dashing through the snow

Believe it or not, I've been knitting:



Finished: one pair of Dashing mitts! They haven't been out in the snow (see: corny title of this post), but that's not for lack of said precipitation. It's because these are not for me. They're a much belated thank you gift for a musician with whom I collaborated for my exit recital last month. Since then I revised my dissertation and had a baby...I think she'll understand.

Pattern: Dashing from Knitty (see link above)
Yarn: Berroco Jasper, 2 skeins
Needles: size 7 DPNs
Mods: none
Notes: I love this pattern. It was quick...well, actually, it took me a couple weeks from start to finish, but certain life events took priority...and it was fun and now I kinda want a pair for myself. The cables don't show up terribly well in this self-striping yarn, but the colors are so gorgeous I don't really mind.

In fact, making these mitts inspired me to design a pair that I knit up in about 3 days for a friend of mine, but I gave them to her before I had a chance to get pictures. Perhaps I'll do up another pair and write up the instructions and share them here. They're rill purdy.

This isn't a bit about knitting, but I think you'll understand

Look who just joined our family!



More details on Madtown Mama.

I should really learn to pay attention

I finished my second Koolhaas hat somewhere in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn't sleep. The first one I did is the heathery purple one on the right, and I liked it so much that I made a second (the bright red on the left) as a thank you gift for one of the musicians in my recital last month.



Now, I say I "liked" the first one because the pattern is really cool, but I noticed it didn't fit me so well. It was a little short. And I knew I had royally screwed up the decreases at the top because my stitch count was way off from the pattern. It wasn't my imagination:




That purple one is definitely shorter. The reason? I wasn't paying attention to the pattern repeats and left one out. The decreases are definitely wrong. Why is that? Because the first time I misinterpreted "k2tbl" to mean "Knit 2 together through back loop" rather than "Knit 2 consecutive stitches through back loop." Hence, I decreased way too many too soon, and the sad thing is, I didn't figure it out until 3:00 this morning when I was doing the decreases on the second hat. Fortunately, there are no flaws in the one I'm giving to someone else.

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Further evidence that my brain is misfiring a little:



The other day I got a few skeins of Berroco Jasper, a soft single-ply merino that self-stripes. This, too, is intended for a thank you gift (yes, I'm a little late with all these, but I'm hoping to get them sent by the winter break). I originally intended to make the zigzag scarf by Debbie Bliss (from Scarf Style), but somehow got distracted by Dashing (fingerless mitts from Knitty), and now I can't decide which I like better. Dashing will probably go faster, but not everyone is a fingerless mitts type person, so the scarf would be safer. I think I'll finish one mitt and then make up my mind. Thoughts, anyone?

Sorry about the bad lighting in the photos, by the way. The days are short and it snows every other day, so the sun is scarce.

Christmas stocking - miniature version

A friend in my informal knitting group has had a rough last few months. She's 70 but you'd never guess because she is usually just as energetic and spry as they come. However, she was ill for a little while and eventually needed surgery where they removed part of her colon, and the road to recovery is long, slow, and painful for her. She is homebound right now and is getting pretty stir-crazy. So, as her knitting friends, a few of us have set about helping her decorate her Christmas tree. This is my contribution:



It's a miniature Christmas stocking of my own design. I made it yesterday while Daniel was sleeping, which probably means no knitting today while I catch up on the paper revisions, but I don't regret it. Sometimes, a friend in need is more important.

Yarn: Dale of Norway Heilo in red and white, leftover bits in the stash
Needles: size 4 DPNs
Pattern: I just kind of made it up as I went along, but it's basically a generic sock, only tiny
New techniques learned: picot edging. I just googled "picot edge cast on" or something like that to find instructions.I've never tried it before, but I love it! And it was so easy! Except for when I had to knit the provisional cast-on along with the regular stitches, which was a huge pain on that tiny project, but at least I didn't screw it up too badly.

I hope she likes it.

Now, off to work on this blasted dissertation. Why is it that the last 1.5% seems to last forever? Surely it has nothing to do with the fact that I spend naptime putzing around knitting. Certainly not.