Thursday, October 20, 2011

Meet Sophia











This is Sophia - she is our new hat model. We pilfered her from our granddaughter/niece Kristin who met Sophia in stylist school. Sophia drinks a little too much coffee - she has that very wide-eyed look to her. But she's pretty quiet and will wear just about anything. Today she was sporting a collection of my recently crocheted hats, scarves and headbands. She looks like she's ready to hit the slopes.















Hit The Wall

I think I'm at the point where I need to find a new pattern. Anyone else get that where they've worked on a certain pattern for a while, you start to get a bit bored with it so you're not really that motivated to finish it? I have that so often with my afghans which is why I have a box full of almost finished blankets. :P

I've made about 16 12 x 12 inch squares and one 6 x 6 inch (I ran out of yarn halfway through). I think that's good enough for that pattern. I'm sure they could make two or three blankets out of it. So now I think I need to find another pattern....that goes well with the yarn I still have. :)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Crafting Progress and The Little Devil Hat

by Kelly


Two squares done for the charity drive.


The first square I knit came out spot on at 12", which fooled me into thinking this would be simple. I had to wash and block the gray square to make it come out right. Also, notice the two colors of gray? That's because I used a partial skein and ran out of the dark gray yarn. (*sigh*) I hope they're feeling forgiving when they get to my squares.

I checked the SmoothFox site today and saw the leader has 157 points for October. I don't think we've got a chance, girls. But I will persevere despite the long odds.

In other news, I've finished a scarf for our local charity drive :


I used this pattern from TLC. The ends had to be seamed together, then the strips braided. Have I ever mentioned how much I love seaming???

And, since I hate seaming so much, I knit this hat(also for the kid's charity) in the round, on a circular needle.


The free pattern is here. In my usual headlong fashion, I tried many new things at once. And, since this was my first time knitting on a circular needle, and also my first time using a provisional cast on, and my first time knitting this pattern, I sort of made a large mistake. Yes, it's much too large. This is supposed to be a baby hat, and instead it fits me quite nicely. Still, at least my Halloween costume is done.

But I have figured out why my gauge was off for the gray square above, and the hat too. Because I was in a hurry, I was using continental knitting, which is done mostly with the left hand, instead of the English knitting (done with the right) which I normally use. So, I am knitting a wee bit too loosely.

Easily fixed! And the hat is so much fun to knit that I don't mind trying it again. But I still think I will go down a needle size, which means a trip to the local craft store for another circular needle and set of DPN's.

But for now, back to the 12 x 12 squares. Ho hum.