FO Friday :)

Happy Friday :)

I have several things to show off this week as I've been busy, apparently. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I teased you with a post but didn't show you any photos? I've decided that it's okay to show off my FOs, even if they're intended to be Christmas presents unless I am close to certain that they read the blog. In this case, the intended recipient probably doesn't read the blog so it's safe to post photos.

And if they read the blog, oh well :)

So, back to the previously linked post...

Go Pack, Go!

Pattern: Brandon Ribbed Beanie Hat by Mindy Vasil
Time frame: started August 18, 2012; finished August 22, 2012
Yarn: madelinetosh DK in Moorland (green) and Candlewick (yellow) - not even a half-skein of each
Needles: US #7 (4.5mm) 16" circular and US #6 (4mm) DPNs
Size: medium/large (see modifications) - it fits me and I'm an adult :)
Modifications:
* I CO for the medium size (70 sts) using a smaller needle than called for in the pattern
* Did "version 3" of the pattern - but instead of doing the two different stripes from that version, I only did the first kind twice
* Added one more row of MC between the stripes
* Made the large size in length (and I'm glad I did)
* Used even smaller needles for the crown decrease (which was more of a matter of not being able to find my US #7 DPNs than aesthetics...)

I literally copied/pasted that from the original post. Sorry. I didn't feel like typing it all out again.

Anyway....onward :)

Nolan Hat

Pattern: Nolan by Kelly Herdrich
Time frame: started September 28, 2012; finished October 1, 2012
Yarn: madelinetosh DK in Moorland (green) and Candlewick (yellow) (the same as the other hat) - not even a half-skein of each (seriously, I have a bunch of the yellow left and a good amount of green...maybe not enough to make another adult sized hat but maybe an infant hat)
Needles: US #6 (4 mm) 16" circular and US #5 (3.75mm) DPNs
Size: Um......see the modifications section. It's for an adult but that's not the point.
Modifications:
* I CO for the infant size on US #6 instead of US #4 (which change my gauge considerably...which was the point)
* I worked the brim for 6 rows, yarn held double before dropping the green and working with the yellow
* I added the crown decreases for the child size because I thought 14 stitches was too much to just cinch together
* Obviously this was made for an adult so my gauge is way off (as it should be) and I had to make it longer in order to fit an adult (I tried it on Husband and it fits him, if only a little short - it's perfect for me)
Thoughts: Another basic beanie, of sorts. It's a little different in that it's a garter stitch rib instead of a stockinette rib. I like that it's adaptable by changing needles or yarn and can wind up being any size from preemie to adults with fat large heads. Of course, any pattern will allow for that but it seems pretty intuitive with this pattern as long as you have a basic understanding of gauge.

Raglan Hat

Pattern: Raglan Hat by Jennifer Fleury
Time frame: started September 28, 2012; finished September 29, 2012
Yarn: Cotton Supreme by Universal Yarns in Purple and Ecru (leftover from the Ruffled Feathers Pinwheel Blanket - and I still have some left of both)
Needles: US #7 (4.5 mm) 16" circular and US #5 (3.75mm) DPNs
Size: Adult
Modifications:
* I CO 76 sts instead of 88, which meant I had to some fancy work at the crown decreases (the math didn't elude me!)
* Knit til hat was approximately 7.5" long from CO
* At crown decreases: {K8, double decrease, K8, k18} twice to get set up properly, then began decreases at round 5 and continued as written
Thoughts: I really like this hat pattern. I think if I had used smaller needles to begin with, I wouldn't have had to alter the stitch count and the decreases would have come down further like they were supposed to. I also wouldn't have had to do math. But it was fine. I think I'd make this hat again and again...maybe not this second but I do envision that I'll make it again.

Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth

Pattern: Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth
Time frame: Um.....a couple of days? I didn't make a project page or keep track.
Yarn: the Unknown kitchen cotton that I've been trying to use up
Needles: US #7 (4.5 mm)
Size: I went until I had 50 sts on the needle...it's the size that a dishcloth should be
Modifications:
* I added two rows where I did the following: [K1, K2tog, YO, K to the end of the row] (to keep the rows the same length to kind of round out those edges - it's something that's always bothered me with this pattern)
Thoughts: It's a dishcloth and the one that everyone seems to love and no one seems to ever want to make. It's not hard, honestly...perhaps a bit boring but sometimes, boring is good.

Not-too-Scrubby Dishcloth

Extreme Close-Up! WHOAAAAAAAAA!

Pattern: Not-too-Scruby Dishcloth by ME :)
Time frame: started September 7, 2012; finished September 14, 2012
Yarn: the Unknown kitchen cotton, again
Needles: US #7 (4.5 mm)
Size: Dishcloth sized
Modifications: None. It's my pattern.
Thoughts: It didn't occur to me until after I had been working on it for a few rows that I had inadvertently borrowed the stitch pattern from Hermione's Everyday Socks (which is a free pattern so I don't feel bad). I even managed to convert it from being knit round to flat...without really thinking about it. Oh well.


Anyway, I'd say that's a pretty full FO Friday for you :) For more FO Friday fun, Tami has the linky thingy :)



In other random life events, I got my car back on Tuesday :) It's all pretty and fixed and shiny and detailed. I'm so glad to have my car back. I missed it and I think Little Man missed it, too. After we picked up my car on Tuesday (and had the smog test done, which I passed with flying colors, by the way), Little Man and I went to a new (to us) yarn shop in Oakland. I had been meaning to go and we were close and we had time so we went. Oh, you want to know which one? Okay, okay.....we went to Piedmont Yarn & Apparel, which is right on Piedmont, not far from Broadway or I-580. It's quite a full shop and I can get fiber for spinning, as well. I don't know how it happened but three skeins of yarn just jumped into my hands and insisted that they were going home with me. I'll have to post photos of them later. In my defense, they're non-commercial yarn. I guess you'd call it Indie in that it's dyed locally, in small batches. I don't know. But they insisted they were coming home with me. Who was I to argue?

Puppy is still wearing his Cone of Shame. He got his stitches out on Tuesday (before we dealt with the car business) but the area is still scabby and kind of icky so rather than let him get right to licking the scabs, we're keeping the cone on him until it heals up a bit more. We should be able to take it off by Monday.

Also, we had a lovely (/sarcasm) heat spell earlier this week, specifically Monday and Tuesday but Wednesday wasn't grand either. Little Man and I wound up driving to San Leandro to buy some box fans on Monday because our apartment doesn't have air conditioning and it was pushing 90°F outside (it was almost 80 in the apartment). The fans helped but they didn't take care of everything. Basically, we just had to wait it out. It could have been a lot worse but this only happens for a couple days out of the year.

Wednesday afternoon, after a morning of laundry, Little Man refused to take a nap, which resulted in him crashing on the couch about 6:30pm  (right around when the Presidential Debate started). Poor kid was so tired that he cried when I woke him up to move him to his bed so I changed him, gave him his milk, and put him to bed around 7:30pm and he slept clear til 5:30am yesterday morning. He then had some more milk and went back to sleep for another 2.5 hours. He almost didn't take a nap yesterday but I fixed that by making him take his nap with me. Oh well.

I'll be back on Sunday for my usual Self-Imposed Year of Projects update so come back and visit me then :)