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!

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!

Christmas Outfit

Christmas Outfit
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.

I hope all who observe it had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday (well I hope everybody had a wonderful Day regardless too).

I finally got an outfit made for my daughter for a special occasion again, yay! I missed for last Christmas, her birthday (and the Easter dresses were supposed to be for earlier in the year...). I'm especially pleased because at the moment she didn't have another new dress to wear as she has all the other times.

The pattern is Simplicity 4304. I used some green fabric that's been sitting in my stash for years (used some of it for a Christmas dress for our niece about 3 years back!) and a thrifted pillowcase for the pinafore. Since I did all the sewing Christmas Eve and morning it's not the best job ever but I think it looks good once the pinafore's on. (I actually still have to add buttonholes and buttons to the pinafore, it's done up with safety pins here...).

Now off to have a fun time on Boxing Day with the dancing and the mumming and the caroling and the socializing.

Warm Finished Objects!

Pink Mittens
Originally uploaded by commonplaceiris.

With the weather getting colder and owning nothing to keep my daughter's hands warm I decided to grab some bulky yarn and knit up some mittens. (Not that she is really willing to keep anything on her hands you understand but it's time for that battle to commence, especially as she seems to be being won over to hats at last.)

I took a look at some mitten patterns and using suggested number of stitches and such from Kate Gilbert's Gifted pattern (which happened to be the right gauge for the yarn and needles I was using) I got going.

I decided I wanted to knit in the round (actually I used my Denise interchangeable circulars -- think that's magic loop method, right?) and fiddled around with where the increases and decrease went, and kitchenered at the end. Also I added a row of holes so that I can thread ribbon or i-cord or something through to tie them on (although her jacket coat does a pretty good job it turns out).

The first one was a little small so I sized up for the second and then knit a third (perhaps I'll get around to knitting another to match the first and gift it). Of course the bigger pair are a little too big but they stay on quite well and will do for now (and then get grown into).

I've also managed to make my daughter a new hat/bonnet that covers her ears and because it ties on (hadn't added the ties yet when I took the picture)cannot be pulled off easily when she tires of it. (Although today we went out of the house and I asked her if she needed a hat and she said yes and wore it the entire time we were out, even while we were in the store which is pretty impressive based on her track record.)

The hat is from helloyarn's top down bonnet pattern which I like a lot and will use again, am tempted to make one for myself but not sure whether I'd actually wear it... Perhaps next time I make one for my daughter I will actually add ears (and maybe even embroidered face) as per the original pattern.

For my own head covering purposes I finally had a go at calorimetry. I wasn't sure when I first saw the pattern that it was really my kind of thing. But then I saw so many versions of it appearing on the Internet I got interested, and I realised that it'd be a useful thing for those days when I want to go outside with my hair up (especially when it's up because I've washed my hair). It's a nice quick and easy knit and I've been wearing it a lot. I'm not sure whether I'll wear at as much when it gets really wintery, or perhaps I'll wear it under my actual hats to ensure ear coverage!! We'll see. I think I will probably make this again, if not for me then as gifts for friends (and possibly family).

Remembering

It's too late to ask anyone who might be visiting this blog to join in the Wave of Light this year, but I still wanted to post something today.

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day (in America) or National Baby Loss Awareness Day (in the UK). The idea of the wave of light is that people light a candle at 7pm in their time zone on the day and let it burn for an hour in order to create a wave of light across the world.

There was going to be more to this post, hopefully there will be later when I can get back to the computer to write more. However, tonight my very much alive and kicking and screaming daughter needs me as sleeping is not going so well for her tonight. This (to the right) is a picture of my first little girl.

Thrift Thursday

I haven't posted any of my thrifting finds for ages. I don't have photos of most of them. I've been mostly getting old bedsheets, some plain to use to try out patterns I'm not sure about and some more interesting ones to sew with too. Also scraps of fabric, books and even a few items of clothing for me and the rest of my household. Here's a picture of some thrift-store finds from mid-July that I didn't manage to actually blog about back then:
Some clothes for my daughter, and some fabric. The books were my favourite part -- I'm sure there's lots of useful info to be found in "How to Make Clothes Fit and Flatter", and "Fun with Scraps" looks as though it could really live up to its name. Hopefully I'll manage to spend some more time looking through them before too much longer.

And now to this week's finds. I went into the thrift store with my mum along which meant she could watch my daughter if I wanted to try on clothes. Consequently I came out with two pairs of trousers, very exciting! Also I've been wanting some shoes for a while: I need some to fill that period between sandal and snow boot weather; something to cover my feet and preferably that I can slip off and on easily for getting down on the floor with my daughter to play (and 'cause I prefer to go unshod whenever I can). I've been looking at Earth shoes online, and in the local shoe store but can't really afford to buy any just at the moment. However, I found these two pairs for just over ten dollars at the thrift store this week. Yay! They both seem barely worn, and seem to fit me nicely. Definitely belong on my 10Things list as the brown pair in particular are making me very happy (and unexpectedly so as I don't like not having a back to my shoes usually, and haven't worn much of any heel in ages).

in the dark

This is why I should not attempt anything patterned when knitting in the dark.
I was knitting the first cuff for the longies I'm making my daughter. Obviously they are supposed to be moss stitch and while knitting in the car without bothering to get my little light out I managed to get off and start ribbing. At least it was only a few rows, it's fixed now and I'm on to the second leg. My mum's going to finish her pair first though I think. Not that she has to finish as soon as we thought -- my parents just changed their tickets to stay another week!