A Summer of Finished Objects

This summer, as I worked to get the house ready to put on the market, I kept coming across UFOs. And finishing them.

So this gift from my SIL:

 became this messy unblocked lace:

which blocked into this lovely rectangular shawl:

 

Yarn: Unique Designs Handspun Wool

Pattern: Cristiana Brenna's 100 grammi

Because the yarn varies in thickness, color, and material, I wanted a pattern that would be very forgiving of uneven stitches. This one did the trick. As a plus, it is completely reversible,  and surprisingly warm for such open lace. Also, it was dead simple to knit up. I have worn it several times now, and am very happy with it.

***

Many years ago, a member of my knitting group gave me this yarn:

which I quickly figured out should be this pattern:

and then forgot all about. And now it is this:

Yarn: unlabeled worsted weight weight mohair, partial skein

Pattern: Knitlist Mohair Scarf Pattern (via the Wayback Machine)

Mods: added two selvage edge stitches; I start each row by "slip 1 as if to purl with yarn in front" and end with an extra knit 1. This makes a nice place for my blocking wires. I don't have any idea what to do with this one - the color is just as odd as it looks, and I have plenty of scarves already. Ant thoughts out there?

Brain Freeze

I stumbled into the kitchen this morning and mumbled "morning," as I poured my first cup of coffee. DH, who gets up much earlier than I do, began dishing up the oatmeal, commenting as he did so that he remembered to add salt this time. Part of my brain recognized a cue and thought I should say, "Really? I did too, because you always forget!" and expected a third person to pop up and confess that they had as well. The rest of my brain realized that a) I'd been upstairs when he made the oatmeal, and b) there was no third person in the house. Since the two parts of my brain were moving too slowly to handle the discrepancy, I just smiled sleepily and took my coffee into the other room.

It's a trope. The Big Eight all bring salt to the picnic on the Little Island. Anne (of Avonlea) and Diana and Marilla all add sugar to the peas (sugar? peas? who does that?). Everybody in the house adds liquor to the State Fair entry before it leaves the house. Have I missed any? Leave a comment if you've seen it elsewhere.

I finished another pair of socks, just in time to wear them once and put them away for the winter:

 

Pattern: Wendy D. Johnson's Double Eyelet Rib Toe-Up Socks

Needles: 0 (2.00 mm)

Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock in Temple Turquoise

Mods: I love this pattern. I've been knitting it up for years. I think the only thing I do differently these days is that I've switched to Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off.



I also made a scarf out of the last of the alpaca:

Pattern: Vanesa Polo's Garter Stitch Keyhole Scarf

Needles: 10 1/2 (6.5 mm)

Yarn: Bernat Alpaca in Wheat, Stone, & Tomato

Mods: I didn't sew it together to make the keyhole, and I didn't add fringe.

Since I had the least Wheat, I made sure I didn't start or end with it, and just kept knitting until I ran out of Wheat. Then I knit one more row in the next color and bound off.

It made a very nice long tricolor scarf that is not for me because alpaca and I don't get along. I'm going to try to find it a home this weekend.

Knitting from Stash

A co-worker gave me a bag of yarn she'd found when de-cluttering her house, "from when the kids did crafts." Since yarn does not equal clutter in my universe, I was happy to take it off her hands, despite the fact that none of it was yarn I would have bought for myself. Yarn is always useful.


The novelty yarn gave me pause, particularly in partial skeins. I challenged myself to find something to make from the light green eyelash yarn, and came up with a miniature boa for my young niece. It photographs badly, but I think she will like it.

Yarn: a partial skein of Patons Twister (discontinued) in Lime
Needles: Size 15 straight needles
Pattern: Cast on 8 stitches and knit every row until just enough yarn to bind off

~~~~~

That led me to pull a project out of the UFO bin and finish it for my nephew. Made from leftovers from Saige, it was much more fun to knit than to stuff.

 

Yarn: Berroco Sox in Huddersfield (discontinued color), 1/3 of skein

Needles: 2.5 mm double-pointed

Pattern: Celestine Sox

~~~~~

To my utter amazement, I still had enough of that skein to make myself a pair of ankle socks. Despite their bright colors, all of which lie outside my normal palette, I love them dearly. Possibly this has something to do with wearing them to work on a day when the temperature was in the single digits, and having my feet stay warm. But more likely it's because I was able to make them match without even trying hard. I just made my standard toe-up, fits-me sock until I could see that the colorway was finally going to repeat, bound off and started the second sock where the repeat started. The photo is wonky, they are really the same length.


Yarn: same as above, 2/3 of skein

 Needles: 2.5 mm double-pointed

 Pattern: Figure-8 cast-on of 24 stitches, 12 per needle; increase every other row to 52 stitches; 52 rounds of stockinette later begin gusset increases using Wendy Johnson’s Heel Template for a Gusset Heel Sock; knit 13 rounds; make k2, p2 ribbing until the color pattern repeat is coming up; use Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy bind-off.