Burgundy Bliss?

I should not be in charge of titles. They rarely work out well… ie see the title for this post.

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Anyways, I finally finished one of my knitted shrug plans though it is not in any way the shrug it was intended to be.

Remember last year how I said I was going to make a Cardilero?

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That didn’t happen.

Did I tell you last spring that I frogged it?

I cast on early on in the summer, and honestly that one didn’t make it far either.

But then I got a library card. And visited the knitting section. And found this book. It intrigued me, as I very much dislike seaming and finishing knits.

The cable was actually from a shrug pattern, Serenity Shrug… but how often do I actually follow patterns?

Especially knitted ones.

So I took the lovely cable and followed nearly the entire instructions for the back… Maybe mixing up which size I was making. That happens a bunch. And then I got close to the sleeves.

Now I was making this in the heat of July. Yes I was indoors, and yes I had air conditioning, but anytime its super exhausting outside, you can feel it inside too, right? So why was I making a fall-weight shrug thing in July?

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Don’t expect an answer for that.

I don’t know why I couldn’t understand what the pattern was asking me, but it just wasn’t working for me, so I decided to take out some circular needles and zip away on my own.

The cap sleeves were accomplished by short rows, though they looked terrible the first time around. I had to frog pretty much all the short rows of my first attempt, mainly because then (and realistically now) I had difficulties understanding how short rows were meant to work, and I was also attempting to correct the imbalance of the back of the arcscye being too far back on my shoulders. The second time around I ignored it. I’m never going to see it!

The second attempt was also created with the intention of almost creating an as-you-go-sleevehead.

After completing the cap sleeves on both sides, I decided that I probably would wear it even less if I continued to fiddle and make the sleeves longer. So I stopped and edged the sleeves and main body opening with my fuzzy German souvenir yarn and called it a day.

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If it looks a little puffy from the back, well… I don’t have to look at it! And its warm, which resolves many looks related issues. It also doesn’t help that my tripod is short, even for me, so the views are all from below, adding natural puffyness (and the fact that my tiny bow on the back of my Nettie got in the way).

And there you have it!

P.S. In the pictures it does seem to blend well with my chocolate Nettie, don’t you think?

Stashbusting Kree!

So I may be on a bit of a Stargate kick, but who can say no to Teal’c? And don’t forget the apostrophe.

In other news, after my sock-high I was interested in doing some stashbusting. After all, those sock cost about twelve bucks, and the cowl an additional 6, which I’m totally not regretting, but there’s something about the subject of free that I love.

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Granted, free means I’ve had this yarn for so long that although I know exactly where I got it, there’s no way of knowing how much it cost. It may have ended up a birthday gift. I’m a picky gift-receiver, which my family knows well, so I tend to end up picking out gifts knowing I’ll receive them all trussed up for a “surprise” a few months later.

In this case, the deep blue yarn, Sirdar Snuggly Domino DK, was bought at a Superbowl Sunday sale about 6 years ago. Maybe even 7… I think I even deigned to watch 10 minutes of the game, before I gave up and ran downstairs to hide out until the snacks were served.

The Schachenmayr nomotta Baros, otherwise known as the aqua yarn, was bought in Germany on my second trip to visit family there. It was on sale, which was good because I had a limited number of euros to spend. Souvenir yarn is often too difficult to part with, so this was stashed for 5 years.

Definitely high time to make something. On both counts.

Both of these projects had basis in a one skein book, 101 Yarn Shop Favorites.

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My new hat is technically the Aran Tam. I say technically… I should have followed directions and knit the beginning on smaller straight needles, but I was confused, and it was my second go, having tried a bulky yarn first which would have made a monster sized hat. So I trudged ahead. Then I moved on, and managed to get some kind of counting wrong, resulting in a messed up pattern. You can’t tell with the surprisingly busy yarn, but I think I’ll have another go at some point. Also, the band is too wide, due to the aforementioned needle issue, so I’m considering threading some elastic through the ribbing. Still have another ball… Now what to make? Maybe some wristlets…

 

The wristband had basis in the Cabled Headband. I say had basis… I took the starting point and just knitted without increases or decreases wristuntil I made it tightly around my wrist. Sewed it up with my handy knitpicker, and I got a lovely wristband! Handy when my wrists decide they hate knitting. Or typing. Or cooking. Or moving. Darn that violin playing from an early age! Messing up my wrists forevermore.

The wristband yarn is soon to be finished in a yoke for a shirt capacity… I misplaced a piece, and once I locate it, you’ll hear about it!