Any knitters out there?

[Octavia]

Jenmarie, I love the little jacket and the blanket is beautiful! I'm also working on an afghan (or throw?) but don't have any photos of it yet. They do take forever.

The pattern for the elephant sweater is called Ella Funt by Pamela Wynne-- it's available as a Ravelry download (not free though). It's super cute, I had never done stranded knitting before but I had a lot of fun making it.

 

[April20]

I'm working on the "slanting gretel" tee from the fall 2009 interweave knits for myself. It's in a cotton blend yarn that's silvery gray. It's been slow going due to my busy schedule. I'll try to post a progress oil later today.

Love the lace pattern on that shrug.,

 

[Octavia]

Ooh, April, I just looked up that pattern and it's really cute! Please post pictures of yours when you have a chance.

The lace on the shrug isn't actually part of the original pattern, which is just stockinette. I get really bored without some interesting design elements, though, so I added it. It's from the "Mountain View Cardigan" pattern by Connie Chang Chinchio (who is one of my favorite pattern designers). I made the regular design for my mom for mother's day but unfortunately didn't get any photos before I gave it to her. I really loved the lace so it was an easy decision to incorporate it here!

 

[April20]

I just re-read my post and the autocorrect on my iPad did a number on me! How the heck did it turn the word "pics" into "oil"??? Craziness I tell you. That and I was in a hurry typing.

I'm going to try to get a little done on the top tonight and get pics up tomorrow. I really like the pattern and it's knit in the round from bottom up, so no piecing it together when I finally get it done!! I've still got the "marigold" cardigan in pieces at home that I just haven't bothered to piece together and knit the button band and I finished the pieces LAST FALL. Bad, bad, bad.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Just finished a couple of ducks for another friend expecting twins.

 

[KatyWI]

OMG, PP, I wish you were MY friend! I can't even stand how cute those little animals are! I really need to learn to knit!!!

 

[noelwr]

April - I'm going to have to look up your little shop again and order more of the hats. I have worn the two you made for me to death, I love them so much.

AFM, I finished two projects as my brother's birthday is coming up soon. one is sew by numbers, but the other is knitted. he is paralyzed in one hand so it is cramped up into a fist and thus he doesn't need a thumb for his mitten and it doesn't need to be as long.

 

[April20]

April - I'm going to have to look up your little shop again and order more of the hats. I have worn the two you made for me to death, I love them so much.

AFM, I finished two projects as my brother's birthday is coming up soon. one is sew by numbers, but the other is knitted. he is paralyzed in one hand so it is cramped up into a fist and thus he doesn't need a thumb for his mitten and it doesn't need to be as long.

Ah, Noelwr, I had to close it for now! I'm in South Africa until December and I couldn't figure out how to make it work from here (otherwise known as I couldn't pack my knitting stash!). I could probably figure out how to do something outside of the shop if you want.

 

[noelwr]

April - where in SA are you? my DH is from Durban. OK, I will e-mail you.

 

[April20]

I'm in Krugersdorp- west of Joburg.

 

[April20]

After 4.5 months of lazy dazing it along, I've finally finished the Slanting Gretel Tee. And I'm only MEH about it. Everyone said it ran big, so I made it two sizes smaller. I was going for NO EASE and it has at least 2" of positive ease on each side. Oh well, what am I going to do? I may try to wash it in hot water and dry on high heat and see if it'll shrink.

Pics attached.

 

[VRBeauty]

April - I'm sorry your tee doesn't fit you to a tee (sorry about that, too!). What a disappointment after all that work! Your workmanship is just spectacular, by the way!

PumpkinPie - those duckies are just tooo cute!

Well, after a few years of warming up with little projects -- a couple of dozen pair of simple hand warmers and three or four dozen cotton pot holders -- I am finally knitting one of the bigger projects from my "droolworthy" list. I'm knitting the Lacy Batkus scarf (pattern on Ravelry) in a beautiful blue-green madelinetosh sock yarn. It's a simple pattern but oh-so-slow going for me! When I bought the yarn I got two skeins with the intent of using one to make the same scarf as a Christmas gift to a good friend. That may have to wait until next year! But I'm probably 2/3 of the way done with my scarf, and I can't wait to actually be using it. It's an elongated triangle - you start at one point, knit and increase regularly until you've used about half your yarn, and then start decreasing until you've completed the second point. I'm hoping I started the decreases in time to complete the second point!

 

[VRBeauty]

I just finished my third Batkus-type scarf!

I made the first for me with a luscious Madelinetosh sock yarn in Baltic (variegated blue-green). I intended to make the Lacy Batkus (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lacy-baktus) but accidentally included the four set-up rows in the repeat, so I ended up with a 12-row repeat instead of an 8-row. opps! But I love the finished scarf anyway and got lots of use out or it this winter.

The second was a true Lacy Batkus made for a friend in a Madelinetosh sock yarn in a faded purple colorway. I accidentally spilled some coffee on it while I was making in and decided to wait until I had finished the scarf to try to get it out - big mistake! I thought I had done a reasonable job on the stain until she unwrapped it (yup, it was a Christmas present!) in better lighting. So one of these days we'll be heading out to the area's nicest yarn store so she can pick out the yarn for her unstained Lacy Batkus! The stain is off to one side and really doesn't show with most wrappings, and I used all sorts of tricks to get it to barely noticeable... and I loved the scarf the one day took it out on a trial run before returning it to her!

The last is another I made for me. I spotted a great sock yarn in a yummy grey/charcoal/red combo in Tuesday Morning, of all places, and it was calling my name... probably because I was wearing my red parka at the time. I knit up the standard Batkus scarf http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baktus-scarf in record time (for me), but I'll still have to wait until next winter to really show it off!

This pattern is great for mindless knitting while watching TV, chatting with friends, etc. It's a good thing I like it so much, since the replacement gift I'll be making one of these days will make the four Batkuses (Batki?) in one year!.

 

[Octavia]

VRBeauty, thanks for bumping this thread! Please post pics of your projects when you have a chance. Sorry to hear about the coffee incident...it has always been one of my big fears to do something like that with one of my projects.

I have been pretty busy since I last posted here, let me try to attach some photos of recent projects:


Vitamin D sweater


Super cute baby pants


Shawl

 

[VRBeauty]

Octavia - what a coincidence - I was looking at the Vitamin D pattern just today! How do you like the finished sweater? Love those baby pants, by the way - they are soooo cute!

And that shawl is lovely, but... oh my goodness, that looks like a lot of work! I assumed you hand-knit it? Can I ask how long it took you?

 

[Octavia]

Octavia - what a coincidence - I was looking at the Vitamin D pattern just today! How do you like the finished sweater? Love those baby pants, by the way - they are soooo cute!

And that shawl is lovely, but... oh my goodness, that looks like a lot of work! I assumed you hand-knit it? Can I ask how long it took you?

Confession: I have actually made two Vitamin Ds and choosing the right yarn is crucial. The one I posted looks great -- I actually made it for a friend so I don't have photos of it being worn, but I tried it on before I gave it to her and really liked it. It's in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine. The second one, I made in Cascade Heritage Superwash because it was for another friend who is a new mommy and I wanted it to be easy care...mistake. It's not drapery enough and I can't get the garter stitch borders to lay properly no matter how hard I try. Needless to say, I haven't given it to my friend and will probably frog it.

The shawl is the Cambridge pattern by Carol Sunday and I love it! It was a ton of work, I think I started in mid-January and. Finished about a week ago. I was working on other projects at the same time, though. The reason it takes so long is that the ruffle is worked with short rows, so you knit back and forth on it twice before moving into the main part of the pattern...it's kind of ingenious construction but sometimes it feels like its never going to end. The result is totally worth it, though (and I actually started another one)!