If you watched my Youtube video/podcast/whatever episode, you’ve already seen these finished objects. But I have somehow managed to completely miss posting them onto the blog! So here’s fixing that.

Pattern: This is one that I improvised. I cast on a bunch of stitches and knit 1×1 rib of each color until I ran out.

Needles: US 5 – 3.75 mm

Yarn: Buffalo Wool Company – Splash of Color mini-skeins

I’m pretty sure I cast this one on during one of my snow days in January/February. I remember I was working from home and my work-at-home was moving very slowly. I would spend a minute or two waiting for pages to load or processed to complete, so I just picked up the left over Buffalo Wool Company mini-skeins left over from my linen stitch cowl and started knitting. It was just something quick and simple to put my hands to use and I really like how it turned out.

I’m not sure if I will end up keeping this one. I’ve started a bin for things to gift or sell at a future date. I have a ton of things in my Ravelry queue that I want to make that I won’t use, so I figure I ought to save those things up so that other people will enjoy them. 

Pattern: I improvised this one, too. I just cast on a fewer stitches than the ribbed cowl, knit 1×1 rib for a bit, then stockinette until it looked like I was going to start running out within the next few rows. I did a couple of decrease rows alternated with straight knit rows until I ran out of yarn, then pulled the end through and gathered up the stitches.

Needles: US 5 – 3.75 mm

Yarn: This is actually the very first handspun I ever bought, which was at a little knit stand at the New York Renaissance Faire about a decade ago. I lost the tag a long time ago, so I’m not sure the fiber content, but the white is super fluffy and the navy blue is more sleek.

This was another stash busting project. I’ve had this yarn for about a decade and it had become several things, but there was never really enough of it for the things that I really wanted to make. I know this sounds crazy, but I just started getting into making and wearing hats. There wasn’t really enough yarn for other things, but there was definitely just enough to make a cozy hat!

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I’m nearing the end of the list, finally. Five coworkers commissioned 1 or 2 things each all at the same time before Christmas and it’s been nuts trying to get them done. I only have 2 definite projects left, with a tentative idea for a cowl that may end up on the needles, but the end of the coworker list is in site.

In the mean time, here’s a few things I have managed to finish.

Giving is Receiving

Pattern: Giving is Receiving by Uma Padu

Needles: US 5 – 3.75 mm

Yarn: SMC Northern Chunky Brown

I had to modify this pattern a bit because the yarn used to match the hood scarf I made this coworker was discontinued and I had very little of it left to work with, but I think they turned out pretty good. I’ve made enough fingerless gloves by now that I can fiddle with them and the chunky yarn is pretty forgiving to work with.

Graham Hat

Pattern: Graham by Jennifer Adams

Needles: US 4 – 3.5 mm & US 6 – 4.0 mm

Yarn:  The Ugly Room in Mermaid Tails and Lion Brand Pound of Love White

I really like the Graham hat pattern. It’s a pretty simple pattern that looks great in a hat. Also, hats are quick and I love this yarn, so it was nice.

Mulberry Hood Scarf

Pattern: My own pattern

Needles: US 8 – 5.0 mm

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunk in Mulberry

Another hood scarf! There’s really not much else to say at this point about these, except that I am working on getting the pattern written out to put up on Ravelry.

Huzzah!

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Finished a new stash busting project!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it. I may have in the Christmas ornament round up in January, but one of my goals this year is to bust stash. There’s a lot of stuff in my stash that has been there since I started yarn crafting over a decade ago. So I’m resolved to use up some stuff before the fall when I buy new stuff from yarn events.

And here’s a stash buster I finished!

Pattern: Hazel the Humpback Whale by Bec Brittain

Yarn: Holiday Yarns Grab Bag scraps, Merry Little Lamb handspun scraps

Needles: US 0 – 2.00 mm

I was actually intending to use these yarns for more Christmas ornaments. That was the plan. But I went down a pattern rabbit hole on Ravelry and stumbled upon this pattern for a humpback whale, which I found fascinating. I must have gone back to the pattern page half a dozen times to look at Bec Brittain’s Hazel. I knew I didn’t have enough black or dark grey to pull off this pattern, but I thought a scrap striped whale would be charming. 

And she is! She lives on my printer when the paper feed is closed, so I can just look over and see her when I’m sorting things out on my laptop. 

Also, can I just say that I love her beady little eyes? During college, I had an amigurumi phase and bought a whole bunch of safety eyes and I went through a couple of them to see how they would look on Hazel. I ended up using the smallest ones that were plain black, but they pop out nicely out of the green.

She’s about 2 ft long from nose to tail, which is only a little smaller than the pattern says will be produced in DK weight yarn, but I also have a loose knitting gauge, so that was not unexpected.

The pattern could be a little bit confusing at times. There are updates and corrections listed on the pattern page, but I didn’t end up looking at them. I just fudged any differences until I got the right numbers. I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal  on a whale. Organic creatures are not exactly symmetrical and any irregularities from my knitting would look normal on a whale. 

Also, this is a tricky pattern to keep track of. If you’re a beginning knitter or a knitter without plush-knitting experience, be prepared to keep notes or a notebook on you. There are very few repeating rows in the body of this whale. There’s a bit around the middle where there are a few knit rows in a row, but mostly there increases or decreases in every row. There isn’t a set sequence of rows that you can expect to follow due to the shape of the humpback whale. 

The fins are also finicky. The first front fin gave me a little trouble because it was hard to see how the shape was created until I nearly reached the end, which is why there is one front fin and one tail fin that is smaller than the other one. I kept the tension tighter in my confusion over some of the increases and decreases, so the second one knit much more smoothly and a little larger. 

If you tackle this pattern, I’d recommend whip stitching the ends of the fins closed and blocking them out before sewing them to the body. My fins were pretty  scrunched up from being in my hands, which made the ends wavy. I whip stitched them shut, soaked them in water, squeezed out the excess water, stuck them into a folded towel, and lightly pressed them with an iron so that the edges of the fins were nice and defined. Then I unfolded the towel and let them finish drying naturally.

And that’s Hazel! 😀