Monday, November 17, 2008

A Trove of Finished Treasures

I've been busy knitting, though based on my recent posts you'd never know it. I attended a baby shower this weekend (not for me), and felt that it was only appropriate to give the mother-to-be something made by my own two hands.

Ladies, Gentlemen, and Babies, I present to you the Nikau Hoodie (Ravelry link):


Nikau Hoodie by Justine Turner
Yarn: Dream in Color, Smooshy, colorway Black Parade (this photo is fairly true to my dye lot, though dye lots vary greatly)
Needles: US 2 and 3
Size: 12 month

It was a huge success at the shower, especially paired with a white thermal onesie and denim overalls. Knitting-wise, the pattern was worded a bit oddly here and there, and there are a few adjustments I'd make in the future to streamline the process, but over all, very cute! Also, I think a lighter colored yarn would show off the cable motif better, but I like the somewhat adult colorway for a baby knit. Baby blue is so overrated! ;)

I spent the last two weeks working feverishly on this and nothing else. Once it was finished on Friday, I couldn't wait to get my hands on ANYTHING ELSE! So first I finished this:



This one was a LOOONG time coming. I started it back in April... Oops. But now it is finished. I think if I were to do it over again, I'd use a slightly heavier sock yarn with a little more squish to it. This one, a Lisa Souza yarn that I can't identify anymore, rendered a very lacy, beautiful shawl-like outcome, but it doesn't have the squishy coziness that is so nice for a scarf... So while it's not quite an ideal match of pattern and yarn, it did come out so nicely. I'm really glad, too, to have it off the back burner and off my back.

Once that was done, I tackled the great layout challenge of 2008:

This was the most effective option I could come up with, and I have to say, I'm quite pleased. So far the upped and lower right quadrants are seamed up. I've been able to do the seaming, which goes quite quickly, actually, with about 95% pre-existing ends from the squares themselves. Only in a few spots have I had to dig up some of the leftovers to close up little isolated areas. Pretty good so far. I can't wait until it's all finished so that Senor, Zuul and I can cuddle up on a cool winter evening... if we ever get one! What is with this 87 degree weather in mid-November?! I hope that the weather and the brush fires cool down soon. Southern California is definitely baked enough, and much of it, too much! Hang in there People of the Ash and Smoke-- winter must be a-comin'!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We live in Mordor.