Wordless WIP Wednesday: Mobile Edition!

Dear Future Sister (In Law)

This is how much I love you:

Oh that's right, I am crocheting for you, for your graduation present. Not my favorite, but the best way to make what you want--so it's worth it!

It's strange...I've known how to crochet for probably six or seven years now, but I always choose knitting when possible. Crochet seems rougher on my wrists, and slower. What's your preference, and why?

Wordless WIP Wednesday

Shiny New Needles!

Look what my awesome aunt got me for graduation:

Two Signature circulars, in US 4 and US 7, my two most-used sizes!

They're even custom engraved:

How cool is that?!?

She emailed me a few weeks ago with a link to the Signature website wondering if I would want a pair or two...um, YES PLEASE. There are so many options, so I sent her back a range of what I'd want/use for each, and she picked two combinations that are perfect!

I'm already transferring one of my WIPs over to the 7s:


You can kind of see the difference between the (red) Signatures and the (silver) KP Options, although it's more obvious in person. Now don't get me wrong, the Options are great needles, but the Stiletto tips on the Signatures are longer, narrower, and pointier without being sharp on the end, so they won't hurt your fingers. Love 'em!!!

FO: Soon-To-Be-Newlyweds Dishcloths

My brother is getting married this June. Last weekend, I went to a bridal shower for his fiancee, my FSIL, who's adorable. And also about to finish up school at the Naval Academy and be commissioned into the US Marine Corps. Which means that they won't be able to live together after they get married for awhile. So I made them matching sets of dishcloths:


Each set has the six same cloths. Brother took brown, and future-sister took green.

That way, when they use them, they can think of the other person and how they have the matching piece.

I listed each of the stitch patterns on the Rav project page, and you can see them all here:

Mostly my standards, all good and scrubby.

Lastly, all packaged up, unwrapped so they'd make it through airport security:

Wordless WIP Wednesday

(On top of a big FO!)

Whoa!

I cast on for my Kaylee's Parasol Socks in the airport early Saturday morning. Four plane flights later (two out and two back), I've got this:


I...don't think I've ever knit that fast. In total it's probably only six or seven hours of knitting, and a good bit of that time I was reading while I knit, so not going as fast as possible. Where did all of that come from?!

I didn't know how the colorway would knit up, as I'm the first to actually make something with it, so I was incredibly charmed to see that the colors are spiraling around the sock:


Why so charmed? Because that's exactly what they do in the actual parasol:

Brilliant!

Endings & Beginnings

Two years ago I started a pair of Monkey socks in my FFtC Jasper yarn. See, it was really clever, because at the time, Jackson Rathbone, the actor who plays Jasper in the Twilight films, was in a band called 100 Monkeys. Well I was only knitting 2, so I called the project 100 (-98) Monkeys and was quite chuffed. But then they pooled, terribly:





Yeah, that's the same sock. You almost can't even tell, looking at the different sides. I knew I'd never be happy with them, and that I ought to frog them, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Until today, when I wound the yarn for another Perfectly Cleverly Named Project, Kaylee's Parasol Socks, and needed the needles:



Get it? The yarn is Kaylee's Parasol, from Firefly, in Schmutzerella's Comfy (MCN) base, and the pattern is called Parasol Socks, with wee lace umbrellas on the leg. I'll cast on tomorrow (well, later today)--so excited!

Here's a better picture of the yarn, from back when I got it and wasn't in a hurry to get pictures before the sun set:


(I still haven't technically frogged the Monkeys, because tonight has been super busy--which is why this is technically posting on Saturday morning, not Friday night--and so I decided it wasn't a good use of my time. I'll get to them...eventually...)

Wordless WIP Wednesday

Fan-tastic Dishcloths

I talked about dishcloths a bit on Friday, and thought that today I'd show off one of my favorite things you can do with them: knit fandom-related motifs and know that they will still get used! If I send someone a fannish accessory, item of clothing, or piece of jewelry, there's no way to know if they will actually wear it. For example, even though I love Doctor Who, I wouldn't wear 90% of the Who shirts that pop up on the daily tee websites. They are cute, and I chuckle, but they're not my style. But will I use a Who dishcloth? Absolutely! They are great for including in swap packages, too, as a fun little extra handmade. Here are some that I made last year for two different packages as part of the Odd Ducks Doctor Who swap on Ravelry.


Don't Blink

because the

Weeping Angels

have the

Phone Box!

Those all went into one box, because the phrases went together nicely (a reference to the episode Blink), and then another box got just a Weeping Angel because the recipient is a big fan:

Aren't they fun?

One of my favorite fannish dishcloth designers is holynarf on Ravelry. Her designs are mostly Doctor Who, but there are some Firefly and general geeky designs as well, and they are all free patterns, which is excellent!

Multipurpose Knitting

I knit a lot of dishcloths. That links to a set of 25+ different dishcloth projects, many of them with multiple cloths. And those are just the ones I bothered to add to my Rav projects! Many of them I give away (they are great useful gifts, for babies and grown-ups alike), and the rest I keep around to, y'know, wash my dishes. They're cheap and easy to make (though you can experiment with harder patterns if you want), gentle on china and cookware, and sanitary, because I grab a new one every time I do dishes and toss 'em in the laundry after.

This morning, when I was packing my lunch, I was trying to figure out how to transport a hard-boiled egg to school without cracking the shell or squishing it. I had a plastic container that was just a little too big, and I didn't want the egg bouncing around. I needed a good cushion, and I was pondering possible solutions while standing right in front of the dishcloth drawer...et voilà!

Clean dishcloth to the rescue! My egg made it safe and sound and was very much enjoyed with lunch.

If you're wondering, the pattern is a small version of the Mason-Dixon Knitting Baby Genius Burp Cloth, and it's great for scrubbing dishes because of the raised lines on the front:

It's my go-to dishcloth pattern!

Wordless WIP Wednesday