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Man, these were difficult but the result is so satisfying. One hundred grams of Telemark didn’t seem like very much, so I split each ball exactly in half and knit the mittens top-down. I don’t like afterthought thumbs, so I un-vented a new top-down thumb! Knit a thumb tube and then attach it to the hand with 3-needle bind off over just a few stitches (5 seemed right for these), then decrease away the extra stitches as you work down the hand. I decreased one stitch every three rounds. Because I had to do quite a bit of ripping back and re-working, it took nearly a full day of knitting for each mitten. *whew*

I loved working with knitpicks’ Telemark. It’s springy and soft and wonderful. Yum!

Mom hired me to make two pairs of mittens for some friends who took her skiing. One wanted burgundy and light gray with snowflakes, the other wants brown and cream. I finished the snowflake pair yesterday:

I knit it from the wrist up, with thumb gussets. I improvised the patterns using charts from The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting by Sheila McGregor, a wonderful resource if you can find a copy! (Link leads to a book with a slightly different title, but I think it’s a reprint of the book I have)

Not my greatest achievement, but I think they will do.

Sorry, we’ve been having server problems and I think I lost a comment that someone (maybe Thuy?) left. She said all I needed now was knitted pants. Got ’em already :) (edit – no, I didn’t lose a comment, she commented on my flickr and I was sleepy and didn’t notice. I’ll leave this post up anyway)

I sent several hours putting in the pockets this morning, and was wearing it when Dan got home. He took these pictures right then, so it *still* isn’t blocked!

The pockets are nice and deep. They go right down to where the border starts. I’m happy it’s a cold, rainy day, so I can wear it! By the way, this top-down, one-piece sweater was inspired by Jared Flood’s Cobblestone Pullover. Thanks, Jared!

Well, I wanted to wait until it was blocked, but I can’t :) So here it is, looking a bit wobbly, on my dress form this dark and rainy morning:

I’ll probably add afterthought pockets today, and I’ll block it tomorrow, maybe. When it’s dry, Dan will take photos of me actually wearing it!

Yesterday Fargo’s parents dropped him off to visit for a few days. Fargo has been Henry’s best friend for… four years maybe. He’s a great kid, a big reader and a real person. Henry decided to skip his classes today in favor of playing with Fargo, which says a lot because he loves his Thursday classes! The boys played and watched Naruto until Henry’s dad came to pick them up, and then I went out to buy buttons for my red sweater. I finally decided on some largish wooden ones, and came home and sewed them on so I could try the sweater on and see how much longer to make it.

This evening during Survivor I finished it! It’s wonderful. I want to wear it to the Rockola show tomorrow night, so I won’t block it yet and I don’t want to take photos until it’s blocked. But trust me. It’s a beautiful sweater, nice and long and warm, and it fits me perfectly.

Oh, this evening Chloe and I went out to pick up a few things for the show. She wanted a See and Say — you know, “The cow says.. mooooooooooooooooo” — but the modern version of that toy is extraordinarily lame so we skipped it. Also, we couldn’t find any bathrobes. I think they must be like slippers — only available at Christmas. Stupid. But we had fun :)

Yoke is done, have divided for sleeves. Pretty, huh?

A bit of poor planning on my part (forgot that my ROW gauge was also different — blame it on tooth pain) means my V is not as deep as the pattern V, but I think it’s deep enough. I don’t know if I have enough yarn to do the whole wrap-front thing, so I’m going to work the sleeves next, and then decide if I should do the wrap or just join the fronts and make a pullover.

Yarn: Knitpicks’ Gloss (merino wool/silk)
Gauge: 5.5 st/inch
Stitch pattern:
right side: k7, p1
wrong side: p

I’ve been feeling really worn out lately. I guess it’s probably because my mouth is still healing. I didn’t feel like doing anything over the weekend, so I mostly knitted and watched TV. We worked through all four seasons of The Office over the past two weekends, and finished up season 4 yesterday. That is some high-quality entertainment, let me tell you. It’s the only show I’ve missed during the writers’ strike. Now that the strike is over, rumor has it that a new episode will air on April 10th. Yay!! Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

I also watched The Darjeeling Limited and enjoyed it very much, and then watched Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, so it was a Wes Anderson weekend. Darjeeling and Tenenbaums are vying for first place. I still haven’t decided which I like more, though I’ve seen Tenebaums twice now. Rushmore was good but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the other two. All three are stunningly beautiful from beginning to end.

I started a new sweater, a neck-down wrap cardigan, number 263 on http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/cardi.html. I’m using four colors (Pumpkin, tan, cocoa, black) of Knitpicks’ Gloss (merino wool/silk blend) in 8-row stripes, and I’m doing an all-over seeded rib as well (k7, p1 on the right side, p all on the wrong side). Of course the Gloss works up to a very different gauge than the required light worsted, but it’s such a peasant and simple pattern that it’s easy to rekajigger it to suit my gauge. I’ll get a photo for you when I have the energy to get up off the couch.

I’ve also worked a lot more on the red cobblestone cardigan, and have gotten to about hip level. It fits like a dream.

Yesterday I saw my dentist, my sweet dear dentist. She said my wisdom tooth was the most difficult tooth she’d ever worked on. They took out my stitches and packed some little wads of gauze soaked with a mixture of herbs/oil of cloves into the wound, which is supposed to help it heal and not hurt so much. I think it really is helping the pain! She also said I can take 800 milligrams of ibuprofin at a time (instead of the 400-600 I’d been taking), or half a percocet plus 200mg ibuprofin. So yesterday I was in much less pain all day, which was quite a relief.

I felt well enough to work on my Cobblestone Cardigan while listening to Annie’s reading of Pride and Prejudice and got the sleeves finished and seamed! I learned how to do invisible seaming on garter stitch fabric as well as stockinette fabric and I’m so impressed with how good it looks. I’ll never fear seams again.

I’ve been a bit under the weather for the last few days… nothing drastic, just more tired than usual, a bit stuffy/sneezy, tiny cough, dry throat. My eyes are burning a bit tonight. I think it will probably clear up soon though, if it’s the same thing Henry had last week.

Photogamer was lots of fun in January, and I’m delighted to hear that Bre will continue through February! Here’s a screenshot of thumbnails of all my January photos:

You can see them all in greater detail by visiting my Photogamer Jan 2008 set. Most of mine are not great art, but I am quite proud of a few of them. Leave a comment on your favorite!

The DNA socks are coming along and I’ve finally memorized the cable pattern, so I don’t have to take my chart everywhere I go. I turned both heels and have decided on a nice basic cable pattern for the back leg. Here’s what they looked like yesterday, before I started up the leg:

I really hate working from the toe, but I didn’t know how much yarn the cable pattern would eat up so I did them toe-up anyway. Bah. Never again. I plan to enter these in the fair this year, but I will have to figure out a way to block them so they look good. The standard sideways blocking won’t work at all, since all the interest is across the sock front. Maybe I can display them on a fake foot. Knitpicks’ Risata is a lovely yarn, by the way.

Dan and I watched the third episode of Celebrity Rehab this afternoon. Ok, wipe that scorn off your face, it’s really an excellent show, and not some kind of celebrity-massaging ego-trip reality show at all! It’s not the celebrities that are so interesting, they’re just your average disasters, but it’s the way addiction makes them behave, and how Dr. Drew and his team have to manage them that’s so fascinating. It would be just as good if the subjects were ordinary people, but maybe not so easy to sell to a network. Looking forward to episode four! (oh — this is NOT a show for kids, needless to say. However, I look forward to showing it to Henry when he’s 15 or so.)

Ugh, I just sneezed and I’m not sure where my handkerchief went. Henry found it, yay!

My new reversible apron! I love it. It wraps around and buttons at the back neck. I made the pattern myself. The big pocket is handy for clothespins or storing little things in while tidying up. One side is green gingham, and the other is a scrap of a really nice green print that I’m not sure the origin of. I think maybe I made a laptop bag for Kathy out of it… Thanks, Henry, for taking these pictures for me!

Ugh, I hate it when I miss a few days of blogging. It’s too hard to catch up, so I’ll just jump back in. Not feeling that great the past few days… lack of sleep, lots of headaches, odd stomach problems, etc. Nothing serious, though.

I finished Dita’s mitts:

and sent them to her, and she loves them! I made a pair for myself out of the leftover yarn (our World of Warcraft guild colors), and have also been commissioned to make a pair for Mom’s boyfriend’s daughter. I need to get those done before the weekend! I’ve already gotten one finished so I’m not worried. Photos of more mitts tomorrow, and soon more photos from Grease… I’m still working on those. Oh, the next show they’re doing is “Into The Woods”.

Ok, now I can finally post photos of some of the things I knit for my family for Christmas!

Kirsten’s fingerless mitts, designed by me, knit in Knitpicks’ Palette:

Mom’s mitts, designed by me, knit in Knitpicks’ Palette:

Marcos’s Zeebee Beanie (made with five repeats to accommodate his ginormous head, and knit longer so he can turn up the brim if he wants), designed by Schmeebot, knit in Knitpicks’ Essential (two strands held together):

Dan’s modified Nine-to-Five socks, designed by Nicole, knit in Knitpicks’ Essential:

And I’m still working on Henry’s DNA socks. I’ve gotten a bit further than this photo shows, and am working instep increases now:

Houndstooth Check Fingerless Mitts: a present for Kirsten! I followed my Three-Color Mitts for Henry pattern, but did 1×1 ribbing, worked increases until there were 15 thumb stitches, and knit the hand a little longer. Here’s a chart for the houndstooth check pattern. It’s a 4-stitch, 4-row pattern. I divided it into 4-stitch sections so you can memorize it more easily. O is gray, X is black (or whatever).

And here are the finished mitts:

I did not feel miserably tired today! Yay! I did a bunch of recording while Henry was at his classes this morning. Let’s see… I edited the three chapters I did yesterday, and recorded three new ones, too! So that made me feel really happy.

And I started a new pair of socks for Henry, using my lovely new knitpicks Risata yarn — a cotton/superwash wool/elastic blend that is fantastic to work with. I’m using the “dusk” color which is a nice denim blue.

Socks are 44 stitches on size 0 Brittany Birch needles. I’m using June Oshiro’s Double-Helix (DNA) cable pattern for the front panel of the socks (Panel is 20 st, plus 2k at each side — 24st total), and plain stockinette on the back (20st), with 10 rounds of 1×1 rib at the top.

Sorry, that really only shows a bit of the rib, but I’m well into the cable section already so better photos soon.

Also finally took a photo of Dan’s 3/4 finished Nine-to Five socks:

This evening Henry and I went to our local game store for Board Game night, and nice older gentleman named Kent taught us On The Underground, a very entertaining and well-balanced game. Similar to Settlers, there are several ways to score points, and you can go for short-term bird-in-the-hand points, or more risky long-term points. Another guy showed up, a young military-looking fellow, and he played with us too. Quite a funny group, we were. Henry and I had a great time and are looking forward to the next board game night!

My Knit Picks’ “Harmony” wooden interchangeable circular needles arrived today! I love them. Here are a couple of unboxing photos:

The needles are much more beautiful in real life than they are in photos. The layers of laminated wood (for strength) almost shimmer, and the colors are more subtle than I was expecting. The finish is nice — smooth, but not slippery. The points are suitably sharp. Dan says the screw threads are very well made. The needles screw onto the cables easily and seem very secure. The cables are extremely flexible. A set of needle tips (size 5) was $5.99, and a set of two 47″ cables plus four end caps and a turning key was $3.99. Shipping was $2.50. So affordable! I will be purchasing lots more Harmony needles in the future :)

I transferred my Cobblestone Cardigan onto them and knit for a bit, and they are just as nice to work with as they are to look at. Good job, knitpicks.com!!!

Chloe and Bob came over yesterday and stayed for hours, which was a huge treat. We watched three episodes of Survivor China (Jaime thought she had an immunity idol, lol) and talked, and watched stuff on youtube, and played guitar hero, and played real music. Well, Bob and Dan played real music while Chloe and I watched The Soup.

I got a lot done on my Cobblestone-inspired Cardigan. A while back I decided it was much too large, and ripped back past the last round of increases. Now I’m a few inches past the underarms again and it’s looking great.

Last week I ordered one of Knitpicks’ new Harmony interchangeable circular wooden knitting needles, size 5, with 47″ cables. I can hardly wait till they get here so I can try them out. They were only about $12 including shipping (the Addis I bought were over $20 — GAH. I don’t even LIKE metal needles). I’ll test them on this sweater, and then if I like them I’ll ask for more for Christmas. Although the interchangeable ones only go down to size 4, they sell non-interchangeable wooden circs down to size 0. Hallelujia!

I have a headache. Have I mentioned lately that I hate it when the time changes? Also, the power is flickering. I shut down and unplugged the iMac, since I’m pretty sure it no longer has any surge protection since its UPS died. Not sure if the lappy has surge protection so I unplugged it and turned down the brightness for optimal battery life.

Materials:

About 200 grams worsted weight wool or wool blend — this will be plenty even if your Knight is bigger than mine and you want short sleeves. I suggest Knitpicks’ Wool of the Andes. At $2/ball for real wool you just can’t find a better deal!

Size 15 circular needles (Or bigger. Or smaller. Add or subtract a few stitches from the body if you use different size needles, or your knight is more round or much smaller than mine. Garter stitch is VERY stretchy, so don’t sweat it too much.)
Yarn needle
Scrap yarn for cast on and stitch holders

The Chainmail Hauberk:

Using scrap yarn and a provisional cast on, cast on 30 st for top of shoulders.

Back: Work back and forth in garter stitch to underarm (8 ridges or so for a sleeveless hauberk, maybe 9 or 10 if you want sleeves. Use your own judgement.) Put these 30 stitches on a string, and pick up 30 from the cast on edge.

Front/neck: Work 10 stitches (right front). Cast off the next ten. Work the next ten (left front). Turn. Work ten, drop yarn, skip the ten cast off stitches, use the other end of the yarn (or the other ball) to work the next ten. Turn.

Neck increase row: work to last stitch of right front, make one, knit last stitch. Now the right front has 11 stitches. For the left front, knit one stitch, make one, knit to end. Now the left front has 11 stitches too.

Knit back across for the wrong side, using both balls of yarn to keep fronts separate.

Repeat the right-side neck increase row and the wrong-side plain row until you have a total of 30 stitches again: 15 for the right front and 15 for the left front. On the next right-side row, knit all the way across with the first ball of yarn so the two sides are joined.

Continue working back and forth to underarm (count ridges and make the front match the back), then join with back section and begin to work in the round. Place a marker at the join. Now that you’re knitting in the round, you’ll need to purl every other round to stay in garter stitch. Invite your Knight to help!

(If you don’t want to purl, leave the front and back separate and sew up the side seams when you’re done.)

Here is how it looks after having used up my first ball of yarn:

When the body is long enough (to lower hip), work a split in front and back to allow easy horseback riding:

Put all 60 stitches on a string. Starting at center front (count 15 over from the side marker), pick up 30 stitches (to center back). Work these 30 stitches back and forth until the flap is long enough (8-10 ridges). Cast off.

Pick up the remaining 30 side stitches and work flap to match the other one. Cast off. Weave in ends.

If you want sleeves, pick up stitches around the arm holes. I’d work flat and weave the underarm seam so you don’t have to do any purling :)

And now, photos of the finished armor!

(Thanks for letting me take pictures even though you still don’t feel well, Henry :)

(When Ravelry goes live, you can visit this project there: Chainmail Hauberk for a Young Knight)

I ripped out my BPT sweater last winter (the poor neck design bothered me) and all that red yarn has been waiting around to be made into something new. I considered the Tilted Duster from the recent issue of Interweave Knits, but after looking at finished ones on ravelry I changed my mind. Very few of them seem to end up fitting and hanging properly, and I didn’t want to fuss with altering a not-very-good design. I liked the looks of the Cobblestone pullover (except for the curled neckline), but wanted a cardigan. It wouldn’t be hard to work it mostly as-written but split the front, but as my gauge is wildly different and I prefer to work top-down, I decided to re-write the whole pattern to suit my requirements.

Here are some in-progress photos:

Have done neckline and collar and am increasing down the top:

Yoke nearly done! Have worked three short rows across the back portion, from center shoulder to center shoulder.

Have divided for fronts/sleeves/back and am working sleeves flat, simultaneously on one long circ. Added 12 total st. to underarms, making sleeves 58 st each. Fronts right now are 38 (will be 44 when those underarm st are picked up). Back is 64 (will be 76). There’s an 11st overlap for the front edges, so I make that out to be about 38″ around, which should fit me in a loose, jackety way. I might nip in the waist a bit when I get there. Will work a few short rows across the back now and then.

I wonder if it’s too big:

Well, I’ll work a little more on the sleeves, then join the body sections and work those for an inch or two. Not much to rip out if I need to go a little smaller. Or I might just need to decrease away those underarm sections.

Last night I finished the Endpaper Mitts, yay!!! Here they are, blocking on the birdcage:

I took that photo last night and had to use flash (ugh) so here’s a photo that shows the actual true colors:

I had size trouble with the second mitt again. I was obsessively careful to compare it to the first mitt every few rows while I was knitting. If anything, it seemed a little smaller than the first one. And then I got it wet to block it and it grew again! Not two inches this time, but enough (in all dimensions) to be significantly larger than the first one. So I got the first one wet, too, and managed to coax them into some semblance of similarity.

And now, it’s sweater time! The weather has cooled off and I’ve got all my nice red Brown Sheep Worsted from my ripped-out BPT. I was thinking of making the Tilted Duster from the new Interweave Knits, but after looking through all the finished ones on Ravelry, I changed my mind. Most of the time it seems to turn out not fitting well. I think there were only one or two, out of dozens, that actually looked good. I don’t want to bother with something that’s going to need a lot of adjusting and tinkering to fit well.

I love the Cobblestone pullover, but I want a cardigan. I think I might try to convert it into a cardigan. I’ll just leave the front open and work in rows, rather than rounds, and continue the garter stitch up the center fronts. Since it’s worked from the bottom up I’ll have to plan buttonhole placement, sigh, but it won’t be too bad, I think.