I just don't Give a Hoot!

So I decided to make a pair of Give a Hoot mittens for my Mom as a Christmas present. I'm using the Aliki beach Cascade 220 that I posted about way back when and so far, it's been working up really quickly. I'm concerned about the thumb. The instructions wind up leaving me with a super huge gap after separating out the thumb stitches, but I'm going with it and I'll see if I like how it turns out. They work up quickly enough that if I decide I don't like it I could frog it and redo it w/an after thought thumb or something. (I think. Not sure how much that involves changing the pattern.) The owl is super simple and cute. I may just start putting owls on everything I knit, now that I know how easy they are. Owl hats! Owl socks! Owl scarves! The possibilities are endless. (Speaking of owl socks, how cute are these?! They may have to be my first project of the new year...)

Kev's hat is still hanging out in the frog pond. Manda's scarf is coming along slowly but surely. And I'm forcing myself to ignore my socks until the Give a Hoots are finished.

Sorry, no pictures now, but maybe when I finish my first mitten.

Thrum Maddness!

This will be the last blog update for the week from me. Tomorrow we're hittin' the road and heading to Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving holiday. I should get plenty of sock knitting done during the 12 hour drive north (at least until I can no longer see once the sun goes down). I just wanted to post pictures of what I accomplished this weekend during my 'boyfriend free knittingpalooza'. I finished the thrummed mittens for Kevin's Mom. These mittens worked up super fast, it just took me awhile because I alternated knitting mitten/sock to afford the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome.

Pardon the photos. I don't think they turned out very well at all thanks to the battery on my camera being almost dead.







They are super warm and cozy and should be excellent for keeping hands warm during the cold New England Winter. I wish I had a reason to wear them here in VA, but it just doesn't get that cold. :(

So until next week guys. Have a happy and safe holiday and I hope everyone gets to eat lots of yummy turkey!

Photography

Slowly I am trying to work on this photography thing. Today I picked up some white posted boards to use as a back drop for my knitted items. I also got a lamp w/a nice natural light and dug out my tripod for my camera. It's not 100% better, but I'm getting there. I'd love to figure out how to make my background completely white like Eskimimi's projects. Unfortunately I don't have photoshop and I barely know how to work Paint.net. Here's my first effort.

(edited)



(unedited)


There's only so much I can do the my point a shoot. Maybe one day I'll have a real camera to take pretty pictures with.

Brief Update...

Just a quick update so you won't be worried that some enterprising young zombie hunter has done me in.

Baby Hat # 2 (or 3? Who knows at this point) is at the halfway point (I think...). Should be able to wrap that one up by the end of the week. It will be similar to the baby hat I posted down below. Same yarn, but I'm doing a small version of Odessa since it is such a fun pattern to knit and the little girl that is getting it is rather stylish.

I also started on my thrummed mittens this week. (Right on time! Just like I planned! OMG!) The first mitt is moving along quite swimmingly! Worsted weight yarn and larger needles help it work up quickly. It's so Fluffy! and Squishy! It makes me wish I lived in some butt ass cold climate so I would have a reason to wear them. But alas it doesn't get so cold in Virginia. I'll have to knit some plain ol' mittens for myself. No smoosh for me!

I've recently been eyeing drop spindle kits on Etsy. I'd love to learn how to spin yarn, just to further my obsession a bit. But I'm making myself hold off for now as my knitting time is pretty limited between, work, homework, class and my boyfriend insisting on hanging out with friends every weekend. Maybe I'll buy one for myself closer to Christmas as a present to myself for getting all of my knitting presents done (or mostly done...or at least halfway done.)

And holy crap, I got nominated for some sort of blogger award. I will post on that soon, but gosh, way to make a total n00b feel good about herself!:)

Roving, thrumming, and cascade 220.

I got another package from the Loopy Ewe today. (yes, I know, I compulsively buy yarn) This yarn is destined for a specific project though (normally I just buy and figure out a pattern later). I've decided to make a pair of thrummed mittens for Kevin's Mom. What happened to the convertible mittens you ask? My ADD is what happened. That and I got scared at the idea of doing fingers. I figured she could use something that could keep her fingers nice and toasty while she's out walking on cold New England winter mornings. Kev said it would be different from what she already has so it would be a nice change of pace.

So I've got two cakes of Casecade 220. One in Alki beach and one in Persimmon. The Aliki beach looked a little more...beigey online. In person it is a little grayish but still works with the roving. The roving is Glenda the Good Witch from Perchance to Spin. It might be a bit nice for a thrummed mitten project, but I wanted pretty roving and I know nothing about buying it. I'm hoping to perhaps maybe find a lady at the LYS to spin it/teach me how to spin after I get my thrums just to get a taste of spinning. I haven't decided what color I'll do for Kevin's Mom yet. Probably the Persimmon, it is such a lovely color.

The sock is coming along nicely. I'm about halfway down the foot now, and my heel came together so much better this time around. I'm just dying to get it done but it's taking forever. I can only usually get about 10-12 rows knit a day. But I am working on a baby hat finally, so that is slowing me down a bit. I have a feeling it's going to be a bit big, but babies only get bigger so it'll grow into it eventually, right?