Christmas napkin rings

From Knitty, to my grandparents. It's kind of a pain in the butt to knit with wire, but the results were so great! Click here for the pattern. Once you knit a flat piece of wire fabric, you have to shape and sew it. I thought it would be easier to knit in the round. Wrong. It is nearly impossible.

The bead store in my town didn't have the necessary equipment, (apparently 34 gauge wire is very, very thin as beading goes), but Fire Mountain Gems online is a bead wholesaler with really great prices. They sell great bags of assorted beads that were perfect for the big beads for this project.

Croc pants

A short break from knitting resulted in these pants for Eliza. At least she will be well camouflaged in the Everglades. Our landlord's cat, King, wanted to help.

yet another round of wristies

purple ones for me, and another identical gray pair for eliza. looks like these things guys probably only last one season.

stash scarf

found two balls of unlabeled yarn in my stash and knit them up!

now that I've moved I've spent a lot more time starting projects than trying frantically to finish them up. so I've got a few bags, a tie, and a hat in the works.

Penguins for Jessica

I knit the knitty penguin for Jessica's birthday. Here it is. I was sort of unhappy with the increases in the tummy, and I remember modifying them, but I can't remember how (perhaps a simple increase instead of making a new stitch by picking up a stitch between two others?)

Eliza's Wristies in China

Here's a photo of Eliza wearing her wrist warmers in China. They're a little hard to see (since they are grey and her jacket is a very worn black) but she's definitely wearing them!

more mathematical hats

The newest issue of knitty includes a pattern for a kleinbottle. It's probably better than mine, but since it was just published this week, I was totally first! I knit mine the same way she did hers, although I would probably knit it differently next time since the seam was kind of difficult - I had to pull the tight end where there is no tube out the hole, and that made the seam a bit tough to sew.

bottle of wine

For my roommate Alice's birthday, I knit her a wine bottle cozy from knitty. Would you ever guess that her favorite color is pink? I knit it in the round, which required some modifications to the pattern. The eyelet row should be knit as follows: k2, k2tog, YO, [p2tog through back loop, YO, k2, k2tog, YO] to last two stitches, p2tog through back, YO. To knit the bottom, I did the stitching she suggested in the round, and it came out a bit too small, probably since I eliminated the crocheting that she used to attach the flat piece. Next time I would just add a few more knit rows between the decreases. I used Red Heart Kids in the Dream Girl color.

four dimensions

What better to knit a math professor than a four-dimensional object that can be worn? Unfortunately, this one turned out a bit small to be a grown-up sized hat. I knit this kleinbottle from the beginning of the tube part, and then made a bulb with a hole. I attached the narrow end of the bulb to the end of the tube through the hole. If I were to do it again, I'd use thinner yarn (I used Jo-Ann Sensations brand Life yarn) and make sure that the bulb part was long enough to cover the ears when doubled over.

quack quack

I knit ducks for my roomies for Easter. The pattern is from Lion Brand (you have to registern to see it, but it's free!) I used fun fur, orange felt, and googly eyes. This one is Anita's. It is named Luigi.

Note: The thumbnail of the picture doesn't display on my computer. If you have the same problem, just click on the little box above the text and you can see the full-size picture.

no fingers.

These gloves are for another professor. It's really hard to find handknit things for men that aren't preppy - and this guy is definitely not preppy. These are knit out of Galway 100% wool, an Irish sounding yarn made in Peru, color 31. I modified the cigar gloves from Knitty. The pattern calls for the pinky and ring fingers to be fully covered and only the first three to be fingerless, but the instructions are "knit until as long as wearer's finger" or something like that. Since my wearer isn't on hand (no pun intended - really, I just noticed!), I decided to go fingerless all the way.

washcloths

These are from Weekend Knitting. The light blue is knit exactly following the pattern, for the purple and yellow I switched to yellow when I joined to work in the round. The purple and yellow yarn is Lion Brand Microspun. The light blue is yarn from a sweater I bought at goodwill and unwound. It's some cotton/acrylic blend, but I don't remember quite what. Click here for a site with a great tutorial about recycling yarn by unwinding commercially made sweaters. I made two more of these out of the discontinued Lion Cotton-ease with white petals and a light yellow center to sell at a benefit for Heifer International. I found that the microspun version is very floppy and a bit rough on the face (it leaves my face a bit itchy) but I love the recycled yarn one. I didn't try either of the others.

Wrists!

I made myself a pair of wrist warmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and loved them so much that I started knitting them for everyone I know (to date, my mother, Eliza, and Diane, a professor who's helped me out a lot). Mine are in navy Berroco Softwist wool/rayon, my mom's are the same yarn in red, Eliza's are grey Plymouth Suri Merino and Diane's are pink Plymouth Suri Merino. For each pair I cast on 36 (pattern calls for only 32). The first three pairs were made on size 3 - they were wide enough, but a bit short. I added a few rows of ribbing in pattern for each. Diane's are really great, made on size 6. I used the spiral rib pattern for all but Eliza's, who wanted plain straight double ribbing. I used DPNs instead of two circular needles which the pattern recommends, because I love my clover bamboo DPNs! It is very important to cast on and bind off loosely for this project. Pictures of mine and Diane's are here, Eliza's to follow (she claims she has some great pictures of her wearing them in Beijing in January). Eliza has requested a second pair that is a bit longer in both directions and has a smaller thumb hole.

change purse

After making Eliza's socks, I had a bit of black Plymouth alpaca left. I made this little change purse. I was going to try felting it, so I put it through the laundry once, but I kind of liked the way it was (and was out of quarters) so it's not really felted at all.

On size 3 DPNs, CO8. Knit in stockinette stitch until work measures 3.5". Pick up and knit stitches around the base (I have no idea how many I picked up on the sides, but it was definitely 8 at the end for symmetry). Knit in the round for 3.5", BO all sts.

Stitch a 4" zipper into the top of the bag (I liked the roll, so I stitched the zipper below the roll, but I imagine it would be possible to stitch it right at the top).

The purse is fine in plain black, but I embroidered a little flower on the bottom in embroidery floss from a craft store. I just made up the design as I went along.

Monkey Bag

This bag was a christmas present for my sister. The pattern, Cocktail Monkey, is from Knitty. I knit it exactly as the pattern is written. Knitting with hemp is a pain in the butt. It is very stiff and rough on the hands. If I were to knit this again, I might try soaking the hemp first. Cocktail Monkeys are surprisingly hard to find. I called or visited three party stores and three liquor stores. You can buy them online, but you have to buy a whole lot of them. I finally found them for sale (ten cents each, I believe) at Joie de Vivre near Porter Square in Cambridge, MA. I found the fringe at a generic craft store, but it took a lot of hunting, since the staff had no idea what or where it was. I'm really pleased by the way this came out, though.

Socks for Eliza!

Socks for Eliza. Plymouth Alpaca in several different colors, size 3 needles. Ann Norling Basic Adult Socks pattern #12. I modified the pattern (cast on 52, which is between two recommended sizes, and modified as necessary). The socks are a tiny bit wide for her, but they are good for sleeping in or for wearing under boots, and they can be reblocked to fit her a bit better. If you look carefully you can see some cryptology homework under her feet! I did a lot of the knitting for these socks in the airplane on the way to and back from the Philippines.