This is a cabled scarf I made for a friend last Christmas.

It honestly looks terrible in these pictures, but I had to take them quickly in bad lighting, so please just believe me that it actually looks nice in person.

It was the first cabled project I embarked on, so naturally after I finished the first set of cables I ran around the dorm showing people my awesome new skill. Cabling was something that I avoided learning for a while because I thought it would be hard, but youtube showed me how easy it really was.

This is also the first piece that I tried blocking with, and it actually made it much nicer, plus the edges didn't curl up as much.

Pattern:
Cast on 30 stitches on 5.5 mm needles
Row 1: K2, P2, K6, P2, K6, P2, K6, P2, K2
Row 2: K4, P6, K2, P6, K2, P6, K4
Rep rows 1 and 2 until scarf is desired length, doing a cable row every 8th row
Bind off
Weave ends in

Stuffed Kitty

This is the first stuffed animal I ever made.

I made up the pattern as I went along, so its a little messy looking. Plus the eyes are pretty creepy.

I put wire in the tail so you can bend it, although it just looks sort of mangled here.

High Fashion Knitting Part II

After Eva's last post on high fashion knitting,
I thought I needed to return to the topic and disprove the statement that "it usually doesn't work"
because, on the contrary, it usually does work.
In fact most of my favorite stuff happens to be focused on knitting.
(although I may be the wrong person to ask because I kind of liked the picture she posted)
Anyway, here it goes, some of the best knitted work of the recent past:

Giles Fall 2007 RTW (style.com)

Rodarte Fall 2008 RTW (Style.com)

 Missoni Fall 2009 RTW (Style.com)

HIGH FASHION KNITTING

I found this amongst the interwebs today.

Meh what? This is one of those things where I can't quite decide if its interesting and edgy or just a little odd. But I do have a soft spot for when people try to take knitting into the fashion world in a serious way, it usually doesn't work, but I still like it.

On a different note, Molly and a couple other dormies and I were discussing funny words that people use to describe things (clothing in particular) that sound like a compliment but really aren't.

Such as:

"different"

"interesting"

"new"

"fun"

Alright, back to working on my next sweater, um I mean reading Cicero. Sure. Cicero.

Another Cabled Slouch

I finished my fourth cabled slouch.

The textures of the yarn turned out a little funny on this one, but I still like it.

Thank you for modeling for me Caroline :)

This is going to be a birthday gift for a friend.

Pattern:

http://knittybutton.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/lemon-curd-slouch/

For this one, I cast on with 48 stitches, then did two rows of K1, M1 after the ribbing, so I ended up with 135 stitches (48 + 24 = 72, then 72 + 36 = 108) when I started cabling. This didn't turn out badly, but I do prefer the fit on the red one I made, where I cast on 60 stitches, its just a little slouchier.

Once again, I used 5.5 mm double sided and circular needles.

Yarn:

1 skein Red Heart Boutique, Changes in Amethyst

Multi-colored Beret

This is a simple beret/slouch I made a little bit ago.

I bought the yarn over winter break and tried out a few patterns before I decided on this one. Once again, I needed to remember that colorful and textured yarn does not look good in a complicated pattern. I tried some odd faux cable pattern first, but it came out looking rather crappy, so I just went with a simple stockinette.

Pattern:

Cast on 48 stitches on 5.5 mm circular or double sided needles

Row 1: K, P rep til end

Work row 1 7 times or until the rim is as long as you like

Row 9: K1, M1 rep til end

Row 10: K1, M1 rep til endRow 11: K rep til end

Work row 11 for 25(ish) cm

Decrease row 1: K rep 7 times, then ssk the 8th and 9th stitch, rep til end (12 times total)

Decrease row 2: K rep 6 times, then ssk the 7th and 8th stitch, rep til end

Continue this method of decreasing until you are left with 12 stitches

Cut the yarn, leaving a long tail

Thread tail through remaining stitches, pull tight

Weave in ends

Yarn:

Lion Brand Homespun Yarn in Fiesta

Seed Stitch Beret

I finally made a seed stitch slouch, which is something I'd been wanting to do for a while.

This is Alanna, another dormie :)

It was really simple, except for the decrease. Maintaining the pattern while decreasing proved harder than expected, but I did some research and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Pattern:

Cast on 52 stitches on 5.5 mm double sided or circular needles

Row 1: K, P rep til end

Work row 1 4 more times or until the rim is as long as you like

Row 6: K1, M1 rep til end (78 stitches)Row 7: K1, M1 rep til last two stitches, K, K (117 stitches)

Row 10: K, P rep til end

Row 11: P, K rep til end

Work these two rows for 17 cm or however long as you like

End on a P, K rowDecrease row 1: K, P, K, P, K, P, K, P, K, P2tog, K2tog rep til end of row

Decrease row 2: P, K, P, K, P, K, P, K2tog, P2tog rep til end of row

Continue decreasing like this until there are 9 stitches remaining

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail

Thread yarn through remaining stitches, pull tight

Weave ends in

Yarn:

Caron Simply Soft Yarn in Celestial

Eva

After taking more photos in hats for Eva

I realized that, while you guys have seen me, you have never seen her

and that's such a shame

because she's so very pretty

so for this post I'm sharing her face with the world

because I feel selfish keeping it all to myself 

that's her there in the front (with the arguably blond hair)

Jewelry from home

These are things I made over the past year or two. 

I've made loads more stuff, these are just the ones I brought to school/haven't given away as gifts. Jewelry was definitely my craft obsession before I got into knitting. I do miss it.

Oh you know, drama

Two weeks ago most people were having a rough week, and I was lucky enough to have that extend into last week too.

During the height of said roughness, this song sort of became my anthem:

At one point, I was blasting it in the common room whilst singing along and commenting about how she "sees into my soul."

Yeah, its been a rough couple of weeks.

Ribbed beanie

I made this about a month ago around the beginning of the new semester.

Molly is such a trooper, modeling for me and whatnot.

When I got the yarn, I had just learned how to make bobbles, so the first pattern I tried involved alternating bobbles and it turned into an awful mess. One thing I've learned about knitting: complicated patterns rarely look nice on interesting yarn. So I just did a simple ribbing pattern.

This is the first hat that I've used a ssk decrease pattern rather than a k2tog. I like the way it turned out.

Pattern:

Cast on 72 stitches

Row 1: K, P rep til end of row

Work row 1 til the hat measures about () (or until it is as tall as you like)

Knit 6 stitches, then ssk the next two

Knited 5 stitches, then ssk

Repeat til you have 9 stitches remaining

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail and thread through remaining stitches

Weave in ends

SHOES

Every once and a while, well a short while, I want new shoes

and after my last two impulse buys

because who can live without 5" platform lace-up ankle-boots

and even though these weren't quite right for my prom dress, they could be more than right for anything else.

I figured that those were my last for a while (especially since moving out, I've realized that there are some items that you really can't avoid purchasing or laundry that you just can't avoid doing)

we'll do some simple math here:

Molly's Money - Real Life necessities (and paranoia about her bank account going any lower than a certain amount) = No impulsive shoe buying (kind of) 

But, I can dream and so here is my (reasonably affordable because I will not even pretend with outlandishly expensive) shoe wish list

Here's hoping these will be on my feet this summer!

(Love)

I made this the other day.

I think its awfully sweet, although the back isn't too nice looking.

Pattern:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnV262Egucw

We have a pool in the common room as of about a week ago, as well as a whale friend. Its been good for paper writing/cuddle puddling.

It will probably be the site of some fun times this evening. We've all had a rough week, so I'm sure tonight will be full of love and silliness.

Snow and sweet treats

Molly made red velvet cupcakes the other night.

ohmygodsotastymehyums

I love how often people in our dorm bake. Last night I got someone to make me cookies after I complained for about a half an hour, which is a prime example of how I am going to be a dysfunctional adult.

It snowed for real last week.

It was enough for snowball fights and snowmen and all.

In some less fortunate news, I finished my sweater and it is hilariously unattractive. I'll photograph it soon so I can prove how tragic it is.

Whatever it was my first sweater and I would feel like I cheated if it had turned out nicely.

I've already started my next sweater, but the pattern seems sort of wrong, so I'm a little concerned about this one's future as well.