I Win!

Well, I have an FO and I won a blog contest on Grumperina's blog!


Here is the FO!











Yes, I finished the blanket!

Ok, that is only half of it. The finished and unwashed/blocked blanket is 23 X 46.

Here is the entire thing....is it big enough for a baby?




















Now that I am done with the blanket I will be working on this scarf for my brother: It's a Gryffindor scarf, the style worn by the students in their later years at school.















What did I win in a contest on Grumperina's blog?














I won this copy of toe-up! It's a new sock bock by Chrissy Gardiner that allows you to take control of your own toe-up sock knitting.

It has excellent instruction sections(6 of them!) and a list of patterns.

It also has some excellent charts in the back for the heels and toes outlined in the instruction sections from the heels and toes parts to make them fit your foot perfectly.

It also has a number of patterns I would like to knit. The one drawback to this book? It only has heels that involve the wrap and turn and an afterthought heel. I avoid the wrap and turn like the plague and use a heel from wendyknits free patterns generally and have yet to use an afterthought heel. I would have liked to see a heel like the one from wendyknits, she has a fingering weight toe-up sock pattern on her website for free that I use all the time in all my socks regardless of what the pattern calls for.

I would still recommend this book for the person who wants to have most of the options for toe-up socks laid out in front of them to use any stitch pattern in a sock and just have to punch in the numbers. Some of these sock patterns are definitely worth it as well. This would be a good book for the beginning toe-up sock knitter as well, it has some easy patterns and very clear instructions.

My secret unpictured project is coming along well, I'm about to start the heel on the first one and that is the last real step before I can write a complete pattern for it. Just have to crunch the numbers.

As always, Happy Knitting!

I've been away from you for awhile

But I have been knitting

I finished a pair of socks (gifted to my little sister) and a scarf (gifted to my big sister).

I'm 70% or so through a baby blanket.














I am using my new Addi Clicks. I really like these needles. The kit comes with a good variety of sizes for me and three lengths of cord. I wish it came with more but you can buy more. I really like the push and turn method of locking. You take the cord and push the tip down onto it and turn the needle and it locks in place. It hasn't come loose once knitting that entire amount so far. Their is a small place where yarn could snag at the join but I haven't had a problem with it. The needles are very smooth like the regular Addis, which I still use. I think these needles are definitely worth it if you use a wide variety of needle size and like the regular Addi needles. I am probably going to give away my Knit Picks set and use these and fixed needles solely.

Here, you can see the needle and the join.














I have also been fixing Michael's knitting issues since he started working on his blanket for his sister again. He didn't flip his knitting around here and since he was using a circular needle when he started knitting at the wrong end he joined his work into a circle on accident. He isn't comfortable with tinking so I did it for him.














I also started another scarf for my older brother. He wants a Gryffindor scarf from the later years. I am using this pattern (http://crochetandy.blogspot.com/2007/08/honorable-hufflepuff-house-scarf-free.html) and using Cascade 220 in colorway 2401 for the main color and Mirasol Kacha in Shade 1209 for the contrast color.

Ravelry Link for the Pattern http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/harry-potter-poa-scarf-on-the-round

As you can see, I just started it.
















Over the holidays we cooked and baked a lot, including these cookies which were finished and looked really funny after we were done. I do not have cookie decorating skills.














Happy Knitting in 2010!

I also have a pair of socks I am working on that is my own design. It's turning out really well, so I may have a pattern up for it at some point. I'm holding off on pictures until I have one done and figured out how to write down the knitting instructions.