My Gathered Pullover!

(the spots are on the camera lens)

I'm so happy with it :)

I finally finished my Gathered Pullover yesterday. I wore it today to school and it was great. Acrylic+nylon is so much better than wool temperature wise. Besides that, I love the way it looks. I was so happy with it I told the woman I work with that I made it. lol, I'm told this isn't really bragging, but I'm not sure if I believe it. Doesn't matter though, cause I'm even if it's bragging, after all that work you have to show it to someone. Anyways, I got some nice compliments, and the two women in the lab asked me about knitting in general, so it was nice

After a month, I'm finally at the inc part of the sleeves for my Gathered Pullover. Excitement. Only 5 more inc repeats and I get to do the shoulder shaping. This winter has been so mind there's no real need for it yet. I still want it done.

I got a coupon for the pattern store at Interweave Knits. 20% off - not bad. I only want one hat pattern, so a dollar off is real nice. Somehow $4.50 a hat seems too expensive, but $3.50 is fine.

Knitting post - yay!

My Harry Potter sock yarn arrived. It's so pretty, I love it. I've never loved yarn before until now. This also happens to be my most expensive skein of yarn bought to date - 19 dollars. I think it's worth it.

Harry colorway, obviously.

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I made a little pouch for my Gameboy Advance SP. It's Michelangelo, my favorite Ninja Turtle.

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My very own Soot Sprite just like in "My Neighbor Totoro" or "Spirited Away". The eyes are buttons with pupils I painted on with black nailpolish. I used this patter: http://saradippity.blogspot.com/2007/09/soot-sprites.html

Yesterday I made my 1000 post on ravelry.com (my favorite knitting site). Very exciting.

Anyways, here are some pictures of my Central Park Hoodie. All the suffering seemed to work out because I like it (except the hood). I made the fish buttons out of fimo. I wasn't sure I wanted to use them and look like and idiot, but in the end I decided I usually look like an idiot anyway, and besides, smiling fish make me happy.

Ugh, I can't believe I had to frog almost the whole body of my Gathered Pullover. I was just starting the army holes... I did the split to front and back... finally got to try it on.... way too big. Way way too big. 2.5 skeins of yarn unraveled, the whole damn cable and everything. 5 days of non-stop knitting. I'm just about ready to shoot someone.

*cry*

I've cast on again, in a smaller size, but my heart isn't in to it. It's just frustration that's got me knitting right now.

3D Magen David

 My very own knit 3D Magen David (Star Of David)! Made to celebrate Israel's 60th Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day)

I was asked for a pattern, so here goes.

Pattern:

This pattern is knit in the round on double pointed needles. Other than that, you just need to be able to do knit stitch, and decrease two ways (k2tog and ssk). No seaming (yay!)

Abbreviations:
sts - stitches
k - knit
rnds - rounds
k2tog - knit 2 together
ssk - slip, slip, kit
CO - cast on
dpn - double pointed needle

Gauge:  7 sts and 11 rows = 3cm x 3cm
I pull really tight, so I got this gauge with worsted 4 ply yarn and US size 4 needles (3.5 mm).
Gauge isn't important as long as you can knit an equilateral pyramid.... but you really do need an equilateral pyramid for it to look right.

Point pattern:
The basic idea is that you cast on an even number of sts, decrease on either side of each dpn every 3rd round until you're down to 2 sts on each needle.

24 sts per point
1. k 2 rnds
2. (k2tog, k4, ssk) 3 times [18 sts left]
3. k 2 rnds
4. (k2tog, k2, ssk) 3 times [12 sts left]
5. k 2 rnds
6. (k2tog, ssk) 3 times [6 sts left]
cut yarn, run tail through sts and pull into the point

Knitting star:
1st point (light blue):
CO 24 sts, split evenly on 3 dpns and join (careful, don't twist!).
Work point as described in point pattern.

2nd point (darker blue):
CO 16 sts, pick up 8 sts along one side of 1st point, split evenly on 3 dpns and join.
Work point as described in point pattern.

3rd and 4th point (darker blue):
Work exactly like 2nd point.

5th point (light blue):
CO 8 sts, pick up 8 sts along one side of 2nd point and pick up another 8 sts along one side of 4th point. (see the two figures below!), split evenly on 3 dpns and join.
Work point as described in point pattern.

figure 1: where to put points 5, 6 and 7

figure 2: this is what point 5 looks like. 2 sides of picked up sts and 1 side of cast on sts.

6th point and 7th point (light blue):
Work exactly like 5th point, picking up sts along 2nd and 3rd point and then along 3rd and 4th point (use figure 1 for help).

When you are done with 7 points, stuff all the points lightly (not too packed because then you'll loose the shape).

8th point (last one!) (darker blue):
Make sure you've stuffed the first 7 points lightly before starting the 8th point. It's hard to do it afterwards.
Pick up 24 sts (8 sts along the 5th point, 8 sts along the 6th point and 8 sts along the 7th point).
Work point as described in point pattern. Before pulling the yarn through the last 6 sts, add a little more stuffing to fill the last point.

All done!

Knit Blanket

Better photo of the color. The middle cable is just stretched, it doesn't actually look so much wider than the others.

Notice the crochet border on the top and bottom :)

Giants Cables Blanket

Finished my blanket!!! (Ravelry link)

I used this pattern by Lion Brand: http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/60607A.html
The pattern was fine, but I got bored towards the end. It was just too much of the same. It's ok, it was worth the trouble. It's so nice and warm and soft.

The stitching together was so much easier than I thought it would be. I just made something up as I went along, but it ended up like Slip Stitch Ver. 1. I liked making it in parts cause it meant I could knit on the train. Also added a crochet border to the top and bottom. I sorta suck at crochet, but it looks half way decent, I think.

The color is off in all the photos, but it's closest to the second photo, under Sputnik. It's really a lot nicer, much more blue than in the photos.

Glasses for scale:

Light Up Knit Pumpkin!

I knit a little pumpkin for Halloween to cheer my mom up. She took that one to work and put it on her desk, so I knit this one for the house.

It's special though. It lights up. I uploaded a video on youtube. Check it out:

Cursed Yarn!

I finally understand what people mean when they talk about cursed yarn. I've got this really pretty yarn from my Safta, but I just can't do anything with it. I tried a few different patterns with it in the past few days, but they all looked so crappy I had to rip them out. Ugh.