Tout

I am so sorry I haven't written in forever, but I wanted to finish Joanna's second pair of gloves before I posted again, and of course, I finish them, and then I have to pack madly for college, drive down to the university (with a stop in South Carolina along the way), move in, go through orientation, the first few days of classes, etc. - more on that later. Anyways... here are Joanna's lovely Natalya gloves:

I must say that though these took quite a bit longer than the lace-ups, I like them much, much better. They're more practical as well. The proccess of knitting them also taught me so many things. I can now knit on the round with two circular needles (which I will not be doing again unless absolutely neccesary). I can also now cable without a cable needle, a very handy skill to have. I know a new way of binding off that is much looser than the one I was using previously. I also now know how to knit fingers on gloves. Overall, it was a very educating experience. (Sorry for the over-exposed picture BTW).

So... I'm at college :D. Not telling you where, because there are always weird stalking people out there that want to kidnap you, but here are some pics of campus:

Yes, this is a college campus. Great huh? My classes are absolutely amazing. I know this might sound mean, but I enjoy having teachers that are actually competent and know their material. Dorm life is good too. I'm good friends with at least half my floor; I'm so glad we all get along, for the most part - it's amazing. I've also made some really great friends in my marine program (I'm a marine bio major); we had this s'mores BBQ (basically you roast the marshallows over a grill) the other day, and the four of us just clicked right away. We spend the next hour and a half talking outside, then moved to Michelle's room and talked for at least another half an hour, if not another hour. It's absolutely great.

Speaking of the dorm life, I've discovered that the bowls I use to microwave my morning grits get really hot in the microwave (yay Walmart dishes), prompting me to make these:

I tried knitting a potholder using double knitting, but quickly discovered that I despise double knitting. I figured that a potholder would be something you could crochet in about two seconds, so I searched online and found this wonderful pattern. I love the things! They're so great!

More exciting (and geeky) news. So, I'm in this group on Ravelry called the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup. Term starts in a few days, and when it does, I'm going to attempt an OWL in potions. The potions OWL requires a large project with creative and complicated use of color. I'm going to knit a Persephone Scarf, except that each "rope" in the cable is going to be a different color, and the border and backgrounds are different colors. Here's my rainbow circle of yarn that I'm using for the project:

And my pattern swatch, in the lovely iris shade of Caron Simply Soft:


I simply can't wait to cast on, and for term to start. Everything is so exciting right now! :)

Birthday Bash

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because, in the back of my head, I wanted the next post to be when I had both of Joanna's gloves finished. Well, I finished one, the lace-up opera gloves.

Let me tell you, I do not like this pattern. It's made for someone with twigs for arms. If I ever make this again (highly unlikely), I'll add at least ten more stitches, and buy a bunch more ribbon. I also have a sneaking suspicion that Joanna will never actually wear these. Mind you, she'll think they're awesome the first time she lays eyes on them, but she'll never actually wear them. It's like me and the cowl. I thought it was awesome when I was done, but then I felt stupid every time I wore it out in public.

The other pair is proving interesting. I don't own a pair of size 8 double points, but I did have two size 8 circulars laying about. Well, I discovered I vastly prefer double points to two circulars, and I am a huge fan of metal needles. One of my circulars is bamboo (mainly because it was the only 16" I've ever found, for hats), and it was driving me nuts. I was really grateful that I soon acquired another metal circular needle (more on that later). Other than that, the pattern is pretty, and I have no clue what increases they're referring to for the thumb gusset, so I'm experimenting with different increases each round until I find the one best suited for the glove.


Speaking of frustrating patterns, yesterday was my best friend's 18th birthday. I realized the day before that I didn't have a gift, so I thought I'd whip up something nice on my needles. I saw this awesome, seemingly-simple-and-quick, fingerless glove pattern.

Not only was the pattern complicated and time-consuming, but the designer has no clue about glove construction. There's no thumb gusset, the thumb hole wouldn't even fit my pinky at first (I had to frog the thumb rounds and just bind off the live stitches in order to make it wide enough), and the rest of the glove is HUGE. It's really too bad because I used a really pretty blue - actually my first ball of yarn ever. Now there's not enough on the ball to make anything really other than a granny square or a Hugo. I decided to re-structure the pattern. As soon as I knit a pair of the restructured gloves, I'll post the pattern, don't worry.

Anyway, instead of the ill-fitting gloves, I made my friend a starfish instead.

Quite lovely, and it almost used up the rest of the awesome multi-color yarn I had purchased for my squid and lobster. He came from a book I recently purchased, and I can't wait to knit more of the little guys that are in there. Speaking of which...

Monday was my birthday!!!! Of course, I got lots and lots of knitting related items, including these:

I also got some stitch markers (though they weren't actually what I wanted; they'll probably remain unused) and a set of stitch holders. The biggest things I got were a set of interchangeable needles :D

And with some of the money I got, I went to Barns & Noble and bought this book:

which is where our delightful starfish friend came from. That's all for now. Back to knitting those cable fingerless gloves for Joanna...

Cable-Lace Short Fingerless Gloves

Why is it that all these patterns for fingerless gloves completely forget about people with large hands? I went to go knit some fingerless gloves for my best friend's 18th birthday. I realized I hadn't gotten her a gift the day before, so I found this pattern, thinking that it would take two-seconds based on the picture (the picture had these short, uncomplicated, fingerless gloves). Boy was I wrong. These things were not a fast project, and they were a tad complicated (I've never knit anything with both cables and lace in it before). Then, of course, when I finished one glove, I tried it on, and my thumb couldn't get through the thumb part. I ended up frogging the separate thumb rows and just binding off those original live stitches. I could now get my thumb through, but it was extremely tight. The lack of thumb gusset also made anything below the thumb very, very loose on my hand. I was so frustrated, because the pattern was pretty, so I decided to re-structure it.

Here is my re-structures, re-named glove pattern. Sorry for the charts, but the original pattern was in a couple charts and I figured it would just be easier to photoshop them than to write them out. Oh, and I decided to knit a starfish for my friend instead.

Cable-Lace Short Fingerless Gloves

Needles: four US 3/3.25mm double-pointed needles

Yarn: DK weight, probably less than half a skein

Also Needed: two stitch markers, cable needle or an extra DPN, stitch holder.

Pattern :)

CO 53 sts

Distribute as follows:

-Needle 1: 18 sts

-Needle 2: 17 sts

-Needle 3: 18 sts

Now that's the end of the similarities between the left and right gloves.

Right Glove

Knit Chart A for the right glove once

Knit Chart B for the right glove three times, but there are some special instructions (aka thumb gusset):

When you get to the sixth round (row six on the chart the first time you're knitting the chart), follow the chart to the last seven stitches. Place st marker, Krl, Kll, place st marker, then knit the last seven stitches according to the chart. Then, for each successive round follow the following instructions in between the markers, but follow the chart outside the makers:

Round 1: K

Round 2: *marker* K1, Krl, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 3: K

Round 4: *marker* K1, Krl, K2, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 5: K

Round 6: *marker* K1, Krl, K4, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 7: K

Round 8: *marker* K1, Krl, K6, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 9: K
Round 10: *marker* K1, Krl, K8, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 11: K

Round 12: *marker* K1, Krl, K10, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 13: K

Round 14: *marker* K1, Krl, K12, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 15: K

Round 16: *marker* K1, Krl, K14, Kll, K1 *marker*

Round 17: K

Round 18: remove marker, slip 18 sts on stitch holder, remove marker

Knit chart B for the right glove one more time, then chart A for the right glove one more time,

BO in pattern, and weave in ends.

Left Glove
Knit Chart A for the left glove once

Knit Chart B for the left glove three times, but there are some special instructions (aka thumb gusset):

When you get to the sixth round (row six on the chart the first time you're knitting the chart), follow the chart for the first seven stitches. Place st marker, Krl, Kll, place st marker, then knit the rest of the round according to the chart. Then, for each successive round follow the following instructions in between the markers, but follow the chart outside the makers:
Round 1: K
Round 2: *marker* K1, Krl, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 3: K
Round 4: *marker* K1, Krl, K2, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 5: K
Round 6: *marker* K1, Krl, K4, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 7: K
Round 8: *marker* K1, Krl, K6, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 9: K
Round 10: *marker* K1, Krl, K8, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 11: K
Round 12: *marker* K1, Krl, K10, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 13: K
Round 14: *marker* K1, Krl, K12, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 15: K
Round 16: *marker* K1, Krl, K14, Kll, K1 *marker*
Round 17: K
Round 18: remove marker, slip 18 sts on stitch holder, remove marker

Knit chart B for the left glove one more time, then chart A for the left glove one more time, BO in pattern, and weave in ends.

Thumb

Divide sts on st holder onto two DPN. Pick up 3 sts on the thumb hole edge with a third needle. Knit five rounds. BO purl wise. Weave in ends.

Notes

Krl: Knit right loop. Video here, but it is only the increase part.

Kll: Knit left loop. Video here, but it is only the increase part.

*marker*: Just signifying where the st marker is on the needle. Nothing special.

Click on Links for Charts

Right Glove - Chart A

Right Glove - Chart B

Left Glove - Chart A

Left Glove - Chart B

All charts, in one, convenient single-paper-sized image

Original Pattern: http://www.living-at-knits-end.blogspot.com/2009/05/quidditch-gloves.html