Back in December we had our annual Knitter’s Holiday Swap. This is the third year our local knit group (via Ravelry) has celebrated the holidays with handknits.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, you’ve all probably heard the Canadian election results… and the subsequent outrage. What’s done is done, but I can’t help feeling sick to my stomach. So, here is a little pick-me-up: FO reports!

First up: Yuletide Gnome [rav link] Pattern by Alan Dart, published by Simply Knitting Magazine (UK). I knit it from Simply Knitting’s Christmas Gifts Extra! booklet.

Read the rest of this entry »

I finished my fingerless gloves a few weeks ago. I had a big issue with the sewn bind off because I thought it looked sloppy. I got really picky about the finishing techniques on the gloves since they’d be under such scrutiny. It wasn’t like a cowl or scarf where I’d only see it in the mirror.

I am relatively happy with them, but still wish I had better finishing techniques.

The photos are by Jason Vanderhill (who did the photographs for the yarn bombing article I wrote). I was wearing the gloves during yarn bombing and Jason took photos of us working, inadvertently getting nice photos of my fingerless gloves.

I picked up a gorgeous skein of Malabrigo Rasta from Three Bags Full’s January post-Boxing Day sale. It was 10% or 15% off so I saved a couple dollars after taxes. I’ve been lusting over the Rasta colours for a long time so it was a good deal in my opinion.

Malabrigo Rasta is super soft, so I knew I wanted a cowl. We’d had a recent cold snap and I decided to look around for some bulky cowl patterns. Rasta only has 90 yards so I actually found a Bulky Moebius Cowl that called for Rasta. [My Ravelry Project Page]

To start I watched Cat Bordhi’s Intro to Moebius Knitting (Cast-On) video on YouTube. So helpful! I don’t think I would have understood written instructions for the moebius cast on.

Basically this is a diagram of how you keep knitting in a moebius circle. The cowl grows from the centre outwards so my cast on is actually in the middle of the cowl and my cast off is the entire edge.

How a moebius cast on works

Read the rest of this entry »

So last time I blogged about knitting, I had not finished Gnome for Festivus, I was planning to frog Argante, start Gaenor, and cast on for some fingerless gloves.

I still haven’t finished Gnome. Here is how much I’ve knit of Gaenor:

… yea, not much.

However, I am making good progress on my fingerless gloves:

I should be further along but I decided to frog the first one at about the same point as this picture. With the previous one, I didn’t think the wrist part was long enough. The pattern called for 16 rows before the thumb gusset. I wasn’t happy with it, so I ripped back and what you see here is 30 rows before the thumb gusset.

The pattern is Basic Fingerless Gloves by Sue Brady [rav link] but I just did basic stockinette instead of the a k4, p2 pattern (due to the yarn being already patterned enough).

I also finished a Christmas present for my friend Ben:

The pattern is Instant Gratification Scarf by Cyn [rav link] which uses a twisted drop stitch. I used two skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky Natural (50% merino, 50% alpaca) because Ben was petting and admiring the softness of my Malabrigo Rasta scarf.