Shedir Hat, Cigar Gloves, Lakeside Socks, New Pattern, & a Lost Mitten

I have two finished projects to share today!

The first one is a hat I was commissioned to make for a friend. I had kept it rather hush-hush here on the blog because she said I could use whatever pattern and yarn I wanted, so I wanted it to be a surprise. Well, she received it in the mail yesterday and took a fantastically fun picture for me today! (The picture and the hat totally suit her!)

Pattern: Shedir from Knitty’s Fall 2004 Surprise
Started: January 16, 2009
Completed: January 28, 2009
Yarn: Cascade Heritage in red
Needles: US 3 bamboo circular and DPN’s
Notes: I did one more repeat of the main cable portion then I typically do and I think it worked out well. Other than that, no changes! I really do love how this hat comes out and no matter how many times I’ve knit it (this would be the 4th if you’re counting), it’s still enjoyable.

Also, in this photo, she’s wearing a scarf she knit! She just started knitting not too long ago and she’s already addicted. Another knitter added to the fold! :o)

Pattern: Cigar, modified to have full fingers/thumbs
Started: January 18, 2009
Completed: February 3, 2009
Yarn: Berroco Comfort DK in black
Needles: US 3 bamboo DPN’s
Notes: The only big change that I made is to make the thumb and fingers closed instead of open (full fingers/thumbs). On the second glove, I decided to pick up more stitches on the cast on edges of the fingers/thumb and then decrease them the very next round. This helped close up the gaps much better and if I ever do gloves again, I will do it this way. Doing it like that made for less holes I needed to close up when weaving in the ends. This was my first time making gloves. I have to say it was a bit fiddly to do all the fingers and thumbs, but wasn’t too bad (and went quickly!). There were a lot of ends to weave in!

One thing I did learn in making these is how to weave in ends “properly.” I’m sure however I’ve been doing it works just as well, too, but I never really did know how to weave in ends “the right way” or the best way, so I did the “fake it til you make it” method up until this point. Being curious about it when face with so many ends to weave in, I Googled it and found this very helpful Knitty article. I guess I had just never really put that much thought into it before now. I think it looks a lot neater this way and I’m glad I bothered to look it up.

Since I finished up the gloves last night, I cast on the pair of Lakeside socks I’ve promised to the same friend pictured above with the hat!

Today, I was checking my Google Reader and saw a post by Grumperina showing a beautiful scarf. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to knit it. As I read more, I saw that this is a new pattern from her. The pattern is Mother of Pearl and it’s a free pattern from Crystal Palace Yarns. Very pretty! I have just the yarn for it already sitting in my stash.

This morning, as I was leaving the house, I realized one of my mittens were missing. I searched around the kitchen table where I would have left it and couldn’t find it. Searched a few other places in the house and I still couldn’t find it. I didn’t think much of it, just figured I’d left it in the car, but when I got to the car, it wasn’t there either! I’ll look again when I get home tonight. I’m pretty sure I’ve somehow lost it between getting out of my car and going into the house last night. Thankfully I was already planning on making myself new mittens and have the yarn for them. I just wasn’t planning on having to make them so soon. I was more planning on making them by next winter, but I may need to move that date up if we keep getting snow like we have been!