Another FO: Fetching!

I finally finished my fingerless gloves today! The second one took me a while because it was sort of boring to do the same thing twice in a row. They look good, though, I think:





Again, I'm not crazy about the picot bind-off, and I think if I make them again I'll make them longer in both the wrist & finger areas. Still, they were a nice little project and I'm very pleasantly surprised to say they only used up a skein of my lovely Irish yarn!

The project details can be found at my Ravelry, of course, but here's what I learned from making these:

• Magic Loop knitting, aka my new favorite thing in the whole world! I may still want to learn to use DPN's someday, but for now I'm just thrilled as can be with this method. It also seems much more portable than DPN's could possibly be, which is a definite plus in my book.
• The cable cast-on, which I like quite a bit.
• The magic of strategic end-weaving. What holes?

I think that's everything. :)

Now I need to really focus on the holiday knitting. (How many times am I going to say that before I actually do it?) First I need to go supply-shopping, though, since nothing I really want to make ever seems to use the millions of needle sizes I already have. Such is life, I suppose.

Fetching: One Down!

I cast on for Fetching Thanksgiving evening and finished up my first one just this morning (would've been last night, but the thumbs were driving me NUTS and, after several attempts, I decided to just leave them for the morning). I'm pretty sure I love it:


Magic Looping it was really the way to go! I did appreciate the offers to help me out with DPN's, and I still might take you guys up on that, but for now I'm in love with this Magic Loop thing!

The only thing I really had trouble with was the thumb, like I said. There seemed to be no way to do it that didn't lead to horrible, gaping holes on either side. I kept ripping back & trying again, then eventually decided I would just have to live with the stupid ugly holes. I was assuming sewing them up wouldn't help or look good, but when I wove in my ends I kinda tried to close them up anyway, and what do you know! It worked perfectly and now you can't tell there were ever any holes there at all!

I'm also not sure I'm crazy about the picot bind-off -- might skip that when I make another pair. I've decided I'm making at least one (probably two) more pairs for Christmas gifts.

I do have some sad news, though: my stupid boyfriend came home for Thanksgiving and forgot to bring me the yarn I need to finish my vest! I had a good enough time just seeing him that I almost didn't mind -- but almost is the key word there. He's sending it first thing when he gets back to Montana, he promises. If he doesn't, I won't send him any more baked goods for the rest of the year. Hopefully that's a harsh enough threat...

My little sister is now pretty addicted to knitting. I taught her just a couple weeks ago and she is flying. She seems to pick up new things much more quickly than I did. Just last night I taught her how to purl & how to add new yarn, and in less than 24 hours she's turned out a couple of these. They look really good, too! After mocking me endlessly for going to Knit Nights, now she suddenly wants to come along too. I'm going to bring her once my Winter Break starts. I'm anticipating that when she discovers this blog (which she inevitably will, when she gets her Ravelry invite), she will mock me ferociously about it for a couple days, then ask me to help her set one up. This has been her pattern with all things knitting-related so far.

Also, on Thanksgiving I helped my beloved aunt set up her crochet blog. She hasn't posted yet, but I love the name: Crochet Crusader.

Woohoo!

So it's Thanksgiving and guests are due to arrive in 5 minutes or so, meaning I do not even have time to be on the internet--but that's never stopped me before! I just have to make a quick & triumphant post to tell you that, since I'm still having no luck on the DPN front, I decided to give Magic Loop knitting a try instead (some people on Ravelry have made Fetching using that method, so I figure I can too). I only had to watch the KnittingHelp.com video once to completely get it! I practiced with some random stash yarn and did several rounds quickly and now have something that could almost be a finger to a glove, if it wanted to be.

Don't you love the feeling of learning a new technique? It makes me feel ridiculously brilliant, even if it's something really simple. :)

The only problem I'm having with this is that you have to pull the first & last stitches on each needle super-tight to avoid gaps, but I'm pulling them so tight I'm having trouble sliding them up the needles! I need to work on finding a balance for that, but I think I'm halfway there. I'll just practice a bit more tonight and then cast on for Fetching in the very near future! WOOHOO!

Okay, there's more to say, but I should probably go pay attention to my family or something. I'm really excited for my aunt to get here because I'm going to help her put some pictures on Ravelry + set up her own crocheting blog! Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!