Downtime...

Most of my knitting is done while I'm working on the road, thus when work is in "downtime" my knitting seems to do the same.

I've been home for about 2 mos now and I've not completed much. I was working on a blanket while on the road and was able to get that done once home. Perhpas unfortunately, the next project was to be a blanket also. These take too long to get that sense of accomplishment that keeps one going.

I managed to cast on and get going, but got side tracked by a yarn sale and did some slippers. I was very happy with the results and was able to get back to the blanket for a while. That slowly dropped off though as it seemed to be getting nowhere.

I'm just about to the end of skein 3 of 4, so the light at the end of the tunnel is starting to glow and I hope to get this finished within a couple weeks.

Once I finish I hope to post patterns and pics of these recent projects. Then I'm going to work on smaller & funner projects...

Windy City Twist... FInished

Finished this scarf for myself after taking a brief hiatis to do some christmas projects. Ended up liking the pattern and the way it worked out very much as the scarf took on some length.

Fingerless Gloves to match...

After I made my Windy City Twist I still had some of the yarn left so I decided to work on some wrist warmers. I wanted to use the basic rib but also wanted to add in some interest with cables resembling a twist. I couldn't find a pattern was working for me, so I just got started with the rib. Then I decided to just start putting in cables and see how it worked out. It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I like it and I made it up so that somehow makes it better :-) It was kind of complicated getting the cables to work on the left glove, but making it work backwards on the right glove was even more of a challenge. With that being said, here is my pattern:

BOTH GLOVES: CO 36 st on 7 dpns

k1, p1 in the round until ~4 1/2 inches

LEFT GLOVE

k1, p1, k16, *k1, p1, repeat from *; work this for three rows or ~ 5 inches

Begin the cable pattern

1) k1, p1, k2, c4b, k4, c4f, k2, *k1, p1, repeat from *

2) (begin knitting out of the round) (k1, p1)x8, k1, p16, k1, p1

3) k1, p1, k1, c4b, k6, c4f, k1, *k1, p1, repeat from *

4-6) even rows repeat row 2

5) k1, p1, k2, c4f, k4, c4b, k2, *k1, p1, repeat from *

7) k1, p1, k3, c4f, k2, c4b, k3, *k1, p1, repeat from *

8) (begin knitting in the round) k1, p1, k16, *k1, p1, repeat from *

9) k1, p1, k4, c4f, c4b, k4, *k1, p1, repeat from *

10-20) even rows repeat row 8

11) k1, p1, k4, c4b, c4f, k4, *k1, p1, repeat from *

13) k1, p1, k3, c4b, k2, c4f, k3, *k1, p1, repeat from *

15) repeat row 1

17) repeat row 3

19) k1, p1, c4b, k8, c4f, *k1, p1, repeat from *

21-22) repeat row 8

23) bind off

RIGHT GLOVE

(k1, p1) x9, k16, k1, p1; work this for three rows or ~ 5 inches

Begin the cable pattern

1) (k1, p1) x9, k2, c4b, k4, c4f, k3, p1

2) (begin knitting out of the round) k1, p17, (k1, p1) x9

3) (k1, p1) x9, k1, c4b, k6, c4f, k2, p1

4-6) even rows repeat row 2

5) (k1, p1) x9, k2, c4f, k4, c4b, k3, p1

7) (k1, p1) x9, k3, c4f, k2, c4b, k4, p1

8) (begin knitting in the round) (k1, p1) x9, k17, p1

9) (k1, p1) x9, k4, c4f, c4b, k5, p1

10-20) even rows repeat row 8

11) (k1, p1) x9, k4, c4b, c4f, k5, p1

13) (k1, p1) x9, k3, c4b, k2, c4f, k4, p1

15) repeat row 1

17) repeat row 3

19) (k1, p1) x9, c4b, k8, c4f, k1, p1

21-22) repeat row 8

23) bind off

Kitchen Towel

Not the best pic, but I'm so happy with this I had to post ASAP! I followed this pattern and used my fav Lily Sugar 'n Cream in Potpourri Ombre on size 7 needles. It took one skein for the body of the towel and a little of a 2nd skein to complete the decreasing on the handle section. This is part of a Christmas gift and I need to make at least one more and then possibly matching dish clothes. Time is running out and I now realize I should've started knitting these gifts earlier!

Sneaky Snake

Sneaky Snake is done and Jonathan is happy! He decided on adding the eyes and tongue and I think that makes it extra cute!

I think this yarn worked so great for this project... at some angles you don't notice the cables and some you do.

I improvised on the end of the pattern a bit so that both sides would match. After finishing row 24 of my last set of the pattern I followed the pattern backwards starting with row 9. Once I had cast off I found some black yarn and knotted two pieces on for eyes and a bit of pink yarn was knotted on for the tongue.

Sneaky Snake

Ooo-hoo... I'm working TWO projects at once! Look out! Haha... so I had this green unknown yarn and thought it looked #1 great for a boy, and #2 like it should be a creature. I decided on snake and went looking for a pattern. I found one that fit just right. As I started going, I wasn't sure this yarn would work because of all the texture in it. I've done two repeats and I'm starting to think it's just right. The extra texture is working with this and you can still see the snake, it's just not totally obvious... kind of like a real snake, could be hiding in the grass or something. I might even add a little pink tongue when it's finished!

Windy City Twist

Finally starting to twist, might work out well after all... This twisty scarf was not an easy start. I began using a pattern that worked the length of the scarf, but I didn't have large enough needles. I tried to compensate by doubling the cast on stitches and was at 800 stitches on the circ needles when they broke! I then had a knotted mess of yarn... I took two days to get started and another two to unknot the mess!

I'm now two days into this version knitting across... I was a little worried as I didn't see how this would start to twist, but I've gotten to a point where I'm seeing it now. I'm just hoping I can finish it in less than a week so I'll have it for my trip to the Windy City!