Winter Hiatus

 Finished the hat by the deadline:

Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm) and US 2.5 (3mm)

Yarn: 1.5 skeins of Patons Kroy Socks in Gentry Gray

Pattern: Raven Sherbo's Mjolnir

Splitty yarn (with a fair amount of vegetative matter, and white blobs in the 2nd skein only -- neither problems I usually have with this yarn) meant I kept leaving strands behind, and traveling stitches meant it was impossible to drop down to correct things.

There was a mistake in the pattern that I did not make in my knitting, because I didn't even notice until the third repeat, like typos that your brain corrects for you. I just did what should have been done without thinking about it.

KD just informed me that it's the best hat ever, though, so it was all worth it.

And with that, I'm going to take a break from knit-blogging until the New Year, because all I want to talk about are Secret Projects, and that's no good.

Emergency Hat

 That is, not a hat for emergencies, but an emergency need for a specific hat to be worn at a specific time.

Believe it or not, this is a black hat, in yarn with a lovely sheen to it. As a result, the sheen reflected all the sunlight when I took the picture.

Half the time is up; half the hat is done. Onward!

Summer Socks Finished as Summer Ends

When the time for the 2020 Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival rolled around, I went to the vendors I always visit, and bought things. I just did it online. I've been working my way through summer colors of Yankee Dyer Yarns Yankee Breeze merino/cotton fingering. This year I went with a summery green. So I wanted a sock pattern that went with images of summer leaves. I settled on this pattern because, despite the name, it reminded me of the shadows made by trees in full leaf. And it reminded NKD of the vines in her garden.

Needles: US 1 1/2 (2.5 mm)

Yarn: Yankee Dyer Yarns Yankee Breeze in Wasabi

Pattern: Melanie Berney's Snowflake Lace Socks, originally published in MagKnits and available from the Internet Archives here.

I'm leaning towards a purple for next year's selection. Maybe that May Mist if she still has it in stock by then. The serendipity of indie dyers is the best.

Coming Along

 They'll be finished before you know it.

But you know what's even worse than Second Sock Syndrome?

I've had this pillowcase embroidery kit for decades. I broke it out back in March, when I started taking afternoon tea in a chair by my window, looking out on the forest. It seemed like a good time to resurrect an old skill. I was quite pleased with the result. So why haven't I even started the second one???

Legacy Project: Scarf and Fingerless Gloves

 The scarf is half-done, and not mysterious at all. The knitting is easy to read as far as the pattern is concerned, the yarn is still attached, and it even had a needle still in it. No telling how long my sister intended to make it, but I'll just use up the yarn.

But first, the same reason she stopped: to make sure she had enough yarn for the matching fingerless gloves. Fortunately, one was complete except for the thumb-top:

 

She was holding two different colorways together in the scarf, a black and a black-and-gray variegated, for a subtle variegated heather look. She clearly did the same in the body of the glove, then switched to just black for the finger-tops. I guessed that she used the same size needles as the scarf, counted stitches and rows, and quickly made a match.

The finger-tops are a bit of a poser. I don't often make gloves, and figuring out how to divvy up the stitches for fingers has taken several tries.

Half Done

Which is to say, the sock is all done:

And the best course of action is to immediately cast on for the second one. Especially now that the weather has turned fall-like, and thoughts of wool are dancing through my head. 

Round the Bend

Here we are, safely around the corner. Yesterday I knit the heel flap, turned the heel, picked up the gusset stitches on one side, and checked the pattern to be sure I was supposed to continue the lace pattern across the instep stitches.

 

 

That’s when I discovered that the pattern had politely asked me to stop before the heel flap on the next-to-last row of the lace pattern. And after all that careful exposition in my last post!

I almost wrote “there’s no coming back from that kind of mistake,” but of course that’s the glory and delight of knitting: unlike real life, you can go back and fix things. So this morning I did just that, ripping back to the beginning of the heel flap, tinking back that last knit row, and starting off again.

I wound up knitting the first row of the heel flap, because otherwise I would have been slipping yarn-overs and creating large holes just where I don’t want them. But after that I proceeded with my usual heel flap, and everything went smoothly.

Now I will just continue with lace on the instep and stockinette on the sole while I decrease the gusset stitches, and before you know it, it will be time for the toe. Which I might start a little earlier than usual, since I don’t want my little toe catching in the lace.

Time for a Heel

How do I know?

Well, I know that - unless I'm making footies - I generally like my handknit socks to hit just as my calf starts to widen, what the wide world calls "mid-calf" but isn't. I also know that I generally like my summer socks to be about an inch shorter than my winter ones. No idea why, you wouldn't think an inch would add that much warmth. Anyway, I'm looking for a leg length of 5-6".

The stitch pattern matters, too. Since I want two matching socks, it's always wise to start the heel at the end of a pattern set, just because it's easier to remember. Happily, the end of the 5th pattern repeat hit right at 5 1/2".

Definitely time to start the heel, which starts, in this case, with a heel flap. The pattern actually calls for plain knitting, and I could do that. But I like a bit of bulk in the heel flap, so that it wears longer. I could go all out on an eye-of-partridge heel, which I'm fond of. But the stitch pattern is already textured and interesting enough, so I'm just going to go with a regular heel flap, the kind where you slip 1 - knit 1 across the heel flap and slip 1 - purl across on the way back.

See you around the corner!

A Fine Kettle of Fish

 I would just like to point out that this entire garter square blanket is predicted on getting two squares out of each skein of yarn. Eight squares in, this happens:

 I shall continue on, and see if I come up with some extra blue by the end.

Meanwhile, now that it's September, I've finally started my summer socks.

Legacy Project: Carolyn Jacket Finished

 This took a while, but the finished object is really nice.

To recap: this was a kit produced in 2000 by Carolyn White, that included pattern instructions and the central woven piece in various fabrics - we approve the choice of elephants! My sister had completed knitting the pieces but had not begun to assemble the jacket. I attached the side pieces, sewed the the seams, and knit (and hemmed, and re-knit and re-knit) the hem, collar, and front edging. I found buttons and added them. Then, realizing that the sleeves were too long for the intended recipient, I shortened them.

As I was discussing how to eliminate the extra fabric from shortening the sleeves, one of my knitting friends kept telling me it wasn't going to work the way I thought. It wasn't until I actually tried it that I understood what she was saying. The knitting was going to unravel. Fortunately, before that could happen, I unpicked my sewing, ripped back the extra fabric

put the live stitches back on the needles

and Kitchener-stitched them closed, which is what I should have done in the first place. Then I did the other 3 seams.

This project was a constant lesson in trying something that did not work, and then trying something else.

Kit: Carolyn White's Carolyn Jacket, now available only on eBay
Yarn: Imperial Tracie in Pearl Gray and Spring Sage, Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in Dark Blue, and some unknown yellow.

Just a Little Too Much Yarn

What do you do when the amount of yarn is a little too much for a hexipuff, but not enough for two hexipuffs? You make baby socks!

Yarn: unidentified leftover sock yarn
Needles: (US 2) 2.75 mm
Pattern: Toe-Up Baby Socks in the 0-3 month size

Someday I'm going to meet a baby with cold feet, and I will be so prepared!

Tidying Up

 I took a few minutes this week to clean out leftover sock yarn.

Someday there will be enough hexi-puffs (and half-puffs) for a blanket.

Forgotten Project

Many years ago, I had the bright idea of leaving a stash of yarn at the cabin, so that no knitter would ever have to run out of something to knit while on vacation. I settled on acrylic yarn in local colors, and a simple garter-stitch square pattern.

Then life happened. Time passed. Family member knitters died. I gained some eye-opening experience sewing together blankets from squares other people had knit. I forgot all about the whole project.

Until the yarn turned up last month, and I dug around to figure out what on earth I had bought it for. Ah. Well. Tempus fugit, and all that. I took the yarn up to the cabin, and I started knitting it into squares, and sewing them together. I'm not sure the cabin even needs another blanket, but I will soon have a nice squishy blanket in Camp colors.

Road Trip = Knitting Time

Finished! It's quite difficult to show off the zigzag without putting them on. Alas, that will have to wait for the recipient.

Needles: US 1 1/2 (2.5 mm)

Yarn: Cascade Yarns' Heritage Paints in Spark, 64 grams

Pattern: Susie White's Zigzagular Socks, a free pattern on Ravelry

I really enjoyed this pattern, and making it with this yarn. I hope the recipient enjoys wearing them.

Legacy Project: Shortening the Sleeves

The first step was to remove the seam from cuff to underarm. I probably could have done it without this step, but it was certainly easier with the seam open.

Next, I chose where the shortening seam would go. I tried putting both rows on needles and employing Kitchener Stitch. I tried just eyeballing the correct stitches in each row and sewing it together. But what worked for me, and for making sure I hadn’t missed any stitches, since I intend to remove the excess fabric later, was to put the two rows of stitches, carefully, on needles.

Then I sewed up the seam, loosely. Then I removed the needles and tightened it up.

Voila! A shorter sleeve. Now I need to do the other sleeve.

And later, remove the excess fabric.

Poor Neglected Second Sock

 It goes fast when I remember about it.

There’s plenty of time before cold weather, but I have two or three other socks in the queue.

Winter Prep

NKD quite reasonably commented on my last post that I should add something to the photographs to indicate scale. So I tried this:

Don’t they look enormous? She said it was better to use something that only comes in a standard size, so I tried again.

Meanwhile, I have finished* the felting, and have three sets of felted clogs ready for this winter. I used the exact same yarn, pattern, and felting process on all three, yet somehow, NKD’s came out looking like Muppet feet:

The others are more normally felted:

*I may take this opportunity to felt mine down a little smaller, since sewing leather soles to them somehow made them too big/wide. I love the leather soles, but not the effort it takes to keep them on my feet.

August Traditions

Finished the matching bootees for the latest baby sweater:

I love that bootee pattern but the numbers really suffered in translation, so I keep a note handy to remind me of the real numbers. Which I didn’t remember about until halfway through the first bootee. They striped up in a perfectly delightful way, with black cuffs, striped tops, and light green bottoms. It was easy to get them to match, as well.

In other news, the Great Felting has begun:

That Was Fast

My first surprise was that I did not already own this pattern. That taken care of, my second surprise was that the confusion expressed by other knitters as they made it was not due to their being new knitters, as I had assumed. It was, in fact, due to the origami nature of the project.

This is confusing:

This is not much more help:

But the finished object is a delight! And its true colors, since it was shot in sunlight.

Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)

Yarn: Knit One, Crochet Too Ty-Dy Socks in Panama

 - the smallest size, Baby, used 70 grams of a 100-gram skein

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket

I am knitting the remainder of the yarn up into matching bootees.

Procrastiknitting

This odd little something is coming along so fast I can see why people knit oodles of them. Bonus points to the knitters who know what it is - I still have to look at the pictures to believe it's going to come out right

Meanwhile, I've managed to start the second sock and put the cable on the opposite side.

It is, quite frankly, too hot to knit other than in the very early morning and late evening, even with the blessing of air conditioning.

Barely Scratching the (Startitis) Itch

The first sock is nearly done:

So of course, I cast on something new.

I tried several times to make this sock yarn into socks, because I like the pair I made in a different colorway so well, but it never quite took off. Then yesterday I stumbled upon someone who turned one skein of this yarn into a baby sweater, and I couldn't resist. Sure, it's black and yellowish-green, hardly baby pastels. But somewhere out there is another parent who wants to dress their baby in bold colors.

Legacy Project: Nearly There!

I have successfully completed the edging, and I'm pleased with it.

The buttons look fine.

I made "tulips" buttonholes, and they are strong and flat.

Thanks to KD's moral support, I made mitered corners.

Not only that, I made the last buttonhole IN the mitered corner.

The jacket is finished - sort of. Owing to some really bad schematics, the sleeves, made according to the directions, are too long by many inches. I have a couple of options. I could just sew a tuck or two and cut off the excess. I could unravel the cuffs, take the extra off the bottom, and re-knit the cuffs. Or I could cut into the sleeve, remove a few inches from each section, and re-attach the sleeve. I am cogitating.

Mocking

At long last I have managed an edging for this legacy project that does not pucker.

This involved

• going up yet another needle size
• knitting a gauge swatch and Doing Math to ensure the finished knit fabric was the same width as the edge of the jacket, and
• ditching every rib pattern I tried in favor of something called Mock Rib, which looks like ribbing but is not

See?

And a good thing too, because I am suffering from a powerful case of startitis, and if I don't cast on something new soon I will not be held responsible for my actions.

Reduplication

Zig-zag, rick-rack - whatever you call it, it is certainly enlivening this sock!

The yarn itself is all the color any sock needs, but an unending spiral of knitting gets a little old.

Fortunately, this pattern calls for a fun and easy pair of traveling stitches down one side of the sock.

Will I remember to switch the zig-zag to the other side on the other sock? Time will tell. Right now, it's time to start the heel flap.