Gretel'd

Over the summer, in one of our many yarn buying bouts, I ordered some yarn to make Ysolda's Gretel. Finally, at the end of this term, I got around to casting it on. I started the project during my finals period which was actually a huge mistake -- all I wanted to do was knit on Gretel, not study. Once I got home, I finished it up. Sadly, it's my only completed project from the term. There was a mitten disaster, the completion of one sock, and one evening of half-hearted work on the vest. Clearly, one of my New Year's resolutions should be to knit more at school. But without further ado, here are the specs of my tweedy Gretel.

Pattern: Gretel by Ysolda Teague (and on ravelry)
Size: Regular Tam
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed in 09
Needles: Addis in sizes 6 (for ribbing) and 8 and Knit Picks Options in the same sizes for the smaller bits
Start date: 21 Nov 2008
Finish Date: 27 Nov 2008

I loved loved loved this yarn. I wish I had enough extra cash to buy enough of it for a sweater -- but that probably won't be happening anytime soon. It was really a pleasure to work with. I also thought the pattern was extremely clear. It was my first time knitting from a Ysolda pattern, but there are sooo many things of hers I want to make. Slouchy hats in general are just so fun to make (which I guess is why they're popping up everywhere), and even though I'm not sure if they look the best with shorter hair, I still think this hat is adorable and hopefully will get lots of wear out of it back in MN.

Gift knitting and further work on mitts happening this evening. Hopefully will have some more finished objects soon!

Back to your regularly scheduled knitting ...

So, some terms I'm better than others at keeping up with the blog than others, and this past one was obviously not one of them. It was a crazy term, and sadly, I got (of course) less knitting done than I anticipated.

But now I'm back at home until New Years, and Mom and I have been casting on non-stop. I have a serious cast on problem ... I love the excitement of the new project. So though I have at least one finished item to show off, and I know Mom has a few, for today, we'll just show off two new projects.

These are going to be little fingerless mitts (the cuff is worked flat then joined in the round -- this picture is from the day before yesterday, and we are now both done with the cuff). We're using this Daisy Mitts pattern and the called for Madelinetosh yarn in Bark and Ginsing (spelled all funnily). Can I take a moment to gush about the yarn? It is so so soft. And though when we were winding it up, there were quite a few knots/imperfections, the beauty of the colors and the softness of the yarn make up for it. We've had the yarn and pattern for awhile, and the urge to cast on struck Sunday night because, as we were working on our other newly begun project, our hands were freezing so we decided something had to be done.


Which brings me to our next project ... after I saw this a few months ago, I just could not stop thinking about it. I loved the garter, the noro ... and even though I don't wear kerchiefs, thought that it would be a very cute addition to my wardrobe. Right before I came home, Mom ordered the Noro Silk Garden sock as a little present to have when I came home, and we've both gotten a pretty good start on them. I don't know how big we'll make them ... I keep wanting to get to the next color in the Noro, so it may end up a bit bigger than the original. That's mine on the left, and Mom's on the right.

So after a long hiatus, knit two tog should be (hopefully) fairly active over the next month or so. We've got tons of knitting plans for my break (a box full of Peace Fleece arrived yesterday, and we are just waiting to get our hands on a copy of Knit.1 to make this sweater) so hopefully they'll be lots more to come. Stay tuned!

Say, it's our blogiversary...

I went outside today with the intention of doing a little knitting and maybe writing a little post on some socks I've been working on. When I opened up the old laptop and signed into Blogger, I thought to myself, you know, our blogiversary will be here soon, I wonder when. So I checked it out and, what do you know, it's today. So here's a disclaimer before we get started. This is not really a blogiversary-worthy post. It snuck up on Mom and me, caught us unawares, so maybe later this week we'll do something special. And for now, you can check out the socks I'm making.

These were supposed to be an anniversary gift for Alex. Our anniversary was exactly two weeks ago, and I had exactly one sock done for him that day. I started these a little before Ravelympics, and between trying to (unsuccessfully) get the vest done and not being able to work on them when he was around (which was a lot), the going was slow. Now that he knows about them, hopefully I can finish the second sock soon. Guys socks just take so much longer, and I keep getting distracted by other things (like impromptu scarf projects).

The pattern is for a garter rib sock from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. Not the most exciting thing, to be sure, but I think it looks nice, and it's a good mindless project. I also absolutely adore the yarn. It's Emily Parson's sock yarn, Sophie's Toes in the "Thanks, Dad" colorway. I am absolutely in love with it. The colors are just so gorgeous. In fact, my favorite part of the whole sock is the sole ... the yarn just looks so great in stockinette:

Isn't that just beautiful? I would like to get some more of this color and make myself a pair of plain stockinette socks in it. Mom and I both got some more of her yarn in her shop update last week, and I'm so excited to use it. Plus, I have some other lovely colors of Sophie's Toes sitting around, begging to be knit up. If you like sock knitting, you should definitely check out her yarn ... she has semi-solid stuff and variegated, and it's all just lovely.

Well that about covers things I think. Mom and I had gathered some serious steam working on the back of Dr. G's, but hit a snafu which resulted in ripping back down to the body. Maybe we'll be able to finally get them finished up this weekend....

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and is enjoying the four day week! Happy knitting!