Christmas gifts
Yes, after talking about it for how freaking long? I finally did it. For my sister Katie, I made my very first pair of socks. And gave them away, gulp. The good news is they fit her super long, super narrow feet "perfectly". Yay! Thank you Queen Kahuna - her book rocks! These were knit with Knit Picks Parade yarn. It was fine. Not the softest, not the tightest plie twist so some snags, but it worked. I'm curious to see how the sock yarns people rave about compare - ones like Kiogu, or Lorna's Laces.
First pair of socks
stripey goodness
Next up - my mom's felted bag. Oh lordy. There must be some kind of psychological profile in knitting things for other people. This pattern uses the feather and fan pattern to create nice wavy stripes of color. I tweaked it and used variagated yarn for the sides (Interlacements - 50% alpaca & 50% wool, this stuff is goregous!) and Lamb's Pride for the base, ends, and cover flap. Feather and fan is not a hard stitch pattern, it just requires that you remember how many rows you've just knit and when you need to do your lace pattern. I figured I'd whip it out quickly, it'd be a piece of cake, and easy to do while watching tv - HA!! I realized a) I have a short attention span and b) it took me awhile to learn to read the lace pattern so I could tell how many rows I just knit. A and B led to many, many frogging's. So many, I lost count. I even broke the connection to one of my Denise needles during the process. Sigh. Not that it's indicative of any "issues" or anything. However I perservered and realized that things went much smoother when I gave it my undivided attention. Hmmmmm.
pre-felting - feather and fan pattern
feather and fan closeup
Post felting
After all the blood and sweat (yes, I really did bleed over this when installing the grommets for the straps to go thru), I must say it turned out super duper sweet. I even felted a swatch and sewed it in for a pocket, complete with snap closure. Plus snaps for the flap. Yes, I am a suck-up overachiever. And yes, mom loved it. Score brownie points for me!
That is the end of my Christmas knitting. Sort of. There's a hat in progress for my sister Laura. I told her it wouldn't be done by xmas. It's my first foray into fair-isle, and I'm torn between a sense of accomplishment for rising to the challenge and realizing it's a total pain in the ass. The pattern I'm using is a take off on this Chullo - but tweaked.
First pair of socks
stripey goodness
Next up - my mom's felted bag. Oh lordy. There must be some kind of psychological profile in knitting things for other people. This pattern uses the feather and fan pattern to create nice wavy stripes of color. I tweaked it and used variagated yarn for the sides (Interlacements - 50% alpaca & 50% wool, this stuff is goregous!) and Lamb's Pride for the base, ends, and cover flap. Feather and fan is not a hard stitch pattern, it just requires that you remember how many rows you've just knit and when you need to do your lace pattern. I figured I'd whip it out quickly, it'd be a piece of cake, and easy to do while watching tv - HA!! I realized a) I have a short attention span and b) it took me awhile to learn to read the lace pattern so I could tell how many rows I just knit. A and B led to many, many frogging's. So many, I lost count. I even broke the connection to one of my Denise needles during the process. Sigh. Not that it's indicative of any "issues" or anything. However I perservered and realized that things went much smoother when I gave it my undivided attention. Hmmmmm.
pre-felting - feather and fan pattern
feather and fan closeup
Post felting
After all the blood and sweat (yes, I really did bleed over this when installing the grommets for the straps to go thru), I must say it turned out super duper sweet. I even felted a swatch and sewed it in for a pocket, complete with snap closure. Plus snaps for the flap. Yes, I am a suck-up overachiever. And yes, mom loved it. Score brownie points for me!
That is the end of my Christmas knitting. Sort of. There's a hat in progress for my sister Laura. I told her it wouldn't be done by xmas. It's my first foray into fair-isle, and I'm torn between a sense of accomplishment for rising to the challenge and realizing it's a total pain in the ass. The pattern I'm using is a take off on this Chullo - but tweaked.
posted by Lisa at 2:34 PM
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