I finished my Monkeys... (and finally uploaded other photos)

I finished my Monkeys!I love them. They aren't perfect, but they are mine and I love them. :)

Feed the Monkey, Drown the Worm
PATTERN: Monkey
NEEDLES: US 2 / 2.75 mm
YARN: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel Sock (Jungle)

And for some old-ish scarf travels updates: These are my most recent finished sections. :)

GROUP 5
For ladydinc’s scarf
PATTERN: Scrunchable Scarf
NEEDLES: US 9/5.5 mm
YARN: Malabrigo Merino - emerald blue

GROUP 3
For knitwitty26’s scarf
PATTERN: Feather and Fan scarf (with mods)
YARN: Cascade 220 - 9476 (butter)
NEEDLES: Size US 8 / 5.0 mm

A Very Picture Heavy Post!!!

It was really nice outside this Sunday. And I was puppy-sitting. So I took the dogs outside and took some pictures.

These are pretty flowers. Technically they're desert weed flowers, but since I have a "black thumb" and would kill anything that I tried to grow, I appreciate what will grow on it's own. The orange ones are some of my favorites. :) When my Nana's garden is in full bloom in a couple of weeks I'll take pictures of it. It is gorgeous. :)

Here's the three boys playing outside.
(The pug is Rocky. The brown/grey lab is Bravo. The Black lab is Luke's dog Apollo, who should have been name Sirius.)

And here's what I have been up to lately with knitting:

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret in Berroco Peruvia Colors #7226
This was made for a swap package with a Freaks and Geeks theme. The package has been recieved so I feel safe posting the pictures now. This was fun to make, I think I might have to make myself one now. :)

The second section for my Scarf Travels group 5... Done with leftovers from the Beret.
It's the "holding hands feeding ducks" scarf pattern which is a star stitch.
I think it turned out really nice looking. :) I hope that Denise likes it too. :)

I'm working on the scarf section for group 3 still. I didn't get that one until right before my trip. I'm doing it in some red cascade 220. :)

This is what progress I've made on my Hedwig socks... Which I know isn't much, but this is my "in between projects project" and so it's going to move slowly. BUT they will get done eventually.

I'm also working on some Monkeys in my Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel in the jungle colorway, but there isn't much of those to justify a picture yet... There was at one point, but I had to frog and so now I've only got a little of the cuff.

And some old-ish updates and pictures. :)

From Easter:

Sara was over at my house for Easter dinner. I came back home from San Diego literally just in time for dinner. Sara is wearing one of the dresses that I bought her for her 7th birthday. :) After dinner Sara wanted to play with me and she decided to try on pretty much every single pai of shoes that I owned, minus some of the flip flops. I have over 50 pairs of shoes so that kept her entertained for quit some time. Then she wanted me to teach her how to knit. So I let her pick some yarn and worked with her for a little while. These are pictures of her with her WIP. LOL She's a goofball and I love her. :)

A story about my VERY VERY best friend...

My very best friend Veronica (known as Rowena Bladvak at Hogwarts) send me goodies with her husband when he came for his interview. Among these goodies were HandMaiden sea silk in a colorway that I love and have found impossible to find. She also bought me a Beatles project bag and DPN roll. I love the Beatles. I'm a little crazed about them. I have every single one of their songs on my iTunes. (I even have multiple versions of a lot of their songs.) There was more to the gifts to. Some mix cds, some pattern marker magnets (or whatever their called), and some oreos (a favorite treat of mine). I really love her. I seriously think that she may be the greatest person in the world. I have the greatest best friend in the entire world. (And I have HSKS swaps and Ravelry to thank for that.) I admire her for her strength and her survival skills. And when she's having a rough time it kills me not to be able to just give her a hug and make her feel better. :(

In other news: I also got my HSKS7 swap package today! :) It's awesome! (I'm linking to the blog I use for HSKS, because, I'm done with uploading pictures now. LOL)

Finished!

I finished my banana republic knockoff hat.... I'm now calling it the "cute as a button hat." I LOVE it. It is so cute, it fits perfectly. The colors are wonderful. It *almost* makes me excited for cold weather so that I can wear my hat... Or maybe I'll just crank up the AC and wear it around the house. I'm not in that big of a hurry for winter.

I improvised the original hat pattern a little bit... I switched needle sizes because last time I tried to knit this yarn on 10.5s (the suggested size) the fabric that resulted was way to stiff. And I only knit the brim to be slightly larger than the button. 

Updates: A new yarn, a new swap, and an old hobby makes a comeback

I've graduated college, FINALLY. I have been the busiest I think I ever was in the last few weeks. It was not my best semester grades-wise, but I'm done. I'm finished and I passed everything, and that is what really counts in the long run.

A LONG time ago during all of my craziness of graduating and having a grad party and finals and .... so on and so forth I got the second installment of the Nefarious club. It's Mme. Defarge, who is a character in a Charles Dickens book. (I can't remember which, a Tale of Two Cities maybe. I've never read Dickens, and I've never really wanted too.) Despite that I've never read the book, and I don't care for Charles Dickens the yarn is absolutely beautiful, as always. 

I joined HSKS5, which I wasn't sure I was going to do. Mainly because I was so busy I couldn't see myself having the time, but then I realized, DUH, most of the swap takes place after school is finished. So I can totally do it. I switched houses and went down the dark side (but not really). I'm slytherin this time instead of Ravenclaw. I like my partners they both seem rather nice. My spoilee in particular is awesome. I've sent her a large amount of emails.  She's actually my age, which is pretty cool. (So for the duration of HSKS5, if I haven't blogged a lot it's because I'm using my "character blog" dobbysmyhero.)

The last thing I've started doing is making row counter bracelets. When I was younger I loved beading, so I have TONS of supplies for and I kept seeing the bracelets and thinking they were cute, so I decided to make some of my own. I have a slytherin colored one, which I believe is rather large and a ravenclaw one that I made, but put one too many "1" beads. I'll probably do something to fix the two of them, but I am rather impressed with the results. 

I think that I'll be trying to make some more too. Although I need more elastic for the little beaded rings, I'm out of the tinier clear kind and the white that I have is just too bulky. I had to use it for the slytherin bracelet and I can't say that I liked it. It works and it's functional, but not nearly as pretty as I would like. I also made a gorgeous Gryffindor colored one for my spoilee, but I'm not posting it so that she gets to be surprised. (There are pictures on y Flikr account though... if anyone is clever enough to get there to see the pictures I won't care.)

I also finished my pink scrunchable scarf about a month ago. Not in time for my trip to San Francisco, like I wanted, but it's done it time for the 90+ degree heat. (I'm joking, obviously.) I'll have to wait until next winter to wear the scarf. It's very beautiful though... Pictures are on my raverly account. I'm having some uploading issues today.

updates

YAY for school being out. I did manage to get some knitting done between then and the holidays. I haven't been on the computer as much though because I come home from work and knit while I watch The Office dvds that I got for christmas. I was hoping to start blogging more at work, but my internet access is restricted to only the reservations site at work. I was not happy about this. But oh well, I always come home to do my blogging.


First in my knitting progress, I finished a hat and a scarf combo in one week. My cousin made my mom this really pretty loose knit scarf and I tried to copy the style of it. The one I did doesn't look at all like my mom's scarf, but I like it. I knit too tightly to ever make one like my cousin did, plus I used a bulky yarn instead of a worsted one. When I wear the hat and scarf together I get tons of compliments and people ask me where I got them from. :)


Second I'm about to finish my hatmione. I plan on doing that today. I'm about to start the decreases. Which I actually could have done sooner, but I'd been working on the hat over at Mauricio's house and I never brought any dpns over there. SO my goal today is to finish that. I'm actually not too crazy about the hat. I like the pattern, and it was well done, but I think mine looks sloppy. I don't know why, but I'm just not as thrilled with this as I thought I would be. I'm excited to finish it though. I think when it is finished and blocked, I'll probably like it more.


I decided to frog Luke's slytherin scarf and start it over using 2 strands of yarn at a time and knit in 1x1 rib. I decided to do the tube when he was planning on moving to Boston. He ended up staying here (in Las Vegas) so there is really no need for a tube scarf. The double strand will be thick still, but he'll mostly wear it while he's out coaching at the pool. Which he has to do at night and the pool is outdoors. I'm *hoping* I get this done in the next couple of weeks. I think that I'm going to rip it out and start over again though because it's on 10.5s and I think that it's just too stiff and too skinny.


The last thing I've done with my knitting was start another scarf. (SIDENOTE: I've been in a scarf knitting mood lately. It's very odd for me. I've never really liked doing scarves, because I never finished them, but lately I've been doing tons of them. Probably because I'm the 2ish cold months of the Las Vegas winter and can actually wear them.) This is a cabled basketweave scarf done in my Adrienne Vittadini Emma. It's super pretty. It's a fun knit too. Although I realized that my 3 balls (or whatever they want to call it) wouldn't be enough so I scoured the internet to order 2 more so that it'll at least be a decent length scarf. It's so pretty. My mom, Aynsley and Mauricio were all amazed at how pretty it was. I think that Aynsley will probably end up doing one too eventually.

I've made some knitting progress!

I survived having 2 tests on Monday... And I did extremely well on one of them, the other isn't graded yet. Anyway I have some time to sit down and actually make a post with pictures showing my progress on a bunch of different things. I'm even going to go do some shopping today to get things for my knitters coffee swap 3 package so that I can send it off soon. I'm still not 100% what I'm going to do, so I'm hoping to get inspired at the store today. Now on to my current knitting projects.

First I've finished my caron blisss stitch scarf. I really didn't think that I would actually finish this, but I guess since it was an easy stress free knit that I could take places with me (and I could work on while I watched tv) it got done quicker than I thought that it would. I really love it. It's soft; it's long; it's wide; it's reversible; it's in my favorite color. It's perfect. Plus I finished a scarf, so I'm really excited about doing that! Normally it would take me FOREVER to finish a scarf. I think it being a bulky weight yarn on size 11 needles contributed to it being finished quicker as well.

The other project that I've made some progress on is my hatmione. I started this on a whim one day, even though I really shouldn't have since I have tons of other knitting projects to finish, and about a million other things to do with school and moving and finding a new job. But I started it anyway in spite all of this. Yesterday I finished all the ribbing for the brim and did the first few rows of the cabling pattern. I like the hat, and I like the pattern. Sometimes it doesn't look right to me though. I debated frogging this several times, but didn't really have a good reason to so I'm powering through it. I think it's partially because the brim seems SO LONG because it's going to get folded; it's just not folded now. Anyway that's that.

I've noticed I've been using a lot of reds and oranges. I think I want more colors. ;)

FO: Logan's Jayne hat

Cunning!

I finished Logan's hat. He's been wearing it nonstop since. I guess he lucked out that it got windy and cold for no reason the past couple of days. Otherwise he'd be waiting at least a month to wear his hat around without being the weird kid who wears a knitted hat when it's 90 degrees outside.

Ginny GoF inspired hat COMPLETED

I finished my Ginny inspired GoF hat. (As previously mentioned) I love it. I know that it isn't an exact replica of the movie hat but I absolutely adore it. It fits me perfect and looks just the way I wanted it too. I used Malabrigo Merino chunky in "tiger lily" for the hat and used a strand of Lion Brand Landscapes in "pastel meadow" and Malabrigo Merino worsted in "cactus flower" (my personal favorite yarn) to thread through the eyelet rounds. It's not absolutely perfect, but it was what I wanted. The variegations and chunky weight add to the "Weasley-ness" of the hat, I think. I really am very proud of how this hat turned out. Here are some more pictures, and then after the pictures I'll post my pattern. When it came to the decreases, I just did what looked right and what seem to fit my numbers. So my pattern may not be axact when it gets to that point.

And here is my pattern:

needles: size 10.5 16" circular needles, and size 10.5 double points during decreases
yarn: Malabrigo Merino Chunky in tiger Lily (MC), Lion Brand Landscapes in pastel meadow (cc1), and Malabrigo Merino worsted in cactus flower (cc2)
any chunky weight will work for the hat (MC) and any scrap yarn can be used for the bows and accents

Cast on 72 (I used the cable cast on)
K1P1 rib for 6 rounds
eyelet round #1(*k3 k2tog yo* repeat between the *s)
knit 6 rounds
purl 2 rounds
knit 6 rounds
eyelet round #2 (*k2tog yo k3* between the *s)
knit 6 rounds
purl 2 rounds
knit 6 rounds
eyelet round #1 (*k3 k2tog yo* repeat between the *s)
start decreases:
*k10 k2tog* repeat between the *s
*k9 k2tog* repeat between the *s
*k8 k2tog* repeat between the *s
knit 1 round
purl 2 rounds
*k6 k2tog* (repeat between the *s) k2tog the last 2 stitches
*k2tog k2* (repeat between the *s) k2tog k2tog the last 4 stitches
eyelet round #3 (*K2tog k2tog yo* repeat between the *s)
k2tog until only 6 sts remain, break yarn and thread through the top
thread yarn through the eyelets, add a bow at the bottom tier

Finally found my camera! Now for some FOs...

I've got 2 FOs, that I have semi-discussed in my camera-less posts.

My skinny version of a Hogwarts "house unity" scarf
This was supposed to be my skinny scarf that was knit fast and kind of sloppy in worsted weight yarn and size 11 needles that I could wear to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release. BUT when it got to be 10:30 and I had 20 rows left, I gave up and went to the party without it. I figure it'll still serve a purpose and it doesn't look too awful considering that most of the color stripes were from scrap yarn (red and yellow both came from leftovers of Stitch's gryffindor scarf, navy came from my monstrosity ravenclaw scarf, and green I cut some off of Luke's slytherin scarf.) I have no clue what type of yarn the black was. It was sitting label-less in my stash forever so I put it to use. The green and navy are both a little dark and hard to see in the black, but I was working with what I had available and on a very short deadline. I believe I started the scarf the Tuesday before the release. And Tuesday was really the only day I had off that week. I only put about 15 hours total into the scarf. I had a very busy work week and just barely didn't finish in in time.

I'm really fond of the fringe. I added flecks of the color stripes so it wouldn't be all black. It's my favorite part of the whole scarf.

It's finished dimensions are:
only 1 3/4" wide and 60" long before fringe, 68" long with the fringe


My Lion Brand Thick and Quick hat
I'm actually not very pleased with this hat. I finished it fairly quickly, but I'm not at all happy with the decreases. The hat also feels stiff because the yarn was too thick to be used on size 10.5 needles. (Reasons for this needle selection were discussed in this post.)

I have enough yarn left, and I just got new addi turbo 16" circulars in both size 11 and 13 so I think that I'll try again. I do love this color and I think that is worked up nice and quick (hence, the yarn name.)

Ginny Weasley GoF hat - 1st attempt/prototype

I saw patterns for the orange bucket hat that Ginny Weasley wears in GoF, and I attempted to make my own version of the hat. I had several issues with the design once I had finished that I intend on fixing and trying again. For reference, I have a screen cap from the movie. It's not the best picture, but it shows the basic design of the hat. In making my own hat, I didn't quite want the "beehive-ness" of the original, I wanted to try and make it fit more like a beanie. I'm planning on making more of an Inspired by Ginny's hat rather than an actual reproduction.

The first thing to point out is that Ginny's hat was ORANGE, not grey. I used grey because I had a ton of it sitting around. I also didn't thread a pastel rainbow ombre through the eyelet round, because I didn't have one at the time. I've since noticed that her hat in the movie also had burgundy at the top eyelet rounds, whether or not I'll stick to that will depend. I'm not even sure that I'll ever make a bright orange hat either, because despite it being accurate for the movie, I don't know if I would never wear it. Also, I'm not exactly going for movie accuracy so the color is totally up to me.

Here are some of the major problems and things that I had with the hat: The first for me to point out is the brim. I know that in order to get this to look like the movie hat the brim is going to be loose, but I don't like having loose hats. It drives me crazy, plus it curls up. I'm thinking of doing this in ribbing and EITHER not having the bow or the rainbow threaded through on the first tier OR threading it through the ribbing. I haven't decided.

The second one is that I needed to do more than 1 row or purls in between the tiers. Probably 3 would look the best. Another thing to add to my brim issues is whether or not the hat will separate into sections as nicely if the first bit is all ribbing. I think the only way to figure that out is to go ahead and knit it. If I don't like it, I'll take it out and start over.

My final problem I have had to do with threading the contrast yarn through the eyelets. I didn't like doing it. It was always either too tight or too loose. The eyelets weren't my favorite part. Another thing I'm debating about doing is skipping the "eyelet round" and just placing removable stitch markers as I go to thread the yarn through. I'm pretty sure that the threading issues are mostly personal issues.

Hopefully I'll get my second attempt started and completed soon enough. I don't think that I'm going to be going for perfect movie match. I like the style of the hat, and I want one similar. I want to actually wear it though, and if it has a loose brim I won't ever want too. The orange is debatable, I may actually wear it, if it turned out to be cute enough.

EDIT (8/2/1007): New ideas for a tighter brim. I'm thinking I could do the 1st half of the brim in ribbing, then switch to stockinette. Then the "eyelet" round could be in between the ribbing and the stockinette and it would look closer to the way it should. Not sure yet. I'll probably start this project soon since it is a fairly quick project to finish. I did the first one in a day.