Keeping the Cowboy Warm



Cold Cowboy!



Some time ago IrishGirlieKnits contacted me about doing another test knit. This is the 3rd one I’ve done for her and I must say – her patterns are stunning! They are well written and produce a fabulous knitted garment. And while you all know that I’ve mostly outgrown the scarf stage and have moved into sock stage with no moving in sight, I did agree to test knit this little one skein scarf.



The yarn is creamy by Kollage and they sent me the yarn. This is the first time I’ve even done a test knit where I had to mail my finished product off. However, the lovely folks at Kollage sent me two hanks of creamy – one for the sample and one to keep. (If you went to Stitches East you didn’t see me, but you might have seen my knitting. It was there!)



Anyway – I first wound the ‘dreamsicle’ color and knit it. This little le Petit Pont is a speedy knit. I think it took me 3 days. The blocking is lovely with the ‘points’ pulled out on the sides as well as on the ends. I believe I over blocked both scarves, so when you knit this – just block it lightly. While I was waiting to hear if I should block it (turns out maybe I should have left it for the pros) I started the lavender version.



Then I decided that while I adore the pattern, neither really matches my wardrobe – so I would send them both on. I am the strange breed of knitter who loves to knit and could never have a finished project to show for it because I have gifted them all away. The exception to this is people ‘asking’ me to knit for them. But I digress.

 Once they both were knit and blocked I decided I really should take some glamour shots and my cowboy was lookin’ cold. So – there you have it! Wow! Wordy post for such little shawls.

Late to the Party

Not only am I late - but these are really, really, crap-tastic photos!  Which is sad, because these socks are anything but crap-tastic.

First - I signed up on Rav to test knit Susie's Long Stockings. 

Next - I ordered hand died pink cashmere sock yarn.  Kathy is lovely - she didn't have what I wanted in the shop, so I convo'd her.  She fired up her magic potions in the middle of the summer heat and I had 3 hanks of the prettiest semi-solid pink yarn on my doorstep within about 10 days.  Seriously!  (her bags are lovely too!)
Finally - I caked up that lovely yarn and started knitting - learned a new cast on, learned a new double decrease and knit away.  I was almost done and would totally have made the deadline, but I realized I had mis-understood one of the directions - totally my fault and not the patterns.  So - with just over a week to go - I ripped the socks back all the way to the beginning!

And started over.  It took me just about 2 weeks to knit these puppies the second time!  Now - as soon as I clean the studio and find the missing hank of pink cashmere - I'll start the ruffles.  Then I'll have a friend with legs much more similar in size and shape to the Princess' model them and I'll force JB to take good photos.  (or else I'll pack him nothing but pb&j for a week!!)

Are you a Fan?

Of Harry Potter?  If so, then you'll probably recognize what these socks represent.

My friend sent me the red yarn.  We had been talking how we both liked the Monkey pattern, and knit it several times, but neither of us had a pair of our own monkeys.

Upon receiving this lovely little hank of red sock yarn, I promptly wound it into a cake and printed off the toe up modification to the monkey pattern.  I also modified it by making the repeat narrower.  The original monkeys are worked over 16 stitches, but because I needed to have a sock that was wider than 64 stitches, I narrowed the repeat to 12 stitches and added a second repeat.  This allowed me to make a sock that was 72 stitches around, yet still maintain the design that monkeys are famous for. 

As long as I was doing new things - I decided to try a new short row heel.  I don't normally like short row heels because I can never make them look purdy.  This one - not too shabby.  It's a bit shallow for my liking, but I think that would be fixable in the future. 

At the top of the sock, I modified this owl chart to put little cabled owls in the ribbed cuff.  I love them - I hope my friend does - if not - maybe she'll send them back.

So the Harry Potter relationship?  Well when the kids are at school their parents send them letters.  These letters are mostly delivered by owls.  And when Harry or any of the gang are in trouble the letters scream at them and are bright red!  I haven't heard of any of the kids having a monkey - so I added the owls to my "howler monkeys!"

Blech!

It's a shame that such a pretty yarn has such a name. This is Socks that Rock in colorway Blech - which I cannot find on their website to save my life now.  I thought it was part of the raven clan, but obviously I'm mistaken. 

Last Fall I test knit a pattern for jeannie cartmel designs who gave all her testers a free pattern for testing.  At that time - this yarn told me it wanted to be woodelves - and I even started them back in October 2009.  But they sat around unloved until finally I ripped them.  Last month (?) I was cleaning up the bits and bobs of yarn left lying around my house (yes, it is everywhere).  And I found the yarn again - then I grabbed the pattern and got to work.

The only change I made was to knit a "traditional" gusset.  This time I purled the stitches.  I love it! 

These socks are warm and cushy and fit just right.   Too bad I say "blech" every time I look at them.  It is no way indicates my happiness level - I just think it's a funny name for the color! 

Sweet Home

Finally! Photos of a finished object - granted it's knitting, but it's still finished. Carrie - who is on Rav as IrishGirlieKnits designed this pattern she calls Sweet Home. It's a fabulous knit will all of Carrie's trademark details - small garter cuff, design that carries through down heel, and all the way to the kitchenering the toe closed. I wish I could add links - but just go to my Rav page and find all the details. I want to thank Carrie for asking me to test knit - the pattern was wonderful and I truly enjoyed it. I also want to thank Susie from Kollage for offering up the yarn for the test knit - it was fabulous to work with a made a lovely squishy sock that I will enjoy wearing. And finally - I want to thank JB for putting up with the knitting - now if we could just get him to work on his photo shoot skills!

Dotty for

I gifted these on Saturday. I almost forgot - they have been done for a couple of months.

The pattern is Dotty by IrishGirlieKnits (for some unknown reason I cannot past on my computer at home any more - so no working links - sorry).

I test knit this pattern for her and I love it!

The yarn is Yarn Love Marianne Dashwood in the strawberry shortcake colorway.

edited to add links - now if I could just get the line spacing to behave . . . .

Left Overs

The pictures aren't very good. I was playing with the settings on JB's camera. Guess I'm going to have to learn to "photoshop" my pictures - now can somebody send me some extra time? Anyway - this yarn was left over from a mystery sock I participated in last year. It was Pagewood Farms - which is lovely and squishy and makes a fabulously comfy sock. I recently purchased a couple of harmony guides - so for these socks, I picked a pattern and just knit. It's an eyelet that travels across a rib background. The book only had it going in one direction so I did have to modify the pattern and figure out how to make it go the other way. But I managed. The green foot was the contrast color on the first pair of socks and I didn't realize I had so much of the brown left - it goes quite high up the leg, but I'll just wear them folded over. The eyelet only goes over the top of the foot. These were fun to knit and I'm enjoying taking a stitch pattern and manipulating it to get what I want. Watch out knitting!

Sun Bird

The Princess is home for a visit. Every once in a while I still sign up to test knit something lovely through Ravelry. This time, it was a beautiful shawl called Sun Bird. I still had some of the lime green cashwool left from the last shawl I test knit - which also went to the Princess but she managed to snag that one on a piece of jewelry (most likely) and break one of the fine threads.

Today - she took a ferry and went on an adventure. I thought it would be a great chance to get some finished object photos of this shawl.

I didn't measure it or take pre-blocking photos, but this sucker grew - a lot. Almost doubled in size.

However, bunched around her neck like this is how she'll most often wear it. Waste of all those beautiful stitches if they aren't going to show.

Quick Knit

These were a quick knit. Once I learned how to read. . . . I started them 4 different times. First time, I couldn't remember the cast on. Second time, I dropped a stitch. Third time, it just wasn't big enough. Fourth time's a charm? Pattern: Seduction by Ann Budd. Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill; gift from a friend. The Rest: Needles, US1s, magic loop, top down, both at the same time. Model: a very scared Dudley Dog. He did NOT like having the sock blockers leaning on him. Verdict: Lovely pattern. Will most likely knit it again.

I'm Turning Into the Harlot!

Which Harlot you ask? Well The Yarn Harlot of course. JB's father recently died. I decided - 4 days before leaving town for the funeral that JB's sister needed a shawl. See - she had spent the majority of the past 5 years caring for the parents - essentially by herself even though they

are a rather large family with 8 kids. So I stopped by the yarn store and picked up Sugar Rush - a yarn made from sugar cane. It's quite shiny - but doesn't have much of a twist so it's very splitty. Then I trolled Ravely looking for a free pattern. These days I spend my hard earned craft money on yarn and find lovely free patterns.

I started on Sunday night and was clicking along at a great pace until I hit the 4th pattern repeat. At which time I completely forgot how to count. I would get halfway through a row and my stitch count would be off. So back I would go - painfully, unknitting one stitch at a time.

On Friday morning, I had started the 20 border rows and was through 6 of them. Since JB had a second shoulder surgery on Wednesday - I had to drive!! I drove to the border crossing and then he took over. I very slowly knit each row, holding my breath that I would have enough yarn - because what I had was it! I finished weaving in the ends as we were driving into town. We went to straight to the hotel, where I dunked the shawl in the sink and they pinned it out in the hotel room. We cranked the heat and went to meet up with the family. I was able to gift the shawl on Saturday morning before the service.

Why does this make me like the Harlot you ask? Well she is often finishing and blocking things in her hotel room to wear that same day or the next and it was the only thing I could think of.

Make Up!

I love these socks! I'll show them up close up and personal soon. I think they deserve a photo shoot with Beauregard James because he was holding the yarn in the original gifting photo. These socks were started back in November 2009 as a mini-knit along with two ravelry friends. We've since added a third. And we all fell off schedule and are now knitting them at our own pace.

On Saturday afternoon (after finishing lacy ruffles) I decided I could pull these out of their project bag - thereby claiming the fabulous sock-it bag for vacation. When I revived these socks I was on row 12 of 40 for the leg, then 22 for the upper leg, and 14 for the ribbing. Sure - I could knit that, and get the laundry done, pack, etc.

So I knit all day Saturday and then on Sunday I knit around the laundry and by the time we went to bed on Sunday I had 7 rows of ribbing left to go! Man was I mad that I couldn't get them finished before the Olympics ended. I tried, but the twisted knits were making my hands cramp. No fun at all. But as you can tell - I sat on the edge of the balcony at the Villa and they got far away shots. I love these socks.

Ravelympics

I did it! I have had the idea of a lace, fold-over ruffle cuffed socks playing in my head for some time. I decided to get these socks out of my head and into knit fabric as part of Ravelympics. They were started on Saturday, February 13, 2010 while we were driving to Canada. I only worked on them on my commute while the Modern Beach Glass Quilt Wrap had a chance of being finished. Once I realized only one of these projects would get finished - I set the wrap aside and concentrated on these! I love them. I'm thrilled to have finished them. They are exactly what I saw and I can't believe I figured out how to knit them. This is the 4th finished pair of socks from stash for 2010!