A Few Finished Projects

So, usually I wake up, roll out of bed and turn on the computer. From there, I check email, then Twitter. I do my rounds on my favorite blogs and websites. Then I write my NaNoWriMo word count for the day while I chat with the fiance at work. Afterwards, I'm free to do whatever. Free to do housework, clean, watch some of my many television shows that I hoard onto the DVR. Lately, the fiance and I have been watching Doctor Who when he gets home. I'll fix dinner, and we will start an episode while we eat. After dinner, I work on knitting projects. So, today's blog post is kind of a finished project photo day. I have a couple that I have finished recently, and just got around to photographing.



These are socks that I made for Tyler for his birthday a couple weeks ago. I had tried a different pattern before this one. It was really fancy, with cables, ribbing, patterns, and even a toe-up, which had be stressing for almost a full day. I just could not understand the Judy's Magic Cast-on. But, I eventually did it, and it wasn't until I got a good 4 inches into the sock, that I realized it was going to be way too big for him. I took it out and realized I was going to be pressed for time to finish it, so I picked a less complicated pattern, which fit him much better. He had to show every single person at his birthday get-together, I think he was proud of my work, and wanted to show it off to everyone. He put them on immediately when we got home. I think they turned out nice, and they should be a good starter sock for him, to see if he likes them and will wear them. If he does, I'll probably make more for him.



This Henslowe Shawl I finished last month. It was a complete nightmare to block, and had both me and Tyler pinning it out (the poor fiance had no idea what he was doing, honestly, but I appreciated the help he did do). It was brutal, and I'm not sure I'll make another one of these. Which is sad because I rarely pay for patterns, and this was one of the only that I purchased. The instructions on picking up stitches were a little confusing, probably because I have never done Shetland lace construction before? I don't know, but I can't foresee myself doing another.



These miserable fingerless mitts. I first started them on double pointed needles, and kept taking them out for some reason or another. One day I thought they were too long, the next day too short, or, I didn't like how the picot edging looked. It was always something. After it sat for many weeks, I eventually just divided the yarn into two balls (with my cheap new kitchen scale, yay!), and cast on for two at a time. I was determined to finish them, and finally did. I am extremely pleased with them, and for the past 2 days, I've been wearing them everywhere.

Fingerless Mitts

I had some yarn left over from my Haruni Shawl I made several months ago, and it's just been sitting for a while. I decided to use the yarn up on some project. I came across Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts. This, I decided was the project I'm going to make. The yarn I planned on using is beautiful, and probably the best color I'd ever seen. The project that went with this yarn had to be spectacular.



I'm still working on them, but I'm pretty happy with them so far. I've taken them out twice already, for various reasons. I decided to do the turn over hem differently the first time, then decide to make them shorter for the second time I ripped them out. But still, I persist in making them. Winter is coming, and I think these will come in handy. I don't like normal mittens or gloves because I like to mess around on my phone, and I can't really do that with my fingers covered, because of the touch screen. These should be good for that, I think. I've tried the gloves that have the special thread or something in the index finger of the glove... they just don't do it for me. They work, yes, but all the ones I've bought were really poorly constructed. Poorly enough that I think I'd be better without them.