Tuesday 8 January 2008

January Socks Begun


January sock (wip)
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.
This is the beginning of my January project for the 2008 Sock knit a long group at ravelry. It's my first new knitting project of 2008 - I cast on on 6th January for something to do in the car on the way to my in laws for family Christmas..
I'm making Diagonal Rib Socks by Ann Budd (link to project info at ravelry) from Interweave Knits, Winter 2004 (pdf download here).
I love this yarn (I have to go find the info on what it is as the label got separated from the yarn). I'm not sure how well the pattern reads but don't care too much to be honest as I just love looking at the yarn. It actually seems to look better to me the further on I get which is nice, long may it continue. I have been having a slight problem with forgetting which round I'm on half way through and finding I'm off but I'm fudging it and getting back on track!

Wednesday 2 January 2008

toasty topper


toastytopper
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.
I'm thinking about a New Year post with some thoughts and goals for myself for the coming year. However since I've been getting ready for a long long day of travelling tomorrow that will have to wait for a while. Instead I bring you more finished knitting!

The Toasty Topper was in the Winter 2007 edition of Knitty that came out in December. I was looking to make a thicker hat than the top down bonnet I had already made, and had been thinking that she could do with some kind of neckwarmer so this looked like a perfect pattern to have a go at.

I pulled two balls of yarn (purple and dark pink) out that I bought in England, (possibly even while I was still living there) and cast on. This knit up really quickly and pretty easily. I made the scarf quite a bit longer than the pattern suggests (I cast on almost twice the number of stitches on each side). I noticed a few people who already made it wished the scarf pieces were longer when I checked ravelry -- I'm loving the ravelry! It fits pretty well (with room to grow, or grow more hair at least) and covers the ears very effectively.

I have also added a row of holes because I may experiment with adding a button to keep the scarf in place. It's not really necessary for this hat since the scarf can wrap around and tuck in at the back but it means I can see if buttoning would work with other options to fall back on if it doesn't. Although I finished the hat in mid December I haven't got around to testing this idea yet, but soon...

Tomorrow on the first car ride I must try to finish some belated Christmas gift items for delivery, I'll try to remember to get some pictures to share so may be able to bring more finished objects soon!