the fiber fetishist

Thanks to the fabulous Major Knitter for posting about this today! I’m here to spread the word that the Susie’s Reading Mitts pattern is once again available!

mitts

I love mine. Hopefully this will help out everyone out there who has been asking for the pattern.

I finished a bit more in 2011 than I expected, even if at least one of these items is going to be ripped back partially and reknit.

1. fake smile, 2. tomten,

3. buttercup, 4. new hat design,

5. back view, 6. herbivore,

7. lacy baktus, 8. placeholder, knit a shrug for niece but no photograph!,

9. ugly hat, 10. bella’s mittens,

11. invaders hat, 12. boris is feeling seasonal,

13. black cardigan is done, 14. Ruffley ruffles

Onto 2012! Happy New Year!

plum frost, just the swatch

Another of the ten sweaters of December, Plum Frost. I started Plum Frost at the end of August. I’ve made a few modifications to the pattern — I’m knitting it top-down, I’m making it a henley, and adding bust darts to accommodate my narrow shoulders and not-so-narrow bust. I’m about halfway through the colorwork portion and the rows are really, really long. There’s nothing wrong with this sweater. I’ve tried it on and it fits. It just needs some time…

seamless hybrid

Ahh, seamless hybrid. I was trying to knit this for a family member for this holiday. I started to get grumpy about it and didn’t want to knit on it anymore and couldn’t figure out why. I realized that I do not particularly like the ORANGE contrast facing on the hem. Otherwise the sweater size is turning out great. I am going to rip it out and restart it, maybe hope to finish it for the recipient’s birthday in February or perhaps next winter.

I finished the black sweater over the weekend, including adding a buttonhole I managed to forget. Photos of it later this week (I hope) — I’m not sure what to do with it now.

Next up, Leaving (ravelry project page; ravelry pattern page).

cranky knit

I started Leaving in May and knit the sleeves first, then moved onto the cardigan fronts. However I misread the pattern at the waist decreases — there are two sets — and so I need to rip back many inches of knitting. I’ve been avoiding it. But really — I like how this is turning out and this yarn is absolutely gorgeous to knit with, so I just need to rip back to the ribbing and reknit the fronts. I also have a bit of math to do because I am knitting a larger size at the hip and a smaller one at the shoulders, but with bust darts.

seasonal boris

Fell down a hole and spent a couple of evenings last week knitting Boris a sweater. It turned out a little too small (only just), but checking size against him was quite difficult. Pretty cute though.

I mentioned last week that I am assessing the mass quantities of sweaters in progress around here. Here’s the 10:

sweater insanity

This doesn’t include one baby sweater on the needles.

The first one is #77 Vine Lace Top-Down Cardigan by SweaterBabe [ravelry]. My version is knit at a tighter gauge but I still knit it at least one size too large for myself.

really?

I set it aside when I finished the first sleeve and discovered exactly how ill-fitting on me it is. I picked it back up earlier this month to assess whether it was a frog or finish. I decided that I would try to fix the neckline by adding the collar and then decide.

I finished the collar last night. I picked up stitches all around the collar, worked some decreases all the way around to pull it in a bit but keep it lying flat, and then I just kept knitting until I finished the ball of yarn. It looks the way I’d hoped — so I’ve picked up the stitches for the second sleeve and hope to finish it this weekend.

It’s still about a size or two too big for me. I know a couple of people who are about a size or two larger than me and would appreciate a cardigan…

cushy!

I’ve always liked the look of these mittens. I finally decided that I needed a pair of big mittens and pulled some well-aged yarn from the stash (pre-wordpress blog days!) and knit them up.

Free Pattern: Bella’s Mittens [ravelry]

I used almost two entire skeins of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky and knit them up on US9. I did not cast on as many stitches as the pattern specifies or work the decreases for the forearm/wrist. They were a super quick knit and I love the way the mitten top is designed.

My ravelry project page is here.

I sort of disappeared there for a bit, eh? I did participate in nablopomo over here (missed two days!) but that site is sort of a combination of crafty stuff and hockey and food and work and life versus the craft-only bits here.

Last week I took a look at my ravelry projects page and was shocked at two things.

• 0. How few projects I’ve completed this year.


• 1. How many sweaters I am in progress on.

I also feel an overwhelming need to do some “selfish” knitting.

On that note, I’m using December to revisit all the sweaters in progress and assess whether they are worth finishing or not. For most I believe the answer is yes — I just need to do it, one by one, and knock them out.

Very slow progress on this fingering weight henley.