Radiating Star Blanket

Cast on for the (Ravelry link) Radiating Star Blanket which I have absolutely no business doing given the other things I have on or planned for my needles. But it's nicely addictive, watching the pattern emerge. I do have a recipient in mind, our neighbors are expecting a new baby girl. I'm knitting on size 7 needles with 5 balls of Cotton Ease in apple green, which is my new favorite baby girl color. Pink gets old.

I've started my Giraffe Jacket design three times and have been unhappy with the results. So it's marinating in my mind, still.

I washed the John Anderson kilt hose, and, as promised in the pattern, they softened up beautifully. I was afraid they'd be stiff as a board. I may even have gotten a knitting job making kilt hose after a local pipe band member saw my hose at the Fair. We'll, see he hasn't called back.

FO: John Anderson's Kilt Hose

I finished the kilt hose last night, ended up having to undo the bindoff on the first one because it wasn't matching the second one. I used the K2tog, pass stitch back to LH needle, repeat. Now they match, but I just tried one on this morning, and the bindoff is too tight. Sigh. These are toe-up socks knit very densly with worsted yarn on small needles and I'd really like for them to go away! Ha.


But, they are a Christmas present for my husband, so I'll spend another hour this morning ripping out the bindoff. I guess I'll do EZ's sewn castoff.

UPDATE: Ripped out the bindoff, did the sewn bindoff, worked beautifully. It uses the same amount of yarn as a regular bindoff, so if you need to rip something out, don't worry about running out of yarn.



EZ's Sewn Cast off from Knitting Without Tears:
Break yarn, leaving a tail about 4 times as long as the circumference of the sock. Thread a tapestry needle.

* sew forward (right to left) through two stitches as if to purl, leave the stitches on. Sew backward (left to right) through one stitch as if to knit and remove the stitch. (For the very first stitch only, after you go backwards through it, do not remove it, instead move it to be the last stitch on the final needle. It will then become the final stitch to be cast off. This gives a neater finish to the end of the round. )
Repeat from * until you run out of stitches. Work in tail on the inside of the sock and trim any excess.

The above directions were found here, but I couldn't find them on socknitters as it cites.

I've been a bad, bad girl

Yep, I caught this puppy on sale on Joanns.com. I paid $120, which is about $100 cheaper than buying one at Hancock's. I've been wanting one lately because I have this design idea for a sweater but I'm modifying the width of the saddle shoulder straps and I'm having trouble visualizing how this is all going to meet at the neck. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (grin) It's also been motivation to restart the diet and exercise program, as I had to do a lot of fiddling with the dials to, er, conform to my measurements.



Have made great progress on the John Anderson's Kilt Hose, calf shaping is coming along nicely. This is a really nice pattern so far. The foot looks absolutely huge, but I tried it on and, embarassingly enough, it fits. My husband's foot is the same size as mine (can't believe I admitted that), so all is well. This has been a great portable project for taking to the rink during my boy's hockey practice.

John Anderson Kilt Hose

The kilt hose for my husband's Christmas present are coming along nicely. The pattern is John Anderson's Kilt Hose, a free pattern.I used the toe-up method from Vogue Knitting Ultimate Sock Book, and the eye of partridge heel. Have just turned the heel and am now knitting the leg, which will be the long boring part, save for some increasing and shaping. And, of course, I still have to knit the second one. I attempted the two socks on one circ method, but got aggravated with all the manipulating, which is why I don't care for circularly-knit sweaters, too much wrasslin'!

Have done some more mental designing on the Giraffe sweater, I think I'm ready to dive in and start the sleeves to see how the charted pattern is going to turn out. I was supposed to enter this in the fair next weekend, I'm betting with everything else that I have going on that I don't make it. Sigh.