A Couple of Other Projects December 20, 2008

I’m blocking out a wool vest I made earlier this year using Zephyr’s Ms. Marigold pattern.  (The link has images to their perfect version of the completed pattern)  I made it in a gorgeous red brick wool yarn I found in Fredericksburg, Texas on the one-year-anniversary trip back in March.  I hope it fits right!  I don’t really know how to block, much less with wool.  I read a few articles about blocking and I’m taking a stab in the dark.  The “table” used in the photo below is my portable ironing board with two bath towels folded over it; I used quilting pins to pin down the vest.  I soaked the wool in cold water and stretched it to fit what I think will be a correct shape for my body.  We’ll see how it fits after it dries out.

I’m also working on stockings from a free Lion Brand pattern.  Rather than try to make these my own, I’m following the pattern to the letter… okay, I’m lying a little.  I really like how color changes look when you purl the color change row rather than the nice, even shift with the knit stitch in stockinette.  So even though this simple pattern is mostly in stockinette, I couldn’t resist purling the row when I should have knitted and getting a little funky color twist in there.  I hope mine look as good as the pattern photo when they’re finished.

Volunteer Knitting Gig! December 18, 2008

I found a way to volunteer with my knitting through craigslist.  Austin Pets Alive needs what they term “kitty snuggles” – small pieces about a foot square for their cats and kittens to sit on while chillin’ at adoption events.  Here is a picture of Dot, one of their available kittens (maybe I’ll even get to meet her at an adoption event):

  

I am so excited to be able to help.  I’ve been on the email list of afghans for Afghans for quite a while, but haven’t yet contributed an item.  I think this will be the perfect way to warm up my needles for some charity knitting work! 

Here is Mrrr modeling the start of my first snuggle:

Just garter stitch, about 2 inches along so far.  Maybe I’ll get creative later; for now, I just want to get some finished since apparently APA needs about 30 of them.  How am I doing for yarn, you ask?  Oh, I have been lugging around some gross acrylic yarn from a kids’ project that took place about 5 years ago – I’m really happy to have an opportunity to use it up.