Abbie knits things. (And designs, and sews, and crochets, and felts, and spins…)
You know what’s awesome about being a knitter?
You can look at your pile of business cards, and think about the networking event you’re attending the next day, and say, “Self, I think I need something to keep these organized.â€
And Self answers back, “You’ve got scads of leftover sock yarn, go to town.â€
So you do.
That’s what’s awesome about being a knitter.
(I surely can’t be the only person whose first thought upon hearing the words “weekend update” is Norm MacDonald. Or am I just showing how long it’s been since I last watched SNL?)
Anyway, to business! I had the occasion to attend a bridal shower for my cousin — the occasion, of course, being that she is engaged — and as has become tradition, I made her gift.
BRIDAL SHOWER MITT & POTHOLDER SET
Pattern: Felted Oven Mitt and Trivet from Felted Knits by Bev Galaskas; washclothes in single crochet and seed stitch
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in White and Forest Heather; Sugar’n’Cream Cotton in Countryside and Summer Splash
Needles: US 11/8mm and US 13/9mm for the oven mitts and potholders; 5.5mm crochet hook and US 8/5.0mm for the washclothes
Notes:
I picked the colors to match the color scheme in the bride’s registry, completely forgetting that white never, ever felts as well as darker colors. The end result (which i attempted to skillfull hide with my artful arranging for the photograph) is a his-and-hers set. I think it adds to the charm and uniqueness of this set, of course, and there will be no mention of the adjectives I used when I was reminded of this fact of felting.
The oven mitt and coaster/trivet (what I call a potholder) patterns are my most used patterns out of Bev Galaskas’s marvelous Felted Knits book. I don’t do a lot of felting, but it just clicks for me in this pattern. You want a good, sturdy, waterproof layer between you and a hot pan, and felted wool is ideal for the task. I’ve used them for about a half-dozen wedding presents now, and it always goes over well — potholders and mitts seem to be one of those things that everyone needs but nobody thinks of until they’ve grabbed that hot pot with a bare hand. It’s an quick and easy pattern, and it’s satisfying to shrink it down. I tried a few yarns before settling on Wool of the Andes held doubled. It felts up very evenly and smoothly and has a nice heft. (Keep this in mind if choosing it for sweaters, as well, to avoid heartbreak.) It’s also economical, especially in a project like this where you’re going to wash the stitches into invisibility.
I also felt comfortable with crochet to actually try a real project with it! This little washcloth is just a simple single crochet. Nothing fancy, no tricks. Just single crochet over and over and over. It went a lot faster than the other washcloth, which was in seed stitch, and came out with some very interesting patterns when it pooled. This crochet thing is starting to grow on me. I might even try it again!
Prior to all this showering, I spent a few days up in Vermont with my mom, visiting my sister. She’s about to graduate college, has a job all lined up and is staying up there — I’m very proud of her, if I might just mention that. We took in the beauty of Lake Champlain and the mighty Green Mountains:
and I might have visited a few yarn stores (o hai thar Kaleidoscope and Northeast Fiber Arts Center). My mom, who is a quilter, then got her revenge by dragging me with her to several quilt shops. We are a very multi-craftual family. I am really fond of Vermont, and I’m glad my sister is staying up there so I can keep visiting the yarn shops her. Hi, Sis! Thanks for humoring the yarn habit!
March was a pretty simple month for me: one crazy all-encompassing pattern of doom = startitis everywhere else.
HEDWIG SOCKS
Pattern: Basic Stockinette Sock with heel flap
Yarn: Opal Harry Potter sock yarn in Hedwig
Needles: US1/2.25mm bamboos
Notes: Written up here for your perusal.
VIPER PILOTS
Pattern: Viper Pilots by Glenna C
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in the Chinatown Apple Colorway
Needles: US 2/2.75mm
Notes: Extensive write-up here.
Other than that, I cast on a few things (bridal shower gift for cousin, some vanilla socks), worked on stuff already cast on (February Lady Sweater, Dad’s Selbuvotter, a wrap), and tootled around the East Coast taking my socks on tours of fancy estates and to hockey games. Oh, and winning stuff! Winning stuff is fun, too. (Thanks, Philly Burbs Stitch’n’Bitch!)
April, I hope, will be a finish-em-up-and-get-em-out month. I have big plans. Big plans, mmhmm. (Can we say Maryland? Yes we can!)
Big plans.
Much like the Battlestar Galactica finale, these socks hovered between disaster and triumph the entire time I was knitting them. Unlike the BSG finale (in my ever so humble opinion, anyway), they most absolutely ended in triumph.
Viper Pilots
Pattern: Viper Pilots by Glenna C, available on Ravelry here.
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in the Chinatown Apple Colorway
Needles: US 2/2.75mm
Notes: Oh. Goodness. It took me almost a whole week to get around to writing these up. I didn’t want to think or write or even have to worry about spelling; I just wanted to stare at these socks, knit by my very own hands, being worn by my very own feet, and be rather pompous about my abilities. To loosely quote the designer, you feel like a pretty badass knitter when these babies are on your feet.
Some thoughts, in no particular order:
-I wish it hadn’t taken me a sock and a half to finally figure out how the ribbed cable twists worked and stop needing to check the key every two seconds. Despite checking said key every two and a half seconds, there is one egregiously un-crossed cable (thanks to a missing row) and a couple of minor wobbles scattered throughout the socks. In keeping with the theme, I am declaring that to be part of the danger of space travel: even the maelstroms have maelstroms.
-Every error that happened in these socks happened when I was in a social situation (meaning, knit nites). If you enjoy tinking, take them along. Otherwise, leave them at home and work on them in the peace and quiet. Distraction leads to aforementioned dangers of space travel.
-Color. Glenna recommended blue colors, keeping with the space theme. That’s all well and fitting, but I put myself on a yarn diet for Lent and the only stash of DiC Smooshy in my stash was Chinatown Apple. (It hadn’t even been stashed that long; it was a Christmas present from my sister. Timing for the win.) So I stared at it for a bit and decided it evoked the colors of flightsuits and the racing stripes on the Vipers and the colors you get after a Cylon has blasted your poor little spaceship and scratched the paint job. And when I look at them, that’s what I see: old, battle-scared fighters. I love the color, and the twist it puts on the theme. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I would encourage people to consider expanding beyond blue. Especially if they decide to knit more than one pair. (What? Don’t look at me that way, you’d be tempted too.)
-These were my first ever test-knit, and what a way to begin. Despite the way they made my eyes ache and the annoyance of constantly jumping between sock and chart and key, I couldn’t put them down. Watching the cables grow and the little vipers narrow as I went was positively addicting. Then I got to the end and realized I (and my eyes) needed a break, and so promptly cast on a stockinette sock and knit on it until I got bored. That was my cue to cast on the second sock, which then took twice as long now that there was no deadline. Go figure.
-Cabling without a needle. This is not the pattern to learn on. However, this is definitely the pattern to exercise those skills on. I didn’t pick up a cable needle once in the knitting of these, and while it led to some hairy moments (and a lot of cursing, Starbuck-style) on the whole it worked out very well. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken had I been stopping and adding another needle into the mix four times in a single round. That being said, I’m still pretty astounded at myself for getting through the C7s without a needle. I am apparently better at cabling without a needle than I realized!
Check out that awesome heel!
I didn’t get much else done in March — these took up a lot of time. But I really did enjoy the challenge so much. These are without a doubt the most complicated project I’ve tackled, and I’m awfully tickled at how well they came out, and the part I got to play in getting the pattern up to its release stage. Thanks, Glenna, for letting me play in your sandbox a little, and you know where to find me when your brain comes up with another fantastic thing.
Of course, now that BSG and these socks are both done I have to find something new to amuse myself. Lee Adama’s off to a new show, but I think I’m more interested in Leoben. Anybody runs into him, send him my way. Tell him I can knit him an awesome pair of socks.