FO: It's not a V neck!

It is, however, blue. A step forward however...

Pattern: Bramblewood Vest, by Christina Wall
Yarn: Some random, recycled from a Goodwill sweater, navy yarn. I had 750 yds/300 gr, and I used ~670/268 gr.
Needles: US8/5.0 mm for body and bottom I cord edging, US 6/4.0 mm for arm and neck I cord edging.
Gauge: 4.25 sts/7 rows per inch, slightly tighter then recommended (4 sts/6 rows)
Start/finish: 7 Oct - 19 Oct 2009
Comments/mods: First off, the yarn. I have no idea what this stuff is, but it could be Cascade 220? Hard for me to say, since I've never knit anything with Cascade. Relatively coarse, 4 ply worsted weight, in dark dark navy blue. It was fine to knit with - the cable came out great - but my fingers got really really sore on the tips. The only thing I can really pinpoint as a potential culprit is the coarseness of the yarn. Perhaps I'm becoming a delicate lily of the valley in my old age, but this is a first! So, the yarn worked well, and was cheap, but I'm not sorry I'm done knitting with it. And the few balls I have left over will become...maybe nothing.

The pattern was a fun, quick knit. Top down, which is my new fave, mini-raglan seams, fairly mindless, but with a cable every so often to keep you on your toes.

This was my first I cord edging, and I really like how it turned out. What a nice option for finishing off an edge.

I didn't block this very emphatically. Just soaked it in some warm water and Soak, and laid flat to dry, smoothing it out to even out some of the stitches. I suspect that I could have gotten stitch gauge if I'd pushed it a bit, but it's fine as it is. A hard color to photograph in October in London, but it's a cosy vest that is going to see quite a bit of use.

I love mittens

At least mittens for little people.

Look at the little fin - so cute!

Pattern: Nemo Mittens by Sigurlaug Eva Stefansdottir (both Ravelry links)
Yarn: KnitPicks Essential, dyed by yours truly. I used 4 gr white, 3 gr black, and ~10 gr orange (works out to approximately 19/14/46 yds respectively of fingering weight yarn)
Needles: US 1/2.00 mm
Gauge: 8 sts/11 rows per inch
Finished circumference/length: 5 inches/5.25 inches (cuff to pointy tip)
Comments/mods: The "only" modification I made was to switch yarn and needle size. The pattern calls for sport weight/size 2.5 (3.0 mm) needles for a 4-6 year old size, but I had fingering weight, so size 1 it was. I probably could have gotten away with US 2/2.75 mm ok, but this gauge will be a bit warmer perhaps.

These were so fast! Done, with fins added and ends woven in after three evenings work. Love it. I hope Boo loves them as well, although I'm not sure what she thinks about mittens...

The yarn for these was recycled from some KnitPicks Essential that I dyed for some socks for my sister-in-law about three years ago. It was my first dyeing experience, so I used Kool Aid and ended up with a range of reds, pink, and purple. I took the largest ball of leftovers (41 g of red) and overdyed it with some yellow Jacquard Acid dye in the hopes that it would end up kind of orange. Some pink (5 g) got overdyed with black. I also had a full skein of Bare waiting around, so I knew I could dye more if needed.

Soaked the yarn, and then put both into my handy dandy crock pot for the dyeing.

The pink to black went into a glass jar in the middle while the red to orange was carefully arranged around the outside.

A few hours later, they were all done. The pink-to-black transition went very well, but the red-to-orange still looked really red. I rinsed them out and discovered that the red was bleeding. Quite a bit in fact. Bleeding enough that I got a bit concerned about what Walrus' socks had done to the rest of her laundry (sorry B!). But...I rinsed until I got sick and tired of rinsing, and then hung it up to dry.

I was concerned that it was going to end up too red, but I think it's alright. The mittens are awfully cute though. So cute that I think Boo will need a matching Nemo hat...

Make do and mend

I've been catching up on the latest Cast-On series, the focus of which is reusing and recycling stuff you already have. In that spirit (and because if I buy any more yarn I will move dangerously closer to SABLE territory), I've been doing a bit of recycling myself.

First up is a (gasp!) sewing project. There are a number of clothes lurking in my closet that have not been worn in a shameful period of time, because they don't fit anymore or the style isn't quite right or whatever. One of these was a nice skirt that I've had for years, 100% silk with buttons down the front, which I haven't worn in eons because it was a very unfortunate mid-calf dowdy length. I've been meaning to shorten it for a long time, and last week while Boo ventured off to daycare and it was just me and the Wee Devil, I did just that.

Much better. The picture is courtesy of Devil, who is showing unholy fascination with my new camera. Methinks she'll need one for Christmas so she can fulfill her destiny of being the next Ansel Adams.

The other repurposing project ongoing is the reclamation of 11 skeins of GMS Mountain Mohair from a sweater I knit long ago, and really enjoyed for a while, but put away when we got to Houston. And then I pulled it out and discovered this:

So last week I also turned that sweater into a pile of yarn cakes, which were then washed, dried and are in the process of being reknitted into Indigo Playmate, from one of my recent book purchases.

Blue spaghetti!

I finished the yoke Monday morning while both of my children were at (gulp!) school, and am making good progress on the body. It's stockinette with occasional increasing/decreasing, so it's perfect for TV knitting. So far it's seen "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Oceans Eleven". Quality cinema at its best!

Temptation

Someone (actually, probably more then one someone), somewhere (on the Internet) once said that sock yarn doesn't count as stash.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it, after yesterday's oops!

Regia Jacquard and Spindlefrog 75% SW merino/25% nylon

In my defense, the Regia was 99 p a ball at Oxfam, so that wasn't too bad, and I couldn't resist the Spindlefrog, yarn/fiber of the month at the oh so aptly named Stash Yarns. In fact, if I hadn't blown a wad in Amy's shop, I might have grabbed some BFL as well.

I think I will be hiding these for a while. Yarn? What yarn? Although Devil, who was with me, will probably blow it for me...

It must be autumn

Because people are wearing sweaters now, and it's not doing good things for my startitis.

Devil and I went to the story hour at our local library today, and I don't remember what we heard because I was so taken with two sweaters there. The first was a heathery pink number on an adorable little girl who was probably 20 months old. It was a standard yoked cardigan, with one button at the very top, seed stitch hems/neck/front bands, and a bunch of eyelet rows in the yoke to give it a bit of interest. I scrounged in my bag for a pen and a receipt and made a quick sketch, probably scaring the crap out of my neighboring caretaker. Turns out that this looks like the exact pattern*, so I won't have to reinvent the wheel. Score!

The other sweater was a grown up one - another cardigan with seed stitch accents, but this one had two buttons, patch pockets on the front, a shirt collar and was knit up in a drapey chocolate brown yarn that looked incredible. I immediately thought of this yarn,

which my mother found somewhere in Maine and sent me several years ago. I've got a whole bunch of it, so when I start swatching this evening, I might whip up some of that and see how it goes. It feels pretty crunchy in the skein, but I'll do up a couple of swatches and abuse them in inventive ways.

Maybe when I go back to work I'll stop with the crazy designing inspiration. I can only hope, because otherwise it's going to put a huge dent on my ability to concentrate on other things!

* I don't think I've mentioned recently that Ravelry kicks arse. Took a millisecond to find this pattern.