maikiki studio

DSCF3644, a photo by kpetra on Flickr.

Happy Friday!

I have lots of projects nearing its completion, but not quite there yet. At least the hat is finished!

I already posted about the yarn I am using – handspun BFL. I had a rough idea what kind of hat I wanted. Then I came across Stephen West’s Botanic Hat. I must admit I did not get the pattern. The hat was easy enough to  deconstruct. Or rather, just look at the picture, use the stitch and make up the rest.

We live in a fairly cold climate (at least in the winter months) and single brim doesn’t do us any good. Therefore I made a double brim (provisional cast on, knit double the length of the brim, fold in half and knit current stitches with the provisional stitches). I also started on only 88 sts on US5 so that the brim is snug. The crown of the hat is knit over 96 stitches in slipped stitch pattern. The photo on top shows the reverse side.

This is the “right” side:

Decreases:

And my little one happily posing for me while reading a book

More details, such as needle size and yardage are on my Ravelry page.

It’s FO friday at tami’s amis. Go check her out!

Handspun BFL combo, a photo by kpetra on Flickr.

Hello all! I have kind of a WIP. Well, it’s not casted on yet, but I had to spin the yarn for it.

I have been part of Breed Study with Willow Glen Farm for some 3 years. Very rarely do I spin my samples, let alone spin it on time. But I did it this month!
We were studying BFL or Blue Faced Leicester. I really like this breed. I used long draw and a very light hand to make sure to end up with nice lofty yarn.
Since I am on the roll, I would like to have a two-color hat with the yarn by the end of the month. (I did not give myself much time, did I?)
The dark brown is the current breed study, the blue is a BFL batt with bits of cotton from Willow Glen Farm as well. Both skeins are little heavier worsted. Since it is only 2-ply, I will pretend they are regular worsted in my knitting.

Check what is everybody else working on at tami’s amis.

Peace Pals, a photo by kpetra on Flickr.

In general, I am not a big fan of knitting toys. But they are fun to play with.
A month ago my LYS sent out a plea to help with making Peace Pals. I found out more about the organization  (women4women-knitting4peace) that sponsors these projects and really liked them. So, I knitted the boy. My older one decided he was cold and could use a scarf and immediately put her fingerknitting skills in good use. So, the boy was warm but he was still lonely. He needed a girl. I thought another 2 hours and we’ll call it a success. I was wrong. I did not realize how big the girl’s skirt was! But now she is done, they got married (that’s what my girls said) and were sent on a long journey. Along with many others, they will travel to an orphanage in Tanzania.
Happy travels, guys!!!

The original pattern is knit flat. I don’t like seeming and knitted the girl in the round. It worked really well.

P1140850, a photo by kpetra on Flickr.

About two years ago, I got ambitious (there is a very fine line between being ambitious and crazy/insane) and started the Mitered Square blanket. Anything small doesn’t usually appeal to me, therefore I am aiming for a full size blanket. Have I mentioned I knit this on US1 needles?

Each square is outlined with 4 rows of black before I switch to a color. That means every tiny square has 4 ends to weave in. Have I mentioned how I dislike weaving the ends in? Doing a rough math, the goal is to end up with around 750 squares. That is 3,000 ends to weave in. Lovely!

But for once I dicided to see a project through. The pressure is on, since my friends keep showering me with their sock yarn scraps and leftovers, which I am forever thankful for. So there is a plan. If I knit a square a day, by the end of the next year – that is the year of 2013 – I will be finished. So far this year, I’ve been able to stick to the plan and the blanket is growing every day. But it sucks all the energy and knitting mojo out of me. Oh, well. When the time is right, I will be cranking those knitting pojects out like a mad woman again. For now, I’ll stick to a square a day.