don't get to it, I'm ok with that.
• Finish Lacy Lattice Stole for a wedding in March - it was finished and blocked the night before the wedding, although I only did the border on one side b/c I ran out of time.  At some point I should put the border on the other edge, but I don't have the opportunity to do much lace knitting so I'm not too worried about it. 
• Pink cabled sweater for my mom - Debbie Bliss Cathay, pattern a combination of a Debbie Bliss pattern and a Louisa Harding pattern - still on hold - I've focused on Daniel's sweater, and once I finish that, or get bored with it, then I'll start my mom's.
• Grey cabled sweater for Daniel - Silky Tweed yarn, Rowan Classic pattern - halfway? done the front.  I really enjoy working on this, but it is not good law school knitting, so it is rare when I can concentrate enough on the pattern to work on it - it will likely be several more years before I complete this
• Finish the purple trekking socks and make lots more - done (and recently redone!), plus other socks listed below
• Finish Vickie Howell collection test knitting by Jan. 10 - done
• Finish the Grandmom Wrap (knitting done, need to block and fringe) - done and gifted, neeed to post FO pics 
• 3 Texas squares for LSSK babies - done
• dishcloths for my mom for her birthday or mother's day - I made one, but haven't gifted it yet as I want to do a few more - maybe for her birthday or mother's day this year
• embellish Daniel's stocking with beads and add names to both - didn't quite manage to do that before Christmas - maybe I'll do it before we put the decorations away, maybe not

And here's what else I made this past year:

• Socks for Daniel's Dad (and they fit!!)
• Longhorn Socks
• Clapotis
• Scarf for Red Scarf Project 
• Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat
• 5 Harry Potter hats for charity
• One skein plush scarf for Daniel's mom for her bday - I need to post a pic of this - my pattern is super easy and quick and available on the sidebar
• Waving lace socks for my mom - this will get it's own blog post soon as I just finished them
• Longhorn baby booties for Landon - hmm, doesn't look like I ever posted a pic of these either, will have to do so b/c they are sooo cute
• I also fixed my blog to have 3 columns and more space for the posts in the middle - I was pretty happy about that as it took some time and messing around with movable type.

Plans for next year:

• Figure out the crochet edging and finish the Dale baby dress (c section scheduled for Friday so better do this soon!!) 
• Order Tilli Thomas yarn and finish Sahara
• Finish at least one Chevron Scarf (I have the yarn for several)
• Finish swallowtail
• Make a baby sweater for my friend Laura who is due in June (the sweater I had almost finished for her won't work for this baby since it was a 3 month size and a wool sweater will need to be 6 month for DE weather.  She finds out at the beginning of February whether it's a boy or girl and then I'll pick a pattern and yarn.
• make at least one pillow with the yarn we bought on sale for pillows in our living room - planning to use this Vickie Howell pattern
• finish Longhorn Danica scarf for my sister-in-law, didn't get it done for this Christmas, but maybe next year

I have tons of other projects I am thinking about as well, but I'd prefer to keep the list fairly short and keep my options open for other projects.  I have so many things I want to make that the list could get way too long way too quick.

Although this post has become an annual event, it also fits in nicely with Dawn's Knitting Resolutions, so I will be linking to that as well.  I don't really feel the need to resolve to learn any new techniques, as usually I just try new things as I need them.  But I would like to learn a little more crochet - this will be necessary for the Dale baby dress, and I got Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet book so I'd like to maybe try the simple crocheted scarf out of that.  But I love knitting so much that I don't feel the need to learn to crochet just to have another thing I can do b/c I already have too many things I want to do ;-). 

And finally, because a post without pictures is no fun, Major (who has an obsession with paper bags) says Happy New Year!!!

Posted by Becky at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As I mentioned on my last post, I decided to knit a second Christmas project this year.  In years past I have overwhelmed myself with Christmas knitting, but knowing that I need to focus on finals, I didn't plan much this year.  This present is for Daniel's sister, a big UT fan living in Michigan.  I sent Daniel a bunch of scarf patterns to choose from, and he selected Danica.  The yarn I'm using is a chunky weight, so I've made a few mods, but I think this will be a fun and very warm scarf which will get lots more wear in MI than it would here. 

Mods so far are that each square is 7 stitches instead of 10, and I used orange, which is technically the contrasting color, to do the foundation triangles instead of white.  I am using Size 11 addis and Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra in Salsa which is my favorite burnt orange yarn for both the color and the incredible softness and squishiness of the yarn.  I do wish I had the Harmony needles from Knit Picks already as I think they would help with the slipping occurring, but it's manageable, just a little annoying.

I have also reached the shirt-tail hemming part of Sahara meaning the body is basically done (I stopped short of what the pattern called for since I am sooo shortwaisted).  Because I don't have the Tilli Thomas yarn picked out yet for the trim, I will put the body on a holder and begin the sleeves.  I don't have the right size dpns, so I'm debating whether to try to do them on magic loop.  Will probably depend on whether or not I make it back to a yarn store before I start.

I did look at Tilli Thomas yarns at Hill Country Weavers yesterday, and they are looking into some ordering questions and getting back to me.  I'm thinking Salt and Pepper with pink or blue beads would be fun just to add a tiny bit of color.  However, I would only go this route if they can special order one skein for me b/c the store does not regularly carry it.  Otherwise, I'll probably go with Rock Star, but I'm torn whether to go with natural or to pick a color to add some contrast.  I'd probably go with a pale pink or blue if I did color so nothing too striking.  Or maybe hydrangea or dusty purple.  But doing natural without the contrast might be better as some of the Saharas I've seen on Ravelry had too much contrast, in my opinion.  And one other possibility would be Disco Lights with pink sequins.  Any thoughts?

Posted by Becky at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Christmas present done!  This is the only Christmas present I planned to make this year, and it is done on December 2!  These socks are for my FIL who wears a size 10.5 - talk about big.  I kept them in my purse, so much of these socks were done just a few rows at a time.  But they also made pretty good law school knitting as the pattern was easy to do while reading.  I used up just about every last ounce of the skein of yarn, and I now know that any more socks I plan to make for my FIL will need a lot of yarn, either an extra skein or contrasting colored toes, heels, and cuffs.  I think I'm going to try to stick to DK weight for his future socks though.

Project Specs:

Pattern: Waffle Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch 701
Needle: sz 2 Bryspun dpns
For: my FIL - size 10.5
Finished: December 2007 

Here are my sizing notes for the size 10.5 socks.  I hope they fit!

• 72 stitches
• 14 stitches in middle of short row toe
• 10 rows of k2,p2, then first all p row, then begin pattern (all on top, plain stockinette on bottom)
• per SS book, need to do 8 3/4" from toe to heel for sz 10 1/2 men's shoe
• http://alison.knitsmiths.us/shortrow_tutorial.html to turn heel
• Continue pattern on front, stockinette on back for 2 repeats of pattern, then pattern all the way around.  15 repeats all the way around, then begin k2, p2 ribbing until you run out of yarn (22 rows).

I am planning to do one more knitted Christmas present - a burnt orange scarf for my SIL who lives in Michigan.  She visited over Thanksgiving, and it hit me that she would be an excellent person to knit for since she lives in cold weather.  And she definitely strikes me as the type of person who would appreciate a hand knit gift and actually wear it.  And she loves UT and loves to show her Longhorn Pride when she's in Wolverine territory, so this should be good.

Posted by Becky at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)