Saturday, December 24, 2016

Friday, December 23, 2016

Advent Mini-Mittens - The Finale

The final mitten is finished and I'm reasonably happy with it.  I might add a little pompom to the top of Santa's hat at a later date.  I probably should have used white for the background color so that Santa's beard was white, but I can live with a Santa with a gray beard!


THE DETAILS

Pattern:  Advent Mini-Mitten Garland
by Kat Lewinski

Needles:  US #1 / 2.25 mm

Yarn:  Red - Unknown, no label 
Light Gray - The Scottish Collection (Jamieson’s?) - Silver
Sand (flesh color) - Jamieson’s - #183
White - Jamieson & Smith - #1 (two short lengths, doubled, for Santa’s pompom)
Black - Jamieson & Smith - #77


The mittens are all hung on the wall with care...
Click to enlarge

I had the mittens on my wall at work until the 22nd and then brought them home and hung them up, using a couple of existing nails in the wall.  Next year, I'll likely put up the line with less droop.  To the observant:  yes, I did run out of the little clothespins and used red and green binder clips and paperclips.  I'll shop for more clothespins for next year.

At any rate, I'm happy with the little mittens and very glad that I joined in the knitalong.  It's been a long project - more than a year from start to finish - but now I'll have the garland for years to come.

Christmas knitting, 2016, is now officially finished!

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

First Day of Winter

After today the days will start getting longer again.  I like that.  In the meantime, I'm working on some warm winter projects, working on some things that are already on the needles and looking forward to starting something new in January.  I've already decided to take part in two knitalongs (KAL).  The Jamieson & Smith Fire Festival knitalong has already started but I haven't decided what to make yet.  It runs until March 20th.  Check out these pictures on Pinterest.

The other KAL is the Fair Isle Kep (cap).  It starts on January 9th.  I'm still deciding on colors, but getting closer.

I hope that you're enjoying your winter knitting.  Stay warm if you're in a frozen place!

Monday, December 19, 2016

Advent Mini-Mitten #23

I have now finished all 24 of the mini-mittens but I have yet to take a picture of the last one.  Here's #23:


THE DETAILS

Pattern:  Advent Mini-Mitten Garland
by Kat Lewinski

Yarn: Brown (trim) - Unknown, no label 
Jamieson & Smith: 
Brown (reindeer) - #78MIX, White - #1, Red - #1403

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Love / Hate

I have each of the monthly sock yarns (lightweight) from The Loopy Ewe, dyed by Socks That Rock for 2016 - except for December which isn't out yet.  I love the yarn and the colors, which are dyed to match notecards with photographs from Paul Berger.


My plan is to knit a pair of socks each month during 2017 using the yarn colorways from 2016.  That is, in January 2017 I'll knit socks with the yarn from January 2016.  First up is "Frozen Valley", above.

What I don't like at all is that the skein is larger in circumference than my swift.  I can place it around the swift but it's so loose that it's destined to fall off.  The first skein that I wound was a total mess and I spent countless hours untangling it and then rewinding it.

This time, I thought that if I turned the wool winder very slowly that I'd be able to control the skein.  Wrong.  I got it done partway, but then it fell off again.  This is what I ended up with:


I still have 10 more skeins to wind, but I don't have to do them now.  For now, I must run along and say some bad words that will keep me on Santa's Naughty List.  And then, I'll be busy washing my mouth out with soap.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Christmas Knitting

I wonder how many knitters (and other craft people) are diligently trying to finish up projects in time for Christmas.  I know that I am.  Last year I started the Advent Mini-Mitten Garland.  I had started quite late in the year and there was no way I'd be ready to start hanging mittens by the first of December.  Throughout this year I've been leisurely knitting the remaining mittens, but now, it's suddenly just over two weeks until Christmas and I'm not finished.

I can't (mustn't) procrastinate this year as I've already started hanging the mittens up on my wall at work.  Besides, I like this project a lot and I want to wrap it up and see all of the mittens hanging up.

This shows what #22 looked like a couple of days ago:


Since then, the thumb has been knitted, the ends all woven in and the mitten has been blocked.  This was my least favorite one of the 24, mostly because there were some rows in which you were carrying 3 colors.  I've also finished the next mini-mitten, #23, and I like it.  As I'm writing this, it's being blocked.  One more to go.... it's Santa, and then the entire project will be finished.

Here is what the finished mitten #22 looks like now.


THE DETAILS

Pattern:  Advent Mini-Mitten Garland
by Kat Lewinski

Yarn:  Red - unknown - no label
Jamieson & Smith:  
Pale green - #FC24MIX, Bright Christmas green - #79, White - #1

Needles:  US #1/2.25 mm - double points

Notes:  I think that #79 might be discontinued as I found it in a sale basket at Jamieson & Smith and I don't see this color on their website.

To help with weaving in the ends at the top of the mitten I used a technique that I learned from my Mother.  I put a light bulb in the mitt so that it would hold its shape and lie flat.  For this size I found that a small appliance bulb was the best fit.  My Mom used to employ this technique when she darned socks.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Happy Saturday

It's a cold and snowy day here in Calgary - a good day for knitting, after the snowball fight, of course!

Click to enlarge.

Sunday, December 4, 2016