Startitis and Frogging

Peek-a-Boo Cloche

I shouldn't wait so long in between posts, there is too much to catch up on. Christmas knitting has commenced. I was not planning on doing any - but.....

Our step-daughter and her family came for Thanksgiving and admired the Peek-a-Boo Cloche I made earlier so I decided to knit one for her for Christmas. The colors are Grass and Green Apple. I am using Knit Pick Shine Sport , again. I like the cotton. We don't always need wool in South Carolina. The colors are nice and seem almost designed for this cap since you need a lighter shade for the lining.

Needle Storage
I have promised myself that over Christmas holidays I am going to find a better way to store and sort my needles. I just finished knitting this pattern for myself and yet, I could not find the needles. It wasn't a problem until I started the outside with the size 4 circ. This cannot be the one I used for my cap. I think it is only 12" and there are too many stitches for it to slide well. I looked and looked and cannot find the other needles!!!! How do you store yours'? Any good suggestions?

Chevron Scarf

Work on the Chevron Scarf continues. It is probably about 4 feet long by now. I decided if I knit the cap for the red-headed step-daughter, I had better knit something for Step-daughter #1. I guess the scarf will be for her. She lives in Va and breeds and shows dogs. She is often out in the cold exercising her dogs so I guess she will need a cap to match the scarf. See how the list just takes off!!

Leg Warmers

Our daughter is 17 and still at home. She leafed through the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book that has the pattern for the Chevron Scarf and decided that she needed the pair of leg warmers shown in the book.

I had a difficult time achieving gauge. The pattern called for Cascade 220 a worsted weight yarn and Madil Kid Seta. It recommends a size 8 needle. I dropped down to a size 6 and am using 4 stitches less to obtain gauge. The fabric is denser than I would like but the Kidsilk Haze does add a softness. I always hesitate knitting for DD, she sees a pattern and thinks she will like it but then when it is finished,it does not meet her expectations. The Kidsilk Haze makes this project a little extravagant. I hope she appreciates them!

Well, after about 14" of knitting, I did not like the fabric the gauge was creating. It was too stiff and probably will not slouch like they should. I frogged them and lazy me wound both yarns together. What a mess now that I am knitting them again.

I started on a size 8 as indicated in the pattern. The LYS only had a 16" circ, a 12" really is needed. I cut back the number of stitches and restarted. I took them with me to a conference yesterday and had about 3 inches knit. The conference happened to be in Charleston, SC. There is a wonderful LYS downtown, "Knit". I was able to find a 12" circ there. I probably have another 12" knit with the new needle, it is going much faster now that the stitches slide along the needle. However, when I look at the tube, you can tell when I changed needles. They are both Addi turbos, however, when I used the 16" I must have been stretching the knit more to slide the stitches along the longer circ. I AM NOT STARTING THESE AGAIN!!!!

Additional Hats to come.......