Something From Nothing

I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.

-Oscar Wilde

I talk about my stash occasionally on this blog (note to self: take some pictures). Today, let's talk about the non-stash. I know we all have one. I'm talking about the partial balls of yarn that even the most OCD of us don't list on our stash spreadsheets. In my case, I separate out the sock leftovers from the regular ones. And while the sock leftovers are quickly overflowing their basket, the regular leftovers fill an entire wicker laundry basket by themselves. Sure, they don't count in my yardage, but they sure do take up space.

Steathily, in the last few months, I took some promising skeins and matched them with some promising projects in my Ravelry queue. And there you have it - something from nothing.

Halley's Comet Hat
Pattern: by Marnie McLean, free online
Yarn: Cotton-Ease in red (not quite as orange as it appears on the screen), about 1/2 skein
Needles: US8
Notes: Speedy pattern. Looks a lot better on.
Best Thing About This Project: Something from nothing.

Huckleberry Ascot
Pattern: from Interweave Knits, Holiday 2007
Yarn: (I think . . .) Lionbrand Wool-ease Sportweight in blue, about 1/2 skein
Needles: US 6
Notes: Great fun pattern, very clear, and intuitive once you get into it.
Best Thing About This Project: Something from nothing.

And, last but not least (and please ignore the photo issues - I just learned that you can edit photos in iPhoto and while it made the colors much more true, I can't fix what I did with the border. . .), a kerchief.

Apres-Ski Kerchief
Pattern: from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Knit Picks Decadence (now discontinued, which is too bad, because it was a great yarn for quick Christmas gifts!)
Needles: US 9
Notes: Technically the reverse stockinette stitch is the right side, but it actually looks good both ways.
Best Thing About This Project: Something from nothing.

Something from nothing doesn't just apply to knitting. Last week I stocked my freezer with homemade chicken stock.
The bones from a full chicken, and peelings from all my veggies that had been hanging out in the freezer waiting for this day. Gosh I feel industrious!

Fun in the Cold - Hat Edition

After the scarves and the mittens, you didn't expect the hats to get neglected, did you? Never fear!

First, the oldies-but-goodies category: These are all made of Lion Brand Homespun, a standard chain store yarn which still holds a sweet spot in my heart for the many many many (20? 30? who can count that high?) garter stitch scarves I made from it when I first started knitting. Before we branched out in yarns, we branched out in knitting and started making hats. These garter stitch hats are some of the most attractive-to-wear hats I own, actually. A bit berret-ish, if you will. And that rainbow hat was made for me by my college roommate, Shoshana (who, by the way, started a cooking blog here and is the happy recipient of all the baby wear for the world's cutest baby).

But I digress - more hats: Actually, related to that digression, the brown cabled hat it made from quivut (oh la la!) that Shosh brought back from her honeymoon in Alaska. Good friends bring you yarn from their honeymoon!

Also featured above are the swatch cap for Am Kamin (which I wore, with it's sweater, last weekend), the gorgeous Stained Glass Hat, and, partially hidden, the hat whose name I forget (last featured here, during the memorable Knitting Olympics). If only I had more than one head and could wear more than one at a time . . .

And, last but not least, the one manly hat of the collection: Gosh I love having a husband who likes traditional knitting designs!

Coming tomorrow, more traditional knitting - lots of progress on my Dale sweater.

Baby Hat Trick, Plus One

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
-George Bernard Shaw

Yesterday we saw the lovely results of stash put to good use warming heads. Well, apparently good things come in threes, and then some.

The Most Adorable Baby Cap Ever
Pattern: Sweet Baby Cap (free pattern here)
Yarn: cotton sock yarn scraps
Needles: US 2
Notes: Great easy pattern, although an awful lot of stitches for a baby hat.
Best Thing About This Project: I liked it so much, I made another one in self-striping sock scraps!

In other exciting news, it's incredible how much I like my job sometimes. And I'm not just saying that because one of my patients brought me homemade Rocky Road fudge today. (Although that was a bonus.) Clinic is just fun. Not to mention that life is just so much better when you get to sleep on a regular basis. Expect some great progress shots of my Dale coming soon.

Hat Trick

Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding the third.
-Marge Piercy

Guess what I've been doing today? Wrapping Christmas presents! Before you think I'm crazy early, let me remind you that I have a December 1st mailing deadline to get to a certain someone in Iraq. And I like to be early. And don't you think he needs an Advent package, too? That should go out next week, most likely.

And once I got started . . . So let's look at a few of the presents for folks who don't really read the blog.
Tell me, since I seem not to be able to judge, are these suitable for men, or are they very feminine?

Welt Cap x2
Pattern: Welt Cap from the Green Mountain Spinnery Pattern Book
Yarn: Mountain Mohair remnants from their remnant bin, and leftover from earlier projects
Needles: US7 circs
Notes: I'm totally in love with this hat pattern. Easy. Way more entertaining than it should be. And great for leftovers.
Best Thing About This Project: Busting the stash.


Odessa
Pattern: Odessa by Grumperina
Yarn: KnitPicks Ambrosia, sadly discontinued, a DK-weight blend of lovely softness
Needles: US5
Notes: I decided to try bead knitting for the first time, and it was fun! Great pattern.
Best Thing About This Project: The perfect use for this yarn!

More stash-busting projects coming this week!

A Man and His Hat

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.

-Henry David Thoreau

Since we're all so excited about the impending return home of my favorite model of handknits (and do wish him a good drive cross-country, won't you), I thought today would be a lovely day to show off his new hat. Well, new as of February, anyway.

Norwegian Star Hat

Pattern: from Hats On!

Yarn: Cascade 220 in the green and Paton's Classic Merino in the natural. You will note that the colors are the inverse of the mittens here.

Needles: US 7 or 8, which turned out to be a little large

Notes: Love this book, love this pattern, don't love that somehow my knitting has loosened up over the years. This grew like crazy in the wash, so much so that I needed to do a little intentional fulling.
Best Thing About This Project: The photo below.

Loose Knitting

I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a part of hell will break loose -

it'll be much harder to detect.

-George Carlin

I've been doing a much better job lately of knitting than I have of blogging, as I mentioned last time. In addition to flying along on my big projects, I've had a steady stream of small portable projects. (What? The Dale with 25 50-gram balls of wool is not so portable? Hmmm . . .) As part of my grand strategy to not get too distracted from those 25 balls of wool, I've been following along with the Loose Knit Group on Ravelry/Yahoo. Every month has a theme for gifts to make in (theoretical) preparation for the next holiday season. While I've made a few things for the gift basket, mostly I've just really enjoyed the theme aspect. Reorganizing my Ravelry queue, playing within the rules, well, you know me and themes . . . February was for hats. While I didn't go quite as crazy as January's mitten month, I did make a few. A suprise favorite was this easy ribbed hat. Fun, easy, and check out the nice way the ribs swirl into the decreases. This is just a lovely hat all around, and quite versatile for the gift basket.

1/4 Ribbed Hat
Pattern: Cashmere Ribbed Hat from FigKnits
Yarn: Mountain Colors Weavers Wool Quarters in an unknown color
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony circs, US7 - nice and smooth
Notes: A perfect pattern. No mods.
Best Thing About This Pattern: The perfect use for this yarn. Can I move into the Mountain Colors Studio?

March was for socks. I very well may finish my 3rd pair for the month today before the witching hour, but I only have photos of one. This not-terribly-exciting pair was born out of necessity after one cold early-March day when I had to - gasp! - wear store-bought black socks with my uniform. It was truely awful.

Another Pair of Uniform Socks
Pattern: 1x1 ribbed cuff, 3x1 ribbed body, with heel flap and regular toe
Yarn: Black Sheep Wildfoote in black and accents in Blood Red
Needles: US 1 dpns
Notes: A speedy knit. This yarn crocks like crazy though, so watch out.
Best Thing About This Project: That splash of color? Our little secret. Because these socks are 100% uniform-compliant.

Coming soon . . . The return of Time Machine Tuesday (anyone else have some classic knits to share?), more socks, another hat, and the Dale Salt Lake City steaming towards the finish line.

A Bird in the Hand

It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.
-Aesop

I actually finished these a while ago, but it took nearly two weeks to be home at the same time as some sunlight. Too bad it's already looking like spring in San Diego . . .

Bird in Hand Mittens
Pattern: Kate Gilbert's incredibly well-written Bird in Hand
Yarn: Cascade 220 - French Blue (aka Cobalt Heather) and Natural
Needles: US 2 dpns - and they came out perfectly on gauge. I was a litlte worried about their length, but most of that is actually in the cuff. The thumbs and hands are perfect.
Notes: No mods. Who could pass up a gorgeous braid?
Best Thing About This Project: Maybe I say this too often, but these are definitely my favorite mittens.

Mittens have completely captivated me this winter - so many choices, so many lovely patterns. I still have two pairs in the works, and nary a hat in sight. . . . in spite of the plaintive cries of my poor neglected husband who doesn't own a single handknit hat. Don't we all feel so sorry for him? He does.

The Wayback Machine

Every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last.
-Charles Dickens

This is a meme I saw a while back, and while I'm definitely too late for the associated contest, etc., I thought it was a neat idea.

Last year this time I was not quite so on top of my Christmas list knitting, and I was also making strawberry hats for brand-new triplets.

This year, the triplets are big enough to finally wear them: Yes, I know this is probably the worst photo to ever appear on my blog, but it's actually raining in San Diego. A nice, good, drenching rain with a dark grey sky. I am utterly delighted. Another cause for my delight, I get to curl up with some hot cocoa after work and knit Christmas stockings. Kits available here.

Another Hat for the Christmas Basket

And to tell the truth I don't want to let go of the wrists of idleness,
I don't want to sell my life for money,
I don't even want to come in out of the rain.
-Mary Oliver

If you're lucky enough to get invited to a friend's house for Thanksgiving, you can actually make good progress on some knitting. If you happen to be having a really good time and stay out late-ish, well, you might not have photos. So while I'm off to work today, let me distract you with yet another check mark on my Christmas list.

Simple Cabled Hat Pattern: mine. Cast on 80 sts, rib/cable, try on as you go, and decrease in pattern when done.
Yarn: a random tweed from the stash
Needles: US 8 bamboo circular
Notes: Gosh, I'm beginning to feel virtuous using so much old stash :)
Best Thing About This Project: Check another box off my list.

One of the best things about giving handknitted gifts is getting to avoid the Black Friday shopping mania. Good luck to those of you brave enough to attempt it!

A Hat for the Christmas Basket

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform a million realities.
-Maya Angelou

Slowly but steadily I've been making progress on those two mutually-related goals: The Christmas Basket and Clean Slate by 2008. Here's another WIP turned into an FO.
Shedir
Pattern: Shedir from Knitty
Yarn: KnitPicks Ambrosia, leftover from Rowena
Needles: US 5 dpns
Notes: Not too hard or fiddly to make, but ever the more annoying because I didn't have a 16" circular needle in this size. How is it that I don't have every needle?
Best Thing About This Project: Stash gone, needles freed. It's a win-win.

Fake But Fun

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.
-Henry David Thoreau

This hat is the second most fun project I've knit in a while (see Sunday for the most fun one).

Fake Isle Hat
Pattern: from Magknits - go knit this pattern!
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden in a random single skein and an oddball of a worsted weight brown yarn, the identity of which is lost to the vagaries of time
Needles: US 7 Addi turbos
Notes: I knit the small size as written and had plenty of leftovers of both the whole skin of silk garden and the partial skein of that random brown yarn. For my next one - and there will be a next one - the knitting needs fewer stitches, smaller needles, or both. Otherwise, it's perfect.
Best Thing About This Project: I finished listening to HP7 while knitting it. I knew Snape wasn't evil!

The Rose Window

You are responsible forever for what you have tamed.
You are responsible for your rose.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I love Rose Windows. They appear in wonderful places, like the the missions of San Antonio and San Diego. Even in the church where I was baptized, and where my husband and I are getting married again this April. So imagine my delight when inspiration struck and I was able to finally knit the Stained Glass Hat.

Back in another world, another time, pre-blog (imagine!) I planned to make my mom a sweater for Christmas. I was still living in a wonderful place where there were nice day trips to take to scenic places that weren't completely destroyed by wildfires. But I digress. I took a trip to the Green Mountain Spinnery to buy the yarn for the sweater. And in the process discovered their remnants bin. And the pattern for this hat. And so I picked up all the bright colors and have been waiting for more than two years to make this hat. Well, the right time comes around eventually. And I'm sure glad it did. Because I love Rose Windows.

Stained Glass Hat
Pattern: The Stained Glass Hat from Green Mountain Spinnery
Yarn: Mountain Mohair - my new favorite yarn
Needles: US7 dpns
Notes: I changed the colors from their 3 selected colorways and ended up using only 5 colors instead of 6.
Best Thing About This Project: The Christmas basket is staying empty here. These are all mine. And so will the matching mittens be.

Colors Colors Everywhere

Beauty seen is never lost, God's colors are all fast.
-John Greenleaf Whittier

Houston, we have a problem.These are, in no particular order of importance, the Baltic Mittens from Folk Mittens in Dale Heilo, the Fake Isle Hat from Magknits in Silk Garden and a random oddball, the Stained Glass Hat from Green Mountain Spinnery in Mountain Mohair, and the Ladybug Sweater from Dale of Norway in Baby Ull.

I couldn't help myself. Two FO posts on the hats coming soon. At least my November UFO nominated itself (the ladybug sweater, last seen in action an embarrassing 15 months ago).