Knitting – Page 6 – Thimbleanna

Ski Hats for Christmas

27 Comments / December 30, 2014 December 30, 2014 / Knitting

Boy, that week sure flew by in a hurry, didn’t it? I would say I don’t know where the time went, but I sort of do — we had a Christmas trip to Oklahoma to visit TheManoftheHouse’s family, so two days of the week were taken up with 16 hour long drives! Luckily for me though, TheManoftheHouse did the driving, so I could knit and sew when it wasn’t dark. Yay for roadtrips!!! (Oh, and btw, thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments on the last few posts. I haven’t been replying back to you because my comments aren’t being forwarded to my e-mail. More time on the phone with tech support — hopefully they’ll get it ironed out in the next day or two. Also, I think some of the feed readers are still not getting my feed, so you might have to re-subscribe. Which is kind of funny — if you’re not getting the feed, you’re probably not reading this LOL!)

I thought I’d show you the only real knitting/sewing that I did for Christmas this year. Ski Hats for SweetiePie and TheFirstChild.

We were sitting in a restaurant at the tail end of the winter olympics last year and suddenly TheFirstChild’s head did a 360-degree spin and he said to SweetiePie, “Did you see THAT?” SweetiePie must’ve seen it because she jumped up and followed a lady through the lobby and into a different part of the restaurant. The lady was wearing an olympic ski hat and the kids loved it.

When SweetiePie returned to us, she said it was a Ralph Lauren hat. Being a knitter, I popped out my phone and searched Ravelry for a knock-off pattern. Sure enough, there was a pattern out there, so I made a mental note and didn’t even think of those hats again until just after Halloween a few months ago.

Once I started looking at the Ravelry pattern though, there were several things that seemed a little off to me, so I decided to make my own pattern. There were lots of pictures of the hats online so I downloaded them to my iPad so that I could zoom in on them and count stitches. I made big charts and knit and ripped and knit and ripped. The first hat was pretty time-consuming as I tried to figure everything out, but I’m so happy with the end result! And I’m crazy happy with the top of the hat — that’s the one area that I couldn’t really see from any of the photos. I did a convoluted kitchener sort of thing with pleats and I love the way it turned out.

SweetiePie and I are in a hot debate though. Should the hats be worn slouchy (my vote!)

or like a cone-head (her vote)???

Since she and TheFirstChild will be wearing them, I’m betting cone-heads it is LOL!

Oh, and see the little American flag patch on the front of the hat? That’s my least favorite part. I couldn’t find flag patches anywhere that were that small, so I had to make some on my embroidery machine. They’re just too small to get good results in the star field, but the kids didn’t seem to care.

I think they were a big hit, which made my little knitting heart very happy. SweetiePie wore her hat all day even though it was pretty warm outside.

For you knitters, a few details:
Needles: Size 8 circular needles (size 6 for the ribbing and ear flaps)
Yarn: Erin 3-ply by Imperial Yarn Co. in Heart Red, Navy and Natural

Now. Are you ready for the New Year? I’m super excited that my little Liberty shipment arrived! It can’t go on sale until Thursday — so that gives me two days to get my act together!

Have a Wonderful and Safe New Year’s Eve!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Socks

27 Comments / November 9, 2014 March 8, 2016 / Knitting, Socks

Winston and Teddy would like to thank you for all of your fun comments about their pictures. Me too. You’re all so sweet!

It’s been just your average week here in ThimbleannaLand — nothing much exciting happened as another week sped by, hurtling us into the Holiday Abyss. I managed to order some yarn for a Christmas project — I hope it gets here in a hurry. With nothing really accomplished this week (I did manage to clean the pantry and do a lot of filing, but there’s not much picture worthy in those activities), I thought I’d show you some socks I finished a few months ago.

Do you remember this Downton Abbey sock yarn that I bought almost two years ago? (Oh my gosh, that made me think about dates. It will soon be Twenty Fifteen. I think I feel sick.)

On my way out the door for my trip to Australia, I grabbed this yarn so that I’d have something to knit on the airplane. And Boy, is there a LOT of airplane knitting time on the way to Australia. Especially if you’re sitting next to the row of crying babies on one side and someone who was coughing and blowing her nose (poor thing) for the whole trip on the other side. Knit. Knit. Knit. It makes the time pass more quickly. By the time we landed, I’d almost turned the heels on a pair of socks.

Then, we had more airplane time within Australia. And Kellie’s children were so intrigued about what I was knitting, that I knew I really needed to finish these socks before I left to return home. I wanted them to be able to see how those tubes hanging on the needle would become a pair of socks. I knit a lot and managed to finish the socks the day before my trip ended. Just in time to take advantage of Jessie who happily provided International Sock Modeling Services.

The pattern is the Mockery Sock pattern that is available as a free Ravelry download. The yarn is by Lorna’s Laces. And, in true Lorna’s Laces fashion, there was some pooling on top of the ankle, but it wasn’t too bad.

Jessie’s feet aren’t as big as mine, so those socks are a little big for her, but I thought she did a great job modeling. Plus, we had a lot of fun crawling around on the rocks in the blazing sun. As I mentioned in my Australia posts, is was about 40 degrees C (just over 100 F) every day in Kakadu. Jessie was a great sport to put wool socks on in the heat. We took pictures in a hurry!

I hope you’re having a good weekend. These Downton Abbey socks are going to be put to good use here this week — we’re expecting a blast of cold air! If you are too, I hope you can stay warm!

XOXO,
Anna

Kross

28 Comments / April 13, 2014 May 17, 2014 / Knitting

Thank you for all your sweet comments about BigDaddy. He’s in a rehab hospital now and verrrrry slowly getting better. Not much fun stuff is going on around here as most of my non-working hours are spent at the hospital with him and MeMum. I do manage to sneak in about an hour each night before bed though, so I’m hoping I can piece a few blocks this week.

In the meantime, when BigDaddy was in the regular hospital, I finished a sweater. (And boy, I don’t know what happened this year, but I think I’ve had BIG sweater karma. It took me for.ever to knit the 10-year sweater (about 10 years!) but in the last 7 months I’ve knit my first Lopi, Kilmory, and now this sweater. Yay for sweater knitting!) I was going to wait until I’ve blocked the sweater to show you, but who knows when that will happen? Definitely before next winter, when I expect I’ll be wearing it as much as I wear my first Lopi.

Around the time I was getting ready to start this sweater, I was telling Berglind how much I love Lopi yarns and that I was planning on knitting another lopi sweater. She mentioned that she was going to knit the Kross pattern by Vedis Jonsdottir. As luck would have it, the pattern is in the Knitting with Icelandic Wool book that Berglind sent me this winter, so I thought it would be fun to knit a version along with Berglind. Of course, she finished her sweater in a week or two, because she has way more than sweater karma — she has Icelandic sweater karma. You know, being Icelandic and all! It’s fun to see both of our sweaters in the different color combinations. The pattern says to use five different colors of yarn, but like Berglind, I thought three would be just fine. I didn’t look at her sweater while I was knitting mine, and we’ve done our color changes in different places, so that’s fun to see too.

This sweater is knit on bigger needles but with fewer stitches than my first lopi sweater, so the fabric isn’t as dense. It also fits a little looser than my first sweater, but it’s not too big to wear it. One thing that I thought was interesting is that the crossover stitches (the rows in white and light blue in my version of the sweater) are done differently around the neck than they are at the bottom of the sweater and the sleeves. The neckline crossover stitches are knitted in groups of four stitches but the others are knitted in groups of six stitches. I much prefer them done in groups of four (the resulting “hole” isn’t as big) so, if I ever make this pattern again, I’ll do groups of four around the bottom and the sleeves. (That will probably only make sense if you actually knit this sweater!)

Ok kids, it’s off to bed for me — work comes early in the morning these days. I hope you have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Anna

Kilmory

40 Comments / March 9, 2014 April 12, 2014 / Knitting

I have a finished sweater that I’ve been meaning to show you for a few weeks. After the 10-year sweater, it seems amazing to me that I can finish a sweater in a reasonable amount of time. I started this sweater the week between Christmas and New Year’s and after three weeks I had the front and back finished but it was apparent that I would run out of yarn, so I had to wait a few weeks for some yarn to arrive from overseas.

By the time we went to Utah, all the pieces were done and I’d started to sew it all together. It was apparent that it was going to be too big, so I tossed it aside while I debated what to do. Finish it or tear it all apart? Hmmmm.
A week or so after we returned, I decided to just put it together and see what happened. And Guess What?

It’s still too big!

Bummer!!! (Apparently, I’m not as giant as I think I am LOL.)

So, I’m thinking I might get it wet and throw it in the dryer and see if I can shrink it a little bit. Have any of you knitters out there tried that? Do you think it would work???

The pattern is Kilmory in the book Aran Knits by Martin Storey and the yarn is Silkroad Aran Tweed by Jo Sharp in the Beach colorway. It was really fun to knit, in spite of redoing the front yoke three times due to careless mistakes!

(Btw, I loooove those pockets. That may or may not be why I couldn’t tear the sweater apart.)
Anyway, if you think of any other ways to shrink my sweater a little bit, let me know!

XOXO,
Anna

Welted Fingerless Gloves

36 Comments / January 21, 2014 February 15, 2014 / Chat, Knitting

Thanks for all the yoga bag love — you guys are all so very kind and sweet! I’ve had fun reading your comments this last week — I’ve been so lazy, it’s been hard to even get back here and post! (And it may be Easter before Santa and his sleigh up there disappear — ouch!) I have been knitting like a madwoman though. After dinner each night I settle down with a sweater I started a few weeks ago. And then the next day at lunch I rip out what I knitted the night before. Ouch again! I’m getting really good at picking up stitches but I hope I don’t wear the yarn out before I’m done. I’m slowly making progress, but with work during the day, it hasn’t left much time for anything else.

Anyway, here’s a look at a much easier knitting project. This is the last of my Christmas gift making. I made a couple of pairs of these pretty little Welted Fingerless Gloves from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.

I first saw them on my almost-local buddy Anne’s blog. Anne has made many of these little mitts and she describes them as her go-to gift, which I think is a great choice. They’re quick and easy and fun. Thanks for a great suggestion Anne! (Btw, this is the little project I was working on when I posted about the Yarn Harlot’s visit to our little burg. I showed a picture of just the cuff in progress and Bonnie knew right away what they were — good eye Bonnie!)

So, if you’re in North America I hope you’re staying warm. (And if you’re burning up in Australia, I sure wish I could send you some snow!) We’re having another coooold week here and I love it. I love winter when we can hunker down and work on projects. I know some of you don’t like it though, but take heart. The days are slowly getting longer. Here’s a little pic from the archives to remind you that this deep freeze won’t last forever.

Because, you know the routine …

Have a good week!
XOXO,
Anna