Pattern: Green Autumn Mittens by Jared Flood in the Fall 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Classic Elite Fresco in Pea Pod

Monica: I always like to start the new year out by finishing a quick project. Okay so these were not the first project I finished this year but were ones I was able to take pictures of so I could post them. I’m calling these my Zit Mitts because they have zits on the left mitten. I started knitting the bobbles on the pattern but after I finished one set you couldn’t really see them. And I was too lazy to rip them out so I just left them so they look like weird bumps. I think the yarn is too fuzzy for bobbles or maybe I should’ve knit bigger bobbles. The yarn is a combination of wool, alpaca and angora. Not much angora though so it wasn’t flying into my face while knitting with the yarn.

I’ve been eyeing the yarn since it arrived at the shop and the minute I saw these gloves on the magazine I knew I wanted to make them out of the yarn (because I didn’t have any green fingering weight in the stash and these mittens had to be green). These aren’t as thick as the mittens I just finished but they’re perfect for the weather here. It was actually pretty chilly yesterday because it was cloudy and the temps were in the high 30’s. I wore a sweater, a hat and these mittens! Should’ve taken a picture but I was on my way to battle the crowds at Costco. (Why is the food court area always so crowded?)

Filed under: FOs, Gloves/Mittens by Monica

Lynette: I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Year. I, for one, am happy to see 2008 leave us, and I welcome 2009.

Yesterday, I compiled a collage of all the projects I knit for 2008. I’m surprised I knit so much green, but I intentionally tried not to knit as much red. I guess it worked. I knit eight newsboy hats but it felt like a whole lot more. And I thought I would have knit up more sweaters, but 10 cardigans/vests/sweaters is good by my standards. I also knit up 9 pairs of socks but I wanted to do more.

And to wrap up my knits from last year, here is the last project I completed on New Year’s Eve . My daughter asked me to knit her this hat after seeing a very similar one at Target last year.

Pattern: Star Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson
Yarn: Bernat Alpaca Naturals Blends
Needle: 10-1/2 and 11 circs

And lastly, here’s the first project I completed for 2009. These are also for my daughter, but I wanted to show them off with the mug she bought me for my birthday.

Pattern: Toasty by Leslie Friend
Yarn: Bernat Alpaca Naturals Blend
Needles: 7 DPNs

On that note, I’ll leave you with my first resolution of the new year:  Knit More!

Filed under: FOs by Lynette

Pattern: Bird in Hand Mittens
Yarn: Cascade 220 in dark purple and medium pink

Monica: I started out knitting these on size 3 needles because I measured my wrist and matched the requirements of the pattern. I was almost done with one cuff and started working on them with my knitting group and one of the knitters said, “Those are huge! Are they for you?” At first I didn’t realize she was talking about my mittens because I was in my happy oblivious denial stage of my pattern. But then I put them on and sure enough they were too big. So I didn’t have any other needles with me and I didn’t have another project with me and didn’t want to go home so I scrounged around the stash of extra needles and found some in size 1 and I cast on for the cuffs. Much better. Then I switched to size 2 needles for the main part of the mittens. I started out knitting the braids but after I got through one round I decided purling 2 rows was much easier.

So the birds on these mittens are supposed to have embroidered eyes, beaks, wings and legs. Mine only have eyes because that’s all I could do before I finally gave up. If I had read everyone’s tips on knitting these I would have realized that I shouldn’t close off the thumb until after I finished the embroidery. So now instead of birds I have blobs on my mittens.

These still need blocking.

New Year’s Resolution #6555343: Read all tips and patterns on all projects ahead of time even though I really want to cast on and start knitting them right away.

New Year’s Resolution #6555344: Carry extra needles with me when I’m knitting with my group.

New Year’s Resolution #6555345: Carry extra projects with me always just in case the one I want to work on doesn’t work out.

Filed under: FOs, Gloves/Mittens by Monica

Monica: I hope you had a Merry Christmas (those of you who celebrate it). Ours was very low-key. My father-in-law wanted pancakes and sausage for his Christmas dinner. It was so easy to make I had plenty of time to block this shawl.

Pattern: Irtfa’a Faroese Lace Shawl by Knitspot
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby in Black Parade

Lynette asked me to knit a shawl for her mom last month. She asked for a black shawl and I immediately knew which one I wanted to make. All Lynette had to say was, “I have a favor…” and I immediately said, “do you want me to make a shawl for your mom?” I’m sick that way. This black shawl was difficult to get a good picture of inside my house and I could have gone outside to get a good picture but it’s chilly right now - it’s 35 degrees! (Brrr! I’m a total cold weather wimp now.)

Pattern was easy to follow even though you had to knit 3 different charts. Once I got used to the way this pattern was written it was smooth sailing. I used about 1 and 1/2 skeins of Dream in Color’s lace yarn - this yarn is just as nice as their other yarn lines.

The longest part to knit was the edging. It’s one of those where you knit 10 stitches of a lace pattern separately and then you knit a stitch together with the shawl edge every other row so you are binding off every other row. I guess I was so close to finishing that I was anxious to get it done. While this shawl was blocking on the bed I saw this and almost had a heart attack.

See the huge hole??? I fixed it this morning before I took these pictures. It’s not noticeable when you wear it so I didn’t have to re-knit. Whew!

Filed under: FOs, Shawls by Monica

I’m sending you virtual flowers and lots of hugs!!

Filed under: Uncategorized by Monica

Pattern: Lacy Mock Cable Socks
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Twist in Camoflauge
Monica: I finished these for Joan, from my knitting group, back in November and I never got around to posting them. Joan has a high instep and thanks to Gail’s Google skillz, I found out that people with high insteps need a longer heel than those who don’t so these heels are 3 inches long. Since the heel was longer, I picked up more stitches for the gusset than I normally would on socks with shorter heels. I decreased every other row like I normally do for the gusset but I found that the sock ended up being too big. So I ripped back and decreased every row until I got down to the number of stitches I wanted. That was much better.

The yarn behaved very nicely on the leg and then pooled like crazy on the foot. But it gives the sock a camouflage look which is kind of cool.

Pattern: River Rapids Socks by Sockbug (PDF file)
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Desert Flower
These were also for Joan and I finished these during our knitting group’s holiday party. I loved the colors of the yarn so I wanted to see how they’d look all knitted up.

These socks did the same thing - they striped sort of nicely on the leg and then pooled a bit on the foot. I wasn’t surprised to see the colors change on the gusset but thought they’d go back to striping again once I was done with the decreases. Some day I’ll find the perfect gauge with the perfect multi-colored yarn that won’t have crazy pooling. It’s sort of my holy grail.

Filed under: FOs, Socks by Monica

Monica: So the other day we got enough snow for people to have snowball fights and make snowmen. Charlie built this one and snapped a picture for me. (He was getting our house ready to have my in-laws move in with us while I was with my in-laws doing gopher duties.) Yesterday all the snow we had melted and this is what we had left.

There was still lots of snow on the mountains though.

Carolyn - Charlie wants you to know that there’s snow on the mountains!

Filed under: Weather-Related by Monica

Monica: It’s still snowing!

Updated pictures from Charlie - the Tommy Skillethead of Las Vegas.

Filed under: Weather-Related by Monica

Monica: It’s snowing here in Las Vegas and it’s actually sticking to the ground and not melting away. I wish I had my camera with me but I didn’t believe the meteorologists when they said that it was going to snow so I didn’t think about carrying my camera. Sure enough there are big fat flakes falling on the ground and sticking to the palm trees and other plants. It’s weird to see palm trees full of snow. Charlie took some pictures of our back yard for me so I could post.

This snow is nothing quite like the snow that are in Carolyn’s pictures and obviously we are not experiencing the kind of snowstorm that the East is experiencing. But for people who aren’t used to driving in this kind of weather it’s very dangerous so I hope everyone is careful and stays safe!

Filed under: Weather-Related by Monica

Lynette: This Ravelry T-shirt is a birthday gift from Monica, Gail, Dee and Barbara.  I love it.  The size does run tight.  This is an XL but I was able to put on my Target-T underneath.

I’m on my way to my son’s basketball game so I’ll be sporting my new t-shirt while knitting.  It’s so me.  Thanks again!

psssst. Monica, this is my third post in a row. 

Filed under: Miscellaneous by Lynette