Category Finished Object Friday

FO Friday: Winter Track Mitts for Seth

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I made some mitts!

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Project: Winter Track Mitts

Pattern: Fried Chicken Mittens (modified)

Designer: Ellen Mason

Available: FREE on Ravelry

Yarn: Longmeadow Farm 100% Merino Wool

The Fried Chicken Mittens pattern is one of my favorites.  The mittens fit great, and the pattern is quick and easy to followp So, when my eldest son asked for a pair of warm mittens for outdoor track practice this winter, I knew exactly which pattern I’d use.  Yarn choice was fraught — he wanted “dark blue or dark grey” with little or no color variation.   I showed him some tweedy blue from my stash, and he wanted to know what “all those white flecks” were for :). No go on the tweedy blue. Fortunately, I found the perfect skein of plush worsted merino at NEFF:

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I was a little afraid it would be TOO heathered for his delicate sensibilities, but lucky for me — he gave the subtle colorway the official teenage thumbs up. Since he had originally asked for mittens, I started making mittens.  About halfway through the palm I did a fitting, and he asked if I could “stop making them before the fingers closed.”  After a quick conversation I realized he was asking for fingerless mitts, so that’s what I made.

He liked them so much, he let me take a picture or two!

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FO Friday: Morticia Raven

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I made a Boo Knits shawl!

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Project: Mortica Raven

Pattern: Morticia

Designer: Boo Knits

Available: £4.00 GBP on Ravelry

Yarn: A Hundred Ravens Alfar in “Smoke”

Beads: A:  Miyuki Triangle Seed Bead 8/0 Metallic Gunmetal from Auracrystals.com MY-TR08-0451; B:  Miyuki Round Seed Bead 8/0 Transparent Crystal AB from Auracrystals.com MY-08-0250

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I think this kind of lace speaks for itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this Mystery KAL.  I managed to keep up, which is saying something!  “Morticia” is just plain beautiful — a totally fun and challenging knit.  I loved ALL the beading. I thought I might die from the final cast-off … took me the better part of two solid evenings … but I did finish, and it was completely worth the effort.

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FO Friday: Blue Yonder Lambton

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I finished a sweater (top?) for me!

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Project: Blue Yonder Lambton

Pattern: Lambton Top

Designer: Theressa Silver

Available: in  Jane Austen Knits 2011  or $5.50 in the IP Store (for the single pattern)

Yarn: Knit Picks Shadow Tonal in Blue Yonder

This pattern was written for color-matched laceweight and fingering yarn. I opted to use Shadow Tonal — single-stranded for the laceweight ruching, and double-stranded for the fingering portions.  This worked out really well, and made it extra easy to do the ruching increases. The row before the increases is double-stranded, so for the increase row I knit one stitch into each individual loop to double the stitch count.

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I made substantial modifications in two areas.  The first is the neckline.  I knew when I began knitting that many people felt the neckline as-written was too big, especially in the larger sizes. I decided to make it as written anyway, knowing it would be relatively easy to go back and add extra rows of ruching at the neck by picking up stitches from the cast-on edge and working upwards with decreases at the corners.  Here’s a WIP picture of the neckline as written:

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When the garment was finished, the neckline was indeed to broad for my liking.  The puffed sleeves pulled the shoulders off, and the corners of the square neckline showed my bra WAY too much.  I followed my plan, and did two extra batches of ruching at the top — it looks weird when flat, but fits me well.

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I also modded the bottom hem — instead of garter stitch, I used this pretty little lace edging. I also did a seven-stitch repeat of the slipped stitches in order to make everything work.

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FO Friday, I mean Wednesday: Fall in Alexandria

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Seriously? It doesn’t get much more fabulous than this:

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Project: Fall in Alexandria

Pattern: Alexandra Shawl

Designer: Dee O’Keefe

Available: $6 on Ravelry

Yarn: hand-dyed gradient yarn from A Hundred Ravens

I told you all about making the gradient yarn for this fabulous shawl.  The pattern worked out PERFECTLY — I really respect and admire Dee’s pattern writing style and design skills.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking on this one!

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FO Friday: Pansy Prairie

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I (finally) finished my Eden Prairie shawl!

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Project: Pansy Prairie

Pattern: Eden Prairie

Designer: Nancy Whitman

Available: $7 on Ravelry

Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Alpaca Sox in Charcoal, Oatmeal, Wren, and Pansy

I instigated a KAL in my knitting group earlier this year … and I think I may be the last to finish?  I put this aside for far too long, and I’m so glad I came back and finished! It was really fun to choose colors for this project.  My advice is to start with the “pop” color in the center, and work from there.  Alpaca Sox was delicious to work with and is fabulous to wear.

FO Friday: Mecha Hope

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Hmmm, well this was fun!

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Project: Mecha Hope

Pattern: Hester’s Hope Shawl

Designer: Jennifer Mauser

Available: in What (Else) Would Madame deFarge Knit? — $16.95 for 28 awesome patterns, plus interesting essays too!

Yarn: Malabrigo  Mecha in “875 Arapey”

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This was a fun, quick knit — big needles, big yarn, and fairly straight-forward pattern.  I do really love the “Madame deFarge” series of pattern books.
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FO Friday: Malachite Lorelei

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I finished a cowl!

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Project: Malachite Lorelei

Pattern: Lorelei

Designer: Sivia Harding

Available: $6 as a single pattern, or $26 for the 7-pattern collection

Yarn: The Fibre Company Road to China Light in “Malachite”

Beads: 6/0 Czech round seed beads; dark bronze with some kind of opaque rainbow finish

Another great cowl from Sivia Harding! I am very glad that I bought the whole collection :).  This one starts as a mobius, and transitions to a round cowl (much like another of her designs, Harmonia’s Rings, but on a smaller scale).  I took the opportunity to work with Road to China Light for the first time … um, wow.  Now this is a yarn I’ve been petting and visiting at the shop for quite some time — it is so, so, so soft, with gorgeous undulating tonal hues.  But the alpaca/silk/camel/cashmere combo means that it is wicked warm and felts if you look at it funny.

Just as an example, I wound both skeins into cakes at the same time.  The 2nd cake rolled around in my project bag for about a month while I worked through the first cake.  The strands of yarn on the outside of the 2nd cake were felted to each other, just from this mild agitation. This isn’t a yarn I could use for a garment — it would surely condense into rigid felt at the mere thought of sweaty armpits.  But for a cowl — it is delightful! Perfect!

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FO Friday: Sunsuit for Gwen

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This Friday’s finished object is a baby gift!  I didn’t finish before Gwen was born, but I did finish before the heat hit.

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Project: Sunsuit for Gwen

Pattern: Susan’s Sunsuit

Designer: Rachel Henry

Available: someday, in Fresh Designs KIDS

Yarn: Eden Cottage Yarns tempo 4ply

What more can I say about this pattern?  It’s become my go-to baby gift for friends expecting girls.  The prototype went to the eponymous Susan, and I made one for Lillian too.  Let’s not forget the sample for Fresh Designs!   This one is purple, like the sample, but using different yarn.

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