Rockin with the socks

Long time since I posted, but I have been knitting. I have a backlog of Socks that Rock projects from the 2007 club. Last year life overtook me and I got behind. In the last month I have finished, Solstice Slip socks, Serendipity. And Saturday night I started Summer of Love.


Something that I am doing with Summer of Love is knitting them both at once. Not on one needle but on 10 dps. That is 2 sets of 5 brittany dp needles. I am doing this because I started the socks late at night and after I finished the first lace cuff, I was too tired to search out the ironing board to block, but I wasn't tired enough to stop. So I got out another set of dp's and started the second cuff. I felt a bit like the Harlot when she was knitting leaves. Ended up being a very late night.

I can't figure out why I delayed starting Summer of Love. Perhaps is was the blocking of the lace ruffle? Blocking (like tucking in ends) is something that I do only as a last resort. But as you can see I steam blocked the lace and pinned it to the ironing board. Of coarse, doing that meant searching for iron and ironing board and finding my pins. Looks like the rest of the socks will be an easy mindless knitting project.

Brigid in Cyberspace

As a part of this, here is my poem:

Lost by David Wagoner

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

Too fun not to include

Saw this over at Mason Dixon Knitting and had to try it.

Post Holiday Knitting

Lobby dishcloth
Originally uploaded by quixoposto

This is written for the second week of January, but I am just getting around to posting it.

Almost all of my Xmas knitting is done. (One sharks sock to go.) I promised myself I would start the Philosopher's wool sweater in the new year. But I just can't seem to get started on a big project this week.

Dishcloth knitting is the perfect simple, but fun knit to fill in the gaps.

I give you the Lobby dish cloth and the vortex dishcloth.

What a weekend in the mountains will do for you

A year ago I bought a kit at the Philosophers Wool booth at Stitches West. It was for the Color Your Own sweater in the Black and Blue colorway. I bought this after envying a friends sweater for about a year. I hesitated because I don't know how to make clothes fit, store-bought or homemade AND because the idea of steeking a sweater gives me the heebie jeebies.

I took advantage of a long weekend spent in the mountains with no distractions to get started. First I needed to roll all the skeins into balls. Lacking a ball winder I used the backs of 2 chairs and an empty toilet paper roll. Usually I find this activity fairly relaxing but after 9 skeins I got pretty tired of it. I decided that 2 skeins of black could wait until I needed them.

Next how was I going to keep the skeins from falling apart and figure out which color is which? I studied the book Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified looking at the pictures of the colorways to identify which was grape and which was dark purple, ... I put each ball in a baggie and labelled it. At least now, I will be consistent about attaching a color name to a specific ball of yarn. I also taped bits of yarn to the pattern next to the color names. I labeled the bands of fair isle patterns on the kit chart A, B, C ... as in the book. It makes it easier for me to note what I did.

Next size. The most dreaded question. I measured sweaters I own, I measured my body. Can my chest really be that big? Yes. I started on the sleeves in the largest size. Oops, my chest may be that big, but my wrists and arms aren't. What if I made the smallest sized sleeves to go with the larger body. Thinking about it, since I am steeking the armholes I can cut them to match my sleeves. I frogged the sleeve and restarted.

I am glad that I have both the directions in the kit and the book. Since this is my first large fair isle project it helps to have all the information I can get. I have done small projects to try and build my skills - mittens and socks and hats.

I have viewed the Philosophers Wool video numerous times and worked on learning continental. (I don't think that I will ever use Continental knitting as my default knitting method. My fingers are so much happier using a method they have known for 40+ years.)

As of Monday night I have only about 2" to go. I am going to repeat the first set of colors as recommended in the pattern. I'm on my way!

Travel Knitting Kit

I have been working on developing a knitting kit - a set of tools to take with me along with whatever knitting project I am working on. I want this kit to:

1. Be very small so that it fits in a purse, or bag.
2. Supplement the pattern, needles and yarn required for a project
3. Make it so that I never get stopped because I need something
4. Make repairs of various mistake easy

I have a small pouch with 2 zippered pockets, and a clear vinyl pocket.





Here is what is contains:

In the big zippered pocket

• 2 crochet hooks (one very small for attaching beads)
• bead tube with various needle for weaving in ends
• stitch holder
• cable needle
• aaa battery for my mp3 player
• measuring tape.
• small scissors
• pencil stub

In the small zippered pocket

• stitch markers
• knitpicks options end thingies for the converting the cable into a stitch holder
• smooth scrap yarn for holding stitches and other emergiencies
• dental floss

Attached to the zipper tab:

• Coilless safety pins on a large safety pin

In the clear pocket on the back

• moleskin notebook with graph paper
• postits
• clear ruler
• needle gauge

How close did I get to DONE on my holiday knitting?

Well, its Christmas Eve, lets see how I did on my knitting:
1) hat and scarf for my daughter boyfriend - DONE
2) footies for our pet sitter - DONE
3) footies and socks for my mother in law - DONE AND MAILED
4) Dream in Color Tulip baby sweater for my new niece - DONE
5) socks for my daughter - DONE
6) scarf & mittens for a friend that is moving away - DONE
7) mittens for a niece - 1/2 way but I wont need them till the new year
8) mittens for nephew - DONE
9) beaded scarf for daughter - yarn purchased, pattern and beads needed
10) sharks socks - 1/3 DONE (going to put the in progress project in a box
11) socks for my mom - abandoned
12) lots of dishcloths for various friends - did a few, would have liked more

Happy Holidays to you all

The Gauge monster strikes again

I ran out of the border color on the Tulip sweater. All I had left to go was the edging on one sleeve and the icord ties at the neck. I went back to the store and they checked my gauge. Oops, I was off. They were going to give me a bit more of the blue, but I decided to buy a whole skein so I could make matching mittens for the babies siblings. I will strip in the "girl" colors in one set, and "boy" colors in the other. Sofia has a very girly sister, and sports-crazy brother. If I still have yarn left over I'll think about a baby hat and booties.

Sharks Socks

My husband is a big Sharks fan. I thought I'd make him some socks to wear to games for Christmas. I found some great teal yarn at Angora Valley , and started looking for a pattern. Actually found 2 colors and bought them both in my indecision. I got a solid teal and "shades of teal". I think I'm going with the shades of teal. It feels more sharkish. I wanted a pattern which suggests shark's teeth, is "manly, and is each to put on and off. I thought about Octobermuster, but I was afraid of the lack of stretch you get in a slip-stitch pattern. I paged through More Sensational Knitted Socks and found 2 possible patterns either the 12-stitch triangles, or Stansfield 304. I am going to knit a swatch of stansfied to see how it looks. I took a look in Ravelry but still can't decide.

I have a lot of Christmas knitting. So far I have these in progress or completed:
1) hat and scarf for my daughter boyfriend
2) footies for our pet sitter
3) footies and socks for my mother in law
4) 90% done with baby sweater for my new niece
5) 75% done with socks for my daughter
6) scarf for a friend that is moving away

To start:
1) mittens for a niece and nephew - no pattern or yarn chosen
2) beaded scarf for daughter - yarn purchased, pattern and beads needed
3) sharks socks - yarn purchased
4) socks for my mom
5) lots of dishcloths for various friends

Celebrating a new baby girl

This week a new nearly 9-lb niece was added to our family. She will probably be the last niece as she is 24 years younger than the oldest cousin. I had already made the Baby Surprise and baby surplice, but I found the Tulip cardigan kit that the Yarn Harlot blogs about in my lys. I couldn't resist, now that I know the baby is a girl. I bought it.

After I got home, I realized that the pattern lists multiple sizes, but I didn't know if the yarn would be enough for a 12 month size. I figure a 6-mos size will fit a 9 lb newborn for about a minute. I looked on ravelry, I called the lys, they were kind enough to email Dream in Color. The answer is they measure out the same amount of yarn for the 6 and 12 mos sizes. I am glad the answer is yes, because I started the 12 mo size even before I got the answer. If I run out of yarn I will buy more yarn for the bands and ties.

Holly on ravelry was so generous as to offer me her scraps of yarn. She also let me know about a cap that had been designed to coordinate with the sweater. Here is the link

I find the brown color to be such a surprising choice for the mix, but it makes it. One of the ways a kit gets you to try new things.