blankets galore

So, I'm at 86 hexipuffs now. 86 out of 300 and something.....I should put together a portion of the blanket and see how big I will really want it to figure out how many I will actually need. It's kind of exciting to be getting near 100. :) I started on October 4, 2011. We'll see how long this booger actually takes. :)

The past month or so hasn't been super productive. I made another pair of kid knee socks for my niece. Her socks also have a rune on them, it is Ansuz, which transliterates to "A", her first initial. Her mom said that they love the socks and she wanted to wear hers all night. :) That will bring a smile to your face!

Here is a closeup of the rune:

I am also working on a Harry Potter blanket. The designs for the colored squares are from Marie Wright (this is just one pattern). I liked her squares so much that I decided to make them into a blanket. The main issue I was having was that she only did 12 squares and that would make a nice baby blanket, but I wanted an adult blanket. So, I designed another square that would go between all of the other squares. I tried to make it look like the HP that is on all of the movies and books. What do you all think?



This is one of the colored squares, my favorite so far, the Sorting Hat:



I am using Shine by Knit Picks. it is an insanely soft cotton/plant fiber blend.

I'm in the planning stages for a baby blanket that I want to make really quickly. We'll see how that goes. :)

Russian Knitting

I spent the month of December in Russia and got a fair amount of knitting done, mostly on the way there and back, as well as on a train ride.

Here is what I got done total. That is 25 hexipuffs and two knee socks for an eight year old. :) The hexipuffs were not stuffed yet because I couldn't imagine trying to take polyfill with me to Russia! I just ran the excess through the top of each puff and had these cute little flat Hexi - non puffs.

These are the ones I did just on my trip home. It was a 32 hour trip total, but I didn't spend the whole time knitting. :) 13 total, not too bad.

This was the one casualty. I bought wooden needles for the socks just in case, since I've heard tales of the TSA getting upset about metal needles. This one broke on the way home. :( It did wait until after I finished the sock though! What a trooper.

Here is one of the knee socks. Sorry for the picture quality. My camera is still MIA and all I have is my phone. :(

This is an attempt to show the rune I put on the sock. I put one on each side of the calf and it is the transliteration of 'P', which is the initial of the boy who will be wearing them. I am still working on the ones for his sisters, which will have their own rune. :) I keep getting distracted. The rune is supposed to look like this: |\/

|

|/\

These are my fingerless convertible mittens, right and left, open and closed. Next time, I need to remember to start the mitten bit lower on the hand. It has a tendency to come off of my fingers in the front, which I don't like. They are phenomenal though in keeping out the cold with really thin gloves beneath them. They are good by themselves too, except for the whole coming off the fingers. They made a big difference in Russia.


This is a pattern that is for Harry Potter themed squares designed by Marie Wright on Ravelry. She has 12 total. I decided I wanted to do a blanket though and with just the 12 squares, it will be a decent baby blanket, but I wanted a big person blanket. I have designed a square to go between those squares, which increases coverage to about 60"X60". The black square is the one I designed. Any non black squares I will post in the future are Marie's designs. I'm excited about it. :)

I used Knit Picks, Shine Worsted, (Dandelion for the yellow one and Black for the black one) on #6 needles. They turned out about 10x9.5"

Can you see what I was trying to do there? It is HP like they use for the movies. I think it looks better in the picture than real life actually.

This is a scarf I made for a friend that she pulled out and let me photograph. I completely forgot about it! It is a variegated yarn and the patterning turned out really well. I don't remember the name of the yarn at all.

An interesting thing happened in Russia. I got to teach several new techniques to a Russian friend of my partner. She spoke very little English, and certainly not knitting related English, and I speak even less Russian. My partner had to translate, which was interesting, considering she also does not have a Russian knitting vocabulary! It worked though and we figured it out. She picked it all up really quickly, which was nice, though sometimes she would whine so much until she figured it out. Yuck. Can I put that on my resume?? :)

That's all for now. I'll post the other square for the blanket later and hopefully the socks for my niece soon. I've got some other ideas bouncing around in my head, just not much money. :)

Hexipuff Update: I am at 74 hexipuffs now. Going for 300+.