And now that my blog is pretty and updated, I felt compelled to finally take more photos of my finished projects. The first is a mug jacket which utilizes smocking stitch. It's a fun and beautiful stitch to work with and the designer has a great tutorial for it.
pattern: Mug and French Press Jacket
yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Wool
needles: US 6
I thought it would be fun to have a knit bowtie. After many attempts, I finally managed to tie it on properly, and realized it made me look like a caterer. And then I thought I should have knitted the bowtie in pink and look like a member of Party Down. If you haven't seen this show, it's definitely worth watching.
pattern: Bowtie
yarn: not sure
needles: US 2
The next two projects were ones I improvised to use up yarn in my stash. The first is a garter stitch hat which uses increases and decreases to shape the hat so it covers the ears.
pattern: my own
yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick
needles: US 10
For the second project, I made a cowl using Indian cross stitch, which I found in A Treasury of Knitted Patterns. The tricky part was figuring out how to knit it in the round while keeping the pattern continuous and not having an obvious end of round seam.
The pattern seemed like it would be very airy and not suitable for winter weather. But since I knit it with a bulky yarn, the cowl collapses on itself and becomes quite cozy. It also makes the stitch look like a basket weave pattern.
pattern: my own
yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick
needles: US 15
