Yule update 2

Yay, another finished project!  I knew this blog would be good for my productivity!

J's PSP Cozy.

Jayne's Hat in the form I could get it done by Yule

All done except the pompom and the ties on the ends of the "ear flaps".  Both of which I was planning on doing at work this afternoon, but forgot the yarn at home.  Based off this pattern I found on Ravelry.  I have to say that I'm not terribly entranced with this method of cast on (figure 8 ?) but it does create a seamless bottom, which is a plus I guess.  It's certainly better than having to seam the bottom closed myself.

Other new skill learned?  How to pick up stitches in the continuing quest to pick up basic skills in the order I need them.

And now the progress shot of the baby blanket:

Folded in half.  Only about 45 rows left.

I've just about filled the 40 inch circular needle I have it on currently.  Still waiting to hear from the shop that the 60 inch I ordered has come in.  

And off to make another coffee cozy, this one should be able to double as hand warmers.

Yule update 1 (fo: coffee cozy)

And the holiday crafting begins.  With it comes the search for quick projects that can be done over the course of a few hours without needing a whole lot of thought.

Project #1: Coffee cup cozy

Original pattern located here

Original pattern is pretty much straight up garter stitch for about 10 inches.  I changed that up a bit.

CO 18 stitches
row 1: knit 

row 2: knit
row 3: k3, p12, k3
repeat rows 2 and 3 6 times (until you have 15 rows)
row 16: knit 3, ssk, knit 8, k2tog, knit 3
row 17: knit 3, ssp, purl 6, p2tog, knit 3
row 18: knit 3, ssk, knit 4, k2tog, knit 3
row 19: knit 3, ssp, purl 2, p2tog, knit 3
row 20: knit 8
row 21: k3, p2, k3
row 22: k8
row 23: k3, m1, p2, m1, k3 (10 stitches)
row 24: k4, m1, k2, m1, k4 (12 stitches)
row 25: k3, p1, m1, p4, m1, p1, k3 (14 stitches)
row 26: k4, m1, k6, m1, k4 (16 stitches)
row 27: k3, p1, m1, p8, m1, p1, k3 (18 stitches)
row 28: k18
row 29: k3, p12, k3
repeat rows 28-29 until you've reached the length needed
row 30: k3, bo3, k6, bo3, k3
row 31: k3, co3, p6, co3, k3
row 32: k18
row 33: k3, p12, k3
row 34: k18
row 35: k18
Bind off loosely, weave in ends, block.  Sew on buttons to short end.

Blanket update

And the epic blanket continues.  At this rate, O is only going to get 1 blanket and some booties.  Although I really shouldn't say that.  Technically, I am half way done.  It's the small half, but it's half.

I think I should have run a couple rows of green between the purple and green, but it's a bit late now.

Current counts:

28 stitches to the section, 280 stitches total

16 inches diameter

On my (sole) 40 inch needle in hopes that I'll continue to have room on it until the 60 inch I ordered comes in.  Scrunching stitches as tightly as possible I can fit about 14 stitches to the inch, so I might be able to fit this all on a single 60 inch.  I hope so.  

I've about 4 more rows of green before I switch colors.  I'm trying to decide if I want to do a large row of blue and a short row of purple, or keep with the established pattern.

In other news, still working up plans for Yule/Christmas presents.  Everyone is getting fudge and nuts like normal, but I'm trying to decide if I can learn how to knit buttonholes in time to churn out a couple of small presents for important peeps.  Given the complete failure at socks last night, I don't have a whole lot of hope, but things are possible.  I'll fuss with it later this week.  It's not like my folks aren't terribly used to me sitting in the living room muttering over my crafting while watching tv.

Fo: J's mitts

Hey Look!  I finished something!

Finished J's fingerless mittens Saturday night.  A bit late for our anniversary, but well within reason.  Afterall, it took me nearly a year to finish his scarf.

flat on the couch.  Obviously, several errors.

He's really happy with them.  Which is good, as it's going to get cold tonight and probably won't worm up significantly until spring.  I love Missouri.

Why, yes, we do need to clean and do laundry.  Why do you ask?

Yay!  I finished something!

Project notes:
Mitt #1 was done at 38 stitches around.  It's a hair too small, but is still better than the 36 it was originally.  I'm hoping no one will notice how freaking awful this one looks in comparison to the other.
Mitt #2 was done at 40 stitches around.  Fits much better.

Both were done with 3 rows a stripe, which makes for a *lot* of weaving in ends.  Which I hate.  I still need to work on the row ends not wandering... they tend to do that when i'm crocheting in the round and I'm not entirely certain how to make it not happen.

On ward!

blanket status

Progress is being made on the baby blanket.  In between random searches on Ravelry for ideas for the outer edging (seed stitch?  cable?  simple ridging?) and other baby related items.  Found an couple of different ideas for onesies, but I might also purchase blank ones and commit art upon them.

Oh!  Nifty idea.  Must speak to coworker who speaks japanese.  Also, check the veracity of google translate.

Anyway, Blanket is booking along.  I moved it to my 30 inch circular late last night and it's gone from being a stretch to actually knit it to being comfortable.  I've about 2 more rows of the purple to do before switching over to the blue for about an inch.  I think I'm going to do seed stitch for those (6) rows, as it's relatively easy to do.

Current color layout:

16 rows green (Garter stitch)

16 rows purple (garter)

6 rows blue (seed)

Current counts:

15 stitches to the section

150 stitches on needles

Per the nifty calculater I found, I'm currently at a 27 inch circumferance, which seems small.  Which means I might be making this bigger than originally planned.  *pause to do math*  Yeah, Circumferance of 38 means a radius of just over 6 inches.  NOT BIG ENOUGH.  Radius of 19 gives a diameter of 38 though... which I think was the original plan anyway.  Hrm *does more math* that means when I'm done, I'll have something like 60 stitches per section.  I'm going to need bigger needles.

Gratuitus photo of out cat:

J's Ravenclaw Mitts/ Fingerless Gloves

Never fear, I'm still working on the baby blanket, however, I'm both out of space on the needles it is currently on and it is still not big enough for the circular needles I have in the bag.  It is far prettier on the wrong side than the right side however.  It's a blanket, I suppose there is not right or wrong side.

Anyway, J's Ravenclaw Mitts.
He's always been in love with Harry Potter's Ravenclaw apparently.  I made him a scarf back when we first started dating and now he's expressed a desire for fingerless gloves in the same blue and "silver".  First problem: the acrylic yarn I bought for his scarf 4 years ago is long gone.  I might be able to find the silver/grey, but I have no idea where the blue has gone. 
Second problem: finding silver, washable, yarn in something natural with a corresponding blue and in my price range.  I found a really nice, superwash, 100% wool, chunky at one of the local shops.  They have the blue!  And a grey that's close enough.  It's silverish at any rate.

I'm using this pattern for them, sized up to fit a giant.  The pattern, as written, is up to an 8 inch wrist/forearm.  J needs at least 8.5 inches, so I did an initial 36 stitches instead of the 34 called for in the pattern.  It's a bit tight, but it should work out okay.  Afterall, it's wool and will stretch a bit with wear.  I'm alternating 3 row stripes of the blue and grey.  At 28 rows, I'll start the thumb gusset and run that for 8 rows.  Beyond that, I'll need to have him on hand to try on occassionally, so the first one might not be done until the weekend.  But once I have the first one done, the second will go pretty smoothly as I won't need him around to constantly be trying it on. 

Currently, the first one looks like a long wrist warmer band.

Please excuse the messy desk.  Work is... work.

Plans for tonight:
Pork steak and sweet potato fries.
at least 15 rows on Mitt #1. 
Move baby blanket to next size longer needles.

Pinwheel Baby Blanket start

Found out exciting news Saturday.  Yay, there's going to be a baby to spoil and practice on before I have one of my own!  This completely upsets the to do list for knitting and crocheting.  I now have baby blankets and booties and sweater and other fun stuff to get done by May.

First up, Pinwheel Blanket from Ravelry.  I'm still looking for booties etc, but for the first blanket, it's going to be round and stripy and very colorful.  I'm looking at a final diameter of about 38 inches (seems big enough I think).

This should be easy right?  Knit in the round with the occasional yarn-over until big enough.  And now that I'm something like 12 rows in, it is!  The first 5 rounds however, are *very* fiddly.  Expanding 5 stitches out to 20 over the course of 3 rows is kinda difficult.  Specifically, knitting 5 stitches in the round is almost impossible.  It took me about 3 hours to cast this thing on and to get more than 3 rows in.  There are a number of different methods detailed around on the web about how to get this thing cast on, among them to do a crochet cast on, magic loop, etc.  I tried everything I could find after the first 2 attempts of knitting in the round over 3 dpns failed.  In the end, several hours later, I ended up going back to knitting in the round and just cursing a fair bit. 

The main issue seems to be that there's nothing to stablize the stitches except carefully knitting and patience.

My pattern mods (so far)
Knit cast on 5 stitches.
Join into loop.
1: K1, Make 1 (yarn over method)= 10 stitches.  Mark beginning of round.
2: Knit row
3: K1, yarn over= 20 stitches
4: knit row
5: K2, yo; repeat around.  Place marker before each yo, slide them as you come to them.
6: knit row
7: K3, yo; repeat around
8: knit row
odd rows: K(x), yo; repeat around
even rows: knit row

So far, 12 rows in, it looks like this:

This is before I added the markers so I don't have to think about where the yarn overs go anymore, but it's a good start.

Dinner for the evening

Dinner tonight was supposed to be curried stirfry.  Not curry, but curry powder flavored stirfry. Simple, easy, and immediate costs are little more than the cost of a bag of stir fry veggies.

Then I saw the tatertots.  I try to feed folks something vaguely healthy most evenings.  Sometimes its a complete failure (hamburger pie anyone?), but I can normally get something resembling veggies on everyone's plate.

Tatertots.  Make tasty casserole.  With less cooking involved than stirfry.  Carrots help.

 So we had Tatertot casserole last night.  I even used the last of the (gluten-full) onion soup mix so we don't have to worry about grabbing the wrong packet on Saturdays when cooking for/with B.  I love easy cooking.

Tatertot Casserole.

Needs:
1 pound ground beef, I recommend at least 85% lean, I use 90%.
1 packet of Onion Soup Mix.  Liptons, store brand, whatever.  Try to get low sodium, but use what you have.
1 (small) bag of frozen sliced carrots.
1 (small) bag of tatertots/ potato puffs.  Think back to grade school, those.
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, set 1 handful aside for on top.

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Brown the hamburger until cooked through.  Add soup mix and stir in well.  Add "enough" carrots (I used about 3/4 of the bag), and stir around until thawed.  Mix in cheese and then move to casserole dish.

Arrange tatertots to cover entire top of casserole.  Sprinkle reserved cheese on top.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until everything is hot and steamy.

yay.  Next time: casting on the hardest project ever.  Or how you can spend 3 hours working on a project and never get beyond row 3.

uh... Hi?

Lets see how this works shall we?

It's hard to keep working on something when you never see any progress on it.  So things like shawls, snoods, and other highly repeative projects get lost in the shuffle simply due to it's boring and you're not getting anywhere!

You are, of course, actually getting somewhere every time you actually pick up the needles/hooks/pin cushion.  As long as you keep working on it, you'll eventually finish.

So time to try something new.  In an effort to actually motivate myself to finish these.

Current projects

Knitting

• K's shawl.  On needles for over a year now, and I'm overwhelmingly bored with it.  Also nearly out of yarn which is the bigger issue.
• Balaclava thing.  Really just needs to be switched over to longer needles, but is at a standstill until i find my size 5 circular needle.
• Cable practice.  Decided this morning that this is going to be the shoulder strap for another shopping bag.  Which means I need to pick up another skein of the yarn, as I only bought 1 skein and I can either have new socks or new bag at the moment.

Crochet

• Snood.  well, it might be one eventually.  currently, it appears to be a doily like what my grandmother used to make.  except uglier.  will definately need to be blocked... which I don't know how to do really. 
• J's handwarmers.  I don't even have yarn for these at the moment- his Ravenclaw yarns got lost in one of the moves over the past 4 years (only 4?  really?)

Sewing

• 2 New corsets (me).  Just need pattern and hardware for Steampunk as fabric has been picked out. Jan 2011  RenFaire is going to be standard pattern, but fun things with boning. 
• Steampunk/ Firefly/Serenity coat (me).  Have the pattern and the fabric, just lacking motivation. Jan 2011
• J's steampunk coat.  technically, I just need to offer moral support on this one, but I'll probably end up doing more to make sure it's done by SteamCon. Jan 2011
• A's Flemish garb.  this will be fun!  May 2011

Hrm.  Maybe I have reason to be kinda panicky about getting all this done.  Fortunately, only the sewing stuff has hard deadlines.