little bit of crazy leaking out

April was a good month for Dulaan Project knitting; hats and socks seem to have been the prefered projects.

• 1 dishcloth  
• Moss Grid Hand Towel
• 10 hats for Dulaan
• 10 Magic 28 socks (2 pair + 6)  (and below)
• Avalanche Vest (see below soon)

It wasn’t the best month for the fiber/yarn stash, between the Knitting Expo and the Cascade Yarns Warehouse sale, maybe it’s best we just don’t talk about it.

Magic 28: socks 7-10

    

    

Avalanche Vest

(photo soon)

pattern:  Avalanche Vest (pdf)
yarn:  Brown Sheep Burley Spun Lotus Pink (from stash)
notes:  Quick knit, great pattern.

. . . and it has been all about the charity knitting (and joining more KALs, I am a sucker fot the KALs).

First, I joined the Charmed Knits KAL and knit these Slytherin hats.

All three are knit from the House Hat Pattern at the Charmed Knits KAL blog.  I really enjoyed knitting the 2 beanies, the double decreases are neat and make the hats just a little different from the average beanie.  The beret, I have to say, wasn’t my favorite.  It was quick enough to knit, I just wasn’t thrilled the finished product.  This is totally a personal preference, I like a flatter top on a beret.

Which lead to knitting more hats for the Dulaan Project.

The top five hats are from some skeins of Kid ‘n Ewe from my stash.  The yarn was originally purchased to knit a sweater for my daughter, but I didn’t knit it, and she grew.  Darn kids.  No real pattern just a basic hat.

The bottom two hats were knit from some Brown Sheep Burley Spun, also from stash, using the Avalanche Hat pattern(pdf).  The bottom hat is just a variation on the pattern. 

Then I joined Norma’s Magic 28 KAL, and knit up some socks for Dulaan.  I see this KAL as an excuse to use up some of my sock yarn stash.  I doubled the yarn and it works perfectly. 

    
Pairs 1 and 2 were knitted from discontinued Knit Picks sock yarn I bought a year or so ago ~ Paper Dolls and Daffodil.  I am able to get a pair from one skein (220yds) of yarn.

    
Socks 5 and 6 were knitted from Knit Picks Pansey.  The first sock I knit double stranded without matching the colors, the second I did match the colors.  I have another skein and will knit up matching socks from it.

I’ve started keeping a Magic 28 sock by the computer, so I can work on one while surfing blogs, and I keep one in my purse for knitting emergencies.

pattern: Moss Grid Hand Towel from Mason-Dixon Knitting
yarn: Louet Euroflax
needles: Boye NeedleMaster US5
cast on: April 3rd  cast off: April 7th
notes: This was a farely quick knit, well, yes, it is only a hand towel.  The pattern was not intuitive for me so I had to keep looking at the pattern to see which line was next.  A row counter was very necessary on this project.

I was a bit worried about knitting with the Euroflax, it seems so stiff, but it really wasn’t bad to knit with and I love the softness and drape of the towel after washing.  I got gauge with the US5s, but if I make another one I’ll go down a needle size as I think the fabric of the towel ended up being a little loose.

 Oh, I did learn that when knitting a hand towel, it might be best to lie about it.  Even your knitting friends will raise their eyebrows and ask why you would do something like that.

I finished my last February-March Project Spectrum  project a day late, but I’m still counting it.

pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple #245 Children’s Easy Lightweight Sock
yarn: Regia 4ply Patch Antik Colors #5759-Jeans
gauge: 8spi on Susan Bates US1 DPNs
cast on: March (mid month, I think)  cast off: April 1st
notes:  These socks were fun to knit.  I knit the pattern as written except for grafting the toes instead of just gathering and pulling.  Yes, the socks are matchy matchy and I pulled out sections of color so the heels and toes would be solid.  I wish I had done the same for the ribbing at the top of the sock, oh well.  Even with the sections I pulled out I still have almost half a ball left, 49g of a 100g ball.  I may make him another pair from the same yarn, just shorter, or make a pair of toddler socks for the Dulaan Project.

I also finished my first Project Spectrum project for April-May.  A Ballband Dishcloth, I know, you’re shocked.

I’m not going to bore you with the details . . . I’ll just point out that it has all three PS colors.  I ran out of green for the background (I knew it was going to be close, but I didn’t think I would run out) so I grabbed some yellow to finish off the last few rows.  Very spring!

Right now I am working on the Moss Grid Hand Towel from Mason-Dixon Knitting, only one repeat and the border to go then I can throw it into the washer and dryer and see how it turns out.  Have. To. Trust. The. Yarn.

  

Project Spectrum knitting for February/March
Blue - Gray - White

While I enjoyed the blue/gray/white of February and March, I am looking forward to the brighter pink/green/yellow of April and May.  I know that the colors for April and May are not necessarily brighter; mustard yellow, olive & forest green and some of the darker pinks are just that - darker.  But, my mind’s eye sees sunny yellows, spring greens, soft pinks . . . spring grass, new leaves on trees, yellow crocus, forsythia and cherry blossoms. 

Spring is in the air! 

Oh, the possibilities!

pattern: Saddle Shoulder Sweater from Knitting Without Tears
yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool - Denim and Putty
            Cascade 220 Superwash - Red - for hems
needles: Clover Bamboo
cast on: March 2nd  cast off: March 11th
notes:  I loved knitting this sweater.  I actually had to reknit the sweater after finishing the arms and getting a couple of inches into the body.  The yarn I had in stash was from before Mission Falls closed and reopened, and I started to panic that I wouldn’t have enough to finish the sweater, with no way of getting another skein in the same dye lot.  If I had been knitting a yoked sweater I could have added color into the yoke with no problem, but it would have looked very strange on the saddle shoulder.  I picked up the putty yarn at a LYS and added some stripes to the body and arms.  I’m glad I did as it would have been very close and I don’t think my heart could have taken it.  Then again if I had knit the body of the sweater a little shorter, I prolly would have been okay, but I like the longer length.  I did have to fudge a bit on the shoulder/neck decreases since I wanted a larger opening for his pun’kin head.  All in all, I would knit another EZ sweater in a second, loved the whole process, even with the ripping and the grafting. 

 

       

    

Bubba’s EZ Saddle Shoulder sweater is almost finished.   The ends are woven in, the hems are sewn, just have to graft the underarms.  Bubba had a fitting this morning, just so I could be sure it would fit over his pun’kin head.  It fit, no worries.

 

Bubba  really liked all the yarn ends hanging out of his sleeves.

 
“Look mamma! I flapping, I flying!”

The sweater is now done, except for the grafting . . .