FO: Thermal Mittens

thermal mittens finished, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Well, after a serious case of startitis last week, here's a finished product! I finished these up last night while watching Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy (hey, if I'm going to watch tv I might as well feel productive about it...). I like the pattern, but the yarn is a bit scratchy. I'm going to try them out today and see if I like them... otherwise they might go in the "possible future gifts" pile. Which, to be honest, these would be the first of.

Pattern: Thermal Mittens (rav link) from Hats, Scarves, & Mittens(Amazon)
Yarn: Knitpicks Telemark 2 skeins Aubergine
Needles: US 5 (ribbing) US 6 (body)
Mods: Smaller needles for both (although I probably could have forgone this and they would have been fine) and changed the thumb placement on the second mitten.... there was no indications for this in the pattern... but who wants 2 right mitts?!

what I've been up to (picture heavy)

slipper, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

So there's the product of the 4am stash dive. One slipper. It's too big for me (damn my small feet! Kidding, I actually am very happy to have small feet, especially when I knit socks!!). And for now it will remain partnerless. I feel for ya, slipper.
Pattern: Grown-up Booties by Ysolda Teague
Needles: US 8
Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool Solids
Mods: So far none. But planning to add crochet border and probably a strap to keep them on.

Next up: More Stash Diving!



Pattern: Thermal Mittens by Andrea Tung, from Hats, Mittens, and Scarves
Needles: US 5 (ribbing) and 6 (body)
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark
Mods: 1 size smaller needles than called for

I like the pattern but not the yarn. Not sure if I'll keep these or gift them at some point.


Another Mother bear. What better / more karmic way to stash bust?

And: Sweater Progress:



I've started the sleeves on this and just can't wait for it to be done. But just can't get over how boring sleeves are... (and yes, I'm doing both at once! No more one sleeved sweaters for me!)

And finally, remember how I was talking about all that yarn I brought home to make that sweater I've been thinking about for a year? Well, this is not it:



But it's beautiful and it's the last batch for a while. She still has a bit in her etsy shop and she dropped off one more batch at Lovelyarns on Sunday. Plus, it's called "Muppets from Space"!! How could I resist?!

4am stash diving

mmmm garter, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

So I started hot yoga again a couple of weeks ago... and I love it. But I'm not quite to the point where I can go and feel more energized afterward... I'm still ready to go to bed the second I get out of the shower. So I went to bed at 9:30 last night. And was wide awake by 3am. So I still need to get back into the groove of it... or force myself to stay awake another hour so I can maybe, sort of sleep through the night.

So I decided, in my semi-delirious state of early morning wakefulness, that I really needed to look through my stash and see what I could use. Maybe this comes from the potential guilt I might have from bringing home 15 skeins of yarn for a sweater I've been designing in my head for the last year... (in my defense I had completely forgotten that I had asked Sue to order it for me months ago...). In any case, I found some Araucania Nature Wool in a very pretty dark olive that I traded in a galaxy long ago and far away called ravelry. I decided that I must have something knit in it immediately, especially 'cause it was really fracking cold in my apartment this morning. So I thought about it, searched ravelry a bit, and cast on.

Why I couldn't work on this, this or this is beyond me. Actually, it's not. The sweater needs math to go on - which was not happening at 4am - the sock is far too complicated for 4 am, and the bear is kinda a bore. Not that garter stitch is necessarily the most exciting thing on the planet, but it's beautiful in it's own way.

And no, I'm not telling what it is yet. I'll leave you to guess. My only hint: not another Urchin.

a hat for.... me?!

urchin for me!, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I know, the hats. It's ridonk. But this one only took an afternoon (yesterday's to be precise) and it's so warm and awesome! The pattern is Urchin, this being the 3rd Urchin I have made... one about a year ago and the other for my cousin for Christmas... I still need to make another (also for me!) out of the Baby Alpaca Chunky 'cause it's so soft and wonderful.

This one is made of Berroco Peruvia Quick. I lurve this colour for me, although it is a bit itchier than the one I made in Alpaca... but I'll survive.

And the top view:


Details:
Pattern: Urchin by Ysolda, from knitty.com
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia Quick (less than 1 skein)
Needles: 7mm (no US equivalent)
Size: L
Mods: None necessary!

one more holiday hat

turn a square, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

So I had one more gift to knit, but fortunately it's for someone who is away until next week... so I stuck to my fun, fast holiday gift of the year and made her Jared Flood (i.e. Brooklyn Tweed)'s Turn a Square hat. It took slightly longer than the other hats, because it was worsted weight... and it looks a little big on me but that's good 'cause she has a lot more - and curlier - hair than I do.

I tried to take various pictures of the top of my head so that you could see the subtle changes in the paintbox but it's really hard to take pictures of your own head!

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



And, finally, I got a picture of the crocheted mother bear (the one worthy of being sent in) that I made last month:



He's hanging out at Lovelyarns until ready to be shipped off in a box with 30 or 40 of his counterparts.

Details for the hat:

Pattern: Turn a Square
Yarns: Cascade Venezia Worsted (MC, about 1/3 of a skein), Knit1Crochet too Paintbox (CC, probably less than 1/4 skein)
Needles: US 6 for ribbing, US 7 for body of hat
Mods: None... although if I were to make one for myself I think I would do different decreases... I'm not a huge fan of the raglan decreases for a hat.

Un-freakin'-believable

I can't believe the response I got yesterday to my new mitten pattern. As of this morning (i.e. 30 seconds ago) 99 people had downloaded the pdf, 43 had marked it as a favorite, and 28 people have put it in their ravelry queue. To understand how HUGE this is I'll compare stats with some of my other patterns available.

The Cindy Lou Who Mittens, that have been up for 1 year and also available for free, have been download from ravelry a total of 108 times. Total. In a whole year.

The Lacey Rib Anklets, again, free and available for 1 year, have 43 favorite hearts AND have been put in 28 queues. 1 YEAR.

I'm obviously completely blown away by the response but I'm so glad everyone likes them!

ETA: click to embiggen the image... it's a screen shot of my downloads on rav for the last 3 days.

New (Free!) Pattern

Mittens fit for French Cousins, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I've been meaning to release a new pattern for a while and I made these for my cousins who were visiting for Christmas and they loved them! And I had a request for the pattern, so I thought why not write it up and offer it to everyone! It's up on ravelry already, so you can find the pattern page here or directly download the pdf. I'll also post this in the sidebar for easy access later on.

math is hard!

twisted socks, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

First post of the New Year! I thought I'd show you what I've been working on since 2009 began.

First up (above) is continued progress on Cookie A's Twisted Flower Sock. I am all the way through the heel and on my way to picking up stitches. However, that has been put completely on the back burner for this:



A mystery pattern! Actually, my own design... I just haven't decided if / how I'm going to release it to the general public. Maybe I'll just wait and see if I can get through the whole thing without ripping my own hair out first. Math is hard. And since it is a sweater (in case you hadn't guessed that much) if I want to sell the pattern (either through etsy/ravelry or to a mag like knitty) I would need to do the math not only for the size that I'm attempting to make but also for a variety of other sizes.

And yes, that is the deliciousness that is Malabrigo Worsted Merino, in colourway "Azul Profundo". And yes, it is mine, all mine. Mine mine mine mine mine!!

Happy New Year!

mom's painting mitts, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

That's me, waving good bye to 2008, in one of the "painting mitts" I made for my mom. She saw my fingerless gloves and said "hey, those would be great for painting!", so I rifled through the left overs from my christmas knitting and improvised these (I only had straights in an appropriate size so I had to seam them...). They only took a couple hours for each one and she loves them. So much so that I didn't get a picture of the pair (and they were reveresed in colour and striping sequencing...), but I'm glad she likes them!

As I was thinking about this post earlier today, I almost wanted to title it "Good Riddance 2008"... but in reality, 2008 wasn't that bad of a year. It wasn't always great, but I learned a lot and I think I've grown a lot as a person. With that in mind, I have some New Year's resolutions that I really do hope to stick to.

1. Get back to hot yoga. I loved it all summer, and yes, it is expensive, but it's so very, very worth it. I was still going to the gym for part of the semester (until I got that horrendous cold in November and lost my voice, etc) but it's not the same.
2. Better eating habits. We (the roommate and I) were both tired and over-worked and didn't cook at home very much at all. So, less eating out, more cooking at home and choosing healthier options.
3. Better working habits. I'm an awful procrastinator. And by awful I mean I'm really good at it. REALLY good at it. But I'm going to try and get into the habit of working on a regular (i.e. daily!!) basis. Ok, maybe not on weekends.......
4. Become less clumsy. I know, this isn't necessarily something I can change about myself, but maybe it's just being more aware. This one came to me this morning when I was still half asleep and poured boiling hot coffee on my hand, instead of in my cup.

That's it for now. I don't usually go in for resolutions 'cause I figure most people break them by February... but if I sign up for (and pay the big $$) hot yoga I will go, 'cause after a week of feeling like death, you feel AMAZING and I found when I was doing that I was eating better 'cause it helps with the not feeling like garbage. And maybe, just maybe, it will also help me get into a routine so that I work every day too. The spilling of hot coffee on the hands is an entirely different story. I'll probably always be a bit of a klutz...

So, good bye 2008. You weren't always that good to me, but I learned from you and I'd like to think I'm a better person for it. But I'm still hoping 2009 will be an improvement on you!

Happy New Year everyone. May 2009 bring joy, happiness, health and prosperity to you all.

so now what?

twisted flowers, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Christmas knitting is over and done with, although I have been asked and will eventually put together a pattern for the mittens I made for my cousins. So back to selfish knitting for me!

Above are Cookie A's Twisted Flower Socks that I'm working on in Malabrigo's new sock yarn (deliciousness) in the colour Lettuce. This photo is a couple weeks old... I started them and then realized holiday knitting needed to take priority! By now they're another repeat ahead and I'm ready to start the heel. They're a bit fiddly and slow going and my hands actually hurt after a while on them 'cause I'm cabling without a cable needle (and that is rare for me), but I love them... they'll be beautiful when they're done but don't count on it being anytime soon!

Also on the needles (and waiting patiently for me to come back tomorrow... although they may need more patience then that...) are Boyfriend socks (for me, since there is no bf to give them to!) and the cleopatra wrap. I haven't touched either in months and I'm not sure I'm feeling them now either. What I reaaaaally want to do is turn some of the beautiful malabrigo I have into sweaters...

Merry Christmas to all...

Dickensian couple, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Or Chanukah / Kwanza / Festivus / Whatever you choose to celebrate.

These are the dickensian mice I made for my parents' tree. Upon inspection they appear to be a *bit* bigger than expected, but cute nonetheless. And the closeups:


Mrs. Dickens


Mr. Dickens

From Alan Dart's Dickensian Mice leaflet
Yarns: various scraps of dk/sport weight
Needles: US3 / 3.25mm

snowed in

Caitlin's first sock!, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

That's my little sister, making her first pair of socks! If you look closely, there is already a completed sock under her arm and she's working on the cuff of the second. Other than the grafting, it was a relatively painless process for both of us! And it fits relatively well! A little big on her but she plans to wear them under boots anyway. I think if I keep teaching socks at the store I might see if we can have them do worsted weight socks on size US 5s, like Caitlin is doing here... it just seemed like it was much less painful for her than it has been for previous students...

charlie brown hat

charlie brown hat, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Another fairly quick knit. Started Tuesday, finished last night. Knit in part in the very early morning yesterday while waiting for my ridiculously early flight home. Flying at 6am is cheaper... but getting up at 3:00 for the shuttle van is horrendous. But thank goodness my flight was yesterday 'cause today is what the news people are cutely calling "Snowmageddon". That's right. It's like Armageddon but instead of the fires of hell we're getting a repeat of the ice-age:


Yes, that's a house in the background. And yes, there is a street in between. No, it has not been plowed yet. They canceled school today, which around here is a huge deal. And the sky is only that grey because of the ridiculous amount of snow falling from the it.

So the hat will probably be much needed and much appreciated for a boy from Paris who probably hasn't seen this much snow, potentially ever. I like the colours - reminds me of charlie brown. :)



Pattern: Heavily modified version of the Hot head pattern from the original Stitch n' Bitch book.
Yarn: Bouton D'or Laika (black) and 3 colours of Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky
Needles: US 11
Mods: Knit in the round to avoid seaming, different striping sequence, different decreases, less rounds.

best idea ever

Uncle Charlie's Hat, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

So the bulky knit hats was pretty much the best idea ever for Christmas prezzies. This one is for my uncle, who is visiting us this Christmas. It's super big on me, thus the rolled brim, but I'm hoping it will fit him.

Pattern: Cabled Hat of Awesomeness (Rav link)
Yarn: Bouton d'Or Laika, slightly more than 2 skeins
Needles: US 11
Time: about 2.5 hours. For reals.

Help save handmade toys

This year I'm attempting to do it handmade. I've knitted a bunch of presents, as the last 4 days worth of posts shows, and those I haven't made myself have been purchased locally and are handmade, or on www.etsy.com, and, obviously, are handmade. Being someone who handmakes a lot of stuff, this is probably more important to me than most, but if you haven't before, please check out etsy, but don't blame me if your bank account is a lot smaller by the time you get back here! There's one exception to my handmade rule for this Christmas, but that's because I never know what to do for my dad! (Dad's are HARD to shop / knit for, right?!)

The US government, in an attempt to rectify the situation that happened about a year ago with all those toys from China that had ridiculously high lead levels, is working on legislation to make all toy manufacturers test their products for lead. Great, right? Well, for those large corporate toy manufacturers who save billions of dollars producing their toys in 3rd World Countries, sure. But what about the people who sell one or two toys a month on etsy or at county fairs? They cannot afford the $150 - $4000 it would take to test each product.

To learn more about this you can visit:
Help Save Handmade Toys from the CPSIA on facebook
The Handmade Toy Alliance
Or, Sign the Petition.

Here is a copy of the letter I wrote when I signed the petition. Please feel free to copy and paste it or write a version of your own.

I believe that it is important for North American governments to protect children from the dangers of lead poisoning, especially from large corporations importing cheaply made toys from countries that will manufacture large quantities under suspect conditions. However, handmade toys, especially those made in Canada and the US, from natural products such as wood and cotton and previous tested products such as yarn - for handknit or crocheted items - should be exempt from such costly procedures. Think of all the people who hand make one or two items to sell at county-fairs or on websites such as etsy.com who simply could not afford to test products for $150 - $4000 when they potentially only sell one or two items a month, usually for far less than $100. These are people who are trying to supplement their income or are working for the simple pleasure a hand made item brings to a child.

Please provide exemptions for items made at home, especially those using natural / pretested materials.

Thank you,
Your Name Here

And now back to your regularly, unpolitical, scheduled knitting.

chunky yarn + big needles = fast hats

Gigi's Hat, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

I should just quit school and knit full time. I just enjoy it so much more most days. I doubt it could compete to pay the bills though, even as meager as a grad student's stipend is. Le sigh.

Anyways, another quick hat to give as a Christmas present. Again, Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky (less than one skein), to match the first pair of mittens.

Pattern: Robin's Egg Blue Hat
Needles: US 10
Extras: Buttons left over from my Buttony Cardi... Finding the right button(s) for this was probably the hardest part of the whole thing. I went to a couple of antique stores near my house and picked up a few things but nothing was quite right. Fortunately I had these (and a few others...) at home and I tried a few combinations and the consensus - between myself and my roommate - was that these were the best.

another one bites the dust

toto's hat, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Another day, another present done! This is Urchin in Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky. Matches the mittens made previously and going to the same recipient. I love this hat so much I want to keep it. Instead I think I'll probably end up making myself various versions of it. But definitely one in Baby Alpaca. Sooooo soooooft.

Pattern: Urchin, as previously mentioned.
Needles: 7mm (no US equivalent)
Yarn: Delicious Baby Alpaca...

Also recently knit but previously unblogged:



"Piernas Carísimas" - Super expensive legs in the English. Cascade Venezia Worsted (1 and 1/10 skein) + Trendsetter's Dune (2.5 skeins) made these somewhat pricey but oh so beautiful... and warm. Ridiculously warm. Wanna see more?



Yum.
Pattern: Modified version of leg warmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Needles: US 9
Yarn: Cascade Venezia Worsted and Trendsetter Dune

Booyeah Santa!

Toto's Mittens, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Mittens for the other cousin, started AND finished yesterday. How's that for knitting under pressure? However, I realized that these ones are a fair bit longer than the first pair and fit a lot better (see what happens when you don't bother to use patterns??) so I'm going to re-do the tops of the first pair later today.

Yarn: Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky
Needles: US 8 DPNs
Pattern: From my brain

Yes, Virigina, I am Christmas knitting

mittens, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

So I started these mittens back in October (where has the time gone?!) and they were completely finished except for weaving in the ends, etc on the second one. They will be given to one of my cousins who is visiting from France. The pattern is my own, using a colourwork chart from the Vogue Stitchionaries. I'll be making a second pair and (time granting) matching hats. I haven't decided what colour work to do on the second pair, which will have the beige as the main colour and the white and orange as complimentary colours.

There has been other knitting, but it's all selfish, and that's not the spirit of the season... so from now until Christmas hopefully I'll be able to showcase all the other things I'm going to knit for people! (Yes, I know how many days there are left until Christmas... I have a slight case of knitters denial...)

Nakniswemo over!

Darcy Cardi, originally uploaded by gradschoolknitter.

Well, my goal for the NaKniSweMo was to finish up the two languishing sweaters that only needed sleeves... and, only a few hours before the end of November, I have succeeded! Go me! Darci is finished, complete with buttons! The sleeves do need to be blocked... they look icky compared to the already blocked body, but the knitting and finishing, is done. Fortunately I bought the buttons for this ages ago...

P.S. Sorry for the crappy picture... I need new batteries for my camera so I just used the maccam and the lighting is icky and dark!