On a finishing kick

I just wrapped up a magazine sample project. As usual with these things, I can't spill any meaningful beans, but I don't think it'd be beyond the pale to say that it's another print magazine, which is exciting! The issue won't be coming out for a goodly while, but of course I will make an announcement here when it does. Now I just have to finalize all the written stuff and send off a package to the editor.

And I recently got another acceptance, which thrilled me all to pieces. So far with my 12-in-12 challenge (which I've done 5 of so far) I'm running a 75% acceptance rate for stuff I've heard back from, which I think is pretty excellent! But the new acceptance meant I needed to finish up the sample I'd been working on so that I could photograph it, so I did that today - it just needed some ends woven in.

And as long as I was sewing, I thought I might as well break out the "Miss Dashwood" hat I started working on for DD3 last year. It just needed the earflaps and ties sewn on and the ends woven in, so I did just that:

hat:




inside of hat showing the flaps:




inside of the hat with the flaps buttoned up out of the way:




hat modelled by a tired and messy-faced DD3:

I also took more steps towards finishing DD2's "Mythos" cardigan (second attempt). I ran out of yarn as I was approaching the end of the second half, but this wasn't a big deal because, once again, I'd made the sleeves too long. So I cut each sleeve open, unravelled a bunch of rows, and grafted them back together again. Then I grafted the two halves together at the back. And then I blocked it:

Sadly, I'm not remotely done yet. Not only are there a lot of ends to weave in, but I have to sew seams, fold a garter stitch selvedge under and sew it down, and do a bunch of icord (which I may run out of yarn for, aiee). So we'll just have to see how that goes. I may have to do the icord edging in a different colour. Meh, if it happens, it happens. I've got lots of black sock yarn that will look nice as an edge.

No luck finding that mythical thirteenth ball of yarn for DH's Durrow sweater - it's not at my parents' place, it wasn't left at Lettuce Knit, and it didn't roll under my seat in the car. I have gone around the house trying to find all the ball bands, on the theory that if I find all thirteen, I obviously used up all thirteen balls of yarn. Alas, I have only found eleven, so that's desperately inconclusive. So I'm very close to deciding to rip both sleeves back almost to the cast-on and do them again shorter. HOPEFULLY that will do the trick.

I'm trying to get as much done as possible because I've got deadlines popping up all over the place. Most of the deadlines are for proposals that I want to get in, but I do have another sample to do in the next month or so for which, hopefully, the yarn support will be arriving soon. In fact, I should head off now to check the mail again!

Just yer average knitting progress post

Secret sample

Photo shoot and pattern write-up are donedoneDONE! Still can't show you anything until it's published, though, and it has to be reviewed before it can be published, and I have to send in the sample piece and a signed contract before it can be reviewed. But I'm definitely moving along.

Twin blanket for DD2

The long slog continues - I got hexagon #20 done and got #21 started.

Rodekool

This pattern has intrigued me for a while now. Last night I thought, what the heck, and got it started just for fun, after grabbing some leftovers in the stash. I have no idea whom this will be for, and certainly the two colours are not very contrasty, but I still think it'll turn out very nicely. This brioche stitch thing is very new to me and I like how it's going so far, even if I haven't done much...

green side showing:


beige side showing:

Miss Dashwood for DD3

As I knew I would, I ripped out the first version I made and got started again with a smaller size. I decided to go with the smallest size (0-3 months) instead of the second smallest size (3-6 months) that I was originally thinking about re-doing it in, because my first attempt (6-12 months) fit my eight-year-old.

It didn't take long to make all the pieces:



And looking at it, I think it is small enough that it will probably fit DD3 next summer. Hooray! Now I just have to get off my heinie and sew all the pieces together.

Oh, and also...

Plans in action

Secret sample

Triumph - this is finished! Now I have to add in all my changes to my pattern write-up, do a photo shoot and send the sample piece off. I'm pretty excited, even though I'm not sure how fast I can get all of that done.

Twin blanket for DD2

Slowly coming along. I've even started sewing the pieces together. Well, not so much sewing as three-needle-bind-offing. That gives me a seam that stretches more like how the rest of the knitting stretches, which I like. And now that I have a more accurate idea of how big this thing will be once it all comes together, I think I can get away with a lot fewer pieces. Specifically, 77 hexagons, 6 half-hexagons and 18 edge triangles. This means I might actually get the blanket finished in this century, not to mention that I might actually not run out of white yarn like I thought I was going to.

Lavender yarn for the edging, however, is a totally different story. After consulting DD2, I will be combining two really sweet motifs - a textured butterfly and a nice lace edging, both from Nicky Epstein books, one from "Knitting over the Edge", one from "Knitting on the Edge" (although I can't remember which one is from which book). I've figured out how I want to combine them and have charted it all out. Based on this, I estimate the edging will be about 8" wide, and I really don't think the 445 yards of lavender I bought is going to be sufficient for it.

Here's how the pieces looked last week, just sitting next to each other:


Right now, however, I'm much further ahead (19 hexagons, 1 half-hexagon and 3 edge triangles, with all pieces but the half-hexagon and two edge triangles pieced together), even though I don't have photographic evidence of that yet.

Miss Dashwood for DD3

Since I was coming along so well on my other priority stuff, I gave myself permission to start this on Saturday night. It is a very fast knit, because here's what it looks like now:



The only problem is that I'm not getting gauge, so it's rather too large. I was shooting for the 6-12 month size so that she could wear it next summer, but instead I've ended up with a hat circumference that is only marginally smaller than the 1-2 year size is supposed to be. Given what a fast knit this is, I'm strongly tempted to solve this problem by ripping the whole thing out and doing it all over again, this time following the 3-6 month size instructions. This - if my gauge remains consistent - should give me a hat which is roughly the circumference that the 6-12 month size is supposed to be. The only problem with this plan is that the cotton I'm using is rather hard on my hands and my right knuckles have started to ache nastily while using it. Oh, well.

Plans

Now that the baby is here, I've been trawling through my gosh-that's-cute-I'd-love-to-make-it list of patterns a bit more seriously. Here's the short list:

Avtopark

Baby bootees that look like toy cars. And I mean really look like toy cars. I'm enchanted. The original pattern is in Russian, though (or some other language that uses a Cyrillic alphabet), so I'm going to have to spend some quality time with Google Translate and my brain in order to suss the pattern out.

Wee Tiny Bat Sock

A sock that looks like a bat, where the head of the bat is the foot, and the wings make the leg. When not worn, the wings fold out to look like a flying bat. I love clever stuff like this.

Miss Dashwood

I have loved this pattern ever since it came out. Not sure why I never made it for my second daughter, but I'd sure like to make it for my third.

Ladybug sweater

Fantastically sweet and probably a wonderful use for all the sock yarn leftovers I've got kicking around here.

Seamless Flower T-shirt

This one is probably top of my list. I adore it. I love the way it looks, I love the way it seems to be constructed...everything. It's actually all I can do to stop myself from dumping everything important I have on the needles right now, buying the pattern, and casting on. But I am trying to school myself to patience.

Twinkle

Another pattern I'm absolutely crazy about. I mean, come ON, a multi-coloured romper that's shaped like a star? How fun can you get?

Bonnet in rib

Winter baby garb for SCA events.

Sunbreak

I love this blanket. Seriously, seriously love it. I must knit it in my lifetime.

Even culled down to my favourites, that's a pretty big list of things to knit. The good part, though, is that a number of my co-workers are expecting, so if I can't make any of these things for my baby, I will surely be able to knit them for someone else's.

Oh, and also...