good-natured ribbing

I know it is kind of late in the season to be making scarves and hats, but I just got a new wool coat so a new, coordinating hat/scarf set is definately required. When I saw Malabrigo merino yarn at the store, I just knew it was the answer. I picked “Autumn Forest” which consists of various greens, browns, and oranges – just like a forest in autumn ;) The colors are great and it is so so soft.

Now I just have to decide what hat and scarf to make! I’ll take suggestions if you have any – the gauge is 4-5sts/inch.

Check out this great sock yarn Ian dyed for Grandma!

After I finished my sweater yesterday, I decided to try the pattern for the Celtic Braid socks I have been considering for my sock pal. Here is the beginning of it in the blue sock yarn I dyed last week with Kool-Aid:

I was planning to just test the pattern in this yarn and switch to the navy Lorna’s Laces for my sock pal. But I’m kinda loving this pattern in this yarn. And I’m thinking that my sock pal might like it, too. The braid is showing up very nicely in the lighter blue.

Encouraged by the array of socks on this blog, I decided to post a pair of mine. I mostly do baby socks so I included a quarter so you can get an idea of the size.

By the way, that cashmere blend I got from knitpicks is very nice to knit with. I am currently blocking the neck warmer I finished and shall post it here soon. I highly recommend the yarn (Panache). I also started a pair of handwarmers (one and a half down, half to go!) with the black wool/alpaca blend (Sierra). A bit too itchy for the neck, but the warmers will be perfect for work and I think a sweater (if I ever knit one) would be great out of it!

“I would like to thank the organizers of the Knitting Olympics for this award. I also want to thank my family and friends, who encouraged me throughout the past 16 days of arduous knitting. Special thanks to my husband, who rolled yarn for me when it got tangled at the end, and my children who lived with a messy house (not that they noticed). My friends on this blog are too numerous to name, but I thank you all for pointing me toward the Rosedale pattern, without which I would have had nothing to knit. Most of all, I would like to say, ‘I love this sport!’”

Oh, and here is the completed sweater — lightly steamed and blocked.

I decided to forego the foldover collar for a simple ribbed cuff around the neck, which I think came out all right. Now I’m going to make some progress on my sockapalooza socks, and finish the moss stitch tunic. The post-Olympic endorphins have kicked in.

I had to put the Rosedale sweater away for about a week while I went to California for work. The sweater is way to big to bring on the plane so I started a sock. I choose Plymouth Sockotta and the most popular sock pattern on the internet – Jaywalker. It is a great pattern to work with and easy to memorize. I did a pretty good job for my first sock, I think – though I could have done a better job with the grafting. Fits well in the leg but is a little baggy in the foot. Check it out:

Now I have to get back to that sweater. I’ll probably work on the other sock at work during lunch hours.

And this isn’t about knitting, but too good not to share…
I didn’t really get any free time on my trip but I did manage to squeeze in a little shopping at the airport. I just couldn’t pass up this t-shirt (I tried but I had to go back for it):

I knew Ava would love it. When I got home, I tried it on and she said “Oooo Mommy Princess Monkey!!”

After redoing the collar and making some minor fixes in the armpit and decrease areas the sweater is done! I love it—-though it is a little tight putting it over my head. I figure that will stretch with time. Since my hubby is gone for the day I had to take these pictures myself, so please excuse the closeups.

I got caught, again, at a yarn sale a few weeks ago. I only went because I had a gift certificate to spend and I had seen some beautiful lace weight chinese silk/merino the previous week. So I went and got my two skeins and hopped in line to wait. My gift certificate would only cover the yarn in my basket and I was determined not to spend my own budget money. I know better, but after waiting in line for half an hour I got bored. I noticed a Blue Sky alpaca/silk blend and out of curiosity picked up a skein. Luckily, the whole store was on sale, so I was only a little bit over budget. Here is the finished shawl (because I, of course, had to drop everything else to work with my new found treasure!) I was inspired by a shawl that Kristen was working on when she was visiting. Hers was knit in the round using all knit stitches. I decided that mine needed some lace.

Since I was already over budget, I decided to spend the next months budget and ordered some new yarn from Knitpicks. I was looking for more yarn to dye and for something to make a neck warmer out of.

Not all of it is soft enough for my delicate (ha!) neck, but the maroon was really nice.

It was a bit more expensive ($6.99) than their other yarn, but the contents explain why (40% baby alpaca, 20% cashmere, 20% silk, 20% extrafine merino). Yummy! I can’t wait to knit with it.

I’m almost done. I hate to say it, but adding the sleeves is a real b@!ch. You can read more about my “fun” with this section in my blog.

I finished my sleeves on Sunday and have just started on the body of the Rosedale pullover. I ended up going through almost every skein to find one that started with the same colors as my first sleeve and after pulling out the ends of nine skeins, I finally found one. In the end, I think it was worth it, as the sleeves ended up matching nicely.

Here’s a glimpse of the sleeves a few inches before I finished them. The photo’s from my cell phone camera (so the lighting’s a bit off), but it gives the idea.

Before the whole “knit-along” I was working on my first hat in the round…the Kittyville Kitty hat.

I managed to get one ear on it and realized that it looked more like a rat than a cat, so I must rework. In the meantime, my sister fell in love with it. I am now making her the Devil hat for her birthday.

Did I mention how difficult it is to produce under scrutiny?

After several false starts, here is my first sleeve for the Rosedale sweater.

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The ribbing is a little sloppy in one spot, but I think I have knitting in the round on dpns down now. I knit this sleeve while in the Dominican Republic, but alas, have no photos of me knitting on the beach in a bathing suit.

While the Olympic sweater knitting is fun, I had to take a break yesterday to do something different with my hands.

So I did this:

Kool-Aid Dyeing: Mandarin Orange, Iced Blue Raspberry Lemonade + a little Black Cherry (I think), 8 Berry Blues + 3 Black Cherry, A lot of Black Cherry + 3 Grapes

Ava’s been pretty sick for the past few days but today she has been feeling well enough to be super-crank. This and buttered noodles with parmesan cheese are the two things that made her happy. Both usually work for me, too.

As I was picking out clothes to pack for my trip, I came across the shrug I knitted to wear to my brother’s wedding. It was in October but the dress I wanted to wear was sleeveless… so I whipped this little shrug together about a week before the wedding. It was very simple to make:

1. Cast on 3 times the number of stitches needed for around the arm.
2. Knit 2 rows of seed stitch then 2 rows of stockinette.
3. K3tog all the way across. This makes the ruffle.
4. Knit straight in stockinette for the desired length, minus ~1 inch.
5. Knit front, back, and front again into every stitch. This makes the ruffle again.
6. Knit 2 rows of stockinette then 2 rows of seed stitch.
7. Bind off.
8. Seam from ruffle to armpit on each side

I think it turned out really well but haven’t been able to find anything to wear it with. I had been trying it with black shirts all along and it just didn’t look right. I tried it on with a cute little v-neck I bought today and it works pretty well. It looks good with the yellow, don’t you think?

The shrug was made from a dark green merino and cashmere yarn (Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran, #8) held together with a smooth sparkly novelty yarn (Diakeito Diagallery, #805) that is green and yellow with flecks of light blue. Seems like a weird combo but it turned out really well. You can’t really tell all that from the photos above so here is a close up:

Refreshed by Apolo Anton Ohno sightings, I have been working hard on my Olympic challenge. I am excited to say that I’ve finished a sleeve and have attached it to the body. The yarn is Knit Picks Andean Silk (slate, pitch, & cranberry), and the sweater is the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The sleeves and the body of the sweater are slightly fitted, but you can’t tell, because all the stitches are crammed on a 29″ needle at the top. I have been thinking about doing some kind of overstiching along the bottom, but the sleeves are using up all of the red yarn I have. Might finish the collar in black, instead.

The pressure is on. I’ve finished 2 sleeves, and at the point when I took these pictures had 7 inches done on the body (since then I’ve added a couple more, so I’m really up to about 9″). When I get to 15 inches, I’m supposed to do something else, but right now I’m living in the moment.

I have to do some planning, however. I have to go to New York for 3 days, and need to decide if I want to pack up the sweater and take it to work on, or take my sockapalooza socks. Probably both. I can knit the socks on the plane, and the sweater in the hotel. So much for packing light.

I’ve made progress on the socks, too, during a lunch hour or two.

There’s a heel emerging. I’ve not done one like this before. It’s just stockinette stitch with a garter stitch edge. I’m getting ready to turn it.

Since this is my first post, I thought I would show some of my recently finished projects. At the moment, I am obsessed with shawls. I have finished ten since last july, and still have two on the needles (one of which just won’t end.) Here is the circular shawl I was working on when Kristen came to visit last month.

I used the Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi shawl directions and inserted various lace patterns inbetween the increases. Here is a close up.

This next one is the shawl that would never end. I used size 5 needles and lace weight alpaca/silk yarn from KnitPicks. I should have used bigger needles! Because of the pattern (fir cones) it was a shrivled up wad of lace and never seemed to grow. Out of desperation I cast it off and turned it into a neck scarf. Far more practical for me!

Here is a close up. I really had to stretch it to get the shawl to lie flat.

That should be enough for my first post. Good luck with the knitting olympics!

Alright—just a quick post here. I finished my last sleeve last night! Tonight I begin stitching the sleeves to the body…

Yeah, the colors are a bit over-saturated. I think it was a mistake to use the black background. Also, I tried to match the sleeves, but lo and behold the skeins I used didn’t pattern all the colors in the same order!!!

Finally, all one piece:

Here is a tip for you other Rosedalers: the first couple rows after adding the sleeves are really hard (unless I did something wrong!) – expect to slow down quite a bit. You put 8 sts of the sleeve on a holder and the rest get added to the body so it is super tight when going around the arm bend. I’m about 10 rows past the sleeve addition and it is smooth sailing again.

I guess so! All this sock talk has got me interested and coincidentally, my mom found some sock yarn in a catalog that she plans on getting me. Until recently, I’ve had a weird aversion to knitting socks – bad memories of crappy knitted socks or slippers that hurt to wear. Anyway, I guess my mom was drawn to the Canadian-ness of the yarn and thought I should have some. Every time I look at my feet, I’ll think of home.

Regia Canadian Fashion Sock Yarn
(Found under “Sock Yarn” at Mary Maxim.)

Each color is named after a province or territory – Wow! Thirteen loonies for a 459 yard ball – not too bad (especially when your mom is paying ;)). I requested one each of Ontario and Alberta.

I’ve had a bit of a slow start to Sockapaloooza — since kickoff, I’ve been either sick or preoccupied (obsessed?) with the Knitting Olympics preparations. Today, however, I was feeling much more myself and I was happy to be able to start looking for yarn for my sock pal at my favorite yarn store, Threadbear. (I think that Sherry can confirm that I was very excited to be matched with a sock pal outside of the U.S., as I’ve been yapping about it constantly. I feel like I’m getting a second chance as a penpal — as a teen, I had very bad follow-through with a penpal in France. But I’m reformed now!)

My sock pal has left my options wide open…so, since the socks I’ve made in the past have been fairly practical, I’ve definitely decided that I’d like to go with something more luxurious/fancy for my pal. While I haven’t made a final decision yet, these are the two primary contenders:

1. At the moment, the leading yarn and pattern are Lorna’s Laces in navy and a Celtic Braid sock from Cabin Fever:

And, um, since I was at Threadbear anyway, I picked out a little Schaefer yarn for myself….and my lovely mom treated me to a skein for my birthday!

Unlike those sporting Olympians, I have no photographers taking pictures for me. But I have to stop and take some time to record my progress, even though it takes me away from knitting.

Before the Olympics began on Friday, I managed to get through the first leg (ha!) of the Embossed Leaves Socks for Sockapalooza.

This sock pattern is fun to knit, and goes fast. Since we don’t mail them off until May, I think I can safely put them on hold until I finish the Olympics.

Speaking of which, I got off to a rough beginning on my Rosedale sweater Friday night, and had to restart three times. This was mainly me being stupid, and somewhat distracted by the odd 80s music that was chosen for the opening ceremonies. But since then I have made it through (ta-da!) the first sleeve:

Does this remind you of anything, Beth? That’s all I have time to say – back to knitting!