Socks!

OMG I just discovered Ravelry

I know my dad told me about this site about a year ago, and I didn't realized that I was accepted until today. So I went on and checked it out.
I am having trouble breathing now.
This is the best thing that ever happened (and probably the worst) to my knitting addiction.

Inhale.
Exhale...

Overcoming Triple S

Otherwise known in the fiber world as "Second Sock Syndrome."
I finally have gotten over the hump of it, and want to finish up that pair from the half skein I have left of Cherry Tree Hill dk sock yarn, but I cannot for the life of me find the pattern now!
Is $5 for another pattern really the price I have to pay for waiting, what, 2 years? to make the pair?
(Also doesn't help that I've moved twice since finishing the first sock as well...)

*sigh* Alas,... the pattern search continues...

Raglan Turtleneck

The turtleneck is really coming along. I finished the whole back panel, and I'm 6" into the front panel. I'm a little worried though, that I'm going to run out of yarn. I have enough that if I use the second color, but I'm afraid it'll ruin the styling. Now I'm going to have to look around for another hank of the same dye lot. Hmm....

Oh, I didn't end up using the pattern from the Knitting Fiend. Instead, I converted the gauge from the Bell Rock Turtleneck from Berroco. It took me quite a while since there's a lot of shaping, and the tops of the raglan sleeves are a little complicated. Pics later tonight...

Holy Update Batman!

Okay, a LOT of updating to do.
1. The pentagram kufi was too big by a smidge, so I had to shrink it. It's still a lil smidge too big, so I'm considering sewing in some black elastic thread to tighten it up around the forehead.

2. I've had two hanks of Cascade Eco wool in a beautiful natural tan and one hank in a soft medium brown in my stash since at least last Halloween. I REALLY want to make a raglan sleeve pullover out of it, and I'm excited to use it because it's very soft and feels great to knit with. I had to make a few trips to the knitpicks website and to my LYS: Knit Pickings (ironic huh?) for two sets of #9 circular needles, and a set of dpns. Now that all my materials are together....

2.5. I have been spending a lot of time on the website of The Knitting Fiend. She has a bunch of patterns and the best gauge and pattern converters! I found her raglan pullover pattern called "Take me out the ballgame," and I think I'll use that for my sweater. However, I think I'm going to tweak it a bit to make it into a turtleneck.

3. Christmas Knitting: I made the mini sweater pattern from Last Minute Hand Knitted Gifts. One sweater for ever family member. For some people I put their initial on the front. I also made about 100 dozen cookies and made everyone a box of cookies. The idea was to tie their sweater onto the cookie boxes. However, I forgot to attach the sweaters to the boxes, and now I have a pile of mini sweaters. Oh well...I'll just save them for next year.

4. Monique came to me today with a store-bought sweater. It has a kangaroo pocket on the front, and it's coming apart, so I agreed to fix it for her. I went through my giant tub of stash and tools (I left my everyday knitting toolbox at my mother's house, so I didn't have a darning needle on me) and I could NOT find a darning needle. Darn. She's going to the store to get me one.

4.5 In the process of looking for the darning needle, I ended up cleaning up my stash quite a bit. Frogging a few WIPs that were only a few rows in, tidying up some skeins that had come updone, and cutting away a HUGE knot and chucking it. Boy that felt good! New stash management tip: Use lingerie laundry bags to store skeins that keep coming undone. At least they won't get tangled up into your other yarn.

Okay! No pictures this time people, but Once that sweater is going... I'll try to post some up!

Holiday Knitting

Well, that big holiday in the sky is almost here, and I have been knitting non-stop! I want to post all my projects up, but I'm afraid that my family will visit my blog and see the things I've made for them. Sorry folks, you'll just have to wait for photos until the new year!

Kufi

Sean, my boyfriend's coworker has been asking me for a knit kufi with a pentagram on top for I think almost a year now. Since Kufis are traditionally a middle-eastern style hat, there aren't many patterns for them, and on top of that, I found absolutely none with a pentagram. It took me a few months to work out a plan for the pattern. Initially I was just going to use a plain skullcap pattern, and then embroider a pentagram pattern on top. Then I found this pentagram online, with the geometric angles on it.
I printed it out and snipped into the circle, bent it, and taped it into a 3D figure. Then I wrote on it where I thought the increases and decreases should go. I knit it top down and used six size 5 needles so that I had one needle for each of the 5 parts of the pentagram and one to work with. It was a little difficult to keep track of increases and decreases for each round. I wish I had written out the pattern while I was knitting it... I guess I'll have to knit another one in order to write the pattern.

Once I had the pentagram worked into a circle, I decreased five stiches, one at each point where the pentagon meets the circle edge, and then continued in 2x2 rib for the edge. I think it came out very good considering...