Friday, February 26, 2010

The pillow


Things I've learned in the past two weeks:
  1. It is inevitable that when I have no one to knit for and start a project for myself, twenty million people (aka three) will want me to make them something.
  2. Midterms are any knitter's/baker's enemy.
  3. I will get sick at the most inopportune times. Like the week before I'm supposed to go home for a surprise visit. And when I have papers and quizzes and things that one cannot be ill for.
  4. A upper respiratory infection is just a cold. But it sounds so much serious when you call it an upper respiratory infection.
  5. When I get sick, I get really emotional. Flashback to a couple days ago when Joannie Rochette skated her short program and cried upon finishing. So did I. And just now, when I read Bake at 350's blog post on livestrong and her mother's battle with cancer. Tears. I'm a sap, I know.
  6. Spring break is T-7 days away. Which, finally, after months of reading food blogs and dreaming about scones and cupcakes and cake truffles, BAKING.
  7. Uncrustables are a lazy girl's best friend. Especially when she runs out of strawberry jam. And bread. Also, they say they thaw in 30 minutes. THIS IS A LIE. I have had one sitting next to me for the allotted half-hour, and it is still mostly frozen. And I am hungry.
  8. I am a poor college kid. I cannot afford a pillow form. Well, I probably could, but I don't really think I could find one on campus.
So, that brings us to knitting. I made my sister a pillow. Mostly because I had/have a lot of yarn of various blues and greys and not much to do with it. Except for the things I was asked to make after I started the pillow. And once you start a pillow, you can't stop. It's easy. You just... knit. No decreases or ridiculousness. And, the best part is, you can use any stitch. I used US 8s.

For the front, I used my old not-so-soft light grey. I did the same cabling pattern I used on this hat. CO 68, knit 68 rows (including cast on and off rows).
For the front, I used various blues I had. From the hats from The Mission II and my mother's hat and scarf. The small grey stripes are my Vanna's Choice Silver Grey. It was 6 rows of the blue, 2 of the grey, and repeating with the other blues. Also CO 68 and knit 68 rows (including cast on and off rows).
So I sewed up three sides and some of the fourth side inside-out. Turned it right side out and stuffed it with the stuffing I have.
And then I realized, this pillow is not square. I think it would be if I used an actual pillow form, (I believe it was a 14" by 14" [do those even exist?]). But I adapted the pillow form from one I found a long time ago, and figured it would work any way. That was knit on US 6s and fit a 12" by 12". And I'm positive that will fit. I think mine didn't because it had nothing to stretch around.
Whatever. She'll like it. No, she never asked for a pillow. Or anything, really. But everyone likes presents.


(Front)

(Back)


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The Mission Part II


I finished. Well, I finished Saturday around 4 pm, so it's been a while. I'm just lazy and dealing with midterms and the like. But I had a nice long Roommate From Hell-free weekend, so I got a lot of knitting done. Five pm on Saturday found me at the FedEx in town, where I shipped the FIVE hats I made. They should be arriving sometime tomorrow.
So, when I posted The Mission (Part I), I was in such a rush to get started that I failed to mention details. The hats are for one of my aunts who lives up north. Many years ago, she had breast cancer (twice) and survived. I was pretty young at the time, so all I remember is going up for the summer and seeing her with no hair. Recently (as in, like, two days before The Mission Part I), doctors found a small tumor near/on/in her brain. This was really really scary at first (let's just say there was some hysterics on my part. This isn't something I ever wanted to hear, much less on the phone with my mother while I'm on my way to my art history class). About four years ago, I had a brain cancer scare (if that makes sense), and though it wasn't, it was still beyond terrifying for me and those around me. So I can't even imagine.
But she's going to be fine. Thank god. She lost her hair on Friday, so I wanted to make sure the hats got out to her as soon as possible. So, the final product:
Light blue: Karma Hat
Medium blue: Braided Cable Hat



Saturday, February 6, 2010

Lydia hat and scarf


I made these for my RA, Lydia. She kills all the bugs for us (we can handle the thousands of ladybugs, but it's the stinkbugs and wasps and cockroaches none of us care to handle). And she's helped us (by "us," I mean my two suite-mates and I) with dealing with my roommate, whom I not-so-affectionately call the Roommate From Hell.
I gave Lydia the scarf today, but I ended up sending the hat with the other Mission hats. (Sorry, Lydia). I'll probably end up making her another one. Seeing as we're expecting snow tomorrow and probably for the rest of forever, she can definitely use it. I guess that's what you get for going to school in the mountains. It's pretty, but it snows like no where else in the south.

Anyways. Both were knit on 10s with Vanna's Choice Silver Grey. (Honestly, this is such a good gift-giving yarn. Grey matches with just about everything.)

The hat:

(Notice the change in hair color? Yeah, no one else has either).

CO 80
K1 P1 across for 6 rows
*P1, K2, P1, K6 across
K1, P2, K2, P6 across
P1, K2, P1, K6 across
K1, P2, K2, P6 across
P1, K2, P1, K6 across
K1, P2, K2, P6 across
P1, K2, P1, C3F across*
Repeat between ** three times, for a total of four cable crosses.
K1, P2, K2, P6 across
P1, K2, P1, K2tog, K2, K2tog across
K1, P2, K1, P4 across
P1, K2tog, P1, K2tog, K2tog across
K1, P1, K1, P2 across
P1, K1, P1, K2tog across
K1, P1, K1, P1 across
K2tog, K2tog across
P across
K2tog across
P2tog across
Cut long tail, pull through remaining stitches, sew up the back.



The scarf:
Okay, preface: I wanted a cabled scarf (I've been obsessing about cables a bit lately, it seems), but I didn't want garter stitch edges, blocking something this large isn't really an option in a room the size of a postage stamp, and I wanted the cabling to be the main thing. So I made this.


CO 22
[*K2, P1, K2, P1, K10, P1, K2, P1, K2
P2, K1, P2, K1, P10, K1, P2, K1, P1*
Repeat between ** for ten rows
K2, P1, K2, P1, C5f, P1, K1, P1, K2
P2, K1, P2, K1, P10, K1, P2, K1, P1]
Repeat between [] once, for a total of two cable crossings
Okay, now, do the same thing again, but where it says "Repeat between ** for ten rows" do it for TWENTY. And the repeat everything above until the scarf is as long as you want it. (I ended with the ten-row cable part, just to make it all nice and even). Cast off, add fringe (if you want). The end.



Friday, February 5, 2010

Large horseshoe cable hat



I like how this turned out, but I don't LOVE it. I think the yarn I used wasn't right for the pattern, but, then again, I couldn't find a good pattern in the first place, hence my making one. Ravelry failed me in finding a large horseshoe cable hat that had more than two or three cable panel things.
This is on 10s (duh. It seems I can't use anything else right now, but I half-blame this on the need to finish these quickly). Vanna's Choice Baby Cheery Cherry (which is really bright. But cute).



CO 76
K2p2 for 5 rows
P across
K across, inc by 3
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, C3B, C3F across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, C3B, C3F across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, C3B, C3F across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, C3B, C3F across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, K12 across
K1, P12 across
P1, C3B, C3F across
K1, P12 across
P1, K2tog, K8, K2tog
K1, P10 across
P1, K2tog, K6, K2tog
K1, P8 across
P1, K2tog, K4, K2tog
K1, P6 across
P1, K2tog, K2, K2tog
K1, P4 across
P1, K2tog K2tog across
K1, P2tog across
K2tog across
Cut long tail, pull through remaining stitches, and use tail to sew up the back.


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Horseshoe cable hat

This hat turned out a little big (I think it was because of the yarn). But I put a smaller version in italics. This was knit, as per usual, on straight 10s. I used Vanna's Choice Baby green something.


CO 80 [Or cast on 72 if you want it smaller]
K2P2 across for 6 rows
P1 K8 across, make 10 (for 90)
[If you did the smaller CO, only increase by 9]
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1 K8 across
K1 P8 across
P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across
K1, P8 across
P1, K2tog K2tog K2tog K2tog across
K1, P4 across
P1, K1, K2tog, K1 across
K1, P3 across
P1, K2tog, K1 across
K1, P2 across
P1, K2tog
K1, P1 across
K2tog across
P2tog across
Cut long tail, pull through remaining stitches, sew up the back.