FO Friday

ramb, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

These are my final 2011 finished object. There's a long boring story about why I did the pattern and used this yarn. It comes down to wanting to do the pattern even though I don't care for it and using up some handspun. They aren't anything fancy, but they'll be warm and comfy.

Mitten Mania getting more intense

I've got at least a half-dozen pair of mittens queued for mitten knitting month.  That's plenty, even for an obsessed knitter with a good deal of free time.  I keep running across new ones and the queue keeps growing.

The latest was a pair of Paris mittens I spotted on Ravelry.  I've got this obsession with Paris, so anything with that theme is tempting.  These are black on white with a cute picot edge.  There are fleur de lys (don't know enough French to know the correct plural) on the cuff and thumbs.  Both mittens have the Eiffel Tower on them.  One has a stripey palm.  The other has a banner that says Paris that goes across the Eiffel Tower.  The palm of that one has a biplane which is towing the Paris banner.  So clever!  So Parisian! 

Needless to say, they're now #1 on the queue.

Happy Whateveryoucelebrate

advbanner, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Here's my advent banner. Today's pattern, a tiny wrapped present, will be knit later today. Eagle-eyed readers will note a snag in the lower left side. A cat sitting on the couch can reach that point. Both of them decided to do that at different times. Silly felines.

Mitten Mania

There aren't any Nerd Wars activities next month, so I'm preparing myself for NaKnitMitMo.  It's a month of manic knitting of mittens.  I'm obsessing over this because 1)  planning projects is usually more fun than making them, 2)  Nerd Wars is frustrating me currently and 3)  I needed an excuse to buy a bunch stuff from Knit Picks.

I went through my set of Knit Picks dpns with a needle sizer and was baffled by the results.  There were two size 2.0mm and eight size 2.25.  That's four needles that weren't what they should be.  Four needles makes me think that maybe I've got a project on the 2.0s, but why would I have four extra 2.25s?   It's a mystery.  I ordered a set of 2.0s because I have to have a complete set.  Since I didn't want to order just needles and pay a big shipping fee, I had to buy more yarn.  Then I had to add a sock yarn sampler so I didn't have to pay any shipping.

I've got several SpillyJane patterns queued up plus one of Daniel MacBride's Ukranian Roses patterns.  The SpillyJane patterns involve gnomes, cheezburgers (spelling intentional), and phases of the moon.  No, not all on a single mitten.  There are a whole series of Ukranian designs available, but I managed to only commit myself to one so far.  I want to go cast them all on right now.  Instead, I shall finish a half a sock and dream of January.

Advent Calendar

banner1, a photo by Paula knits on Flickr.

Here are the first 8 ornaments for the advent calendar. There are a few modifications, notably day 5. I crocheted a snowflake to replace the one in the pattern. I tried the pattern and it looks like a dead mutant spider.
The original is cute, so it is clearly my work that failed.

There hasn't been much Nerd Wars progress. I still am not clear on what is required for a couple of the challenges. I've decided to enter what I think meets the challenges. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, fine. It is simply not worth getting upset about.

Tournament 3 Round 3 Blues

It is only the second day of this round of Nerd Wars and I'm already having troubles.

One challenge involved finishing two WIPs.  I'm going to have to finish a third WIP because the knitting portion of my second project was completed before I started finishing it.  Does that make any sense?

These are DPN holders that look like gnomes.  They had all been knit and felted/fulled and the finishing work was all embroidery and stringing elastic.  Embroidery and stringing elastic are not Ravelry crafts, so the finishing didn't count.

One challenge involves trying something you haven't done before and you find challenging.  I've been knitting and crocheting for about half a century.  There isn't much I haven't tried.  I wouldn't say that I do them all well, but doing most things doesn't challenge me.

And then there's this one:

Craft an item that is inspired by the physical landscape of your nerddom. Please include a pic of the item “in the wild” (IE:your FO shown in the type of landscape that inspired your challenge!)

I've read through pages of questions and answers about this one and still have no clue at all about what would be acceptable.

My head hurts.  I think I have the dumb.