[pattern] Hawaii A Goth-O

This is my second finished entry in the Ravelympics. It is an earmuff/headband with a hawaiian hibiscus flower duplicate stitched over it.

Pattern: Hawaii A Goth-O
Yarn: Naturally Caron-Country in black and claret
Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Completed: February 27, 2010

Even rows are all purls.
1. CO 3 sts. Turn.
3. K1, m1, k1, m1, k1. 5 sts.
5. K1, m1, k all but last st, m1, k1.
Repeat rows 5 and 6 until at least 25 sts on needles, or desired width.
Knit about 70 rows in stockinette, or enough to go around head, minus length of increases.
1. Ssk, k all but last two sts, k2tog.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until 3 sts left. K3tog.

Cut 6 strands, 16" long. Insert three strands around center st, two rows from tip, and braid. Repeat on other end.

Locate center of band and duplicate stitch motif. At least 6 yards are needed for one flower. There is enough space to place three motifs, preferably rotating image.

[FO] Low Cal

Pattern: calorimetry, minus half the rows
Yarn: my handspun Merino in Mustard and Raspberry, purchased at Pennsic 2008, poorly fractal plied, about sport weight
Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Completed: January 31, 2010
Notions: 2 1" buttons

I met up with my bestest friend from high school this weekend in NYC, and found the NEED to make her something. It was originally going to be made out of a (now I know is absolutely nasty) pink wool yarn I bought, but thought to ask what her favorite color was before making it. She said yellow. Well, I know half of what she owns is pink, and I didn't have any yellow yarn, but I did have roving in mustard and raspberry colors that I had bought a year and a half ago, that should probably get some use out of, so I spun some up.

My original idea was to fractal ply it (your first ply is half of your color A roving, and then half of your color B, and your second ply is the first 1/4 A, then 1/4 B, then 1/8 A, 1/8 B, 1/16 A, 1/16 B... etc. until you are sick of splitting your leftover roving in half), but DEX was my throwaway stat, and must have botched my skill: craft roll, that my two plies were different lengths and the thickness got progressively more consistent (but very much not at first).



I ended up with about 50 yards of yarn, that knit up nice and quick into a Calorimetry. I only did the first 12 rows before turning back, managing to make it about 3" wide. It also works as a neck warmer. And I think that what Fer liked the most was the button I used >.<

I also need to learn how to better instruct my roommate in taking pictures of my FO's, not me.

[wip] Water Diamonds Headband

I've been reprimanded for being a bad blogger. Apparently I am supposed to update more frequently, and not just when I have works completed!

So this week I've been working on a new headband, since I've been using the quant so much. I wanted something pumpkiny and autumny, so I found this pattern on Ravelry, by Kristi Holaas. It' originally for a worsted weight scarf or cowl, but I liked the pattern, and it's working up nicely in Knitpicks Pallet - Massala, on I think #2 needles.

The edges are curling in a lot, so I'm going to have to block it when I'm done. I haven't blocked anything because I'm big on the L, but meh, it's only yarn. I was also informed last week by Phiala that I do my SSK and K2Togs backwards and that I should just exchange them when I read patterns, but I was three inches in to the headband when I realized that meh, maybe it would make a difference and look better if I did. I'll keep that in mind for my next project.

Oh yeah, I was also noted that the diamonds look like snatches. Meh.

[FO] Quant!

This was a quick Knit-a-long that I had with my crafting group, the Centre County Crafting Bitches. It took me about a week to make while waiting for the bus. Probably a total of ten hours, including all the time spent on taking it out of the bag to do a row, and then stuffing it all back in.



I used . Knitpicks' Pallete in Tidepool Heather, and according to my wonderful lab scale, only 17.2703 g of it, so it cost me a whopping 69¢ to make!

The pattern was a free download from Knitty.



This was the first knit object that I have finished in probably a decade and a half, or so. The first actual memories that I have of knitting were with my grandmother in 1991, though I might have learned before, I can't remember :/ But for some reason, I would always try to make a scarf and get so damned bored with it, that I still have half of one that is a good seven years old. I've made several things in crochet since then, but all the knits just sink to the bottom of the list.

Until the knit-a-long. I am now addicted, and have spent something like $250 in the last month on sock yarns and circular needles -_-;; Which, by the way, I need to remember to return, but I'll hopefully remember to make a review post about them soon. So yeah, I used to be a hooker, and now I share needles...

I didn't encounter any problems with the pattern, but I'm known to jump head first into projects. It's so much easier to do things when you don't know that you don't know how, and when you don't know it's supposed to be "difficult"! I did hear, though, that there was a problem with picking up stitches for someone in the group.

Both ends of the quant are different, and it's rumored that there is a pattern mod out there to make them the same.