The Finishing Post

Much to report for a week of non-blogging. Well I tried to blog but blogger buggered it up.

I may have fallen off the Use What You Have Month (UWYHM) wagon, but I've still completed several projects from what I had.

We have, for your viewing pleasure:

The Knitting Cape

The pattern is A capella from Knitty.com. My version is not elegant but it's serviceable.

No, knittydoll, unfortunately the Knitting Cape does not confer on the wearer knitting super-powers, like the ability to knit lace in an instant with no tedious unraveling when a YO has been missed! It does, however, keep this knitter toasty warm without all the bulk around the arms that too many layers of clothes adds.

This was knitted from two strands together of the homespun donated by my SIL's godmother in February. It used about 400 g. I will admit to buying the buttons ($1.80 from Big W) because I had no suitable ones at home. You can't see them in the pic because I hadn't sewn them on at that point, but they are now firmly secured and are a lovely mother-of-pearl finish, very thin and about the size of a 10c piece. There are four of them. I added the ruffle on the bottom, knitted in garter stitch with increases in every 4th stitch for 4 rows because cr****t and fringes are forbidden in this house.

I will admit to not really liking this wool when it was donated, but knitted up it's just lovely. The pearly grey colour gives way to mauves through to indigo with some pale pink and crimson.

Java Jarmies, Versions I and II

We rise early in the Taphophile household. We like to greet the day slowly and with generous doses of caffeine. Now that the weather has turned in Canberra, my early morning plunger of coffee is usually tepid after the first cup and stone cold by the third.

As I was finishing the ruffle on the Knitting Cape, I pondered the problem and immediately solved it. What was needed was a cosy for the Bodum. A few calculations later and we have Java Jarmies Version I.

It's double rib with the homespun knitted on two needles with a button hole flap to accommodate the handle and a v-shape in the centre front to accommodate the pouring lip. The bottom 3cm is stitched together.

Version I didn't have quite enough length in the button hole flap (only 6 stitches). Version II has 12 stitches which is too long. Version III will have 8.

Now there's one for work and one for home and have to create them for the other sizes and styles of coffee presses in the house. It works really well and the coffee stays at a drinkable temperature for about an hour, even in the arctic reaches of the kitchen.

Cap for Claire

A member of my work team loved the donated yarn so much she demanded I knit her a cap. She also demanded a jumper but that was never going to happen even had there been enough wool.

I used the Mark Thrailkill's Watch Cap pattern again and it worked a treat. The model here is Baby Chrissie. There's about 150g of the donated handspun left. Not sure what it will be yet.

Matinee Idols

The handbag usually contains a matinee jacket or other small and portable item of knitting. These two are the latest versions.

The aqua is sweet and the yellow is really very buttery. There will be more of these in the months to come as they are knitted in one piece from the top down on a circular needle and after the sleeves it's all plain sailing. Also, stash contains an awful lot of 3ply.

Beau's Beanie

Beau is the boy-manager of the Starbucks which is the SnB and BookCrossing venue. He is a lovely man who is very supportive of both groups so I thought he needed a little knitterly gift. This was knitted from the leftover Wedding Hat yarn to Needle Beetle's Sea Cap pattern.

He whipped it out of the bag this afternoon and stuck it straight on. He appeared delighted with it and it fitted quite well. Don't know about you, but I get very nervous giving knitted gifts, so his response was quite a relief.

Several things have been started, unravelled, restarted, unravelled and chucked in a box and some progress. More later.