One-Skein Karaoke Wristwarmers Pattern

(This image is WAY darker, but it shows the stitches nicely!)

You need:
- One skein Karaoke
- Size 8 needles
- Two free evenings or one free day

CO 39 stitches

Row 1 [WS]: K1, (P1 K1 P1 K3 P8 K3) twice, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 2 [RS]: S1, (P1 K1 P1 K1 P2 C2R C2L P2 K1) twice, P1 K1 P1 K1
Row 3 (and all other WS rows): S1, (P1 K1 P1 K3 P8 K3) twice, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 4 [RS]: S1, (P1 K1 P1 K1 P2 C2L C2R P2 K1) twice, P1 K1 P1 K1

Repeat rows 3,2,3,4 six more times (7 honeycomb cables total), bind off.

Updates

Well, I ended up just mixing up enough henna for my hands this time, though I did pre-sift (I used Hennaboy's morrocan, very nice, almost no loss of powder) and used honey as my sweetener. I would have liked to let it release a little longer, but I ended up putting it on tuesday night for about 3 hours, unsealed, in chilly weather, and got nice bright pumpkin stains that are still with me.

In the world of knitting, I picked up the barely-started circular shrug tuesday night and knit about an inch, then kept up with it on my many hours of in-the-car time between the homes of various family members. I've now got a delicious runway of about 12" of 2x2 rib, so only 4 more inches to go before I can stick this bitch on the circs and get going with the lace!

After, you know, a few more inches with the ribbing.

But it'd be circular ribbing.

Anyway, as far as the stripey hat goes, I'm getting about 2" of unstretched illusion knitting to each 3" of stretched striped knitting, so it's pretty interesting. The ribbing is 3" deep, so I figure that 4" of unstretched illusion knitting will cover the bottom of her hears just fine, and if she needs to she can pull it down to 6" stretched and fold up the ribbing. So, three more total inches to go, and I can start the decreases. Yay for decreases! Decreases mean I'm in the process of being done!

Henna Itch

I'm getting the Henna Itch again. You know the one. Where you skip class to go home and buy lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey and sweet-n-low, plain yogurt, cheap-ass conditioner... even though I know I'm gonna stick with lemon juice, yogurt, artificial sweetener, it's nice to imagine what the orange juice/honey combo would smell like. Mix it up, dump it on your head, aww yeah, let it wait a couple hours or, indulgence, overnight... yeah, that's the good stuff.

Ok, so I'm doing lemon juice and honey this time, mayyyybe with some nutmeg but probably without. Honeeeeeeeeey! XD

~PPN

Cast On!

Last on last night for the Circular Shrug. My 16" shoulder is 88 stitches, and, damnit... I knit three inches of it already... and forgot to do the damn 2 titches of selvage! Aaaurgh! And it's not like I can do the other 25 inches like that without it driving me crazy, you know? Blast and damnation.

Come on, Jesus. We out.

Spiffy Idea #247

Ok, so since I figure I've had at least 246 spiffy ideas in my lifetime (figures to about 10.7 a year on average, so if I have one a month I'm still ahead of the game), I'm going to start at 247 for this one, which shall be duly recorded.

I am making a hat for A. (hitherto to be referred to as 'A.-of-the-stripey-hat') It's wool, either sport or DK weight, that's self-striping in blue and pink. Very cute, but all she wanted was a simple pattern, ribbing for a few inches, stockinette for a few more, decreases and be done with it. I've just finished the end of the ribbing section (3" ribbing, 7-ish" stockinette, then decrease, and it should be able to cover the bottom of her ears with the ribbing folded up), and something occurred to me. At any given point, this hat is striped blue and pink in some combination. Illusion knitting works by fucking up stripes. What reason would there be to NOT purl one of these colors, and make a self-striping illusion knit hat?

Update: A. has agreed to let me play with her hat, and attempt to illusion knit it. Whee!

Stuff to Recall

So, I came home tonight from a friend's, with a very nice bottle of Pomegranite wine :) I haven't tried it yet, but I'd like to have it with a nice dinner with said friend, who's Vegan. Ergo, possible foods listings:

The Joey Stuff
Three With Parsley

Also, due to wacked-out financial stuff, I've now got more motivation than ever to stick to free pattens and stashbuster projects :P I think I can make something similar to the White Lies pretty jacket thingy by modifying a pattern for a circular shrug - that'd be something fairly mindless to make (functionally, it's a big rectangle that you sew up) that'd end up nice. Also, I think shrugs/boobholders are starting to grow on me, and while I'm not sure I like that, this one is significantly cuter than normal. Also, if I make it out of recycled wool that I've got, the whole thing will have cost me a quarter, and if I make it ouf of my Baby Silk, then it'll look real nice and dressy - real swanky-like. I figure I'll need some dressy clothes anyway, eventually, and it might as well be something nice that I can say, "Oh, this old thing? I knit that up ages ago."

Because as we all know, I am a praise-based organism. Screw you, Carbon.

Circular Shrug/Jacket

Ok, so the recycled yarn looks like poo, so it's out. That means I have 22 balls of oxblood Baby Silk from Elann to turn into something that will sear the eyes with sheer beauty. (this is, incidentally, the largest stash of really nice yarn I've ever had, so I've been trying to find something worthy of it for months now)

Measurements a la Persian Pen Name:

shoulders: 16"

roomy armscye: 19"

armpit-to-mid-bust: 9"

Yeah, this is gonna be a long-ass piece of 2x2 ribbing to do, 28 inches in total.

All About the Mandelbrot

So, knitting involves math, and I don't think anyone is going to dispute that. Math and knitting have the same kind of intimate relationship as yarn and knitting have - if it's not there, there's no knitting. After seeing this Super-awesome knit projective plane, I've caught the mathknitting bug, and I'd like to try my hand at some other shapes. I think a cross-cap cap would be neat, and one day I might even get an understanding of how fractals are imaged, andbe able to make cool things like fractal quilts or whateverthefuck these are.

Also, fractals? Fucking cool.
Case in point.