Sleepless in Sockland

Okay it’s late and I’m having problems sleeping. His Tallest is on a business trip in India, so I have insomnia, which I don’t get frequently anymore. Well unless a certain someone is away on business! I know the title is a little cheezy, but that’s okay! I’ve been busy knitting on a new pair of lace socks. The pattern is addictive and simple. It’s a free super fantastic sock pattern on Ravelry, named Soybean Socks The original sock yarn that designer Christabel Seneque knit them out of Panda Soy, so I think that’s how these socks got their name. I’m using SockPixie Vegan (63% Cotton, and 37% Nylon Elastic blend) in the Sheherazade colourway. I call them my I &hearts Edamame Socks I just finished the first sock, did I mention it is a super fast knit. I started them on Feb 1. Here’s a picture I took of the progress I made the first day I started them. I love the way the heel turned out and start on the next sock later today.

Recovering from a yarn attack!

I can’t believe it, but I’m  almost knitting monogamously on a project!  I say almost because I occasionally have picked up and done a few rounds on a pair of socks that I’m knitting for mini-me.  I’ve been working on this lovely cowl pattern Norway (The first pattern of International Year of the Scarf by designer Ilga Lega) It’s more like a fake Möbius infinity scarf that’s all really popular at the moment.  I’m using Rowan Calmer in Onyx as the main colour and Sweet Georgia Silk Taffy in Midnight Show for the CC.  I am in love!  I named my Norway, Norwegian Goth(rav project page link).  I was finished yesterday….really I was.  That was until I looked at the pattern properly!  I had written the pattern into a notebook since I am out of printer paper.  Some how I had missed the stripes between the dash and dot fair isle sections!  See here, notice something?

If you guessed no stripe section between the fair isle patterns, you are correct (here have a cookie)!  Here I thought I was ready to graft the two ends together after a week of lovely no-stress knitting.  *sigh* I thought about just leaving it as is and call it an added design feature, but after looking at it for a minute or two I decided I had to rip it back to the error and fix it.  Yes, I’m not kidding you I ripped back black yarn and picked up all the stitches without really any problems!  The knitting gods were with me despite the fact that I was sick with a bad sinus cold.  Oh did I mention I had a sinus headache from hell yesterday?  I can’t believe I pulled it off.  Here are pictures of my Norwegian Goth when I pulled out the needles, then after I had picked up all the stitches.

BEFORE

AFTER

See that little ball of silk that was all that I lost when I had to cut into the CC stripe since I had weaved in the end really well!  Not to bad, it could have been worse.  There was one small hiccup after picking up all the stitches somehow I had completely forgotten to make sure that I was at the beginning of the round before I started knitting away on the stripes.  Oops!  I managed to fool myself till I had finished all the stripe repeats and was about to start the fair isle pattern again.  I really looked at it and realized my mistake.  So last night I spend some more time tinking back to the beginning of the stripe pattern again.  After all that I was not going to take my chances ripping back again, I know when to play it safe!  Honestly while do so I really wasn’t that upset or angry at my knitting.  I was thinking how much I’ve enjoyed this project and that I get to spend some more time knitting on it.  I guess that’s what really soft Rowan Calmer and single ply silk will do to your head! Bonus is my fair isle technique has gotten better, if you look carefully you can actually tell the dashes are a bit bumpy, but the dots look lovely.

I spend all of today knitting on my Norwegian Goth while waiting in doctor’s offices since Mini-me has three appts. in a row!  Good thing that two of them were in the same office and I had brought my knitting.  I had a chat with another person about knitting, but this is a long post today.  I’ll save it for another day.  Here’s a picture of my progress so far, I just have some more repeats of the fair isle pattern, some stripes then the grafting together of the two ends to do.  I can’t wait to wear this infinity scarf, since we’ve been through a lot together and we both need some snuggle time!

Year of Finishing FO’s 1&2

So I finished two pair of socks that have been lingering on the needles.  They aren’t the projects I had planned on working on first, but it’s great to have them finished.  They both are toe up socks and I’m not sure if either of them made it to the blog as a WIP!  Here they are and if you click on the photo you will be taken to my rav project page for each sock.

I got some great Winter Solstice presents from my m-in-law.  Here’s a picture of one of the tea cups she gifted me (I have four of them).  I also make sugar cookies for tomorrows Canada Reads 2010 Terminal City Yarn Wranglers book meeting and had a few extra to eat with my tea.  The cookie cutter is a wonderful gift from a secret pal Pam (I’d link to her blog but it has now gone); it is in the shape of a teapot!

Happy New Year

So 2009, there was knitting done, quite a lot of knitting done.  There is one thing that wasn’t happening much last year, finishing!!  So my knitting resolution for 2010, it is going to be finishing all the projects that have been lingering around.  If I manage to do with I’ll have at least four new sweaters.  I  would also have a many pairs of socks, shawls, fingerless gloves, scarves and other knitting goodies.  Here’s to the year 2010 the year of finishing!

Also here’s a photo recap of all my finished projects (that I took pictures of!) for 2009.  2009 wasn’t all full of just UFO’s!

All I want for Giftmas

Happy Winter Solstice ( 0r insert seasonal holiday that you celebrate) everyone!  I’ve been very busy trying to get my giftmas knitting done. I really want a pair of house elves to clean and help me with the knitting.  I am going to give up on having the mini-sweaters and mini-sock ornaments  done in time.  Oh well I’ll be early for next year   I was really silly and ordered yarn for mini-me Bella mitts last month, thinking I’ll get it early December and it will knit up fast since it’s chunky yarn.  Well guess what, I didn’t get it in the mail till yesterday.  There was some delay with one of the yarns I ordered and after the website showing it was in stock, I guess someone else snatched it up and I had to wait a really frickin’ long time! So Mini-me is going to get one mitt and the promise of the other all wrapped up for giftmas.  That is if I can manage to finish the first mitt!   I also had ordered these really cool beer soaps for His Tallest’s side of the family and they still haven’t shown up yet either.  *sigh*  That little etsy store got over-loaded so I can somewhat relate, but that really makes things a pain in the arse for me since I have to find someone else to replace this with at the very last minute.

I did get two last minute gifts done.  I realized I didn’t get anything for the girlfriends of my two brothers!  So Sunday, after knitting with the Yarn Wranglers I stopped off at Three Bags Full to purchase two hanks of Malabrigo Chunky (Indigo and Polar Morn).  Folks this is one of the only yarns (besides superwash) that doesn’t make me want to tear the skin off my hands.  I still get hay fever like symptoms and a sore throat, so I won’t be wearing any Malabrigo any time soon.  It is nice though to be able to knit with it though.  I make two Dolores Park Cowls (non-Rav link since Rave is currently down).  All the details are on Ravelry so I’ll post links to my project pages later.  Thank you mini-me for being a great model!

FO: Jayne Hat

To distract you from the fact that I haven’t blogged in a long time, I give you super cute pictures of an FO modelled by Faye!

Pattern: Jayne Cobb Hat

Designer: Heather Hill

Made for: Yule present for friend

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Poppy, Pumpkin and Lemonade

Yardage: estimated at 300 yards (Sorry I don’t have a scale)

Needles used:  6.5 mm/US 10½

Notes: I love Firefly and Jayne!  I don’t know if I’ll make this one for myself since the colours don’t really work for me, but it was nice to knit it up for someone else to enjoy.  I really hope the recipient likes it and I’m adding a tasty bottle of Scotch to go with it.  I don’t think the person will enjoy mudder’s milk, so excellent Scotch it is!

One happy little fangirl!

So I knit Mini-me a hat in about 5 hours today.  I’m glad I’m done, I’m allergic to the yarn (alpaca isn’t any better than wool for me, even with a high silk content); however she’s not and it will keep her super warm since it’s getting cold out.  Mini-me is a fan of the HP world, just like I am.  I saw some Andean Silk in Slate a while ago when I was browsing Knitpicks to add some more things to add to my cart since I had purchased some books during their sale.  I couldn’t help but throw two balls into my cart to make a Hermione Cables and Eyelets Hat for mini-me.  I’ve been wanting to knit this pattern since it was posted.  I finally got my order in the mail today.  It came while I was out, but the lovely postal worker hid the box under a pair of shoes I have outside and our outdoors broom.  Thank you so much Parcel Delivery Person you made my day!  I cast on for this hat around 3 pm and finished it around 8 pm.  I love quick knits!  My gauge was a little off so I omitted the repeat of rows 28-40.  Mini-me was so happy with the hat and she claims she is going to wear the hat all day tomorrow at school.  Maybe I should have saved this hat for X-mas or her birthday!  Here’s a few pictures of Mini-me hamming it up for the camera

Yay it’s socktober!!!

Happy Socktoberfest everyone! Being an sock knitting addict, I love socktoberfest and look forward to it every year. What is Socktoberfest It is a month-long celebration of sock knitting of course! It was started October 2005 by Lolly of Lollyknitting Around and you can find more info on her blog. Join us on Ravelry and help celebrate Socktober!

To celebrate the first day of Socktoberfest, I cast on for the mystery sock that Kristen of Knitting Through the Loops designed for Socktoberfest ‘09. Kristen will be posting a new clue every Thursday and it’s a lacey pattern! The first clue is up on her site, so join in the fun. For more details on my project click here to check out my Rav project page

Clue 1 of TTL Mystery '09 sock almost complete

I’m sad to say my Milkweed Shawl is going to be frogged!  I ran out of yarn during the cast off and I would rather frog it all and re-knit it removing a few rows here and there instead of just ripping back a bit. Since I was really sad about my Milkweed Shawl I was in need of some instant knitting lace gratification so I cast on another shawlette called 198 yds. of Heaven with a hank of BMFA Luscious Silk in Korppi (Raven Clan Colourway).  What can I say I’m in heaven, Luscious Silk is just so….luscious!  I did add another repeat of the body since I am using a different weight yarn that also has more yardage.

198 yds. of Heaven WIP in BMFA Luscious Silk in Korppi

If that didn’t make you smile, this will here’s a picture of Faye in her Halloween costume.  She is a monkey!

Faye the Black Lab Guide Dog off duty dressed up in a monkey costume

Perk me up

So I haven’t really signed up for a lot of swaps lately, mainly just little ones like Reducio Sock Swap.  So I’ve decided to join two, one being the Starbucks and Yarn Swap mmmm coffee and a Christmas Swap.  They both need more participates so come out and play!

Another project that I didn’t mention last post was my Milkweed Shawl.  The yarn BMFA Luscious Silk is a sport weight instead of fingering plus it’s got 360 yards so I’m a little worried that it might not work out.  The colour of this yummy yarn is absolutely lovely, it’s a rich red honey colour which the colourway name of Oregon Red Clover Honey is the perfect fit.  Not a colour I’d normally fall in love with and I meant to gift it to mini-me since she is in love with yellows lately (especially since they go well with her other fav colour purple).  Thing is it may never really get to her since I am smitten.  The photo below doesn’t give this yarn justice.

Milkweed WIP (top down trianglar garter st. shawl)

The rain season has started

I know it’s been a while since my last post.  I had a lovely month last month, mostly at the cabin.  September has had a bit of a rough start since I had some surgery (nothing too bad, not fun though) and I’m recovering slowly.  It was dental surgery so I’m stuck eating soft foods for a about a month till everything heals and I get to do it all over again in another few months since I also have to get my back wisdom teeth pulled, yay me!  Well enough complaining about that.  I’ve been doing a lot of casting on since my surgery trying to find something to knit that will help deal with the annoyance and pain.  The pouring rain yesterday made me have this sudden craving to knit a sweater and after a lot of searching, looking into the stash and queue I finally casted on for the Riding to Avalon Sweater I’m using a lovely dark chocolate brown yarn (Berroco Comfort DK)  Here’s the progress I’ve made so far.

Pictuer of my Riding to Avalon Sweater (it's knit from the bottom up in the round)

Also I have a few FO’s to show you.  I’m a little tired so I’m not going to do my normal specs, but I will post links to my projects on my Rav page.  You can get to it by clicking the picture of the FO.

Strawberry Waffle Socks in Panda Cotton

Gryffindor Market Bag made from Lion Brand Cotton

Ishbel shawl in Crazy4Dyeing Silky Sock

Swallowtail Shawl for my great grandmother's 99th Birthday made with Handmaiden Sea Silk in Ruby Red

Cute Headphone Whale made for the LG Dare (that I got rid of after 3 or 4 malfunctioning phones now I'm a happy owner of a Samsung Omnia)

Mini monkey socks for mini-me in SockPixie Vegan Alice colourway