Elf Attire

Finished the Elf Attire for my son's play this Thursday (with 3 days to spare, oh my!). The hat pattern is on the Lionbrand website, Santa Claus Hat.



The boots are Curly-Toed Elf Slippers from Weekend Knitting. I used stash yarn (yay!), one skein of Red Heart worked doubled on #15s, and one skein of Lion Brand Fun Fur worked tripled. Unknown red stash scrap for the tassels.

Wet Fingernail Polish and other Knitting Roadblocks

Still plugging away on the kilt hose. One is completely finished with ends weaved in, the other is lacking 3 pattern repeats on the foot before toe decreases. I discovered yesterday that in my haste to fix a big problem and reknit the yarn laying in a tangled heap, (I failed to stop for the heel and did an extra 16 rows that had to be ripped back), when I did the heel flap I failed to add in the reinforcing thread, so now the heel feels floppy. I've gone too far forward, I've already turned the heel, picked up stitches and continued on the foot. I'll have to turn the sock wrong side out later and duplicate stitch the reinforcing thread in. I got the idea from Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose & Knickerbocker Stockings published by Schoolhouse Press. The author, Veronica Gainford, says you can go back and duplicate stitch the reinforcing thread on the wrong side of the sock, especially if you'd like to reinforce the sole but don't want to carry the thread across the top of the foot.

.With all of that going on, of course I've cast on for (Ravelry links) an Elf Hat and Slippers for my son's Christmas play next Thursday.

And I haven't even started the Christmas scarves and slippers.

So, with all of this going on, why am I pecking on the computer instead of knitting? Wet fingernail polish. Husband's office Christmas party is tonight at the Petroleum Club downtown. Now I remember why I stopped painting my nails -- decreased knitting time!

Stash-busting light-speed blanket

Husband's coworkers in Florida had a baby two weeks ago, and I'm still plugging away on the kilt hose. Enter Cascading Colors Baby Blankie on the Lion Brand website. Two colors of yarn held together on size 15 needles. Finished in 8 hours total! Best of all, completely knit from stash, no purchase necessary. Woot!

Of course, I had to change it. The size 17 needles called for made really big holes since I wasn't using the fuzzy Lion Brand Jiffy called for, so dropped to size 15 needles and cast on 10 extra stitches. Almost wish I'd done another half repeat. Also added 3 rows of seed stitch at beginning and end, and two seed stitches along the size to tame curling.

Still Alive

I'm still alive, just plugging away on a pair of kilt hose for a fellow piper. I ran out of yarn after buying up all the closeouts from SWAK in the City, now I'm buying the last 4 balls of it from Webbs. Hopefully I can come up with a heavier substitute should any more pipers want kilt hose, these size 0 needles are taking FOREVER! I would post a picture, but I didn't ask the pattern author's permission to sell items from her pattern because I really didn't intend to do this pattern, the recipient insisted on it. I am going to make up some swatches with a heavier yarn and different cables/patterns should this request come my way again.

I have lots of Christmas knitting and a baby blanket to do, hurry up hose!

Eastlake and Russian Grafting

I just ran across this YouTube video on Russian Grafting and I am so excited to try it on my next pair of kilt hose. I don't like the way grafted toes look, probably because I'm not very good at it. I had the idea of knitting kilt hose top-down, then when you reach the toe, put half the stitches on a holder (the sole), and using the the toe-up method, form a toe pouch, then graft it back together on the sole. This Russian grafting video looks like exactly what I was thinking of, so I guess I'm not the first one to think of it!


Russian Grafting YouTube video


I also finished Eastlake, of course it took much longer than anticipated and there were, unfortunately, many errors in the pattern, some uncorrected despite the errata sheet that came with the pattern book. She also tried this weird neck extension thing that extends like straps from the front and meet together in the back that was a little different. (You can see the seam at the back neck in my photo.) Some Ravelers left it out completely, but I decided to try it. All in all I am very pleased with the way it turned out and I am sure I will wear it often!

FO: Radiating Star Blanket

Finally blocked the Radiating Star Blanket, the eyelet edges curled terribly after washing. I wanted this to be something she could toss in the washer and dryer, but she's going to be unhappy with the way the edges curl. Maybe if it's folded after drying they'll flatten.

Since I didn’t use bulky yarn, I knit rows 1-94, then repeated rows 71-94, ending with row 95, then started the eyelet row. Next time, I would add two rows of garter after the eyelets to give weight to the edge.

Book Review: Seven Things That Can "Make or Break" a Sweater

Just bought a new book, Seven Things That Can "Make or Break" a Sweater. At first I was a little disappointed, because it doesn't have any new, startling, who'd-a-thunk-it information that I didn't already know. But then, I realized, it's all the little things, tips, tricks, techniques, that I've learned along the way all compiled into one book, into one place. I sure wish I'd had this book when I was doing the Master Level Handknitting course, it answers a TON of questions that we looked up elsewhere. So, instead of trying to remember which book has the method for, say, increasing evenly across a row in ribbing, I can just pull out this book. Pretty neat.

I have about 200 irons in the fire right now, including T-shirt and Hoodie orders for our elementary, my youngest son's birthday, Halloween, and too many WIPs.

Oh, and I got a knitting job, a pair of kilt hose for a fellow piper! Yippee!

I'll try to take pics of the WIPs tomorrow. Too much to do today.