Some Recent Projects

I don't update my blog as often as I should, a fact I noticed today as I took pictures of some recent projects. Some of what I've been working on is pretty basic, but simplicity can yield wonderfully satisfying results. One of my favorite quickie projects in the last month has been scarves for charity.

This one is done in Homespun with size 15 needles. I cast on 24 stitches and did a k2, p2 rib. It is very stretchy, and you can get a rather long scarf in a short period of time. With larger needles, the yarn does not split as much and is easier to work with. The picture is actually the second one I'm knitting with this way; the first is finished and ready to be donated to charity.

A few of my projects are oddly practical and improvised because they will be useful. In the past, I made fan blade covers, one of the few sewing projects I've tackled. The latest in this series of useful household crafting are socks for the dining room chairs.

 Using scraps of cotton yarn, I made these to replace the old children's socks I had been using so the floor wouldn't get scratched up. I crocheted a little rectangle, the picked up stitches in the round to rib the 'leg' of the sock. As you can see, I didn't have to make them very tall. So far, the chair socks are staying on and doing their job perfectly.

One can never have too many bags. While rummaging through my extensive stash of cotton yarn, I came across a pattern on a label, Market Bag to Knit. At a glance, the little picture on the label looked like crochet, so I had to delay the project until I got home to my knitting needles.

Here the bag is appropriately filled with cotton yarn. It didn't turn out exactly like the picture because I didn't switch to the larger needle size. The handles are also done a bit differently. I knit an icord with two strands of the yarn and then sewed it on to the top edge, which has a line of single crochet for extra support.

I won some Paton's Pirouette yarn at World Wide Knit in Public Day. It's a yarn I never worked with before but had heard a lot about. I tried knitting with it, and my thought was 'There has to be an easier way'. Turns out, crocheting with it is easier, at least in my opinion. After a quick search and few minutes of video demos, I confirmed my initial thoughts on how to do it were correct, and I got started.

A big plus to this yarn is that it works up fast. I had this finished in about an hour, and I'm pretty sure that included looking up how to crochet with it. It isn't really a relaxing experience, but it is fun to watch those ruffles appear.

I've done some other projects, but those are the highlights. Currently, I am tackling two socks knitted one inside the other on double point needles. So far, it is an adventure!

Greebo

Last year, I took this little girl to the vet thinking she was egg-bound.  It was a shock when the best exotic pet veterinarian in the area informed me my precious iguana was filled with fluid, which was weird.  After some tests, the doctor determined surgery was the best option.  Since he had no idea what he would find and admitted he hadn't seen anything like it in such a young lizard, I was not optimistic.  All I could do was take an empty pet carrier home and wait. 

Eventually the doctor called to say everything went smoothly.  Greebo had an infection, the main source being her ovaries, which the doctor removed.  It was 'the best' of the problems he could have found when he opened her up.  It was a relief, but I was still pessimistic.  Lizards are slow to heal.

It was not long after bringing her home that I had to take her to the emergency veterinary hospital.  She had a prolapsed cloaca, which meant some of her insides were hanging out.  She got stitched up, but then had to go back to the vet to get the stitches removed because she was straining so much.  My nerves were shot at this point, but somehow the vet convinced me I could take her home.  I gave her antibiotics, and eventually, she got better.  On her road to recovery, she lost the end of her tail and then had to have even more of her tail cut off.

Greebo has had a tough time in her life.  It's no wonder that she has always been a bit feisty.  I think the vet was surprised I could handle her at all since she threw a fit any time the staff was near her and refused to eat while in their care.*  When she was small, in addition to whipping me with her tail, she would bend her body in half just to bite me.  Thank goodness she has mellowed out.  

My iguana had exploratory surgery and a partial hysterectomy.  For months, I kept expecting to find her dead.  Lizards don't tell you they are sick, and many times it is too late when you figure out there is a problem.  Finally, I'm optimistic that Greebo will be with me for years to come. 

*Oddly, her appetite did not suffer when she was sick.  In fact, she had been eating 4+ cups of chopped veggies a day, which was quite a bit more than a young lizard her size should have been eating.

Ornamentation

Finally, I got a few pictures of some of the ornaments I have been knitting and crocheting. It all started because I had some leftover yarn from the Christmas bow ties I knit a while back. Since the yarn was scratchy, I did not want to make any wearable items. The hat, candy, and stockings are knit from the sparkly, but scratchy, sock yarn.

The miniature hat ornament is just what it seems to be. The little candy is super easy to make. Just knit a tube, stuff with a small amount of fiber fill or scrap yarn, and tie the ends. The Santa sack is just an improvised little bag with a crochet chain for a tie. Stuff it with a bit of fiber fill and put a fake little present in there. I guess if you are less of a scrooge than I am, you could put actual presents in the sack.

Funny little story about the stocking. I figured I would just use smaller yarn and needles to knit a full size stocking pattern. It wasn't until after I cast on that it dawned on me I would then be knitting a sock. So I ripped it out, cast on way fewer stitches, and the result was a cute little ornament which is stuffed with fiber fill and topped with a small teddy bear. The little wreath ornament is actually my favorite. It is just single crochet around a milk jug ring with little crocheted circles. It's my favorite because it was so easy and quick. I made a dozen in just a few hours.

And finally, there is only one snowman ornament. My son thinks it is evil because of the red eyes. What can I say? I was too unmotivated to find a bit of black yarn.

Bow Ties Are Cool

I don't even remember what prompted me to search for knitted tied patterns, but it was during that search that I stumbled across the Eleventh Bow Tie. I did modify the pattern a smidgen. I added a couple border stitches to the end of each row, slipped the first stitch of every row, and wrote out the changes decreasing and increasing had on the linen stitch pattern. The results are quite nice.

It is worth noting that yarn I used, Marathon Socks--North Pole, turned out to be a bit scratchy. This is part of the reason the bow is tied so loose in the picture. It would work best with a collared shirt. My son has agreed to wear the bow tie at least once more if we can find a shirt that he will be able to wear with it. He has also said that he might wear a green one made of softer yarn.

I'm glad I kept knitting

My sweater is done! The pattern I used is Twisted Rib Cardigan which I found in the Knit Simple Holiday 2008 magazine. One thing I found with the pattern was the arms are really long, even taking into account the cuffs are meant to be folded back. This presented a challenge for me as I knit both arms at the same time, which meant I had them completed and one of them sewn on before realizing I wasn't going to be able to make the length work for me. Since I used stripes instead of one solid color, it was interesting to take out the top portion of each sleeve, adjust the increases so it would seam properly, and still shorten them at least a couple of inches. It worked, but I wish I had done it before I began working on the sleeves.

One of the tricks I used in knitting this sweater was to use wool that would felt. This kept the project in my comfort level, as if I ended up with something too large (which has happened every time I've tried to knit a sweater previously), I could felt it a bit. Well, it turns out I had sized it pretty well. As a result, I had another dilemma. I wanted to at least felt the garment a little bit so all those ends would be a bit more secure. Throwing all caution to the wind, I headed to the washing machine. Since the water was warm and not hot, and I was too chicken to put in more than the teensiest bit of soap, not much felting happened. So, I opted for the dryer option, no heat. And once it was merely damp, I discovered it had stretched a bit. It all turned out wonderful in the end because I put it back in the dryer, this time with some heat. Checking it  every minute, it shrunk up to a fit I was happy with, and I laid it flat to dry the rest of the way.

Another benefit of felting was how much more I liked the seams after it was done. The front, in particular, went from being adequate to being really nice. The results most likely would have been similar if I had blocked the project, but felting was so much less labor intensive.