Anniversary and a new project idea

Yesterday was the first anniversary of this blog! This is actually the official 100th post. (I miscounted on Tuesday because the 'total post' count including the one unpublished draft I have).

With the weather turning cold, I thought it would be good to knit yet another scarf. But wait! I actually plan to wear this one. I want to use this chunky  homespun red yarn - it will knit up quickly and it feels good against my skin.

I wanted to do a different pattern than the previous ones so I went looking online. I found a variation on the fan stitch but it wanted 21 stitches per row, which was too wide for my taste. I knitted up a swatch with the blue scarf yarn and didn't like how it turned out.

The stitch I plan on using is called the knotted moss stitch - it's a multiple of 4 and has a lot of knitting front and back and purling together. I've never done increases before so I hope I end up with the right number of stitches.

In other news, I apparently knit into the back instead of the front when I knit normally. Who knew?

The Latch Hook Elk - Part 10

100th post! Woohoo!

This was taken at 90 rows - I have exactly 22 more rows left to go. There's only a few more squares of antlers left and then I only have the mountain and the sky left. I've already checked the diagram - the last 6 rows are completely light blue.

The W&M Hat - Part 2

This piece has been coming along nicely. I'm up to 23 rows now.

I started with 90 stitches and after 10 rows decreased to 80 stitches. When I get to 40 rows I will do a lot more decreasing, but for now it's a lot of knit, knit, knit.

The Latch Hook Elk - Part 9

I've gotten to 80 rows, or about 3/4 of the entire wall hanging. That leaves only about 32 more rows.

The ending is actually a bit harder than the beginning, mostly due to the fact that I have to work around the latched part. I don't want the bottom edge to touch the floor and I don't want to kneel on it because that ruins the frayed edges of the bottom. I also don't want to fold it over because that creases the canvas and the yarn.

That pretty much leaves standing up and leaning over, which is not good for my back. I do still have a few more rows to do before it gets to that point.

The Latch Hook Elk - Part 8

I have reached my least favorite part of this project - running out of yarn. This is at about 70 rows. I have completely run out of light gray and dark gray. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have more squares to do. This leads to Executive Decisions about which light gray can replaced by another color like white or medium gray and which ones I can keep as light gray.

The reason this is happening at all is because of the yarn is badly manufactured. Specially, the honey, the light grey and the dark gray all untwist at the ends.

This is a honey yarn with frayed ends next to a dark brown yarn with straight ends. The yarn actually untwists as I pull it through. This means I throw out a disproportionate amount of light grays and honeys than I do whites and greens. There was just not enough extra.

I did make Executive Decisions when I got to that part and carefully portioned out the grays. I'm past that part and into the antlers now, so I hope that this problem won't show up again.

At least, I can hope.

The W&M Hat - Part 1

This is my newest project, the W&M Hat. A few of my friends have taken up knitting hats and we've convinced a few other to start scarves. We have a little knitting area in the computer lab - it's really cute.

This is my first time on circular needles and my first time knitting something that wasn't a rectangular piece. I hope it turns out alright.

The Latch Hook Elk - Part 7

Some time to work has gotten me to the halfway mark - about 56 rows. It's time to start on the sky and use up that blue.

I only have two unused bundles left. I hope I run out of green marks on the diagram before I run out of green threads.

The elk body is mostly done, with just a bit of the head and all of the antlers left. I may be able to get this done before December, regardless of Thanksgiving, if I can knock out a few more rows this weekend.

The Latch Hook Elk - Part 6

It's really amazing how much I can do when I can set aside time for it. Saturday's work brought me to about 40 rows, or 1/3 of the entire wall hanging. See all the green on the right? That was the progress I made on Saturday. This puts me definitely ahead of schedule.