Thursday, December 28, 2006

Center Square





Center Square from Winter Knitty 2006. Patons Classic Wool in winter white and chestnut brown, two strands held throughout on 8mm needles. I followed the pattern to a T. Started December 26, finished December 27. I'm wondering if I have enough leftover yarn to do another one reversing the colors. I also toyed with the idea of doing another one and felting it to make a child's hat for the Dulaan Project. I'll think about it. (Oh, yes, this is mine! Finally something for me!) I think colorwork could become addictive. I really kinda liked this (even though I'm not the greatest at it), and now I'm looking at this pattern. We have some superwash wool at the store that will work. Maybe someday I'll get as good as some other people at this!

I'm glad I made myself this nice, warm hat. The weather turned quite chilly. Hubby and I also went to the free adult public skate today, and I wore it there. I need new skates really badly. I have white figure skates I got when I was in high school, and they hurt my feet now. I want those new boot skates. I'll probably wait til they start marking them down before I buy a pair. I don't go skating enough to spend too much on a new pair. I think I saw a pair in the Wal-Mart flyer the other week that were a different brand and a lot cheaper. I don't need a fancy name.

Been playing with the ball winder. I wound the yarn for Dad's belated Christmas slippers. I had some help, as you can see in the picture. I really want a swift. My chairs don't allow the yarn to flow smoothly off the backs, so I have to unwind it by hand a little bit, leave it on the floor, wind it on the winder, etc, etc, til I'm finished. I did have hubby holding the last skein, and it did go much better. He's gone so much, though, that I'll have to do all my winding when he's home! (I'll talk about these chairs in the next post maybe. There's a story behind them. My old chairs had straight backs and would have been a breeze to use as a swift. Unfortunately they are all broken, thus the replacement chairs.)

Got my eBay yarn yesterday for Karen's Sugar-Free Socks. I cannot wait to start these! I've never used this yarn before, and it is soooooo soft. It will be nice to have a pair of socks on the needles, especially warm ones for me since the weather has gotten chilly.

I hear it calling from the closet....

Here's a copy and paste job from yesterday's post on a little contest of a sort I have going on:

I also have a little bit of a contest to hold. Well, it's only a contest if I get more than one person who wants it. I ordered the boys some Lite Brite refills for Christmas from Toys R Us. One was a Star Wars refill kit (I know, more for me, the SW freak that I am), and the other one was supposed to be this plain one. When it came it was My Little Pony, which isn't even listed on their site. I don't have any little girls with Lite Brites to give it to. Anyhoo, all you have to do is leave me a comment or e-mail me saying you either have a little girl with a Lite Brite Classic, Cube, or Travel OR you know a little girl with said item(s) who would like to have it. If I get more than one person expressing interest then I will do the random draw thing to see who gets it. {darganknits at hotmail dot com}

I will run this until New Year's Day, then make the draw. So far there are three people who have expressed interest in it. I'm glad it will be going to someone's little girl -- it's more bother than it's worth for me to return it.

I have more pictures to share, but Blogger crapped out on me. Off to start Dad's slippers or his birthday hat. I'm also a Coronation Street fan. Tonight is a sad one. Mike Baldwin dies. He's been in the show for thirty years. (We're months and months behind England, and I always cheat and go on the ITV site to see what's going on.)

Ho, ho, ho!

Happy knitting!

8 Comments:

Blogger Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Your hat turned out wonderfully! I'm thinking of maybe trying those mittens from knitty too, now that I've done some colourwork myself (on the mittens I did for my friend for Christmas)...we'll see though.

7:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yummy, this hat is absolutely gorgeous! My experiences with colourwork haven't been the nicest so far (lots of swearing and frogging involved...) so I love marvelling at others' colourwork, especially when it's so beautifully done like yours!
The Corazon-mitts from Knitty are high up on my "To-do" list - or let's say, my "To-Try" list - they're so amazing, aren't they? Looking forward to seeing yours once you've cast on for them!

5:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The hat is great! It looks warm and cozy and perfect for ice skating, or any other cold weather activity. I still envy you your ball winder even though a swift might make it more useful. If your son's have any tinker toys, you could build one!

10:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Center Square hat is wonderful - I love the brown and white and the way the pattern reverses itself...It looks like you have the whole stranded colorwork thing going along beautifully! I've been looking at those mittens in Knitty too, even printed them off, but I think they will have to wait for another mitten phase in the future!
I just put my swift up for the first time last night and had a ball rolling party for myself. I have had just the ball winder for over a year and I finally SPLURGED on the swift...I don't know how I've done without it. I keep yelling at everyone to look as it twirls around so effortlessly.

10:48 AM  
Blogger Charity said...

Love the finished hat! Isn't the ball winder fun? I went crazy winding up wool when I was given mine! :0)

1:37 PM  
Blogger Miss Tonia said...

That hat is fabulous! You did such a great job on it. You are alot more brave than I, I haven't tried colorwork yet. Maybe I will on '07. And the mittens will be the perfect accessory.

Aren't ball winders tons of fun? Every time I get mine out the girls rush to watch, and so does the cat. Then I decided that I really needed a swift, but couldn't afford one, so I dug around in mom's wood shop and she helped me make one. Maybe if you don't get one before spring, when I can get back onto the shop, I'll make you one and send it up to you.

I haven't got a chance to watch Coronation Street, but I got hooked on Monarch of the Glen.

Oh, and please toss my name into the hat for the MLP lite bright refill. Annie would love it, and we have a light bright around here somewhere.

3:38 PM  
Blogger Donna M said...

Love the Center Square Hat! It really came out well and I think it will be just as nice if you reverse the colours and make another one.
Glad to see you have some interest in your Lite Brite stuff.
Have a Happy New Year!

10:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy New Year!
Wow! Your hat is lovely, and it looks nice and warm too! It will be great for ice skating (something I haven't done since high school when I lived in NY). Nice ball winder! :) I cannot wait to see your sugar-free socks!
Oh..and the Lego Santas...so cute!!! :)

10:22 AM  

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