Sockhead 5(?)

Sockhead is blocked. Look for it at #LAKings season opener.

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Jun 13, 2016 at 8:18am PDT

I had this project sitting around for a long time which is actually normal for this particular project. I love using fingering weight for hats but it just takes me soooooo long to complete. But when I finish one, I'm totally in love with it and want to knit more. So I cast on another one which will probably take me a year to finish but it's so easy to pick up when I feel the moment.

Noro always lures me in with their colors and I actually ran out of yarn and found another Noro yarn in a slightly thinner weight but I don't think anyone can tell...can you see where I switched yarns?

Latest Knits

This is from last month and I couldn't post it since I didn't want my niece to see it before the baby shower. Her boyfriend really loves owls so I thought this would be perfect for them. It just so happens that my cousin has an Etsy shop called Tilbyen. I ordered the owl bib and blanket. So adorable and my niece/boyfriend love it!!

Unforunately I wasn't able to get photos of it so you'll have to believe me.




Here is a pretty hat with lots of texture to show off the yarn. The pattern is called Petal Showers Hat available on Ravelry.  I have since added a pompom because I think hats look better with a topper of some sort but that's just me.

I'm Back

Sorry for being out of it but I'm back and focusing on some projects.

There are so many things I want to do and not enough time or I need time to prepare/plan/execute but I will get to them.




I can't remember if I posted my small lap blanket knit from scraps. I used the seemless neverending supply of worsted weight yarn to knit a colorful blanket. Well, this blanket attracts the cats like catnip and to be honest, it's fine with me since I wanted them to have their own blanket so they hopefully leave my nice squish blanket alone (it's wrapped up away from the cats).

So I just put the blanket on top of a beach towel, tucked the ends underneath forming a cat bed. They love it! Phil is the usual occupant of the bed but I do see Shadow on it a couple of times. 




Above is proof that Shadow still exists. That mangled knit ball has been a fave of the cats since we adopted them. I keep patching it up and they keep tearing away at it.






Here is the entire blanket minus cats. The pattern is called Chasing Rainbows on Ravelry and it's free. My version is definitely scrappy and random. The original version has stripes about 8 rounds each but I just kept knitting and adding yarn when I ran out. A wonderful stash & scrap buster.

Speaking of stash, I was searching in my vast yarn cupboard/closet looking for another project and I was sort of stunned (for a second) at my worsted weight stash. Um, I think it'll be year of the hat and blankets this year if my wrist holds up. 

Ashburn

Ack, it's already December! I've done some shopping and we're still decorating the house/tree. After taking a break, this year the Christmas cards and photo calendars are back so that took up a good portion of my time. I guess it seems really hectic in addition to being my mom's assistant and driver. 

I used my anniversary  Amazon gift card to buy an Instant Pot. So far I used it to make mashed potatoes (success) and pinto beans (success). I make beans often and used the stove top method. I would just boil/simmer the heck out of them but using the Instant Pot was like night and day. WOW! I know it's just beans but married to a Hispanic can put some bit of pressure on a girl. ;)  Heh, see what I did  there unknowingly? Pressure ===> Instant Pot = electric pressure cooker. 

Okay, these beans came out really good. I'm no bean expert but after 18 years of marriage and beans, these are GOOD. And it only took about 35 minutes of cooking in the Instant Pot. I didn't have to stir every so often, check the water level or worry about burning the beans. So I'm making more today. No more fuss...I can't wait to make stew and soups.
Mmmm...

So on to the real topic, my Ashburn which is not technically correct since I knit it for someone else. It was a real labor of love and it came out just beautiful. I only had about 12 hours to enjoy it and try to take proper pictures of it before I handed it off. I hope hope hope that the recipient LOVES this to death forever and forever. It was a lot of work for someone I don't even know and I won't do that again. Too much for me.

I plan on knitting myself one next year and picking out the colors will be the most difficult part. :) This ranks right up to Color Affection in use of colors and coziness. 





Here it is laid out on the floor which you can't tell how large it is. It measures over 70 inches along the top edge so it can be a lovely shawl or as I model in the following photos a cozy scarf/bandanna.




The cool feature of this pattern is the texture created in the middle portion. It took the longest but the end result is well worth it. 




A new technique I used on this is the picot bind off. I can't recall doing this on any other project but I may be wrong. I think it adds a nice feminine touch to this. 

The weather is even cooperating so I wasn't sweltering during the photoshoot. Although now I see some strange white flecks in my hair!  Blergh..




And now for my artsy look...It's going to rain a lot tonight so since the Ashburn is gone, I will have to find my Color Affection to cozy up with during the hockey game. :)

August

Summer is flying by much to the kids' dismay but we are enjoying every moment of it. The days seem warmer than usual due to increased humidity so we stay cool inside and then go for nice long walks in the evening. Did you see the supermoon? That was really cool and neat to see at midnight with the kids. We pulled out the binoculars and could see pretty good details. 

I've been knitting too, Christmas is around the corner. I have  several new things to show off.


First up is a nice crescent shaped shawlette/scarf that uses fingering weight yarn. It's called 504 King West and it's free on Ravelry. I am always attempting to use stash yarn which made a little dent. I really like this but these colors are not my taste so I will gift this one.





I found another stashbuster called Bandanna Cowl from Purl SoHo in NYC where I just was a couple of weeks ago. I like how this looks although it may not be used that much here in LA, I think my snowboarder friends will like it's usefulness while boarding on gusty days.


Boot cuffs! A cute accessory that looks like tall thick socks but no! It's an illusion. Girls get it and believe me, actual socks would be too warm. My calves are big so I would use these, I can barely find boots to fit over the calf so sadly these will be gifted to my family/friends with smaller calves. 

To complete my headband theme, I found a cute headband pattern called It's a Cinch. Also free and a quick gift.  This is the first headband which is knit as pattern states. It's pretty wide so I also knit a narrower version. 




I knit these socks last month but had to rip out the toes again because they were too short. I really wanted to keep them. I don't remember if I posted pics of them but here they are. Show-off Stranded Socks. I love the shades of purple. 



Wow, that was a lot more than I realized. I have some WIPs to get to like socks, a shawl, 2 scarves and always, my hexipuff project.

See you next time....

Baby Gifts

My cousin, Hannah is expecting her first baby at the end of September. Over the years, she has received various knit stuffed items ie. armadillo, bunny and monster. She will be putting them in the baby's room so that got me thinking I should do another search. Boy, my library has increased by at least 5 more stuffies.

I'm always trying to use up stash yarn and this Hungry Caterpillar is a prime example. I knit this in 2 days and used a variegated blue yarn for the body. The felt eyes don't match exactly like the book but that's okay. It sure does capture the essence of the book's version and that's fine with me. A very cute rendition and I will be knitting more if I need a baby gift.







So that got me thinking since the book is the hungry caterpillar maybe I can find a pattern for some fruit. Well, this apple is perfect. My first attempt I read a line wrong and had way too many stitches so I ripped it all out and began over. Much better.



So adorable. If I had  found this earlier, it would have been the perfect gift for the kids' teachers over the years. :)




Look how great it fits in Josh's hand. It's actually apple sized. He was laying on the ground watching TV so I had him hold it and it reminds me of Snow White after she bit into the apple. So now this part is complete with the apple and the hungry caterpillar.

Yarny bits

A quick peek at what I've accomplished in the art of knitting.....


A new pair of socks. Blenders which has to be my all time favorite leftover/monster/vanilla socks. I love knitting patterns of all sorts/styles but these seem to fit and appeal to me the best. Plus all those socks I knit I may have given away; I have their sweet sweet leftovers to make some truly epic/wild/subtle socks. I obviously don't take the time to match them up because I'm lazy/fly by the seat of my pants/unique kind of gal.




And the extra extra bits of leftovers is being knit into hexipuffs for either a blanket/seat cushion depending on how tired/bored I get. Each hexipuff tells a story of my knitting history. I actually remember most of the socks/project I used each yarn for too. See? Nice to know my memory still works for this.

Skipping thru

The recurring theme at this blog: I'm a bad blogger.

Okay, now that's out of the way so I can share what I've been up too. The LA Kings are still in the playoffs so there's that to occupy most of my waking moments along with following all the other teams.

I did finish a pair of socks this month. I haven't done a proper photoshoot but maybe that will eventually happen.




The pattern is called Smaug for all you LOTR fans and the texture resemble dragon scales. Pretty, huh? I chose a stash yarn in the depths of my yarn storage. It is a deep coral-red color that I believe is Jitterbug. I really do have to catalog my yarn so I have a record of them when I do finally finish my projects. Sigh, another project to add to my ever growing list.

Oh, but this pattern is pretty awesome. I love the texture and I know lots of friends and family would love this pattern. I'm not so sure if socks are such a good gift...I don't know if they would appreciate them as much as I love them.

I do keep knitting them though.

Here is another fun distraction knit...




A Stanley Cup (knitted, of course)! I figured I should have another one waiting in the wings...just in case. This is much bigger than my original one and believe you me, I needed this bottle of wine (others not pictured) to get through the first 2 rounds of playoffs. Needless to say, our neighbors definitely knew when the Kings scored!




I had a lovely Mother's Day and birthday (way back in April). It was gadget driven so I got a new iPhone5 and Chromecast (both life changers). ;)

Dust Bunnies

A little cute project for leftover yarn. Originally written for sock yarn which would make these super little, I started with some bulky yarn and I liked how they came out.

I think I might knit some up (gotta start now) as little student gifts at the end of the year.




I have lots of yarn...

Hats Galore

On the Puck This group on Ravelry we have a Hat Trick month in January and it's all for fun but the goal is to knit 3 hats in the month. I do love knitting hats since they're usually fast and fun.

My usual goal is to use up my current stash but that does not always work out as planned. I'm not sure if I blogged about my personal hat trick but I did continue knitting on hats through February. Also if you watched the winter Olympics in Sochi, you may noticed the really cool knit hats that many athletes wore.

Luckily there are plenty of talented people to reverse engineer the designs and share them with fellow knitters. One of my first hats was the 2014 USA hat, of course. I only have one photo of the hat which features colorwork moose, designs of USA and 2014.



Quite large for the average person and I stopped the chart soon after the moose as the hat was getting very tall. I'm sure I can find someone who will claim this cool hat.

Then I was in a patriotic mood, so I continued with the same yarn and made a Scrappy Ski Hat. This is a super pattern for using all those odd and ends of yarn laying around. I keep saying I need to knit up my existing stash but somehow I keep buying more yarn. Its a vicious cycle.





Oh, I'm not finished! I was telling you I was on some sort of hat knitting frenzy...



This cool pattern, Slovakian Folklore Hat takes its inspiration from the winter Olympics where the Slovakia had these super fab hats. A talented person took her time to chart it out and I was lucky enough to find it/knit it. This hat is really tall and slouchy which is how it's supposed to be but I did have to leave out the last chart before it was too long. Yes, I bought more yarn but these colors are great and wintery. And it looks complete with a pom pom. :)



I'm definitely wearing this hat when I take off to the great white north next month. :)





One more hat and I think that's it for now. I knit another Sockhead hat. This hat is great because it uses sock yarn which is thinner/lighter which is more suitable for SoCal weather. We are supposed to get 2 rainstorms and I'm currently wearing it as I type.

It's a great mindless project because I don't have to think about it. Just lots of ribbing and then miles of knitting. I might use up some leftover sock yarn and make a scrappy one.

Phew! That's the hats although I didn't show the 3 I knit for January. I don't want to overload everyone more than I have. Now to prepare for rain!

Arrow socks

Trying to get WIPs done and in order to do that, I finished my Arrow socks. Round of  applause.

Love this yarn which is going on my ever growing short list of great yarns. Super soft yet durable with some sheen and great stitch definition. :) All very important factors.





I think I have about 3 more pairs on the needles so I need to get going on them. The 2014 Winter Olympics are coming up so I will have some knitting time in front of the TV. :)

Knitting Catch Up

I've been distracted (in a good way) with knitting gifts. Lots of easy type hats, cowl & scarves. I love the quick results but my poor wrists can't handle all the movement which causes my carpal tunnel to flare up. That's my signal to change activities and take a break.

I've been behind to photographing all my latest projects also. I finish something and it's practically snatched out of my hands & claimed which I guess is a good thing but I don't get the time to take proper photos of it.

I finished a matching cowl set for a guy & his dog as requested from his GF/wife/SO. It was nice free pattern for a cowl with buttons & I was surprised that men were drawn to it. I've had that cowl in my gift pile for a few years and none of my family members claimed it. Then I show it randomly to some people and everyone wants it along with their dog!!




Here is an Instagram photo of the cowl when I finished it in the car a couple of weeks ago. Really nice tonal shades of blue for a guy & I had just enough for the dog's cowl (Chihuahua).

I have another skein of the same yarn but in green which may be another cowl or a hat. I haven't decided yet.

So many ideas churning thru my head for so many things I want to knit!

Have a Happy weekend!

Cowl Day

Today I will focus on another type of easy gift giving. I always try to make gifts for the kids teachers and I try to make something special. Sometimes I get a bit too ambitious for my own good and end up having to rush to finish. After many years, I have now figured out that simplicity is good.

The easy, fast projects have included coffee cozys, fingerless mitts and scarves. This year I decided to make cowls which is like a scarf but circular so it's a scarf loop that can be worn hung or doubled up for more warmth.

I had some super bulky yarn (Lion Thick & Quick) which makes the projects a snap. The first project I knit is called Bulky Ribbed Cowl that is free on Ravelry.

It is so warm and cozy although not as practical here in SoCal but it will be a nice if you're travelling to a colder area. :)

This should fight off the biting chill of winter.

This is the truer color.

I wish I could pull off the cowl look but I don't think they look so good on me. This would be nice when snowboarding or in the mountains. Hmmm.

Next up is the drop stitch cowl. It uses the same bulky weight yarn but with the dropped stitches, the cowl is opened up more for a less dense fabric and a more fashionable accessory.

Pretty sky blue yarn.

The openwork allows the cowl to be a lot taller so it can even be worn as a hood too. Multi-functional!

I still don't think I can pull off this look.

So I already started on another drop stitch cowl in pink for J's teacher who shall be totally rocking this cowl!!  :)

Hat Hat Hat

Time to post my knit projects! I got an urge to knit some hats and use some stash yarn so I dove into my big stash hall cupboard, pulled out some yarn and found the perfect patterns.

First up is some Bernat Mosaic yarn in a rainbow colorway. So baby hats are in order to take advantage of this bright cheery yarn. This free pattern is called Double Pom Earflap Baby Hat (minus the earflaps). I think these can be unisex since the pink is not too dominant but I guess that depends on the beholder.


They are still super cute. Unfortunately, I don't have a baby handy to make sure they are too big/small/just right.



Babies will totally be able to pull off this adorable look. I have to keep this pattern in mind when/if I ever need to come up with a fast baby knit. I even got the 2 hats from the one skein of yarn!



So  while searching for the previous yarn, I dig through about many many other balls of yarn and even smaller balls of leftovers so this calls for the Slip Stitch Stash Hat.



It works extremely well with contrasting colors which I chose after seeing the blue/green combo at the beginning. The hat can be subtle or make an impact with pops of colors.

At first, I placed the hat on the bed for the usual photo op then remembered my glass head that I bought at Pier One.

Much better presentation.

Nice & colorful.

Rollercoaster Triangle

Another finished project! This has been hibernating in a Ziploc for who knows how long but I busted it out when we were on vacation since it super simple pattern to memorize and I just knit/purl till I run out of yarn.

I should always have this project on the needles because these make terrific gifts. I already gave this one away in exchange for a set of used golf clubs.



I've neglected my sock projects but it's nearing the holiday season and that means some gift knitting is in store. I have lots of worsted weight yarn to use up so I think hats will be the perfect item.

Wedding Annis

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my cousin Hannah got married and here is her knitted wedding gift. An Annis that so versatile as a shawlette or scarf.

So pretty and feminine.

I originally began this project with a really pretty soft green lace yarn but somewhere along the line, I messed up and couldn't fix it. I had to scrap it and choose another yarn that wasn't so fine.

I got this oatmeal colored  mohair yarn with a metallic gold thread on sale and think it will be a nice complement to Hannah. There are only a few patterns that I will knit more than once and this one of them. I think this is my 4th Annis and it is really great.

So I'm sure you will eventually see more of these from me...

Close up of edge.

Annis.