FINALLY-- an update!

Dear faithful readers,

It has been approximately four months since I last posted an update about my knitting. I did post in August, but that was just a pattern. This time, you're going to get a loooong post jam-packed full of the exciting knitting things that are happening in my little world.

Let's start at the beginning. I started and finished a pair of socks from Knitty in my first month in Israel:

They're pretty. I haven't worn them. I never remember until after I'm finished and have a beautiful pair of socks that there's NO POINT TO MAKING A BEAUTIFUL PAIR OF SOCKS. When in the world am I going to wear them? With sneakers? So pointless. I guess they're good for "around the house", so that visitors who drop by can admire them, but otherwise... I just don't get it. I don't know why I made them. At the same time, they were pretty fun to make and I really liked the colorway.


The striped raglan.... Oh, the raglan.

At one point, it was finished:

But it didn't fit so well.

I had put in some "bust" and "waist" shaping that ended up a little confused about itself and as you can see, there are some weird bulges where there clearly shouldn't be. I pretended to myself that it was okay, and I could sort of pull and twist the sweater around so it wouldn't show, but it just didn't look good. A few months later I ripped it out up to the armholes and started again. This time I increased twice on each side every other row for about twenty rows. Needless to say, it came out ridiculously huge and fit terribly again. Ripped. This time I increased ONLY on the front, which I thought would be sufficient room but still snug-fitting. I knit almost all the way down to the bottom before trying it on and realizing it was still too big, still weirdly baggy in the bust, still ill-fitting. Rip. We're now back at the armholes. The status of the project is, frankly, iffy. I have knit this sweater three times. And I don't know when the inspiration to do it all over again will hit.


Next. This project was completed in mid-July, while I was waiting on my friend to deliver her baby:

Simple hat-- my own pattern, nothing special--I may post it at some point-- and the cutest little socks. Sadly, Michelle (the mother of the baby boy) says that his feet are already too big for them!! He was born in August, and by the time the "cold" weather came around, he'd outgrown them. Guess I'll have to make some more. They were really fun and quick. The only thing is that babies don't really like to wear socks. Actually, it's pretty difficult to knit for babies, it turns out. They grow so freaking quickly. Anyway, here's a picture of baby Eitan in the hat at nine weeks:

He's adorable to a slightly ridiculous degree. Michelle keeps making "jokes" about how I'm going to "steal" him one day. Ha, ha.



Next project: I made a Nalgene cozy/carrier for my friend's husband, who requested it for his hiking trips:

This is before I finished it, weaved in all the ends, sewed on the strap, etc. I don't have a finished picture because I'm too lazy to take one. For the strap, I just did garter stitch, but I held the strand of wool together with a strand of cotton to reduce elasticity. But it didn't really do that. I sewed the strap to the opening of the cozy and the bottom of it, but I don't know how to avoid it falling out if you're carrying it across the chest. Probably if you fastened the cap of the Nalgene around the strap, it would stay in. I knit it really quickly because I wanted to get it to them before they left for a seven-week trip to India, but I wasn't able to, sadly. So it's still in my room somewhere and I guess I'll deliver it when they get back.


Next. I got some amazing, exciting news: my cousin is having twin boys! They're due in January, so unfortunately I won't be seeing them in their adorable infancy, since they live in New York and I'm in Jerusalem, but I have some family visiting next month so I decided to knit them up some matching sweaters to send back. A few months ago I found a pretty decent yarn store in Jerusalem. Not a ton of stuff, but the selection they do have is pretty good. I went there and got some color-changing acrylic for the baby sweaters. I found a very basic pullover pattern and altered it to add some cables. Each sweater only took a few days, and they are super-adorable:

I shall post my alterations.... at some point. I was going to say "shortly", but let's be realistic.

Just to make sure the sweater was a good size for a baby, because it seemed a little wide, I tried it on Michelle's baby boy at six weeks:

Perfect fit, with a little room to grow! Too cute! Now she wants one as well... Knew it would be dangerous to use him as a sweater model.


For Rosh HaShana I went to my Efrat host family's house, and as Rachel is really into knitting, she sort of re-ignited my own excitement. She had lots of current knitting magazines from the states and I went through them and picked out a bunch of patterns to photocopy. I jumped right in with a pullover hoodie sweatshirt which is not even on Ravelry yet. Here's my progress so far:

I bought the yarn at that same little shop. It was expensive. Let's leave it at that. I had to buy 13 balls! But it's a lovely yarn, a wool and cashmere blend in a dusty rose. Really soft and nice to work with, good stitch definition, and looks like it will have a nice soft drape. It's a cute hoodie. The pattern is written to be worked flat in pieces, but I just cast on the body in the round, because, why not? I despise seams. It's a pretty simple sweater-- same pattern the whole way through, then you add a hood and a front pocket. I haven't done much on it because I've been working on the baby sweaters but hopefully it'll pick up pace soon.

And the latest, a silly little thing, I'm working on a little case for my prayer book. I always take it with me when I go away for Shabbat but it gets tossed around in my bag so I'm making it a nice little cozy. But I don't know how it will turn out:

We shall see how that turns out.

One last knitting-related project: I made myself some classy stitch markers! I got the idea from a knitting book I glanced through while at Rachel's, and my roommate happens to work at a crafts store, so I headed on down there and bought some metal rings and little charms to hang on them. Back at home I twisted all the little rings together with pliers and this was the result:

Aren't they cute? I love them. My usual stitch markers are just yarn in contrasting colors, tied in tiny loops. They usually unravel after a while. I also have a few plastic ones, but they're too big. These are just perfect. I may make some more if I find more cute charms.


And that's all, folks! I also started making another jewelry stand, but I didn't like the colors so I never finished it. I'll rip it out soon and start over. "Soon." And I am really going to try to post those mods for the baby sweaters. It shall be done!!!