PJ Day

Time to get the violins out, cos I'm feeling poorly - the taking the day off work, watching junk telly, wearing PJ's, feeling sorry for myself kind of poorly. However, the good news is that I caught up with some blog photos (yes, it's actually daylight in my apartment while I'm at home!).

Firstly, some of you may be wondering what happened to the Natucket Jacket I was knitting from the 2006 winter Interweave knits. Did I manage to fix it? Does it fit now? Where the hell is it? Honestly, I've been putting off posting about it, it still makes me sad now (5 weeks after, what shall be referred to as "the incident"). Anyway, here is a quick look at the result of "the incident".



I never did get to plan c (re-seaming) - plan b involved some water and a tumble dryer, one of the sleeves got a little too damp the felted result of which you can see on the right. There are other parts of the cardigan that are felted, and yet it still remains a lot too wide and a little too short, it is not savable, not even slightly. The cardigan resides in the back of the closet now, until I finally have the heart to throw it out.

On to a brighter note, I finished something else, which actually fits, and I'm totally in love with it. I think that these are my most favorite socks ever (aren't the latest pair always?). I went a bit nuts taking photographs of the socks, I won't bore you with all of them.



Yarn: 1 skein of Brooklyn Handspun's stunning Signature Yarn in "Rose Mocha" - man do I love this yarn, it's soft, the colors are gorgeous, apparently it fluffs up great after washing [can't wait to wash them] AND it's superwash.
Needles: 32" Addis, US #2.
Pattern: "Ripple Weave Socks" from the Fall 2006 issue of Vogue Knitting.
Adaptations: I opted for a garter stitch short row heel, thanks to gleek for her version. I also added a p1, k1tbl at the beginning of the k row of the sole, and k1tbl, p1 at the end of that row. This helped the pattern 'pop' and gave a little symmetry for me.





Close-up of the garter stitch short row heel, isn't it great?

There are more pictures (sock, mitten and spinning) to share, but I will save them. Just so you know, the Nantucket jacket has ensured that my future includes only small projects - socks, mitts/glitts, hats etc.

Happy New Year*

Just a quickie to wish you a happy new year, hope you all have a safe and happy '07.

Here's a couple of shots of Mrs B. senior's scarf. She loved it, and Mr B. Senior loved his hat.


Pattern: My So Called Scarf by Stacey.
yarn: Malabrigo in color 137 "Emerald Blue"
Needles: Denises #11
Adaptations: I only cast on 24 stitches, giving me skinnier, longer scarf. Like the last scarf, I added a single crochet border.



My yarn arrived from knitpicks Saturday, so I have plenty on the needles (which I'm sooooo happy about), so there will be more pictures to follow. For now, I'm off to suffer the rest of my hangover...

*yeah, original blog title I know, but my poor brain is suffering today, it's the best yer gonna get.

A home for socks

Look what I made! An ickle sock knitting bag. I was bull-headed and decided to just wing it based on a bag I liked.


I LOVE this bag and all it's imperfection. It was a nightmare to sew together. I am certainly not a pattern writer - but insanely thought I could do it after sewing from one pattern...once.


An important lesson I learned, metal zippers and fingering weight yarn just don't mix together. I'm off to make another bag, right after catching up with some bloglines reading.



Merry ChristmaKwanzaKah to one and all. Have a wonderful, safe and happy time.

Somewhat Cashmere Hat

FIL's hat is complete, with me modeling.



Pattern F&P Jess's Cashmere Ribbed Hat.
Yarn Noro Cash Iroha (in color 16) a wonderful blend of 40% silk, 30% lambswool, 20% cashmere & 10% nylon - thanks Alyson!
Needles Denises size 6.
Adaptations Unless you count using the Noro, none. The hat seems perfect, let's hope Mr. B. Senior agrees.



And the money shot, the top decreasing is so simple, but perfect...

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good.

What is that I see before me, is that more Malabrigo? Yes! It's Malabrigo in color 137 "Emerald Blue". This is such a vividly colored yarn, I can't wait to see how it will look for MIL's So-Called Scarf. Thanks again Alyson for the introduction to this stunning yarn.


This is the beginning of FIL's hat made using Noro Cash Iroha (in color 16) - thanks again to Alyson for the fantastic prize package, I know that Mr. B. Senior will love this color and fabric, so soft. The hat is going to be F&P Jess's Cashmere Ribbed Hat, I love the top of the hat, the decreasing is special.

Finally, the Shedir hat.



Pattern Shedir cap.
Adaptations I only did 3 of the 5 pattern repeats as I felt that I was going to run out of yarn and it would be long enough, and it is, except for the bottoms of my poor little ears, I wish I'd done 4 pattern repeats now.
Yarn 3 balls of Elann's Baby Silk in "Oxblood", a soft, beautifully colored 80% baby Alpaca, 20% silk yarn. I doubled the yarn.
Needles Addis Turbos, 32" #3's (magic loop method).


I love this pattern, isn't the top so pretty?

That was fast!

Sewing machine is here already - I can't quite believe that it came that fast. Okay, right I have to go play with the machine and the new fabric I got. While I'm busy doing that, here's a couple of shots of my first finished Ripple Weave Sock from the Fall 2006 issue of Vogue Knitting.

It fits!

So I finally made something that fits, which has been a tall achievement for me recently. It warms a knitters heart to complete something that can actually be used for it's intended purpose. I have to say that I love, love, love this scarf, the stitch pattern is perfect for this scarf, it shows off the beauty of the yarn so well.


Pattern: My So Called Scarf by Stacey.
Yarn: Malabrigo in "Velvet Grapes", courtesy of Alyson (thanks Alyson!).
NeedlesDenises #11
Adaptations: I only had one skein of Malabrigo, so cast on only 26 sts, giving me a 4 1/2" wide scarf, that was 56" long. Because of the tendency to curl, and since I'm getting a dab hand at it, I added a single crochet border, which completes it perfectly.



Coming up... one completed sock, and a hat (yes, that fits too).

In other news, the sweater, after blocking, is not only wide, but super-long now too - on to plan B.

Something new

I bought a sewing machine! Now before you go getting too excited, I don't have it yet, it will be with me in 5-10 business days (can't complain at $1 shipping) and it's only a pretty basic machine, nothing too fancy. However, I did get a $300 machine for less than $90 - does anyone else love overstock.com as much as I do? This machine had a lot of great reviews, okay, it's factory refurbished - but I've had a lot of luck with factory refurbished items in the past. Anyway, the machine is a Brother XL3500T machine, here's a picture for ya.