Argyle and Aran

I finished my argyle hat last night out of the Cotton Angora yarn (using size 7 double-pointed needles), but there was a little problem with the sizing. My intention was to make a hat that would fit a 9-12 month old. The argyle pattern needed a repeat of 12 stitches and my gauge didn't really fit that too well. Rather than make a teeny-tiny hat that not even a baby could wear, I opted for the larger size, but it turned into a just-smaller-than-normal-adult size hat.



Luckily, I have a pretty small head, so it fits me (just barely). I guess I made myself a hat. Oh well - I can't give everything I knit away!

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Not satisfied with having finished two projects in the past week, I've embarked upon another. I'm now making a toddler's aran sweater with Sirdar Denim Chunky (size 10 straight needles). I have so much of this Sirdar yarn that I don't feel bad experimenting. I actually got 12 large skeins of it on eBay for close to nothing over a year ago, so I need to do something with it to free up space. I've only been working on the sweater for a few hours and here's how it looks so far:



It's essentially my own design - by essentially I mean that I'm using aran patterns from a book but I decided how they should all fit together. I do think I was pretty crafty because I put together my own little chart in Fireworks (thank you, web design skills!) that has been incredibly helpful. (No flipping back and forth through my aran pattern book, no siree.) This aran book I'm talking about is the Harmony Guide for Aran and Fair Isle. It's worth checking out if you're interesting in designing your own funky garments.

Side note: I was knitting this while playing a freeroll tournament at pokerroom.com. Got my QQ beat by 97 offsuit that made a four-card flush. Sigh. Knitting and poker do not mix!

Peruvian Baby Sweater

My pseudo-stepsister is about to have a baby. In honor of this momentous occasion, I decided to knit her a cute little baby sweater. I knew the baby was going to be a girl, so pink was a viable color choice. Below see the finished product.









I used size 7 US circular needles and Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora yarn. That's a fabulous yarn, might I add. It's light like cotton but so soft.

I modeled the design off of Peruvian Chullo hats. I had a bunch of different types of designs charted out at the start, but I didn't know which ones I'd use. I basically picked the designs on the fly, but it seemed to work out in the end. I must say, it is pretty adorable. It's sized for a 3-month-old. My pseudo-stepsister lives in Seattle, and the baby will be 3 months in October, so it should come in handy. Not too warm, but snuggly enough.

Now I'm using the remnants to make an argyle hat. I'll post those pics when I'm done.

Yay knitting for babies!

Welcome to Nocturnal Knits!

Am I right or am I right when I say that everyone and their cat has a blog these days? (You know I'm right.) Well, I've decided it's nigh time for me to start one of my own. But I'm too paranoid (and lazy) to post all kinds of personal information about myself online. So instead of a regular blog, this will be my knitting blog.

I knit like a fiend. I was once interviewed by Interweave Knits Magazine when I was one of the resident knitters on my college campus. My tendency to knit in the middle of the night — in fact, to do everything in the middle of the night — led to the journalist bestowing upon me the moniker of the "late-night knitter." Hence "Nocturnal Knits."

I really do knit in the middle of the night. I'm not sure why I'm nocturnal, but for now I'm able to pull it off. As a graduate student with a part-time web-design job, I can basically sleep whenever I choose. Lately I've been choosing to sleep between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. My family used to think there was something seriously wrong with me, but they've come to accept my nocturnalism. It's not that I don't like the daytime or the morning — I seriously just don't feel like sleeping until the early morn. Apparently there's a name for this: Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. Who knows why I'm like this. My dad grew up in Transylvania, maybe I'm part-vampire. A knitting semi-vamp. That's me.

Regardless, I hope you enjoy my blog. God only knows how you found it in the first place, but if you're here drop me a note! I'll be posting images of my knitting projects as they progress. Stay posted.