ECF - Year In Review Edition

Instead of my usual Eye Candy Friday, I'm looking back at 2009 with a review in words and pictures. The words consist of the first sentence from the first post of each month. The pictures will be favorite blog photos from each month (not necessarily related to the words they accompany).

January - New Years Day is one of the best days of the year.


February - Let me start by saying that this was one of the best weekends of my life.


March - Stinkette was here.


April - Look what I won from Wendy!


May - Yesterday I posted a picture of the Dogwood tree in my yard.


June - It was another very full weekend although, sadly it didn't include a softball game.


July - Here's a pair of socks that I am thrilled to be finished with.


August - Hubbo an I spent our last kid-free weekend in NY.


September - The Ten on Tuesday topic for today is things I hate about travel but, with the exception of hotels that lack free WIFI, there really isn't anything I hate about travel.

October - I just love October and I'm so happy it's finally here.


November - If you're looking for the contest post, it's (here).


December - It is so good to be home.

Ending On A High Note

Happy New Year!

When I wrote yesterday's post I planned to write something today about the end of the year. Maybe something forward thinking and positive. A list of knit goals perhaps.

Then something happened a little sooner than I expected and capped off my year perfectly. I actually achieved one of my long-held goals. I finally wrote a pattern of my own and put it up on Ravelry. DQ inspired these gloves and she says that the pattern around the wrist looks like waves so I called it Winning Waves Mitts.

Over the years, as my knitting has progressed I've often found that the patterns in my head don't exist in written form. Usually I pick something close and play with it a little. Over time I got quite a few books by Nicki Epstein and Barbara Walker to help with this but I never write it down. Until now.

My daughters love fingerless gloves. Stinkette wears hers to bed and all through the summer. DQ wears hers all the time too. Over time my girls have stopped just accepting what I choose to make and now they tell me colors, the weight of yarn, and other little design details they want - or don't want.

DQ wanted a drak-ish, moody, blue in midweight. Nothing too chunky. She also wanted long wrists and a short hand - nothing too far beyond her knuckles. A little patterning is ok but she nixed lace or lots of cables.

I started with the yarn, Drean In Color Classy in a color called Deep Sea Flower. I love this stuff. Colorful but not enough to obscure a pattern. DQ loved the picot edge on another pair I have so that was a great place to start a pattern and the Gull Stitch that I found in Barbara Walkers book's fit so nicely (after a little modification) and the pattern flowed from there.



In the end, these fingerless gloves are just what my girl wanted and I'm happy that I am able to share the pattern with others. It is more gratifying than words can express to see my little pattern being favorited, downloaded, and added to queues. I think it'll be fun to see other versions pop up.

Now I need to get to work on designing a pair for Stinkette. She wants stars or lightning.

Kiila - The Socks That Made Me Want to Scream

I'm finishing 2 felted projects right now and there is a second sock on the needles that may or may not get finished before the ball drops. Bottom line - this is probably my last finished object post for this year.

These are Kiila by Yarnissima in Malabrigo sock. I had a lot of problems knitting these sock. Partly because of the color I chose - Cordovan - which is lovely but makes it difficult to see the stitches. The other thing was the yarn itself. This Malabrigo yarn is gorgeous and soft but it's kind of gently spun which makes it difficult to work twisty cabley stuff. What can I say? You live and you learn and the next time you choose a better yarn for a project.



Even with the issues I had knitting these socks I count them as a win. Look at the definition that the twisted stitches give to the little cabley bits.



So clever to incorporate the gusset increases into a gently growing series of loops up the sides of the foot. Freakin' brilliant!



Aside from the issues created by a poor yarn choice I had lapses in knitterly attention that caused me to totally fudge the pattern on one leg (and elsewhere). This is not a pattern that you can knit with your attention split.

The sock feel really good on and nobody will notice the errors so I'm calling these a win.