Saturday, March 21, 2009

A hat and a Bluebeary



I had finished this hat back in February, but forgot to post it with my other finished objects. It was very easy to make. Made it in two days. I had originally made it in the slouchy style, but did not like it. So I ripped it out and redid it in the regular fitted style and LOVE it.


Pattern: Devra2 by Jennifer Tallapaneni
Yarn: Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Chunky
Needles: US 8 & US 10





I've been looking at making a bear after I saw one last fall at a retreat. The things to find were the right pattern, yarn and colour. I had found a pattern I was going to do, but it got trashed when Sandra from Make One Yarn Studio showed me a pattern by Blue Sky Alpacas - Bobbi Bear and the yarn I should make it in and I was hooked. What's great about this pattern is that there is very little seaming to do. It is pretty much knit in one piece. How great is that! I made it in blue 'cause Sandra thought it would be cool and wanted me to call it Bluebeary. So, I give you "Bluebeary". I made this for Sandra as a gift for looking after Little M last year at their retreat for the day. I will be making another Bluebeary in blue, but also another one in brown for both my little boys. The only thing I would change is the size of the needles. I found suze US15's were a bit big for this yarn, so I may go down a size or two to make it a bit tighter.

Pattern: Bobbi Bear - Blue Sky Alpacas
Yarn: Sirdar Big Softie in blue
Needles: US15 - but I'd go down a size if you want the knitting tighter

Thursday, March 12, 2009

What is the best way of knitting TWO socks?

Okay...so I've been knitting socks with double pointed needles for most of my sock projects. I like the thought of knitting in the old, traditional way. I've tried knitting socks with two circular needles and that seems to work well for me, too. I've even tried the magic loop. But I only knitted one sock at a time with these methods.

I'm really wanting to try knitting two socks at the same time so that I don't get SSS - Second Sock Syndrome. I've read that some people work both socks on separate dp needles at the same time and that works for them. I'm currently trying to knit two simple k2,p2 ribbed socks for my husband on two circular needles. But, I'm getting a bit frustrated. I get confused with the yarn when they cross each other as well as which needle to use next. It could be that I'm using the wrong length needles!?! I'm using 32" circulars. I know, I know! A bit too long for my project. After reading some websites, I need to get 24" circulars, maybe even 16" circulars. Has anyone tried knitting two socks with the one circular magic loop? Is that easy to learn? I'm curious...

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Finished objects!








Thanks to Terra and The Kniterpreter, here' my hero that I made here. It was a load of fun!










Here are some finished projects that I did in last few weeks.




I finally finished Cookie's Monkey socks last week. The first sock took me awhile to finish, but once I finished it, I breezed through the second one. Really. The pattern was actually easy to remember, so I didn't need to follow the chart as I did for the first one.






I also finished Amy Swenson's Emerald. It took me a couple of times to finish it as the first time I finished it, it was a bit too big for what I liked. So I frogged it and redid another one in a smaller size and now I just LOVE it! I was also hesitant on the colour, but I'm glad Trish convinced me. I just love the colour! And it didn't take me very long to do either. I did the sweater in just over two weeks, including the first time I finished the sweater and frogged it.





Here is my finished Noro striped scarf by Brooklyntweed. I'm pretty happy with it and love how the colours worked together. I will definitely make another one of these in the future.
I am currently working on a few projects right now as you can see on the sidebar of my blog. Hopefully finish more projects soon.
Until next time.....