Keeping it Simple

My son has discovered the joys of fingerless mitts. He had a lot of fun trawling through the possibilities on Ravelry, and came up with a couple of patterns he liked. These are the first, dead simple, stretchy, and the yarn already on hand (so to speak - sorry).

Pattern: Based on Kaity Fraker's Easy Wristwarmers, I just wanted the thumbs to run vertically
Cast on 36 sts.
Work K2,P2 ribbing for 30 rounds.
Cross 1st 2 knit sts, slip 1st st to last needle. Turn.
Work back and forth in established ribbing for 10 rows, slipping 1st stitch of each row.
Cross 1st 2 knit sts again, continue in established ribbing for 8 rounds.
Sewn bind-off.

Needles: 5.00 mm dpns (8s)

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Blue Heather, leftover from an aborted attempt to knit a TARDIS.

The second set were more problematic. I was seduced by the flame colorway into thinking I would have fewer color changes. True, but - this is acrylic, and intarsia should be done in wool to take advantage of the magic of blocking. Plus, the pattern was too long in the hand and too narrow in width. So the whole thing is hibernating while I think about it.



The third set call for a knitting trick I'm actually taking a class on in February. So wait for the class, or try to figure it out for myself? Fortunately, I haven't settled on the right colors yet, so I haven't had to decide.

You Can't Take This Mug from Me

The yarn was a gift, and it is gorgeous. Soft, squishy, a joy to work with. The color matches nothing I wear to work, which makes it perfect for the next couple of weeks at home. But here is what I know, to my sorrow. Any time I make socks out of anything other than wool, they only last a season. So I'll be enjoying these for as long as I can.

Pattern: Cailyn Meyer's Java Socks, from the Winter 2011 Knitty

Needles: 2.25 mm dpns

Yarn: Fresh from the Cauldron's MCN (merino, cashmere, nylon) Sock,  in Mal

Comfy

In addition to the summer cotton socks, I have also knit a couple of pairs of sport-weight cotton socks. I got sucked into a yarn site's "Discontinued Colors!" banner, and bought exquisite vanishing colors in what I thought would be enough yarn for 5 pairs of cotton socks. The colors are delicious, but sport-weight means 50 grams per sock adds up to short socks. They are almost too thick to wear with shoes, but they make excellent Hausschuhe.

First up,

Pattern: Jean Murdoch's Short Scrunch Socks, a variation on her Scrunch Cable Socks

Needles: 3.25 mm dpns

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Sport in Blackberry

They are thick enough to stay up by themselves, and very comfortable. I particularly like the way the cables flow out of the ribbing. Next,

Pattern: Samantha Heyes' Duckies

Needles: 3.25 mm dpns

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Sport in Sweet Potato

This pattern is a nice variation on my favorite stitch pattern for socks. I like the way the stitch pattern morphs into the heel flap.

Sibling Socks

Still knitting up the leftovers from Saige in my own toe-up sock pattern. This colorway of Berroco Sox was Kingston, and I only had enough left for ankle-length, but NKD is pleased. I knit them in an astonishing four days.

Then I finally finished these:

 

I blithely knit up the second sock in my standard sock pattern, then realized that's not what the first sock was. I had to read my knitting very carefully to discover that I had altered the original number of stitches cast on for the toe, the number of rows from toe to heel, and dabbled in increases up the back of the calf. Then finished off with a picot bind-off, because why not? And I'll remember all that, because I'll make the second sock right away. Right. When I finally got a matched sock, they just weren't that comfortable. There's a reason my standard sock is my go-to pattern - it fits! SO now their KD's. This colorway of Berocco Sox was Glamorgan.

The end of the summer socks

I learned a lot from my summer sock knitting. Cotton needs patterns with elasticity (ribbing!) because they haven't any of their own. Cotton shrinks a little in the wash over time. And sadly, although cotton yarn comes in luscious colors,  the colors don't last.

Pattern: Laura Sparling's Triton Socks (check out the link for a great view of the eye of partridge heel flap - my photo skills weren't up to that)

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Fingering, in Marlin

Pairing the yarn color and pattern name was fun, the pattern was an easy knit, and the socks were comfy. Even better, they were an exact match for one of my summer work skirts, so this pair got a lot of wear, and you can see by comparing to the photo at the bottom that it faded quite a bit.

Since the first pair of summer socks were only anklets, I had enough left of the Peony yarn to knit this pair as well:

Pattern: Trudy Hertaas's Akla

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Fingering, in Peony

 And that's six, enough to see me through the work week. The Akla and white pair are missing from this photo - I was probably wearing the white ones at the time:

It's not easy being green

These are my least favorite of my summer sock patterns. They were a fun knit, and I'm always up for some odd sock construction, but there is no resilience to them. The pattern would probably work fine in wool, but is not so great in cotton. I LOVE the color, however.

Pattern: Panda Sky Cat Socks (based on Cat Bordhi’s Sky architecture)

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Peapod

Summer Socks and such

Back at the beginning of the summer, I set out to knit enough cotton socks to wear during the work week. I bought five yummy colors of Comfy Fingering, and picked out five different pattern. I blogged about these and these in May, but then life got busy. Too busy for blogging, not knitting (perish the thought!).

Next up:

Pattern: Wendy Johnson's Double Eyelet Rib Toe-up Socks

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in White

I had tried another pattern, but just wasn't feeling the love at all. So I reverted to my go-to sock pattern, I've made them in countless colors and was delighted that they work in cotton as well.


Meanwhile, I had enough of the purple left to make bootees for the box (a stash of baby gifts-in-waiting):

The astute among you will know exactly where I was when I finished them.

Pattern: Stay-On Baby Booties

Yarn: leftover Comfy Fingering, Lilac Mist

What's a mother to do?

Long ago I knit three sweaters for my daughters and myself out of Lion Brand's Homespun, which is both warm and lightweight, in a lovely quick pattern, one of those freebies hanging from the shelf of yarn in the store. It knit up into a sloppy, hooded, sweatshirt-like sweater, perfect for kicking around the house. Aside from the fact that Homespun is useless for seaming, I was very pleased with the results. And the sweaters, being acrylic, have lasted and lasted.

Fast forward to the present, when KD informed me that life had thrown her a curve as she transitioned between jobs. Her Favorite Sweater (see above) was in storage in one state, and she was  in another state. And it was getting cold.

I popped out to the store for yarn and knit her another. I know she has other sweaters (knit by her mom, even!), but this was her Favorite Sweater. Even if it had stretched a bit to grow with her and was definitely wearing out. It took me a hair over three weeks. It's a really fast knit.

Pattern: Lion Brand's Hooded Knit Sweater

Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Pueblo

Mods:
- made a pocket (not yet attached)
- made sleeves longer and added thumb-holes
- decreased 6 stitches over 6 rows at top center of hood to avoid a pointed peak
- knit body and sleeves in the round to avoid seams
- the few unavoidable sewing (attaching pocket and sewing down front edges of hood) done with some smooth sport-weight acrylic black yarn.

Camera-Shy Socks

I adore Bavarian Twisted-Stitch knitting. Let's blame it on my DNA. Last Christmas I asked for and received Maria Erlbacher's amazing Twisted-Stitch Knitting, and while I may have to wait for retirement to make one of those sweaters, it is definitely on my list.

My gateway to this wonderful corner of the Knitworld was this pattern for twisted-knit socks. They took a little longer to knit up but were worth every second. The difficulty came in photographing the finished socks. Nothing I could do resulted in anything other than a blurry, headache-inducing shot.

 

I'm going to blame it on the fuzziness of the yarn.

Pattern: Eunny Jang's Bayerische Socks

Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Admiral in Jonny's Red, 1 skein

Semi-colorful

As colorful as I thought these socks were, the recipient, while appreciative, let me know colors could go even wilder.

Pattern: Handsome Devil Socks, by Terry Morris (my version is from the 2010 Knitting Calendar)

Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (discontinued) in Dusk and Burgundy (the colors are brighter in the photo, but even unlit, still brighter than those names imply), leftover from my argyle-making

Mods: I didn't have enough of either color to do cuff, heels, and toes, so decided to make "warm" red toes.

This is a great pattern. I will definitely make more of them.

A few months later the weather turned, and the socks recipient was in need of further warmth. I had enough Spanish Alpaca yarn left over from making Twin Hats, so I made every inch of it into a neck-warmer.

 

Pattern: Scrunchable Scarf, by Susan McConne

Yarn: Katia's Peru leftovers

Mods: Used Cranberry Scrunchable's notes on the edges. Used 2 colors: cast on 6+2 in each color, followed the pattern as if knitting 2 scarves side-by-side, twisting them at the color change.

Transitioning to Spring

Back in the winter, my Kansas-sister complained of the cold draft in her office, and the fact that she regularly sits at her desk with a sweater half-on. You need a shawl, I said. A lacy shawl wouldn't keep me warm, she said. A little working out of details, and now she is wrapped in this, instead:

Pattern: Beth Kling's Henslowe

Yarn: Davidson Old Mill Yarn Heather in Charcoal

Needles: Size 4 (3.5 mm) circular

Mods: I made it as big as mine! It is exactly the same as my shawl, except for color.

I hear it is getting daily use, and if that confuses you when thinking of Kansas in May, remember that office air conditioning is set for the benefit of the computers, not the people!







I love the DOMY Heather so much that I bought some in forest green at this year's Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and learned the heartbreaking news that they closing by the end of the year! I am busy figuring out what would constitute a reasonable lifelong supply...

Next up in the summer sock race (and an added bonus for those of you who wanted a picture of our "woodified" stairs):

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Lilac Mist

Pattern: Lisa Dykstra's Panda Cotton Periwinkle Socks

Mods: I sized down again from 68 to 56 stitches, cutting the extra stitches out of the knit columns of the pattern.

These are my favorites so far, very comfy and pretty (the fact that they exactly match one of my shirts has only a little to do with it). I made the leftovers into two pairs of baby booties yesterday.

The next pair in the race have been frogged (the pattern and I did not get along), and the fourth pair are already well underway.

Uncooperative

There are reasons my husband is the cook in this family:

pile of badly burnt bacon

I swear I only walked away from my cooking breakfast for a moment, just to jot down a better paragraph in a story I'm writing. The coffee beeped when it was done, the muffins beeped when they were done, but long before that, the bacon just silently turned to char. I need a bacon timer - want to get on that, son?

Meanwhile, I hatched a plan to knit five pairs of cotton socks, quickly, at the beginning of the summer. I purchased 100 grams of fingering weight mostly-cotton (with a little acrylic to help it stretch) in each of five lovely, summery colors, picked out five different patterns for summer socks, spent a lovely evening pairing colors with patterns, and off I went. My one-pair-per-week speed turned out to be more like two-pair-per-three-weeks,but I'm moving right along. Pair the first, already in circulation:

 

Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Fingering in Peony

Pattern: Raquel Gaskell's Dottie Sock - easily memorized stitch pattern, lovely heel construction.

Mods: Sized down to 56 sts around to fit my foot, adjusted heel accordingly. The picot bind-off was just too floppy in cotton yarn, so I converted the cuff to 10 rows of 1x1 ribbing and Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off.

Results: They're about a half inch too long in the foot, but it certainly doesn't make them unwearable, and I'm learning about the ways cotton stretches after the knitting is done. Also, they only took one skein, so I have added a 6th pair/pattern to the race!

It never gets old

Blocking lace, that is.

I took a single skein (550 yards) of white, lace-weight, merino wool (Monocacy, from The Knitting Boutique).
 

 

Then I knit it into Evelyn Clark's beautiful Swallowtail Shawl. The nupps went much easier after I remembered that they rhyme with soup, not cup. (That's a joke, son.) After dropping one of the five purled-together stitches repeatedly, I did some research online. The crochet hook method was appealing, but a little awkward to execute, since I am left-handed (and crochet left-handed). The method that worked best for me was to k1, yo, k1, yo, k1 into 1 st, then yarn over again and pass all 5 stitches over the yarn-over one at a time. Then the next st in the pattern is a yo. This made the purl-back rows even simpler, and I couldn’t see that my nupps looked any different for doing it that way.

When it was done, I gave it a good twenty-minute soak, rolled it in a towel, threaded it onto blocking wires, pinned them out and went away.

 

I love the moment when it is completely dry, I put away the pins, draw out the blocking wires, and hold it up. Magic.

The Classics

I knit Flore. It was no small matter, turning this:

Knitwhits Freia Handpaints Worsted Cotton Mini Skeins

Into this:

Tina Whitmore's Flore

And now the little one has sworn off hats for life, or at least until she can choose one that her parents don't approve off. Never mind, little one, there are other hat-loving little girls in my life, and it will find a good home.

It was, in fact, part I of an experiment, to see if Flore could be made out of wool. Flore is such a difficult hat - at least it seems to have given a lot of Ravelers trouble - that I wanted to make it once strictly as written, before branching out. The last, most crucial step in the process is ironing the hat. Without it, the hat doesn't work. So the question will be, can I steam block wool enough to make the hat work without "killing" the wool. It remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, a new grandnephew put in an appearance, and I quickly turned some classic material:

into a classic blanket:

This is Diana Mathews' Sleeping Beauty Baby Blanket. I liked this pattern very much and would make another one without hesitation. It looks terrific even in unblockable acrylic!

Winter, still

I wrote this to a co-worker last week:

25 Feb: Something odd happened on my drive in this morning. It happened yesterday, too, but today was even worse. Some sort of light infiltrates my car as I'm driving in. It doesn't have the pulse of streetlights. Given the amount of snow  on the ground, my first thought was that the moon was still up, but it strengthens in an unnatural manner. I get distracted by the fact that I can actually see that my hand on the steering wheel is lighter than the wheel and my coat. I may have to keep my gloves on to lessen this effect.

The children have tried to tell me about a natural phenomenon called sunrise, but you know kids, always trying to show off what they've learned in school that wasn't a thing when we went to school. Like more than three states of matter (beyond solid, liquid, and gas), more than an animal and a plant kingdom (seriously, a mushroom kingdom?). I never know when they're pulling my leg, and this sunrise thing seems so... unlikely.

Of course, we "spring forward" this Sunday, so I'll be going through this again soon. Meanwhile, knitting.

In January I knit more leftover yarn into socks, this time for NKD, who appreciates the magic of perfectly matched stripes:

Just exactly like these, but in leftover Royal Holloway. And oh look, I knit those last January. Apparently this is a January thing.


While de-cluttering the house I discovered a plethora of baby sweaters. Apparently babies grow faster than their sweaters do, or I hate attaching sleeves, or finding buttons, or all three. I've decided to open a baby sweater store on Etsy in retirement. In the meantime, I whipped up (as in, actually finished) a baby sweater for a newborn (who does NOT have shoulders like a linebacker, it's just the way it was blocking) out of some leftover Paton's Grace. It's also one solid shade of pink; I really must learn to wait until things dry to take a picture.

 

Pattern: Baby's V-neck Cardigan, originally here, where it was written out so strangely that I had to re-write it on a scrap of paper before it made sense.

Block Party

Some things are better tackled with company. Both KD and NKD pitched in while they were home over Thanksgiving weekend to help block some large items.

The large purple object is KD's project, so I don't know much about it, except that it turned out exactly the way she wanted.

I did a much better job on the points when I re-blocked this, and have worn it often since then.

Meanwhile two other projects have flown off the needles since then. DH is de-cluttering, and brought some yarn-stash downstairs for sorting that I'd forgotten about. Most of it wound up neatly sorted into bins, but some yarn just stuck to my fingers until it became something.

I've come down with a sudden case of mittens

There I was, minding my own business, knitting away on various long-term projects, happy as a clam. Then, from out of the blue, came a call for help: a toddler's first winter outside, and she was mittenless!

The first pair flew off the needles and onto tiny cold hands so fast there isn't a picture of them. But the very afternoon that I delivered them, I cast on the next pair.

The invisible pair:
Yarn: leftover Paton's Simply Soft (acrylic, DK) in pale pink
Pattern: Baby Wallace Mittens, by Wendy Poush
Mods: Numerous! I grabbed the pattern for the shape and sizing for DK-weight baby mittens; I didn't make thumbs or do any of the color work

The pictured pair:

Yarn: leftover Severn (wool/silk, fingering)

Pattern: Heart String Mittens, by Crystal Guistinello

Mods: I didn't add the buttons or string





Then, since I was on a mitten-y roll, I finished these:

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Eco Duo and Eco Alpaca, as called for
Pattern: Double-Stuff Mittens, by Antje Gillingham
Mods: None; I'm not messing with perfection!


But I'm not the only one with an addiction. DH can't seem to stop exploring the candy cookbook I gave him:

That's maple sugar candy, butter mints, and marshmallows (the store bought strawberry candies were added to the plate for color). There was also a valiant attempt at molasses paddles (delicious, but able to remove fillings at a single bite).

Detente

I came home from work one day last week to discover that a tense situation had developed in the dining room while I was gone.

Initially, it looked friendly enough, a sort of pre-Thanksgiving communal cooking experience.

Then I got a closer look at what each group was planning on making.

 

Oh-oh. This can't be good.

Fortunately, the next day I came home to find they had evidently worked out their differences and repaired to a sunny shore...
 

 

For the curious, at the far end of the table in the first and last pictures you will find evidence of DH's current fascination with the candy cookbook I gave him - marshmallows, in this case. There's also home-made maple sugar candy on the table, but you can't see it. (Yes, I keep it hidden. Wouldn't you?)

End Game failure

Some time this spring/summer, I made a pretty little shawl. I purchased both the yarn and the pattern while on a knitting retreat earlier in the year, where the wool fumes are always particularly strong, and the inspiration of other knitters' creations always convinces you that anything is possible - easy, even!

Yarn:      The Knitting Boutique's Potomac (baby camel!, merino, silk) in Graphite, 1 skein

 Pattern:  Tanis Gray's Clara Shawl

 Needles: US 6 (4.00 mm)

The luxury fiber was, well, luxurious, and the pattern was a pleasant knit. Where things fell apart was in blocking it - I was too lazy to pay attention to the points, and wound up with a sloppy block, with the result that I have yet to wear it. It sits there patiently, waiting for me to have the time to re-block it properly.

 

Given that we're already headed full tilt into the holiday season, I can't imagine when that's going to happen. But anything's possible!

In Progress

I really need a pair of red socks. I have red yarn. Why I chose the slowest possible pattern for socks I need right now is a mystery. This is seriously the same yarn as in the shot below, and is not in the slightest bit orange. Photography is a mystery all its own.

 I did solve the mystery of why they are known as Bavarian socks - apparently this kind of traveling stitch is referred to as Bavarian knitting. I must admit I never noticed any socks like this while I lived in Bavaria, but then, I was raising small children and I don't remember noticing socks at all, unless the baby was kicking one off.

 

Because all this twisting eats up yardage, I don't expect them to be the usual mid-calf length I prefer. And since they are cuff-down, I'm having to guess how long I can make them. But I've turned the heel on this first one since I took the picture (they live at my desk, so photo opportunities are slim).

I really like the way the designer arranged the heel flap stitches to grow out of the established pattern. They're going to be very nice. Eventually.

I've also taking this yarn and roving, and begun thrummed mittens (from a kit bought at the Adirondack Museum). Sharp-eyed readers will note that Stewart-Pasha is assisting with the photo shoot. During my first attempt at the pattern, I made the thrums way too thick. Also, the short rolled cuff seemed like a terrible idea for cold winter days. But I had just enough yarn left from the recent hat to make ribbed cuffs to attach. And I figured  they'd given me just enough roving for the thrums and divided it up accordingly, and now things are going better.

Both projects have been ignored lately in favor of a baby gift, because babies don't wait. Fortunately, they also don't take much time.

 

Nothing says "instant gratification"

like bulky weight yarn and a good hat pattern. Oh sure, you can knit smaller items, and possibly even simpler items. But it's mid-October, the temperature's dropping, and when I mentioned to KD that I was awash in a sea of reverse stockinette, beginning to be bored with my current project, she stepped up. Or rather drove down, for other purposes, but she brought me a skein of yarn. The next day, I cast on a hat. Today, I wore it. And that's just enough of a break to send me back to that sea of blue, heartened to take on the waist shaping.

Yarn: Lion Brand Lion's Pride Woolspun, a bulky acrylic/wool blend of 12 twisted strands, not anything you'd ever want to use a sharply-tipped needle on, in a yummy shade of heathered garnet and black

Needles: #10 (6 mm), two small circulars (because I couldn't put my hand on my dpns fast enough)

Pattern: Johnny Vasquez's Gridiron Hat