Friday, October 31, 2008

fairest of the seasons

[edit]

so i stayed up all night finishing lorne's dinosaur costume. i heard it was a hit at the party.
went to bed at two in the morning and i have to get up at seven in order to get to class at eight.
after laboratory i have to pack, pick up a boxspring for my bed and drive five hours to scranton, pennsylvania for my grandfather's funeral.
he finally passed away on monday morning after some ten-odd years of being told he could die any day because his altzehimers/parkinson's/dimentia was getting so bad.


fastforward past the part where i whine about missing halloween.


the funeral was O.K.
i'm not much into funerals - they're really not as interesting as harold & maude would have you think. it's all a bunch of "it doesn't look like him" or "he was never that skinny" or "wait, you're my cousin nancy!? i would have never recognized you!"
i'm also a little weirded out by my grandmother's fear of being burried underground. she bought them a space in the clarks summett mausoleum. it was interesting.

a lot of cold gray marble...
i don't know what my grandmother is going to do, now.

Friday, October 24, 2008

le gland du chĂȘne


le gland du chĂȘne

more commonly known as, an ACORN!

sizes:
long acorn (on left) 2.5x3.5 inches
stout acorn (on right) 2.5x3 inches

yarn: brown sheep lamb's pride worsted
bronze patina (light brown)
chocolate souffle (dark brown)

needle: US size 8
i used a circular needle, but dp would work as well.
anything written between *asterisks* should be repeated throughout the row.

other necessities: tapestry needle, poly fiber fill

simple abbreviations:
k1fb - knit one stitch front/back.
k2tog - decrease by knitting two stitches together.
p2tog- decrease by purling two stitches together.


also, don't worry about knits and purls matching up on the acorn cap- they end up being kind of random but are mostly just there for varied texture!

row:
0: with lighter brown, cast on 3 st.
1,2: work two rows of i-cord
3: *k1fb* to end (6st)

redistribute stitches on needle(s)

4: *k1fb, k1* to end (9st)
5: knit all stitches
6: *k1fb, k2* to end (12st)
7: *k1fb, k3* to end (15st)
8: knit all stitches
9: *k1fb, k4* to end (18st)
10 - 15 : knit all stitches (for a longer acorn, knit 2 or 3 extra rows of stockinette)

break yarn, switch colors to darker brown.

16: k1fb all stitches (36st)
17: *k1fb, p1* to end (54 st)
18: *p1, k1* to end
19: *k1, p1* to end
20: *p2tog, k2tog* to end (27 st)
21: *k2tog, p1* to end (18st)
22: *p1, k1* to end
23: *k2tog, p2tog* to end (9st)

at this point, fill acorn with polyfiberfill.

24: p2tog, k2tog, p1, k2tog, p2tog (5st)

move all stitches onto one needle

25-27: work 3 rows i-cord with 5st.
pull yarn through remaining st.
weave in ends.

voila!