More New Socks For Me

Last week I talked about a photo shoot for two pairs of socks.  This is the second pair.



This is the Through the Loops Mystery Sock for this year. A two color sock is so hard to plan for just because there are so many great possibilities for color combinations. I love choosing colors and seeing how they mix. In the end I settled with a pair of colors that was far less risky than many others. The dark blue id Malabrigo in Shery and the minty green is Spud & Chloe in Glow Worm. It wasn't terribly risky but I like it.



Knowing that this pattern would involve 2 colors I was a little apprehensive, hoping that there wouldn't be extensive color work or - even worse - intarsia. But a funny thing happened while I was working on these socks. I found myself wishing that the second color was involved just a little bit more. Wow!



In the end I'm really happy with thee socks. The fussy cast on and the stripey toes are fun and add a little spark to the design. Now I have a year to finish the 2012 socks and perhaps a few more pairs before the next mystery sock next year.

First Things First

It should come as no surprise that today, the day after I told you all about our little sock photo shoot, I'm sharing a pair of recently completed socks.

These are the Through the Loops Mystery Socks from 2013. I really love doing the mystery socks, I just have a problem finishing them. I start off strong but somewhere along the way life happens and suddenly I'm behind. And once I'm behind and there's no feeling of urgency it's way too easy to put a project down in for a minute.... that stretches into a year or so.

So when I saw the information posted for this years mystery sock I felt like I really ought to finish one of the previous mystery socks first. In the interest of full disclosure I should admit that the 2012 mystery socks are still languishing too. But at least I got these done and I did so before I started the new one. 

As with so many things, now that I'm finished with these socks I find myself wondering what took me so long. I really love them. The pattern in the front and in the back are lovely.

There's another reason why I wish that I'd finished these a year ago and not put them in time out.  My tension when I started them and when I finished them is not the same. It's not your imagination or a trick of photography - one sock is a bit shorter than the other.

Fortunately I have daughters who will take hand knit socks any way they can get them. 

Quick Post for a Quick Hat

"What are you looking at?"



"My hat? Oh, it's just something my mom made for me.  No big deal. I lost my old hat so she made a new one."



"I just asked for a hat and she showed me a few patterns. I chose Slouchy('s no Slouch) by Lea Kobayashi.  My mom tends to get a little crazy with cables and all that stuff but I just want something to keep my head warm."



"My mom made it super fast because she had the yarn sitting in her stash. She's not even sure what it was. But the bead is new and I think it's cool. It's not as good as the skull bead that she was going to use but it's nice anyway."

Persistence Pays

I've stepped away from knitting and picked it up again a few times over the past few years. This time I've been more focused, concentrating on finishing the things that have languished and fulfilling obligations. This project falls in the second category.

Stinkerbelle asked for new fingerless gloves ages ago. I can no longer recall when but she's been telling people that I was going to make them and talking about the pattern we settled on. Mostly she's been waitinf patiently because other stuff was more pressing or - lets be honest - exciting.



But, as I mentioned, I've been trying to fulfill promises lately so I unearthed the yarn and pattern from my stash and cast on. I can't say that it was my favorite project.  This pattern looks cool but the large spaces of color necessitate some long floats. I really dislike long floats. They prevent my from developing a flow.



The results speak for themselves. They look great. The main color is a variegated purple/blue/gray and the contrast is navy blue. Those are totally Daria's colors.  So the skulls and colors really work for her and she loves them. I did tell her to take good care of them though, because if it took her this long to get these made it could be a really long time until I made a new pair.

Challenges in Knitting And Beyond

I really love the idea of an Olympic Challenge. Aside from being a fabulous excuse to sit and watch the actual Games it's nice to challenge yourself.  Maybe the level of difficulty doesn't quite rise to the level of the giant slalom or skeleton (yikes!) or figure skating but a well chosen project that goes a bit beyond what you've done before can be every bit as daunting.



This year I decided to knit a sweater for Miss M as my challenge. It turns out that choosing the pattern was the most difficult part of this knit. It was complicated because I wanted to knit a rainbow and I ordered a set of rainbow yarn that I then tried to match to a pattern. Should the rainbow be at the yoke? Should it be everything but the yoke? Colorwork? You can see the problem.



After weeks of sifting and sorting patterns on Ravelry I finally found Lillian Lucy by Ann Molvik. The simple body was perfectly suited for a rainbow and I loved the sweet ruffles at the cuffs, neck, and bottom. In this case the rainbow was not just bright, it was practically neon, so I tried to balance it with soft grey for the ruffled bits.



This was such an easy knit.  Once I figured out how many inches each stripe ought to be I flew through the knitting on the body. Then came the sleeves and not only did I have to figure out how wide each stripe should be - I had to make sure I had enough of each color.  Because I was so nervous about it I weighed each remaining ball of yarn and kept doing so as I knit the sleeves. In the end I had plenty of each color.



I really love this sweater. It all came together so smoothly that I finished in one week flat. That includes the blocking, the installation of the zipper, and the covering of the inside of the zipper with pretty ribbon. It's a new personal best for me.  I guess I'll have to reach higher next time.

Tis the Season For Cowls

Any day that begins with knitting success of any kind has to be good, and so it is. This morning I opened my email to find that I won a copy of the new Through The Loops pattern, Reynard and I can't wait to start it. But I have so many projects lined up that it'll have to wait a little while. It's good to have something to look forward to.

It's been a period of self doubt and angst but, among other things, my knitting is one of the strongest threads that pulling me through. I feel inspired and determined to make things happen. Among the things that are happening is a return to old, unfinished projects like this cowl that I started last January and abandoned as the weather turned warm and the impulse to wrap ourselves in wool faded.



Here's my daughter peeking out from the double-wrapped cowl. Can you tell how much she loves it? She should since it was knit at her request from a pattern that we chose together.



Here's a close-up of the texture.  I'm not sure how well you can see it but this pattern is constructed to that it's the same inside and out. That'll make it much easier to wear since it's huge and needs to be double wrapped. If it twists there is no wrong side.

And of course there is the yarn too.  I started initially with a variegated Malabrigo but it was too busy and you couldn't see the pattern at all. I switched to Shepherd's Wool in raspberry. It's a marled yarn so it's got a little more depth than a flat solid.



I think she likes it. On to the next UFO.

Zipped Up!

Hey there!



A little over a week ago I finally finished a baby gift that I started in 2012. Fortunately I know myself pretty well and I chose to make a size 2-3 so it out to fit my cousin's now 2 year old son just fine. I really hope so because I love this sweater. It's a Sirdar pattern that I've loved since the first time I saw it.



There are so many things I adore about it. There are big, basic things like the softness and color of the yarn. It's KP Swish in Delft Heather.  There is something about a heathered yarn that is so soft and inviting and this one is no exception.  It's got a lovely depth to it.

But there are little details about this sweater that thrill the knitter in me beyond reason. One of the last bits of finishing was the ribbed edging that was knit on after I assembled the sweater. I had to pick up over 250 stitches to do it and it came out well but I had no idea how well until I was binding it off. That's when I noticed how perfectly the ribbing matched up with the center cable that continues from the back hem right up and over the head.



And then there's the zipper. I'd never installed a zipper in any of my knits before and I do not sew at all.  I really avoid it as much as possible. But I really felt like this sweater demanded a zipper so I read countless online tutorials and then I sat down with pins and thread and meticulously sewed in the zipper.  I love it! It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I'm so proud that it lays flat and doesn't pucker.



Last but not least there is the grosgrain ribbon that I found to make the inside of the zipper pretty. I scoured the internet and a few stores looking for just the right one but I think it was worth it. What little kid doesn't love airplanes?

A Hat!

I have a backlog of finished objects that I need to post. Currently the list is about 5-6 but it's growing. This is what happens when you return to knitting and attack all those UFO's that have been cast aside well past the halfway mark. It's good for blogging.

But this isn't one of those long neglected projects.  This is a little hat that I whipped off for Miss M in about a day. The yarn is probably an aran but it wasn't marked and I think that I used a size 3 or 4 needle which made for a nice dense fabric. It'll keep the wind out well. It also makes it hold it's shape really well. I love the way it stands up.

And here is the hat in action yesterday. 

Bow Ties Are Cool

I don't know why but I can't stop obsessively checking the free pattern testers group on Ravelry.  I would be lying if I said that it was completely altruistic.  Helping a fellow knitter is a really good thing but you know what's even better... finding something cool and new.  The Bow Ties are Cool Cowl is cool.



This was such a fun and easy knit. Just keep casting on and casting off with a bunch of increases and decreases in between. 



The pattern may be the star of this show but the yarn was a very capable supporting player. Dream in Color makes some fabulous yarns - and my stash is full of them. This is Everlasting in a color called Crisp.  It was new to me and isn't it fantastic?  Look at the colors. The changes are so subtle and it has a colored pencil quality to it.  It feels really soft too.




Doesn't Stinkette look serious there? Where'd my giggly girl go?

Still Winter

I called this hat Suddenly it Got Cold because that's exactly what happened.  After a pretty mild start to yet another winter it turned cold.  Suddenly I felt the need to zip up my jacket and put on my gloves and my hat. It shouldn't have been a surprise but it was.



And I realized that my hat wasn't cutting it. It was a cute, slouchy hat that I made in 2009 and I like it but it's a very light hat.  It's kind of lacy and the yarn is Fibranatura Oak - merino, linen, and silk.  It's got a lovely hand but no body, no oomph.  I needed a hat that felt more substantial.



So this pattern was one I had my eye on for quite a while.  It's the Dragonflies Hat by Joji Locatelli and I have to say it is one of the clearest patterns I've ever followed.  It was a joy to knit from start to finish. It wasn't simple but it was so well-written that it was easy.  I would knit it again in a heartbeat.



So was it a success?  Is it warmer and more substantial than my other hat?  Well, thanks to some awesome Madeline Tosh Vintage it totally is.  I wanted to use a more variegated yarn but I looked at other versions and used my head instead of my heart and it wound up being the best decision.  Truly you can't go wrong when shopping for yarn in your own stash - you must have liked it when you bought it! And so it is with this luscious, green yarn.

I adore this yarn and this pattern and the hat it became.

Wrapping up 2012 Knits (and crochets)

January 31st! It's the end of the first month of the year and I'm still not through posting stuff I made in December. I cannot drag this out any longer. I'm gonna wrap it up today.

This is Arabella by Nicky Hale knit up in Tahki Cotton Classic.  It was such a learning experience and it really ought to have it's own post but I'll try to keep this short and sweet.

I have a friend who's having a rough time and she loves collars like this one so when I saw this pattern I was determined to make it for her which meant chasing down the UK publication it appeared in, The Knitter. In the future I'll hopefully know to watch out for crochet patterns from abroad.  I tried to make this 3 times before I realized that UK & US crochet terms mean different things.  What we call single crochet - they call double crochet, what we call double crochet - they call treble crochet, etc.  You can see where this would be a problem.  As I said - lesson learned.

The second issue was the yarn.  It's lovely and it looks great with the beads and the stitch pattern.  What it doesn't do is drape.  I'm sure that if I had used a nice wool it would've been fabulous.  I'm so sure of this that I bought some wool to use to prove my point.  I just need the beads and the time.  Watch for it.



This is Autobahn by Kate Gilbert in Shepherd's Wool Worsted.  Not a whole lot to say about this because the pattern and the yarn were just perfect. 



Small story though so in the absence of true knitting discussion here it is.  Bruce came home from work one cold December day and told me that he wore his entrelac  scarf and a friend admired it and commented that he was lucky that his wife knits.  Awwwww....

And Bruce is so pleased to tell me this.  It's really nice to have a family who loves my hand knits and shows them off proudly.  I appreciate it more than words can say so when my husband suggests that he really thinks his friend would love a hand knit hat I say sure.  I troll Rav for the perfect pattern and I buy a yarn that's nice but not budget busting.  And to my daughters chagrin, I push aside other projects to do a quick hat.  'Cause  hats are instant gratification.



Now he tells me that his friend loves the hat.  The color is great!  The pattern is great!  It's so nice and warm! 

And he'd really love one in grey.

Yarn has been bought. But he's a little further down in the queue this time.



And that's it. Onward to 2013.

Little Feet

I'm still not finished posting stuff I finished at the end of last year. I'm getting closer though.



The last time I made slippers for my girls was about 5 years ago. Since then they grew a bit and our family added more little girls who needed warm feet. What's a knitter to do?



I found a different pattern to use this time and I love it. Little Duffers by Mindie Tallack is so easy and quick and the result is so satisfying.  The yarn is KP Wool of the Andes for the soles and KP Chroma for the tops.

Both pairs of slippers turned out to be fraternal but for different reasons.  The red & yellow is fraternal because one was knit from the outside of the ball and the other from the center. The other one is fraternal because the repeat is way too long for the size I was knitting.  I love them anyway.  Who needs matchy, matchy slippers.



At this point you may ask why there are 2 pairs.  Which 2 children are they for?  Both of them are fro Miss M.  The yellow were the first try which were too big and the pink/blue/green are just perfect. Her feet will grow.



So I added some cute shapes and swirls to the soles in puffy paint for traction.  It doesn't hurt that thy add a little extra cuteness.



Now I just need to get Miss M to keep them on her feet.
And neither the parade of finished objects nor the display of slippers ends here. There are, as they always say, plenty more where those came from.

Not Qualified

Today's topic is 10 Tips for Sticking With Your Fitness Routine.  Since I don't actually have a fitness routine and I'm unlikely to start one anytime soon this really isn't a topic I can write about.

So back I go to the list of unposted knits.  Today I've got a pair of cute little mittens I made for Miss M.  They were inspired by our trip to New York over Thanksgiving when we went for a walk on a super windy day.  Thats when I realized that My sweet girl had no mittens or gloves yet.  What kind of mom let's her baby go out with cold hands?  Even worse, what kind of knitter?



I loved the idea of making Miss M some cute little mittens.  The pattern (this one) suggests making three mittens just in case one gets lost.  Such a great idea. So I decided to make a pink stripe on one, two pink stripes on the next and three on the third. Terribly original. Right?

Well, it turns out that my toddler is growing faster than I thought and these mittens barely fit her.  I don't know if she has big hands or what.  I have found another pattern for little kid mittens and I was all set to make them for her right away but then the weather got warm... and it's stayed that way.  It's January and it should be mitten weather but it's really not.  Thankfully these mittens were really fast to make so if the weather should become more seasonable I should be able to whip up a pair of cute mittens fast.

Holiday 2012 in a Hat

For today's post we'll return to the pile of finished objects from the end of last year.  This one was a gift.  One of the few I made during the holidays.



The pattern is Everglade by Woolly Wormhead knit up in Cascade 220. I gave it to my sister but I think my niece may have swiped it.  That's the rumor anyway. 

But the reason I made it for my sister is that she pretty much asked for it.  During our recent Indiana trip I went for a little walk around Bloomington one day with my sister and, happily if not surprisingly, it included a stop at a yarn store.  My sister is not a knitter or a lover of yarn in general but she indulged me.



As I started to feel those familiar "must knit" feelings my sister was admiring the samples. She commented that she'd really love a great, slouchy, hat.  Who wouldn't?  Even if you, like me, don't really look great in hats there is something about pulling one down over your ears on a cold winter day. Right?



The resulting hat is a win.  The pattern is well written and dead-simple.  I probably spent way more time considering the yarn and pattern choice than knitting it up.  After a good soak and a wee bit of blocking to open up the lacy bits this hat was perfect. 

I hope that it keeps my sister (or my niece) nice and warm.

Hats Tested and Claimed

I have many obsessions and quite a few of them are knit related.  I can get lost considering yarns and patterns for hours.  One of the newest incarnations of the obsession is the test knitting groups.  I really don't know why, but helping a fellow knitter to get a pattern right and, of course, getting the first crack at it, is a kick.  I think that there's something about the deadlines too.  I'm a bit better under pressure.



This isone of my most recent test knits.  It's the Cable Fantasy Hat by Natalie Volyanyuk.  It was a nice quick knit.  I used some Dream in Color Classy in a color with a fabulous name - In Vino Veritas.  The pattern and the yarn played very well together.

There was a moment when I thought the outcome of this project might not be a happy one.  Immediately after casting off this hat barely hit my ears!  Ooops.  But I trusted in the designer and just gave it a nice, long, soak before blocking it hard on an inflated balloon.



In the end it turned out perfectly.  It fits snugly and just covers the ears.  It's such a nice hat that when in asked Stinkette to model it she fell hard and absconded with it.  It has been claimed for now and forever.

The Elephant in the Room

In a week marked by birthdays and the start of Hanukkah I’ve got the perfect finished object to share. Meet Elvis the Elephant! The pattern is E is for Elephant  by Emily Ivey and it’s pretty well written. Toys can be a little tricky because the placement of the features and where you attach the arms and legs can mean the difference between cute and creepy.




The yarn I used was Blue Sky Organic Cotton that happened to be on hand when I felt the sudden need to make this elephant. The color is fun and the yarn is very soft but I’m not sure I love it. It feels like it could shred into nothing way too easily and it leaves fluff in it’s wake.

This was one of those things that I saw and needed to knit right away. I didn’t have any great reason other than it looked cute and I thought Miss M would like it. She did – while I was working on it. She kept coming over an trying to grab it out of my lap. Now that it’s finished she is a little less interested in that classic toddler fashion. Snuggle, snuggle, drop. Right now it’s in a corner of mu living room. But only until she notices it again.



It really doesn’t matter if Miss M is kind of lukewarm on Elvis. The rest of the family is charmed. Who can resist such a cute tush?

Three Years of Yarn Collecting

My knitting bag is quite full these days. I feel energized and optimistic about all the things I can and will make. Part of the reason for this are the things that I have finished recently and particularly this sweater. It’s the Tulip baby sweater which I have wanted to make since I first saw it over three years ago.


Since then I have dreamed about these sweaters and tried to settle on which baby I’d make it for since, until recently, I had none. But in all honesty the Dream in Color yarn is kind of pricey and you need quite a few skeins. I’d have to really, really, love a baby to make that kind of investment. So for three years I dreamed of making the sweater and bought yarn. This picture was taken in March. Since then I bought a *few* more skeins.



When I finally sat down to choose my color line up my daughter was kind of shocked at the amount of yarn I was choosing from. I could probably make one of these for Miss M for the next 4 years and still have yarn left over. And I may just do that because there are so many color combinations you can go with. Part of the fun (and challenge) is in selecting just the right colors in the right order.



Once I chose the colors the knitting itself was fast and easy. Based on notes I read on other completed projects I made the 2 year old size but added 2 rows to each stripe (changing every 10th row instead of every 8th). It was a good call but I inexplicably decided to go with 8 rows on the sleeves and they came out more ¾ than full. This is really ok for a baby because it means that she drags her sleeves in her food less. It’s worth noting though.



Ultimately, this sweater lived up to all the anticipation and Miss M loves it. It’s a good thing that the yarn seems pretty sturdy because she tries to put it on herself often and stretches it this way and that. No worries though, because it still looks great every time she wears it.

Really, Truly, Amazingly, Back

I've been trying to get back to knitting for the longest time.  I tried picking up WIPs. I tried to start new projects.  I looked at countless patterns.  I bought more yarn. None of it worked.

 

Then I saw a cute pattern being tested in a group on Ravelry and I signed up.  The pattern is Dyning by YarnMadness and the yarn is some Elann Lara from my stash.  It had a reasonable but tight deadline which forced me to keep at it and before I knew it the cute little top was done and I was moving on to the next thing. And the next.  And the next.



The finished top is very cute.  It isn't fancy but it's just right for my girl. Most importantly,it was a pretty easy knit and it's the first thing that I finished in a long time. The weather really isn't quite right for Miss M to wear it right now but something tells me that she'll like it.



So, is the dry spell really over?  Well, since I finished it on October 1 I've knit another sweater from start to finish and another that was a long term WIP is nearly finished too.  I may cast on yet another thing tomorrow.  A toy maybe.

At Long Last a Finished Object

My sweet baby is one step closer to having some Mommy knits. I felt like I needed to catch up on baby gifts before I knit for my own babe. So I have been dawdling and procrastinating over a silly baby sweater for my cousin's son for months. There is nothing that puts quite the same damper on a project as the feeling that it's required. It saps all the fun out of it.

Then I heard that my cousin, who lives in Canada, was going to come down for the 70th anniversary party. Suddenly I felt the urgent need to finish it so that I could give it to her in person. That and the fact that the "baby" will be one next month.

So I pushed through it. I really focused and neglected everything else and I got all the knitting done, the pieces sewn together, and the ends woven in with a few days to spare. Then I was ready to install the zipper. Damn! Wrong size and wrong type. I went looking for the correct zipper but I really didn't have the time. Who knew it would be so hard to find a separating zipper? Not me.

So I did something that totally goes against my nature. I gave it to my cousin without a zipper. Mostly I wanted her to see that it was done. I offered to take it home and finish it off but she said she'd work it out. I suspect that my aunt is going to be getting a call.

All that aside, this really is a sweet little sweater with a lot to recommend it. The color is yummy. My cousin was thrilled with it. The yarn feels nice and soft and light. Perfect for a baby sweater. The pattern worked out perfectly. This is my second Sirdar pattern and I found it very easy to work. Well written and reasonably easy to follow. I'll be starting another one of their patterns soon. The finishing work (aside from the missing zipper) makes me proud. It gets better and more enjoyable each time I sew up a sweater.

Thanks to Miss M for modeling her cousins sweater. She wiggled and waved and demonstrated well that this sweater has plenty of room to grow. That good to know for the mommy knits ahead.

Way back on the 11th I told you about one of the 2 gifts I knitted for the holidays. Today is all about the other one.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, my niece "R" asked for this when she overheard her brother making his request. She said she wanted an ear warmer in an olive green. The yarn for this one was just as easy as the yarn for the Fresca Hat. I happened to receive an email from Webs about the limited edition short skeins of Madeline Tosh Vintage and was instantly sold on a color called Lowland. Isn't it gorgeous? It's a good thing that this yarn is so awesome because the pattern I chose required me to knit about a mile of tube. Fatally boring if not for the deliciousness of the yarn.

The pattern I chose was called the Anthro-Style Plaited Wrap by Melynda Bernardi. I was really torn between a traditional ear warmer that was flatter (and boring) and this one. I also saw a few versions of this including a few that were cabled but the comments indicated that this one worked the best and it just looked cool.

Knitters often say that a pattern is about the construction but I've never seen one where this was more true. The knitting involved here is super simple and boring... a seemingly endless, stockinette tube. Boring! Then comes the folding and weaving which took quite a few tries before I got it right. I really don't think it has to be that hard. Better instructions would help a lot but once I figured it out it was fab!

The end result is a woven wrap with an invisible seam that is thick and warm and lovely. My niece likes it very much too. Even though it was quite late.