FO Friday, Past and Present

How amazing is this?  I'm actually getting TWO blog posts done in a week!  Can I get a "Woo-Hoooo", somebody?

I'm actually a little surprised this is going so smoothly, especially on a Thursday which is "crazy day" for me right now.  I have an awesome yoga class for knitters in the morning, then I run errands that for whatever reason (like a library book being due) cannot wait till Friday, my usual errand day.  Added to that, I have a book study group on Thursday nights...and today, I'm baking for that group.  Did I really think I'd have time to write?  Um...no, not a chance.  But here I am!!

So, the plan here is I will feature my three oldest FOs from back when I seriously fell off the blog wagon, then my three most recent FOs till I'm caught up.  Only this week, there will be four most recent.  You'll see why. 

Pattern:  Olive Entrelac Neckwarmer (my original pattern)
Yarn:  Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in Moss
Needles : #6
Date Started:  August 14, 2010
Date Finished:  September 27, 2010
I bought this yarn for another project that didn't pan out.  When I started knitting that project (which I've now forgotten), the yarn screamed "CAMO!!!", and I frogged it.  A few days later, I wanted to do an entrelac project and grabbed the ball of "I'll Never Use It Cuz It Looks Like Camo" yarn just to practice the entrelac technique.  As I knit, I realized the yarn looked pretty darn snazzy in entrelac, so I worked up this little neckwarmer pattern.  I love wearing this.  I have several other colors of this yarn that will make equally beautiful entrelac neckwarmers.  And the buttons are amazing - wanna see a closeup???

 

Pattern:  Citron by Hilary Smith Callis
Yarn:  Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in 110 Jungle
Needles:  #10
Date Started:  April 9, 2010
Date Finished:  October 5, 2010
This is another project I started by just playing around with some yarn.  I'd made a Pretty Thing Cowl in Mini Mochi and had a little over one ball left.  I cast on with #8 needles and fell in love with the pattern.  It soon became obvious I'd need more yarn to finish, so I bought two more balls and knit along happily until disaster struck.  It was the end of September, and I was eleven rows from the end when I realized I would not have enough yarn to finish.  Nowhere near enough.  I tried ripping back a repeat or two, and it was then I realized the shawl felt heavy and too tightly knit on the #8 needles.  No shawly drape whatsoever.  I frogged it, went up to #10s, and cast on again.  This time, it felt perfect, and I finished it about a week later.  I worked one less pattern repeat than called for and made the ruffle half the width so I wouldn't run out of yarn.  I'm not pleased with the way the ruffle blocked out.  Maybe it would look better if it were the full length?  But I do enjoy tossing this very, very soft and warm little shawl around my neck when I get a chill.

Pattern:  Merope Shawl by Romi Hill
Yarn:  Malabrigo Sock in Rayon Vert
Needles:  #4
Date Started:  July 10, 2010
Date Finished:  October 14, 2010
I love my Merope.  What more can I say?  I loved knitting it, and I'm wearing it to death.  This is the second Romi shawl I've knit (my beloved Brandywine being the first).   Funny story:  When I got to the end of this shawl - you know, what you'd think was the fast and easy bind off row - I discovered there was this snazzy bind off that was going to take...um...a whole lot more time.  At first I was frustrated, then I got into the rhythm of the pattern and now, it's my favorite feature of this pattern.  I remember finishing this shawl (and doing that endless bind off) while I was watching the 33 Chilean miners being rescued and dabbing teardrops off of my new shawl.  Check out this bind off...it'll make you smile (sorry it's a little blurry).

 Pattern:  b18-21 Bonnet in rib in "Alpaca" by DROPS
Yarn:  Lion Brand Wool Ease Sportweight (sadly discontinued) in 107 Blue Bell
Needles:  #2 (16" circulars...hand cramps...ouch...)
Date Started:  January 25, 2011
Date Finished:  February 1, 2011
Yarn:  Plymouth Encore DK in Regal Red and Grayfrost Mix
Date Started:  February 5, 2011
Date Finished:  February 22, 2011
I'm still singing the praises of Julia from Yarn and Ivories for sending me the link to this fabulous baby bonnet pattern.  The bonnet is made in one piece and, if you can handle knitting on 16" #2 circs for longer than about 30 minutes, you can make one of these really quickly.  I can't and have to take breaks, so it took me longer.  If you look at the blue hat, you'll see the "helmet" effect I ended up with doing the crocheted edging.  When I looked at all the project pages, I saw that a lot of people had this same issue.  I think it looks kinda cute, but I didn't want the second one to look the same way, so I decided to do an inch of knitted ribbing around the face. 

Raechel and Jay went to school at Ohio State and are really into the "Scarlet and Gray" theme, so I decided to make a few items for Austin in those colors.  I didn't originally intend to do the charcoal gray trim on the second hat, but I could see I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish with that extra inch of ribbing around the face, so I did the trim in charcoal.  Even though I'm not into the whole team spirit thing with those colors, I do think it makes a very attractive hat for a very handsome young man.  And I think my Franklin Bear looks pretty good in it, too, don't you?

Pattern:  Baby Boy 5-Hour Sweater by Gail Bable
Yarn:  Plymouth Encore Worsted in 194 Medium Gray
Needles:  #9
Date Started:  February 3, 2011
Date Finished:  February 15, 2011
I LOVE this pattern!  Believe it or not, this is knit ENTIRELY in one piece.  There is no seaming anywhere, no breaking off and rejoining of yarn.  It is a masterpiece of knitting architecture.  Does it take five hours to knit?  I'm not sure.  It probably took me longer the first time because I kept reading the pattern and saying, "Really??????  If I really do this, it will look okay???"  This cardigan doesn't have a closure, which can be nice for babies, but I'm sure you could add a button band if you wanted to.  Now that the weather is starting to warm up and Austin is venturing out in the world, a sweater like this really comes in handy.  Raechel asked me to make him a few more, and I have the yarn to make several more - in fact, you saw the beginnings of the blue one just a couple days ago.  So far, I've knit 23 minutes on it...got a ways to go to fit the five-hour mark.

Pattern:  Ten Stitch Twist by Frankie Brown
Yarn:  James C. Brett Marble Chunky in MC03 Wild Field
Needles:  #10
Date Started:  June 11, 2010
Date Finished:  February 15, 2011
It's done.  Yay.  Am I happy with it?  No.  As you can see from the picture, it has all these ruffles.  I can't get it to lay flat.  It's also a little smaller than the 36" I wanted, but not significantly so.  I really did enjoy knitting this.  I think the yarn was a big factor in my enjoyment.  It might also be a big factor in why the rug won't lay flat  All in all, this "rug" for my room is really not so much a rug as a comfy place for Wilbur to snooze when I'm in there.  It's really his rug, and since he seems happy with it, I'm not bound to change it (though I think it would have turned out better if I'd used #11 or #13 needles).

So, there you have it - the three oldest and four newest.  One thing is for sure - I don't shy away from color, do I?  I'll be back on Monday with something probably totally unrelated to knitting.  Happy weekend!