What's on your needles Wednesday #7

I have had a lot on my mind lately and have really wanted to blog, but none of it pertains to knitting, and while I do usually add other stuff it involves my kids and some personal trials we are working through as a family and I didn't feel comfortable sharing with everyone. Please pray for us that we find the wisdom to help them make the right choices.

As for the knitting, I have been working on a few things. First, I knit this awesome hat. The pattern is called simply, Men's ski hat. It is designed by Irina Dmitrieva. I prefer to call it Crazy Celtic Cables. I knit it for my hubby. I used some Caron Simply Soft in grey that I had in my stash. I LOVE how it turned out. Once I am pretty much done stash busting, I will probably knit one for myself in a winter white. I found some alpaca silk that I think would be perfect. I found this pattern on Ravelry and bought it there too. The pattern is not to tricky. I finished in about 2 days, and that was time I devoted to concentrated knitting. I saved the veg out stuff for wash cloths.



I am now once again stash busting. I am knitting a pair of socks for me. I am using some yummy Crystal Palace Panda Silk that my bff bought for me. The color is #4006, which is a pretty variegated purple. This pattern was also found on Ravelry. It is by Rachel M. Blaine and is called Redvine/Blackjack. I am knitting the redvine version. This pattern is pretty easy. It however has been challenging for me as it uses a picot edge cast on that I had not previously done. Also it is knit on size one needles. I normally knit my socks on a size 2. For whatever reason it just feels like I am knitting with toothpicks. Of course it doesn't help that the needles are bamboo also. I am making pretty good progress, but it is slower going than normal. For example it took me about 45 minutes to cast on. Ugh! The edge is pretty though. I can't wait till these are finished and I can wear them.


I have also been working on another beard hat. This time for Craig. I increased the edges a bit as I didn't like the fit of the first one. Also, he wanted it furry, so I added a strand of fun fur. Let me just say that this easy pattern is made harder when you can't see the stitches because of the not so fun fur. This is why, this is not done yet. I am also trying to figure out a way (possibly tiny buttons- thanks Sarah) to make it detachable. He wants it on his new ski hat, but I like the idea of being able to remove it. TTFN!

What's on your needles Wednesday #6

Here it is Wednesday again. I started another dish/wash cloth yesterday. It is actually called a spa cloth. I like the sound of that SO much better. It has a diamond pattern with eyelets in it. The odd thing is, I am on row two, I think I have made yet another mistake, and will need to rip it out again. I think this is the 3rd or 4th time I have frogged it. I am beginning to think I am not going to knit this.

Yesterday I went through all my knitting magazines. I looked at all the patterns and had to decide if they were ones I would ever knit or not. I think I got rid of about 1/4 of the magazines. I few of them, there were one or two patterns I might knit, so I just tore those out. No sense keeping the whole magazine right?

I spent most of last week, or at least it seems I did, on a simple crocheted beanie and beard for Cory. The first hat I made was so small. I used the right yarn, and the right hook. I don't know what the problem was, maybe I just hold my tension way to tight. I decided to go up 2 hook sizes. This hat is much better, but I wish it was a couple of rows longer. Plus, I guess I am just used to knit fabric. I don't care for the openness of the crochet. I can see where there are times it would be nice, but knitting makes a much more solid fabric. I still need to attach the beard, so once again no pictures. I really need to get caught up on pictures!

Gwen has decided she wants leg warmers. Lord knows this is not something I will buy, when I know I can make them. I looked up some patterns on Ravelry, and ask her last night what kind she wanted. Her answer was, "there is more than one kind?" Really, yes of course there is. She didn't look over the pictures, so I guess that is a project that we will be putting off.

I also pulled out a few mitten patterns yesterday. I think this is something I would like to try. Might be kind of fun. I just hope I don't get second mitten syndrome.

Another funny/odd thing I noticed yesterday when going through the magazines, I don't have the right yarn for the projects I want to do. Remember last week when I said I never seemed to have the right needles from my projects even though I have TONS of needles. Well, I also have TONS of yarn. Most of what I have is worsted. It is either wool, or acrylic. I also have a large box of sock yarn. Then I have miscellaneous yarns. I probably have 4-5 Rubbermaid tubs of yarn. However, yesterday it sure seemed like everything I looked at needed bulky yarns. Hats, mittens, sweaters, scarves, everything. Here I am trying to purge yarn, and would need to buy new yarn to knit what I want to. I do know that I could hold two strands together, but that gives a bit of a different look and requires me to think more(remember there are 2 strands for each stitch). I will probably just keep trying to figure out what to knit with what I have got. TTFN