Neither Hip Nor Funky

I didn’t do very many projects for gifts this year.  However, I picked a couple bigger ones that kept me occupied and led to blog silence.

The first of these:

Pattern: Regal Frost Cushions from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: MC:Classic Elite Classic One Fifty in Daisy
CC: Kathmandu Rustic Wool DK in Mustard
Needles: US 4

Present for my oldest sister. I made her some cushions last year, but I really wasn’t satisfied with the ones tha tI made.

This one is a whopper of a cushion at 20″

Mods:

• The biggest mod is that I modified this to knit in the round, adding a lined dot pattern on the back.  This is simply becuase colorwork in the round is faster and much, much more pleasant to do.
• I also added a purl “seam” on the sides of the pillow in the contrast color.
• There are quite a few places in this pattern where you are carried your second color for long distances, so I twisted the floats every so often.
• Mine was not turning out square, so I eliminated  a few of the plain rounds at the beginning and end.
• I did a 3 needle bind off at the top and seamed the bottom around the pillow form.

They aid the cycling in snow with the superpowers  on them by Nancy Bush

They make the calves extra sexy to help with traction.

Mods: I knit the cuff over 120 stitches instead of 80.
And…well there was this unfortunate original mod.

That is what happens when you knit one sock, and then knit the second sock on a ferry hundred of miles away from the first. Stupidest knitting mistake ever! I didn’t even notice it until I was taking a picture. This wouldn’t have been nearly as frustrating if I had caught it earlier. I had just kitchenered the second cuff onto the sock. (I didn’t have enough yellow with me on vacation, so I knit the sock in two parts with the intention of kitchenering it together later.)

When I posted to Flickr in July, other knitters tried to console me with how not bad it was, but I knew I would feel silly every time I saw these socks. So they went to time out for four months. I fixed it by cutting of the cuff, picking up the stitches and knitting the new (matching) cuff in reverse.

Now:

matchy-matchie

Pattern: Cycling Sock with Trellis pattern in Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential and bits of yellow Koigu
Needles: US1

A month later….and another hat. (And the hats are not over with yet.)

Pattern: Breiwick Beret by Gudrun Johnston of Shetland Trader
Yarn: Queensland Rustic Wool Dk (love) in Mustard
Needles: US4 and US7

I test knit this for Gudrun. Loved the pattern, loved the yarn.  Loving the slight slouch.  You can knit this one in Dk for a moderate amount of slouch or in worsted weight for a bit more body.

The yarn has a kettle dyed look to it that gives it great depth.  I actually bought more of this color for a pillow for my sister b/c I loved the color so much.

I do actually have another post for you this week with a snow photoshoot, but most of my other knits are pesky holiday affairs that I am trying to hide from family.  So no peeks yet….but they are damn impressive (if I do say so myself).

I have to say that I have been rather excited this past week the the weather has turned chilly enough for me to wear my wool socks to work daily. With my Dansko Mylas, my socks are a nice flash of color and texture looking up at my throughout the day.

So I thought I would introduce my new fave socks that I completed about a month ago.

Pattern: Meida’s Sock by Nancy Bush in Favorite Socks
Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in Beach Glass
Needles: US1.5

I have to admit that I did not  initially find this pattern attractive.  This was partly due to the way the socks were photographed and partly because of the shorter cuff.  Well, I really should have known not to pay attention the the first part since that is also a problem with Nancy Bush’s patterns in Knitting Vintage Socks.  However, anyone who has looked Terhi’s beautiful socks from those patterns knows that they can look much better than the book’s photographs.  As for the second problem, cuffs can be lengthened.

Somehow I did not put those two arguments together until I saw Nikki’s amazing pair. Then I had to make them.

So glad I did.

Nope, not an environmentally aware post, a vest a-wear post. (heh, heh)

Definitely one of those knits where a pretty yarn just does the work for you.

I was feeling a little Star Trek vibe at first, but that started to wear away with a good wet blocking and then some more steam blocking at the shoulders after this photo shoot.

I have to admit that this is not a knit that I am too excited about, however I’m sure it will get a lot of wear.

Pattern: Bloom by Carol Meldrum for Rowan 36
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed in Herb (4 balls for M size)
Needles: US4 Knitpicks options

Mods: I took note of other’s mods and complaints on Flickr and Ravelry. I saw darktricos’ version first and fell in love. The shoulder calls for short rows up to 33 stitches. Except in the smallest size, it seemed that people who did all the short rows tended to have problems with the resulting wings. Strikker knit short rows to 21 st and I liked it, but I thought I wanted a little more so I went with 27st.

I also modified the neck. I love the look of Felted Tweed, but with its alpaca content I can’t have it right next to my neck. I decreased 3 more stitches for the back and 5 more for the front.

Up next, a green cycling sock to round these past two months of Project Spectrum