And even more knitting.

Just a quick report in before I toddle off to bed. The blogging has been sparse at best, as I can’t often work off my peevedness enough to drop what may be an entirely futile post into the queue. So instead of sitting at the computer rambling, I’ve been sitting here knitting and watching movies. My projects basket is quite a bit more full for the effort, though I can’t say I’ve paid too much attention to the films. First up was the finshing of the fingerless mitts. They actually went quite a bit faster than I expected–so quick in fact that I’ve made a second pair already. I wore them for about a week before I spilled something on them and had to make that critical descision: to wash or not to wash.

I chose to wash. They made it through the machine ok, and I did wish they were a bit more snug, so I tossed them in the dryer as well. They didn’t shrink up too terribly, but the fiber-y fur did felt a bit, and they’re not nearly as muppet-like as they were before. I’m not sure how I feel about that. One the one hand, I don’t run the risk of setting them on fire when smoking a cigarette. But on the other hand muppets are cool. Oh well.

The big triumph of late is the sweater I knit for the little buddy. After a late late night working on fingerless gloves, I was feeling cheekily successful. So I started, at random, a sweater for the dog based on the pattern for the wrist warmers. I figured it was pretty much the same thing, only
with two legholes instead of one thumbhole. Of course, I ran into problems (decreases and increases on a 2x rib were a little interesting) and lots of the stitching was ‘experimental,’ but when I was done (after obsessively knitting on it for several days in a row, late into the evening), I thought ‘damn.’

The mistakes I made, I managed to turn into “features”. A big gap in the neckline where I added some stitches became the leash hole. It looks like it was put there intentionally! Some things–like the fact that sweaters need ease–didn’t work out as well. I kinda just measured the pup with my fingers, and knit going by the picture in my head. And though he looks quite handsome in this outfit, getting him in and out of the sweater is a bit of a bear. It fits so snugly against him that it requires a little doggy yoga to get all the appendages in the right places.

I probably won’t measure next time either, but I’ll at least put in a few extra inches around the openings.

After GtG’s sweater, I made the second set of fingerless gloves for my friend M. They’re out of the same bulky washable wool as the sweater, so hopefully he won’t have any muppet issues. They knit up even faster than the first pair, due to familiarity and a less confusing fiber. (When knitting with muppet, it’s hard to see the stitches you need to pick up.) There are plans for a third, fourth, and fifth pair of these, for various peoples, from various fibers, one of which is a cashmere blend. Mmmmmm. After I tuck in the loose ends on these, of course.

That brings us now to our works in progress (WIPs). There are so far two: the red-and-black striped baby hat at right, and a pair of Fuzzyfeet (again, from knitty.com). The baby hat is a combination of a ruff from a baby jester hat I saw on a blog, plus the earflaps and tie from the baby devil cap pattern that’s all over the web. Maybe. We’ll see. It’s only halfway there.

The socks, because of work committments and other ridiculously mundane things like grocery shopping, are only about 8 rows in on the first cuff, so there’s nothing there to see just yet. Yet, I say. They’re green and blue-purple, stripey, wool and kinda scratchy. This will change when felted.

I couldn’t leave without at least one picture of her highness, now could I? She’s the devil in disguise. In disguise meaning ‘I stuck my finger over the flash on the mini digital camera,’ of course. She has been all about the copious knitting and watching of television, as that provides her with both entertainment and seating.

Off now to knit a few more rows before bed. Ta-ta.


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