We interrupt the yarn lovefest for.....wood

A couple of months ago, I mentioned that we have wood birdhouses on plant hangers spread throughout our back gardens.  I finished a couple more a few weeks ago:

J was also persuaded to paint up one that was shaped to look like an aircraft carrier:

He painted the planes to be representative of colors used on WWII era planes (apparently he was quite a model plane builder back in his younger years) but what I want to call attention to is the way he painted the bottom of the birdhouse:

He painted it to look like the ship is plowing through the water, complete with whitecaps and color shading.  I had no idea I was married to the Bob Villa of prefabricated bird house painting.

(Wo)man cannot live by knitting socks alone

In addition to all those socks I've been churning out, I have also been working on a summer shrug, which comes from the summer 2013 edition of Love of Knitting.  The official pattern name is "Little Black Shrug" but I had a violet colored yarn (originally purchased to make the Opening Night sweater I started in February, but it was the wrong weight) so that's what I'm using.

 The yarn is Berroco Comfort solid.  I love the draping and the eyelet pattern.  I ripped it out once due to some stitches that went awry (and since I'm starting with the back, there's no fudging the pattern on an area that exposed) so instead of doing the 2-inch ribbing for the bottom as picked-up stitches when the back was complete, I cast on with those and then switched to a larger sized needle to continue.  I really don't like picking up stitches.  I also really don't like knitting with heavy wool in really hot weather, because I've set that Opening Night project aside for many weeks now.  I do need to get back to it, winter is coming.

Currently on the loom - a scarf:

I had purchased the tweed yarn to be part of the new! and improved! plan to weave a blanket out of that enormous amount of burgundy-red yarn I have (you might remember my disastrous first attempt, which I wrote about here) but it just didn't work, so I decided to turn it into a scarf.  There is no intended recipient for this scarf, but it's always good to have something on hand.  It's also a fast project.  I hope.

Squirrels gather nuts, I make socks

My preparation for colder weather continues as I am on a sock-knitting binge.  I finished those Halloween socks in 13 days, and they came out great:

I was so pleased with them I decided to make myself another pair:

.....which took me 14 days this time.  The yarn is Araucania Ranco Multy, and the photo above does not do the beautiful color blend justice.  It is a random variegated yarn, which meant that I didn't need to unwind any of the skein to start the second sock.  It is the little things in life that are so thrilling to me.  Or I'm easily amused.  Probably both.  They are a lovely neutral color that will look great with everything.  I could almost say I'm looking forward to cooler weather.  Almost.  Notice I did not say, "winter."  I will never look forward to winter weather.

I have also started a new project with leftover sock yarn called The Beekeeper's Quilt. I must have seen this pattern for the first time on Ravelry, (although for a long time I thought I might have seen in in a past issue of Love of Knitting) and I have been dreaming of it for quite some time now.  I finally broke down and bought it, and I've knit up the first few half-dozen of what the designer calls "hexipuffs" for this quilt. 

It will probably take me more than a year to make enough (a 3' x 4' quilt calls for more than 300 of them) but I knit up a half dozen in 2 days, while simultaneously finishing a pair of socks, returning to a pair of fingerless gloves for my best friend I had stashed, working on a shrug, and, you know, working full time.  The pattern is cute and quick and not at all expensive, so buy it if you're interested, or you have a lot of bits 'n bobs of yarn gathering dust in your yarn storage area, because you cannot ever.toss.yarn.away.  Perfect use for it!

From the commuter knitting bag - fingerless gloves for my good friend Aideen:

I started these back in June and then completely lost interest.  However, it is now August, and the start of Christmas Knitting Season, so I needed to get cracking.  I've made great progress these past two weeks - it took about a week per glove, and they are now DONE.  The pattern is the same Woven Fingerless glove pattern used for the ones I did for myself last fall:

Aideen is an usher, and has complained that her fingers are cold during the early December performances of The Nutcracker.  So these will be an early Christmas gift, since she starts that ushering job the day after Thanksgiving.  The gloves are solid black with a hint of sparkle in them - perfect for an usher.  And for Aideen, who likes shiny things.

It has to get cold again eventually, right?

It feels like all my projects are moving forward in slow motion lately, probably due to the amount of time I am spending on the garden. And the heat!  Third heat wave of the summer, second of July.  It has been amazingly, uncomfortably hot.  I have finished up a few knitting projects, though. 

First, the shawl from March, finished Sunday night:

It came out great.  It looked very crooked on the loom but when I took it off it relaxed and the rows are straight, which is a relief.  It was also a relief not to have to look at it sitting on the loom every night after 4 months.  I figured out a new way to knot the end threads which makes a much nicer fringe and I'm happy with how it came out.  It's long enough to wrap completely around me and throw over a shoulder, which is convenient.  It also means I can use it as a table runner.  I was joking about that originally and I am slightly amused that it is actually long enough.  I know that there is a way to plan out a project with measurements, warping, etc., but I just eyeball it, warp the loom and go.  Maybe some day I'll plan out a project fully.  Of course, I've always said, "Maybe some day I'll block my finished knitting," and it hasn't happened in 17 years, so there you go. 

I also finished the scarf version of the Socrates gloves:

I ended up using 3 skeins for the scarf, and knitting the first four rows of the rib pattern over and over again to make the scarf.  I am pretty sick of this pattern right now, so even though I have 3 skeins of the yarn left and vague plans to make a matching hat, I have stashed that yarn for the time being.

Also on the needles - socks for Halloween:

I started these socks on July 5 and will probably have them finished by this Friday, which is two weeks and a new record.  Because I am using the Classic Socks pattern (again) I have discovered that I can actually read my Kindle while knitting at the same time.  As much as I like patterned socks, being able to multi task is amazing.  (Also a little startling to some of my fellow commuters, who have commented on the knitting-and-reading thing.)  It has been long enough between pairs of socks that I am very excited to be working on them, and plan to start a second pair for myself right after I finish this one.  I almost don't even need the pattern anymore, I've done this pattern so often. I should be thinking about Christmas gifts (and I am) but I decided to focus on myself for a couple of projects since I don't usually start in on the holiday gifts until August.

I am undecided about what to start next on the loom - part of me wants to do a couple of scarves, for gifts, and part of me wants to take another crack at making a blanket because winter is coming.  The irony is that I was finally motivated to finish the shawl because I was tired of looking at it, and now the loom has been empty for almost 48 hours and it's driving me crazy.  I know a scarf or two would be a fast turn around project which might be fun (and would give me more items for these blog posts), but then I think about how cold it was this winter, and all the yarn a blanket project would use up, and I'm tempted.  Such decisions.

Nothing says summer like.....gloves

This morning I finished my Socrates gloves.  You may remember the first photo:

Now there are two.  They don't match at all, in terms of the fingers lining up when you put the pair together, because I knit them to fit specific hands since I could try them on as I was working.  This has made me wonder whether or not my hands are different sizes.  It will not be something I lose any sleep over.  I am going to take the rib pattern and modify it to make a scarf and possibly a hat as I have 6 skeins left from the 8 skeins I purchased.  I tend to need scarves before I need hats, so I'm starting with that but I have my fingers crossed that I can do both with the remaining skeins. Each skein is about 77 yards long, so the scarf won't be very long but it's not a wool base so I'm likely only to be using the set in early fall and early spring.

Currently on the needles - fingerless gloves for my friend A, who does a lot of theater ushering in the winter (when the theaters have their busy season) who told me last Christmas that her hands are often cold as she takes tickets.  Ushers dress all in black, so I am knitting Woven Fingerless Gloves using some sparkly black yarn called Vanna's Glamour - its yarn from a collection by Vanna White, the hostess from "Wheel of Fortune."  I've spent more time than I should thinking about whether she's hands on with the yarn selection, or color dyeing, or thread counts.  It seems strange to me that she'd be a television personality with her own line of yarn, but if I were famous I certainly wouldn't be designing clothes, because I'm just about the least-fashionable person you will ever meet.  So I suppose a line of affordable yarns would appeal to me.  Anyway, this was the pair I knit for myself:

I can't get a good shot of the patterning with this yarn because it's so dark.  A will really like these, particularly because there's a shot of sparkle running through the yarn, and she loves shiny things. Sort of like Dory from "Finding Nemo."

And I'm still working on that Opening Night cardigan, still knitting the first 65' x 12" trim piece.  It's now about 15" long.  I might be done by fall.....of 2015.  Still love the yarn though, and not the slightest bit sorry about how much money I spent on it.  The cardigan will be beautiful and very warm once it's done.  If it's done.

Summer vegetable knitting

I'm still at it with the vegetables:

These were all completed this week.  I am totally going for the easy start-to-finish projects right now, because that winter sweater that I can't wait to wear is taking forever.  Also, we do a ton of vegetable gardening in the summer, so it's fitting.  My husband has suggested that I should knit one of everything that we grow.  I might tackle tomatoes or pumpkins next.  I got most of the yarn on sale, which is good, but there's quite a bit of it in the bin.

I keep looking at these pieces thinking what a great gift they would make for toddlers.  It might be the only time it's acceptable to tell a small child to play with their food.

On a roll

I have been on quite a knitting kick the last two weeks.  I finished the Midsummer Night shawl I mentioned in the last post on Sunday morning, but it was too cold to to wear it out to dinner for our anniversary that evening.  No matter, warmer days are coming and I'm sure I'll be able to use it soon.  As soon as I took that off the needles, I cast on my first glove:

The pattern is called Socrates and it comes from One Skein Sock Yarn Wonders.  The yarn is called Bonsai, by Berrocco - I bought 8 skeins of it, unsure how much of it I would need for a scarf and gloves.  Because it's a different weight that the sock yarn recommended by the pattern (it's thicker - a nylon/bamboo blend) I am using much less that I would have imagined and one skein does one glove.  I have started to think about a hat to go with the scarf and gloves.  As soon as I finish the other glove.  I had to modify the fingers from the pattern as well - I knit them originally following the pattern and they made me look like I had Muppet hands, so I ripped them back and decreased the stitches so they fit my hands better.

Yesterday I was back to focusing on knitted vegetables, so I made myself and eggplant (or aubergine, as the Brittish pattern writer calls them):

I was pleased with how it came out.  I decided I was going to work on something else after I finished that, so I whipped up another pea in a pod:

We will have to make do with knitted vegetables until the real ones are ready. 

In the didn't-really-make-it-myself category, I've been working on painting some unfinished bird houses we picked up at Michael's on sale for the yard:

We have a bunch of hanging plant stands scattered through the back gardens, so every couple of years we paint new ones, spray them with a sealant, and hang them outside.  Much easier than running out to water hanging plants.  We have enough trouble watering the flowers out front.