Knitting adventures, sock edition!

After finishing George's kilt socks late in 2012, I decided to continue my foray into sock knitting with an easy pattern included with sock yarn from Debbie Norville's Serenity line (available at Jo-Ann in the US).
The only thing I adjusted was the needle size-- I used 2.5 mm double-pointed needles, since I often knit quite loosely.

So far, so good! Gotta love dyed yarn that doesn't require lots of color changes, although Fair Isle, I'm coming for you soon!

Socks now seem like a breeze, if the pattern is written well, so I've also started a cable knit sweater for George that is proving to be quite complex.

Cable knitting tip: I would highly recommend Grumperina's tutorial on cabling without a cable needle, as it does seem to save oodles of time and cut down on the chaos of throwing an extra needle into the mix.

MacGyver is alive in Austria

After the first real snow of winter fell last week, I noticed something strange in my neighborhood on my walk home from work.

I'm used to seeing dashboard heat shields in high summer. And of course, on the inside of the car...

...but this motorist had laid his on top the windshield and jammed the edges into the doors on both sides so it wouldn't come loose.

I immediately jumped to judgement: "Oh dude, you're doing it wrong." Chuckling heartily to myself, I continued the trudge home.

After seeing the second one, though, a few hundred feet down the block, I knew this phenomenon was more than just a desperate MacGyvering. The remaining journey home afforded me more time to reflect, and I realized how clever the trick is.

Lacking a garage, car park, or car cover, these two had repurposed their summer heat shields into winter condensation/ice blockers to save themselves the headache of early-morning ice scraping.

While it may not be the most elegant or comely solution, I bet it works magnificently. It's also thrifty and more convenient than a complete car cover.

I've been keeping an eye out for more instances of it, but thus far, I've only spotted these two on my block. Does this happen where you live? 

 

I knit the Dr. Who scarf!

For G's birthday, I knit him the Fourth Doctor's scarf. 

There were actually quite a few different versions of the famous scarf, as I found out: One for every season, plus a few extras. But for the most part, they are just variations on a theme.

I chose the season 13 scarf.

I used the directions and recommendations of the witty little knitter herself. I opted for Brown Sheep Nature Spun sport weight yarn.

You can find the pattern I used here.  (png)

A few notes on the project:
I used US size 5 circular metal needles after asking Tara what size she recommended--and she answered! I was a bit star struck...

I purposefully knit somewhat loosely so I wouldn't have to block later. Which probably led to the following problem, that...

I completely ran out of saddle tan and goldenrod; I had a bit of wood moss, red fox and chocolate kisses left; and I had a whole skein of spiced plum and most of a skein of charcoal. This meant I wasn't able to add the tassels the original had. I would suggest purchasing a few extra skeins of the above yarns if you really want tassels.

I followed Tara's guidelines for switching colors in part and it turned out beautifully. The ending tails I wove in after finishing the scarf with a tapestry needle.

The entire project took me about the equivalent of 2 weeks of fairly regular knitting to complete, which was easy to manage over winter vacation. I'll admit it was a love-hate project, as the joy of knitting wears off by about the second foot of any scarf for me. I am not the speediest knitter, so I am sure others could complete it faster.While I wouldn't recommend this as a first project, it is definitely doable for a beginner and Dr. Who fan, especially considering Tara's detailed instructions and supplementary Youtube tutorials.

Post-Christmas cookies

Yesterday I finally tried my hand at the melted snowman cookies I've been seeing everywhere, and had a ball.

Recipe and inspiration found here. 

I opted for store-bought frosting and my mom's sugar cookie recipe, but otherwise followed the guidelines from Truly Custom Cakery.