Sunday, January 6, 2008

All kinds of stuff...

I need to catch up on craft stuff:

Caro's Doily 30 x 17

This is the doily I made for my sister's mother-in-law for Christmas. It blocked to 17" x 30", so I'm sort of thinking of it on the dresser in her bedroom. The thread was size 10 in ecru.



Blue Variegated Doily

This is another doily I've finished. I had this "Ocean" colorway of variegated thread, and I wanted to find a doily pattern that wouldn't fight with the color pattern. The doily pattern is called "Extraordinary," and it's designed by Mary Werst, who did the doily pattern I made last summer for Daniel and Ashley.

Cabled Armwarmer

And I made these armwarmers--the first time I've knitted cables. The yarn is Red Heart's Farmland colorway (worsted weight yarn), so they're machine washable/dryable. I like the pattern, but I think I might try again on smaller needles. I knit very loosely, and these could be less "chunky" looking.

First Knitted Socks

And I've finally knitted a pair of socks (third try). These are supremely boring (ribbed cuffs, stockinette foot), but I now can call myself a "sock knitter." The next pair will be something more exciting...and will not be in this yarn (Elann Esprit), which is pretty but is stretchy (cotton + Lycra). Since you need to pull stitches snuggly between DPNs when you knit socks, stretchy yarn is a nuisance because you can't pull it snug enough without stretching it too much. Next time? Conventional yarn, even if I use an icky acrylic.

For Christmas, I got 8 pattern books--lots of doily patterns. Woo hoo! Right now, though, I'm knitting myself a hat. Sitting with the hood up on my sweatshirt isn't always comfortable, but it's been cold around here. (Winter finally found Georgia. For a few days.) I've found a pattern with cables on it, and this is a good way to practice cables without committing myself to a huge sweater. On the other hand, this pattern uses some unconventional abbreviations for cable stitches (the pattern is in a book by Bernat, which is a Canadian company), so I'm having to pay close attention to what I'm doing. I've been knitting while my laptop reads me the Bleak House audio book.

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