My Sisyphusian spiralling scrapbusting baby hat (2013 FO# 6)

Yesterday I told you that even after finishing my very cute Blue Baby Surprise Jacket, I still had a pile of crepe yarn left. It was only 35 grams, but I was not going to put that back in the stash again! But what pattern uses odd bits of yarn that only weigh 5 - 8 grams?  I knew I had to put my thinking hat on ... Then inspiration struck! A hat was the perfect project and I knew exactly what I had to do to make it work.

I took three colours and cast on 24 stitches in each colour. 

Let's call them A, B and C, going from the left.

I then divided the stitches up for magic loop 

(all of A plus 12 of B on needle 1, 12 of B and all of C on needle 2)

Then started to knit as follows.

Round 1: Knit the A stitches with C. Knit the B stitches with A. Knit the C stitches with B.

The stitches are now are divided as follows:

all of C plus 12 of A on needle 1, 12 of A and all of B on needle 2.

Round 2: Knit the A stitches with B. Knit the C stitches with B. Knit the B stitches with A.

Every time one of the colours ran out, I closed my eyes and grabbed another ball at random out of the bag.

I continued with the spiralling pattern until the hat was as long as I thought it should be, then I cast off by decreasing every second row - I decreased every eighth stitch then every seventh then every sixth etc until I had nine stitches left, then I knitted an icord for a few centimetres.

I wish I was a better photographer because this shot does not reflect the total squee-ness of this hat! It's tiny and the rolled brim is so cute. It's pretty teeny so it should fit the same baby as the BSJ.

I suck so bad at photography! You'll have to trust me - it's very cute. It also took me about two hours to knit and used up annoying odds and ends out of my stash - I will definitely be making this hat again! The question is, can an adult get away with a fetching icord finish? Maybe not...

Oh, the cuteness!

Not WIP Wednesday: Blue Baby Surprise Jacket (2013 FO# 5)

Is it Wednesday again already? This week has just flown by in a blur of reading, writing and procrastinating. I honestly feel if all I have done in the last week is chip away rather ineffectively at the endless pile of work I need to do. Such is the nature of research but still! I understand now why postgraduate study is considered so difficult - it's not the work that's hard but rather finding the mental strength to remain motivated and focused at a really long-term goal with few short-term payoffs that people struggle with.

So, in that vein, instead of sharing with you another bunch of unfinished projects, I thought I'd vary my routine and show something that's actually finished.

The Yarn Harlot once said the unseamed Baby Surprise Jacket looked like a knitted manta ray, and it really does! It's crazy to think that with a few short shoulder seams...

..it becomes an actual piece of usable clothing!

I know it's a bit twee but I love using novelty buttons on baby knits. It's not like they're going to complain and it makes me smile.

Of course I remembered to sew a spare button on the inside. 

There's not much that I can say about this jacket that hasn't been said before. One thing I did do (by chance) that looked absolutely fabulous was to use the same colour to cast on and do the first three rows and then the last few rows of the sleeve and the cast-off. When I seamed using that colour, it created a very professional-looking finish to the whole garment.

I'm pretty pleased at using up all of that crepe stash (some of it is over eight years old!). However, once I finished I still had all of this left over:

Argh! Will it never be done? Maybe this crepe is my yarny Sisyphusian task - every time I finish a garment, the wool regenerates and I need to start all over again.

Or maybe not and I've been spending just a bit too much time in the library. Till next time :)

A chronicle of derpitude and a gorgeous free pair of socks (2013 FO #4)

Chronicle of derpitude

I do not know what is going on inside my brain at the moment but I have turned into a derpy, scatty vacant-minded idiot. Yesterday, I locked myself out of the house on an eight-degree night and had to wait over an hour for my spare keys to arrive. The worst thing is even though I had both books and knitting it was too cold to knit and and too dark to read! Completely the worst. This morning, I went to the library and left my keys on the loans desk, then spent five minutes staring at my car door trying to figure out how to get inside. Just then I had a shower and shampooed my hair twice instead of using shampoo then conditioner. I'm going to get some multivitamins or something because this level of absentmindedness is terrible!

In happier news

I have a new finished object to share with you: my Ocean Wave Socks.

These are made up completely of leftovers - the Ocean Blue Socks (Rav link), the Ishbel I knitted in Hamilton Island (what a divine place!) and Sam's Anniversary Socks.

I used this technique I saw on Christi's blog to knit the heel, talked about here.

It actually made a really-fitting and handsome heel and it meant I could easily continue the spiralling pattern I was using but it was a bit fiddly and did mean more ends to weave in, so I will probably only use this technique on socks where striping is vital to the sock.

On the subject of weaving in ends, I actually finished knitting this sock during Finish It February. However, because it was made up of lots of leftovers there were lots of ends (felt like about 300, probably really 40) and it has taken me this long (two months!) to weave them in. I hate hate hate weaving in ends!

But now they're done and I have a lovely new pair of socks that were effectively free and have the added bonus of making me feel smug about how thrifty and crafty I am. Win win win.

Now let's just hope I can go through the next few days without doing something really stupid like locking myself in a cupboard or forgetting my pin while standing at an ATM with a queue of people behind me...

WIP Wednesday: My cat is the boss of me edition

Another Wednesday, another round-up of all of the things I've been working on. I am actually blogging this from my bed because, in the epic power struggle that is sitting my desk chair (it's Lucy's bed at night, she doesn't like it when I use it during the day), Lucy is currently on top. My aunt said to me this morning "You know you're the alpha cat of the household, right?"

Sure I know it, but does Lucy? I am starting to think not.

I was really hoping to get my blue fluffy mitts done this week (not least because it's been bloody freezing the last few days!) but catastrophe struck:

I broke my 3.5mm KnitPicks needle. Again. This is no exaggeration the fifth of these needles that I have broken! It's ridiculous. I never have a problem with any other size except for this one and my yarn store doesn't stock the nickel-plated tips. Grrr!! 

However, I quickly replaced one blue project with another and the Baby Surprise Jacket and I have been spending some quality time together:

As you can see, I'm not great at random striping. I should definitely have this one finished by next week and I'm looking forward to going shopping for some very cute buttons this weekend!

Finally, I've been working on my sister's Endpaper Mitts. I'm up to the thumb increase, so over 50% done. I'm a bit worried because it's really clear in the knitting where my tension has changed - what looks like a line in brown is just me knitting one row a whole lot tighter than the previous row. I'm hoping it'll block out - blocking fits everything, right? Right.

Now I should be leaving my nice warm house to go to uni but, well, I don't want to. It's cold and wet and dreary outside :( Sometimes being a grown-up sucks. 

WIP Wednesday: Mitt Madness

I am really struggling with daylight saving, and my struggling I mean I think I might be incapable of ever remembering that it exists. I got home from lunch, settled down to work and then, when I looked up a few hours later, the sky had darkened to such an extent I had to put on the light. It wasn't even 5 o'clock yet!

It's been mitt madness at Chez HereIKnit over the last week. The Endpaper Mitts are coming along nicely - I'd forgotten how addictive stranded colour work is ("Just one more row..."). The Bilby Yarn is perfect for this type of project because it's very 'sticky' - you know the inside of the gloves will slowly felt with wear, making them even more warm. I am struggling to maintain my tension with two-handed knitting, though (which you can see a little bit here with the white diamonds on the right glove) but I'm hoping blocking will fix everything.

In the time it took me to move these gloves and put the second gloves down, all of the light had gone!

So I fiddled with the settings on my camera software to make it brighter so you could see how much I've done. My skills with photography are truly a gift.

I'm pretty chuffed with these! Plain mittens are just as easy to make without a pattern as plain socks are (like durr, I can hear every experienced knitter everywhere saying). I'd have done more but it's really hard to work on dark navy mohair yarn at night, so these only get worked on during the day.

Now, back to work - deadlines care nothing for daylight savings.

A day in the life of...

Yesterday my sock had a busy day. It caught public transport for the first time in its life (that's my Smooshy Alpaca Hat and Irish Hiking Scarf in action)...

..watched the Saints get comprehensively beaten by the Bombers (this photo was taken at the early stages of the game. The smile vanished shortly after that!)..

..wandered through the city, marvelling at the sights and sounds like this amazing water art, which has got to be some sort of metaphor for the human condition, surely...

..these gorgeously plumed horses adorably head-hugging each other...

..met the very funny Sam Simmons after his comedy show (I am not sure why I am making a face like a turtle. Where does all that extra flesh come from? Seriously, terrible terrible photo)...

 ..and then, on the train home, resting quietly with the wine left over from dinner. 

I was so exhausted after the long day out that I can honestly say that staying awake on the train ride home was one of the most difficult things I have done this year. It was an excellent day and I had a great time - I love my city and I love spending time at it after the sun goes down. I'm pretty sure my sock does too :)

The heater's on and the socks are done (2013 FO# 3)

Yesterday, for the first time this year, it was cold enough to turn on the heating. I hate that day! This is for two reasons. Firstly, it means I will be poorer for the next few months because heating this double-brick sturdily constructed house I live in is very expensive. Secondly, because it means I can no longer deny that winter is here and the facts that I will a) be chilly and b) have to put up with Lucy whinging  because she can't play outside like she wants to.

I want to go outside but I can't because it's RAINING!! 

 In knitting news, it's all mitts all the time at Chez HereIKnit.

My sister say my old and tattered Alpaca Endpaper Mitts when we were out for brunch last week and promptly requested a pair for herself. Since I will never turn down a request from someone who appreciates the thought, time and effort that goes into handknitting (which she does), as soon as I got home I sorted through the stash and found exactly the right wool. My sister loves Western Australia, I had some gorgeous naturally dyed wool from Bilby Yarns in my stash, and so I started straight away.

This is my third time knitting this pattern but never before two-at-a-time magic-looped. I think it will be easier for the stranded part to knit this way but I can foresee lots of untangling of yarns in my future before these mitts are complete.

The second pair I started are some mittens of my own design that I'm making to match my Grantham hat, which is finished and blocking. I couldn't find any patterns that suited what I wanted so I thought I'd have a go at working out a pattern myself. I figure how hard can making a mitten really be? It's just a tube with a thumb on the side.

I do not know why my iPhone overexposes the image every time I photograph this yarn. Maybe it's the colour? IDK. Anyway, I've just finished the ribbing and my pattern seems to be going alright so far, although it is early days. I guess we'll see.

In surpremely non-exciting news

I finished another pair of socks for Sam. For what may be the first time ever, I finished his birthday socks prior to his actual birthdate! It's a birthday miracle.

But really, pretty non-exciting to anyone but him. The yarn is Regia Design Line by Erika Knight. As always with Regia, the yardage is terrible so the socks had 15 rather than 20-cm cuffs. As always, the yarn felt nice to knit with but I'm not sure how well they will stand up. The colours are also very nice, so I think Sam will like them, which is what's important, really.

And that's all I've got this Friday. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and stays warm and dry.