Half Square Triangles

I am really excited about a new project I've been working on. I'm quite enamored of half square triangle quilts, but I wanted something squishy and knit instead. SO. I pulled out some yarn and made some swatches, and finally came up with a construction method I was happy with. I've picked out some lovely colors for the real blanket, and I'm getting started!

When they're halfway done, they look a little like bunting. Especially when I do them two at a time! I was too lazy to get the other two colors out, so I did another two before finishing them all up, and this is what they look like when done.

Please excuse the strings, I'm too excited about the knitting part to have sewn in any ends yet. I haven't decided exactly what pattern to put them in yet, but I kinda like these little diamonds.

Or perhaps I can go with a pretty little chevron styling? I just noticed that the leftmost white square is reversed, oops!

So far I have 10 to play around with. I'm making a baby blanket size, so I'll need a total of 144. Looks like I I have some work ahead of me!

Barbara Walker Treasury Project

Over the past two months I've been making my way through a set of 9 dishcloths from Barbara Walker stitch patterns. I got to choose how many to cast on, and how long to knit. I also got to choose the edging myself. I have come up with 9 super neat washcloths!

The yellow and black one is specifically for Chatham, since I had to make it quite large for the pattern to show up. My favorite is the green and pink one, surprisingly. It's kind of difficult to look at, but something about the colors and the cute little pattern makes me love it.

Several of the patterns would make interesting borders or patterns within a larger project. A few are absolutely great for dishcloths. One (the purple and white one) is particularly NOT suited for a washcloth and I'm not sure what to do with it.

Somewhat related, I made a wee little scrubby to go with all of the dishcloths, and I think I might have to make some more. Perhaps in an orange...

...So it would be a goldfish!

Going Granny

I have a secret. I've been eyeing granny square blankets with envy lately. I've even added a book full of the squares to my Amazon wishlist. I even made a few little squares on the way home from apartment hunting in another city.

I made one in every color combination just to see what they would look like. I think it needs something more, though, so I threw in a teal.

I also think I'm going to add a light grey too. I almost feel like I might need a warm color too, just for variety's sake. Maybe a yellow. I haven't decided yet.

Weaving Success!

So I finished my scarf, and it looks fabulous. I warped it one night, and finished it by the next afternoon. I love knitting, but sometimes scarves get really boring. I'm currently convinced this is the perfect way to make scarves. Still lovely and yarn filled but gives me a quick break from knitting.

Pretty sure this shot would be the perfect artsy picture if I'd just straightened out the wrinkles. Alas, I'm the moron behind the camera and not someone better.

I also made a pair of baby booties from leftovers. I sewed them up the same way and didn't feel like taking it out, so then I made two more and sewed them up the other way. They cried out for embellishment, so I pulled out a crochet hook and tried two different edgings.

Personally, I like the bulkier ruffled edge better, but the smaller picot is cute too. I couldn't stop at just the booties since I still had partial skeins of both teal and white left.

So I made a hat. With the cutest freaking pom pom ever. I love this hat so much I don't want to give it away even though it's only toddler sized at best.

Bi Craftual

Tonight I broke out my little loom and warped an easy scarf. Since this is the very beginning, there's a bit of paper and waste yarn that you should definitely ignore at the bottom.

It's going pretty well. So much faster than knitting stitch by stitch, and exactly what I needed.

Hopefully my tension when I beat the threads will get more even. Right now it's okay, but they're not even enough. The ends are especially tricky to get right.

Batch O' Hats

I have another group of hats ready to go. This time they're headed to a local charity, Johnson County Christmas Bureau. JCCB serves more than 12,000 people every year, giving them access to coats, scarves, mittens, hats, personal care items, and other necessities. They're having a Christmas in July event that I'm going to try to attend. It is very close to when we move away and we haven't planned everything out yet, but if I have to miss it I will just have to drop them in a donation bin around town.

This time I used a pound of yarn, but wanted to break up the monotony, so I used some pretty blue leftovers to make a hat as well. Also going is a crocheted hat I found that I made a couple of years ago and have never worn. I thought it might like to find a home where its cute little stripes see the light of day every once in a while.

Self Striping Yarn is Supposed to Be Easy

I finished the first sock in my current pair. I had to rewind the ball upon reaching a knot to figure out where to start to maintain my striping pattern. Unfortunately, I discovered that there was a relatively short run before another knot, which started in a completely different place AND was running backwards. SO. I wound the whole thing into a new center pull ball, marking the color changes as I went. Turns out, there weren't enough stripe sequence repeats for me to make a matching pair of socks, so I had to just start at the outside of my new ball and work, hoping not to hit the point where I know I need to start my second sock for the cuffs to match (I didn't). I'm disappointed they won't match. On the other hand, I finished the first sock.

The second sock's cuff will (hopefully) be the same. The toe part will be different. I really love the pattern of these socks. It's subtle enough that it doesn't fight with the self striping, but interesting enough that it's not incredibly boring to knit.

Oh, and remember that cowl I mentioned casting on the other day? I finished it too.

I wasn't planning on using this color pattern, but I just so happened to use a scrap of the icy blue yarn as my provisional cast on. I liked it so much, I decided to use more of the blue leftovers for the edging. I was worried I'd run out, but it reached with just a few yards to spare. I love the dropped stitches and I kinda want to find more patterns that take advantage of them.