Pattern: We Call Them Pirates
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa 501
Recipient: My sister Caroline

At first, I followed the pattern and the hat came out too short. I needed to add a fourth row of skulls.

I mess up my knitting and do surgery on it all the time. In fact, I think that the trademark of a confident knitter is less in the actual knitting, and more in the willingness to tinker and rework things. But I had never fixed colorwork before and I was really nervous about it for some reason. I threaded a sock needle through the top row of the third row of skulls…

and RIPPED!

And it was totally fine. I added another row of skulls, no problem, and finished it up. It turned out great! I think I smell a pair of Pirate Mittens in her future!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I had a great day.  And all of my homemade gifts were big hits!

Full FO posts will follow shortly. Oof, are my hands tired!

Aside from the little pirate hat snafu, gift knitting is going pretty well around here.

I’m working on a multi-colored Celestine for the toddler boy of some friends of ours.

I’m also working on the Daybreak Shawl in purple and red Malabrigo Sock, for my mom.

The red is the same color I used for my Seraphim shawl. I worked on Seraphim in front of my mom a few times, and she always complimented the color. My mom loves the color red, and I always associate it with her. I considered giving Seraphim to her, but she’s not a lace shawl kind of gal. But i knew that the extra skien of Tiziano Red had to be for her. It feels strange to work in this color and not have it be for her. It feels sort of strange for anything in this color to be mine and not hers.

My favorite colors are blue and green, and while I use those colors often enough, I use other colors for myself too. For my mom and my sister, however, everything I ever make for them follows a pretty well-defined pallette.

Here is a sampling of what I’ve made my mom over the years:

(Clockwise from top left: Diagonal Cross-rib Socks (2008), Mr Greenjeans (2008), Calorimetry (2006), Red Light Special (2008))

All exactly the same color.  Is that bad?

And look at the things I’ve made for my sister:

(Clockwise from top left: Exchequered (2009), Everlasting Bagstopper (in progress), Calorimetry (2006), Lopi Sweater (2004), garter stitch scarf (2002), Elijah (2007))

As you can see, all pink, magenta and orange.

Am I alone in this?  Is there anyone in your life who gets the same color stuff every single time?

I decided to knit We Call Them Pirates for my sister as a birthday present (her birthday was over the weekend).

The good news:

It looks awesome!

It’s lined in shocking orange Shine Worsted to keep the wool off her face!

The bad news:

It’s way too short. It’s so short it pops off my head if I turn my neck. Curses. So I think what I’ll do is rip back and add a fourth row of skulls, and give it to her for Christmas.

I knit a baby blanket in two weeks!

Pattern: Op Art, Knitty Fall 2008
Yarn: Queensland Collection, Bebe Cotsoy, in colors I call raspberry and lime, 5 skeins each
Size: 40 in square
Dates: November 26, 2009 to December 10, 2009

I made it for my friend Kate’s baby Elsie Rose who was born two weeks ago Saturday.  I hope she likes it!  I think she will.  The Bebe Cotsoy is incredibly soft, and I think the garter ridges will provide a pleasing texture for her to run her little fingers over.

I’m pleased with the way the wrong side looks too.  I don’t think the difference is all that noticeable, especially to a non-knitter.

I finished the blanket with a four-stitch i-cord bind off to stabilize the corners and I think it makes a very neat finish. It took forever, of course, but it was worth it.

Speaking of taking forever, my one complaint about this pattern is that it gets tedious at the end. The last few rounds were like 700 stitches each. But still, totally worth it.

Tomorrow it will go in the mail with some of my favorite books from childhood. I hope she likes it!

On Saturday my friend Kate gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

My first thought, of course, was “aww, bebe.” My second thought, of course, was “what shall I knit for her?”

There is something special about knitting for babies.  It sort of feels like a prayer.  A prayer of thanks, and a prayer for a good life for the little one.

So anyway, what shall I knit for her?

Since she’s a November baby, I suppose a multitude of hats would be appropriate. I’m sure that I’ll make some.  But I also decided to take the opportunity to knit something that’s been on my list for awhile.

This is Op Art from knitty and I am very happy with how it is turning out so far. Every baby needs a blankie.

Much to my own surprise, I finished the yellow Ishbel in time to give it to my friend Jennifer at her graduation party yesterday. I chose the color yellow for my own reasons, but it doesn’t hurt that it fits with Project Spectrum too!

I’m really pleased with how it turned out, and happy that I could get it done so fast. I went to Sit-n-knit in Wethersfield on Wednesday on a mission to find the perfect yellow yarn. The ever-enthusiastic and helpful woman there helped me find all the yellow fingering and lace weight so I could choose the shade I liked best. Online yarn sources are great, but I was really glad I had an LYS nearby so I could talk to a live human.

Malabrigo sock (in Ochre) really was the perfect yellow yarn. There was enough variegation to make the stockinette portion interesting, but it didn’t detract from the lace portion at all. It also has great yardage – I was able to make the large size (turned out to be 61 inches across the top) and have 8 grams left over.

The yarn is also super soft and it blocked into the lace pattern nicely.

Speaking of blocking. What do you do when you cast off for a lace project less than two hours before you need to get in the car to go give it to the recipient?

I’m sure speed-blocking wouldn’t work for every project, but it worked for this one, anyway.

I’m really happy with how it turned out. No wonder it is such a popular pattern!

Pattern: Exchequered by Alice Bell
Made for: Caroline
Yarn: Filatura Di Crosa 501

I started it in the fall and vowed to finish it as part of finish-or-frog. I did finish on February 1, as promised, but it has taken until now to set up a suitable photo shoot with my sister. I guess we’re both really busy.

I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I didn’t use the chart in the pattern because I didn’t feel like printing it, and I like that the two halves don’t match.

It ended up being about 6.5 feet long, long enough for her to wrap around her face as many times as she wants.

I think she likes it too!

Pattern: Fish Hat (Dead or Alive?)
Yarn: Noro Kureyon #150, Cascade 220 in Navy for fins and lips (buttons for eyes)
For: Elizabeth

My best friend from college, Elizabeth, is already in posession of a squid hat made by another knitting friend of hers.  So when I saw the Fish Hat pattern I immediately thought of her and knew I just had to make her one.  (I went to visit her and present the hat this weekend, but sadly forgot my camera, which is why you see it modeled by little old me).

I haven’t seen any other fish hats in Noro Kureyon, which frankly shocks me, since I found the yarn to be so perfect for it.

When Elizabeth put the hat on, she remarked that the fins made it look like a Roman helmet. I didn’t really see it, but when I saw the (fairly ugly) photo below I thought it looked familiar.

You be the judge.

You remember Elijah.

Eek, what’s that on his side?

A hole!

I noticed it when we were doing the photo shoot with Otto.  My mom and I were horrified, so I took him home for repairs.  I’m not sure what caused the hole (moths?) but it was about three stitches wide and five rows tall.  It look me a few weeks to work up the courage, but I finally fixed it.

First, I duplicate stitched over seven or so stitches two rows down from the hole and started working up, to shore up any areas that might have been weakened.   When I got to the hole, I left loops for the three missing stitches that I needed to recreate.

Then I tightened the stitches over a needle.

I continued duplicate stitching two or three stitches past the hole, then went up to the next row, making new loops in the stitches on the needle and then tightening those stitches on the needle. I went on like this until I had closed the gap, then grafted the loose stitches back into the body.

It left a bit of a scar, but I think it’s not too noticeable.

I’m so happy that Elijah survived the surgery!