FO Catch-Up: once more with feeling.

Kittens, the part last blog post where I said I had finally finished up 2011's FOs...? Well, I unintentionally lied. There is one more that I had forgotten to photograph.

This is another 2-for-1: I knit it twice, only took photos of one of the FOs.

Pattern: French Press Felted Slippers by Melynda Bernardi

Needles: US size 17

Yarn: Lion's Brand Fishermen's Wool--Oatmeal

I knit two pairs of these for Giftmas: one for my mother (pictured) and one for my grandmother.

These were pretty quick, being that they're double and triple stranded worsted weight yarn knits. The seaming is rather tedious though, and that's what kept me from finishing these earlier. I really like the shape they give, but there has to be an easier way to do it than knitting so many pieces. The pattern is really well written and pretty clear, but for both of my pairs of slippers, they used much less yarn than called for. I'm not sure if this was just me or if it's a more universal experience. I would definitely use the pattern again, but I'd likely look for a way to streamline the process and save myself some of the seaming. And all of the tails to weave in. Oh my word. The number of tails I had to weave in for these.

The Fishermen's Wool was not bad for what it is: a big box inexpensive yarn. It linted and left a lot of fluff during the felting process which surprised me quite a bit, and it yielded a very soft fabric when all was said and done. I would definitely not be opposed to purchasing it again in the future. (And really, if you have a 40% off coupon for Michael's, you can not beat the yardage for the price.) It's not merino soft, but it's not really scratchy either. All-in-all, it seems to be a fairly decent yarn. The buttons came from Michael's and are machine washable, even though they look like wood.

And that leads me to what was meant to be my final FO for 2011, but ended up being my first of 2012 because of illness taking me out for several weeks.

Pattern: Lacy Baktus by Terhi Montonen

Needles: US size 2.5

Yarn: TOFUtsies

In retrospect, even though this yarn is a light fingering weight, I really should have gone up a needle size, maybe even 2 for this knit. It took for-ev-er. The scarf isn't quite as drapey as I'd like. It's just a tad stiff. It also would have sped up the knitting and yielded a larger scarf had I done that.

I'm so glad I used this yarn finally! For my birthday in 2009, my MIL sent me some yarn as a gift. Neither was really my thing, but it's the thought that counts. The gesture was sweet and I appreciated that she remembered my short lived love affair with TOFUtsies. The first yarn was some rather ugly sock weight appropriately named "Clown." Well, when working with it I learned that I react to really dark blue/navy colored dye. Every time I tried to knit the socks, the parts of my hands that touched the yarn would go numb, then tingle, itch, and swell. Around the same time I was working with some beautiful dark blue Malabrigo for The Boy and found the same thing happened with that knit. I shall knit with navy blue no more forever, kittens. It is not meant to be. But back on track. I was also given this sort of "harvest colored" TOFUtsies, which I didn't think was ugly. It just wasn't my colors. So it sat in stash and marinated for two and a half years before it occurred to me: I could try it out as another Lacy Baktus! I know it's an instagram photo with a color filter on it so it's hard to see, but I think it turned out pretty well. The yarn made lovely stripes and didn't end up pooling and looking like clown barf. So I'd call it a win. And over the last two years, similar color combinations have started to grow on me.

So there you have it, kittens. We're now dipping our toes into the 2012 FOs! I have quite a few already from the last month, and I'm hoping to blog them shortly. One of my unofficial goals of the year is to keep up with taking project photos and blogging them in a timely manner. I'm hoping to make FO catch-ups a thing of the past.