Wednesday 24 February 2010

Colour work

I realized it while making this hat that I don't do a lot of colour work.

(I made this to get rid of stash yarn. Really... Not because hats are go-to knitting for me. Or I am in a hat rut. Still...)

Almost everything I've made in the past year or so (other than the rare project) is one colour. Or at most - it has a stripe in it. Like above.

So I asked myself, 'Why don't you do more colour work?' I really enjoyed making the frog hat, and I know my fairisle needs practice so I set myself a goal that during the Olympics (which I'm loving! Especially now that Canada is winning some medals. :) The winter games totally make me want to learn how to x-country ski! Only I might not be coordinated enough. ... anyway...) that I would concentrate on doing some colour work projects.
So over the next few weeks (while I'm on vacation. yay!) there'll be some posts on that theme. I've already finished three hats and the fourth is almost done.
I think you'll like 'em. I do! They've all been pretty successful. Similar, but different. You'll see. And you'll have to tell me which one you like the most. :)

Friday 19 February 2010

Crane

Some people get cravings for food. Out of the blue, you want pizza/chips/kumquats. Something. Sure. There are times I really want a gingerbread cookie, but more often than not, I suddenly want to start a new random craft.
Last night from nowhere came the desire to try to make an origami crane. Yup. I think happens to only me.

But luckily I have a bunch of origami paper on hand (left over from the kirigami Christmas gift I got last year), so I got to try.

Well, it's not the prettiest crane if you ask me... but it's sort of crane like.
And you know what they say: if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Thursday 18 February 2010

Redone scarf

Scarf Update! Thanks for the comments! Based off of them, I frogged the ugly scarf! And this is the result:

Better? Well, I at least think the colour combinations are better. And the stripes definitely look better when they are even. Right? At least this scarf is kinda cool.

Unfortunately, now the scarf is a little short. I ran out of yarn... and the purpose was sort of to use some stash yarn, so buying more yarn doesn't really make sense.
So that's the way it goes.
It's not perfect, but I do like it at least. If I was still hating it, that would be cause for concern. And I feel I can gift it without feeling like I'm giving a 2nd rate gift.

Saturday 13 February 2010

Frogs

This post is about frogs, but this time it has nothing to do with ripping out projects. I actually knit frogs!
Aren't these froggies cute? Well... actually, I like to pretend that they are salamanders. I wanted to use scrap yarn I had leftover (from here) and red seemed to pair well with black, so I knit it up! And that's when I realized just how in your face the red/black combination would be. They don't look much like frogs, do they? Hence the pretending they are salamanders.

Because I used scrap yarn, I ended up having to slightly modify the pattern to make it the right size. With those modifications came an error. Totally my fault! Two of the frogs face the same direction.
Could have been worse, right?

(Please ignore the fact that this is a hat... It was just too cute to resist! And it used up stash yarn!! I had to make it. But in case you are counting hat total for 2010 = 3.)

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Opinion? Frog or Slog

I'm looking for opinions on this scarf:

Right now, I'm sort of hating it. And I'm wondering if I should frog it (rip it out and start again) or slog it (um... by which I mean persevere and keep at it.)
So, here's the story:
A friend of mine from soccer requested a scarf. Her only request to style/colour was that she wanted something in the green/blue family and that for a striped scarf it wouldn't be bold stripes (like no white and bright green. She wanted subtle stripes).
So I thought of this style of scarf. I've seen a ton of really beautiful scarves made out of this pattern. I even have the right kind of yarn! And in the right colours for her request.
My problem? I don't like the way my stripes are turning out.

I have two of the balls on the right and only one of the ones on the left, so I was doing 4 rows of the greener one and two rows of the grey/blue. I thought I would, but I don't like the uneven stripes or colour combination. I'm worried that it will look even worse once I get to the bright blue.

So, my 4 or so loyal readers, what say you? Should I rip it out and start again only using the two same balls? I would still get the striped scarf out of it because I could start at different points of the variated-ness. Or should I keep going and hope for the best?

If I'm going to rip it out, I'd like to do it sooner rather than later. So, please, let me know what you think!