two last FOs for 2009

If I can get the toe of my mom's second sock done tonight that will make an even 40, but I'm not sure I'll get there...Right now, I'm losing pretty badly in my family's signature card game, Aggravation. My grandma used to play it all the time with my cousins and I at countless family gatherings, and we taught Spanky, and now she's kicking my ass! Damn. How 2009...but that will all shortly change! 2010 is my year, baby! I just know it. But we'll address that tomorrow. Anyway:

FO 38:


Pattern: Dashing

Yarn: Cascade 220 in the same heather charcoal color that I used for Matthew's Koolhaas hat last year. I thought I would be able to go back to Ravelry and tell you what color that was, but I apparently didn't put that project on my page! What?! I'll have to go back and rectify that shortly, but shoot. I guess sometimes I forget one or the other (Ravelry or the blog...).

This is my favorite color of Cascade 220 so far. I liked the brown of Spanky's sweater, but this black seems softer, and it is really awesome. I have about 4 skeins left that I'm going to use to make myself a vest with next year.



Needle: US 7 bamboo DPNs.

Notes: I modified this by cutting the number of rows by 1/3 on basically all parts of the mitt. As written, the pattern was too long, both in the finger bits and the part going up the arm. Also, I mistakenly knit both thumbs the same. I had to adjust the right mitt a bit when I blocked them, so that they were for right and left, but it seemed to work ok so I left it, and when they were blocked, you couldn't tell. I don't really know how I did that... I guess I wasn't paying attention until it was too late.



Oh well. I think he likes them! I told him they match his hat, but I haven't seen him wear the hat this year. Perhaps he felted it? I don't care for its replacement anyway. Oh well. It doesn't matter. After the new year, he'll be someone else's servant teammate. I'll be knitting for someone new, and with much smaller hands!

FO #39:



Pattern: Cablerimetry This is a take-off of the calorimetry pattern from Knitty, and it looks better, I think. I liked both of them, but this one is just a teensy bit nicer.



Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand-Dyed, in a cool purple colorway (#512) This yarn has been in my stash for a couple of years now. I got it out in Los Angeles when we went to visit my brother. It was in the sale bin at Unwind, which, my friends, is an impressive store. It is so pretty, and they have such cool classes. I'm even on their email list, so I do know what I'm missing. Aww.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. This yarn is awesome--so soft! It is 50% alpaca and 50% merino and is a 10 ply yarn, so really squishy and thick. I don't know why I got this, but after I had it, I thought I would make a calorimetry or this headband. Then, when my mom said she needed a headband to keep her ears warm while she went walking in the morning, I decided to make it for her, and in the meantime, I'd found Cablerimetry, and I liked that one the best, so went with that. I still have a good amount left.

I think I'm going to start using the leftovers of worsted weight yarn from projects like this to make myself some ribbed fingerless mitts. They're simple to make, and I lose them all the damn time, so this way, I'd always have extras. I like really short mitts for the fall and spring, when it is nippy but not super-cold, and you just need something over your palm, long enough to tuck your fingers into.

Again, I'm off track! Back to the project:

Needles: US 10. This seems like an Aran or almost bulky yarn to me. It is definitely a LOT thicker than Cascade 220, which is a light worsted. I guess this must be a 'heavy' worsted. I got to use these awesome wooden needles that my old boss (and now friend) Ilene got for me for Christmas one year. I don't use them a lot because they're really nice (and straights), and because nothing really calls for 10s.



Notes: I really enjoyed this project. I don't cable without a cable needle (don't see the need), but if you did, I can see that this would be a great project for that. The cables are really simple, and I think they pop very well in this yarn. I was afraid that it would come out huge, because the gauge was a bit bigger than the yarn used in the original, but it surprisingly came out very well.



I think my mom likes it too. She's out in Los Angeles now, visiting my brother, so I sent it out to her there:

She's such a cutie!