good-natured ribbing

I have started 4 different pairs of socks and now I have finally finished a pair! I’m not too fond of them, though. They are in the Canadian Regia yarn (Alberta) and I love the colors and striping. I used the free pattern that came with the yarn. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. The pattern wasn’t great (look how pointy the toes are!) and the socks turned out too small for me. I am amazed at how the striping is almost exact for both socks – total coincidence.

Some lucky lady with small feet will be receiving a weird lovely gift tomorrow. Here they are:

And Christina, have Mike get a load of this:

Maybe if you ever finish his socks, he can model them like this for you :)

I finished knitting my sister Stephanie’s birthday gift…a “marking” bag.

She is a high school math teacher and tends to make corny math jokes. One time, after telling her that she put the “ass” in “embarass”, she quipped back at me,

“Yeah? Well you put the “pi” in “pie”. You know…it’s a math joke.”

Needless to say, I haven’t let her live it down. The pi joke lives on with the intarsia/fairisle pi symbol in this bag. It was my first attempt at anything like that and I have to say that written instructions suck. I couldn’t figure out whether I needed to do intarsia or fairisle, so I think I did a combination of both. Good thing it will be felted to hide my mistakes.

I shaped the bag on the fly, making the top wider than the bottom. I also made handles large enough to suit a shoulder bag. I used Beth’s link to the asymetric graph paper from an earlier post, and plotted out the pi sign. That was a great resource, Beth! So easy!

But I have to say, the bag is HUGE. I hope felting in very hot water will bring it down to human size. Here are some pictures for ‘perspective’.

That’s my cat and my boy. Mike complained that he never got to model any of my knitting. He was fooling around and I caught his antics on camera. Foolish boy. Your face will be smeared all over the blog now!

Blake (my cat) took a liking to the bag, and attempted to nap in it. He weighs about twenty pounds, so you can guess that this is no small bag.

Up Next: Adventures in Felting…

Well, I survived the first repeat of the lace pattern of Trellis Scarf – which includes 9 of the crazy 7 into 5 clusters (described in my last post). It wasn’t really that bad after the first one or two. I did use a tiny crochet hook to help things along, but just for the first k7tog of each cluster. Anyway, here is what it looks like so far:

I really like the twirly effect. As you can see, I misplaced a couple of my YOs but in general, I am pleased enough with the process and the style of the scarf to stick with it. I had started to question my commitment to the project as I thought about those clusters.

This is definitely something I can work on only when the little one is sleeping.

I can’t believe this—for a good 2 years at least, I’ve been doing yarn overs backwards. I discovered this the other day when I was attempting an open-work scarf pattern online. It really explains why my yarn overs were so hard. Anyway, I’m making this Lace Leaf Scarf from knitty. Now, I know I was just moaning about lace, but now that I’m doing my yo’s correctly I’m finding it oh-so-much-easier.

Also, the yarn I’m using is spun from a friend’s alpaca sheep. She sends it away to get spun and it is incredibly soft! I dyed it with black cherry kool-aid. Here it is so far:

I finally finished another shawl (I think I have a least three more on the needles!). This one is for my Grandmother’s birthday. It’s a bit late, but I wanted to get a picture of it before it heads to it’s new home. I used two strands of knitpicks lace weight merino held together and the Ostritch Plume lace stitch.

Here’s a close up.

This one little sock seems so paltry after the deluge of Kristen’s output (see below), but it is “manly;” that is, the pattern is Ann Budd’s “Manly Ribbed Socks” from Interweave Press’s subscriber-only section of their website. Here it is, being modeled in a manly fashion:

Over the weekend, I just jumped in and started my trellis scarf. I cast on about 20 times because I either couldn’t count or couldn’t do it loose enough. I eventually got going and have finished most of the first border.

Then it is time to start the main lace section – a 16 row repeat. For a 60 inch scarf, it needs to be repeated 23 times. I think I will make it a bit longer, but we’ll see when I get to 60 inches – I’ll probably be ready to be done :) The thing I’m a little worried about is the 7 into 5 cluster. Has anyone ever done anything like this:

K7tog and leave sts on needle, yo, knit the same 7 sts tog again and leave them on needle, yo, knit the 7 sts tog once more and slip sts from needle.

Yikes!!!!! We’ll see how it goes.

Several of you asked if I actually did find the yarn store after being led astray by the attractive YarnWorld mirage. One person even sent me this word play which may help to explain my lapse:

   TAI KWON DO
   TAI KWONDO
   TAIKWONDO
   TARKWONLO
   YARKWONLD
   YARNWORLD
   YARN WORLD
   YARL WORND
   YORL BORND
   YOUR BLRND
   YOU R BLIND

Or maybe not.

But, yes, I did find the Knit A Round Yarn Shop on Plymouth Road. While it wasn’t the size of a yarn “world,” it did have some good sock yarn. So I had to buy some.

I now have enough sock yarn on hand to knit 26 pairs of socks, so I have to knit a sock a week for a year before I’ll allow myself to buy any more. Yeah, right. Anyway, after I finish my sockapalooza socks, here’s the sock I intend to start:

This is the “Gentleman’s Sock” from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks. It uses the Railway Stitch to create a waffle-y texture.

There are two more sweaters I am ready to make.

Sweater #1
A couple of years ago, soon after I started knitting, my mom (with infinite belief in my crafting abilities) got me a sweater kit for Christmas. I’m not talking just any sweater kit – it is a Philosopher’s Wool Color Your Own fair isle sweater.

I was really intimidated by this sweater for a long time and it has been sitting in the closet quite a while. Nick always said “What’s the big deal? Your just moving your hands!” Well, now that I have much more that a couple months of knitting practice under my belt, I am ready to go for it. I think it will take me a long time, but hey, I’ll just be moving my hands, right?

It is called “color your own” because they give you the yarn and a couple different fair isle charts and you get to select where to use the charts and how to apply the colors. The kit also came with some very cool buttons and a little tag to sew in.

Sweater #2
I am also itching to make something out of my first batch of hand spun yarn. Because it is my first batch, it is likely that it will not knit up as nice as I am hoping (due to overspinning), but that isn’t going to stop me. I have selected Kate Gilbert’s Sunrise Circle Jacket from the current issue of Interweave Knits – the pattern is available on the IK website (pdf). The pattern is very long – 8 pages, I think, but it looks fairly simple. It has different increases on just about every row – enough so that the half circle fronts are actually part of the sleeve!

I guess it doesn’t really matter when I work on these since I won’t get to wear them until fall anyway.

My sister Stephanie has a birthday coming up, so I get another new project to interrupt the progress of my rosedale sweater. I have decided to try something totally new…felting a bag. Stephanie is a teacher, and I thought I would make her a “marking” bag: something to carry her marking home in. Beth provided me with several patterns, and I looked at the pattern in Stitch n’ Bitch. After all this I have decided to ‘design’ my own. I am using Lopi yarn and size 13 needles.

The bag will be red on the bottom, yellow on the top. I am knitting it in the round, having picked up stitches around a garter stitch strip. The bag will be larger at the top than at the bottom and will have a red intarsia pi sign in the yellow portion (did I mention that Stephanie teaches math?). Here’s what I’ve got so far (Note: the needles are not long enough, so it is all scrunched up):

I plan on knitting a mini bag and attaching it via i-cord (a la Stitch n’ Bitch). I’ll fill this with red pens for cruel comments on test papers.

Another project for me to start next is this one from the current issue of Interweave Knits:

At the end of July, I am going to be standing in my friend’s wedding wearing a very lovely, strapless dress, in mocha with ivory trim. Because I don’t really think I’m the strapless type, I thought I’d knit up a fancy little shawl/stole. I’ll make the trellis scarf a little wider and a little longer than the one pictured. Because of this, I had to shell out a whole $8 on the 2 skeins of lace weight baby alpaca from KnitPicks (Alpaca Cloud). I went with Sand because none of the others seemed appropriate for the dress. We’ll see, have a feeling that it is going to turn out a little too casual for the occasion. If so, it will still be wonderful and soft and a welcome addition to my wardrobe.

Here are the 4 $1 books I selected from Crafter’s Choice:

1. The Pleasures of Knitting: Timeless Feminine Sweaters
2. Vogue Knitting: Stitchionary
3. Great Knitted Gifts
4. Knitting Over the Edge

Then I decided to select one more at 50% off:

1. The Button Maker : 30 Great Techniques and 35 Stylish Projects

Only one more to fulfill my obligation.

Since I finished Rosedale, I have been working on a couple small projects – Ava’s sock, the short rows scarf. I’m not sure what I want to start next. Correction – I know several things I want to start next, but I can’t decide. Over the coming days, I’ll be sharing them all with you. For each project, I actually have everything needed to get started – patterns, yarn, needles.

Today’s featured projects are socks. As you know, I recently finished my first sock. As Sherry warned, they are addicting. I am currently on my 3rd sock, though I haven’t finished a pair yet. Last week, I received the Canadian Regia yarn from my mom – Ontario and Alberta. I started knitting up Alberta right away using the free pattern that came with the yarn – a plain stockinette sock. You can see the beginnings here:

I love the way it is turning out – the stripes are awesome! You can also see Ontario (the pink, etc. one to the left) and a couple different KnitPicks sock yarns (Memories – Flyfishing and Sock Garden – Pansy).

In addition to those 4 pairs, I should also think about finishing the momma-sized Jaywalkers some day soon!

Stay tuned to find out what other projects are on my mind…

As always, Beth has ever so gently guided me into participation in yet another group…
She sent me a link to Crafter’s Choice, and as usual, she was on to a good idea.

I’ve joined the book club (ordered four books at $1.00 each, and will have to order two more books over a year at discounted prices). These are the first four selections I have ordered, although one selection is a two book set:

The site only has about 45 knitting-specific titles, but carries hundreds of other crafty titles. I thought it would be a good kick start for my knitting library.

Well I did manage to finish my Kittyville devil hat for my sister for her birthday. She loved it and wore it the whole evening around the house. Here are some festive birthday photos…

The cat “puppet” between us is actually a set of kitty mittens my other sister bought for me to match my kitty hat. Needless to say, I am frequently mocked on the street.

Now that I’ve finally mastered how to use the digital camera, there will be no stopping my posts!

I have finally finished both arms and thought I would provide a picture of the finished project, much like other knit-alongers did…

Unfortunately, I do not have a cute, nearly-two, model nor would my cat tolerate me stuffing him in an arm for an unforgettable picture (but not for lack of trying!). And so you get floating arms. Unmatched arms at that, as I did not have foresight enough to actually choose two matching balls before I began the arms. I have also started on the body, and after two inches of ribbing, I knew I couldn’t make it to three, so I stopped that insanity and begun knitting like a normal person and it has got me this far:

I am very pleased so far at how my striping is turning out. The sweater is more colourful than I anticipated and I’m happy with all the unusual flecks of bright colour that randomly appear (fuschia, lime, orange, etc.) I tried to do a detail of the body to give a sense of the colour without fancy lamps or basic photography knowledge:

Beth pointed out to me, after looking at the Sockapalooza updates, that there may be some confusion about the socks that Kristen and I are knitting. This is probably due to the fact that we’re part of a shared blog, and an easy mistake to make. However, Kristen is doing the blue Celtic Braid socks, and I’m still working on the Embossed Leaves Socks. I have only 1.75 repeats of the pattern and the toe left to do before the first one is finished. Here it is, with a piece of white cardboard inside to show the shape.

It’s also true that I haven’t reported much progress on them lately, due to the Olympics and to taking the time to knit a couple of pairs of late-in-the-season handwarmers for Emily and her friend. I confess that I love having her friends ask for something knit by “Emily’s Mom,” so I always make time to churn them out. Here are the latest pairs and, if the weather holds, probably the last until fall:

It’s a little hard to picture the one on the left when it’s empty, so I took a picture with a hand in it. They’re from Weekend Knitting, made from leftover Noro sweater yarn.

So I am driving Sherry about on errands, and we decide to try out a new yarn and knitting shop she’s heard of, “Somewhere on Plymouth Road” (‘Sweetie, do you know how to get to Plymouth Road?’).

So we head off, get to Plymouth Road, and pull into the first likely strip mall-ish place–

“Ah, there it is, ‘YarnWorld’!”

“YarnWorld!” in my best pro wrestling announcer voice.

“Oh, wait, nevermind. It’s ‘TaeKwonDoh’. Haa, haa!”

In Sherry’s defense, it was all-caps, italic, sans-serif, so i guess:

YARNWORLD
TAEKWONDOH

kinda look similar. That plus the desire to go to a yarn store, even one named YarnWorld.

Knitting for a toddler, that is.

When I realized that I should knit Ava a sweater with her favorite character on intarsia-ed onto it for her birthday, it was far too late (birthday is only a week away). So instead, I decided to make her a matching pair of socks to my jaywalkers. I started last night and finished the first sock around 2:00 today! Pretty good for my second sock (not even second pair!). When I finished, I made her try it on and it made her cry, a lot. She took it off and said “Put it away” as she threw it into my knitting bag. I guess I won’t bother with the second one ;)

So, about the sock. No, I didn’t figure out how to adapt the Jaywalker pattern for a 5.5 inch foot. I found the Zig & Zag Sockulator. It lets you put in the dimensions of your foot and your gauge and then generates a pattern for you. Although I found the pattern hard to follow, it was great to have all the numbers worked out for me. I basically just used the same pattern as with Jaywalker with the numbers provided by the sockulator. Worked like a charm.

I went to Barnes & Noble this weekend and purchased my new favorite knitting book: One Skein. I really wanted to get this book because I often have troubles thinking of small projects to make. And as I continue to spin, I expect to generate a bunch of skeins of various weights and fibers so these patterns should come in handy.

The book has some super-cute things and a few super-silly things:

Yes, he is fastening his scarf with knitting needles. If only he had 2 skeins, this scarf might have been OK :)

Ava let me finish sewing in the zipper tonight (I’ll be surprised if I get through this post, though!). I think it turned out pretty well for my first zipper. It buckles a little bit when it is done up. Maybe if I block it again, that will go away. I found some good zipper installation directions and followed them pretty closely, though I did much less basting than she did.

Without further ado…

(notice the lovely pink “purl” necklace)

What do you think, Sherry – does it look like the same sweater?

My mom and I spent some time at our favorite yarn store yesterday. Mom started her first pair of socks and has already made good progress on the cuff. She’s not new to knitting (she made sweaters for her whole family when she was in high school), but she hadn’t tried socks until now.

Mom’s using the yarn Ian dyed last weekend — Kira wound it and sent it to her in time for us to jump in on Saturday. The pattern is the Vogue Knitting on the Go “Basic Sock”:

After she finishes the socks with the yarn from Ian, she’s planning to start on one of these:

GO, MOM!!

So I spent a little time playing with my new Malabrigo yarn trying to decide what kind of scarf to make. Nothing was catching my fancy so I looked for some patterns online. I decided to go with Short Row Rib from MagKnits. You can’t really tell in my photo, but the pattern is 3 rows of stockinette and 3 of reverse stockinette. I will probably block the scarf lightly when it is done to make that more obvious. The pattern is easy and fun – knitting up pretty quickly. And the yarn is so so nice to work with.

What do you think? Nick thinks it looks like tire tread.