FOs! and Mitered Square Links

Woohoo, I finally finished a couple of things!

After 18 months of the Yarn Buying Moratorium, I'm finally almost out of self-striping sock yarn leftovers. I have lots of non-patterning leftovers but it looks like I'm going to have to dip into the stash of full skeins and balls in order to make more like the above. The stash of full skeins is still overflowing.

I didn't keep track, but I think I got 7 or 8 pairs of free socks from all of those little leftover balls of yarn. Not too shabby.

And I finished this hat, which I started last November (and I would say that this is the longest any UFO has been on my needles, except that I know better). The yarn is from Lisa Souza. I bought it at the '09 Sock Summit. The colorway is Lapland and believe it or not, it's still available (check under the Hand Dyed Sock Yarns). The short-repeat variegation worked perfectly for mitered squares. Each square is a little different from those surrounding it, so each square stands out. I love the effect. I have plenty of yarn left, so I'm also knitting a pair of matching fingerless mittens.

Friend and blog reader Jessica asked if I would make a listing of the mitered square instructions so they would be easier to find. Here you go, Jessica:

Illustrated Mitered Square Tutorial

Freebie Friday Mitered Square Fingering Weight 2-Needle Socks Pattern

Fingering Weight Mitered Square Hat Instructions

Worsted Weight Mitered Square Hat General Instructions (note: this is not an actual pattern, it's just hints on how to adapt the pattern to this size yarn)

General Instructions for Fingering Weight Mitered Square Socks worked in the Round (again, this is not an actual pattern, just hints on how to adapt the 2-needle pattern)

The pattern for mitered square socks knit with worsted weight yarn is part of my Mitered Square Cuff Workshop (along with a pattern for mittens), and therefore only available for workshop members, but all you have to do is work 3 rows of 5 mitered squares with size 5 needles for the cuff, sew the cuff into a tube (3 rows deep), then pick up 48 sts and work the rest of the sock in the normal way.

Also, my pattern for fingering weight gloves with Mitered Square Cuffs is in Storey's 101 Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders.

Hooks and Miters

Sounds like a kids' board game, doesn't it?

Anyway, I worked up a couple more mitered square hats, this time, alternating yarns.

I used some Fritidsgarn that I've had sitting around for years. It wasn't exactly leftover, in that I had 3 full skeins of it. I just never found a use for this multicolored yarn. It's bulky, and not soft, and it's reputed to be an excellent felter. It called to me the other night when I was stash diving, so I brought it downstairs and gave it a whirl. I like how it looks with the Evergreen Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (which was leftover). When I finished this hat, I still had a lot of the Fritidsgarn left.

So I knit another, this time with a Plymouth Boku as the alternate yarn.

The difference between using the lighter and the darker secondary yarns is pretty amazing.
When I finished those two hats, I still had a whole ball of the Fritidsgarn left, so I got out the crochet hook,

and made this hat. I don't crochet often, and I misjudged the size- it came out way too big, so I hand-felted it. For a yarn designed specifically to felt easily, it took a good 15 minutes of scrubbing to get it to shrink.

Unfortunately, I don't know if anyone will ever want this hat- it's pretty homely. And it serves as a reminder of why I usually knit.

On the other hand, the darker mitered square hat found a home even before it was off the needles. As Mary discovered with her Ady's Socks, sometimes the right person for a project pops up without even looking. But the crocheted hat will go in the BTo'KT, and someone, somewhere, will want it, I'm sure. I think. If not, I'll wear it myself- I wouldn't want it to feel left out.

Hatapalooza

Hatpocalypse?
Hatzilla?

Whatever you call it, those worsted weight, Size 8 hats are falling off the needles at a pretty fair pace.

This is that Noro stuff with angora in it. Amazingly soft, and it's halo-ing even as I type. I knitted myself a sweater with this. I always forget to wear it. I need to dig it out.

 These two hats are from Noro Kureyon- both from the same dye lot, which shows you how impossible it is to match Noro... This shot was taken before washing and blocking. The hats look much neater now. The yarn was left over from a felted bag that I did for I Heart Felt. I still have 2 full skeins.

 This one used bits and pieces of Boku and Noro.

 Same hat- the sides look very different from each other.

And when I'm not knitting, I'm sighing. It's 27 degrees out (above zero), and there is no wind, so it could be worse. But really, we don't  need any  more snow.

Stitchin' and remarkably little bitchin'

It got plenty cold here last night, but not as cold as was predicted. We didn't get to -30 (F, air temp), so I couldn't try the Magic Water Trick. But here's a sample, from Minnesota:



We only got to -24, which isn't cold enough. Darn.

Inside, where it's nice and warm, I've been sewing.

These are not Spoonflower fabrics, mostly because I didn't have time to design anything specific for this recipient, and also because there are lovely, commercially produced, coffee-themed fabrics, that cost far less than $16 per yard (I love Spoonflower dearly, but if there's no reason to wait 10 days and pay extra, then there's really no reason to wait 10 days and pay extra).

 I have to admit that the bloom is off the slipper rose- I'm fairly bored with sewing them. However, they are so adorable, and I do have a few more gift-pairs to sew. The little flat bag is a new notion- a sort of variation of the larger fabric box bag. I like how it came out.

 Just in case you couldn't see the print in the other pics- the light fabric is covered with Coffee Words, all in Courier, it looks like.

And I've been knitting. Here's the Noro Mitered Square hat.

This one might almost be masculine enough for a Guy. Maybe. What do you think?

At any rate, my cold is better, and my house is warm, and I'm enjoying this bit of time off, so I'm not complaining about much of anything today. I'd better enjoy that while it lasts.

The first day of the rest of the month...

... also happens to be the last day of the rest of the month. Oh well. I have a few days to do some of the things that went by the wayside while I was feverishly working on the MG rewrite, and getting a bunch of festival workshop proposals sent in, and trying to arrange classes and workshops for my March trip to Snohomish. I don't suppose this calm will last very long, but while it does, I'm going to try to rest up before we leave for SoCal. My cold is on the wane (it stayed strictly in the nasal vicinity, without settling in the chest, so it was annoying, but otherwise unremarkable)(well, I remarked a lot, but that's the way I am).

 I've also had a bit of time for knitting. I finished this pair of leftover socks, and they'll go winging their way to happy feet tomorrow.

 I decided to try the mitered square hat with heavier yarn and bigger needles. This yarn is Plymouth Boku. It's my usual mitered square hat recipe, except that I used size 8 needles, and only did 2 rows of 8 mitered squares. The crown has 80 sts. The measurements are the same. I think it turned out beautifully.

 And I still love the look of the decreases.

I cast on another with leftover Noro. Noro is a sneaky yarn- you can fall in love with a ball for the lovely peaches and golds and rusts, only to find an entire center section of chartreuse. That happened with this yarn, which looks to be soothing cool colors and oceany and all, and then suddenly, with no warning, there was this huge swath of scarlet. I looked at it for a bit, and then I snipped it out. The red just didn't belong in this hat, and it will be very happy in some other leftover hat, I'm sure.

This version of these hats knits up very very quickly. Woohoo for TBTo'KT!

Tomorrow, I'll probably have pics of some sewing projects that I'm finishing up.

I'm Baaack!

So, MG Fantasy V2.0 is off to my agent. If it needs more work, it'll come back to me. If it's ready to go, then the real nail biting starts. In the meantime, I have my days back now. Except that I don't. I have about six bazillion things to do before we leave for SoCal (and some Fearless Fair Isle booksignings- the first in Sioux Falls on Feb. 10). It's Proposal Submitting Season, and there are several festivals with looming deadlines waiting for my paperwork. And I have sewing to do before we leave, including some for a Birthday Sister. And I probably ought to clean, just a little bit.

Speaking of Fearless Fair Isle (which is shipping from online stores even as I type)...

 Look what arrived the other day! These are my freebie copies. Once they're gone (and they disappear pretty fast, I have a big family), I have to buy them, just like everyone else.

 But I keep 3 for myself. One is my reading copy, that I trot around to all of my booksignings (and to the grocery store, and the post office, and anywhere else I think anyone might possibly ask me what I'm doing carrying that book around, so I can say, "Oh this little thing? Did I bring that with me? It's just my latest book." ) And then two copies (of all of the books, the ones I wrote, and the ones where I am a contributor) go on my office shelf, where I keep every edition of every book (if I can find them)- ARCs (advance reading copies), 1st editions, multiple printings, new versions. I look at them sometimes, and think, "Wow, that's pretty cool. Why aren't I rich?"

Note some of the writers on the shelf below- Laura Lippman, Elizabeth George, Jerrilyn Farmer, and of course, Alan Beechey. The shelf below is the G.M. Ford/Dennis Lehane shelf. All of them signed, neener neener.

 And when I'm not admiring my oeuvre, I have been knitting. I'm nearly done with the latest pair of leftover socks. These will go winging to New Owner on Monday. I want her to have them before it warms up, not that that is going to happen any time soon.

 And last, but most certainly not least, Blog Reader/Facebook Friend Valerie knitted a couple of mitered-square leftover yarn hats, here modeled by Reanna (below) and Megan above. Thanks so much for sharing, Valerie. The hats and the models are all adorable!

As always, if you've made something from any of my patterns and would like to share, I love posting pics! Just e-mail them to me: kathleentaylor1952atgmaildotcom

The Blue Screen of Death

Just last week, I mentioned to The Hub that I really should get an external hard drive for a backup. Hub, I said, My desktop computer (the one I use a good 6 hours a day, every day) is 9 years old, and it's running Windows XP, which isn't even supported by Microsoft any more. The computer runs very well, and it's been totally reliable (outside of the fact that the floppy drive gave out almost immediately, and the CD burner doesn't work any more) but time is going to run out eventually.

Of course, after I said this to my husband, I forgot all about it. The computer, on the other hand, chuckled evilly, and exactly three later, had a total meltdown.

Luckily, I am anal about backing up the really important stuff- all of my book and photo files have been saved in multiple places, and most of those files are also kept on my e-mail server, so I can access them from anywhere. Unfortunately, there were a few things that I didn't save anywhere else: all of the Adobe Illustrator original files (I do have the png and jpg versions but those won't allow me to work on them efficiently in Illustrator, which was on that computer too, come to think of it), all of my music (I was never able to connect the Zune to the laptop), and.... the paper doll scans. Well, I do have a backup of the paper doll scans, but I don't have a backup of the scans all resized and in a uniform format. Sigh.

So, there won't be any Thursday Tabs until I get a new desktop computer. If I am very lucky (and if the Blue Screen of Death involved something other than total file corruption), Chuck and The Nerd Herd will be able to transfer my old files to the new hard drive (otherwise, I'll have to do the resizing and uniforming all over again, and I just don't have time for that now). So for the time being, I'm suspending the paper doll uploads, unless anyone out there has sets they'd like to share with everyone. e-mail me if you have sets you'd like to share.

In the meantime, I still have the laptop (and the mini that I use when I travel) so I'm not computerless (which, quite frankly, would drive me around the bend. Addicted, I am).

In the non-computer-disaster portion of my life: I haven't been in the mood to decorate yet (I can't remember the last time my trees weren't up by Thanksgiving),  but I have been doing some baking/candy making. I've made Vanilla Heath Bar Fudge, Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Fudge, and Mocha Fudge (no, they're not low-carb... shame on me). Yesterday I made these:

No, that's not a tray of disembodied breasts... These are carrot cakeballs. Not so pretty, but very tasty.

And I'm making progress on the mitered square hat (though I've spent more time sewing lately than knitting, but I still can't show you the sewn projects).

Maybe Santa will bring me a new computer...

Super Secret Stuff

I can't show you what I'm making, but I can show you what I'm making, if you catch my drift.

One of the current can't-show-you-the-actual-item projects is this zippered fabric tote, from this tutorial by Dragon[knit]fly. I've made a couple now, and though I had a hard time visualizing what I was supposed to do, I just followed the instructions, and voila! I had a lovely little zippered box. You can make one with 2 fat quarters, some interfacing and a 12" zipper, easy peasy. It's a fun blog, and maybe there's a new baby in the Dragon[knit]fly family by now.

I'm also sewing these slippers

from Favorite Things, though maybe they're no longer producing the Pitter Patters pattern  I bought my copy from Keepsake Quilting, and it seems to be available from them still. This is a really versitile slipper pattern, sized to fit infants through adult men. It's not a difficult pattern to sew, though by the time you get done, you're stitching through quite a few layers, and I opted to hand-tack the outer bias tape on top, rather than try to machine sew it around the outside of the slipper, or hand sew it to the non-slip bottom (and by this, I don't mean that I hand-sewed the bias tape to the slipper. I used the machine for that. I just hand-tacked the fold-over down). I do think the footpad is a mite narrow (on the other hand, I come from The Land of Wide Feet), but that's a fairly easy adjustment. Once my next shipment of Jiffy Grip arrives, I intend to make a pair for myself, which I can actually show you.

I can show you the progress on the Lapland mitered square hat, though, since I don't know if that will be a gift or not (I'm thinking of putting together a mitered square workshop, and may just toss it in with other samples for that class). It's coming along, and I was right to try mitered squares with this yarn- they're a perfect match.

Mitered Square Hat

In amongst all of the other excitement, I did find time to finish the Mitered Square Hat, knit with leftover Twisted Fiber Arts Playful yarn.

I love how it came out.

So did the three girls  (ages 8-11) who were here when I finished it. They all begged for one.

Maybe Santa can do something about that...

It's easy peasy to make:
Heavy Fingering Weight Yarn (though regular fingering will work too), Size 2.75mm needles (dpns and 16" circ)
4 rows of 19st mitered squares (instructions here)- 14 squares each row
Sew the back seam, pick up 140 sts around the upper edge.
K 4 rnds.
Dec Rnd 1: *K 12, K 2 tog*, rep around
Dec Rnd 2: K
Dec Rnd  3: *K 11, K 2 tog*, rep around
Dec Rnd 4: K
Continue in this manner, working one less st before the dec on each odd rnd, until there are 10 sts left. Cut yarn, thread tail through remaining loops, tighten and tie off. Weave the ends in, wash and block.

This hat fits me just fine-it's snug and it reaches just below my ears. But if you want a longer brim, just work another row of mitered squares. If you want a bigger hat, work more squares in the row. If you want a smaller hat, work fewer squares in a row. Regardless of size, pick up 10 sts per square for the crown. You could also pick up stitches along the bottom edge, and work a ribbing or border if you like.

Laying flat, the hat measures 8" long and 9 1/2" wide.

Before I buckle down

Before the nose hits the grindstone, I made progress on the Mitered Square Hat:

I've finished the brim, and have picked up the stitches for the crown. I'll work four rounds of stockinette, and then begin the decreases. The bottom edge is nice and even, so I won't add a border unless I need some more length.

On the stove last night: Fannie Farmer Fudge, with an experimental Sea Salt version. Oh my.... sprinkle the buttered pan with a very light amount of salt- not a coating- and then pour the hot fudge on top of it. If you've had salt chocolate, use about that amount (just enough to taste but not enough to overwhelm- it may take a bit of experimentation to find the right balance). And use a mild granulated white salt, not flavored or smoked. I went with Korean Isle Fleur de Sel from The Meadow, which may not be available online. This will substitute nicely.

p.s. no, it's not a low-carb recipe...

Mitered Squares, again, some more

I felt well enough yesterday to accompany The Hub on a longish grocery run out of town, and lived to tell the tale (in fact, I am almost willing to say that I'm nearly feeling okay-- it's been awhile since I've been able to say that and pretend to mean it) (and there have been no leg cramps since I placed a bar of soap at the end of the bed. Coincidence? Mind Games? Possibly. Probably. I don't care).

As a result, we have Texas Caviar, Cranberry Jalapeno Relish, and Tapenade, all marinating in the fridge, waiting for the Thursday Blowout. As another result, I only wrote about 1/3 of the required words yesterday, so I need to double down today.

Before I hit the salt mines, here's the progress on the Mitered Square Hat.

The yarns used are all leftovers, all Twisted Fiber Arts Playful (the heavy fingering weight). The colorways as follows: Bottom Row: Netherfield (with some Scorched on the back), Row 2: Firefly, Row 3: Valkyrie, Row 4: Karma. I will probably put another row of squares on, and then join and pick up stitches for the brim. Stats so far: 19 st mitered squares, 14 squares per row

I'm thinking of adding a Mitered Square Workshop to my roster. It's a fun process, easy to learn, and it would be nice to have a couple of half-day classes (most of mine are all-day affairs). What say you all to that idea?

Settled at Netherfield

If I could have but both of my feet settled happily in Netherfield, and everyone else's feet covered equally well, I should have nothing else to wish for...

Hand-dyed self-striping yarns are notoriously variable as to their repeats (I know, I wrote a book about it once), so though I'm just a tad bit anal about my toes matching, I don't quibble when it comes to Twisted Fiber Arts yarns- even gloriously mis-matching is beautiful (and this is just a minor difference, and since I don't wear open-toe shoes with socks, it truly doesn't matter).

I had no problem knitting a pair of my generic socks from the Playful base (which is a bit heavier than usual fingering weight,  with a skein weighing in at 120 gr, and 360 yards). In fact, I have a nice size ball of leftover yarn.There would have been plenty for larger feet as well (I'm a size 7-8). 

I'm going to wear them today. I have a skein of Netherfield Arial, which is a true fingering weight, which I will probably use to make a pair of lace socks.

For my next take-along project (not that I'm going anywhere, any time soon), I started a leftover Twisted Playful Mitered Square Hat. I have a few more squares to add to the first row, and I plan to make each row of squares with completely different colorways (I knew that there was a reason that I never threw away even little amounts of this yarn- that it would come in handy sometime). I think I'll pick up and knit a few garter stitch rows along the bottom edge, to even it out, and I plan to sew the tube together, and then pick up stitches to knit the crown decreases in random stripes of whatever yarn I have left. It should be pretty cool.

In closing, I am going to say this very very quietly, lest I jinx myself: not only am I feeling better this morning, but I think... I think that I might finish the first draft of the YA on time. Maybe.