Tag FO Friday

FO 2013 — Year End Wrap-Up

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It’s officially New Year’s Eve!  In the spirit of tidying up loose ends, here are all the projects that I’ve finished in the last few weeks. Because there are so many, I’ll keep my comments pithy — click through to Ravelry for pattern and yarn details.

Mariposa Peacock

Great pattern! Had some trouble with the yarn hemorrhaging dye during the pre-block soak, but managed to control it with help from Kate.

Mystery Mare

This M-KAL was great fun! The finished shawl is HUGE and heavy from all the beads — totally fabulous.

Dancing Fringe

I’m sorry to say the purple yarn bled dye and now I have purple socks with PINK faux fringe. I’m glad I have one good picture beforehand!  Note to self: take your own advice re: dye fast testing when combining saturated colors with white yarn. Sigh.

MIL Clapotis

I finished this Christmas gift in plenty of time. My MIL wrapped it around her neck immediately, and wore it home.

Iris Stucco

High-contrast yarn needs just the right pattern — I’m pleased with how this came out.

Awesome Handspun

Finished this cup-cozy today! Love how the overall twisted-stitch pattern makes a plush fabric from my silky-merino handspun yarn.

Rosewood Gingerbread Dorothy

This was a toy M-KAL — the finishing left to the knitter’s imagination. I went for a “Dorothy from Oz” look, with some success.  I couldn’t get the gingham to work, however, so I’m not 100% satisfied.

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FO Friday: Ashton Sweet Pea

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I fear I am becoming a bit of a fingering-weight shawlette whore …

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Project: Ashton Sweet Pea

Pattern: Ashton Shawlette

Designer: Dee O’Keefe

Available: FREE! on Ravelry

Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight in Sweet Pea

I had this ball of STR saved from May 2010.  I tried (and failed) to make the club sock that month.  The yarn seemed boring and lackluster, too pale.  But, oh how this “spirit” colorway shines in a mostly-stockinette shawl!  Ashton is a great pattern in it’s own right, but the designer makes it even better by intentionally making it accessible to the beginner lace knitter.  A thoughtful step-by-step process leads a novice lace knitter through the  process of reading charts to make a traditional top-down triangular lace shawl.  I have, in fact, already recommended this pattern to a friend and a knitting student. I did do one repeat less than the pattern called for, because I knew I was working with a smallish skein.  I ended up with 6g left after the bind off.  Success!

FO Friday: Wicked Abstract

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I finished this a while ago, yet all I can say when I think of it is, “oh, cashmere!”

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Project: Wicked Abstract

Pattern: Abstract

Designer: Tonia Barry

Available: $6 download from CEY’s website

Yarn: CEY Wicked

Abstract is a shawlette worked tip-to-tip, punctuated by cable rows.  After the body is finished, the ruffle is picked up from the long curved edge and worked in the same cable pattern.  I thought it was the perfect vehicle for my windfall cashmere. Let me tell you, cashmere is amazing to knit with, an experience bested only by wearing the FO around your neck!  I used up every single last bit (well, almost).  I try steam-blocking the ruffle, but it didn’t really set — I’m actually happy with the curl, so I may never block it properly.  (Don’t tell the knitting police!)
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FO Friday: Diantha Aurora

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May I present, Diantha Aurora:

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Project: Diantha Aurora

Pattern: Diantha

Designer: Susanna IC

Available: $6 on Ravelry

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Dusky Aurora

I made this shawl via the designers mystery KAL — it was super fun!  Susanna did a great job balancing the “clues” so that each portion of the design took similar amounts of time to knit. This crescent-shaped shawl is knit from the border up, and is adorned with both nupps and beads.  The only mod I made was using a crochet cast-on for the bottom edge.  I think it blocked beautifully!

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FO Friday: Minotaur Obsession

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This week, I offer you another “finished it a while ago” project.  I am wearing it right now, so I thought — hey, I haven’t show this to anyone yet! Better take care of it.  In contrast to last week’s epic blanket, this cowl only took 5 days from CO to BO.  Whee! Quick projects are awesome.

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Project: Minotaur Obsession

Pattern: Minotaur Cowl

Designer: Rachel Henry

Available: FREE! on Ravelry

Yarn: CEY Obsession

I had exactly one ball of this interesting (but discontinued) yarn.  It’s a bulky-weight cashmere, made up of 8 different skinny strands, each a different color.  I was a pleasure to work with — I mean, cashmere, right?  I made a tight-fitting mobius cowl using my own design.  Minotaur starts with a foundation strip (knit flat in garter stitch) that is twisted and seamed to form the base of the mobius.  From there stitches are picked up along the single mobius edge, and the remainder of the cowl is knit mobiusly.

This construction allowed me to get exactly the right fit, because the foundation strip is easy to measure as it is knit.  It also allowed me to use up every last scrap of this extra-luxurious fiber, because I just kept knitting in pattern until it was all gone.

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FO Friday: Yggdrasil in Blue

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I finished this about a month ago, but I think it slid directly off my needles onto my lap. My Yggrasil lap blanket is so warm and cozy!

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Project: Yggrasil in Blue

Pattern: Yggdrasil Afghan

Designer: Lisa Jacobs

Available: FREE! at Interweave Knits

Yarn: Knit Picks  City Tweed HW in Dungarees

You might remember this blanket from my “Finish it or Frog it!” post back in January. I’d already made some progress then, because it was my “neglected project KAL” target for January.  I won’t say it was “easy” to finish, not exactly, but I did eventually get into the rhythm of the border cables.  I do not think I will ever do this pattern again, and although I admire the finished full-size Yggdrasil Afghans out there, I have reason to doubt the sanity of those who accomplish such a gargantuan knitting feat.

The pattern itself is well-written and clear. Plenty of good charts.  I think this might have been my first knitted-on border, back in the day.  I also have a niggling feeling I may have grabbed the wrong size needle when I re-booted this project … the “old” border (right edge, upper right corner) looks a wee bit tighter than the rest.  However, this is invisible when I’m using it, so I am doing my best to let the slight difference go. I am definitely not going back and fixing it, ooooh no.

I continue to love, love, love City Tweed.  What a wonderful soft yarn with gorgeous colors, and it shows cabling so nicely! And it’s so warm and cozy!

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FO Friday: Shoreward Socks

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I finished these socks a few weeks ago.  I’ve been wearing them LOTS — so I guess it’s about time I FO-Friday-ed them.  “Shoreward” was one of two patterns from the September shipment of the Rockin’ Sock Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.

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Project: Shoreward Socks

Pattern: Shoreward Socks

Designer: Sivia Harding

Available: sometime after September 2012 

Yarn: Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Drop Dead Gorgeous

The pattern doesn’t photograph easily — you’ll have to trust me when I say how pretty the twisted stitches and curved recurves are.  The construction is fairly traditional toe-up style, with a nice heel flap. I love how she makes sure the leg pattern lines up, no matter where you started the gusset etc. The waffle-ish pattern on the instep and leg front make these socks a little heavy/bulky, but also super warm and squishy.  It’s a trade-off I’m willing to make.

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Best of all (from my point of view) is the yarn — the colorway is, as advertised, Drop Dead Gorgeous.  I mean, look at this stuff!

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The first time I saw it, I thought ZOMBIE! 🙂

 

FO Friday: C-ATCH William

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As promised, here’s William!

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Or, as he will now officially titled:

C-ATCH Hawkhaven Sweet William O’Mine

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Project: C-ATCH William

Pattern: Scottish Terrier

Designer: Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir

Available: in Knit Your Own Dog (currently $10.17 on Amazon!)

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in …. mmmm… a heathered black, a ruddy brown, and a true red (my labels have come off)

William is a present for my friend Julie, who is a fellow dog-agility competitor.  The real-life William was up for a big title last weekend: he needed one more qualifying run (“Q”) in Jackpot to earn his C-ATCH.  This title represents 40 Q’s in seven different classes, all at Level 5 of difficulty.  It’s a big deal for us agility heads! 🙂  I decided on the spur of the moment to channel some castonitis into making a cute little dog for her.  I knit for about 10 hours on Friday and Saturday, and finished!  I showed a few people, but decided not to tell her until after the Jackpot run … it was a tricky run, a non-traditional Jackpot with complex rules for gathering points.  Julie planned a conservative path, getting exactly the 44 points needed to Q.  Everyone cheered and cheered!

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This is my second “Knit Your Own Dog” project — I made a Border Collie a while ago. I found the pattern to be similar in many ways, but tailored to the breed.  He really looks like a proper little Scottie!  The legs are knit flat, then joining via some cast-on stitches to make a left and right body.  The neck and tail are worked from held body stitches.  The head does use those crazy PULT short-rows that have stymied more than a few knitters!  I’m especially proud of the tail — Julie said it was very close to correct to breed standard!  She also said the wild beard on the knit-Scottie was perfect because William’s beard is always looks like he’s been partying it up.

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Congrats Julie and William! 🙂

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FO Friday: Happy Green Fylleryd

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I finished my Fylleryd!

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Project: Happy Green Fylleryd

Pattern: Fylleryd

Designer: Mia Rinde

Available: FREE! on Ravelry

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Happy Forest

I knit this fingering-weight shawlette as part of the January KAL in the Beginner Lace Knitters group on Ravelry. I keep tabs on each month’s KAL, and when I can — I join in! This is my first “nupps” project (I’m not counting my WIP Aeolian, because I haven’t gotten to the nupps yet), so I was extra excited to try something new.  I’m pleased with how the nupps came out — and they weren’t that hard (people make things sound so difficult sometimes!).

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I’m also extra excited, because this is some of the yarn I liberated in my January frogging festival.  I am SO MUCH more happy with this new project — I will definitely be wearing my Happy Green Fylleryd, lots.  Because I only had one skein, I had to be conservative … I did two repeats of the leaf chart, then three repeats of the blueberry chart.  Judicious math and careful thought revealed I would not have enough for the edge, so I went back a few rows and made it TWO repeats of the blueberry chart, then the edge, then I added a crochet-lace cast-off (similar to how I finished the bottom edge of Red Seas).

As an aside, three cheers for my willing & adorable model!  The shawl looks huge on a six year old :).

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I made my nupps the old-fashioned way: k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1 into one st on the right side, then purl all seven together on the returning wrong-side row.  I made a special effort to make the loops LOOSE because that seems to be key … it definitely worked for me.

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FO Friday: Sea Drift Toque

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For Christmas, my in-laws gave me a copy of Weekend Hats. Swoon!  I cast on and finished this sweet little hat in less than a week — I found the pattern absolutely addictive. My middlest son was kind enough to model for me … but I think this hat will be for ME, thank you very much :).

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Project: Sea Drift Toque

Pattern: Drift Toque

Designer: Jocelyn Tunney

Available: in Weekend Hats ($15.30 on Amazon.com)

Yarn: Happy Feet DK in #52

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This hat has a really cool construction!  It’s worked sideways from a provisional cast on.  The cables sidle back and forth using increases and decreases (hidden by the reverse stockinette), and the crown shaping is accomplished with short rows.  I’m great at hiding short rows on the stockinette side — looks like I could use some practice hiding them on reverse stockinette too. At the end, the large graft is a bit of a bug-a-boo, but totally do-able.  I only had to undo stitches once, and that was only 10 or so.

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