Sweater Update

No, I'm not done yet. And it looks like I wont be for a while...
Here's where I'm at:

I have one sleeve completely done, and one mostly done. I have the body done to the pattern specs (except the hem, which I can't figure out) but I think it looks bad. It in no way fits my body, which I admit is pretty unusually-sized.

 The body needs to be a lot narrower and longer.

 The sleeves could be narrower, too.

I was thinking that maybe I could give it away to someone else, but now I'm completely sure I will not have enough yarn. Plus, I hate trying to give things away that I spent so much time on, because then if the receiver doesn't like it, they'll feel bad that I put so much effort into it and wear it sometimes out of pity. It's a lose-lose. I think it will eventually be a pretty sweater, but it isn't going to be finished for a long time. And that means I'll probably get distracted by other projects, and maybe occasionally school work.

Racoon Hat

This is the very first pattern that I've come up with and shared with everyone. Please don't laugh!

It's a striped hat that's squared off to give the impression of ears. At least I think so!

Needles: US Size 9 (5.5mm) 16" and DPN's, or do the whole thing on DPN's.

Gauge: 4 stitches per inch

Yarn: Cascade Yarn Ecological Wool of any two colors, or any yarn that works with the gauge.

Other supplies: Stitch markers, yarn needle

Abbreviations:
     CO = cast on
     pm = place marker
     sm = slip marker

Directions:
CO 72 stitches using long-tail cast on. Place marker at the beginning of the row and...

Knit!

Now I made my stripes 9 rows each, or somewhere between 1.75" and 2". You can make yours as long as you want!

Keep knitting in stockinette until the piece is 7" long. This happened to be the beginning of my 5th and last stripe.

Decreases:
Row 1: K 16, pm, K 4, pm, K 32, pm, K 4, pm, K to end of row
Row 2: *K to 2nd to last stitch before marker, K2tog, sm, K4, sm, ssk* repeat once more and K to the end of the row
Row 3: Knit
Repeat Row 2 and Row 3 three more times. You can switch to DPN's at any time if you like.

Slip the first 14 stitches and the last 14 stitches of the piece onto one DPN, and slip the other 28 stitches onto another DPN. Sew stitches together using kitchener stitch. (I found this video very helpful)

Weave in the ends.

There you go!

Catching Up

As of a few hours ago, I officially unpacked the last box from my move. Yes, it took me a few weeks but it's better late than never. I have completed a few smaller projects, having put my sweater project on hold. First is this buttoned scarf/cowl/thing:

I deviated from the pattern in that instead of doing a knit row for the second pattern row, I did a purl row to keep it in stockinette. I did this to make it look neater, because the garter stitch-style pattern looked way too messy with this yarn.

Second project: the deer with antlers hat. I used yarn that I had on hand, so I don't think it looks ideal, but it's cute! The antlers, when I felted them as directed, really didn't shrink that much.

Second project PART 2: the deer with antlers hat done a little better. I bought some yarn specifically for the project and I like this one better. (You can check out the specific yarns I used on my project pages on Ravelry.) For this hat's antlers, I felted them as directed and THEN stuck them in the dryer on high with some other laundry for about 30 minutes. This shrunk them a little more and made them significantly stiffer.

Third project: I will create a new post for this because it's a pattern that I came up with myself, so I want to share the pattern with everyone!

Now that I'm all done being distracted, I'm going to finish that sweater. I REALLY AM!!! I might have to steal back some yarn from my recycled Aidez sweater, but I can always redo that one. I will finish this sweater.