Something that went right

You know that thing when you’re cleaning a closet or a drawer, where things get much worse before they get way better? I think my pre-holiday life is like that right now.  There’s lists and post-its and presents and wrapping paper and yarn over every inch of this house, and thus far, all attempts to corral the disaster only seem to make things worse.  Every task I take on seems to take me deeper into the abyss, and only the spreadsheet and what can at this point only be loosely termed “a plan” are keeping me from falling over into disorganized despair.  I keep making bigger and bigger messes, and muttering foul things while I putter around, trying to pull it all together.  (Moments ago, the beautiful string of snowflake lights I managed to hang in the living room came crashing down.) I’m hoping that this is the chaos before the calm, and not the cruel backlash of an overly ambitious system, but tomorrow should have the worst of it over.  At least now I can re-make the bed upstairs and get that room ready.. because Indian Feathers is finished blocking, and it, at least, is fabulous.

indianfeathers whole 2014-12-09

I modified this shawl/scarf pretty heavily.  I had an abundance of yarn and a good attitude at the time, and a little screwing around yielded me a personalized version I like a lot. I loved the fabric I got when I knit this on 3.5mm needles, but worried that it would be too small. (The original was knit on 4.5mm.)

samindianfeathers 2014-12-09

I wasn’t too worried about the length, but didn’t want it to be too narrow – I solved this by repeating a pattern row a few times. (I did rows 18 and 19 three times each) and by eliminating a double decrease in row 27, and replacing it with a regular decrease every other feather.

samindianfeathersshoulder 2014-12-09

I knit a few plain rows after that, then did all the short rows (more or less) as I was told. (Obedience isn’t something that comes naturally to me.) I finished the whole thing off with a three stitch i-cord bindoff.

indianfeathersgate 2014-12-09

The end result was just what I’d hoped for.  A slightly taller, far less circular version – mine’s more of an arc than the original, which means it curves less that the designer intended, which is awesome, because I didn’t use the cast on she suggested at all.  There’s less stretch in my edge, but I don’t need it, because it doesn’t need to stretch as much.

indianfeathersdone 2014-12-09

That bad boy also has extra beads.  The original had beads in a little V at the bottom of each feather, and mine has some up at the tops of the motif, as well as one every 5 stitches along the top.  The kit from Holiday yarns had more than enough yarn for my version, but not enough beads for me to go nuts like I did, so the top ones are little crystals from my own stash.

samindianfeathersannoyed 2014-12-09

I also skipped  the row of yarn overs at the top.  I didn’t mean too, but it’s worked out fine. It’s so very pretty, I could have taken pictures of it all day, but for the waning patience of the World’s Top Knitwear Model.  There’s more going on here knitting-wise, but I’m trying to run a few projects sort of stealth, so bear with me. Can I distract you?

What’s did Luis hang today?

The Gingerbread man, or as Lou terms him “Señor de galleta” which, if am to take seriously the comments from yesterday on the use of the word “Senor”, translates more like “The Lord of the Cookies” than gingerbread man, but I tried to learn to say “ginger” in Spanish, and I’m willing to go with Lou’s version.

gingerbreadman 2014-12-09

I was going to tell you that there wasn’t really a pattern for this one, since to knit this little guy, I dragged out my old (rather very) copy of The Canadian Living Christmas Book, but the internet is an amazing place, and it turns out to be available online. I modified the pattern, using fingering weight wool instead of Sayelle (I told you it was old) and decreased the number of stitches I cast on (from 32 to 22) and shrunk the number of rows to go with. A little embroidery for the icing and face, and whammo.  Lord of the Cookies indeed.

Gifts for Knitters, Day 9

There’s lots of knitters out there with amazing tattoos that speak to the love of their craft, but for those of us who lack the nerve to permanently etch anything on them (or worry about how it will look should they live to be 97) how about tucking some fun temporary tattoos into their stocking? These great tattoos from Soak (while you’re there, these Soakboxes would make a great gift too, if that looks like your type of knitter) are a hoot, and I’m completely in love with the ones from Tilly Flop.  Who wouldn’t love “Half Human half knitting machine” or this rather cheeky one? This set would be good for a knitter who sews too.  I don’t know how these go on, or how they work (and I know they’re not strictly tattoos) but aren’t these nail decals neat? (Ok, wait. These nail decals are good, and these ones are great, and these ones fit right in with the current trend for gradients. Nail decals might be a thing.)