Mookie Moo

This pattern is so fun to make and not as hard as it looks. I picked up the pattern at Twisted in Portland, OR a couple months ago, but just started it a couple weeks ago. At first I was so confused how to do the dropped-stitch knitting, but found this visual explanation (warning: seizure-inducing website design): http://www.learntoknitcalgary.ca/articles/CYCA-22.htm

I can’t wait to make lots of things with this bubble wrap pattern!

This is my first hat with a foam insert. If I just keep my head turned a little bit it doesn’t look so bad. But head on, it’s a little wonky. I followed this Two Way Beanie pattern on ravelry.com

This sweater started in Boston and ended in San Francisco. It’s my first baby sweater and is for an expecting friend of mine in Colorado. The yarn is the Organic Simply Cotton yarn from KnitPicks. The pattern is free from f.pea

I’m about halfway through my first sweater. This is a pattern by Zephyr Style. It’s a great pattern for a first sweater, because it’s fast and not too monotonous. The woman who sold it to me at Twisted in Portland, OR, told me that the sizes ran big, so I knit a size small. The measurements matched up, I even knit a swatch this time to make sure my gauge was right – all this and it looks like it will barely fit a petit 5-year-old. My other disappointment is with the change in yarn colors – I guess that’s a risk of working with hand-dyed yarn, but now there’s a big line running through the middle of my chest. I’m not giving up. Going to see it through to the end, maybe it’ll all work out. But I’m starting to worry that this will another one for the bottom of the knitting basket. Pillow filling?

I love this yarn – so many shades of brown. This is from Blue Moon, hand-dyed 100% merino. I tried to get away with not having double-pointed needles in the size I needed and knit it flat on straight needles, which led to a messy seam up the outer edge. Need to learn how to do nicer seams.

Wouldn’t it be cool if hyper-color yarn existed? Maybe it does. But this is not it. This yarn is from Koigu Wool Designs, 100% merino in Painter’s Palette Premium, a gift from MacGregor’s mom. She gave me this yarn last Christmas (2007) and I finally managed to whip up some socks (maybe ‘whip up’ is not quite the right expression there) in time for her visit to the Northeast this November. I think they’re very fun to look at, but I still haven’t figured out how to make wearable socks. So far ALL the socks I’ve knitted (2 pair) have had the elasticity of a tired rubber band.

I just knit this cowl neck scarfy-thing (by f.pea) and have found that it’s very versatile. See picasa album:

Versatile Turtleneck 10/17/08 3:28 PM

Sole reader of my blog. Soul reader of Mookie Moo.

Even though I have not posted in 132 days, it does not mean that I have not been crafty. Actually quite the contrary. It’s been a very crafty winter and spring. My fingers have been tied up in this lace scarf that only took me 4 months to complete. And even though it’s too warm for scarves now, I’m proud that I finished it. I can’t say it’s something I would actually wear. Chances are it will disappear into the bottom of a box at the back of a storage unit somewhere. Perhaps someday my great-niece’s grand step-child will pull it from a dusty old trunk and use it to wipe up an orange juice spill. But at least it’s finished. Dharma’s making a black one.

 

Just finished this hat, it’s not so hot. Maybe if I had dreads or more of a cone head it would work out. But I think it will be making its way to the costume box. If anyone else feels like looking like an astronaut, you can follow this pattern here, but I recommend messing up the gauge so it’s poofy and two sizes too big.

During Christmas, my boyfriend’s mom taught me the sock pattern she’s been using to make socks for the past who-knows-how-many years. I, of course, immediately botched the pattern by casting on too many stitches–which created socks that look like they were made for club-feet. But, regardless of their bunchiness, I gave them to my mom, who still appreciates anything I make. Who knows if she’ll wear them, but she still oooo’ed and ahhhhh’ed over them, just like she did when I was in kindergarten and brought home a crayon tracing of my hand. Hang in there, mom. The socks will get better, just as the hand tracings got better. See?