actual knitting and uh…crochet

I finished the BFF socks on Monday night. Finally. One year and a couple of days later…

Pattern: BFF Socks by Cookie A.
Start Date: November 10, 2006. Finish Date: November 26, 2007
Yarn: Green Mountain Madness in Cherry Tree Hill
Needles: Addi Turbo Size 2, 12″ Circular and Clover DPN Size 2
Pattern Review: This is a nice basic sock; however, a couple of the directions aren’t entirely clear. If you are an experienced knitter, you should be able to get through the trickier bits around the heel and toe without too much trouble. I made the size mediums and I’m not sure I did the right number of cables down the front of the foot. I did three because there wasn’t quite room for four. Four would have looked nicer and been a better fit.

I think the yarn must have been cursed. I cast on for at least one other pair of socks with it and then it got tangled and then and then…

I was also at work at my Larger Than Life Bag over last weekend. Now I’ve lost the pattern of course. I think I’ve finally arranged the blocks in pairs that I like. What do you think? There are a couple more blocks that need polishing off. And then I need to do the actual bag. Now where did I put that blasted pattern!

twisted stich gauntlets and Monkey Swap Three

I really want to make the Twisted Stitch Gauntlets from Interweave Holiday Knits 2007. Probably just the thing for the two skeins of Louet Gems Merino that I’ve obtained from Ben Franklin. That is, if I don’t save them up for making the Katharine Hepburn sweater from Lace Style.

My other favorite project from that issue are the Teddy Bear and the Fireside Stocking.
I could definitely see the Fireside Stocking in a kind of pink, red, cream and green colorway. Do you think that’s too weird for snowflakes?

I’m also making some headway on my monkey socks for Monkey Swap Three. I knit the most of the entire foot on Monday and Wednesday nights and am just throwing in one more repeat before I get down to the toe. I’m using smaller needles for the toes and the heels in the hopes that they will wear well. Who knows why this particular heel took me four tries; this is my fourth pair of monkeys! My swap partner knows I’m a bit behind again, so all is okay. She’s behind too. (I’m in a direct exchange with the hostess in fact.) It’s going to be great. I can’t stop myself picking up additional monkey items to throw into the package.

I still want to know how it is my life went from -60 to 100 in the space of a month. It’s true that my job is very intense but it’s quite a change from unemployment and under employment. Now I can’t stop long enough around the trainings and the extensive commuting to knit a pair of socks? It’s not so bad.

off to see terry pratchett

I will intersperse yarny goodness with a blather about my personal life in an effort to shed some light on why I may not have my own second sock done for Second Sock September. I’m almost done with the first of three border stitch patterns for my Swallowtail Shawl. This is such an exciting thing that I can’t bear to work on the socks. I’d post a picture, but do you really need another picture of lump lace?

Tonight I’m going to go introduce the Ankh Morpork knitter’s guild to Terry Pratchett, because he’s going to be in Beaverton at Powell’s hawking his new book, Making Money. I was just saying to Josh that I’d love another book about Moist van Lipwig. And then I turned around and there it was. Not literally.  I can’t work on the shawl during the book talk, but maybe I can quietly work on the socks. Incidentally, Beaverton is the home of the Farmhouse Knit Shop. I don’t think there’s time to go and there’s good no reason to go, having just invested in BMFA products on Saturday, but I want there to be.

Today was run around day. I went and picked up some amount of supplies for my husband’s birthday party, which is happening this Friday. I’m going to make Spanakopita, Baba Ganoush, Hummus, Tabouli, Samosa and some kind of chili/cheese dip. Do you think it’s wrong to use old chili for a party dip? I got some of the spinach at the farmer’s market along with some garlic. Yummy. I’m going to have to mix it up with some stuff from the grocery store though. I knew 1 1/2 lbs wouldn’t be enough. I’m gonna need another whole pound! (Probably more. There’s less after you’ve removed the stems, which I think I’ll do.)

I may have an apartment. I realized last night that I really don’t want to move out even for only a year. However, this morning I remembered that I really really need a place to stay some nights and I don’ t have to sleep at my second apartment if I don’t want to.

This weekend I’m going to go and get some furniture for my new place. Lamps mainly. And maybe a curtain. Nothing like a temporary apartment when it’s so spartan it doesn’t feel like home. I’ve got a $50.00 gift certificate to Pier One. I don’t want to use it. I’d rather go to IKEA. Does anyone want to buy it for $42.00? (That includes insured shipping.) Josh agreed that I can have the sales price for my yarn stash. I plan to invest all the proceeds into a cheap online source for Claudia, Louet and Cherry Tree Hill through google’s ads no less. It’s called The Sheep’s Tale. Has anyone bought from them? By invest, I mean buy yarn of course!

There are no subliminal (buy yarn, eat food, read books) messages in this post. None. Really.

second sock september, pair one

The first pair of socks that I’m trying to finish for Knit Your Second Sock September are the BFF socks by Cookie. Cookie and Kristi’s website, Knitter’s Anonymous went kablooie and while it will be up again soonish, there is no link available to the pattern currently.

I freaked myself out because I’d misplaced the final page of instructions. So I cleaned house a bit and put away all my newer knitting patterns and it surfaced.

The first task on these socks was to trip out the foot of the finished first sock. The leg of the second sock has been done for a while, but when I got to it, I noticed that the way the cables were placed over the foot didn’t match on both socks. I realized that I did it wrong on the first sock and ripped it all the way back. It’s a bit unfortunate, because that sock fit beautifully and I fear that I’ve already misplaced the notes that I made detailing the number of rows in the heel and the number of cables made before I did the toe.

I didn’t like the toe on this sock, so I will probably redo it. The only other change that I made was to do a five-row cable instead of a six-row cable. I read a good suggestion somewhere about throwing odd numbered cables into patterns knit in the round just because you can. It probably came out of Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman.

I keep forgetting that I did this though, so I keep ripping out the cables. And then of course I lose count. It’s a simple sock. Really.

I am resisting the temptation to redo the heel on this sock. I’ll know if I did it wrong if I run out of yarn!

when in doubt knit lace

I have a large number of projects going on right now. I just finished a pair of monkey socks a week ago and supposedly I’m knitting miters and a hat for my pal Liz. Neither of these projects is “hard” enough, so I’ve been playing around with my stash looking for something else to do.

I’ve knit lacy patterns before, but the lightest yarn I’ve used is fingering weight. So, I thought I’d try out the Cherry Tree Hill Suri Lace that I bought on sale last spring. I’m pretty sure it was over half off. I’m not entirely trusting of the whole lace blocking process. I tried an early half-hearted attempt at blocking and I wasn’t too excited about how it worked out. I tried the soak and block method (I didn’t soak it for more than a minute or two though) and all it did was fade and fuzz up. So, when I do it I’ll probably block it and then spritz it.

Anyone have any advice?

catching up

This is what I’ve been up to.

These are some squares made from Noro Kureyon inspired by Amy Swenson, the designer behind indiknits‘. The pattern I’d been eyeing was the Saratoga Sunburst, felted handbag. I saw one someone else had made and had to have something like it! It’s slow because I can’t count to 100 and I keep losing the 5th needle. Seriously, I can find my size 0 needles more easily than one 11. What’s with that?

socks in snow

Must knit faster.

I woke up earlyish this morning to a winter wonderland. Then I went back to bed.

I really would like to finish the sock depicted in this photograph soon – I’m nearly down to the toe and I’m a bit worried I won’t have enough yarn left. I’m not even sure how this is possible. You can’t see the sock right now, sorry, it’s not done. You really shouldn’t stretch your uncompleted sock over the handle of a shovel without expecting some stitches to come undone. And the big stripe in the photograph? I had to leave the ball of yarn in my pocket.

It’s a BFF sock in Cherry Tree Hill (by Cookie). There are several possibilities as to why I am worried about the amount remaining yarn. One is that the cables eat yarn and I mean EAT. Another is that when I divided the yarn into balls I did so unevenly. A third is that 420 yards isn’t what it used to be. We’ll see.

socks, socks, socks, socks, socks

What would be a vacation without some sheep? These are Mountain School sheep. The school was selling some yarn, but in somehow in all the confusion, what with the dark (the power kept going out) and the talking with old classmates I forgot to ask whether the yarn they were selling was made from Mountain School wool. (Note: none if it was sock yarn.)

The completed Potomatomus Socks. Note that the colors are much better in real life; they are more red and blue. I hate to say it but they are almost Spidey like.

Finished on June 12th. Knit on Size 1 12″ Addi Turbo needles using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted. The pattern comes from Knitty. That was the most challenging pattern I’ve worked on in a long time.

I bought some more Lorna’s Laces last week sometime in the Watercolor colorway. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with it yet. I could do the Straight-Laced pattern, but then I’d have to buy another circular needle. I like the pattern though. We’ll see.

Have you ever started on something that you think is just awful? I’m not sure how I feel about the Lace Knee High pattern from the Interweave Knits Winter 2004 issue inthe Cherry Tree Hill Green Mountain Madness. There’s something very loose about the entire thing and I’m not sure I think it’s appealing. Maybe this is something that shouldn’t be done in variegated colors.

Here is the picture of the Koigu I bought in Exeter at Charlotte’s Web. I’ve been playing around with the Magic Loop Method for the piquant Falling Leaves Socks (pattern available at Knitty). It’s kind of neat, although the Koigu is so dense that I find doing “p3togtbl” a bit tough. The question is will it pay off after I finish the toe?

Can you say addicted to socks? Who’d ever have thunk? I don’t wear socks very often. Socks are for the gym, really snowy days, padding around the house and going to work in (if I can’t get away without them). Maybe I will want to wear them in Minnesota though. I’ve got small feet so these are speedy projects I should probably enter the Knitty 2007 calendar contest with my socks (assuming I finish the Knitty ones). Only…doing what?

The finished iPod holder will have to wait until tomorrow for display.

backyard leaves scarf

Here is the first completed Pomatomus sock. I will get to the second sock soon, but I needed a break to work on something a little less challenging.

 

 

The Backyard Leaves pattern isn’t exactly simple, but since I had finished the first piece already (the scarf is knit in two equal length pieces so that your leaves are the same when wearing your scarf) I knew I could manage the pattern. This is definitely one of those cases, where blocking seriously improves the overall look of the finished project. It also significantly increased the length. I probably should have blocked the first piece – I would have shortened the second piece somewhat. However, it will look terrific doubled up and will keep my neck warm in Minnesota. Or my sister’s neck if she wants the scarf.

Backyard Leaves was completed 6/2/2006 on U.S. size 8 Needles (5.0MM) and rendered in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in “Pea Green.” I think it took between 13 and 23 hours. I started it a long long time ago, but finished the second half of it this week in about 8 hours.

As a a reward, I got myself more sock yarn. Am I a glutton for punishment or what? Maybe just a glutton. This is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Green Mtn. Madness. Apparently I got 470 yards for $22.05 (US) and I have little feet. Not bad. It’s 100% Merino.