Not a Cold Head in the House!

So, I've gotten really into knitting hats. I've found that thin stripes are a great way to break up a plain stockinette beanie, and a nice way to use up the last of a yarn. I think my friends/family members have begun to suspect my gifts in advance, I've either got to get new friends or start knitting new things!

Here are a few of my favorite hats that have come off my needles since my last posting:

This is a bulky-weight yarn on about size 10.5 needles, the idea was to make it warm and quick! It's a basic 1x1 rib with a stockinette body.
I gave this one to my brother Esteban for his birthday on the 9th of September. His response was something along the lines of: "Thanks, I'll add it to the other hats you gave me."

This one is a sport weight hat, the purple-ish color is wool (Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Clematis Heather) and the blue is a cotton blend (Knit Picks' unbelievably soft Comfy Sport in Planetarium). I used size 5 needles and the stranded color technique, which happens to the only one I have really mastered. I wanted to use up the rest of the Clematis from my Hermione Hearts Ron hat, and I had a relatively limited option of sport yarns to go along with, as you can tell I ran out of purple towards the top and finished it off with the blue. I rather wish now I had given it a blue base with purple stripes, especially considering how soft the Comfy Sport is, but you live and learn!

This one is made of a yarn I got last Halloween from my friend Zach. He used it as "hair" in his Blake Henderson from Workaholics costume, and I noticed he had quite a bit left; I kindly offered to take it off of his hands, and he obliged. It is acrylic, Red Heart yarn (in Cafe Latte and Dark Brown) and was knitted with US8 circular needles. The great thing about acrylic is that it is very durable, cheap, warm, and washes well; the bad thing about acrylic is that it is rough on the hands when knitting. While as a finished piece it isn't intolerably rough, rubbing the yarn across the fingers repeatedly can verily cause some sort of sore (mine is always on the top knuckle of my right ring finger, because of the way I wrap the yarn). 

I gave this hat to my friend Richard for his birthday, on the 30th of August. It was his first hat from me and he seemed very excited. In fact, in spite of the sauna-like temperature of his house filled with party people, he wore it around for a good ten minutes before I convinced him to save it for the fall! 

I'm in the middle of knitting up another version of this hat, with even tan and brown stripes, and plan to give it to Zach as a thank you for the donation to the Carmen's-Yarn-Stock Fund. I should start making cards of some sort to further encourage this behavior. Hopefully he'll spread the word and before I know it I will be bathing in yarn!! Really, these things should be tax-deductible. 

Oh, the Knits You'll Knit!

I haven't been doing quite as much knitting as I did the past few semesters; I blame video games. But I have been able to make some nice hats to give my friends, and was able to finish my very first pair of socks (luckily, it's not the size of the sock, but the motion of the needles!). Now I have some baby stuff and no one to give it to! I'll most likely donate them to charity. The question is, which one?

Senior Year at Maryland :-/

I have mixed feelings about my senior year at UMD. For one, its nice to know soon I'll be going into the real world with no real obligations. On the other hand, I'll be going into the real world with no real plans and a degree in Psychology. So, I figured I might as well try to make some money now. I'm working in the costume shop at the performing arts center, and I have my Etsy shop. The latter hasn't been too fruitful, but I remain hopeful!

More projects and patterns to come as soon as I have time! Till then, check out my Etsy shop and Ravelry page

Find me on Etsy!

So, I put a few things up on Etsy but I really lack the business prowess to put effort into selling them. They're mostly hats, pretty straight-forward, and some craft notions.


I'm working on taking some better pictures and coming up with a shop theme, but per usual things are busy in the Connor household. Maybe when I graduate (gulp) I'll be able to make a bit of money. Who knows?

Cabled Baby Mitts

I wanted to make a set of newborn mitts to match this Reversible Cabled Baby Hat, so I made up this pattern. Mine were a bit too long so I shortened these. Feel free to steal it, but of course for personal use only. I wrote out the pattern (the abbreviated form in parenthesis)

Yarn: Peaches & Creme, Patio Pinks(Worsted) I found it at a thrift store and I wanted to put this one skein to good use
Needles: US7 (4.5mm) DPNs
CO20 (join in the round)
-8 rows in 1x1 rib (*k1, p1* 8 rows)
-k 8 rows in stockinette (k across)
-k 2, slip two onto cable needle, knit next two, then knit the slipped stitches (*k2, cbl2, k2*) across row, leaving a 4-stitch cable in total
-k 1 row across
-begin decrease: k8, knit 2 together(*k8, k2tg*) across
-k across row
-(*k7, k2tg*)
-k across
-(*k6, k2tg*)
-k across
-(*k5, k2tg*)
-k across
-k2tg across
String through and pull tight

I couldn't help myself

I ended up buying more!
I just love Knit Picks yarn, it never disappoints. Opening the package is like Christmas.
From now on, no buying yarn until I finish at least a fourth of my current stash.

Irish-Inspired Green Beanie for Dad!

I decided I wanted to make a ribbed hat for my dad, I had this wonderful Irish-themed aran yarn from Knit Picks and I just decided to wing it.

I used size 8 interchangeable acrylic circulars, bamboo DPNs to shape the top.
CO90 (my dad's head was 23 inches around, I might go for a different number next time)
*K2, P1* around until the piece measures about 9 inches (you can make it longer or shorter depending on how you want the fold to look)

Crown:
*K2TG, P1, K2, P1* across
*K1, P1* 1 rnd
*K2tg, P2tg* across
*K1, P1* 1 rnd
*P2tg* across
weave yarn through the ends and pull tight

Slouchy Hats For Erroneeee!

I finally finished this hat! I started it a month ago and I picked it back up yesterday. It felt really good weaving in those ends!

I actually got this yarn at a thrift store, my favorite part was the swirly design that ended up on the top, the rest of it sort of looks blue-cow-y.

I generally look horrible in hats (I gots a big ol' head) so I gave it to my friend Scott. Granted, he was asleep when he accepted it. He just sleepily put it on his head and lay back down.

Holiday Knitting

Its that time of year again! God, I love the holidays. Mostly because I love giving presents, and I love having an excuse to knit! The best part is trying to personalize each gift. The hard part is trying to figure out if they would like it. Most patterns are at least slightly outdated, so its up to me to tweak them to suit my needs. I sometimes just cut out the middle man and ask my friends what they want me to knit them. I show them the pattern and some yarn choices. I usually deviate some from that but it at least gives me an idea of what they like.

Take this ribbed cowl. I knit it for myself and my friend said she really liked it. She asked me to make her one. I asked her what color she wanted and she said the very same one. Which was a relief because I happened to have an extra skein of that yarn!
I hope I can accommodate my Jewish friends and can get some done before Hanukkah! Its coming so early this year.

Baggie baggie baggie can't you see...

So I made this little baggie to put Nina's bday present in, a hand-knit thong! I still haven't finished the thong but I finished the baggie. I kinda just made up this pattern because I wanted something flat-knit but with holes to see whats inside. I'll post the pattern here for anyone interested.

Baggie:
CO23
Work stock for 8 rows, slipping first stitch purlwise
Sl 1 (K2tg, k2tg, yo, yo) across row
sl first stitch, stockinette for 14 rows
*Sl 1 (K2tg, yo) till last 2, k2. Next row Sl 1, purl across. Repeat for 8 rows.*
Sl 1, work stockinette for 34 rows
Repeat *
Sl 1 work stockinette for 8 rows
Sl 1 (K2tg, k2tg, yo, yo) across rows
Work stockinette 8 rows, BO
Seam sides, RS in. Then loop scrap yarn through the top loops.

Happy Father's Day! Oh, wait.

Well, last week I finally finished my Father's Day scarf for my dad. Better late than never, and its the thought that counts, right? Its 90 degrees outside anyway.

Shrug #2!

All done and given to my sister. This one was made from wool yarn unlike the last which was cotton. Its also machine washable, which is always good.

Summer Projects

This knitting thing is lasting longer than many expected, including myself. Besides convincing myself it can be somehow related to feminism I have also found it to be rather relaxing, interesting, and thrifty. Yes, three adjectives in a row. Score.

Right now I'm working on a Father's Day scarf (more like a end-of-August scarf at this rate) along with a series of dishcloths to replace those my roommate has taken with her into Columbia Heights. So far I've finished two small ones out of leftover yarn from my shrug, one heart shaped one and a squarish one, but they're basically useless because they're too small to hang from the oven handle or to dry anything substantial. In an effort not to waste my precious yarn (my preeciousss) I decided to shred some cotton t-shirts to see what happens when I knit them up. I tried to make it a good 1-inch wide strip but it probably varies between 1/4 inch and 1.5 inch, with an average of about 1 inch I'd say. This first one is coming out alright, I decided to do a k2 row, p2 row repeat because I couldn't chose between stockinette and garter stitch. I have another ball of t-shirt yarn to use so maybe the next one I'll try to cable or something cool like that.

knit-a-lodeon

So sometimes I like to take videos of me knitting while watching TV in a snuggie, what's it to ya? I wanted to see what I looked like when I knit. Now I know how I look to the rest of the world, absolutely ridiculous.
I'm working on an Antro-Inspired Capelet for my sister, this time in a 100% wool Tidepool Heather instead of a cotton-blend Ivory. I hope she likes it!

Little dudes

I'm gonna start making some of these little dudes to use up my leftover yarn from my projects. I only have one set of double-pointed needles and they're size 3 metal ones I bought before I even knew how to use them. I couldn't make the ears the way the pattern said to (I kept losing track of which needle to use next) so I just made them flat with stockinette stitch in the middle and k1 on the edges, they are only 4 stitches wide. Also, my seaming rather sucks ass. All in all I rather like this little dude, I might include him with my dad's father's day gift.

Scarflet Done!

All done! I decided to sequin the flap-thingies because I messed up one part on one side and then I had to even it out. I rather like how it came out! Next project- a scarf for dad, hopefully by father's day!

Potholders for Momma!

I was planning on knitting my mom some sort of shawl or scarf for her birthday, but she insisted she needed a potholder so I started knitting one intermittently quite some time ago. Needless to say I was quite bored by the project and decided to unravel it recently and start over, but this time doubling up the tweed orange wool yarn I had in my stash with a red Knit Picks wool for felting purposes and extra insulation. I rather like how they turned out, though I like the last one I knit the best because I decided to ditch the complicated stockinette deal I had going and just knit a garter potholder. Next time I'll just stick to the garter, I held the yarn triple so it knit up very quickly, in less than a day in fact! It shrunk a lot when I felted it but its very thick and useful! I don't like the color combo so much but it was what I had and my mom loves them! I ended up making 3 and *almost* using up all my orange yarn! The ball left is soo small but I can't bear to throw things away!

Finished!

Done with my capelet! I used a button-cover that my mom found in her jewelry. Oooh vintage! lawl I also unraveled that potholder and decided to double up that yarn with a worsted red wool yarn and hopefully felt it for a more heat-resistant cloth.

Cavy Cages for Carmen!

Now, I'm going to talk about the biggest, and most worthwhile, craft project of the year: my guinea pig cage!
You see, it all started with one little guinea named Lulu. Lulu came to me alone in a 1x2ft store-bought cage along with a plastic "pigloo". I immediately began to research the proper care and housing of guinea pigs and stumbled upon a lot of surprising information. Mostly it sums down to the idea that the pet stores are misinformed about the proper care of guinea pigs, and they pass this misinformation to pet owners worldwide. Guineapigcages.com served as the main source for my plan to build a roomy guinea pig cage that could also serve as a storage unit. I went through many different formats of cubes and [insert material] as possible until I found some fairly priced coroplast that could be shipped to my home. Though it is cut into 14x14 inch squares I managed to get together a useful cage that my guinea pigs love! The structure is made of wire grids (or "cubes") that I found in a variety of places, the bottom consists of squares of coroplast taped together to prevent any seepage, it is then lined with newspaper and lastly topped with a fleece blanket (I have 4 I bought at CVS for $2.50 a pop). The hay rack is made of a bent cube, I use a doggy bed for them to sleep on ($5 CVS, and they love it!) and a piggloo and water bottle is shown below. I have a bunch of houses and bottles so when one is being washed I can use the others. It is a work that is constantly under construction as I find more innovative ways of cleaning and feeding them. Of course, now I have 4 lovely piggies to fill it: Lulu, Reed, Lily, and Rose.

Capelet City!

So, I've made definite progress on my first legit piece of clothing! It actually looks like something sweater-like. I hope that I'm done sooner rather than later, but exams don't end until next week so we'll see! Its a winter capelet anyway so I have tons of time.