Unwilling Models

On the last vacation break day I knit a new hat. Not for me - for the girl who works at JB's regular latte stand. I had knit a hat for her new baby and momma loved it so much, she requested a hat of her own. A week or so before Christmas I had a chance to visit a favorite yarn store a short drive away. I spotted a lovely hank of Araucania Aysen. This is a fabulously soft yarn made from silk, alpaca and merino. I loved the softly variegated colors and how girly it was. I chose to make Thorpe. It's a very easy hat pattern. I was going to go get a solid color to do the garter band and ear flaps, but I just made it all one color. I did do the half double edging. but I didn't add the braids. What I did do is add a chain of 60 stitches from the center of the ear flaps and then single crocheted back up. Makes a fun, curly "string" for tying the hat on. Unfortunately - bloodhounds don't have the right shape head for wearing hats. You can see that Lucy was less than thrilled with it.

Done and Done!

Wednesday night I finished the knitting on the lime green stocking. Thursday night I braided the cast on tail and the a few other strands I added to make the hanging loop and tassel. I need to get some better photos. Here they are hanging from my "mantle." I refuse to put them in the living room where the tree will be because the mantle in that room is simply a 2X6 above the fireplace. Then we hung the plasma over it. Plus I have long wanted a set of 4 stocking hangers - I finally found one and everyone is grown. Looking at the stockings together I don't care for the lime. While the colors all looked great in hanks sitting together - I think the lime is too bright for the others. Now to finish Christmas. UGH! Hope your holidays preparations are merry and you are enjoying the season. I feel like I'm running around like a chicken these days.

One Down - 3 To Go!

Stocking that is! The foot looks a bit squat and wide - but it would be huge if it was proportional.

My knitting was so tight that I added 32 stitches to the cast on. Well - if you all have been paying attention - you know I like details in odd numbers - so that added 1 snowflake to the top making 3 visible.

I also did 5 rows of the tiny snowflakes rather than the 4 the pattern calls for. I moved stitches around to center the heel over the cast on. Then I worked the foot in the main color and the toe in white.

I copied someone else on Rav and added the little border detail to outline the foot and toe. I added some extra yarn to the top and braided it together with the tail left from the cast on, tied a knot and left a fringe. Then I stitched it securely to the sock for hanging. I've already started on the purple one.

Let's Wrap This Up.

Okay - the final two pairs from pile o' socks. First up: Wisteria Waterfalls (pattern: Waterfall by Wendy Johnson). Cast On: May 8 Cast Off: May 17 - that's more like it! Needles: 2.00mm 47" circular - two at a time, toe up. Yarn: Mini Mochi. The yarn was a gift and I love the colors and how soft it is. I hate that it doesn't have a twist. It's rather like what I would expect knitting with roving would be like. I wish I had matched the stripes up. Because I have a thing for odd numbers, I modified the stitch pattern to have 5 lace patterns running up the foot. To do this and not make them huge - I decreased the number of stitches between the lace. All notes can be found in Rav. The final pair is Creative Mystery (pattern: Mystery Sock 2009 by Kristen Kapur). Cast On: October 12, 2009 Cast Off: November 7, 2009 Needles: 2.00 mm 47" circular, two at a time, top down. Yarn: Creatively Dyed Ocean. this yarn was gifted to me by Channon for my birthday last year. I put the yarn aside because I've decided I really don't like multi-color yarns. However, this one just has little tiny spots of color. To me - it doesn't say multi-color so much as a semi-solid. It's fabulous. I don't know why I put it aside so long. In fact, I probably would have forgotten about it altogether. Except another Rav Friend told me how fabulous this pattern was. So - I sent her into my virtual stash and had her pick a yarn. She picked out 5, I pulled them all and had JB pick one of those. So this pair was a true mystery and I loved every minute of it! thanks girls. So - did I get them all?

Grape Leyburn

According to Ravelry I started this pair on April 7th and finished them on May 3rd. The pattern is Leyburn and it's a freebie. It's a great pattern that uses slipped stitches and floats to create a pattern. Just be careful to keep your floats really lose over your heel - otherwise you can't get them on. Don't ask how I know. As is my usual - these were knit toe up, two at a time, using 2.00 mm 47" circular needle. The yarn is Malabrigo sock in the grape colorway. The color is truest on the mini pair. This yarn is really soft and thin. The socks are super warm. but I'm not sure how well the Malabrigo sock will wear as socks - it might be better suited to stoles. For the record - the socks actually fit me. I was just in a huge hurry to get 5 or 6 pairs of socks on and off, cook dinner and get everyone fed before we had to get the Princess on a flight and she was snap happy!

The Next Float Is. . . .

Koigu Cloverleaf Socks! My friend VeeDogKnits send me the pinkish red Koigu for my birthday a year or so ago. I love Koigu - the colors the twist - I mean really, what's not to love? After caking this yarn up I looked through my knit stitch a day for something to wake the sock up a bit. I chose the cloverleaf cable. I started at the toes and was halfway up the foot when I freaked out thinking there wouldn't be enough of the red koigu to finish the socks. So I searched my LYS for another hank or two of a contrast color to work with the red. I went with yellow - there was a fair bit of yellow in the red. I believe accents should come in three (it's a sewing thing) so these socks have yellow toes, afterthought heels and cuffs. If you remember - I was worried about not having enough yarn for nothing - I had plenty left over and made VDK a matching short pair!

Let The Parade Begin

You might remember that this summer I made JB more socks - after swearing that he was no longer hand-knit sock worthy. Well - when you make short little ankle socks - those knit picks balls go pretty far. So - after winding one ball off so I

could make the stripes match - I started a pair of Channon's heel huggers.

I got almost to the heel - about 3 rows from grafting when I ran out of yarn! UGH! So down to the sock stash in the Studio and up I cam with the some dark grey. You can tell that the heel and cuffs are a different yarn, if you look really - really closely. But who's looking that close? Since the socks were so dark, I decided to do a rolled edge rather than the picot edge as designed. Channon liked the idea so much - she added it to her pattern!

Teaser!

Pile o' hand knit socks.

all for me.

this is sorta how I threw them on after their glamour shot on Sunday.

Parade of Finished Socks to begin on Friday.

Firsts!

Remember way back in May when I told you about getting all the materials to make this hat? No? Okay - here it is again. Its been getting cold around here so I decided it was time to figure this two-handed knitting out. Sp last Sunday night I went down to the studio and wound up a ton of yarn - 3 hanks for the hat, 4 more for another 3 pairs of socks. Crazy - I know. Anyway - after sitting with JB, the pattern and the yarns - we decided which yarn was suppose to be which letter - A, B, or C. I think we blew it because looking at it now, I think C (the brown around the braids) should have been A. The only one I know for sure is B - the noro. Anyway - I did okay tensioning one color in my right hand (as normal) and one color in my left - hello! Strange. But my floats were nice and even and not too tight. That is until I switch to double pointed needles at the top of the crown. I don't know if it was the double points or changing from metal to wood, but it got tight at the top. A good soak in soak and a blocking over my pot bellied stove cookie jar made it even out. But since I have plenty of the yarns left - I might try it again. JB - says it fits good, long enough to cover his ears. He's not finding the noro scratchy at all. I really enjoyed knitting this. The braid was a PIA - but very impressive looking when finished. I might get some girly yarn and make one for me.

Did you Miss Me?

When the newest issue of knitty was released, I fell pretty hard for colonnade. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me because I really don't generally care for garments that are so drastically two different colors. But - hey I have the ability and the skills to just not change colors and save myself an end to weave in. Maybe that's the gist of it - 2 more ends to weave in just don't do it for me. Truth be told - there are a lot of prints in my wardrobe and when you add an accessory with two colors it makes it that much harder to blend into an already busy wardrobe. This is a very, very quick knit. There are some problems in the original pattern - but the designer is aware and they have most likely been corrected by now.

I used about 2.5 hanks of Manos del Uruguay. Which I'm sure is a lovely yarn - but I *personally* don't care for it. I like yarns that a have a nice twist and this doesn't. It's also very thick/thin and there were some spots that were so think I though the yarn would break. It didn't. It does spit-splice nicely though so with the exception of the beginning and the end - no ends to weave!

I thought about making this longer, but I was tired of the lace panels by the time the thought hit - there were just over 300 stitches per row at that point. Since I'm pretty sure I'm not cool enough to wear this like the cover model - I think I'll be gifting it - soon.

Final verdict - lovely pattern, if you're one of the cool kids - knit it now!

Guest Dog

After I knit the socks for the Musical One - I had a ton of yarn left over. So - this time I spooled enough out to make the stripes line up and wait for it - - wait for it - - wait for it - - are you waiting? I knit them from the top down. Granted they are short ankle socks - but still - top down. I knit these for a friend. Unfortunately, she has been home recovering from a work injury. So, as soon as I grafted the toes closed, I popped them into an envelope and mailed them to her. Her lovely pup Lula wouldn't quit sniffing her feet. Do you think they might have smelled like my pack? Maybe - just a little?

Not a Sock

Can you believe it? I knit something that wasn't a sock. I know, right? This is the newest trend in scarfs/shawls going through the blogosphere. It's a long, narrow triangle scarf, but it's rather shawl-like in that you can drape it around your back and shoulders with enough "tails" to hang from your shoulders. The pattern designer shows it as modeled by Lou in the first photo. With the point in the front, the tails wrapped around behind and tied in the front. This one is make from a red/pink Malabrigo worsted weight yarn. It's lovely to knit, fantastic to wear. This was knit as a gift for a friend who's favorite color is the combination of pink and red. The birthday party is tomorrow. Finish just in time.

Are You Bored Yet?

Welcome to Fall. In honor of the season - these are my pumpkin socks. Pattern is ladybug socks - but I made them out of orange yarn and they are now pumpkin socks. They took me forever, through no fault of the socks. I got them cast on, but then because they needed concentration they kept getting put aside for knits that needed less thought. Once I actually started working on them - I was able to commit the pattern to memory and even work on them on the bus! I know, right?! They have all my usual specks - toe up; two at a time; gusset and heel flap. I do increase the gusset to 20 stitches per side and I like them much better that way, but I need to remember to start the heel earlier - about 3.5" short. While they fit fine, I think they will fit better if I start the gusset increases earlier. These will be fun to wear this year with my jeans. A nice bright pop of pumpkin peaking out when I sit or walk.

Late Independence Wishes

Friday, I had to run out and do some errands. While I was shopping, I happened to glance into the yarn isle of our local "buy everything store." They mostly carry Lion and Red Heart. The kitchen cotton just happened to be on sale for $3 for the big ball. I almost called Chan to see if she needed more colors, but instead I just purchased one ball of the red, white, and blue colorway.

See we were invited to a BBQ on the 4th and while the didn't want up to bring anything - I didn't want to show up empty handed either. And seriously - who doesn't love a handknit cotton dishrag? So, I picked up my trusty 5.00mm rosewood needles and set out to make a few that I had admired in CoffeeYarn's ravelry projects.

But then I decided that the 5.00mm needles were making a cloth that was still too big. See, I like a dishrag that's on the smaller size. So, I found some 3.25mm needles and made some more. I got 3 of the larger and 2.5 of the smaller ones out of the one ball of kitchen cotton. As luck would have it, I had a partial ball of the same colorway hanging around the house. However, it was more white than the other ball. But I finished the half cloth and made another. Then I folded and rolled them up, tied them with a blue ribbon and gifted them upon arrival to the BBQ. They were well received and I was happy to have something to do with my hands for a day or so.

It's Another

6::12 pair of socks. This 6th official pair finished this year. Technically - I have finished 8 pairs this year, but 6 were also started this year! My friend Channon wanted a cute, short pair of summer socks. So she searched the pattern database at Ravelry (really what are you waiting for?) and came up with a pattern. But it was weird and she didn't love it.

So, she did what any normal knitter would do - she re-wrote the pattern, with her own changed and modifications and then she shipped it out to a few people to knit up. I knit my test pair following her directions exactly in her size - I hope. I knit to the correct length before putting in the waste yarn, not for afterthought heels but this time for an afterthought ankle. They turned out a bit short in length so I hope they have enough give. I put these in the mail on Tuesday and she should have them by the weekend (if not today) to give us a report on whether they fit. And I have enough of the Heart and Sole left to make another pair. Win-Win!

Another One Bites the Dust

5::12 These are the Dublin Bay socks made for a Christmas 2009 gift for Miss L. See, I can say that here because I don't believe she reads the blog, but even if she does Christmas 2009 is far enough way that she will have forgotten when they are gifted. I'm a bit sneaky like that. The yarn is Tofutsies which I know she loves. The pattern is Dublin Bay which can be found on Ravelry (but I'm feeling too lazy to link right now). These socks felt like they too forever, but my Rav projects page says I started them on March 20th and finished them on April 3. So it's wasn't really that long. The nice thing about tofutsies is that there is quite a bit left, enough to make a pair of short socks for one of my small footed friends.

Koigu Cloverleaf Cables

4::12 A couple of years ago my friend Jessica sent me a lovely box for my birthday. That box contained some beautiful red koigu sock yarn.

Those who know me, know that I love to knit socks. Seriously!

So these were a made up pattern. I started with just the red koigu but didn't think there was going to be enough to make an entire socks. Now there's enough to make Jessi an almost matching pair!

There really is more yellow in the red than it appears in the photos. These are perfect as I like shorter socks. Since I've started wearing my handknit socks more I'm gonna love these!

Happy Feet?

I think these socks look a bit too big and if I were wearing them, I would rip them and reknit them. There are problems - for example the ribbing around the arch is too close to the ball of JB's foot; the afterthought heel seems to long and pointy to me, but JB says he likes them and they are comfortable. The yarn is Plymouth Happy Feet 90% Superwash Merino and 10% Nylon. Knit on a brand new HiyaHiya labeled as a US0, but in reality it was a US1. I'm a bit irritate about the needle being mislabled. I don't particularly like using 2.25mm needles, I really like the nice tight fabric that using a 2.00mm needle creates. Plus - I've now decided that JB is no longer hand-knit sock worthy. Seriously! When I got home from work on Monday he had been doing home improvement projects, touching up the red paint in the old dining room. I noticed a little dot of red paint on the floor and he cleaned it up with his socks! No - I'm not joking. Seriously not hand-knit sock worthy. Plus, as soon as you put wool socks on in our house - they are covered with fur. Oh - and since I bought this yarn last month it doesn't even count toward the 12 pair goal.

Money Sucking Weekend

The Princess has been here since early Friday morning (her flight landed at 12:15 a.m.) I swear all I've done this weekend is spend money. 3::12 Wednesday night I managed to finish these: These are the strongheels socks. I saw a very pretty pair of socks made from self-striping yarn and the socks were beautiful! So pretty were they with their stripes continuing around the heel that I had to learn how to knit a strong-heel. With the help of Ravelry and a free pattern explaining the strong heel, I was able to figure it out. Unfortunately, The Princess and Miss L decided to take the photos while I was out of the house and they aren't the greatest - really, you can't see how cool this heel is. I'll take better pictures soon, but for now I wanted to post.

Fit for a Princess

2::12 After my mini-rant the other day about knee socks with skirts, here I am modeling a finished pair of knee socks with the skirt I wore all day. Of course, what else would you wear with knee socks?

Specs:

Elegant Ribbed Stockings from Favorite Knits

Started: January 31, 2009

Finished: February 18, 2009

Needles: US 4,

5 & 6s

Yarn: Trendsetter yarns Merino IV Batik, 5 balls!

Cost: You don't want to know! Seriously. I had a gift certificate for the yarn, it was still $8/ball. I also needed to get 3 new addi lace circulars so I had needles long enough and in the right size for this project. So you all know that I spent more on the needles than the yarn, right? Thankfully, these needles will see lots of use in sweater making.

Extras: 2 yards of ribbon to run through the eyelets at the top of the socks. However, I didn't take into consideration how long these socks are and really - each sock needs 2 yards of ribbon. So, I'll be purchasing more.