Blown Fuse

"Business in the front, party in the back": The Mullet Hat

I usually don't like wearing winter caps because I have "big hair" that doesn't rebound well from being squashed down. However, sometimes I do leave the house without showering or otherwise primping, so the state of my hair is of little concern to anyone. During those times, I squash a hat over the mess and don't give it a thought.

This here's a "squash" hat. It's just long enough to cover the ears as long as I don't try to pull my hair into a ponytail.

I adapted it from the Lion Brand yarn "Quick Cabled Hat" (you have to register to download the free) pattern and somehow missed that it had a longish neck flap in the back. When I realized that the hat had a mullet, I had to edit that out.

The well-dressed baby

My fingers have been busy lately. As soon as the swelling went down in my hands, I resumed some of the knitting projects I had been working on.

This pair of knit pants was adapted from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. I omitted the little devil tail that is supposed to be attached in the back. The pattern was actually sized for a 3-month-old and for finer yarn, so I had to adjust accordingly. Hopefully they'll fit. They'll likely be worn on one of those few occassions where we have company or else I have to leave the house w/ kid in tow. The rest of the time I'm pretty certain he'll be wearing drool-stained pajamas.

The cost of constructing these pants, which The Kid will only be able to wear for a couple of months, was about $7.50. Much cheaper than comparable quality store-bought youngun' clothes, but still pricey by cheapskate standards.

Crafty.

I've been working on a couple of knitting projects lately when I'm not busy saving the world and prying the cats apart from their swatting matches.

Scott asked for a scarf, which I know he'll never wear and will have turned into a huge waste of my evenings and weekends, but I don't want to hear any guff over it.

I've been working the "Here and There Cables" pattern from Pam Allen's Scarf Style. At the pace I'm working I feel like global warming will render the project moot by the time I'm done.

I'm also working on a little pink tote from the Fall 2005 Knit it!. It'll be great for those days where I'm carrying around all of my various electronic gadgets and need a little room to fit my wallet and keys in.

Finito.

I've been working on this particular knit project for a couple of months. Now as it's time to start knitting Christmas gifts, I've finished.

It was one of those patterns where it looked okay on the model in the picture, but I, not being of model height, had a concern on how it would hang.

I got the pattern out of the Fall 2005 Vogue Knitting magazine. It's the cropped cardigan. I figured it would be cute to wear to work over a turtleneck (yes, gasp! people still wear those!). No, I did not intentionally buy yarn to match my hair. That's just a weird coincidence in that light.

I'm pretty pleased. I was careless in a few places and had to go back and rip rows out, but I would have never forgiven myself if I had lived with the mistake knowing I could have fixed it. Incidentally for all you knitters, the pattern as printed is incorrect. The correction for the cabling is shown here. I figured out on my own that something was wrong with it and fixed it as I could.

I got the buttons from eBay seller mthrelean.

Life is like a box of ... Wisk.

I'm going to do some writing today. Seriously.

I know I haven't made any strides on any of my works-in-process in over a year. Life gets in the way - all you bloggers-cum-novelists know that.

So. I'm going to dust off my zip drive. Find my most inspired work. And. Do the laundry.

Kitty Wonton

And so the obsession begins.

I made a knitted kitty wonton, complete with a sprinkling of catnip.

In all, it took a couple of hours to make. I think maybe I'll make the eggroll, too.

Beware of this pattern.

I've been working on the Koko Jacket for some time now. In fact, I think I started it back in November with the intention of giving it to a friend as a Christmas gift.

Well, I had some problems with the pattern. I figured I had made a few careless mistakes and left off a few rows when I couldn't get the sleeves to fit correctly into the shoulders. (I also had some other problems figuring out what the hell was supposed to be the right side which isn't exactly intuitive when you look at the finished product. The photo on the site is inadequate)

So, I ripped off both sleeves and redid one of them. Now they still don't fit. I know I followed the pattern to a tee. Either I'm an idiot, or this pattern is seriously screwed.

I don't know what to do. I've already wasted so much time and energy on this project that ripping it down would be painful. But I see now that the pattern is shit, and frankly I don't know how to write knitting patterns, so I can't just "fix it."

Oy.

I'll store it for a few months and when I've mustered my courage up I'll rip it and use the yarn for something else.

Chevy

I'm already a day behind in casting on for the Rogue Knit-along but seeing as how there's a slight prospect of me finishing this camisole, washing it, blocking it, and mailing it for Christmas Eve arrival--it'll have to take precedence.

It makes me feel better to know that the nightmares I had last night about slacking off on Rogue will keep me on my toes.

Anyhoo...

I got the back of the chevron vest completed and am about to cast on for the front. I really like this pattern. It's tastefully simple and has some nice ribs in it. I think I'll make one for myself when I'm done with...other things.

Overachieving

I mentioned last month that I was working on a blue blankie for my nephew. I got it done in time for Thanksgiving and immediately started on a pink one for some friends that are going to pop any day now. I finished it yesterday, and it is now drying on what used to be my beach towel.

I have a pink ribbon left over from my beer birthday present that I'll affix to it.

I can barely get one project done before I realize I was supposed to have another one done. I was going to knit my friend a fabulous hooded sweater and then realized that due to the late date she wouldn't see it until...oh....February, if I'm really trucking. I downsized the project to the rib tank I found at Interweave Knits. She's an itty bitty thing, so I hope I can finish this quickly.

Tomorrow, the Rogue knit-along starts, so I'll be working two projects at once. Let the fuck-ups being.

My own "Blue Period"

Lately I've been working on this baby blanket from a pattern I found in Learn to Knit*.

See the extended entry for a close-up picture of the pattern and yarn specs.

I should finish this tonight and then I'll make a quick newborn size hat.

Then I'll start a pink set for some friends who are due next month. Nobody else have any more kids till I catch up with the backlog, okay?

*Some useful basic patterns, although really geared towards a European audience. I give it a 5 out of 10 for re-usability.

It's a 92 stich pattern that you work until you have a rectangle 23 1/2" by about 2 feet wide. That doesn't sound very big, but as I near completion I see that's it's a perfect size to drape over a napping drooling newborn.

I'm using Lily Sugar 'n Cream yarn in "Shaded Denim" (#00133). I chose this yarn because it's 100% cotton.