Favorite Socks, Indeed!

I've had Favorite Socks for a while now. I really do love most of the patterns in it -- it's just I don't make socks all that often and so many of the patterns in the book look much better in the solid sock yarns and...well...this blog's name is "Unafraid of Color" -- if you catch my drift. ;)
(If you don't -- it's nearly impossible for me to work with a solid colored sock yarn.)

A while back though -- I believe it was New Years to be exact -- I bought this gorgeous Araucania yarn. To quote Tracy Jordan from "30 Rock", I loved this yarn so much I wanted to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant. I had no idea what it would look like knitted up, all that I knew was that if I didn't buy it, I would sorely regret it later on.

Within the month, I had cast on for the Embossed Leaves socks -- a pattern that I felt could hold up to the many color changes in the sock yarn...and it seemed like it would be simple enough. I wanted to knit up a "complicated" sock since all the socks I've knit in the past are pretty much you're straightforward stockinette from top to bottom with a 2x2 rib at the top.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me just say that I have never knit a sock (nay, a pair of socks!) as fast as I knit these babies up. I was done with the first sock in under a week, I was done with the pair no more than a week or so after that. The actual hours put into creating these beauties? Well...I don't keep track of hours but it wasn't long!

I have never been more proud of a pair of socks than I am of these (they even won a spot in my Facebook's photo album of "Things I've Made That I'm Ridiculously Proud Of"). Simply put: the are fabulous. Utterly, utterly fabulous. Whenever I wear them, I get compliments -- and believe me, I am a compliment whore.
Since finishing these, I have bought several more skeins of sock yarn and have spent hours perusing sock patterns in the books that I own and on Ravelry. Unfortunately, I don't know if I'll be able to create another pair that I love as much as these. They've won a very special place in my heart. When I inevitably wear holes in them? I will buy them sock blockers and I will hang them on my wall (or...maybe not...).

I can tell you all. When Interweave said "Favorite"? Yeah, they weren't lying.

What Am I Up To?

Things I Will Be Making in the Upcoming Weeks and Months
(No particular order)

Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
This was probably actually the first sweater that I really wanted to knit. I don't know why I didn't do this one first. It's knit in the round and from everything that I can tell so far, it seems like it would be really simple. I just bought the yarn for it this evening. Cheap KnitPicks yarn = awesome. A handknit sweater under $50? Sweeeeet.

Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang
I wanted to knit these last year, but the colorwork and my dwindling interest in knitting around the time of spring kept me from actually following through. And I needed something to bring my KnitPicks order up over $50 so I could qualify for free shipping. 2 skeins of Palette and I'm set.

Two-Toned Ribbed Shrug from Fitted Knits
I'm not actually sure if I'm going to knit this quite yet. I have a feeling that the ribbed collar might irritate my neck. Maybe if I can find some cheap yarn at City Knitting, I'll go for it. Maybe I'll keep looking for a better pattern...something like Knitty's Blackberry (without the bobbles, of course). I want something to cover up my arms so I've been wearing a lot of hoodies and cardigans at work. Unfortunately, I really just want the arm coverage -- not the whole body.

Super-Easy Legwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Because who doesn't want some super-easy legwarmers?!? And I could probably wear them to work...probably. I have some Lorna's that I've been meaning to use up for forever. This could be the right project for it.

Millicent Sock by Cookie A
I need to figure out what color yarn I want for this. Then I need to buy it. Still, those are some really awesome knee socks. I must have them for myself. *covets*

Moderne Log Cabin Blanket from Mason Dixon Knits
I've wanted to knit another blanket since I finished up my mitered square blanket. I'm thinking I'll probably use Cotton Ease for such a blanket. I need to figure out an appealing colorway though, then make it happen. I'm having a hard time finding that inspiration. Soon. Hopefully.

And things that I'm already in the process of knitting (because one can never have too many of those):
Felted Cloche -- though I'm tempted to just give up already. I hate knitting it.
Frida Lights -- not really a satisfying knit. I've done 4 or 5 of them so far and they haven't been felted. I was going to make a set for my living room and bedroom, but I think I'm just going to stick with the living room for now.

Le Sesame...C'est Fini!

Ladies and gentlemen...it is a happy, happy day. I, Auna, have finished my very first sweater. YAY ME!
I ambitiously started working on it back in October and it really was a fast knit, which was fabulous, really. I finished the back piece in no time at all and I was certain that I would be done with the entire thing by Christmas. If I weren't so easily distracted by other things I probably would have been, too.
Being the lazy person that I am (with a very limited attention span, no less), I would knit a piece and put it aside for a week, two or month. As it began to slowly come together, I realized that this sweater was maybe a little larger than I had bargained for. I had decided to knit the XL size to accommodate the size of my chest. Looking back, I probably should have knit the L size instead. The body of the sweater actually fits pretty well, albeit, it's not really quite shaping in the way that the pattern indicated but that's mostly due to the sleeves.
OH the sleeves...
I have quite a bone to pick with the sleeves of this sweater. For one, they are LONG. Long, long, LONG! I realize that the pattern has you fold over the cuffs, but I'm not a big fan of that idea and I said "nay" to that notion. Now I'm starting to re-think it.
The other problem with the sleeves was the damn shoulder. *shudder* I initially seamed one of the arm holes and then almost all of the other. There was a slight problem with the pattern (for me at least) where the top of the shoulder just did not match up. At all. I ended up taking the almost finished thing to City Knitting to ask them what to do and they ended up telling me to just rip out the brown at the top of the sleeve and CO with the pink. Done and done. Worked much better without trying to match up the colors. When I did, I ended up with a bit of a pointy shoulder. As it is, the shoulders are a little large. I didn't want to look like a complete linebacker, haha. Still, I really have to pull up the shoulders to make it look like I'm not a pink and brown shapeless monster. :)

Now that I've done all of this complaining, I'm sure that you're wondering what is actually good about this sweater! Or...something like that. I made my own little adjustments here and there (where I felt safe making them, at least). Instead of 24 rows at the bottom of the body piece, I did 36. I have a long torso, and I didn't want this sweater ending at my waist or higher (as was the case with my poor Isabella which was indefinitely put on hold never to be attempted again). And because I was afraid of running out of yarn (which was not the case at all), I decided that I would make the collar shorter. I probably should have made that longer too, but oh well, what am I going to do now? (No, I am NOT going to frog that part!) I don't think that the buttonhole band is quite as long as the pattern called for. I didn't really measure it, but I didn't want it to be too wide, because I was already concerned about the body being too loose. Good thing I stuck to my gut on that one.

Yes, overall, I am quite happy with the sweater. It fits and it doesn't look too bad! Right there, I avoided complete catastrophe! And c'mon, how many people can claim that they've made a sweater for themselves? (Okay, okay, a lot of people can, but I don't personally know anyone else who has made one!!) Next time though, I'll be a little more daring. I'll be a little nicer to myself and my mantra will be "yes, the smaller size will fit you!" (though I will inevitably have to add length to it...unless it's a tunic or something). I won't be afraid of the math involved to make something fit a little bit better and I will pore over the adjustments others have made and articles about how to make something you knit fit you in the best way possible.

All in all? Good first attempt. :)

SWEATER DETAILS:
Pattern: Sesame Sweater from MagKnits
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash 7 skeins total
Colorways: 819 and 838 (4 skeins Brown and 3 skeins Pink)
Needles: Oh goodness. US Size 6 (3 different pairs! The first broke, the second were borrowed, the third were finally mine and didn't break)

Mice Fit for a Kitty

Once upon a time, in a month called July, I got a kitten who I call Toby. The night before I set off on my adventure to pick up the little guy, I knit him a toy mouse.
Anyway, my young kitten loved his mouse more than all of his other toys. He would play with the mouse throughout the night (sometimes it had to be taken away from him because he made too much noise while people -- i.e. me -- were trying to sleep), and he even would run and fetch the mouse whenever I threw it to him.
As you can see by the picture though, it became incredibly worn incredibly fast. The tail started to unravel a bit and the stitches didn't quite look as pronounced anymore. But the mouse still served it's purpose very well and Toby continued to love (or hate? He did do awfully mean things to it...) the little mouse -- the first toy that he ever received from me.

Then I moved back into my parent's house and Toby met his new arch nemesis/best friend Cacao. Cacao loved the mouse too. Maybe not quite as much as Toby, but still. Toby claimed the mouse as his own, growling and hissing whenever Cacao got too close. Eventually though, Toby relinquished his possessive grip over the toy mouse and he decided it was best to share. However, sharing came with some consequences for poor little mousey.
The tail began to unravel at an alarming rate until one day the kitties appeared with the mouse and lo and behold! There was no tail left to be seen! Nevertheless, the cats did not treat the mouse any differently and they continued to play with the mouse just as they always had.
Until...
The mouse was torn apart. Yarn everywhere! Quickly unraveling! NO! NOOO!!! It was at this point, I decided that I needed to make a new one. After all, it wasn't a hard mouse to make -- quite simple in fact. Turned out in under an hour.
The new mouse was given whiskers, a slightly fatter body and a smaller tail. When given a choice between the old, torn apart mouse and the new, prettier mouse -- with whiskers! The choice was clear. The new mouse won. I set both of the mice in front of Toby (of course, after I had taken pictures) and let him choose. Straightaway, he went for the new one.
Who would blame him? :)






And now that I've told you this story, I am certain that you all are just dying to hear how to make one of these adorable little critters for your own kitty cats! Well! I will tell you!

Supplies:
1 skein of KnitPicks Andean Treasure (Fog)
Set of US 3 DPNs
Cotton batting, wool roving, anything you want to stuff it with
Needle
Waste yarn for optional eyes and whiskers

Cast on 8 stitches and divide them onto 4 dpns. Knit 1 round. Increase 1 stitch on each needle next round. Repeat these two steps until there are 10 stitches on each dpn – 40 stitches total.
Knit in the round until the mouse is your desired length.
Decrease 1 stitch on each needle. Knit 1 round. Repeat these two steps until there are only 4 stitches left. Place these 4 stitches on one needle and start knitting i-cord for the tail until the tail is the desired length.

After you’re done knitting, stuff it with whatever you’d like. My mouse is stuffed with some leftover scraps of yarn and bits and pieces of odd roving. Sew the cast-on end closed with a darning needle and some spare yarn. When you’re completely finished, you can embroider some eyes onto the mouse or leave it as is.

Really, you could make one of these with any waste yarn that you have. Toby tends to be a yarn snob and he goes absolutely crazy over any sort of yarn that is of a "high quality" (I can guarantee you, if it were made of acrylic, he wouldn't give it a second glance). That's why I stuffed it with scraps of wool roving/spinning scraps and it's made from baby alpaca. Yours can be out of anything you'd like. :)

Sesame Sweater (Post 2)

It's nearing the end!

This past week (week and a half), my tendonitis has come back with a vengeance. To give you an example of it's severity, it hasn't been this bad since last April when I was spending almost all of my time on the computer researching and typing up 20-30 page papers. I don't even know what's caused it this time around. Knitting? Piano? Light typing? Something at work? All the above?Friday though, I finally cracked. I was going to start knitting this sweater again, even if it did make my hands utterly useless. And it paid off! I'm almost done with the second sleeve now and I was able to seam both sides of the sweater to the back!
Now all that's left to do is finish up that second sleeve, block it, seam it. Then work on the buttonhole band and the collar. Then it will be finished! FINISHED!
I'm still a little paranoid about the sleeves being enormous and I do still think that I probably should have gone with the pattern for the large size instead of x-large, but hey. At least the body fits comfortably and the stripes (more or less) match up. It's all coming together. And thankfully it's coming together better than I originally thought it would.

After I'm finally done with this I think I'm moving onto socks. I have some gorgeous sock yarn that I'm going to use. And I haven't made socks in a really long time.

I'm Not A Hat Person

I have an abnormally large head. No, really, I do. And generally speaking, I really don't wear that many hats -- never have. For some reason though, I have been in a hat mood this winter. Maybe it's the impending move to Chicago and the knowledge that I will have day upon day of being stuck in frigid cold wind tunnels. Maybe it's just because I'm suddenly realizing that hats can be pretty darn stylish. In any case, I have been searching Ravelry for the cutest hat patterns that I can dig up.

This was when I found Le Slouch.
I wasn't really "taken" by the pattern until I saw some of the FOs that were featured on Ravelry. That's when I fell in love with it. I loved the seed stitch, I loved the way that it slouched down in that adorable way. I said to myself, "Self, this is the hat for you!" And so I went to City Knitting, picked up a couple skeins of Nashua Julia (in Geranium) and put myself to work!

First, I read the pattern wrong and I could not, for the life of me, figure out why it was decreasing in such a bizarre way. That was, until I realized that I had skipped over an entire paragraph of critical decreases. I was baffled as to why it wasn't "slouching" right. Well, of course it's not going to slouch right if you're forgetting to knit at least an inch of hat!
I actually did this twice -- the whole, missing that crucial paragraph. Which meant that I had to frog twice. *ribbit* Amazingly, I did not drop any stitches while doing this and once I finally realized what I was doing wrong, the thing actually looked similar to all of those other FOs that I had seen and admired so much on Ravelry! Hooray for Auna!

Ultimately, the hat took me about 4 days to knit. It would have only taken 2 had I not been stupid. I was thrilled that the hat actually fit my enormous cranium (without any alterations to the pattern!), and if anything, it was too big. Wait. It kind of was too big.
I wanted an "extra slouchy" hat, so I added a little bit of length onto it beyond the 6 (7+?)" that the pattern suggested. I kind of wish that I had stuck to what the pattern said in that regard because I can honestly stuff all of my hair into the thing and still have room for my cat (okay, maybe not, but there's still room for more cramming in there).
It's kind of heavy (it is two skeins worth of yarn), and as enormous as my head may be, the 2x2 rib really has a lot of give to it, and with one blow of those Chicago winds, Mr. Slouchers (yes, that's the hat's name) is going to go sailing off of my head.

Initially, I claimed that I would wear Mr. Slouchers all the time. It would never leave me. I would love it and care for it forever and ever. So far? It hasn't really gotten a whole lot of wear. My Clapotis teases it mercilessly (okay, not really).
Nevertheless, I really do like it. It looks pretty darn cute on me and it is nice and warm. That said, I'm already planning my next hat -- which hopefully, will get some better wear. I just bought some yarn (Lamb's Pride) for a felted cloche that I will be making in the not-too-distant-future (i.e. after my sweater sleeve is finished). Hopefully that one will fit. And hopefully, I won't have to worry about that flying off my head at the first big gust of wind that blows by.

Sesame Sweater (Post 1)

A while ago, I promised myself that I would finally knit a sweater. I started knitting a tank top last spring. Unfortunately, that kind of failed miserably. I finished the back piece and it was at least 3" too short (and that was after adding a couple extra inches anyway). After waiting it out a couple of months, I decided that I would start knitting a sweater. After all, there are a lot more sweater patterns out there to knit than there are things for summer wear, right?

After much browsing, I became very interested in MagKnits' Sesame Sweater. After getting a nice gift certificate to City Knitting for my birthday, I bought all the yarn that I would need to knit up the largest size of the sweater.

It's been a long work in progress. The pieces themselves are actually not too difficult to knit up. It didn't take me long at all to knit the back. It didn't take me long to knit up the sides. It's taken me about a day to knit up one of the sleeves. For whatever reason, it's just a bit difficult to actually work up the motivation to knit up each individual piece.
I just finished knitting one of the sleeves. I am very much afraid that this thing is going to be huge. Damn my large chest circumference. :P

Further updates to come. Hopefully I will be finishing all of it up in the next week or two.