knitmeister

Wittle Itty Bitty Baby Mitties

Yarn: Artful Yarns Virtue (100% Cashmere)

Needles: US 4 and US 6 DPN's

Gauge: 5 sts. per inch in St St on US 6

Pattern: With smaller needles CO 20 sts.  PM, join and knit in the round 1x1 rib until piece measures 1 inch.  Switch to larger needles and k every row for 15 rows.  Begin decreases:

Round 1: *k1, ssk, k4, k2tog, k1*; rep from *

Round 2: knit

Round 3: *k1, ssk, k2. k2tog, k1*; rep from *

Round 4:  knit

Round 5: *k1, ssk, k2tog, k1*; rep from *

Round 6:  knit

Divide remaining stitches on two needles and graft top of mitten (kitchener stitch).  Weave in ends.  Make twisted cord and thread through top row of ribbing to help secure mitts on babies hands.

Ms. Rippalot

Yep, this is the back of Chip's sweater in it's new life as a hank of Donegal Tweed.  I had completed 138 rows of the back of Rhapsody in Tweed and I succumbed to the inevitable.  It was knit too tight.  I knew it all along, and was trying to deny it.  But, when I measured my fabric at 138 rows I was five inches shy in the length I needed.  I knew that it wasn't just a hunch that I was way off on my gauge.  And yes, I did do a gauge swatch before I started, but that whole "while slightly streched" thing threw me off.  I guess I just stretched it too much.  I'm going to start again on needles two sizes larger and it should be much better.  He may be in this thing by this time next year!

In the meantime, I'm working on this:

Raglan Body-Hugger "The Purl Stitch"

Some of you may recognize my Bonkers merino (snagged at The Studio sale a couple weeks ago).  The color is Flamingo Fest.  It is scrumptious.  So so soft and cushy.  It's "almost" as soft as cashmere, and I love it.  It's knitting up in a delightfully random "pattern" until you get to the decreasing for the raglan at the top.  Behold the evil green eye and pink armpits:

I don't care, I still love it.

Now, I did run across what I believe is an error in the pattern.  I'm making a medium and cast on 130 stitches for the back.  You decrease 8 stitches in each 6 row repeat of the decreasing pattern.  You're supposed to end up with 48 stitches for the medium before you cast off.  There's just no way to arrive at that number decreasing 8 stitches at a time.  So, I stopped at 50 and cast off instead.  I checked the errata at XRX for The Purl Stitch and found no mention of this particular problem.  I've posted at Knitter's Review, Knitty, Page by Page, and XRX, to see if anyone else noticed this.  I've also done some checking around the blogs and nobody that has done this sweater mentioned it either.  Did they all do the size small?  It's the only one in the pattern where the stitch count is correct.

Delicious Treats

Today was a long tiring day packing up my husband's mother, who is moving ten houses down the street from us in two weeks.  I was so delirious I thought I was seeing things when I stumbled up the front steps and saw a package sitting in the shadows on my porch.  I opened it up to reveal this tasty confection, complete with handwritten poems on the tissue paper...

 

And behold the fibery goodness inside....

The three hanks on the left are "Japanese Maple", and the three on the right are "Cirque".  They all will be something lacy and lovely.  I provide the lacy, Axelle provides the lovely....

If you have not visited Axelle's blog, Two Pointy Sticks, to see her painfully beautiful hand-dyed luxury fibers, you have to go now! 

Rhapsody in Tweed

Chip has been grumbling about "if I'm going to knit, why don't I make something him?"  I was thumbing through my back issues of IK (Fall 2004) recently, looking for something else and stumbled across this men's tweedy cable pullover.  I thought he might just like it I could actually figure it out.  So I showed it to him, and he liked it!  I picked up enough Cascade 220 in a brown heather to make the pullover and just for the heck of it, grabbed a skein of Tahki Donegal Tweed to show him.  Wouldn't you know it? He chose the Donegal Tweed, so I had to exchange right off the bat.  I was sure it would be too itchy, but he assures me he will never wear it without a turtleneck anyway.  So, I got started on it over the holiday weekend, and what you see here are the results.

We had a pretty nasty ice storm last night.  I kept hearing tree branches falling, and transformers humming, and was absolutely amazed that our power did not go out.  It looks like I won't be going anywhere at all today, so perhaps I will make some more progress on Rhapsody.

OMG, I almost fell out of my chair, I laughed so hard when I first looked at this photo.  Look at Chip's head! (he's standing)  You might have to click on the photo to enlarge to see what I'm talking about...hee hee!