Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Finished!

Not only is fall semester over, but some of my projects have also come to completion.
more on the way. I love having the ability to switcWhen school began in September, I decided that knitting was going to be my main creative outlet. As such, I gave myself permission to start whatever I wanted, independent of the state of my other projects. And now, four months later, I have something like six things started, andh from project to project, though it is also nice to occasionally finish something. Here are my most recent finished objects, Christmas presents for the family.

Odessa (the original)
Yarn: Malabrigo, I don't remember the color, one skein, from a LYS
Comments: This was the first of what would ultimately be four Odessa's. I like the pattern, with and without the beads. Consistent with what I've heard others say, the Malabrigo is fabulous to work with. It's squishy and soft and I think I have a thing for single-ply. This was a gift for my aunt, she requested that I leave her face off of the internet - so instead you can see the back of her head. The color is most similar to that in the first picture.

Odessa (take two)Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK (I think) a seafoam color, one skein
Comments: This was actually the fourth hat I knit, but the only other that I remembered to photograph. The beads are pearlescent seed-beads, I think size 6 (?) . I used this method, which is great in that it doesn't require that the beads be pre-strung, but slightly difficult given the thickness of the yarn and the size of the beads.
Odessa (three & four)
I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of these, I'm hoping their recipients will send me some action shots. #3 was made in a dark purple Elisabeth Lavold Silky Tweed with rainbowish purple beads. It was much easier to use the beading technique with this yarn, it was slightly lighter than the Cashsoft and readily threaded through the beads. I gave it to my cousin's wife, Amy. #4 was made just like the picture, in the Bella Donna Cashsoft with pearl beads. I gave it to my former roommate, Nikki.

Yarn: Rowan Calmer, oatmeal color, one skein
Modifications: I didn't knit the ties as directed. My mom isn't the type of person to spend time tying strings around her ankles. I added straps across the top, but she took those off too. I also sewed on leather slipper bottoms as they were super-slippery on their own. I had to stalk the LYS's for weeks to find them... aparently two-pieced adult-sized bottoms are in high demand.
Comments: This was my first attempt at foot-shaped knitting (see my first post for reasons why), and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I have a sort of crush on the Calmer, it's so soft and springy.
For Christmas, I received a spindle and two types of roving from my fabulous mother and aunt. I haven't spent as much time as I'd like with it, but I'm really excited to have one. Hopefully I can practice more once some of my other projects are finished.

Overall, the holiday went very well, especially since it was the first one we haven't spent as a whole family. I got to see the booger (Bogart) for the first time since he and my mom moved to Minnessota. He was my only child before Berkley came along.
(sorry about my poor attempt at photo editing)
My aunt's dog, Gabby, also got into the action:

And I learned that I look terrible when making seductive kissey faces. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I'm halfway into a bottle of wine...

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