Becky's Knitting

Note: the majority of this post was written back in January, but I never formatted the pictures to upload them and post the entry.  Writing about the Dale dress yesterday, I realized I never showed my first FO of 2008, so I'm finally getting around to posting this. 

So you know how when you go to a baby or bridal shower, you always feel sort of nervous when your gift is being opened.  Did you spend enough money?  Will she like it?  Did 2 other people get the same gift?  Is it cute enough?  Does it have the aww factor?  Well I finally had an experience this past weekend where I didn't have those worries.  My friend Leslie is getting married, and her bridesmaids threw her an Ornament Shower where everyone brought ornaments for them to hang on their Christmas tree.  For the first time, I knew going in that my friend was going to love her present, and everyone else was going to be impressed.  The present:

Mini-Weasley Sweater Christmas Ornaments with the couple's initials on them in Texas Longhorn colors.  I love them, and they would be great presents to make for others for next year.  Just need to start early! 

Project Specs:

Pattern: Mini Weasley Sweater Ornaments from Charmed Knits
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK in burnt orange and cream
Needle: US 4 Bryspun dpns
For: Leslie & Kevin
Started: January 2008
Finished: January 2008 

Ravelry Details

Thoughts: the seaming was a little annoying - next time I might try knitting them in the round.  The duplicate stitching was much easier than I thought.  DO NOT do a loose cast-on - otherwise the roll looks a little goofy like on the K sweater.  I bought craft wire at Hobby Lobby to make the hangers.  I'd love to make a set of these for my friends Matt and Nancy who are engaged.  One is a Longhorn and one is a Sooner so it would be cute to do each in their school's colors.  Really, it would be fun to start a tradition of doing a set for all of my friends when they get married, but no promises since I would have to actually plan ahead to pull that off.   

I leave you with a picture of Major being goofy.  He is trying to hide from one of our friend's dogs who was visiting. 

Posted by Becky at 06:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I received some big news last night - I was selected as Editor-in-Chief of my law school journal - the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas & Energy Law.  This basically means I get to run the show next year, so that's pretty exciting.  I'm really looking forward to it - it'll mean a lot of work, but it's a great opportunity.

In other big news that those reading this blog will probably be more interested in, I finished the Dale Baby Roses Dress!  There hasn't been a FO in these parts in quite some time , so I am pleased to present to you the first big FO of 2008.

Pattern: Dale Baby Roses Dress (#13502) from Book #135 in 6 mo size
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull, <3 balls of cream, <1 of both pinks, and just about 1 ball of green
Needle: US 1 addi turbos
For: baby Georgia
Started: September 2007
Finished: March 2008 

Ravelry details

What's that, you want to see a picture of it being modeled?  Ok! 

It's a little big right now, but that's great so hopefully she can get some good wear out of before she grows too much.

I actually finished it (except for weaving in all the ends) on our anniversary which was last week.  Daniel and I celebrated by checking out the new Four Seasons Restaurant Trio.

Since our anniversary falls during spring break, we both had the day off so we went golfing.  Here's what my car said when we got back in - in the middle of March!!

Daniel loves to drink port, so I bought our present this year - a set of 4 Waterford cystal port glasses!  Turns out the 3rd anniversary gift is crystal, so I even followed the rules

Posted by Becky at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The Unoriginal Scarf, based on the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat, is now available as a free download.  You can get to it from the sidebar, and it is also available in my Ravelry Store.

Please let me know if you have any questions or find any errors, and I'd love to see any projects you make with it.

(Now if only I would hurry up and finish and block mine )

Posted by Becky at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's where I'm at on the Noro socks, but I have a two-part dilemma so they're on hold until I get some opinions. 

Problem 1 is notice the icky green after the purple.  There is a whole bunch of that icky green, going into greenish yellow, before you get back to red.  I don't understand why it's there because those colors definitely don't show up in a normal rainbow.  Should I cut that part out of the skein?

Problem 2 is the following.  The Noro yarn has 3 full repeats.  The problem is that 1 repeat is not enough to do a whole sock, so I need to get into the second repeat.  But that means I can't make these socks exactly the same.  So my options are a) make the foot and heel identical, and then the top of the leg not match up or b) start the second sock with green, blue, purple so it will follow the same color sequence as the first sock, but start in a different place in the sequence.  I'm sad because I really wanted to make matching socks, but I guess it just isn't meant to be.

I could probably get two matching socks if I made them a little shorter than normal, but that would mean the entire leg and cuff would have to be in the green, which I think takes away from the rainbow.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on both issues - should I cut out the olive green and how should I handle coordinating the two?  If you want to see others who have made socks in this colorway, check out these and these.

Posted by Becky at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday was First Thursday at HCW, so my mom and I met up when I was done with class.  In honor of March Madness, all balls of yarn were on sale.  I was excited to see that they got in the new Comfort Sock yarn.  It doesn't have any wool in it, so I picked up a skein to make a pair of socks for Daniel.  Finally - non-wool sock yarn so it doesn't make him itchy and non-cotton so it doesn't hurt my hands.  Even though the picture doesn't show it well, it's gray with slight shade variations.

I'm planning to make the Conwy socks from Knitting on the Road.  These will be a surprise so I will need to knit them on the sly.  I'm thinking I can at least make some good progress on them at school. 

Not on sale, but just in and GORGEOUS was the new Manos silk blend.  My mom and I both fell in love, and, not surprisingly, I got the purple and my mom got the one with lots of pinks in it (called Wildflowers).  This yarn is so me!  Even though I have two purple scarves in progress right now (the Swallowtail Shawl and the Unoriginal Scarf), I'm thinking about making a scarf with it.  Alternately, it would make lovely fingerless gloves, but I feel like I will wear a scarf the most.  I'm thinking maybe something slightly lacy.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

Last month I picked up this yarn, but I hadn't posted about it yet.  6 skeins of Mission Falls 1824 Wool to make a baby sweater/jacket for my oldest friend Laura.  We have the same birthday, and she found out on our birthday that she is having a boy.  I'm going to visit her in August when the baby will be about 6 weeks old, and I'm so excited!

I'm planning on making this Cable & Seed Stitch Jacket from Debbie Bliss Baby Knits.  I'm going to do the 18 month size so that maybe he can wear it his first winter with the sleeves rolled up, and then definitely wear it the second winter.  They live in Delaware so wool is appropriate up there.

Spring break began today at 1:45 for me, so I felt the need to celebrate that by stopping by The Knitting Nest on my way home and checking out all the new sock yarn Stacy has gotten in.  She has TONS of Trekking XXL - so many appealing colors.  I ended up picking up Trekking 100 because I have seen so many gorgous socks knit out of it (like these, for example).

Stacy was also unpacking a box of Hill Country Yarns in pretty pinks.  There was pink and red, all pinks, and this gorgeous pink and chocolate brown.  She carries their Instant Gratification yarn which knits up fast, and I've been wanting to try it.  I'm undecided whether to gift this to my mom, or make her socks out of it, or maybe make my lil sis socks out of it cause she likes pink too.  It'll live in my stash until I decide.  Stacy also got in more of the Longhorn and Aggie colorways which are great!  I held off this time around, but I'm sure I'll be getting some soon.

And, finally, here's my latest progress on the Unoriginal Scarf.  I haven't heard back from the Yarn Harlot yet about posting the pattern, but I don't really think there are any copyright issues so I'll probably post it soon.  I think I'm going to really like this once it's blocked, but it needs blocking very badly.

Before I cast-on any of the new projects contemplated above, I will at a minimum finish the Dale Baby Dress.  The crochet trim on the bottom is done and I am working on the neckband.  It is taking forever, but I definitely want to get it done this week.  Wish me luck!

Posted by Becky at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)